Last written journal

By Teodor Mihalcea

Hey…if you can read this…it means that reading hasn’t become extinct yet, who knows,
maybe reading is known widely again. Maybe it’s even taught in a mandatory educational
system. I don’t know but, I don’t think so, both of those are long gone even now, reading and
education… Here, before the…second big war, I guess I could call it, reading was almost extinct.
Even the old ones had forgotten how to read, not being able to exercise it. Not willing to exercise
it. And don’t think it was forbidden or something, I don’t know what they’re telling you about
our history, but is important to know, we didn’t want to read. I don’t even want to talk about
writing, that being what I’m doing now. Writing is something long forgotten in our time, by
absolutely everyone else. Words, letters, numbers, we don’t see them anymore, because we
chose not to. I…

I want this to be the utmost most important record on our history, today, last day of
August, August 101, I state the following. It was no one’s mistake for this ending, no one’s fault.
But ours. We fucked us.

But let’s come back to how reading is gone, simple, 3D Images and GIF’s are leading
communication and storytelling since, a few centuries. And of course…the shots. The best way
to administer yourself a story. Neural shot of memory, point it to the back of the head and press
the button. And in an instant, you can live all the memories a person has in their life, in an
instant…did I say in an instant? Centuries of information, in less than a second…
Oh and how I hate those commercials, those syringes of stories, those devices that
dehumanize a story. Dehumanize art! Everybody says that is better than heroin, that I should try
it. I’ll never try it! I like words, numbers and sometimes, a good old movie, when not every
scene had to be so complicated and full of hidden meanings and symbols.
But I may be biased, I am one of the last art lovers, and fucking one of the oldest
humans…too old, and, was…an art lover. Yeah, like I said, I don’t know how far in the future
you are, reader, but let me get to it, let me tell you the real history and the real story of the
second big war.

40 July 2922 - Europa. Lowest polluting country on the planet. We are the third country as
power in the world. Being that the Americas is on first place, and Asia is on second. We lost
contact with Australia almost a century ago in what was, the first big war. Let me put this
straight so we have no problems from the beginning.
About 4 centuries ago, America made a pact with us, that being that if we, Europa, would
not do efforts to get our emissions low, so that the global temperature would go down by 2°
every century, and by 10° until 3000… We would face total extinction for the greater good of
the planet and its inhabitants.
Same deal got Australia about the same time with us. A century ago, we were contacted by
their government. They were under attack, few days later, contact was impossible to be made
again with them. Then our sensors picked up multiple dirty explosions coming from Australia.
They got totally wiped out for the greater good of this planet, and its inhabitants.
The nuclear explosions in Australia turned the island into an uninhabited tundra. And the
world temperature got down by several degrees, but it was not enough. We heard nothing from
them ever since, I mean, from the Americans. We fought harder to lower our emissions to a step
where we only had to counter our own CO2 pollution. Our breathing. It was the last thing that
polluted anymore. And we managed even that. And with all the shields protecting America and
Asia, we still got our reads on them, and we were the lowest polluting country. We did it.
Yet 44 years later, in 2966, in the middle of August, war started.

