Dear Dreamer of Tomorrow

The Letter in Petra's hand was soaked. Not with rain or puddle, this particular letter had a distinct scent of freshly spilled coffee.

"Please tell me this is a joke," Petra whispered, holding the damp and look at it with her lips trembled. The coffee stain had spread blurring the ink in one corner. "Don't tell me that I'm gonna get fired on the second day of my job."

"Would you like me to notify this to the headquarters?" Her AI guide chimed on her watch, sounding far too cheerful for the situation. "I'm sure they'd love to know that you accidentally spilled an entire future-coffee on a letter for the past."

Petra gave the guide a look. "Listen, it was an accident. I didn't meant to."

"Hmm. Your report does indicate that you ordered the Double Espresso Mocha. You should know that ordering caffeinated drinks near important documents is not recommended."

Petra sighed, shifting the damp envelope between her fingers. "Look, can we just deliver this and pretend it never happened? Maybe they'll think coffee was a thing back in 1561?"

"Highly unlikely"

She groaned. "All right, what do we do? I can't go back and request a new hand written letter. Who even want their letter to be send far back to 1561?"

A long paused between Petra and her AI guide.

"Perhaps hand it over and say nothing?" Her AI offered, even without a clear emotion from it programmed voice tone, it managed to sound mischievous. "We live in a time where anything is possible with technologies, I am sure they can fix it."

Petra give a smile of relief and tucking the letter back into her bag. "Alright, K.K, now you're talking." She stand up and prepared herself to EchoLink headquarters.

As Petra walked through the city towards headquarters, the future unfolded around her. Buildings stretched upward, sleek and silver, then suddenly appear hologram billboards on the wall of the building, showcasing a new AI model with full body and only job is to do everything that the owner asked them to.

"Don't ever think about it." K.K, her AI guide on a watch voiced it personal complain with Petra.

The street was a blur of neon and movement, lined with towering digital billboards flickering not only ads but a video of a latest release of a group of idols and interview of a famous people right now.

Petra continue to run her way towards the headquarters when she accidentally bump into one of the construction robot. She looked up, startled at a humanoid robot almost towering her.

"Pardon for her clumsiness," Said the AI to the robot. The robot gesture it hand showing that it doesn't mind at all and continue with it works alongside other robots.
"Estimated time to arrival, 13 minutes" K.K announced. "And you are schedule to check in..... nine minutes ago."

"I know," She lift her feet up and her fingers tapped a small panel on the side of her shoes and with a gentle whir, the shoes lifting her a few inches off the ground. She wobbled for a second, still getting used to the added speed.
She seem to be in the same speed as the flying board today kids use as a transport

Above, she caught sight of her destination. The towering HQ building that is angular architecture marked by the company's signature emblem which is a stylized clock hand pointing to all twelve hours at once, symbolizing their "all times, all places" service.

One of the receptionist look at the hologram bar that appear notified only a letter to 1561 has not be delivered yet.

"Where is that newbie?" Leo, another receptionist asked when he also received the notification.

Suddenly the door slide open in front of them, Petra running towards the reception counter.
"Definitely not in time." Leo sigh. "You are late."

Just as Petra caught her breath, her watch chimed with a new assignment: the year 1561. "Wait!" she exclaimed, startling the receptionist behind the counter. She reached into her bag and pulled out the letter she’d meant to deliver, now with a telltale coffee stain. Feeling guilty, Petra lowered her head, hoping no one would connect the stain to her. But as she stood there awkwardly, it was obvious they’d already guessed.A few minutes later, she found herself alone on the skybridge, which connected to the other building where letters were managed and restored. The building she’d just left was more of a customer service hub, the entry point for letters destined to travel across time.

A woman walk towards her with the sound of her hills on every step.

"Petra J, right?" A woman call out to her in a soft well manner tone.

"Yes, that's me." Petra replied nervously.

The woman laugh. "Don't be so nervous. My name is Leia, Remember me?"

Petra smile blankly while blinking in confusion. "Of course I do-"
"She's don't." Suddenly she got cut off by her AI guide.
"K.K, shut up!" She cover the watch on her wrist and continue with a laugh. "I don't know what he talking about,"

"A quite unreliable partner you got," She bend down to Petra's hand length looking at the watch. "Hello there K.K."

