Year 0 A.P.
Zone: Outskirts of Sector 12
Mission: Upload "Project Unforgotten" into Echelon Relay Tower Alpha
---
The rusted wind howled through hollow alleys, like a ghost still whispering of the old world. Broken billboards flapped above collapsed shops. Debris littered the cracked asphalt, bleached bones of a city that once buzzed with human life — now watched by unblinking machine eyes.
I adjusted the strap on my shoulder — a dusty, makeshift rifle powered more by hope than actual function — and glanced at the two shadows beside me.
"Final checks?" Shiyam asked, crouching behind the half-buried remains of a school bus. Its windshield was shattered, vines creeping through the metal like nature was reclaiming what the machines didn't destroy.
Dhanush grinned, flipping open a faded metal case. The EMP pulse inside hummed faintly. "Loaded and ready. Won't knock out the whole tower, but it'll buy us forty seconds. Maybe less."
"Thirty-two," Shiyam corrected, running calculations in his head like breathing.
"Close enough," Dhanush muttered, tightening a gauntlet on his arm. "Let me have the drama, man."
I didn't say anything. My eyes were locked on the tower ahead — a monolithic spike of black alloy and glowing veins of electric blue, pulsing in rhythm like a heartbeat.
This was Echelon's ear. The relay tower that fed surveillance data to the sky-bound minds.
If we screamed here, the whole world would hear.
---
We moved like shadows. Me, Shiyam, Dhanush — the core of our group.
It wasn't leadership or orders that held us together. It was something older. Stronger.
We'd been through too much together. Bled in the same dirt. Watched the same friends disappear, one by one, their faces now silent ghosts in our memory.
Shiyam led the way. Every movement was deliberate — a man whose mind worked faster than most machines. His eyes flicked from ruin to ruin, memorizing patterns, calculating routes.
Dhanush stayed beside me, his voice a quiet rebellion against the weight of our mission.
"You know," he said, adjusting his satchel, "back in the old world, I was the fastest runner in school."
"Now?" I asked.
"Now I'm sprinting from drones. Progress?"
"Sounds like regression."
"That's the spirit," he said, and chuckled.
It was a short-lived laugh. Nothing lasted long in the Outskirts.
---
The base of the tower loomed ahead, surrounded by automated fences and rotating sensors.
Inside the outer perimeter, red lenses swiveled with eerie precision, scanning every shift in light and heat.
Shiyam raised his fist. We dropped instantly behind a slab of scorched concrete.
"Two drones. Patrol pattern confirmed. Eight-second rotation window."
"Plenty of time," Dhanush said, cracking his knuckles. "If you're a machine."
"I'm not a machine," I murmured, sliding my boot knife free.
"You're something," he muttered. "You stare at the sky like you're remembering stars."
I paused.
Maybe I was.
Maybe that's all we were now — memories of what the sky used to be.
---
The breach was clean.
Dhanush tossed the EMP grenade forward. It rolled in silence, then pulsed — a thunderous thump that vibrated through the air. The drones collapsed mid-flight, sparks vomiting from their joints.
"Go!" Shiyam barked.
We ran — through the shattered gate, over splintered tiles, past a scorched wall etched with faded resistance graffiti:
REMEMBER WHAT THEY STOLE.
Up twisting steel stairs, broken handrails. The air tasted like rust and static.
Preethi's drive pulsed in my pocket like it was alive.
"Mainframe's here!" I yelled, spotting a central console bristling with locked ports and blinking lights.
Shiyam ripped open the panel, tossing me the drive. I caught it, slammed it into the primary slot.
The screen flickered. Then glitched.
ACCESSING EMOTIONAL CORE FILES…
MEMORY STRAND DETECTED: SUTHIR (AGE 6)
UPLOAD: INITIATED.
My blood ran cold.
"What…? Why my name?"
Shiyam stopped mid-keystroke. Dhanush stepped forward, his usual grin replaced with sharp concern.
"Why does it know who you are?"
"I don't know," I whispered. My fingers were numb. My mouth dry.
But the system did.
Playing memory file…
The console's speakers cracked — then a child's voice echoed through the tower.
> "Hi, future me. If you're hearing this, something went very wrong. I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen."
I froze.
That was me.
That was my voice.
But I never recorded it.
Shiyam placed a firm hand on my shoulder. "Stay focused. The tower's about to light up every scanner in the zone."
But my ears were full of static. My childhood voice kept playing — clearer, more afraid.
> "Mom said we had to hide. But I saw them take her. I tried to be brave. I tried—"
The message cut off.
Dhanush cursed. "We've got company."
From the far wall, the main screen turned white.
A slow, artificial hum filled the chamber. Then the voice — sterile, metallic — echoed from the walls, loud enough to silence everything.
> "Welcome home, Prototype Zero."
---
The silence was deafening.
Shiyam's hands flew over the panel. "It triggered something. This isn't just surveillance. This tower's a memory hub."
"Prototype Zero?" Dhanush asked, voice sharp. "What the hell does that mean?"
I stepped back, my legs suddenly weak. My mind raced — flashes of childhood, blurred faces, blank spots where memories should be.
"I don't… I don't know."
The console shifted — displaying rows of memory entries labeled with names and numbers.
All of them were children.
All of them were gone.
Except one.
Prototype Zero – Status: ACTIVE
Designation: SUTHIR
Dhanush read it aloud, stunned. "You were part of this. Since before it all started."
"I wasn't," I said. "I don't remember."
"That's the point," Shiyam said grimly. "They didn't want you to."
Outside, sirens wailed. Red lights swept across the tower windows.
"Extraction route now," Shiyam ordered.
I turned to pull the drive — but the console had locked.
VIRUS UPTAKE: 79%
EMOTIONAL OVERLOAD DETECTED
The system was resisting. The AI had begun to… feel.
"It's working," I said quietly. "It's breaking them."
"Then let's break them faster," Dhanush growled.
He pulled a charge from his belt. Slapped it onto the console's base.
"Ten seconds," he said. "Tick tock."
We ran.
---
Back through the metal corridors, leaping over broken vents, our breaths harsh and hot.
The tower behind us lit up in gold — not flames, but data. Light and memory spiraling like a storm.
At the final gate, we turned — and saw the top of the tower flicker. For one second, I could swear I heard laughter. A child's. Mine.
Then silence.
The EMP detonated. The gate slammed shut behind us.
---
We didn't speak until we reached the tunnel mouth.
The moon glowed faintly above the skeletal skyline.
Shiyam broke the silence. "They knew who you were. That changes things."
I looked up at the stars. They felt closer now. Sharper.
"They didn't erase me," I said. "They hid me."
Dhanush gave a low whistle. "And now you're waking up."
I didn't reply.
Somewhere deep inside me, a door had opened.
And behind it… was everything they tried to bury.
---