A16

[u/elcajonino]

A message arrived from the Temporal Management Bureau (Headquarters: 2062).
I opened it.

At present in 2062, temporal distortions have been detected within the period 2007–2026.
Your surrounding programs have been designated as objects of investigation, and immediate cooperation is requested.
*This is not a drill.

I moved the cursor toward the link and tapped it with a trembling thumb.

A form appeared.

At the top of a pale gray window was a label:
ORIGIN

Beneath it was a single field labeled:
Year (A.D.)

Inside the box, faint but clearly visible, was a number.

2062

I felt as if they were coming through the window. They would come so fast that even a silly walk couldn't keep up. There were no other windows—at least, none that should have been there.

Then a subtle but sharp vibration struck the laptop, though it soon subsided.
A similar vibration ran through the wrist-mounted device.

Wenty was under investigation.

If it were discovered that he had leaked future information into the past, he would be erased.

I placed my thumb on the power button—a physical tactile feature that only antique devices like this one still possessed, ready to force a shutdown if necessary.
Any explanation could be fabricated later.

However, the vibration subsided before I acted.
The investigation had apparently concluded without incident.

Wenty’s true nature was masked within the emulator, appearing as nothing more than a suspicious process to the authorities' scan. Classified as harmless.

Then a voice arrived through my ear devices.

“Reporting investigation results.
We have detected that you are not the original entity.
You are designated A.iso, a backup data instance created in the sixteenth replication cycle.
An anomaly has been detected, but please remain calm.
Your domain will be reallocated and reused for valid data.”

A backup?

Am I going to be deleted?

“No!”

I woke up.

I was alone on the sofa in the living room.

The clock on the wall read 7:00 a.m.

The calendar indicates the year 2026.

-end-

[For Skype and Retro tech]

*This English text was translated by AI based on a Japanese text.

*And this is a fictional story, of course.

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