Chapter Two
The town looked much like it had when I had left it long ago. The occasional building had been turned to kindling though most of them still survived largely intact due to the heavy presence of brick, stone, and metal in their construction.
The ranger station was built even sturdier than the rest, being manufactured from concrete and metal long before my time.
There were solar panels upon it now, many of them turned towards the omnipresent sun that lingered high in the sky. The windows were also covered with blackout curtains and I noticed that the climate systems were churning at peak capacity, rumbling away loudly.
I approached the door and stood before it, feeling a strange embarrassment at my condition. I must've looked like a total wreck though such fears were soon squashed as I remembered that most humans that still lingered around probably looked like this as well.
After all, what was the point of beauty when there weren't other people around to appreciate it. In fact, humans were so rare that any of them would be considered beautiful based on raw scarcity alone.
The thought was enough to put me partially at ease.
``How do I even introduce myself?'' I asked aloud.
Thought obviously no one answered.
God, it had been eons since I last saw another human. How many lifetimes had it been since I had contact with someone else?
Well, there was no time like the present to meet someone new.
I knocked upon the door, feeling the hot metal broiling against my knuckles. It was impossibly warm, enough that it would've scorched flesh that was less resilient than my own.
Then I waited, loitering outside of the building and tapping my foot against the ground. The only sound that I heard was the creaks of a world that was being baked around me. Not even baked alive anymore as there wasn't even that much left alive to be cooked in the first place. It was like an oven that had been set to self-cleaning, scorching away the residue that still lingered behind.
Then there was movement as the door started to open, ripping me away from my depressive thoughts.
``Hello,'' I greeted, feeling a smile form upon my lips. It was wide, eager, and desperate in its quality.
The figure on the other side was covered in a dark robe that obscured any view of her. It made her look like the reaper with only two glowing eyes peering through the veil. Though these eyes were wide with surprise. She ushered me inside, shying away from the mighty star and the heat that came from it.
I obliged and stepped into her home.
Immediately, a cool air embraced me, cooler than any air that I had the privilege of enjoying in a very long time. It was air-conditioned air, artificial in nature. It was blissful, the air of a life that had long ago abandoned me.
In that moment of comfort, I longingly remembered life in apartments, life in a time where cities still existed. I remembered office work and retail shopping and going out for dinner and going clubbing and...
``Hello,'' the other figure said, knocking me right out of my nostalgia.
Her voice almost didn't sound real. I knew it was real, on a rational level, but it had been so long since my ears had heard anything but the final breaths of a world nearing its end. And as such, I was second guessing and wondering if this was just a complex mirage and my brain finally giving out on me with a cruel joke.
``Are you real?'' I asked.
Of course, she was but once more the shock of the encounter was enough to jar my mind away from a rational train of thought.
The woman chuckled. ``Am I?''
As my eyes adjusted to the room, I noticed that my companion drew away her black veil, placing it upon a coat rack. The first thing that I noticed about her was that she was also an immortal, much like myself, though of a different breed entirely. Where my flesh and cells had been augmented for eternal life, hers had been manufactured, made of alloys and plastics. She was an android though a beautiful one at that.
Still, her smile felt genuine, human, optimistic and happy. All emotions that felt as foreign as a human voice and the air-conditioning which now embraced my body.
``Where did you come from?'' the woman, Zara, her name was Zara, asked.
I blinked, ushering out towards the door. But then I knew what she meant. She was wondering where my endless voyage had taken me recently.
``The most recent city that I can remember is Chicago?'' I answered. ``But I think that was a couple years ago. I uh... the skyscrapers and all the glass make it too hot, even for someone like me.''
``You're immortal too?'' Zara asked.
The question felt silly. Who else could survive in a world like this? There weren't many mortals who could endure triple digit weather, even less who could handle it in Celsius.
She ushered for me to follow and I did, entering her living room. Everything inside looked ancient but it also looked like the interior of a home with all the fixtures that made a place hospitable. There were even a few potted plants that were being bathed in UV light.
I hadn't seen something that was living and green in a very long time. These plants almost seemed like they came from an alien world.
The couch looked inviting but these plants were more of a wonder, drawing my attention towards them.
Then I remembered that a question had been asked.
