The thrift store was as unremarkable as the others Alex had wandered through that afternoon-a jumble of forgotten relics and dusty shelves. The faint hum of fluorescent lights buzzed overhead as they sifted through a pile of electronics, their fingers brushing over tangled cords and cracked phone cases.
Then, they saw it.
A battered laptop sat half-buried under a heap of discarded keyboards. Its dull gray casing was scratched, and the once shiny logo had faded to invisibility. It looked ancient, practically obsolete, but something about it caught Alex's eye. Maybe it was the faint scorch marks near the hinges or the way the power light blinked faintly, as if it were alive.
"How much for this?" Alex asked, holding it up to the clerk, an older man who barely glanced at it before shrugging.
"Twenty bucks," he said, his voice indifferent.
"Does it even work?"
"Plugged it in earlier. Booted up fine. Couldn't make sense of what's on it, though. Looks like junk."
Junk. Beautiful. That was all Alex could afford at the momentjunk. They paid, grabbed the laptop, and took off for home.
Back in their small apartment, Alex sat the laptop down on the desk and connected it to a charger. It roared to life surprisingly easily. The screen flickered on and up displayed a login prompt. No username. Only a blinking cursor and one word:
**ORION**
Alex's frown grew. "Weird," they said to themselves, and typed in "guest" for the field before hitting enter.
The screen went dark for a moment, then lines of green text began scrolling across. It wasn't gibberish; it looked like code. But amidst the scrolling, one line froze mid-screen.
PREDICTION: COLLISION ON 4TH AND PINE, 7:42 PM.
Alex checked the time. 7:30 PM.
"What the hell..." They grabbed their jacket and ran out the door.
The city streets were busy, as always. Alex reached the intersection at 4th and Pine just in time to see a car speeding toward a red light. Without thinking, they yelled and waved their arms, stopping a pedestrian from stepping into the crosswalk.
The car screeched past, missing the man by inches.
Alex was frozen, his heart racing. The stranger he'd saved mumbled a thank you, but he didn't really hear it. He was still stuck on the laptop, stuck on that single word blindingly across the screen.
**ORION**.