Sole Survivor

A single page story, about a human, an alien and a wrecked android.

  Nydia was nervous. Her yellow irises contrasted with her dark green skin, slightly pocked with thin scales. She tightened herself up in her dark synthetic suit, which edges glowed with red light. She was standing still, staring at her Til'raa welding the circuits of a partially destroyed android, recovered from the wreck of the spaceship 'Queen Mother', that left the Earth on July 25, 2189, from the Italian spaceport of New Palepolis and exploded right after crossing the Kármán line, the border between Earth and Space. It was thought of a sabotage by the Exile Brigade, rebel guild whose intent was to stop human colonization of space, to focus on Earth's environmental recovery.
 - What do have I to ask him? - she asked, concerned.
 - Anything that won't let it sing 'Daisy Bell' - answered her Til'raa, with a smile.
  Nydia nodded. The Lynthari wasn't so familiar with the human sarcasm, but she swore eternal allegiance to that human, widely known as Cyrus Neelim: born and grown on planet Terim in Hope Systems; capable to install an artificial intelligence even on an oldfashioned toaster; genetics scholar, skilled enough to have saved Nydia from a form of early aging by applying a circuit that slowed down the enthropy in her organism.
  Nydia was the daughter of the Lynthari mathriarc. She inherited all of her alien beauty from her mother. The illness that affected her in her first 150 years of life, left her a mature beauty, envy of all her female peers. That human, by the way, cured her and now was her Til'raa: her spirit guide.
  Her yellow irises shone, both enchanted and concerned, when the light that formed the android's head slowly lit. It became operational again. Its circuits were shaking inside its partially destroyed shell. Cyrus caught her eyes. She nodded again and turned on the palmtop device she was holding in her four-fingered hands. A hologram appeared showing the oscillation of an audio track that began to be recorded. She brought her eyes back to the human and was about to say something when a spark, that startled her, anticipated the android's tinny voice.

  - Moses Unit M-430. Operational. -
  Nydia gulped.
  - Moses, what is the latest recording's date? - she asked, quietly.
  A new spark splashed from the circuits of the android's metal corpse.
  - July 25, 2189 - its voice was distorted, slow as an old recording tape.
  Cyrus nodded, datas fitted correctly.
  - Can you play it? - she asked, then.
  Moses' circuits trembled again.
  - To the mankind is easy to run away from its own planet, after destroying it, squeezing it, draining it! - the android seemed to reproduce a human voice, enraged by a repressed anger. Nidya opened up her eyes wide, surprised, while the scales of her neck get slightly ruffled.
  Cyrus had awareness in his eyes, while his gaze went blank through the circuits of the android's body. Thoughtful, stood waiting. Moses went on.
The playback began more noisy, while the human recorded voice seemed to communicate through an intercom.
  - You had the chance to stay on Earth, working all together to preserve its environment. You choose to run away, to hybrid, alien worlds. - The voice was corroded by a deep hate - Why? To destroy them as well, then fleeing as you were victims and not executioners? No. You won't see the Earth nor other planet ever again! - The crash of an explosion was followed by few seconds of white noise. The recording was over. The android went idle.
  Nidya stood silent.
  - Write out: - said Cyrus - Sabotage confirmed. Suicidal act. No survivors left.
  - What about Moses? - Nidya asked him, ingenuously.
  - Right: one survivor. - he answered, with a smile.
  If Moses could, he would have smiled too.

Author's Note

This is a story formerly written in Italian for the "Robot ITA 0.2" collection, soon to be published by Edizioni Scudo. I translated it and had fun doing it.