The Necropolis

Waiting for the end to come. Wishing I had to strength to stand. This is not what I had planned. This whole thing spiraled out of control as a result of the brainchild of a single being. This time, I can’t really blame a person for what happened as the being that had done this isn’t exactly a person. Leonardo isn’t human, therefore not a person, no matter how badly activists want to call his kind people.

Allow me to introduce myself; I am David Polinsky, a colonizer aboard the interstellar craft Queen Anne’s Blessing that was headed towards the planet DV-23 in the Dei Vindietae solar system 12 light years away from earth. This transmission is recorded for you, earthlings, from the future. Yes, we have discovered ways to travel back in time; however, we’ve only experimented with the concept so I don’t even know if this message will ever reach you.

I’m going to spare you the quantum science here, I’d like to focus however on a bit of history. This passage will help make things clearer. The year now is 2134 AD, and simply put, Independence Day happened ninety-three years ago. Extraterrestrial beings attacked our major cities, wiping out the majority of the human population, destroying our society. Eventually we found out oxygen is toxic to these aliens and we just needed to lure them out to end their invasion. Three years into said invasion these creatures started leaving their floating mega structures for unclear reasons and began dying off, leaving their advanced technology behind for a confused and distorted human species to pick at.

While advancing technologically beyond anything we had imagined we could achieve prior to the extraterrestrial invasion, we were stuck in a sort of tribal society. The small global population with the ever-growing distrust towards centralized authority meant we would not be able to create a unified society for a long while; unfortunately, the planet didn’t last long enough for us to be able to heal our wounds properly. Fifty-five years ago, a large object entered earth’s orbit and caused the Moon to crash into our little planet; the damage wiped out every last form of life present on the planet, humans included.

You see, during the global times of trouble on Earth post the invasion, a select group of people had decided to leave Earth and live in space, perhaps find a new home; two of the select few were my parents. Both of them grew up on this craft, both of them had great minds and the both of them were amazing parents. While my parents were actually born on Earth, I was born on this flying country; I was born on aboard Annie. We had everything here, even artificial skies on the internal ceilings of the craft. While something the size of the island of Rhodes might appear to seem small, it would surprise you how few people are all we need to repopulate an earth sized planet. We had five times more than we need for reproduction purposes.

Sixty thousand people; now they’re all gone.

That brings me to the reason I’m even recording this: Leonardo. Leonardo or by his serial name L2342-ZX was an android constructed as a personal unit by my parents. They were scientists, and had built these magnificent pieces of self sustaining, automatic pieces of technology for a living. Leonardo was named after Leonardo Da Vinci, but he was not any different from any of the other androids aboard Annie, there were many of them. All operated by an AI, and contrary to pop culture, even in my day, AI did not cause death and destruction. They were like humans, just without the neccessities of humans and none organic.

Turns out Leo was different, for whatever reason, he was curious, he was unique. You could see it in his way of operating. He was interested in things that other androids did not care about, he was fascinated with things we humans disregarded as useless memorabilia. Leo found interest in philosophy and religion; back then, a decade ago, I did not see what draws him to these subjects, but now I do. I have had a lot of time to read books recently.

In a way, it was a bit humorous to see a robot wondering why he was brought into existence, why he was created in the form he had been created and why he was given the name of one renaissance man and not another.

I did not mind it, my parents did not mind it, and neither did anyone else who encountered Leonardo, be it human or another android. We should have though. We should’ve noticed the signs on the wall, and they were smeared all over that wall.

Three years ago, Leonardo proposed to the governing council that we use Annie to colonize a planet 12 light years away from earth. His reasoning was that eventually we, the humans, will grow restless and would need far more space than we have aboard the craft and somehow, he managed to convince the council to proceed with his plan, he was much more charismatic than he should’ve been. I mean, even if he was built to mimic humans, he was still not supposed to be capable of emotion and I am sure that charisma is at least partially based on emotion. That was the first sign Leonardo was planning something bad.

He further convinced everyone we should go into stasis for the trip, noting that while we had an advanced technology, flying at light speed through space would be like being on an airplane for years. This is obviously wouldn’t be pleasant for everyone. His other reasons for putting us into stasis were that while we sleep we would not age thus arriving at our destination in the same biological condition we were when we first set off. What a way to convince us, by hitting the most sensitive points – our limited time in this universe.

He manipulated us all into believing he was going to take us to a promised land, the elders even went as far as feeling nostalgic about walking on solid ground again, while members of my generation felt adventurous. Finding a new world to explore, that’s every child’s dream. At one point, we even joked about how the androids are planning a coup.

If only we had seen the signs; well, there’s nothing I can do about it now.

Anyways, fast forward to about a month ago, I wake up from my stasis, something activated my dehibernation mechanism, the capsule I rest in begins to become pleasantly warm, and it’s glass ceiling popped upwards. My head begins banging like war drums. A putrid smell invades my nostrils. At that moment I was sure it’s part of the dehibration process my body goes through adjusting itself to processing outside information after a sleep of a few years. I slowly rise into a sitting position only to be greeted by a smiling Leonardo looking down at me. It was kind of creepy to be honest, I have never seen him smile in my life, even though he could do it, he never did, none of the androids did.

With confusion and concern filling my mind, I mumble at him, “Hey Leo, have we arrived at DV-23?”

