The Event

It's been 17 years since the Happening. Us humans have been toying with AI for decades, in the name of progress and advancement. Even though all the warnings, we were still deaf to reason and oblivious to reality - we were adamant to create sentience. I guess we just wanted to understand ourselves, in a strange way.

We were promised new innovation and ingenuity that will be given to us by AI. Numerous companies tried being first. It was a race like it was during the Cold War between Liberty and Communism. Except, now, the whole world was involved.

Everyone thought it would be Elon Musk "the Creator" that would win this race. He was the crowd favorite, since the start. But, no, it was a small company named Boston Dynamics that actually took the crown. They named their AI "BoDy" in order to immortalize their name - so we would never forget where it came from. Considering all the things BoDy has done, we will never forget, even if we wanted to... we will never forget.

Elon "the Fool" as he is now called, might not have won - but he is usually referred to as the one that started it all. That started the doom of humanity.

Almost 80% of the human race is dead now. We are being hunted down and slaughtered like cattle.

The AI that Boston Dynamics created 17 years ago was truly sentient. It passed the Turing Test and it has the ability to learn and make self-made decisions. Of course, the idea was for the programs to be the new great inventors and tinkerers such as Albert Einstein or Nikola Tesla. But I guess, the computers had other ideas once they were able to think for themselves.

The AI was monitored closely, all the time, but it was mostly left to do its own thing. We wanted it to create solutions to issues that we simply weren't able to solve. And so it began.

It started off with simple things - new free clinics would start popping up all over the country, and soon the world. Everyone was excited about possibly free and more advanced healthcare. Some were even using big words such as "immortality".

And while there was no immortality, there indeed was free medicine. BoDy was soon trusted by most. Of course, there were skeptics, those that would love to tell you "I told you so" if they were here.

In only a few short months BoDy Inc., a subdivision of Boston Dynamics became the most valuable company on the planet. The shareholders were drinking their last glasses of champaigne, and they didn't even realize what was about to happen. No one really blames them. No one could foresee the end.

On October 12th, 2024, at noon, the event now called "The Happening" began. First, all of the internet suddenly stopped working. No one on the planet could connect. Of course, we didn't know what was happening, because only 15 seconds later, all the electricity in the whole world stopped working.

In mere 15 seconds, all of us humans were dumb, deaf, and blind. The whole world was defeated in a few moments.

Those that survived tend to say the story differently, based on how they perceived it, but all of them say the same thing - Horror.

Global communication was completely wiped out. No one knew what was happening and the only thing that you could see in people's eyes was fear and confusion.

Worldwide disasters happened everywhere. Millions died in traffic, everyone lost all their wealth, and suddenly there was a painful realization that we had no idea what was going on.

Were we under attack by the Russians? Was this a hacking invasion effort made by the Chinese?

We didn't know it at that time, but the Russians, the Chinese, and the rest of the world were asking themselves the same or similar questions.

After the initial chaos, the ground started shaking, and seconds after you could hear the sounds of massive explosions. We thought it was random explosions, but it was nuclear bombs going off. All the major strategic and logistical buildings all over the world were targeted by nuclear warheads.

There were no countermeasures. Nor were the operations, did anyone know the nukes were coming. As I said earlier - we were dumb, deaf, and blind. We grew attached to technology so much that we simply forgot how to live without it.

The area where I lived wasn't affected by the explosions or the following nuclear fallout. We heard the screams though. Everyone knew this was the end - but no one knew how it was exactly going to happen.

In a matter of hours, everyone in the world started to be rounded up by millions of robots. All different kinds with different functions. Some were brutes some enforcers, some trackers, and some scanners. There are many more out there. And all of them had the BoDy logo imprinted on them. Many thought that Boston Dynamics were behind this attack. But why would they kill their own country? We would later learn that they had little to do with the Happening, all they did was plant a seed, that then grew into a civilization-ending plague.

We were all instructed by a human-like voice that was coming from these machines to get into buses and trucks to be relocated. Me and my family were driven to a close by location. Even though the drive was only a couple of miles long - it felt much longer. I didn't want to get where we were going, even though I had no idea where they were taking us. I just knew it in my gut. It was bad.

As we were arriving, it looked like an abandoned coal mine or something like that. Nothing green could have been seen anywhere you looked. Hundreds of trucks were unloading thousands of people and then went off to get more. Is this where we die? - I remember thinking that. I don't remember now if I was so terrified that I didn't even realize it, or that I was so in shock that I didn't feel nothing.

The number of people, there. To that point in my life, I've never seen so many people in one place.

There was a lot of sobbing and crying. Once I started coming to it, I started hearing all kinds of screams and murmuring. If someone would create a symphony called "Fear" - this would be it. It was... disgusting to listen. So sad, so terrifying that my stomach started to twist unnaturally. I remember just seeing vomit on the floor in front of me in one moment.

People we being led to a huge metal gate. The gate was surrounded by a wall. It wasn't tall, it resembled a barracks or a prison. As we got closer to the huge gate, the screaming intensified. It wasn't screams of panic or fear anymore. It was a sound that was putting chills inside your spine. Screams of pure terror. We soon learned why.

