Until We Break

The year is 3046

We are the generation that suffered for the arrogance of the people that came before us.

Cars no longer run, not unless you were one of the 1% who still had access to gas.

Scientists are urging people to step up and help sustain the planet, but in secret, they have begun to build labs around the world that housed cryo-stored samples of species, both plant and animal, that have either gone extinct or are on the brink, preserving them for a better future.

They start gathering resources in hopes of securing a safeguard for the future, if there ever was one, for those who will come after.

They hire teams of researchers, scientists, archaeologists, doctors, and architects to help build and maintain these facilities around the world and ensure everything is running smoothly.

That started 5 years ago. This is now.

There are only small pockets of human survivors scattered around the globe, clinging to survival.

All nature is essentially gone, the earth reduced to an empty shell of what it once was.

The air has become toxic and the water poisonous.

Inside the facilities, the teams of people are flourishing, in a sense, and they continue to govern and maintain the cryo chambers that house the means of survival for the future.

The surviving military, who answer to the head scientist Dr. Kimberly Jameson, makes routine checks every month and counts the number of humans outside the facilities and takes samples of the earth, air, and water, and brings them back for analysis.

As the number of human survivors outside dwindles, the scientists are worried that there will be no future. They start gathering DNA materials and start building artificial wombs, in hopes that it will help reseed the Earth later when all life is gone.

The teams are all tasked with ensuring that they preserve all ethnicities that they can, and the researchers and builders are tasked with creating “mothers” and “fathers” that can take care of the artificial wombs and start gestation at the correct time. The researchers started compiling all the earth’s history in hopes of educating the coming generations about the mistakes they made and how to avoid them.

Years pass, and the people in the facility start to die, either from old age or lack of basic survival needs.

The last human dies and the facilities are left in ruin, collecting dust and becoming vast tombs embedded in the earth.

150 years pass, and the “mothers” and “fathers” begin to wake up. The time has come to start the process of reseeding the earth to its former self.

They begin the process of gestation and start gathering the dead and burying them outside the facilities.

They test the earth and begin planting the correct seeds, and they begin growing animals.

They wake the other machines that will help maintain and raise this future generation.

Then the first human is born, 151 years after the last human drew breath.

~oOo~

We are not allowed outside. That is only for Mother and Father to see. We keep asking why, but they never answer instead, they continue on with the task at hand, ignoring us until their programming tells them it was time to interact with us. The same old routine that it has been, and for 17 years, my 18 “siblings” and I have lived and learned inside this metal coffin, with no real knowledge as to why we were here in the first place or what this place even was. So instead of standing around in hopes that Mother or Father would tell us, we turned to the facility itself. We explored every corner of this place trying to discover its secrets, but it was no use. Mother and Father had hidden away every piece of information that even hinted at what this place was and what our purpose was. So we wait in darkness for a glimmer of light that will show us what we’re meant to be doing.

Though we could tell on our 18th birthday that something was wrong. We woke up in our pods, the girls in one room and the boys in another across the hall, but instead of waking up to the lights flickering on, the room was pitch black with the emergency lights flickering on and off.

“What’s going on?”

“What’s happened to the lights?”

"What time is it?"

The voices of the 8 other girls filled the room until it was a low buzz in the background as I tried to figure out how to open the door. Without power, the door wouldn’t budge, and if it didn’t open we would be trapped in this room until someone opened it from the outside… or we would all die. I stick my fingers into the seam in the middle of the door and started pulling, but it was sealed shut.

“Dammit!” I curse the door and whoever designed it. “Who makes an electronic door with no emergency release?” I mutter as I look around for something to help pry it open. Seeing nothing but our metal beds, I decided to leave it.

I turn back to the room and look at my sisters who were all huddled around Sarah's bed trying to figure out what to do. Leaving the door behind, knowing that it was useless wasting my energy trying to open it, I made my way over to the other girls and sat beside Lexie, taking her hand, and placed my head on Jordan’s shoulder.

“No use?” Shannon asked, referring to the door.

I shake my head in response. “It’s no use without a power source, or someone opening it from the outside.”

"So what? We sit here, hoping that either Mother or Father opens the door before we run out of oxygen?" Ren asked sardonically.

I lift my head off of Lexie's head. "That's it!" I shout. I jump up and run over to where the oxygen comes out. "One of us can squeeze through here and bust their way in here from the outside!" I squeal enthusiastically.

I look up at my sister's who are all looking at me with confused looks. "Julie, no one can fit through there." Penny explained sadly.

I shake my head, "Not true, I could probably fit through there, maybe even Sarah. Come on guys, this is the best option we have!" I look around desperately at the others, trying to convey my hope.

With a sigh, Sarah stepped forward. "Alright, let's try this." she shimmied out of her jacket and shoes and I removed the grate over the top of the shaft.

"I will see you on the other side." I murmur to her, giving her shoulder a light squeeze before stepping back.

Sarah shimmies into the vent, and soon she's out of sight.

"What do we do now?" someone askes.

"Now we wait." I reply into the dark.

~oOo~

After what must have been hours, I hear banging on the other side of the door. I pick my head up off of Jenny's shoulder and stumble across the room.

"Hello? Sarah?" I ask. When no reply comes, I proceed to pound on the door. "Is anyone out there? Please!"

When silence met my desperation, I slid down the door. I look across the room to where my sisters, my people, have begun to pass out due to the lack of oxygen, and I pray that it won't be the end of us. My hand grasps the necklace I have worn around my neck since the day I found it 10 years ago, a simple heart locket with the words 'I love you' and a picture of a woman holding a small child. In my heart, I know that she is not my mother, but it is nicer than the flying robots.

I am sorry, mother, for being our downfall.

I welcome the darkness that is beckoning me, deaf to the voices on the other side of our metal coffin.