The forgotten code

Alex rushed back to their apartment, their head spinning. The laptop was still where they had left it, the screen glowing faintly in the dim room. They dropped their keys on the counter and stared at the single word at the top of the screen:

**ORION.**

"What are you?" Alex whispered.

They sat down, hesitating before touching the keyboard. The program seemed alive, as if it had been waiting for them. Tentatively, they tapped a key. The green text resumed its steady stream of code, but this time it paused on another message:

Alex leaned in closer, fingers hovering over the keys. "What am I even supposed to ask?" they muttered. After a moment, they typed:

**What is Orion?**

The screen blinked, and for a moment, Alex thought the program might crash. But then a response appeared, simple yet cryptic:

**PREDICTIVE ALGORITHM. PROTOTYPE.**

Predictive algorithm? Alex frowned. They'd heard of programs to sift through data and determine trends, but this felt. different. "Predict what?" they asked aloud, their fingers flying across the laptop.

The response came almost immediately.

**EVENTS. ANOMALIES. ACTIONS.**

"Yes, that clears things right up," Alex said in their driest tone, but before they could question again, the program chattered on:

**NEW PREDICTION: FIRE IN APARTMENT COMPLEX, 9:15 PM.**

Alex's stomach fell. The time on the screen read 8:47 PM. They glanced around their tiny apartment, and the realization hit them like a punch to the gut.

"This complex?" they asked, their voice shaking.

The cursor blinked, as if it were thinking. Then the word appeared:

**CONFIRMED.

Panic set in. Alex got their phone and dialed 911, speaking haltingly as they reported a possible fire hazard. The operator asked questions Alex didn't know how to answer-how they knew, what evidence they had-but eventually promised to dispatch a unit to check.

By 9:12 PM, Alex was standing on the street with the rest of the building's tenants, all of them confused and annoyed. Firefighters were inspecting the premises when the smell of smoke filled the air.

A short circuit in the basement had ignited a pile of old newspapers. The fire was small, easily contained, but it would've spread if left unnoticed.

As the crowd murmured in shock, Alex gazed at the glowing windows of their apartment, laptop waiting inside.

Whatever *Orion* was, it wasn't a coincidence.