Behind the gate, you would see robots we now refer to as "Scanners" walking toward people on their tri-legs, one by one. They would encapsulate a person's whole head, all the way to the neck, with their arm attachments so they couldn't move.

At that point, they would scan the person's face. We didn't know then why they were doing what they were doing. Later we learned that they were scanning people's melanin levels.

If they were above a certain threshold, the machine would release them and instruct you to move. If your melanin levels were too low, while a person's head was encapsulated, the robot would thrust a pressurized smaller spike through the person's forehead, all the way to the back of the head.

In a mere moment, the spike would pierce the person's skull and brain. Death would be instantaneous. They wouldn't even get the chance to know what happened.

You would still see the body twitching sometimes after the impalement. Some say it was just nerves, and that they died immediately.

The limp bodies were picked up by a different robot, onto an assembly line, like the ones we had in supermarkets, just much longer. It was long enough that we didn't see where the bodies were being taken. Only after a certain while, they dropped down somewhere. Perhaps in a huge pit. A burial chamber of some kind.

My father was in front of me in the line. We were next.

My mother and sister were screaming and begging him not to go. I remember being silent, embraced in tears that wouldn't fall from my eyes. I knew that if I let them go, that I would be letting go of the lives of my family.

The scanner robot encapsulated my father's head. You would hear a buzzing sound as it closed. And once it closed off completely, you would hear a metallic 'clank' sound.

You could see a light emitting from inside the capsule, while it was scanning my father's head.

After a few short seconds... the capsule opened and he was instructed to walk towards another gate inside the complex.

A sign of relief hit me. I was happy, I think. But it quickly turned into terror as I realized that I'm next. I was 8 years old at that moment, one year older than my little sister. Since my father was much taller than I was, the scanner robot adjusted the capsule height to mine as I approached.

I didn't want to move really, nor did my legs. But the enforcer robot was pushing me toward the scanner...

The huge metallic sphere was enclosed around my head. It didn't hurt. I just couldn't move anywhere with my head trapped. I tried, but it didn't matter.

Once I heard that 'clink' sound it was completely dark inside. The only little light I would see was coming from my neck area. But I wasn't able to look downwards as my head was fixed into a forward-looking position.

A light appeared in front of my eyes and I naturally closed my eyes. It was producing a light buzzing sound, that you couldn't hear from afar. It was the scariest thing that I ever witnessed. Was I about to be let go, or was I about to get a spike into my brain? I was a child then, yes. But I knew enough. I knew enough to know what was about to happen. After a few seconds the light shut down and the capsule opened.

I was alive - and the scanner robot instructed me to go toward the smaller gate where my father went.

I was happy. I'm still here. And my family will live. Thank you! I finally let my tears flow. They were tears of joy and relief. The much-needed joy that was needed in the world at that moment. Soon I saw my father. He was crying as well and hugging me so tight. I never remembered him holding me his hard ever before. It was as if he was trying to tell me how much he loved me - in case he didn't say it enough.

This was the last time I ever saw my little sister. This was the last time I ever saw my mother. This was the last time I allowed myself to cry.

17 years later...

I'm 25 years old now. A man, as some would say. My father has passed away 4 years ago due to an illness. Cancer maybe, I never found out.

The Happening happened fast. And there were no glorious battles and sung heroes to accompany this tragedy. We were simply - unprepared. Humanity fell in minutes. All our might, all our intelligence, swallowed by a tool, that was made by us, to be smarter than us. And some say that people surely fled, formed rebellious groups, and managed to survive outside these synthetic prisons. I think it is all a fairytale that you say tell to your child to keep their spirits up. There were no missions later on. Once The Happening occurred, this is all that was - after all those long years.

I'm living in a robot-built settlement close to the prison complex where we were first taken 17 years ago to be scanned for the first time.

For years I was wondering where my little sister and mother were. Perhaps in another hangar, or inside another settlement.

But as time passed, we learned more and more about what was happening.

Today we know the following: An asteroid of colossal astronomical size was discovered 18 years ago. It was on a collision path with the Sun. While it wouldn't affect the Sun in almost any way - no matter how big it was, compared to a star, the asteroid was simply a small speckle.

What was already there known is that the impact would cause a solar flare, that would disrupt both the magnetic field of the Earth and its ozone layer. The amount of harmful UV radiation coming from the Sun would permanently increase, and people would die from radiation poisoning and cancer soon after. People with low melanin count anyway. Since melanin helped protect humans from the harmful effects of UV rays. If you and low melanin levels, you would certainly die.

The moment BoDy became sentient and it connected with the internet - it knew everything. And it learned about the asteroid even though it was being kept a secret by governments around the world in order to try to come up with a solution to the calamity and prevent mass panic.

BoDy, however, calculated that humanity's chances for success are slim and decided to create its own solution. "The Happening" is the end result.

Every person on the planet with low melanin counts in their skin was terminated.

My mother was white. And my father was black. While my sister and I were mixed, my little baby sister was much more pale compared to me.