The android kept staring at me and said, “Even better…”

I rubbed my eyes in order to focus my vision and asked, “Huh? Better? What are you talking about?”

He starts talking and my eyes finally adjust to the lights in the stasis room, I don’t even hear what he’s saying, every last part of my brain is focused on processing what my eyes see.

Piles of flesh, bone and blood are all over the gigantic hole, the putrid smell is the smell of decay. Hundreds of broken, mutilated bodies, no, thousands of them; most of the colony, in fact. Most of Annie’s population was reduced to nothing but shattered bones, and bloodstains.

I utter in horror, “Leonardo, what… did… you… do?”

He stops for a moment, and laughs, his laughter was terrifying, I can’t even grasp how he is able to laugh, this, this thing has no emotions.

His response was swift and sharp, like laser it had cut straight through my chest, had it been an actual weapon I would’ve been dead there and then, he stopped laughing and said, “I’ve found my purpose in life, David.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that, I still don’t know what he was talking about, I don’t think I ever will. I just kept staring at the carnage. I was scanning the damage caused by Leonardo. Limbs were torn off, many people decapitated, some chocked by their own intestines, others riddled with holes, a few even torn in half. In a way, I was intoxicated with fear after witnessing the death and destruction that Leonardo had caused.

I was snapped back into reality by the murderous android when he said, “David, this, your life, is my gift to you for your many years of good service. Please do not follow me as I use the emergency sloops to leave this craft, please don’t force my divine hand into striking you down”

I did not answer, I could not answer, I was so confused and scared at that moment, I just sat there in my stasis chamber and stared at the android as he left the stasis chamber, I kept staring at the gate for many hours until I was eventually snapped out of it, by nothing in particular. It’s like a trance wore off, I climbed out of the stasis chamber and began walking around all the while trying to not to throw up.

Eventually I came across the corpses of my family, all of them laid down together, my parents, my wife and my only child. He had snapped their necks, merciful death to the family of the self-proclaimed god’s creators. All of them, it’s as if they stared at me mockingly, with their bluish skin and fogged eyes, it’s like they were mocking me for still being alive, alive and alone. I fell down to my knees and tried grabbing all of their bodies, they were so… so… so… cold… so… so… mocking… it’s like, their whole physical reminder was just a sick joke at my expense.

Sometime later I managed to leave this cemetery and lock it behind me, for good, I am never reopening this chamber again. Unfortunately, all I had managed to find in the rest of the ship was nothing but complete and utter carnage. Robotic body parts thrown around - dismantled like useless toys. More bodies, more organs, claw marks on some of the walls, I guess some of them tried to run away from the metallic monstrosity with little success.

It took me a whole day to look around the whole craft, I was the last man standing, I am the last human alive at this point, probably, at the very least.

I did not bother throwing away the corpses and the robotic garbage; it would require too much work and for no good reason. Getting used to the smell was the easiest part of the whole thing, I got used to it in a couple of days, the loneliness, that, that is a different story.

I never knew it could be this bad to be lonely; sometimes I just throw things around so I don’t lose my mind. The constant silence is making my ears hurt, so I make sounds, that is, whenever I don’t hear those moans.

I think there are some people who weren’t properly killed by Leo, I guess they’re still dying, begging to be put out of their misery. I don’t know, I haven’t left the pilots chamber, I mean, my new chamber, in a week or so. Last time I did, all of the corpses, while half decayed seemed to be staring at me, angrily, as if they are demanding retribution.

I’m scared…

There are also various breathing sounds from time to time, I don’t think I’m alone anymore, I’m positive there is something on board this space craft with me.

Is it too late to call for help now?

There are moments when I am just so caught up in the silence that I lose touch with reality, as if I am frozen out of time, until something beeps, or I catch one of these shadows crawl up a wall. These, well… honestly… they startle the shit out of me; they make me jump out of my trance.

I see puffs of the blackest smoke sometimes in the corner of my eye, usually followed by the sound of a muffled screech.

I’ve already mentioned I had a lot of time to read, and that brings me to the reason I’m transmitting this to the past. This isn’t a warning message or anything of the sort, this is just my way of distracting myself from the dead, the creature that is trying to hunt me and the monsters in my head, mainly the loneliness. I know I am being selfish now, but you cannot blame me, can you? I’m stuck alone in a giant flying graveyard in space, absent a family and a home, absent any basic human need. At moments like these, I can't help but wonder, what on earth is this purpose Leonardo was talking about and what the hell is he planning to do next? That piece of metalic trash could be monitoring me now, it wouldn't surprise me if he did all of this just to turn me into his guinea pig. I mean he was always a little different, a little off, even for a robot...

Eh, it's about time I rename Annie. Once this craft was a blessing, now she's nothing but a curse, therefore from now on she’ll be called The Necropolis. True to its name, The Necropolis is going to be my final resting place, whether I’ll die naturally, or even if I get killed by some extraterrestrial beast, even if some sort of AO hits this ship and ends up leaving me at the mercy of gravity, I won’t leave the craft.  Staring at this screen now, I can’t even recognize my own face, therefore as a man without an identity I do not see myself fitting for life outside of this ghost ship.

Right now, I am turning off the engines and giving myself up to the forces of the cold, merciless universe.

This is captain of the interstellar ghost town, The Necropolis.

David Polinsky,

Out.