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No One Left Alive

Goodbye, Human.

By Tony StonePublished 2 years ago 6 min read
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No One Left Alive
Photo by NASA on Unsplash

No one can hear you scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. Drifting farther away from the ISS after being severed from her tether, Luitenant Brittany Marsh's heartbeat was pounding inside her space suit. Her radio communications had been severed and mission control's attempts to reach her were as empty as the space she now floated through. Her visor methodically fogged with her panicked breath as she watched the space station drift farther away.

"Oxygen levels at 87%." Her space suit AI piped in, "Critical damage sustained to ISS. The form of the projectile is unknown. The origin of the projectile is unknown. Warning: Collision with Debris field imminent. Suggested course of action: Initiate energy barrier. Do you accept?"

Brittany paused for a moment as her senses fed her information as well as her HUD. The ISS has been ripped open by what she thought looked like a spinning circular blade. If she hadn't pushed herself away from the space station after noticing it, she too would have been sliced open or in half.

Chunks of metal, plastic, and other components of the station floated closer to her as she responded to her AI.

"I accept, ALII. Initiate energy barrier and give me a diagnostic of my suit."

"Accepted input. Energy barrier initialized. Running suit diagnostic. Results available in fifteen seconds."

Her suit expelled nodes around her body about 2cm in length. A yellow light that moved more like liquid enveloped her body, connecting seamlessly to create a shield around her. The debris was hitting her now, bouncing off of her barrier as the pieces ricocheted back into space.

ALII or Autonomous Life-support Information Intelligence; the AI created to assist astronauts had completed the suit diagnostic.

"Suit Diagnostic Complete: Oxygen: Nominal. Energy Barrier: Nominal. Boot Thrusters: Nominal. Back Thrusters: Functions Compromised. Communications: Offline. Suit Integrity: Nominal. All other systems function at acceptable measures. Time before oxygen depletion: 28 minutes and 49 seconds. Suggested recommendation: Emergency Rafts are functional. Get to one and return to Earth."

"Thanks, ALII. What's wrong with my back thrusters? Can mission control hear anything I'm saying?"

"Your left rear thruster is functioning while your right has sustained damage. The use of one propulsion thruster can result in unwanted and uncontrollable rotations. Mission Control can not hear anything from you. The communications array upon the ISS has been destroyed."

"Shit... Emergency Raft it is. ALII, monitor my surroundings for any incoming objects in my location. If whatever hit appears again, I want to see it."

"Affirmative. The debris field has dissipated. You're clear to use thrusters."

Brittany raised her hands and pressed two corresponding green buttons on her space suit that caused a pair of small nozzles to protrude from the souls of her boots. She began pressing down on control nodes located on her middle fingertips, like a lobster opening and closing its claws. Airstreams began exiting her boots as her body started moving toward the ISS.

"Approaching ISS. 100 yards... 80 yards... 40 yards... Initiating magnetic palms in 3...2...1... Grapple onto the hull of the ISS is successful."

"Thanks. All that training for emergencies does pay off huh? ALII, using my HUD map my route to get to the Emergency Rafts."

"Affirmative. Map provided. Oxygen time before depletion: 9 minutes and 13 seconds. It is suggested that you, as you humans say, 'Get a move on.'"

"ALII, reduce humor settings by 25%."

"Confirmed."

She began to maneuver the outside hull of the ISS toward the Emergency Rafts. Steering clear of the large gash made by the unknown object certainly added one or two minutes to her objective. She tried to figure out what the object was. What has sliced through the ISS like that, she wondered.

"ALII, open camera playback in my HUD and replay the last fifteen seconds before I was severed from the station. I must've caught a glimpse of this thing."

"Playback initiated."

Her camera recorded an object moving at incredible speeds zipping past her and piercing the ISS. It looked like a razor-sharp disk with serrated teeth around the perimeter. Just as she has originally suspected. It wasn't human.

She approached the Emergency Raft, "ALII, activate Emergency Raft One: Allowance code 4-5-1-1-4-0-9-Blue-Decade-Rome."

"Code confirmed: Door hatch opening."

As the hatch opened, a sense of relief filled her soul. Angling her body feet-first, she crawled inside the raft.

"Repressurizing Emergency Raft. Do not remove your helmet at this time. Stand-by." ALII connected to the raft's life support system, "Environment pressurized. You are cleared to remove your helmet, Luitenant."

As Brittany removed her suit's helmet she scanned the horizon for the object that had put her in this position. Staring out into infinite space was always an eerie feeling, like opening your eyes underwater and staring into the depth of the deep end at the community pool.

"What the fuck was that thing?" she wondered. "ALII set an emergency landing for the pacific ocean. When we exit the Mesosphere, send an emergency ping to mission control."

"Understood. Course projected."

All of a sudden, a proximity alarm started wailing within the tiny craft.

"ALII report! What is it?"

"A proximity alarm. Data indicates an object is about to emerge from the other side of the globe. Calculations suggest the object has a diameter larger than the sun at 1.478 million kilometers."

"That's fucking impos--"

Brittany stopped mid-sentence as the horror on her face grew. Emerging from the dark side of the Earth was a massive craft. Circular in shape with serrated teeth along its ridges. She couldn't believe this was the same object that she saw on her video feed. It was so much larger now...colossal even but how?

From the underside of the alien craft, what seemed like a square-shaped door began to open up. The object, now directly over Earth, blotting out the sun, started to glow brightly. The square door also began glowing brighter and brighter, to the point where Brittany could no longer look in its direction.

"Lieutenant, it appears the craft is about to attack the Earth," ALII reported.

As he said that, a brilliant white light shot from the belly side of the alien craft. The energy struck the earth just over the continent of Australia. The ocean, the land, and the sky began changing colors as the globe started to swell. Massive spots of fire and magma began erupting from the Earth's surface.

"NO!!!" Brittany screamed as tears streamed down her face.

The craft stopped glowing, closed its square door, and within an instant, sped off into the depths of the solar system.

"T-minus 15 seconds before the Earth explodes. There is no suggested course of action, Lieutenant." ALII's voice module began fizzling out.

A timer on one of the screens in the rafts cock pit counted down from 10. Brittany, in disbelief, could only sob as she watched the Earth turn into a supernova. As the timer counted down to one, the earth exploded with immense pressure and force. Brittany's raft instantly incinerated but not before she let out one last sobbing scream. The blast radius of Earth's destruction reached the moon obliterating it with ease.

They say no one can hear you scream in the vacuum of space. It's true.

The Earth and all her inhabitants were gone forever as if they were never there, to begin with.

The End.

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About the Creator

Tony Stone

This life is one you deserve. Do not let it go and do not waste it. You are meant to be here.

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