Short Story
The sounds of clicks and tweaks played throughout the spire, men lived here.
But how?
Surely, it was near impossible. The spire was built with the intention of no humans being conscious, only machines.
“Far. Vā’. Lān.”
A man whispered in a corner of the spire where the light was just out of reach, each word having its own meaning entirely. The man was one of the last few alive on this planet, but he knew too well his own fate.
“Unit AA 140698 Planet 406B RMP” The man said, one of the few things he knew to say in its entirety. Metal and wires covered every inch of the planet, it wasn’t really a planet anymore. It was a machine of something long forgotten awaiting remembrance.
The man was almost forgotten with it as well, all he knew of his past was one word. But yet, he knew so much more.
“Zane.” He said to himself almost reassuringly, tears streaming down his face. The name was so simple, but it had so much meaning. And Zane hadn’t an idea of what it meant, but his sub-conscious seemed to remember.
The terminal flickered a bit, “No Signal Detected” it repeated back to him in an almost eerie synthetic voice.
“Unit AA 140698 Planet 406B RMP” Zane yelled back to it once again, Zane had an idea of what all of this meant. He knew that before the planet was turned to machine, he was put into a testing unit designed to create something capable of managing the entire planet. But it was all at a great cost, the minds of countless humans were transferred into data, and with it. His memories we’re half lost in the process.
“No Signal Detected” The terminal repeated back to him once more, Zane stood there. Nothing, he thought, nothing.
Through the vast amount of metal pipes flowing through the floors, a mechanical door opened behind Zane and the terminal.
The lights flickered throughout the room, the place was always malfunctioning. The door closed again, before finally opening once more, it was almost taunting Zane in a way. Zane gave in, he walked through the door and left the terminal. And behind the door lay an extremely open room, with a massive tunnel leading down to the planets core with several starship sized robotic arms reaching down to the center.
Zane looked at the landscape, dust filling his lungs from the room. A loud metal clang sounded from behind Zane, just the door again. He thought to himself.
Zane looked up, it was indeed sky above him. But he couldn’t see it, the planet sprawling around him and the horribly polluted sky blocked it all out.
A terminal next to Zane said different words, all Zane had ever heard from them was “Signal Not Detected” however this time; this time was different.
“Hello? This is the MSU Commander of Starlines Flight #43 responding.” A deep voice said in the terminal, he could hear other terminals in the distance repeating the same message in unison.
“Yess-thi-s-is-Hu-man” Zane said, he felt stupid saying it. He knew he was smarter, but his memory of speaking was horribly damaged.
“...Human? Conscious? On a RMP project? Nevermind, we’re coming to check in.” The man in the terminal said, “Get to docking bay A.#1 it’s the closest one to you. We will be in there in ten minutes, be ready or we’re-eaving.” It said again, parts of it covered in static.
A.#1 Zane thought to himself before darting towards the docking bay. Zane was lucky, he knew where it was. If he hadn’t, the MSU had no time for him.
In this strangely desolate landscape lay docking bay A.#1, a docking bay out of hundreds of thousands.
Zane arrived, he looked down on his arm. It was a small, black square embedded in his skin.
He scratched at it a bit, before finally stepping into the docking bay.
The docking bay was filled with two large space ship ports, designed for hauler class units. Zane looked up like he had before, it was sky above him except this time he could see it. The sights of a brown sky filled with pollution gazed upon Zane, and in that sky Flight #43 prepared for docking.
A little shaken by the sights of a ship, Zane took a few steps back. A door in front of the ship lowered down, one man walked out of it,
“Where’s your head supervisor, and why did they wake you up?” The man said, Zane realized it was the same man that had been talking in the terminal earlier.
Zane shook his head over and over, it was the only way he could tell them what had happened.
The man from the ship looked around the planet, “SRMP Planet 406B appears to be in a convoluted state. Further investigation required.” The man said to the computer upon which he weared on his wrist.
“Come on, get in Unit.” The man said to Zane. Zane walked towards the ship until he sprinted back due to the sounds of earth shattering collision shook the entire facility.
“Where is everyone? Why aren’t there any-” The man said, before breaking off his sentence due to another large collision shaking both of them, and the ship.
“Get in!” The man shouted, finally realizing the situation at hand here. Zane ran and got in the ship. He walked up the inclined plane that was the door to the ship, the man followed him and sat down in one of the seats inside. Zane sat down as well.
A very similar computer terminal in the ship broadcasted a message, “Awaiting Input”
“Go to the nearest MSU safe zone” The man said while buckling himself into the chair, he nodded at Zane to do the same. Zane followed, and shortly after the ship accelerated for liftoff.
“What happened down there?” The man asked, Zane just pointed at the computer terminal and shook his head. The man who had rescued Zane, nodded in understanding.
The End