01 August 2966 - Europa - Day 0…

No. Let me first start with the beginning. It seems like, somehow, I can live a little longer
without air…you’ll understand soon enough what I mean. So, anyway, let me start with the
beginning.
My name is Lai, and I’m half old-Chinese half new-European. I was born…made in Asia.
Constructed genetically to have faster neuro-connections so I could connect with A.I. algorithms
and modify code live. People called us hybrids, but we are simple humans, the only difference
being that our brain works faster, in order to be able to sync with an A.I. interface.
After my final settings were done, I was shipped to the Americas, 2378 was the year when
I arrived, and my biological age was 4. I remember everything from that day, the day my brain
was turned on to its maximum potential. In the Americas, I received a training. I was taught how
to be able to control, upgrade, and keep maintaining the robots that will be sent to Australia and
Europa. Then to be sent with the robots and four other engineers like me to one of the two
continents.
These robots, AC-01 is their version name, but the Americans just called them, Animal
Control. Their scope, to keep in check the wildlife and the environment. And to provide the
means to a new, better industry so that CO2 emissions would go lower. These robots would
come to Europa with the technology that the Americas has, and design and construct all these
new devices to make the Europeans life easier. In short, make them become slaves to technology
by providing everything they need, even every desire.
Nobody in Europa would have to work again after this new technology advancement, and
that was also the downside. And of course all that they had in materials and resources were to be
transported to the Americas.
The Americans and the Europeans talked and negotiated about the terms of the new pact,
but there was no place for changes. So the Europeans postponed the negotiations. Then, when we
reached the age of 20, we were introduced in the immortality project. A project that was at the
beginnings back then, and the only beneficiaries of that would be the most rich and most
influential people, and also the heads of state. That being from that very moment, the Americas
haven’t changed one member of the heads of state.
That was also offered at the table of negotiations, years later when they’ve opened the
negotiations again. The rich and powerful people started to put pressure on the European nobles
to accept the trade. But it still ended with the negotiations being postponed. Being afraid to say
no to such offer, and also being afraid of the people, which at the time where heavily protesting,
the leaders of Europa would again postpone negotiations, every time not being able to say no or
yes.
In all this time, we, being immortal, learned everything in order to understand and control
the AC-01’s, and then went on vacation. For more than 100 years. Most of us learned new
things, and found passions. But with this much free time, where we don’t need to do anything in
order to get food or money or whatever we want, we learned all the passions and hobbies
existing in this world. Even learning old languages forgotten for thousands of years. We read
about everything we could, we watched every bit of picture, photo, video that ever existed. And
still got bored.
I myself, started a more heavy task, reading every book ever written, and it was easy, the
old world archives where at our disposal. The old world, huh, I’ve read about its rise and fall. A
new world, of connected people, connected states and countries. Mutual help, alliances and
sharing, and so many things that lead to creating the world library, now known as the old world
archives. And just a few centuries ago, they fucked each other and separated. Leading to the 4,
factions I could call them, that are now, the Americans, the Europeans, the Asians and the
Australians.
Anyway, the Americans discovered immortality, distributed it among the wealthiest, and
then released it to the public, and the population became instantly more lazy. When all jobs
except the Engineering ones gone extinct, even the creative ones, the leaders created new ways
to keep the competitiveness alive among humans. A ranking system, with different competitions
and tests and skill measurements. But people chose to do nothing. Life had no value for them,
now that it was infinite, even if one can live a more luxurious life, the way it is now, is more than
comfortable and everything more is just overkill.
So then people stopped doing things. Innovations and ideas came from those working to
get high ranks in the new system, few were doing that. Innovations to make peoples life easier.
Like the one I hate the most, the memory shot. People stopped learning, reading, even talking.
No more creations, in any art, no more creativity from no one. Not even consuming art.
We, the 10 engineers that wait, are the only ones who could read now, in 2500’s. Us and
some other high ranking citizens and leaders among us. It occurred to me, how could they know
such things, and how could they control the machines if they have no engineers. We received
training from androids. But as we know, the Americas has no engineers. Or has no need for
engineers. Their machines are so evolved that they don’t need engineers, they’re autonomous.
Never got an answer in regard to what happened to the old engineers.
In 2520, Americas made the first pact with Europa. It was the climate pact, and we
engineers don’t take sides, we just, work on robots, and then work on ourselves. But it was a
good pact from what we knew at the time from this side of the deal anyway. The Europeans had
to get their emissions in check and help stopping the global warming. They had to reduce the
emissions so that the global temperature would reduce with 2° every century. So that on the year
3000, the average temperature would be down by 10° from what’s these days.
The same pact they made with the Australians too, and then adding to that the drones and
the immortality treatment. And now we are off to Europa and Australia. I, am arriving in Europa.
A state, so beautiful, so full of people that love art, that still know how to write, how to read, to
paint. It’s like they really stayed in past. A beautiful past. The difference between Americas and
Europa in tech advancements is bigger than a few centuries also. The Europa described in the
books I read and the one I see now, it’s not different at all.
But that changed so quick, and it soon became what we left in the Americas. Immortal
people that lost interest in life and just, existed.

