“I thought the end would be cold, dark and unforgiving. But as we stand here on December the 20th, 5000841, the sun is about to explode at any moment. The rich and powerful have left in hundreds, leaving billions of us, standing strong, ready to die. I have lost all hope like other people who are accepting death, like an old friend seconds from knocking on the door. A handful of people still have hope though, refusing death, blinded by grief. They have built bunkers out of the thickest material that will shatter like the thinnest glass when the time comes. Others have committed suicide, scared of death’s pain. They are cowards. I don’t entirely blame them though, entrapped in advertising of the suicide booths that have come up in the last few months or so. The robots that we work with, play with and welcome as our own are wandering around, saying goodbye to their human friends. They will not die like the rest of us. Their artificial bodies will survive the intense heat that will end our world. They will carry on when we leave. Thinking of those stiff necks who left at the beginning of the year sends the last sense of sanity thrashing out of me, only held by the thinnest thread of my love for my family. They left us here to die. As much as your mind does not want to hear it, it is that simple. And now, as I am kissing my loved ones goodbye, promising my children it will not hurt, everybody stands up and holds hands. United as one. Together. The heat entraps me, the ball of fire growing larger and closer. An uncontrollable force filling the darkness with unwanted light.
Creating a Midnight Sun.”
* * *
As the television cuts out, people all over the ‘Survivor’ stand in silence. They cannot bear the footage from the mind-cam, a special device created for this very moment. When we, the richest and most powerful humans watch and listen to the thoughts and visions of the people still left on Earth. All of us are processing the millions of thoughts through our head to give one final answer.The end of the world. We have just left billions of humans and all of the robots on Earth to die, whilst we watch swirling cocktails in our hands. We all board into our sleep capsuals so we can fall into synthetic sleep, for a thousand years till the time that we take our descent back to the rubble of earth to fabricate a new civilization. The perfect utopia.
The lights turn on and the pristine white domes lift to a small army of sleeping people, my eyes open but retreat again at the bright light. The ship’s doctor goes around one by one and assesses any problems, he tells me to do a simple exercise to wake up my brain. I start with something succinct but repetitive about myself and then go onto harder things. “My name is Gleveland Glancen. I am 23 years old. I am the world’s youngest billionaire. I have been in a coma for a thousand years. The world has blown up and I have survived due to my wealth. I don’t know what to think, is it... no... Was it a good idea to leave everyone behind, to the extent they were trapped in the force field around Earth that prevented their escape, so that we could live as a perfect civilisation?” My head is spinning and I fall into a brittle clump on the floor covered in the ice cold sweat invented by my unlit dreams.
I awake, again, some hours later, the ship is preparing for a hyper jump and I have been placed in my travelling seat by a Beamer, an object that can move the heaviest objects with the convenient flick of a switch. I stare around at our perfect white plastic and flawless glass ship. People in the past have always thought that the future would be so high tech and convenient, but the years of war have brought that dream down from its cloud expeditiously. As we travel into our solar system my eyes have not expected this. A massive silver sphere plugs every window on the ship. As soon as I see the way that the sphere is built I know who it is, others realise it too but Octivia, one prized for her brains, lets the words creep out first. “Robots”
Before we know it a Beamer catches our ship. A hole opens up in the sphere, sucking in all the light as well as us. The doors close behind us, everyone is silent. Watching. Waiting. Light suddenly floods the room, their faces appear staring into our window directly at our hearts. Behind their faces drowned in anger I can see grief, remorse, regret. But still overpowering their mechanical confusion is the force that overpowers all minds alike. Revenge. We know this is the final end as their faces break into wide, artificial smiles.
