Kieran's heart pounded. His mind screamed impossible, but his instincts told him otherwise.
The man standing in the doorway was him.
Not a flickering echo. Not a corrupted simulation.
A fully realized version. Flesh and blood. Cybernetic enhancements sleek and intact. A presence that radiated authority.
And the way he stood—confident, calculating— made it clear:
This Kieran was in control.
"Who are you?" Kieran demanded, fists clenching.
The other Kieran smiled. "You already know the answer." He stepped inside, the door sliding shut behind him. "But let's make it easy—call me Prime."
Kieran's jaw tightened. "Prime?"
The other version nodded. "As in the original. The one the system was trying to protect."
A cold weight settled in Kieran's stomach.
The original?
"You're lying," Kieran said. "The simulation was designed to erase me. To keep me trapped."
"Yes," Prime said, tilting his head. "To erase you. But not me."
Kieran's breath caught.
Something in his mind shifted, memories unraveling, reforming.
The containment loop.
The endless resets.
The warped perception of time.
It wasn't just about controlling him.
It was about protecting someone else.
"You're saying the simulation wasn't built to keep me in…" Kieran murmured.
Prime smiled. "It was built to keep me safe."
Kieran took a slow step back. His mind raced, processing the implications.
If Prime was the original—if he had been on the outside this whole time—
Then who was Kieran?
"How much do you remember?" Prime asked. His tone was neutral, but his eyes—his own eyes—were studying him like a test subject.
Kieran clenched his jaw. "Enough to know something is wrong."
Prime sighed. "Not good enough. But that's expected." He gestured toward the holo-displays lining the walls. "The simulation did more than trap you. It fractured you. Broke you into iterations—seventy-two, to be exact."
Kieran stiffened.
Seventy-two versions.
Each one wiped, rewritten, destroyed.
And yet—he had survived. The last one.
"You were the failsafe," Prime continued, crossing his arms. "The final version. The one meant to find their way back." His gaze sharpened. "And now you're here."
Kieran's fingers twitched. He was still holding the data drive from the simulation.
The last piece of the puzzle.
He glanced at it, then back at Prime. "If I was the failsafe… then what are you?"
For the first time, Prime's smile faded.
His expression turned deadly serious.
"I'm the reason this all started."
Silence stretched between them.
Then—
The alarms blared.
Not a simulation alarm. A real one.
Kieran turned sharply as the holo-displays flashed red. Text scrolled rapidly, urgent, undeniable.
EXTERNAL BREACH DETECTED.
UNKNOWN ENTITY APPROACHING.
PROXIMITY ALERT: IMPACT IMMINENT.
Kieran's gut tightened.
"Someone's coming," he muttered.
Prime didn't flinch. He simply exhaled, as if he had been expecting it.
Then he turned toward the window overlooking deep space.
And murmured one final thing.
"They found us."