"Together, then?" Sedna asked, a shake in her voice. She gazed at Neil through tearful eyes, a determined expression on her face, and offered her hand. Neil took it in his own, caressing it lightly with his thumb, over and over, as he had done so many times before. One last time. His eyes fixed upon hers. His last look. Their last look. It had to be; it was better this way, they both knew it, and besides, there was no going back now. Not after all this; after all they'd done. There was nothing left for them now but each other, and to finish this mission they'd planned for years.
The crew of Earth's first orbital nuclear destroyer, the Pride of Eurasia, lay dead, their bodies strewn chaotically all over the ship. The vented atmosphere had made quick work of them while Neil and Sedna took refuge in a couple of pressure suits. The backup life support system had made the ship habitable again, but only for a little over an hour.
They'd spent the first twenty minutes on some improvised electrical engineering. On the console before them, a particularly large button was raised from its housing, haphazardly tangled in a nest of stray wires from which a single twisted pair emerged. It led off the edge of the console, down through a hole they'd drilled through the gravity-plated floor, into the nearly-empty weapons bay below. Just one payload left to deliver, now. The rest... they had fulfilled their purpose.
The remaining time had been spent otherwise. They were only human, after all.
Neil seemed to ignore her question, though he hadn't. He stood, tears flowing from his eyes, transfixed by her beauty, unable to speak. He wasn't ready. Just a few more seconds of this moment. Sedna stared back into the depths of his soul. The last loving gaze. The very last expression of the very last human emotion that would ever be. Love.
The CO2 alarm pierced the silence; there was very little time. Sedna didn't wait for his affirmation. Instead, she spread his fingers with hers and drew their palms tightly together, and began counting. She'd always been the practical one.
"Three..."
A few strands of her raspberry hair fell over her left eye. Neil smiled; how could he not? He loved when her hair did that. How lovely, to see it one more time.
"Two..."
Sedna caught his smile and could not help but to form her own. She loved that mad grin of his.
As her lips began to form the last word, Neil jerked their interlocked hands downwards onto the button. He'd always been the impulsive one.
There was a flash; the last payload in the weapons bay erupted immediately, and tore through the entire ship in a fraction of a second.
And then they were gone.
The scattered remains of the Pride of Eurasia orbited the dead, irradiated Earth.
All was quiet.
At last, there would be peace. 🍋
Composite using several CC-0 images from Pixabay and Pexels.
Their evil master plan was to be the last human? Too bad they took the Earth with them too not just humans.
Dark. Very dark and sad, but you know in a strange way I really like it.
Awesome; I am really glad you enjoyed it. I really worked hard on this one for quite a long time; even one honest appreciation makes it all worthwhile.
Nah. Humans had taken the Earth with them already. Consumed it to make more space for themselves. Raped its resources to stock store shelves with row after row of meaningless mass-produced rubbish, all the same.
The last trees were in designated arboretums visited only by the elderly to relive their youth. The rest was fucking concrete. The Earth crawled with us disgusting parasitic things. And no matter how any one individual desired it, thanks to human nature we would never, ever stop hurting each other.
Until now.
I am not so sure their goal was so selfish as that. Even if it was, what's so evil about it? Hmm? What is evil anyway?
Here is what I know. Thanks to Neil and Sedna, there will be no war. No poverty or hunger. No homelessness. No murder. No cancer or dementia. No heartbreak. Never, ever will there be another ounce of suffering.
And the last thing that was ever felt, anywhere, by anyone, was their love for each other.
I was about to say "not enough death" and then the whole planet earth was irradiated. 10/10
Heheheh. Did that sneak up on you? xD
Yes I did just kill off the entire human race. All humans are dead and almost all land-based life, in fact. That is canon. I believe cockroaches get a pass. The jury is out on marine life, because you are the scientist, not me.
Just filling in some plot holes here xD
No more humans?
Correct. They were the last.
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