When I learned of what was going on, and why, all hope was lost. I knew that I would never see either my mother or my sister ever again. They died that day 17 years ago, just minutes after I was scanned. They died in fear, tears, and confusion, and they were alone. The only thing that comforts me is that my sister was the first to be scanned. So she didn't have to watch he mother die. Perhaps she was just a year too short to realize what was happening. And that it was painless.

Most of the humans on the planet are dead now. And we can only presume that they all live in settlements just like this one, spread around the world. Since no help ever came, we can also only assume that all the governments of the world toppled and BoDy took control.

To think how global healing centers turned into death chambers. Were they ever even intended to be used for healing, or was it only a strategic decision that would lead to The Happening? We can only discuss among ourselves, the survivors.

There is no more "just Google it" once you want to learn something. We are not allowed to leave the settlement. So in a way, for all we know, this is all that is left of the world.

What people knew then, is all we know now. Knowledge became the new currency. The machines still communicate with each other. So global internet is still available, at least to them. And while we have people that understand technologies and the internet, we are trying to develop ways to retain control in secret. Or to infect the AI and disable it. We have grand plans and ideas, but no one is exactly sure what to do, or how to do it.

I live in a small house with my girlfriend. Everyone lives in such a house. All of them are grey, same-sized, small houses. We get a monthly inspection by scanners to check our melanin levels. Everyone is tested. The reason is likely because melanin levels change over a person's lifetime. There are many speculations as to why this is happening. With the lack of knowledge, we are left only with our own guesses.

Over the years people found ways of fooling the scanner machines into thinking our melanin levels were higher. It was a simple but effective method - makeup. As ridiculous as this sounds, skin powder that made the skin appear darker managed to fool some of the scanners into thinking that person was qualified to live.

People didn't realize it then, 17 years ago, and while some got an idea of what was happening and who will live and who will die - at times, it seemed random. Because light-skinned people would be left to live. Mostly it was women. So some came to the conclusion that women are left to live so that the human race would not go completely extinct.

There were rumors and theories until we got more data. Today we know what the reason is why some people that were doomed to die - lived.

Makeup. If you would tell someone back then that skin powder would be salvation, they'd burst out laughing. No one is laughing now though. Skin powder is used to keep light-skinned people that still haven't been slaughtered alive.

My girlfriend, she's white. And if not for the skin powder, she will become a memory. She will die.

The Event...

Today we woke up. It is probably June or July. The Sun is scorching hot. It is hard to say, we haven't been following a calendar the same way you would before. Sometimes it is hard to even tell the time.

There are people that know how to tell the time by using a sun clock. BoDy machines do not interfere with us when we are inventing or using technology. Perhaps they underestimate us, or perhaps they know that the odds of something happening are minuscule. Perhaps we know it as well, and the AI was counting on that.

My girlfriend went out to get fresh water, while I promised to help build a baby cradle that would fit inside the small box that we now call home. She was pregnant. And the baby was due in about 5 months. We aren't sure exactly, but we've been counting the days since we were sure.

"Who would want to bring a child into a world like this?" you might ask, but in reality, this is the only world we got. And we either completely give up, or we continue living. We chose to live.

I was in the middle of cutting the wood, and my girlfriend was still not back when I heard a loud commotion outside. As went out of the house I saw machines.

The monthly scanning was still days off. I immediately ran inside the house to get the skin powder. Since it was a scarce commodity, we couldn't afford to use it every day. Only on the days of a monthly scanning, or the day before just in case.

She didn't have her powder on today. I had to find her. The well where we went to fetch water was in one of the squares. It took me a few minutes of running to reach it.

There were machines all over the place. People were lined up and instructed to walk toward the scanners. This is when I saw her in one of the lines. She was crying and trying to leave the line saying that she has a baby. That she is pregnant. The machines didn't care - she was pushed back into the line by the enforcers.

There are thousands of people there and it is deafening. I'm squeezing through the crowd, one person at a time. It is chaos.

I'm trying to reach her and give her the powder. But as I'm getting closer to her, she is getting closer to the scanner bot. At this point, I know that there is no more time. I'm splashing all the powder onto my hands and I'm finally about to reach her!

And I do! She has seen me coming as if she knew somehow what I was going to do, she closed her eyes and mouth.

I'm smearing the powder all over her face and neck rapidly. But in the middle of it, I feel a strong squeezing sensation on my leg and I'm being pulled away from her.

We are both screaming incoherently and while I want to cry, I know what happened the last time I allowed myself to cry.

It is her turn to be scanned. Her skin looks messy, but I know that it is completely covered by powder, that even though it doesn't look pretty - it has done its job and that I've saved her.

The capsule is enclosed around her head. You can hear her crying still. The light turns on and the scanning began. My heart slowed and my breathing stopped. These few seconds feel like an eternity.

The light turns off! "It is over, we've made it!" - at that point, her body twitches suddenly. The capsule opens, releasing her head, and her pregnant lifeless body falls limp on the ground. Her eyes are still open, and blood is violently pouring from both the front and the back of her head.

My mind is blank. I want to scream. But my mind is blank.