Chapter 7: A New Beginning

My first semester at Defense Technology Institute began with more challenges than I had expected.

The classes were difficult, the assignments were relentless, and almost everyone around me seemed to be just as ambitious as I was.

For the first time, I wasn't the only student who had spent years dreaming about the future.

At first, that intimidated me.

Then I remembered the woman in the video.

She had told me that fifteen years from now, I would regret giving up.

I refused to become that woman again.

So I studied harder.

Every morning, I arrived on campus before most of my classmates. Every evening, I stayed in the library until the lights began to dim.

I wasn't trying to prove anything to Silas or Rachel.

I was trying to prove something to myself.

One afternoon, our professor announced a competitive research project for first-year students.

"The winning team will get the opportunity to assist with an actual aerospace research program next semester," he said.

The classroom immediately erupted with excitement.

I looked at the application form on my screen.

Research experience.

Advanced coursework.

Technical projects.

I didn't have any of those things.

For a moment, doubt crept into my mind.

Then I remembered the future I'd been shown.

I filled out the application anyway.

A few days later, I received an email.

I had been selected for the preliminary round.

The next stage required us to work in teams.

My assigned teammates were two students named Ethan and Maya.

Ethan was brilliant at mathematics, while Maya had already built several small engineering projects before entering college.

I felt like the weakest member of the team.

Instead of hiding that fact, I told them honestly.

"I have a lot to learn, but I'll do whatever it takes to catch up."

Ethan smiled.

"That's better than pretending you already know everything."

For the next three weeks, the three of us worked almost nonstop.

We designed a small-scale propulsion system and spent countless hours testing our calculations.

There were failures.

There were arguments.

There were nights when I wanted to throw my laptop against the wall.

But every time something went wrong, we started again.

On presentation day, our prototype performed better than we'd expected.

When the professor announced our team as one of the finalists, Maya hugged me so hard that I nearly lost my balance.

I laughed.

I had never felt so proud of myself.

Then, during the celebration, my phone buzzed.

It was a message from my mother.

"You won't believe this. Silas and Rachel are having problems at Bradford."

I stared at the message.

For a second, curiosity tempted me to ask what had happened.

Then I deleted the message without replying.

Their lives no longer had anything to do with mine.

That night, I returned to my dorm and opened the video from my future self.

I had watched it dozens of times, but something suddenly felt different.

I paused the video at the moment when the older Sonia said, "You were meant to go up there."

Behind her was a wall covered with photographs.

I'd never paid attention to them before.

I zoomed in.

There was a photograph of an aerospace laboratory.

Another showed a rocket launch.

And another showed a woman standing beside a research team.

The woman was me.

My breath caught.

I had always assumed the video was simply a warning about the future I had lost.

But perhaps it was more than that.

Perhaps my future self hadn't sent the video only to save me from Silas and Rachel.

Perhaps she had sent it because something much bigger was waiting for me.

I closed the video and looked toward the dark sky outside my window.

"Then I'll find out," I whispered.

"I'll find out exactly where I'm supposed to go."