Chapter 9: The Trial

By Friday morning, I had barely slept.

The technical documents Professor Cole had given me were spread across my desk, covered with handwritten notes and calculations.

I had spent four nights studying them.

Some sections still made my head hurt, but I understood the core principles well enough to explain them.

I walked into Professor Cole's office carrying my notes.

"You look exhausted," he said.

"I'm fine."

He raised an eyebrow. "That's what everyone says right before falling asleep on my desk."

I smiled nervously.

He pointed toward a whiteboard.

"Explain the propulsion problem on page twenty-seven."

I took a deep breath and began.

At first, my voice was shaky.

Then I started explaining the calculations step by step.

Professor Cole interrupted several times, deliberately challenging my assumptions.

Each time, I adjusted my answer.

When I finished, the room fell quiet.

He nodded slowly.

"You made two mistakes."

My heart sank.

"But you caught one of them yourself before I pointed it out."

He handed me another folder.

"Congratulations. You're joining the research team."

I stared at him.

"Really?"

"Really."

I couldn't stop the smile spreading across my face.

"Thank you, Professor."

"Don't thank me yet. The work gets harder from here."

I left his office feeling like I was floating.

That afternoon, I joined the research laboratory for the first time.

The room was filled with equipment I'd only ever seen in photographs and textbooks.

Engines, testing instruments, computer simulations, and shelves packed with technical manuals surrounded me.

I stood there for a moment, taking everything in.

This was the world I'd once been willing to give up.

Now it was mine.

As I worked through my first assignment, Ethan leaned over my desk.

"You know Professor Cole doesn't usually take first-year students."

"I didn't know that."

"Exactly. That's why everyone's talking about you."

I laughed.

"Hopefully they're saying nice things."

"Mostly."

I shook my head and returned to my work.

A few days later, our team received an invitation to present our project at a national student aerospace competition.

The announcement made everyone excited.

It also meant months of additional work.

I volunteered immediately.

For the next several weeks, our lives revolved around the project.

We tested designs, analyzed failures, rewrote simulations, and argued over tiny details.

Sometimes I went back to my dorm completely exhausted.

But I never regretted a single minute.

Then, one evening, my mother called.

"Sonia, I heard something today."

"What happened?"

"Silas and Rachel broke up."

I was silent.

"Apparently, they've been fighting constantly since they started college," Mom continued. "Rachel blamed Silas for everything, and Silas apparently told her he regretted choosing her over you."

I stared at the simulation running on my screen.

"That's their problem."

Mom paused.

"You're really over him, aren't you?"

I smiled.

"I think I was over him a long time ago. I just didn't know it."

After the call ended, I returned to my work.

But that night, another email arrived.

It was from an address I didn't recognize.

The subject line contained only three words.

"You know me."

My hands went cold.

I opened it.

There was no message.

Only one attachment.

A photograph.

I downloaded it and opened the file.

My breath caught.

It was the same photograph I'd seen in my future self's video.

The older Sonia stood beside the research team.

But this version was clearer.

There was a date printed beneath the image.

Fifteen years in the future.

And beneath the date was the name of the project.

Project Horizon.

I stared at the screen.

Someone else knew about the future video.

And whoever had sent me the photograph knew exactly who I was.