Stephan: The Last of the Voltarians
A Tale of Loss and Destruction
February 7, 2144
Lieutenant Anthony Cheng and his squad finally broke into the last chamber of the Voltarian base nestled at the foot of the Whitmore Mountains.
Walking over to the body of the last member of the Voltarian Resistance Army, Lieutenant Cheng picked up the diary and began to read.
Diary of Stephan M. Andrews, June 1, 2143-
December 21, 2143
I fear this may be my last entry.
We used to worry so much about misplacing so many unimportant objects.
Where are my keys?
Where is my phone?
I need to find my wallet, or I can’t leave.
Uh, I can’t find my holopad.
We even managed to lose our minds so long ago. And in that, we lost our humanity.
What we fail to realize is that the only thing we humans are better at than creating things, is our ability to lose those things. Hell, there’s a reason we weave tales of lost civilizations. Legendary pasts that only exist in the minds of those that believe. In fact, before the Great Antarctican War, we often spent our days losing one of our most precious gifts of all; time.
Little did we know that as the poison we pumped into the atmosphere heated our world, increasing the temperature day by day, we would soon lose the other two of our gifts this world gave us. The ability to breath and move about freely. Why do we insist on abusing those that give us so much?
Now I sit in this dripping wasteland of another soon to be lost civilization.
Huh, what a joke to even call such a thing civilization in the first place.
Were we ever even civilized to begin with?
Or were we just self-domesticated apes haphazardly making our way through the ages? Rushing towards our own destruction.
Now I sit here sketching out what may be my last thoughts. Thinking of all the things I’ve lost in my short time here.
My wife? Lost in childbirth to our last son.
Why? Because those that ruled us deemed us unworthy of equal treatment. The health and safety of the lowest in society were not their concern, so long as the body of our society lumbered onward.
My children?
All but one lost when we ran from the firing squads.
Jessica. My sweet jessica. How I miss you so. I hope that your o-pa and o-ma are treating you well. I’m sure you don’t call them that now. It’s been fourteen long years since I had to leave you behind to fight this war.
The only war I could ever stomach fighting. The only one I saw as not having a misguided sense of importance.
I still cannot understand how anyone has a misplaced loyalty to the Schinniverians.
How can they side against those of their station?
I guess for some the idea of getting to rise above their meager station is more important than the survival of all.
Perhaps I have misplaced my sense of morality. The demise of those that attempt to live ethically in this world.
To be fair, I always felt a little out of place.
Anyway, I must go now. The last four days of no food, and dwindling drinking water have exhausted me.
If I shall breath my last breath, farewell to this world. The only home I; we have ever known. Give my apologies to this beautiful place that we treated so cruelly. Please let the earth know I did my part in our efforts to save her from ourselves.
With love,
Stephan
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Comments (3)
How interesting! I love the angle on how life turns out for humanity!
Wow that dudes having a bad day… great story good luck in the challenges
The haves vs. the have nots vs. the have nots who believe the empty promises & someday hope against hope to have.