Yzabel / September 2, 2005

[Last installment of this story. Read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.]First came the terror, the terror at seeing how Ewell was wiped off the surface of the planet in a matter of minutes, after the first and last use of the A-M bomb prototype. No more shiny cristal cities, no more communications, no more Rims nor Kellens, no more floating islands in the sky of the main land, architectural and technical wizardry meant to create additional space in a once overpopulated country. Varsa’s government itself started to panick, when every satellite liaison broadcast showed the world what was now left of a whole continent.Second came the Flood, the sudden void created in the middle of the ocean causing the waters to subside first, then rise. When they finally retreated again, finding a new, fragile balance, the face of the world was never to be the same again.In the end, caught in the chain of events that had boiled for decades only to culminate without any point of turning-back, the lead countries and their allies annihilated themselves in a last display of raw, brutal strength.For weeks now, the vast city had been drifting above the surface of their world, deprived from its roots, forever enclosed within a screen of self-replicating nanites programmed to maintain the protection field around the research city. They didn’t know yet how they would survive for more than a few years, once all supplies, biological as well as artificial, would have run out. Shell’Annan was already directing a whole team onto improving their hydroponic farms. Nee’Ama kept production going at full capacity, their survival now depending on how long they’d be able to keep the city flying; there couldn’t go back to what was left of the continents and their poisoned soils. Vell’An himself was taking an active part in the operations, preparing and leading a team on the surface, after further testing had confirmed that the lab protection suits would be enough to shield their bodies from the fallout. He would still act rather grudginly most of the time, yet he knew that none of them had much choice. There was no point in fighting for a country or a government that didn’t exist anymore.When he met up with the Chief Engineer, the officer’s voice didn’t betray any feelings.”We didn’t find anyone, only corpses. Dead for about three weeks.— The radiations?— Looks like it.” Vell’An tossed the recording instruments at him, letting him see by himself the results of his investigation. After so many nuclear strikes on both continents, it would take centuries before survivors could grow a proper civilization again.Were there any survivors? Was there even any civilization worth restoring?”We need to find other sources of energy”, Vall’Eran said after a long moment of silence, gazing at the artificial sky displayed by the protection dome, the sky that would forever remain blue above their heads.”Try the mines in Estria or Arrinin, if they still exist. You can rely on your nano-tech as much as you want, if the ‘bots run out of matter to work with, we’re all dead, right?— Right. Maybe we’ll find other survivors, too.”Vell’An shrugged, and the expression in his eyes didn’t change. Was he experiencing the same terrible feeling of loneliness, or simply carrying on his job as he had likely always done? Eran would probably never know. Only one thing was sure now: they were the last ones of their breed, and if the humans had perished too, they would just be that, without any more distinction.Once upon a time, they had discovered the secret of nano-technology, and dreamt of using it for the sake of humanity. Once upon a time, the world had gone mad, and ended its own role in the everlasting cycle of nature. Surviving this was the most daunting task they had ever faced. Surviving it alone was so overwhelming that the engineer simply refused to think of it.Far, far away under his feet, under the artificial ground filled with humming machinery, under the protective field and the metallic tail, under the rustle of life in the laboratories and housing areas, the desolated wasteland only spoke of the world that once had been, never of the world that could be again.

©Yzabel 2005