It was easy for us. Our jobs were simple and required no more than a few hours a session.
We worked in shifts to check the A.I. mainframe and program new things for the robots to do
based on what we were told by the European nobles. It wasn’t much work, especially that we
worked a few days a month, and took vacations with years. Or so we did in the beginning. When
we loved to go outside and socialize and meet the people. After the immortality reached all the
social levels, and the technology got so comfortable for everybody, the Europeans got even
worse than the Americans.
Our leaders haven’t done anything for them. Not even a ranking system or something
rewarding to create a somewhat fake competitive way of living. Nothing. There were some,
barbarians, is what the usual citizen would call them. These barbarians, chose to leave society
and live in small communities. Far from technology, and farther more from these robots. But
they went through the immortality process too.
 Our lives changed back to what it was in the Americas, and after that, we started to hate the
citizens of this continent too. Secluded from the rest. Just living with each other. We tolerated
each other, even after centuries of living together. We actually liked each other.
In 2844, Australia sent a signal. They asked for help, from whichever continent. Asia
didn’t care, as usually. But we, what could we do? A continent with leeches instead of humans,
who are more dead than alive. Our leaders cut communication with Australia and didn’t continue
to check on the matter. We tough thought it was important so we disconnected a drone from the
cluster and reported that it was destroyed. The cluster quickly reassembled itself building another
one and didn’t search into the matter.
So we disconnected four others, and the five of them we modified to recognize ourselves
and listen to our commands only. We prepared to send them to go as close to Australia as
possible without being detected by the others drones. And if succeeded, to join the cluster and act
as part of one. After finding information on what is going on in Australia they would come back
and give it to us in person. Long range communication wasn’t a secure option.
Before sending them, we would each name our drones. Each had one, so each named one. I
named mine Lassie, because I loved the book, it was a story about the dog that always came back
home to his friend, no matter the distances or challenges encountered. My girlfriend Dalia,
named hers Automatia, my boyfriend Niger named his, Bucephalus, my other boyfriend Preecha
named his, Cerberus. And Reynard, he named his drone Foxxy.
Yeah, I know, I haven’t told you about my colleagues, I’m really bad at this, and it’s
understandable, it’s my first time when I’m writing something that isn’t just exercising to not
forget the skill or making a technical document, so please bare with me. But back to my
colleagues.
We were five sent in Europa. So, Reynard, he’s a fucking traitor, a scum, but we’ll get to
him when time comes. We were five sent in Europa. First comes my girlfriend Dalia. We live in
the same room and sleep in the same bed, but we don’t talk too much while in our room. This is
where I read, and where she plays solo games. If I want to make myself approachable, I read in
the gathering room, and there, people can bother me and talk to me. Also there we play games
when Dalia proposes.
Next is Niger. He is a black, white man. It’s funny, because a pigment error made his skin
a lot darker than it should’ve been and he doesn’t have the physiognomy of a black person. He
likes history and usually sleeps alone, but sometimes he joins us.
And there’s also Preecha. We make lots of fun of him because his name is close to
Preacher, and he hates religion. He likes puzzles and intelligence games. He sometimes plays
with Niger recreating historical wars and battles. And he is very interested in how religion
managed to control masses of people for thousands of years. He also joins us some nights, but
not so often.
But anyway, where was I? Right. We prepared our Drones and sent them to Australia to
spy. And then only one came back, like 50 years later. In 2897, it was Dalia’s drone that came
back first, Automatia. The drone was spotted by the other cluster in Australia but managed to
integrate without raising any alarm. The war started in Australia in 2844. America gave them the
ultimatum, stop all the productions and actions that would pollute, and, sacrifice half of the
population.
Australians refused to sacrifice half of the population, and then, the drones started to kill
people. To hit two birds with the same stone, the Americans sent winter rockets to Australia.
Some type of modified explosive rockets, more powerful than nukes, that leave behind radiation
levels higher than any nuke ever built.
The whole area of Australia was cold, temperatures dropped by 20-30°. In a few months it
started snowing. And even the people that survived the massacre and the nuke fallout by hiding
in bunkers, had to go out because of the food ration going low. And outside, the radiation
poisoning made them become something else. They didn’t die, but also didn’t lived. Some kind
of zombies like I’ve read in the old books and saw in the old movies. But these ones where
inoffensive. These zombies where just dead people, wandering and not bothering anyone. They
didn’t needed to eat, or to attack. Not even in retaliation. It was sad.
But the worse side effect of the bombings where the monsters. I can’t call them animals.
They where animals that survived the blasts and transformed because of the radiation poisoning,
they mutated. They were huge brutal animals, monsters. So living on that continent became
impossible with those three threats: the radiation, the kill drones and the monsters. And quickly,
the androids’ mission finished. More precisely in 2890, the data from our drone showed that the
extermination finished and that no human was alive on the continent. The drones will remain on
the continent and care for the environment to be prepared for repopulation, but just with animals
this time.
This is what the Americans were able to do, with no compassion or…whatever. They
eradicated an entire continent. More than a hundred million kill confirmations from the drones.
And the Australians where in the same pact as we are. It was sure the Americans would come for
us too. The drones in Australia went in hibernation to wait for the environment to regenerate so
they could then protect it. We decided that our drones would not return. Either because they were
destroyed in the war, or while traveling, or because they simply started hibernating with the
others because they didn’t found a way to get out unnoticed.
So after the news, we started working together with scientists to get our emissions to 0.
And we did so. By 2922, our emissions where 0, everybody was wearing special devices
attached to the throat to convert the CO2 into oxygen when exhaling. The temperatures went
down more than discussed in the pact.
And then we wanted to check and see what the others where doing. Australia was
maintaining its cold weather. But Asia and Americas were polluting hard. Actually, they haven’t
changed anything in their ways of living. Even after our efforts, somehow, the temperature was
still rising.
 Day 0.

