Mud oozed into my socks.
That was the least of my problems as we scrambled through the emergency tunnel like a trio of terrified hamsters. Ariel's flashlight flickered ahead of us while Theo crawled beside me, clutching a half-eaten bagel like it was a holy artifact.
"I swear this tunnel wasn't this long before," Ariel muttered.
"Maybe it's expanding," I said between breaths.
Theo grunted. "Tunnels don't expand. Unless—oh no. Unless it's reacting to our fear."
I stopped crawling. "Theo. Don't start with your sentient architecture theories again."
"But what if the tunnel *wants* us to panic?"
Ariel slapped a hand over his mouth. "Not now, man. We've got bigger problems."
Behind us, the faint clang of something metallic echoed through the corridor.
Clang. Clang. Pause.
Clang.
We froze.
"Okay," I whispered. "If it's following us, that means it's slower than us. Good news, right?"
Theo shook his head. "Unless it's *playing* with us."
Ariel's flashlight died.
Total darkness swallowed us.
A beat later, a faint blue glow lit the tunnel from beneath us. Strange symbols pulsed across the dirt floor—circuit-like patterns that shimmered like stardust.
"What the—" I breathed.
Theo leaned close. "These are the same glyphs from the Project Echo files."
"What do they mean?" I asked.
"They mean we were never supposed to reach this point."
---
We burst into the chamber at the tunnel's end. It wasn't a storage room.
It was a launch capsule.
Not ours.
This one was pristine. White walls. Cryo-pods lining the sides. A large console blinked in the center, waiting.
A voice greeted us.
"Welcome, Subject 3."
We all jumped.
"Subject 3?" Ariel said. "Who the hell is Subject 1 and 2?"
The console screen shifted. Two profiles appeared.
Subject 1: Theo.
Subject 2: Me.
Subject 3: Ariel.
We stared at the screen.
"What is this?" I whispered.
Theo stepped forward. "It's not a rocket. It's a test chamber. We've been part of an experiment this whole time."
Ariel laughed bitterly. "That explains the voice-activated toaster and the laser chicken."
Suddenly, static washed across the screen. The voice returned, glitching.
> "Phase Two… commencing… Lunar alignment: 94%… Initiating memory override…"
"Memory override?!" I yelled. "No no no no—"
Theo grabbed my shoulders. "We need to shut it down. Now."
Ariel sprinted to the panel, yanked out wires, crossed cables, reversed circuits. Sparks flew.
"Too late!" she shouted. "It's syncing with something above ground—some kind of satellite!"
I turned back to the screen. A live feed was playing.
Of our rocket.
It was launching.
Without us.
And inside… a fourth figure.
Wearing our custom space suit.
The helmet turned toward the camera. It smiled.
And it was me.