Science Fiction Microstory Contest discussion
Congrats to Greg Krumrey, Three-time Champion of the Science Fiction Microstory Contest
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Congrats Greg! Nicely done! Now set us all up for success this December with another great prompt!
I was a coward. When our enemy detonated an antimatter bomb, I did not stand and fight to the end. I aimed my weapons downward, blew the earth from beneath my pod and fell into the crater as the shockwave swept over me. I survived. The planet did not. A scientist’s miscalculation yielded a doomsday device that ripped away the atmosphere. Water, no longer constrained by atmospheric pressure, boiled away. In a matter of days, our once blue and green planet became as desolate as an asteroid.
Having one’s brain transplanted into an Advanced Armored Attack Weapons Pod grants one virtual immortality. Whether I served a decade or a century, I would have been reunited with my body at the age I was recruited. Now, even if my body survived, the people to maintain it and the infrastructure to restore me no longer existed.
I quickly discovered the AAAWP’s one flaw: It has no Off switch. I envied those who were incinerated in the blast as I contemplated an eternity in solitary confinement, buried under 100 feet of rock and debris, deaf and blind.
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While the pod will not let me die, it does have suspended animation capabilities. This feature allows me to time travel, albeit only forward. I can sleep off time, a century or more at a time. After the dust literally settled, I heard a single whisper, then more voices. A few surviving drones, dormant during the long dark night, awoke to the first rays from the sun. They became my eyes and ears on this world. Eventually, I made contact with several orbiting platforms and watched as the planet began recovering.
Immortality would not be so boring after all.
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I watched as the continents shifted, breaking apart and moving together to form new landmasses.
The molecules of life assembled and disassembled until evolution began again. Before long, creatures moved among the plants, eating the plants and each other.
I became protective of the creatures of this world. I used the weapon systems that could be repaired to shield the brief flickers of life from the strong winds of space. Once again, I was useful. If only to creatures who were unaware of me and incapable of understanding what I was.
The creatures grew and changed. Simple life became complex and intelligence grew. One species quickly rose to the top.
Civilizations rose and fell. Wars came and went. The destructive power of weapons increased but the sheer number of these bipeds provided insurance against complete extinction.
I wept for the loss of life.
After several thousand years, relative peace seemed to take hold. Without the constant burden of defense, technology advanced. Electricity provided a method to move energy from place to place, even if it was only brute force. Electronics moved knowledge from place to place and prosperity spread.
Soon the air filled with signals, the sounds and sights of this world came to me. Their languages were simple and I felt as if I lived among them, experiencing many lifetimes simultaneously.
Nuclear power led to nuclear weapons. Two blasts brought back terrible memories. To come so far only to fail again. I held my breath with the rest of the world as the leaders’ hands rested on the big red buttons that would start the cycle over again. After a time that seemed like an eternity, those hands pulled back.
I watched the ships leave the atmosphere. The discovery of several ancient orbiting platforms shook the foundations of the world’s beliefs. The debate ranged from “Are we being spied upon?” to “Are these the artifacts of our creator?”
As I now listened through the planet’s network, I no longer needed my old eyes and ears on the planet. They could not trace the signals to me and would never guess the true answer.
Ships climbed out of the gravity well. First to the planet’s moons. Next, to the nearest planet. A toddler’s tentative steps. My children, I thought, are growing up.
Technology continued to flourish. Military gave way to space and medical advances followed. Tissue regeneration. Cloning. Almost any body part, but what about an entire body? Could it be possible? To feel the sun on my face, to hear sounds organically, to touch another and be touched in return. Becoming mortal again would be a small price to pay.
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My transmitter, long unused, restarted on the third try. “I was once as you are,” I explained, “I had skin and muscles. My eyes were made of tissue, not electronics. Please help me become human again.”