And then 01 August 2966 came. Oh, here is where I started but I went back a little and
then got lost in the middle. A lot happened in these last centuries, and I felt it was important to
write about it. But lets start.
On August 01, the information cluster that the drones were connected to got an update. We
as well got that update and read the information. Operation “Winterfall” was on. We didn’t even
knew such thing existed. This was the first day of the war, and we knew what was about to
happen and we chose to help the Europeans. Reynard instead, chose to go with the operation and
left for our special bunker and locked himself in. And also revoked our permissions in the
cluster, and marked us as being enemies to the mission. Being that the mission was still in the
phase of preparation, we weren’t marked for elimination. And we still got access to the cluster,
we just, couldn’t modify things. We lost our administrator privileges.
And so we used that opportunity when we weren’t yet targets to announce the public and
the community that separated itself from the society, of what is to come. So Niger and Dalia
went for those communities. Two big communities were formed, one in the old Italy, now a
peninsula populated just by that community, and one on the Nordic peninsula, the old Norway
and Sweden.
I was left with Preecha to announce and control the safety of the citizens of Europa. The
population was all concentrated in the two Mega-cities in the center of the continent. So it was
easy. I got the Franco-Germanic Mega-city, and Preecha went to the Slavic Mega-city.
Our mission was to announce the public of what is happening, and help them preparing to
get in the bunkers. We prepared and stocked as much food as we could. We also relocated most
of the population near the bunkers. The bunkers where huge, built to hold millions of people. But
we were much more.

