—down the air vent. I slid rapidly through the ductwork and into darkness. The artificial gravity meant I was falling more than sliding, but this was the only way I could move faster than it.

On my way down, I prayed to every deity I'd ever heard of. Religion was the only hope I had remaining, because nothing rational could possibly save me. The odds of escape were [i]exactly[/i] zero.

The slope of the duct slowed my descent a little, but I hit the base painfully hard with my tailbone, bruising myself again. The force was enough to dent the aluminum beneath me. Wincing from the pain, I squeezed my head down so I could fit into the only opening. I crawled into darkness.

It was fascinating how automatic my actions felt. It was more like watching a movie than participating. The Academy taught us there's a subconscious autopilot inside everyone, but only soldiers and victims of trauma will experience it. Left hand, right knee, right hand, left knee: no thought required. There was only one direction to go and only one thing to do. Anything else was certain and horrible death.

I saw a trickle of light filtering through a vent in front of me. I punched it until it popped open, squeezed through the opening, and fell onto the mess hall table. I rolled onto the floor in time to witness the horrible portent of blinking lights drifting through the ceiling.

It would have been beautiful in any other circumstance. The aerial twinkling led the mist like the headlights of an acidic bulldozer, and I had already seen what that bulldozer could do. When the mist would touch solid matter, it would [i]mix[/i] it, like a fork swirling two kinds of frosting together. Clothing, carpet, metal, and flesh would slowly knot into a ragged mass that reeked of chemicals.

The first time I saw the carnage was mere minutes ago, but the memory felt distant. I had arrived at the bridge after the mist had done its work. The adrenaline gripped my heart  the moment I saw the looks on my crew's faces.

What remained of their faces, anyway.

The monster floated faster than I could run, so I beelined for the nearest exit. I knew the science lab was a dead-end, but my legs moved of their own accord. The telltale nails-on-a-chalkboard sound of nightmare pithing bulkhead followed close behind.

The laboratory I entered housed the purpose of our mission. It was a very simple device with no moving parts that required no energy input. It consisted of a metal platform filled with trillions of atomic nanotubes. It was supposed to work like an antenna for antineutrinos. Theory suggested antineutrinos could travel faster than light, but only if regular neutrinos were blocked entirely. Once we got far enough away from the Solar wind, the thing would activate on its own.

It worked, but not as expected. Nobody anticipated it would summon an alien being, or whatever this thing was. But the laboratory was undeniably the source of the creature. This place looked and smelled even worse than the bridge. Clara had been in the lab when it activated, and I averted my eyes from her corpse. Bizarrely, the device itself was completely untouched.

Finally, I turned around and saw my executioner. The pretty lights hovered around me, then the mist followed. If it were a quick death, I could accept it, but feeling it seep into my eyes and skin was worse than being burned alive. I needed to escape the agony. I let myself fall backwards onto the platform, because I [i]had[/i] to. I had no choice.

[i]Forty-two seconds passed in an instant, but in the wrong direction.[/i]

Now I was standing in the hallway next to the bridge, with an healthy body gripped by panic. It truly [i]was[/i] the past, except for my memory. The gaping hole of the duct was in front of me. The mist was getting closer.

What could I do? Either I jump into the shaft, or do anything else and die horribly. This hallway had no magic platform to stop the agony. Perhaps I could let myself die this time, but I needed the [i]choice[/i] the platform would offer me. Ironically, doing anything other than jumping would take my only option away from me.

So, I crouched and hopped into the gaping maw of my only escape, trying not to think about the futility of it all as I tumbled—