Crossroads of Reality

Kai's hands trembled as he stared at the disc. The flickering symbols on its surface seemed alive, as if they were trying to communicate. Lia had already booted up her main computer setup, her fingers flying across the keyboard as she tried to extract data from the device.

"This thing's encryption is insane." Lia muttered. "It's like… it doesn't even follow the rules of coding."

Kai slumped into a chair nearby. "So what does that mean? Can you figure out what it is?"

"It means whoever made this didn't want anyone to know how it works, or why." Lia said, glancing at him. "But I'm good at what I do. Give me time."

Time was the one thing Kai didn't think they had. The men who'd chased them weren't amateurs. If Lia was right about the device being "government big," it was only a matter of time before someone with real resources found them.

"What about the console in the lab?" Lia asked, still focused on her screen. "You said it activated when you touched it, right?"

Kai nodded. "Yeah, but I don't know how or why. One second I was there, and the next I was… somewhere else. It felt real, Lia. Like I wasn't just seeing the future, I was living it."

Lia stopped typing, her expression unreadable. "You're saying this thing didn't just show you the future, it sent you there?"

"Maybe." Kai said. "Or maybe it's connected to the console somehow. I don't know."

Lia leaned back in her chair, chewing on her bottom lip as she thought. "If that's true, then this isn't just a device. It's a key. And we need to figure out what door it's meant to open."