(no subject)
In the lead lined bowels of a bunker, machinery awoke from centuries of sleep, winking into a second of activity, before it fell silent once more. Yet in that second, barely a blink of an eye, if an eye had been there to witness it - it had transmitted its last recorded message. As circuits popped and sizzled and tiny lights struggled into incandescence, and then burned out - dust sifted from reels and machines, to drift down to the floor. Inches thick, and as fine as powder - the dust lay undisturbed on the chairs, tables and floor. Once, this bunker had been of strategic importance - yet in the centuries past, its purpose had been lost forever. Acrid scents of burning insulation, melting wires and popping capacitors wafted through the room, but there was no one to smell this vile odour - no…not anymore. As the last circuits fused and melted, the vast banks of machines seemed to emit what sounded like an electronic sobbing - before they were forever silenced.
*
Nobody knew who started the war - maybe a radar operator thought he’d seen something on his screens - or maybe, the SDI computers had malfunctioned. No, nobody knew, who initiated the first salvo of missiles. Two and a half hours after the missiles flew, the world went to hell. Millions perished in the hellfire that accompanied the detonation of the nuclear bombs - those who survived, would linger on, until the radiation or starvation claimed them. Most would take their own lives - realising the futility in living, as the sky was lit by sickening orange glows - radiation storms building on the horizon.
Australia seemed to be the truly lucky country - as all across the Northern Hemisphere; both superpowers blew themselves and their people off the face of the earth. Their allies joined in, their defensive networks patched into those of the superpowers - and the allies leaders, losing their minds as thousands of years of anger, fear and hate for their enemies boiled over. Those who survived the horrific war, hungry, starving and lost - eventually came together into small enclaves and clung to one thing that they had left.
Hope.
It was futile, as atmospheric readings from machinery still capable of receiving telemetry told the scientists in the southern hemisphere, all they had feared. Massive radiation storms had sterilized the northern hemisphere, and due to unforeseen weather patterns, concentrated the radiation storms, which inexorably began to sweep south. They knew, it would only be a few months - before the lethal radiation storms consumed all before them - indeed - through a moment of madness, the world was to pass into darkness. Government people argued the logic in telling the people, but when they began to lose contact with the northern states - word spread like wildfire through the public. No. They knew the end was coming. Some gathered in prayer, others engaged themselves in wanton death, destruction and chaos, whilst others fulfilled lifelong dreams and fantasies.
In those last few days, chaos gripped the cities that remained, as panic built and spread throughout the population. Yet there was nowhere to run - nowhere to hide - an insidious death was creeping ever closer, and as a last resort, the government declared martial law. Soldiers turned on civilians, civilians turned on soldiers and each other, and soon, soldiers turned on soldiers. As the madness and chaos grew and consumed entire towns, spreading ever closer to the capital, nobody cared anymore. They knew the inevitable was coming, and some met it with sadness, others with anger and resentment, others still - seemed unnaturally calm.
Against their prayers, hopes and dreams for a future - there had been none.
*
Now, the streets lay empty, abandoned vehicles motionless wherever their owners had abandoned them, only the refuse of the humans past blew along the deserted, silent streets. Like animals, the human population had gone in to hiding to die - and now, no-one remained to mourn their passing.
*
Centuries past, and the great computers buried miles underground maintained their vigil, watching, waiting, scanning the atmosphere and monitoring the radiation storms that had finally exhausted themselves, having scoured life from the insignificant little blue-green planet. One by one, the computer systems failed - some quietly, others with explosive concussive force, yet their operators and technicians were now nothing but dust.
Yet from the infinite reaches of space, a message came to these ancient computers, awakening those that remained from their sleep. Even this seemingly simple effort to come back to life, proved to be the last straw. As its circuits fused and melted, it sent out a reply to this strange, enigmatic signal - before they fell silent forever.
Its reply - penned centuries past - was a simple message, for any creatures which may come in the future.
“Forgive us…”
END
*
Nobody knew who started the war - maybe a radar operator thought he’d seen something on his screens - or maybe, the SDI computers had malfunctioned. No, nobody knew, who initiated the first salvo of missiles. Two and a half hours after the missiles flew, the world went to hell. Millions perished in the hellfire that accompanied the detonation of the nuclear bombs - those who survived, would linger on, until the radiation or starvation claimed them. Most would take their own lives - realising the futility in living, as the sky was lit by sickening orange glows - radiation storms building on the horizon.
Australia seemed to be the truly lucky country - as all across the Northern Hemisphere; both superpowers blew themselves and their people off the face of the earth. Their allies joined in, their defensive networks patched into those of the superpowers - and the allies leaders, losing their minds as thousands of years of anger, fear and hate for their enemies boiled over. Those who survived the horrific war, hungry, starving and lost - eventually came together into small enclaves and clung to one thing that they had left.
Hope.
It was futile, as atmospheric readings from machinery still capable of receiving telemetry told the scientists in the southern hemisphere, all they had feared. Massive radiation storms had sterilized the northern hemisphere, and due to unforeseen weather patterns, concentrated the radiation storms, which inexorably began to sweep south. They knew, it would only be a few months - before the lethal radiation storms consumed all before them - indeed - through a moment of madness, the world was to pass into darkness. Government people argued the logic in telling the people, but when they began to lose contact with the northern states - word spread like wildfire through the public. No. They knew the end was coming. Some gathered in prayer, others engaged themselves in wanton death, destruction and chaos, whilst others fulfilled lifelong dreams and fantasies.
In those last few days, chaos gripped the cities that remained, as panic built and spread throughout the population. Yet there was nowhere to run - nowhere to hide - an insidious death was creeping ever closer, and as a last resort, the government declared martial law. Soldiers turned on civilians, civilians turned on soldiers and each other, and soon, soldiers turned on soldiers. As the madness and chaos grew and consumed entire towns, spreading ever closer to the capital, nobody cared anymore. They knew the inevitable was coming, and some met it with sadness, others with anger and resentment, others still - seemed unnaturally calm.
Against their prayers, hopes and dreams for a future - there had been none.
*
Now, the streets lay empty, abandoned vehicles motionless wherever their owners had abandoned them, only the refuse of the humans past blew along the deserted, silent streets. Like animals, the human population had gone in to hiding to die - and now, no-one remained to mourn their passing.
*
Centuries past, and the great computers buried miles underground maintained their vigil, watching, waiting, scanning the atmosphere and monitoring the radiation storms that had finally exhausted themselves, having scoured life from the insignificant little blue-green planet. One by one, the computer systems failed - some quietly, others with explosive concussive force, yet their operators and technicians were now nothing but dust.
Yet from the infinite reaches of space, a message came to these ancient computers, awakening those that remained from their sleep. Even this seemingly simple effort to come back to life, proved to be the last straw. As its circuits fused and melted, it sent out a reply to this strange, enigmatic signal - before they fell silent forever.
Its reply - penned centuries past - was a simple message, for any creatures which may come in the future.
“Forgive us…”
END