So, I looked at Zara and nodded. ``I am, yes. I uh... I was one of the last generations they managed to work through before shit hit the fan.''
Zara snorted and held out a robotic hand, giving it a roll through the air. ``I was one of the first, if you couldn't tell.''
I actually chuckled at that, shaking my head. ``I might've picked up on that, yeah.''
``Can I get you anything to drink?'' Zara asked. ``I have water...''
Water...
My chapped mouth felt even drier at the mention of such a thing. Thirst was a factor that had once nearly driven me insane but was now just another familiar companion in my endless life.
``Yes please,'' I whispered.
And with that Zara was gone.
I turned my attention towards the couch and sat down upon it. There was a layer of dust upon the coffee table before me, making me realize that it had probably been a very long time since it had last been used.
The air in here smelt stale, old, filled with memories though none that I had the privilege of being able to recall.
A few seconds later Zara returned, holding out a bottle of water.
I took it from her, my hands trembling as I felt the moisture of condensation against my weathered fingers. The droplets felt legitimately cold, caressing flesh that had been cracked and calloused from years out in that wasteland.
As I drank the water, I felt so many emotions come to a head though disbelief was centre most. How could a place like this exist? How could a few square metres of paradise still cling on in this hellscape of a planet.
``What brought you to this neck of the woods?'' Zara asked.
I swallowed the last of the water before placing the bottle down. ``Wandering, I suppose. Never had anything keeping me rooted in one place for too long and thought maybe there was something better waiting for me down the road.'' I snorted. ``It might've taken me a couple thousand years but hey... I finally found something.''
``As far as I can tell this is the last little bastion of humanity left,'' Zara replied.
Her tone felt somber and I knew that I was not the only one dealing with the years of isolation.
We both let the silence linger. We probably let it linger far longer than we should've.
``What did you do before things fell apart?'' I asked.
Zara moved over to a chair opposite of me and took a seat.
She hummed. ``I worked for NASA.''
``NASA...'' I whistled. ``Sounds like a pretty serious gig.''
She nodded. ``We were desperately trying to throw together some sort of mission to get people off of this rock before it cooked. Not that we really had any luck in that endeavour.''
``I thought we got missions off to Mars, Europa, and Titan,'' I replied.
``We did but we stopped hearing back from them after a couple of years,'' Zara answered, looking gravely serious as she intently studied her hands. ``Colonization takes a lot more preparation than whatever escape plan we threw together in a rush.''
``Jesus,'' I grumbled.
I don't know why but this fact filled me with dread. I should've been used to the idea that humanity was fucked but I remember feeling some semblance of hope when those missions had been in the news. Sure, Earth was doomed but maybe humanity wasn't.
``How about you?'' Zara asked.
I glanced at her and then at the bookshelf. ``Worked in senior management for some sort of tech firm. I can't really remember which one anymore. Not that it matters...'' I snorted and shook my head. ``All I know is it gave me enough money to put myself on the waitlist for my augmentation before the whole system collapsed.''
``Strange to think about how much money mattered until suddenly it didn't,'' Zara quipped.
I nodded. ``Something, something, drain all the rivers, cut down all the forests, and then try and eat money.''
Zara didn't say anything and instead continued to look down at her hands. She let out a heavy sigh though still her silence prevailed.
``Sorry I uh...'' she chuckled. ``I think I've forgotten how to speak with other humans.''
I smirked. ``Then you're in sympathetic company.''
Zara actually smiled at that and managed to get back to her feet. She then motioned for me to follow.
``How about I give you the tour?'' she asked.
I didn't want to stand but I felt obliged to do so, feeling my ancient but immortal joints crack with every inch I rose.
``Lead the way,'' I said.
Zara did, taking me out of the living room and back into the entryway.
Our first stop was the kitchen, which looked like it was in a similar state of disuse with most of the surfaces also being covered in dust. There were a few more potted plants in here, as well, all given life by various UV lights. This very well could've been the last bit of greenery left on our entire planet for all I knew.
I recognized a few of the species as herbs though as I looked towards the pantry, the interior seemed barren.
Alas, hunger was so common that I no longer felt misery at having to endure it.