On August 33, another information was updated to the cluster. But I also received it while
I was in the bunker, which has the proprieties of a Faraday Cage, so that only means that these
messages were pre-programmed, since fabrication, and the Americans don’t have a connection
made to our cluster. So they had the intention of eliminating life on Europa and Australia from
the beginning.
The information updated on August 33, was the Operation “Hide”. All drones would hide
in the special made underground factory where they usually go to be repaired. And all the drones
did disappear that same day. That means the rockets will hit today. I announced the population
and we all went into the underground bunkers. Some didn’t had a ticket, we made a lottery as we
didn’t had enough space for everybody. Some didn’t want to come. But we still got the bunkers
filled with more than it could support. We hid in the bunkers and waited. I remember vividly
when the first rocket hit the ground above. The sound, the shakes…
 August 34, first night in the bunker. Some people slept, some couldn’t. It was either
emotions or just the fact that it was not comfortable enough. We, five engineers, went to
camping a lot, old-school style, survival mode. So I didn’t had any problems with sleeping. But I
wanted to stay awake for the first hit. And it happened. At approximately 0345, a sudden
earthquake shook the entire bunker. It felt as if it was hit by a twice the size hammer. It was
violent, and everybody asleep and awake, got on their feet and screamed or cried in terror.
Another one hit soon after, this one was closer and shook the bunker even more. And other
rockets followed. In total, even with the small shocks, that being they landed somewhere far, I
counted 100 rockets that hit the ground. Everybody was scared, even after we were safe, the
bunker was undamaged, but the people couldn’t face what just happened outside.
Food was good and plenty, oxygen and water were coming from recyclable sources. But
we didn’t last more than a month. Being way to many for the bunker’s capacity, the oxygen
recycling systems couldn’t handle our numbers. They would be damaged soon, and we would
remain without oxygen, in approximately less than a week.
Also we didn’t had enough radiation pills for everybody, so we drew straws, fought, and
even killed for the pills. It became a survival game even before going outside. I had to perform
oral pleasures for a group of men to be protected by them and receive such a pill. These pills
where strong enough to protect the body outside forever, or until you died, because, these pills
also have some side effects. But it was a small chance at a longer life. And my body, our
engineer bodies, can cope with the side effects without problem. Not the others though, they
have to get special treatment after they get out or they’ll die.
I can’t judge how those people acted those days, or any days after, because these are
special circumstances, war excuses everything, but your life. I wasn’t troubled by what I did, or
felt raped. But the way the group of men treated me, and the other women as well… I followed
them the day we left the bunker, and when the night came, and also the so waited for
opportunity, I killed them all. War excuses everything, for now…
So, after the death of almost a quarter of the bunker’s population, because of the fights for
pills, or because of the side effects of the pills. The bunker became a place unhealthy to live in,
to the point where the smell and the sight were unbearable. So we opened the gates, despite the
fact that there were still more than a million people that weren’t protected against radiation. But
we’d rather choose luck for a lower casualty number outside, than the certainty of total extinction
within our bunker.
Some chose to remain in the bunker and close themselves in, but the oxygen system is
already broken beyond repair, and nothing could be done without the use of drones and the tools
they have. I guess, this must’ve been part of the plan also, to make it so we couldn’t rebuild or
repair anything without the help of the drones, which we wouldn’t be able to get. The pact with
the Americans was made from the beginning to be our death sentence. With every small detail
taken care of.

August 60. The bunker’s gates opened. And winter awaited us. Our groups suddenly
dispersed when we went outside. Everybody went in their own direction, some formed alliances,
some just followed others. A lot where looking after me and after what would I do next. I told
the people that wanted to follow me, that we should go to the closest hospital and make that our
base. But they had to go first, as I was to follow the guys that I killed the first night outside.
After I finished my mission, I looted the group for some devices and extreme weather
protecting clothes. Also, I grabbed all the weapons they had and the ammunition. Some from the
group were cops, and raided the armory before retreating to their temporary base. It was almost
night already, but I didn’t encountered any mutated animals like those witnessed by our drone in
Australia, and I haven’t seen any drone yet. After advancing some distance through the small
alleys, towards the hospital, I received another mass instruction set.

