Chapter 1: A tear for the fake.
Sitting on a swinging chair I stare in to the distant sunset. It's a beautiful hue of purple mixed with a tinge of gold. They look like the fabled curtains welcoming me home. The rough ocean down below the cliff are singing and their roars increase as I continue listening. My wife is seeing the guests out and everyone seems to know that tomorrow both me and my wife will no longer be here. I am amazed that they are not mourning us in fact they all seem to be relatively happy. I just don't understand. Instead of condolences we have been receiving congratulatory greetings.
My wife approaches and sits next to me as we continue to sit in silence watching the curtains fall over the horizon. We had no children of our own or even adopted children. I slowly hug my wife as the curtains over the horizon draw for a close. I whisper to her, "I love you" and receive the same reply in kind. The light fades the roaring waves go silent. Surprisingly, we fell asleep sitting on the swing.
I am not sure how much time passed but what woke us up is the increasing light around us. Before we had a chance to get our bearings. The surrounding began to blur and fade away revealing a metallic sphere nearly 100 meters in diameter with us at its center sitting next to each other on the swing. We clearly see surprise within our eyes and my wife pinches me. I flinch and realize this is not fake. We exchange a few words and do not leave or test the swing we are still sitting on seemingly suspended in midair with a 50 meter drop below us.
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
Quickly after a room materializes around us. The room we had many gatherings in as it materializes so do the people that were close to us. The swing underneath us changed in to a couch and we sink in to it. One of the people who materialized around us walks up and bows. He was my butler name Steve approaches and bows.
Steve: Dear Mr. Dimitry and Mrs. Mia. I truly hope you allow me to explain.
I look at my wife and we unconsciously nod at Steve.
Steve: Firstly, allow me to congratulate you for reaching the rank of Class 1 Citizen. The life you knew was an education program established by the council as the Last Resort measures to ensure race survival. I am the Artificial Intelligence of this Spaceship Designation Steli-Gerienko named based on your last names. Your true age is not 200 years old.
As we continued to listen to my butler. I could barely keep my self-composed. I could even feel my wife shacking slightly. It must have been even harder for her since she had a few attachments to the so-called AI generated people. I stopped crying a long time ago but could not hold back, as a single tear fell from my eye. I decided to intervene.
Dimitry: Steve, please place us back on the seat overlooking last night’s scene.
Steve stopped speaking and complied. He too disappeared with the rapidly changing scene. We continued to sit there trying to gather our thoughts and find some solace in our memories. I am sure days past in this manner. I spoke with my wife reminiscing the past and steeled our hearts to finish hearing out Steve. We have tackled the past 200 years together ever since child hood. I have faith in both of us.