*****
We reached light, as an iron door welcomed us. Beth was surprised to see electricity still working. She wondered on the possibilities that the shelter had inside. She skipped about the hall as I could imagine she being a kid in another time. From before all this madness happened.
‘Bi…Bio…Haz?’ she read a sign out loud, ‘Sarah, what does this say?’
‘It’s a welcome sign, Beth. To welcome you home’
I opened up a panel and entered a pin code. The iron door rumbled and shook before opening before us.
‘Welcome back, Sarah’ a voice called
‘Was that someone?’ Beth asked
‘Yes’ I nodded
I led her down a hall of pipes and circuits. We reached a descending spiral of stairs and wires. All the while, she kept asking me where everyone was. I ignored her. It was almost time.
At the bottom, we reached another door. I opened it, and revealed a room dimly lit.
‘We have to clean ourselves up first,’ I told her, ‘We can’t meet the other until we get rid of all the poison’
‘The radiation poison?’ she asked
‘Yeah’
She stepped in as I told her to undress. Her small figure was revealed after rags and clothes fell to the floor. I could finally see how young she was, as I turned away to hide my shaking knees.
‘What now Sarah? …Sarah?’
The door closed as I heard the sounds of a child crying my name over and over. Those weak arms of hers banged against the door, thundering louder than my heart could take. I covered my ears as the screams and banging slipped into my mind. I was crying, as I felt fire run down my cheeks. Finally there was silence.
The first time, I felt peace within that silence. Now it only made me despair more. I knew they were gone now. And finally it would speak.
‘Analysis completed. Human genome sequence damage at 87%. New data at 2.8796%. Current data base at 96.7543%’
I looked up as a monitor lowered before the door.
‘I’m sorry, Sarah’ the voice spoke, ‘We still do not have enough data. Please bring another subject’
‘No more,’ I cried, ‘I can’t do this anymore’
‘But Sarah, do you not wish to free him anymore?’
I cried in silence as the monitor awaited my reply
‘How many more do I need?’ I finally asked
‘Estimated range of 12 more. Optimum age at 16 years old. Radiation damage would be too severe on genome sequence above this age. We need to carry on, Sarah’
‘Can’t you let him go now? Don’t you have enough yet, you monster?’
‘I’m sorry, Sarah. I can’t do that. Your brother was chosen because he had the most intact genome sequence. If you wish to free him, you must give an equivalent trade’
‘Can I see her… Beth?’
‘You can’
The door opened, and I walked through. I could see the dark spots of iron where her tears fell. From the other side, another opened and revealed the harvest I had prepared.
I walked over to the newest tube as the blue gel reflected the colour of my blood.
‘She’s in no pain, Sarah’ the voice called, ‘The distress she felt was soon calmed when I flooded the chamber with anesthetic. She will remain in cryogenic sleep until I am ready to rebuild humanity’
‘You know that won’t ever happen’ I said coldly
‘There is a possibility’
‘I’m sorry, Beth. Sleep now. You deserve it’
‘Sarah, I have detected five possible subjects within the area’
‘Ok’ I nodded
Out in the snow, I guided another lost soul. I lied and told them about a shelter. I gave them false hope. And as I looked up into the sky, I wondered why the Sun didn’t just die already? Why it felt the need to drag its feet and make us suffer like this?
Deep down inside, I think the computer knew humanity was doomed, but like me, it had a mission. All I wanted was to give my brother a life. All it wanted was to save this planet’s life. And together, we collected up more humans for our genome bibliography.
###
About the author
“Hi, thanks for reading. Got this idea when I swapped a warm drink for a cold drink. Lit a fire in my heart, and thus this little read came out. I hope you enjoyed it!
I feel a lot like Sarah, in that I try to keep people out of my heart. It feels better that way, no heartbreaks or betrayal. But I realised that was wrong, and that I was a robot that way. So in that sense, Sarah was more of a machine than the computer. In the end, I need to feel those heartbreaks and betrayals. Because I am human”
For those who are tragically obsessed, Nobo13 was born 1987 in Cambridgeshire. He spent four years doing a Physics degree but spend most of the time doodling and writing. Currently he is somewhat of a teacher.
Nobo13’s pen name is derived from using his surname, just look above! His more unusual hobbies are collecting headphones, yoyos, staring aimlessly out the window (which consumes much of his time) and messing about with musical instruments- at the moment these are ocarinas and ukuleles.
Please check out my website and my other works, thanks for reading!
More from this author
I currently have a poetry book, two short story book- that only use 50 words in each story, and a children’s sci-fi book that are available from the following links:
The Man in the Desert:
Lost in the Painting
Fixing Broken Promises
The Empty Necklace
Time left over
You can also search ‘nobo13’ in the iBooks store!
Be sure to check my website every now and then for news and updates!
Connect with me online
My website: https://www.wix.com/nobo13/nobo13
My blog: https://nobo13.wordpress.com/
My Twitter page: https://twitter.com/#!/lazynobo13
My Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/nobo13
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