A knock echoed through the quiet apartment. He looked at the screen one last time. The final file, , was already downloading. It was a photo of the red box, open on his floor, emitting a blinding white light that seemed to swallow the room.

The image was a high-resolution shot of a desk. On that desk sat a half-eaten bagel, a cold cup of coffee, and a cracked smartphone. Elias felt a chill crawl up his spine; the desk in the photo was . He looked down at the physical bagel in front of him, then back at the screen. The image was dated two minutes in the future .

Should we keep the tension high and explore , or