Buzzadont was just about to settle into some high-quality doing absolutely nothing when Artifactron suddenly froze.

“Zroop… Something broke again?” Buzzadont mumbled without even opening his eyes.

“No,” Artifactron replied sharply. His sensors flickered in a way that looked… unsettling.

Buzzadont cracked one eye open. “Oh. So you just crashed?”

The robot ignored him. “I’m picking up a message.”

Now, Buzzadont was awake. “A message? From who?”

“A message that shouldn’t exist,” Artifactron said, his voice unusually serious.

“Zroop! Maybe someone’s just begging for free Zroop passes?” Buzzlet suggested.

“No,” Artifactron stated flatly. “It’s coming from… the past.”

Silence.

“Wait, the past?” Buzzadont frowned. “Like… a really old newsletter?”

“Zroop, what if it’s a message from someone who’s still here?” Buzzlet asked, wings fluttering anxiously.

Artifactron’s sensors locked onto something unseen.

“We are still here.”

The air felt heavier.

Buzzlet froze mid-flight. “Zroop… Uh, who’s ‘we’?”

Buzzadont gulped. “Yeah, excellent question.”

Artifactron kept scanning, but nothing else came through. Just a faint echo, stretching through time.

“They… are still here,” the robot repeated.

Buzzadont dusted himself off and looked at Artifactron.

“So, uh… just thinking out loud here, but if this message came from the past, and we’re in the present, and they’re still here…” He glanced around. “Maybe we should find out where here is?”

Artifactron turned his head slowly.

Buzzlet groaned. “Zroop… I knew this was gonna end in some kind of disaster.”

And deep down, they all knew—this wasn’t the end. It was just the beginning.