CHAPTHER 1
The Signal
Deep beneath the Himalayan Research Array in northern India, Dr. Arin Sen received the transmission that would change humanity forever.
It wasn't random noise.
It wasn't cosmic radiation.
It was a repeating gravitational pattern — mathematically precise.
Someone — or something — was bending spacetime itself to send a message.
The pattern pointed to a newly formed wormhole orbiting near Saturn.
And beyond it…
Three potentially habitable exoplanets.
Humanity had one chance.
CHAPTER 2
The Lazarus Project
The world governments united under one final mission: Project Lazarus-II.
A spacecraft named Astraeus would travel through the wormhole and survey the three worlds:
Erebus – A water planet orbiting close to a black hole.
Kael – A frozen super-Earth with a dim red sun.
Solara Prime – A lush world orbiting twin stars.
Arin was selected as mission lead.
Mira was not selected for anything.
"Dad," she said quietly the night before launch,
"If time moves differently out there… will you still come back?"
Arin hesitated.
"I will come back to you. Even if time itself fights me."
Chapter 3
Erebus
Erebus was beautiful.
Endless silver oceans reflecting a distorted sky. But it orbited dangerously close to a black hole named Nyx.
Every hour on Erebus = 7 years on Earth.
The crew had only 3 hours to explore.
But something was wrong.
The ocean wasn't calm.
A gravitational surge rose on the horizon — not a wave…
A wall of water five kilometers high.
Time moved slower for them.
But not slow enough.
Chapter 4
Messages Across Time
Back on Earth, Mira was now 28.
Her father had aged only three hours.
She had aged sixteen years.
She watched recorded messages from him — delayed transmissions finally reaching Earth.
"I'm sorry," Arin's image said, older, more tired.
"I didn't know it would cost this much time."
Mira became a physicist.
Not to save Earth.
To bring her father home.
Chapter 5
The Fifth Dimension
After catastrophic fuel loss and betrayal from a desperate crew member, Arin makes the ultimate decision.
To save the mission, he detaches from Astraeus and plunges into Nyx, the black hole.
He expects death.
Instead—
He survives.
Inside Nyx is not darkness.
It is structure.
A vast lattice of light — a five-dimensional construct where time is physical.
Someone built it.
Or something.
Through gravity itself, Arin realizes he can interact with moments in the past.
He sees Mira as a child.
He sees her crying in the field.
He understands.
The gravitational message wasn't aliens.
It was humanity's future.
They built the wormhole.
They created the signal.
They saved themselves.
Final Chapter
Beyond the Horizon
Arin transmits quantum data through gravity to Mira's old bedroom clock — encoding the equation to stabilize Earth's atmosphere and enable mass evacuation.
Mira deciphers it.
Humanity escapes Earth using orbital habitats.
Years later, now old, Mira stands on Solara Prime — finally colonized.
A rescue team finds Arin drifting near Saturn — alive, unchanged.
He steps onto the new world.
Mira is elderly.
He is not.
They embrace.
Time had separated them.
Gravity brought them back together.