OLADOKUN_EMMANUEL

In the far future, space is cold, empty, and full of forgotten things.

Elias Thorne is a space scavenger—he travels alone, picking through old wrecks and broken stations. One day, he finds a ship floating near a dead star, where no one should be. Inside, there’s a woman in cryo-sleep. Her name is Maeve Calder, and she’s been missing for 50 years.

She wakes up with no memory of what happened.
The ship’s data is gone.
And something feels... off.

As Elias and Maeve try to figure out what happened, they start to grow close. But strange things start happening—time doesn’t feel right, and they keep hearing things in the ship. Maybe they’re not alone after all.

Now Elias has to choose—leave Maeve behind and save himself, or stay and face whatever’s out there with her. Even if it means they both get lost in the void.

Pulse In The Void

The corridor was unlike the rest of the ship.

No rust. No flickering lights. No exposed wires.

Just smooth, untouched metal walls that hummed with a low, steady frequency—like a heartbeat trapped inside steel.

Maeve walked slightly ahead, drawn forward by something she couldn't name. Her steps were slow but certain, as if her body remembered a path her mind had long since forgotten.

Elias followed, hand hovering near his sidearm.

Maeve didn't look back. "To the center."

The door at the end opened by itself.

Inside was a chamber—circular, high-ceilinged, walls lined with consoles, and in the center, a massive spherical core suspended by energy beams.

It pulsed faintly. Blue, then white. Then red.

Warning: Core Instability Detected.

Loop Reset In: 4 hours, 12 minutes.

Maeve's face crumpled. "It's happening again."

Elias moved toward the console. "Can we shut it down?"

She hesitated. "If we do… the system might erase me. I was part of it. Built into the memory sequence. I don't know what happens if the loop ends."

"But if we don't," Elias said, turning to face her, "you keep reliving this. Over and over. Forgetting. Waking up in that pod again. And this thing"—he gestured to the core—"keeps you locked here like a ghost."

"I don't want to forget you again," she whispered.

Elias stepped closer, hands warm on her shoulders. "Then don't. We break the loop. We get out."

Maeve nodded again, more firmly this time.

Together, they stepped toward the interface.

The system recognized her instantly.

Terminate Observation Protocol Y/N?

Warning: Subject Identity Integrity Not Guaranteed Post-Termination.

Maeve's fingers hovered over the console.

She turned to Elias. "What if this deletes me?"

"Then you'll go on your terms," he said. "Not the system's."

Flashes poured through the chamber—images of Maeve in a lab, Elias in security footage from different stations, recordings of her watching him. Hundreds of loops. Hundreds of resets. In some, she woke alone. In others, she died. In one, she never woke at all.

Elias staggered back as his own memories twisted. A version of him screaming into an empty void. Another floating through the ship, old and alone.

"I remember all of it," she whispered. "All the loops. Every failure. Every version of you. But this is the first one where you stayed."

Elias fell beside her, holding her tight. "I'm staying."

For the first time since Elias boarded the ship… it was quiet.

Not the kind of quiet that presses on the ears.

But the kind that feels like release.

Later, they sat near the viewport.

The dead star still loomed, but it felt smaller now. Less menacing.

Maeve leaned against Elias, tired but real.

He looked at her. "So… now what?"

She smiled faintly. "Now we figure out what comes after memory."

Chapter Seven - The Memory Core