Echoes Across the Stars

Chapter 11

  I kept wandering, trying to find bob by any means, the scenery is lookalike to Bob's dream. A desert like wasteland with ruins sometimes popping out of the sand which is in reality small grains of concrete debris. The everlasting monotony is killing me. From time to time I find some Kontu or even humans but still not bob, it's hard to tell humans apart sometimes but Bob told me the same about Kontus so I guess other species' members are harder to distinguish.

Sometimes I wonder if I've already been in a place, it looks all too similar, I can't use GPS as the SoE destroyed all satellites in orbit, bombarded earth to death of all alive and left after they understood it would be a waste of resources to keep earth.

The KCG put every human music they could find in this tank I am part of so sometimes I listen to it and I never realized how much and how different human languages were, no wonder the translator drone had an issue at first the first few time with Bob, I never knew what could happen by trying to communicate to a human but I never expected that my consciousness be downloaded into a tank as a gift for me and my human mate which we lived together for hundreds of year together. Thinking of it makes me happy.

Today I saw a bird flying, how did it survive the eucumenopolisation of earth and the devastating bombardment of the SoE, I played with it using my drone, it was fun, I haven't gotten fun for a long time already, maybe centuries, maybe millennia, my internal clock is not precise enough for that.

I start to wonder is it me or the moon seem to become smaller but that's not possible, maybe it's getting further, and with that I also noticed days getting longer. I still wander in the hopes of finding Bob as according to my readings nanobots are still made as not all are decayed.

I think I've learned every human languages there was in the database. How long did it take me? I haven't noticed the time pass.

I stopped finding snow and the air overhaul is hotter and the sun is brighter, how long have I been searching? And why am I logging these small details?

Today I encountered Greg, which was strange as I haven't met him beforehand after the attack of the SoE. We talked for a bit, he was surprised finding me in this a bit menacing form but most importantly he told me he has seen Bob wandering in a strange but less strange that when I saw him leave, he said that Bob talked which he couldn't when he left which is very promising, because even with my infinite love for him I probably wouldn't be able to spend much time with him, I don't want him to become my pet, I want him to live.

I am starting to see lakes or maybe even oceans forming, it's a strange feeling as they only taught it at school as they couldn't show it to us because of the time scale but I don't think they will last very long with the heat increasing if they taught me the life cycles of stars correctly which for now seem accurate.

Today I got bogged down which is the first time it happened to me after all this time, I was able to get out but what would I have done if I was stuck? Waiting for something to happen?

I just saw a fish walk onto land, is this evolution?

I got bogged down yet again but now I am completely stuck, what will I do?

I found what to do, listen to music and reading for the umpteenth time what is in the database.

I noticed my solar panel output diminishing after a storm, what will I do without power, what is the feeling of shutting down? I don't want to know that. I will go into energy economy mode in hopes I will last long enough for Bob to stumble onto me.

It worked! Bob found me, and he is alright except an amnesia (just like the dream), I don't remember what I did in his dream but sadly we didn't live billions of years together like in his dream before I lost him. I will keep quite about the past for now.

I asked Bob to use the shovel in the back to dig me out as we had no choice but to rely on each other because if he wanted to keep wandering while still having a guaranty to survive he would need me. It's so nice having him back.

We spend the next few weeks as if we were a newly wed couple like in those human stories, sadly the KGC didn't put many Kontu stories as there aren't many of them.

I finally got the courage to tell Bob what happened and he said I did feel familiar in my way of talking but in my professional expertise I can say it will take some time to recover.