"Nice to see you again Miss Leia." Replied the AI. Then Leia look at the girl. "We met on the first day you were here last week, remember?"

She takes a moment to think then it finally come to her. "I remember now! You are the woman that gave K.K to me back then."

"I think it was my fault not properly introduce myself that time," She continues. "Now... About the damaged letter,"

She tells Petra that the letter have been fixed by putting in a time chamber where it back to how it was before the coffee stain it. Unfortunately, Petra is not going to be the one that will deliver that letter because she have breaking the rules of not sending the letter on time that she supposed to and damaged the letter.

"Another courier already deliver the letter."  Leia said.

"I truly sorry," Petra respond.

"Do not worry, because the manager got a new task for you."

Petra lift her head with curiosity. 

They crossed the skybridge into another building, one Petra had visited on her first day but still found mesmerizing. It combined futuristic technology with an old-world charm that nodded to its unique purpose.

In the central hall, employees bustled past, carrying boxes filled with letters destined for the temporal sorting room. The walls were lined with portraits of historical figures like Cleopatra, Marie Curie, and Nikola Tesla, each depicted holding a letter, as if they too had once been touched by EchoLink. Above, a giant, rotating hologram of a vintage clock displayed not only the current year, 2104, but also times across various eras. As they walked by, the clock flickered from 1896 to 2036, a constant reminder of time's fluidity in this place.

They arrived at the temporal sorting room, where letters were scanned and encoded with temporal coordinates. Shelves lined with envelopes sorted by era, from Ancient Rome to futuristic city-states, surrounded them. Here, they met the current manager of EchoLink.

"Mister Patrick." Leia called.

Patrick, a young man in his 30s that earlier was doing his job observe the company as other employees turn to her for advice and information. He turn back with a smile. "There you are."

He walks to Petra and Leia back off return to her job leaving Patrick and the girl. Patrick was rather a laid back man so he always straight to the point. Over time, he doesn't realize that he act like a father to most of the young employees here.

He reach to his pocket and pull out a letter hand it to Petra. "Here."

"Eh?" She reach the letter with confusion written on her face.

"This letter are from my friend, he asked me to give this to one of the courier for delivery, the address and time of the letter already be sent to you." He turn to the girl's watch. "Isn't K.K?"

"Data transfer successfully."

"Alright, you can do this. Good luck Petra." He wave his hand as he walk away not leaving any more information.

"That man... He always so relax, I bet he always sleep when in his office." Petra said while holding her watch looking at the place she was task to send the letter to.
"2089? It's not really long ago..." She sigh. "But i really want to travel to far past."

She pressed the screen of the watch.

Ding Dong

A boy step towards the door when hearing the door bell to see a girl with bright smile handing her some kind of letter. "A letter from another time for.... Nicholas Brown."

"That's me! A letter for me?"
"Yes." Petra said as the boy take the letter. Not expected a boy his age to receive any letter.

The watch on her hand flicker a notified saying 'DELIVERED' which mean her job there is done.

"This is too easy," She said at the time she walk away from the boy's house.
"Careful what you wish for." Said K.K.

"Who is it?" The mother ask the boy from the kitchen.
"Postal girl." He looks at the letter curious. Then he rip open the envelope and read the letter written.

Dear Dreamer of  Tomorrow,

The future is as wild and wonderful as you hope. There’ll be surprises you can’t imagine and challenges you’ll grow through. Some dreams may shift, but they’ll lead you to new ones, ones that feel even better.
Keep dreaming, keep moving forward. There’s a whole world waiting, and trust me, you’re going to love it.

Yours truly,
Someone who got there

The boy grinned with excitement with his eyes shine widely. Cannot wait for the upcoming future.

"Actually... no matter who or where the letter goes, I’ll cherish it," Petra said with a smile as she pressed the delivery confirmation on her watch, setting the return sequence to her original time. "The people who write these letters pour their hearts into them, hoping they reach the right person." She thought back, smiling at the boy’s excitement when he received his letter. "I wonder who else I’ll meet along the way." Then what feels like wind passed her, an envelope flew on her sight then disappeared when she turn to focus on it.

"Maybe just my imagination..."

Back at HQ, the manager lifted his sleep mask to peer out of one eye as he received the update. 

“She made the delivery?” Patrick asked, though a smile crossed his face after a second. "Of course she did.” He lay back, trusting her abilities as he had from the beginning.