Operation “KILL” was a go. Now, drones will be actively searching and eliminating any
human life left. After arriving deep in the city by only using small alleys and sewer systems, I
arrived near the hospital, and I finally saw movement. It was a light. It was wide and bright, and
moving. I hid behind a garbage disposal tube and waited. Soon I saw the light source. Five
drones flying in formation, but at a very low altitude, because underneath, there was a group of
people. The people were tied to each other and walked along bathed in the drones’ light. Some of
them had blood on their clothes.
I decided to follow them from a safe distance. Even if my permissions got revoked from
the cluster, I could still connect to the cluster and learn all the information that was circulating,
even each drone’s location, but that would make my location available to the cluster too. And
we, engineers, might now be a threat to be eliminated on spot.
After following them for a while, other groups of drones and captured people joined until a
big group of over a few thousand people formed. And over a hundred drones. All marching
forward… After a few blocks, the drones stopped, changed their position and inclination, and
unleashed a storm of bullets. In less than 10 seconds, there was nobody alive anymore. A hail of
metal rained down on them. It was so precise, so instant, so loud… The drones dispersed fast but
I remained there for a bit, to see if anybody survived and hid behind the bodies. Nobody.
Then I decided to run to the hospital, on my way I noticed a drone flying idle with me,
looking at me. As soon as I noticed the drone, it flew away. Probably they are only aiming at big
groups of people first. That means they might be using the monitoring system of the city. Or
what is left of it. I can access it too without being tracked. And I do, and I see hundreds of
thousands of drones escorting groups of people, executing them, hunting and trying to capture
them. And also, there are a few of them at the hospital too. There’s a lot of shooting there.
I started running towards the hospital. I knew I arrived when I started seeing death bodies
everywhere. Drones were still fighting humans, I wanted to dash towards the hospital’s entrance
but a laser shot went right in front of my face and hit the wall near me. When I looked at the
place it was fired from, I saw my group, some of them, hiding. They waved at me and signed me
to come and so I followed them. From there we went to the closest entrance of the tube inter-
highway, and we entered on the docking station. There in the tunnel, were thousands of people,
all crammed together.
We went along the tube until we found an exit that was outside the city.
 August 66. We’ve reached the outside world. It was covered in snow. The temperatures
were below 0. And it was still snowing. There were no signs of drones, or other people, but…
We were in the suburb. And most of the houses here where destroyed. And it didn’t looked like it
was done by drones. Things were ripped, smashed, teared. With big holes and marks left behind.
It was like, dinosaurs came here and destroyed everything. As we advanced we found dead
bodies, and piles of them. Some where even put in a special pattern. Like forming some sorts of
nests.
People were scared, we went on, going until we saw an Entertainment Center. We went
inside with hopes that we would find a safe place that could accommodate us. There were no
signs of forced entrances on the exterior malls, on our side, but still, we went on the third floor
and decided that we make it our base. We had cinemas with hundred of chairs, a toy store with
fluffy carpets and plush toys, and also a furniture store. The rest of the floor was filled with
clothing stores and a playground with comfy gaming pods.
We divided our elders to the comfier places like the furniture shop and the toy store, and
the others used the cinema chairs or whatever they liked. After everyone settled in, we made
groups, for cleaning the whole floor, gathering food, preparing food, and third floor perimeter
rounders. And my temporary group, scouts. Now everybody had a mission and they started
working.
Me and my group went on to check all the other floors to make schematics of the whole
building. After we checked the second and the first floor, we went to the ground level. Here it
would be dangerous, based on what we saw outside. We haven’t checked all the external walls of
the building, but that would be our last task. After checking almost half of the ground level, we
arrived at the center. A huge empty space up until the third floor, where the ceiling is like a
dome, made of glass, with a huge hole in it.
The dome like place is a half tropical themed half arctic themed relaxing place. The half
tropical resting place is filled with palm trees, sand, beach chairs and a large swimming area. All
is made to look like a natural beach. There was even a huge lightning source that worked as a
heater. If we could make that work and find a power source, we would have an immense source
of heat. As we traveled the tropical half filled with cold sand, we arrived at the place where the
other half begins.
The arctic themed half. It was cooler, the ice and the igloos were not ruined by the lack of
power. There was also a small, frozen, lake like pond, with holes for ice fishing. And there was
also a big ice rink. But, in the middle of the ice rink, right above the hole in the glass dome, was
a big capsule. A pod more like, 10 meters long and 6 meters wide. The pod was open, and inside
was nothing. But in front of the pod was a trail of big monster-like foot marks going towards the
part of the building that we haven’t scouted yet. The marks were big, almost one meter length.
We followed them.
After we followed along the path that the creature from the pod made, we only found
destruction, and a big hole in the exterior wall. The hole was almost 8 meters tall. We decided to
not follow anymore. After a few days staying in the Entertainment Center, we arrived at the
conclusion that is not a good choice this place. We gathered what food remained, and took two
robot chefs and a lot of food powder, in case we find power. After gathering the items we needed
we left the building and went in the opposite direction of the city, as the tracks and the marks left
by the huge creature looked like it was going that way.
Going through the suburban area we encountered a lot of other pods like the one in the
Entertainment Center, all of them open. All tracks led to the urban area so we kept going away
from the city. We went for almost two days with only small breaks to eat and relax. But on the
third day, people complained that they were tired and wanted to rest and recover. That was the
fall of the humanity for me. I, and all my colleagues, could walk and trail for weeks without the
