The Last Pursuit

The cold metal walls of Arkion Rig-7, a sprawling space-rig orbiting the outer moons of Vexora Prime, hummed faintly with the distant roar of its engines. Kade Karran, a bounty hunter with a reputation for ruthlessness, leaned against a terminal, scanning the room. His eyes flicked over the vast interior of the rig’s common bay, where hundreds of workers and vagabonds gathered, discussing their futures, their debts, and their grudges.

Across from him stood Rynex, a mutant whose very presence unnerved even the toughest of men. Rynex’s grayish, mottled skin was a stark reminder of the genetic experiments the colonies had outlawed decades ago. A towering figure with an air of detached indifference, Rynex often spoke in riddles, his morality a shifting tide that changed based on his whims. Today, his dark eyes bore into Kade.

“You’re chasing a ghost, Karran,” Rynex said, voice low and gravelly. “No one can outrun the universe, not even you.”

Kade shifted his weight. He didn’t have time for Rynex’s philosophical nonsense. “I’m not interested in ghosts. I’m interested in the bounty on Vaelen Thorn’s head.”

Rynex smirked, his lip curling over sharp teeth. “Thorn’s dead already. You just haven’t figured it out yet.”

Kade shot him a look. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Rynex pointed toward the observation deck, where the starfield stretched infinitely. “Ambition, Karran. It’s the only thing keeping you chasing shadows. You think this is about a job, but it’s something deeper. You’re running from something—something you can’t face.”

Kade stiffened. Rynex had a way of hitting nerves he didn’t even know existed. But the mutant had a point. Vaelen Thorn, the one he’d hunted across five systems, was a name tied to his past—a dark reminder of a betrayal that had shattered his life.

“This isn’t about me,” Kade spat, though his heart said otherwise.

Rynex shrugged. “Tell yourself that while you can.”

Suddenly, the rig shook violently. Warning lights flashed, and a cacophony of alarms rang out. Kade grabbed a rail as the bay lurched, sending people crashing into walls and equipment.

“What’s happening?” Kade growled.

Rynex remained eerily calm, staring ahead. “The simulation’s breaking down.”

Kade blinked, not understanding. “What simulation?”

Rynex turned to him, and in that moment, his eyes gleamed with a knowing darkness. “You haven’t figured it out yet? This whole thing—this chase, this rig, everything—it’s not real. It never was.”

Kade’s mind raced. He tried to process what Rynex was saying, but it felt absurd. “What are you talking about?”

Rynex raised his arms, gesturing to the crumbling reality around them. “It’s a construct. A virtual cage, Karran. You, me—everyone here—we’re prisoners of our own ambition. You’ve been chasing a man who doesn’t exist. Your past is gone. Everything is.”

Kade’s pulse quickened as the walls began to flicker, revealing glitching voids behind them. The space-rig, the stars, the people—they all began to distort and dissolve into nothingness. He tried to draw his blaster, but even that was fading from his grip.

“No… this isn’t possible,” Kade muttered, backing away from Rynex.

“Possible?” Rynex laughed, a hollow, unsettling sound. “It was never about possibility. You’ve been living in a loop, Kade. Every time you think you’ve escaped, it just resets. You’re not a hunter—you’re the hunted. By your own ambition.”

As the final vestiges of the simulation faded, Kade’s mind reeled, grasping for reality. But there was none. The stars, the rig, even the ground beneath his feet dissolved into a cold, digital nothingness.

And then, only silence remained.

A cold voice—automated, detached—echoed in the void.

“Simulation terminated. Resetting.”

Kade’s eyes opened to the familiar sight of a blank white room. Strapped to a chair, wires and tubes fed into his body. He couldn’t remember how long it had been like this. How long he’d been chasing Vaelen Thorn, how many times he’d lived this nightmare.

But deep down, he knew one thing.

He’d never escape.

End.