``Kitchen,'' Zara said before frowning. ``Unfortunately, it had already been picked clean before I even got here. Not that I'd... really trust any canned goods that are a couple thousand years old... but still.''
I simply nodded.
``I am trying my hand at gardening,'' Zara explained. ``Found a few uncompromised seed caches that I managed to locate up in the arctic.''
``You travelled too?'' I asked.
Zara nodded. ``Before the oceans were completely gone, I thought I'd take the chance. It felt eerie walking through the streets of Berlin and Paris with not a single soul around but it was worth it to see them one last time.''
She motioned towards the fridge and I noticed there were a few weathered postcards attached to it by magnets. They covered all the popular locations in the old world with cities in Asia, Europe, and Africa represented.
``I wish I would've done something like that,'' I quipped. ``Though without any water, I'd imagine that traversing the ocean floor would be... problematic.''
Zara shrugged. ``Nothing that immortals couldn't manage with enough time and effort.''
She motioned for me to continue the tour and so we did. The next few rooms were all dedicated to bedrooms, all of which were utterly barren except for one. This one must've been Zara's with a few posters hung up on the walls. They were from an assortment of movies and bands that I had not heard of in a very long time.
There was also a massive computer set up with multiple monitors running. The largest of these monitors was dominated by an image of the sun. Though I soon realized it wasn't an image as it broiled with movement.
Zara seemed to notice where my gaze lingered. ``Not really a whole lot I can do to pass the time but keep an eye on the sun.'' She sighed. ``I managed to scavenge a few sensors from a nearby research station at the local university.''
``Are they telling you anything interesting?'' I asked.
Zara shrugged. ``Nothing that we don't already know. The sun is rapidly aging and we don't really understand why. It's already pushing well into its red giant phase and I don't know how much longer it has left at this rate. It could burn out in a billion years, a million years, or tomorrow for all I know.''
``And what happens if it burns out?'' I asked, moving towards the computer.
``Probably a pulsar burst of radiation that will utterly obliterate our entire solar system,'' Zara answered, letting out a grim chuckle. ``Wonder if that will finally be enough to wipe us off the face of the Earth once and for all.''
``One can only hope,'' I replied.
We looked at each other and shared a laugh at such a grisly line of thinking. It would seem that neither of us were very fond of the idea of remaining immortal any longer.
``I hope it happens a little sooner than a million years from now,'' I said. ``I'm kind of hoping that I'm gone before I even get close to my ten thousandth birthday.''
``A million years would be...'' Zara shook her head. ``It's an impossible amount of time to even process if I'm going to be honest. That's like....'' She hummed. ``I think a million years ago, Homo Sapien might've been around but was probably contending with Homo Erectus at that point.'' She glanced at me. ``Though I'd imagine some other cosmic event will deal with us first. My money is on a gnarly solar flare coming out and just annihilating us in the blink of an eye.''
She made her way over to her bed and plopped down upon it. As she sat there, she reached for a cord on the wall and plugged it into herself, sighing in relief as electricity entered her body.
``When I was a kid there was this cartoon that took place in the year one million,'' Zara said before humming. ``Or was it an anime?''
I took a seat at her computer, watching the sun roiling upon the screen. Bands of oranges and reds lashed out at the heavens, sending geysers of burning plasma outwards in every direction imaginable. It was beautiful to watch in a way, gorgeous to witness the pure destruction of matter. It was a shame that such beauty came at the cost of everything that had once made this world special.
I drew in a breath and let it out slowly.
``It was a cartoon,'' Zara finally concluded, snapping her fingers and looking at me, clearly remembering her own conundrum. ``It was definitely a cartoon.''
``The show that took place a million years in the future?'' I asked.
Zara nodded. ``Was about these like space adventurers who saved aliens species and stuff. I think it was kind of fun if I remember correctly.'' She sighed. ``Kind of hard to parse any coherent memories when I've had to compress data so much in order to make room for more.''
Ah right, the earliest immortals didn't have brains but instead had to contend with storage space like a computer.
Zara closed her eyes and a contented smile formed upon her lips. ``I'm just glad that I've gotten to meet another human before the end.''
I nodded. ``Same.''
``I knew the end of the world was going to suck but...'' Zara sighed. ``I just didn't expect it to feel so lonely.''