need of sleep. That is because we were constantly training and taking care of our bodies. But the
society made humans too weak, too lazy, and they limited themselves.
We continued to walk for that second day until almost night when we found a Terminal.
This is a low and medium class terminal. I believe all these people in the group know what it is, I
never used one tough. A terminal for tube highways, fast trains and airplanes. From here, people
would change the transportation means to get into the city or to other places of the continent.
There was also a huge parking lot and we used that as a resting place instead of the
Terminal. It offered more protection and control, so even if people were angry about the decision
they followed us, some.
Along the journey, a lot of people left our group at hard times, but the most left the group
at the Terminal, almost half of them went into the terminal, while what was left of us went in the
parking building.
The choice was good. As we sent a few scouts in the Terminal to check how was inside,
they came back to bare news that we predicted when we chose the parking lot. Inside there were
groups of people, fighting for survival and territory. Thousands of dead bodies formed piles. And
without a good fight, it was impossible to get food. The terminal also was powered, at least, a
part of it. So the robot chefs were working but were protected. And the scouts also found open
pods and signs of those creatures there.
After we slept, we continued to go. People decided to listen to me after they found what
was happening in the Terminal. So I decided to go north. To the old Nordic peninsula. There, we
should find a place unharmed, no drones or creatures, and hopefully, Niger and the community
he went to will be there too. Unharmed.
We left the parking lot and continued going north. Away from the city and into the
agricultural area. Surrounding the Mega-cities, are the suburbs, and then, surrounding the
suburbs is the agricultural area. After two days of walking we managed to cross the fields and
made a stop at an Agro-Processing center. There we took a break, we slept, and refilled our food
resources. People were complaining less, to the point they would just obey my command. I guess
the sight at the Terminal and the realization that they are not that immortal changed them.
We then left the agricultural area and entered the forest. From now on, we shouldn’t find
any civilization until we’ve reached the Nordic community. The survival game has now just
started. For real this time, we would have to work hard in order to prevent starvation or
dehydration. As long as we found a stream of water or even still water, we could still purify it as
we wouldn’t need power for that, and we wouldn’t die of dehydration.
But with food, was harder. The robot chefs we had needed power, and the only way we
could find that here, is if we luckily stumble on an Aristocrat residential neighborhood or
separated mansions. But that would be hard, even if now that there is no power, and the invisible
walls would not work, they are still hidden well and built in places that are hard to access. As
they, the rich, usually go there by air, or by private tubes, it would be hard for us to find those
places. But there’s always a way.
Searching for mountain and lake areas, as those are attraction places, and also looking for a
vacuum station became our plan. A cemented box that holds the mechanism used to create a
vacuum in the tube. There are several of these boxes along the tube, and they can only be placed
on the surface. Once we would find a such cement box, I could follow the tube from surface, as
it’s built with permanent magnets, the ground above it has magnetic properties.
We spent five days in the forest and the people started to get wary. They wouldn’t
complain by now but one could see the tiredness in them. On the fifth day, one of the scouts in
the group found a such cement box and came back with the news. We were almost at the half of
our journey towards the Nordic meeting point but, our group was too tired to keep up and finish
the last half at the same rate. So we decided to follow the tube.
Two days later, we found a wall big enough that it couldn’t be climbed, this was sure a
residential area. People were happy. We could eat without abstaining. But first we had to get
through the wall. We planted explosives on the wall and blew it. A hole big enough was made,
and we went in. On the other side, there were big mansions, cars, but no signs of other people.
We looted the mansions with more explosives and then we rested for a bit. It was actually
comfortable, for the first time in 98 days.
Next day we gathered, took everything we needed and decided to continue going north, but
a scout came back and told us that there is a bunker at the base of the mountain, with the
entrance still in the Residential Neighborhood. I went there with a few scouts, equipped with
weapons and explosives and approached the bunker’s entrance. We tried to open the bunker but
it was locked. We looked at the camera and rang but no answer came. One of the scouts found an
electronic bracelet in a mansion, it had the same logo as the bunker’s console on it. We used it on
the console and then we gained access. The bunker gates opened.
And no one was inside. We entered the bunker and found some good loot. And more
important, we found batteries, fully charged. With these batteries we could eat for months. After
we finished scouting the bunker, the others went to the group to gather more people so we could
carry the batteries and the other electronics out of the bunker. We wanted to take all of them that
were charged, small or large ones.
As soon as they left to go to the group, the bunker gates closed. Some turned back to stop
the doors so everybody could get out of the bunker in time. But some of us remained behind,
while two others were crushed by the doors.
I was left in the bunker with three other guys. Seeing the bodies of the two crushed by the
gates disturbed the other three. They became agitated, and soon, the bunker’s computer
announced us that we are intruders and the oxygen system will be shut down to eliminate us. The
bracelet was still outside, and I guess they’ve already tried it and failed.
After a while, the air became thinner and the other three guys started to collapse one after
the other. They died fast and awful. An hour after the bunker trapped us, I heard explosions at
the gates. Probably my group was trying to make a hole. I was looking at the monitors, looking
at them trying to force the gates open. I went to the gates and smashed the door with a large size
battery, I signaled them to go to the rendezvous point on the Nordic peninsula. I told them that
we are safe, even if we are trapped. They could come later to rescue us. I didn’t told them it
would be too late.

