Paris, 2101

Lizzie A4 couldn’t help but gawk at the giant grey building from the banks of the Seine. It had ornate multi-color glass windows like a kaleidoscope and strange stone creatures on the roof. She used her ocular implant to look up its history while mumbling to herself, “what strange architecture... what could it have possibly been used for?” The implant traced the outline of the building in neon blue lines like a blueprint before declaring that it was known as “Notre Dame de Paris”. She quickly scanned through the corresponding articles, learning about the typical features of gothic cathedrals, Victor Hugo’s Quasimodo and the great fire of 2019, all the while marveling at how much the building had endured. It emanated a kind of strange beauty that felt otherworldly to her, she had a similar feeling when she stumbled upon the Great Pyramids six months ago. In both places she was dumbstruck by an overwhelming sense of awe, unable to comprehend what humans were capable of so long ago.

Her reading about the monument was swiftly interrupted by an alert that popped up in her ocular implant: “Human nearby. Name: Alex C3. Location: 48.8606° N, 2.3376° E.” Lizzie swiftly plugged in the coordinates to reveal that Alex C3 was in a building called the Louvre. As she made her way over, she could feel her heart race and palms sweat. It had been nearly two months since she had last seen another human.

Wandering the Louvre felt dizzying to Lizzie, as if she was trying to make her way through a marble labyrinth. As she approached the coordinates, she noticed several blank slabs of marble where statues once stood and numerous empty walls with placards beneath them, but no paintings to match the description. “They must have taken them to Deimos,” she muttered.

“I thought the same thing,” said an excited voice behind her.

Lizzie turned around to a warm greeting from Alex C3. He almost looked like one of the Roman statues left in the museum except with cat-like green eyes and side swept chestnut bangs.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. Interesting painting, isn’t it?” He pointed at the gigantic canvas in front of them. It depicted a motley group of barely clothed figures attempting to survive a shipwreck. There was a chaotic and tragic frenzy running throughout the tableau as Lizzie took in the poor souls desperately pleading for rescue while surrounded by bodies on the brink of death.

Lizzie bent down to read the placard, saying the massive painting’s title aloud, “The Raft of the Medusa…what an odd name.”

“Yea, I looked it up and a raft was a kind of small boat, often slapped together quickly if there was a flood or shipwreck. It’s based on an actual event and it caused quite a scandal when it was shown, it was really graphic for that time.”

Alex noted that Lizzie didn’t flinch from the subject matter and in fact, seemed somewhat drawn to it.

“Very interesting, kind of reminds me of the Great Purge.”

“Ah, you were alive for that?”

“Yes, but I was just a kid. My older brother and I stayed behind, we were orphans and...” she paused, not sure of the right way to phrase her next statement. “Let’s just say we weren’t a priority.”

Alex saw a flash of anger behind her eyes and quickly changed the subject.

“What lab do you come from?”

“Skylar in Nairobi. What about you?”

“Wow, that’s far! Not nearly as far as you, just Zeos Labs outside Cologne.”

“Ah, I’ve never been that far north.”

Alex then asked if Lizzie wanted to walk through the rest of the galleries with him, an invitation she eagerly accepted. After going through the rest of the painting and sculpture galleries, Alex led Lizzie to the furniture galleries, where he began to completely remove drawers from cabinets, dressers and desks.

Lizzie was puzzled, “What are you doing?”

“I was reading about how wealthy people back in the day would hide gold and jewels in hidden compartments behind drawers and such.”

Lizzie paused for a moment before eagerly joining in and tackling a chest of drawers on the other side of the gallery. Like Alex, she was drawn to anything mysterious or forgotten and the idea of discovering some beautiful lost object like that, electrified her. After ten minutes of consistent rummaging, Alex cried out gleefully to Lizzie and she rushed over. In his hand was a small gold heart shaped locket about the size of a thumbnail. Opening it revealed a faded inscription too faint to make out.

“What a discovery!” Lizzie exclaimed.

Alex flipped the locket over in his palm several times before turning to her with some concern on his face, “Would it be wrong to take this with me?”

“Why not? It’s probably been stuck in there for a few centuries, who’s going to miss it? It’s something you can always remember this place by. What did they call that?”

“A memento!” Alex said breathlessly before handing the locket over to Lizzie. She had never held gold before and was profoundly moved by the little keepsake that centuries ago must have meant so much to someone. Holding it tight in her palm for a second, touching the soft warmth of the gold, she swore she could feel that eternal loving energy through osmosis.

“Memento...” she trailed off, still lost in the locket’s resonance. “You should keep it. It has such a rich history.”

After looking over the locket again and trying to make out the inscription, Lizzie said with some hesitation in her voice, “Can I ask you something a bit personal?”

“Of course. I don’t have any secrets.” She believed him, there was something about Alex that felt open and carefree, yet wise beyond his years.

“Why did you decide to stay here instead of going to Deimos?”

“I know I could live a longer life on Deimos, and definitely a more comfortable one.” Alex paused, unsure how to articulate his pull to this planet and its relics of the past. “But I can’t imagine leaving all this behind.”

“I feel the same way, I don’t want to learn about Earth and its history from afar. I want to see these places before they’re gone. I guess there will come a time when it’s too dangerous to go on and we’ll have to leave the planet to the robots and their factories.” She stopped speaking, feeling overwhelmed and unable to articulate her concerns for the planet and her seemingly hopeless desire to protect it.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.” He could see the light in her eyes diminish.

She waved her hands and eked out a small smile, “No, not at all. It’s actually nice to be able to talk to someone about all this. I’m often alone with all these thoughts.”

“Oh, no worries, I completely understand. After my father died three years ago, I haven’t had someone to talk to about these things, I really miss that.”

“I’m sorry about your father.”

“Thank you. Part of the reason I stayed was for him, to see the things he never got the chance to once he got sick.”

They were both silent for a moment but there was nothing awkward about it, it was as if they had reached a kind of mutual spiritual understanding of one another.

Suddenly Lizzie cocked her head in excitement and smiled. “If you’re up for it, I want to show you something. Have you wandered around Paris much yet?”

“No, I really just got here.”

“Ok, follow me to the Seine. I just discovered something kind of extraordinary.” Alex was intrigued and asked Lizzie to lead the way. Once outside, the two noted that sunset was approaching as the grey and orange sky transformed to mauve and magenta. They both agreed that this was their favorite time of day as Lizzie led Alex to Notre Dame.

Just as Alex had explained the paintings in the Louvre, Lizzie went into a brief description of the beautiful gothic cathedral and it’s unusual history. Alex was enraptured by her informal presentation, especially her description of the gargoyles and how they were meant to ward off evil from entering the sacred space.

“Thanks Lizzie, it’s so much better to hear all that from another human instead of reading through articles on my implant. It’s just so interesting to consider what motivated people to make these things back then.”

She nodded vigorously in agreement before adding, “I know. I felt the same way when you showed me the locket. They made everything by hand back then and to think someone studied metal working and used these fine tools, molds and fire to make this small object as a declaration of love—” she paused, overwhelmed with emotion. “Well, it’s just beautiful.”

Alex slowly removed the locket from his jacket pocket and handed it over to Lizzie.

“Please Lizzie, you should have this.”

Lizzie opened her palm as Alex placed the precious gold locket in it. She was incredibly moved by this gesture, it almost made her feel like she was traveling back in time, to a world where such an offering was customary.

“Thank you,” she said sweetly as her large brown eyes filled with tears.

As evening began to cloak the great abandoned metropolis, Lizzie and Alex breathed in the cool night air. They were the only two living people in the city of light and were lucky to make out a couple stars from the riverbanks of the Seine.