Slipstream obeyed. The hum began, not mechanical, but harmonic. The ship tuned itself to a memory rather than a place. The stars outside blurred, not from speed, but from intent. Somewhere beneath thought, coordinates rearranged themselves. A departure of self, and a return of something altered.

This was Mind Travel.

Moments later, Earth emerged in the viewport, quiet, suspended, waiting. The same planet, but never quite the same twice.

“Report,” Dr. Erwin commanded, his eyes locked on the blue planet below.

“There is no sign of the Dark Sphere. It’s gone. Planet Earth is thriving… biologically. However, there are no signs of human civilisation. No cities, no artificial structures remain. Mankind appears to have vanished.”

“No, that’s not right… everything should be here, exactly as I left it,” he said, his voice edged with distress.

The Dark Sphere was gone, but its presence still clung to the edges of the world. Erwin could feel it, like the memory of a storm long passed but not forgotten. Time hadn’t stood still in his absence. It had reshaped the Earth in quiet, unsettling ways.

This isn’t how I left it, he thought. Something’s changed.

“It appears the Earth timeline has changed,” Slipstream said.

“What do you mean, ‘changed’?”

“According to historical records, eighty six million years ago, a series of asteroids collided with Earth, wiping out the dinosaurs and setting the stage for humanity to evolve. However, the asteroids that were meant to change the course of life on Earth never struck. The dinosaurs were spared from extinction. Without the cataclysmic event that triggered the Ice Age, the planet followed a completely different evolutionary path.”

“How could I miss this?” he muttered, his voice filled with disbelief.

His interference had altered the course of Earth’s history in ways far more profound than he could have imagined. By traveling back in to Nexus system and changing Zoran’s life trajectory, he had unknowingly disrupted the sequence of events that gave rise to human civilisation. The asteroid, which should have wiped out the dinosaurs, had missed, allowing them to thrive and evolve for millions of years. Earth had taken a new path, one where humanity never emerged.

“Prepare for landing,” Dr. Erwin commanded.

The cities, the technology, the culture, everything was gone, erased by a timeline that never allowed them to exist in the first place. Instead, Earth had reverted to its natural state, untouched by human hands, overrun by the life forms that had once ruled it.

Slipstream descended. “Landing complete.”

“Cloak the ship, maintain high altitude, and be ready to follow me,” he instructed.

As he wandered through the overgrown landscape, the unfamiliar sounds of the new world surrounded him. Above, large, feathered creatures with vibrant plumage swooped between the towering trees. Their calls echoed through the forest, a series of deep, throaty hoots and high-pitched screeches. Their wingspan was massive, easily spanning over five meters, and their sharp, curved beaks hinted at their place at the top of this new food chain.

On the ground, smaller creatures, resembling a blend of modern mammals and ancient reptiles, scurried through the underbrush. These creatures were quick and agile, with scaly bodies and fur-covered tails, darting in and out of the dense foliage, their eyes glinting with keen intelligence.

He stepped cautiously, hearing the occasional rustle of much larger beasts. In the distance, a creature that resembled a massive, long-necked herbivore moved gracefully through the trees, its long neck swaying gently as it grazed on the leaves high above. Its hide was covered in thick, leathery scales, and its footsteps shook the earth, yet it moved with a kind of serene calm, unbothered by the smaller creatures skittering beneath its feet.

Everywhere he looked, life flourished in ways both familiar and alien. It was as if the world had reverted to an ancient state but had also moved forward in its own evolutionary trajectory. Despite the abundance of life, there was a profound absence. No sign of human habitation, no sounds of machinery, no trace of the civilisation Erwin once knew. The creatures around him ruled this new Earth, but none carried the weight of human progress or history. It was nature’s world now, untouched by the hand of man.