I’m breathing hard now. The watch signals me that I can live like this a few more hours. I
don’t know how I can resist longer, with no oxygen, maybe because of my metabolism and
training. So, in these few hours left, I’ll do a last act of art. For you, whomever will find me, my
group, or other survivors of the second big war, or maybe, even you from the future, when
Europa gets repopulated again. But that could be at least in a thousand years or more. So I don’t
think reading will survive that long.
That’s why, I took a memory shot before the attack, we all engineers took one. Now, I’ll
also leave you behind, another shot of my memories, I’ll program it to store only my memories
from day 0 until now. Day 99. And I’ll also add in between some memories from behind, to help
you realize that the Americans destroyed Australia and Europa, and probably, all of its
inhabitants. I guess it wasn’t a war, it was just an extermination…with no shot at fighting back.

Day 100. I feel like I’ll pass out any second now, I know how much you like to feel these
thrills so, that’s why I’m going to take another shot now, to update these last hours of my
anguish, but I fear I might not last any more. I take the memory shot and aim it at the back of my
head. And I press the button. I doesn’t hurt much, just a pinch. To use it, you do the same thing.
Put the memory shot at the back of your head, right under the hard part of the bone, and press the
button. And then, I guess you’ll live everything i did and feel everything i felt, in an instant. I
don’t know, I never used one, I hate them, but I guess this time I’ll…
I’m dizzy. I’m sorry but Icantwritanmore, MEMORY SHOT #1 the label. Ifyoucan
fight…

THE END