The light shines through my helmet straight into my eyes, the pain prevented me from sleeping well and the light signaled to me that I had failed in my mission to rest. I stood up cautiously, trying to rub the pain in my back but the suit prevents me from doing so. The light washed over the entire floor compared to earlier and now I can see the damage better than the flashlight. In hindsight, I should have asked for a night vision system to be installed in the suit. She was generally suitable for deep sleep and an emergency, like now, or before.

I collected my words that were scattered across the floor. I clamped the rifle to my side again and the torn bag with the things I tried to tie and mend. Nanorobots might be useful now if I had one, but I've managed without them so far and I can manage without them for now too. Finally, after an improvisation of tying, I was able to fasten it without unraveling on the rubbed back. The pain was a bit burning but tolerable.

"Rosalina?"

"Yes? Do you want me to scan the area?"

I thought so and she started revealing lasers that came out of the suit and started moving around the place before it stopped.

"Scan complete" she said and a few seconds later, she started projecting on the helmet a visual map of the floor I was on now. Every movement of my head moves this map. She mostly showed what was around me. Very comfortable in geographical investigations of foreign areas.

"Follow the arrow" An arrow appeared directing me to the exit over the visual map of the floor and a scaled-down version of the holographic map projected onto it.

"Is this the exit?" I asked her

"Yes, all the maps have been updated for your convenience. It's not 100% because of a communication disconnection, but a visual scan will help you choose the best route and find out about the terrain"

"In the situation we're in right now, I'm going to need whatever you have to offer"

"Indeed, it is my job to keep you alive"

I couldn't agree more, although it doesn't feel like talking to a person, it is a very useful alternative if I don't run into another person for too long. I've heard people lose their sanity.

"Your physiological condition is stable" she answered straight. I ignored it and started following the map. The floor was bare as before a transition or newly built. The floor was flat, but with vegetation emerging in the areas where the light touched. I passed by the fragments of concrete and steel that had almost crushed me to death earlier, the puddle of water dirty with fragments of concrete and food powder that was intended to be printed and to hold me for at least a few days. But this is not the time to cry over them - if I want to survive this, I must contact them.

I quickly passed the place and arrived at a wide and empty corridor. And in front of me stood a large glass wall with a large glass door in the center. They are all dirty with gray ash and so I couldn't see what was waiting for me on the other side. I gently moved towards and touched the door. I started to push the door and it went to second place compared to the previous doors "listened" and it moved! The light began to get brighter and I finally march outside the building a wild sight awaited me:

Skyscrapers taller than me were covered with vegetation and in some parts trees started to grow on them. Everywhere I looked, the same sight awaited. I continued to move forward and in just a few steps I advanced to the low stairs built next to the door and began to go down them. The streets in front of me were surprisingly clean. Even the floor looked pristine and with little vegetation, compared to the skyscrapers and the building I came out of, they hardly changed. And just as I stepped on the surface, the truth revealed itself that the entire street was covered in volcanic ash and black coals from most of the ash. But more steps on it, and already I feel stone bumps that remind me of a sidewalk.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I moved forward while my steps were sealed in ash, only making me ask more questions: Where did everyone go? I looked around but there was not a single sight of anything that resembled corpses or bones or even fragments of spaceships. The place looks as if no human or life has touched it for many years. No wind cleaned the place or rain washed away the ash that came from the eruption. And to reveal that it's only been less than a month since it happened but the place looks so pristine and wild.

"Rosalina" I began to ask myself: "Are you sure we are on Earth?"

"Positive, Sol's spectral signature matches the information I have in memory"

"Is that so, are there any signs of mechanical forms of activity in the area?"

"scanning"

I started following the arrow pointing to the approximate location of the airport and just started looking around, and the sight remained the same sight. On the way, I noticed tall vegetation standing in the way of my route, but the closer I got to it, the more I noticed that it grew taller and taller until it began to cover my entire field of vision. As I walked closer to him, I noticed a familiar shape - they would all look the same, but not trees. They looked tall with leaves that spread to every open space that was, blocking my horizon behind them. I touched one of them and it felt tough but flexible.

"Is that bamboo? A thicket of bamboo?"

"Scanning the bamboo. Error! Unrecognized plant"

"What? Are you sure? It looks like bamboo! I remember them when I was in a botanical garden and they were standing"

"A genetic signature does not match the physiological blueprint of the known bamboo plant"

One of the features of these suits has been adapted for exploring other planets. One of the functions they have is to scan DNA and physiological processes in case they come across an alien life form. Something that humanity still hasn't come across in the few hundred years since we started looking for them.

"So it's an alien? An alien plant? It doesn't make sense if we're on Earth so to speak"

"Basic physiological systems are terrestrial. The chances of an alien taking the form of physiological processes and genetic signatures like this are close to impossible under similar conditions. As you know, no life form other than terrestrials has been detected"

I began to move deeper into the thicket, but it was very dense until I took out the knife to cut them when I hit them, they were cut and burned a little from the heat that the knife created, but she revealed that the plant is not hollow at all compared to real bamboo, they are something that resembled a soft tree, only confirming Rosalina mentioned you.

"What if it's a genetically engineered creature?"

"Negative. A genetically edited creature is required by law to be signed with a genetic signature that indicates such editing. Many technologies have been built around this to locate signs of long lineages of genetically edited creatures to prevent interference with the ecological balance or for malicious purposes. Such a system is also installed at me as part of the standard and this plant was created in a natural evolutionary way"

I kept trying to get through the thicket by cutting more and more of these plants while she continued to explain to me the consequences of not controlling genetic engineering. The passage through it surprisingly took many hours, and with it, Rosalina's attempt to decipher the plant, not as if there was anything more, but hunger and thirst began to be felt until I could no longer advance through the forest in this endless.

"Rosalina? Can they be eaten?" I asked her

"...."

"Rosalina?

"Sorry Colin, a lot of information has been tried on this plant. A lot of useful and fast information that due to a communication cutoff has no access, made me try to use what I have, and took a lot of strain on the systems. Regarding the question - they can be eaten. They do not contain dangerous toxins, but a recommendation mine not to eat them because they are extremely low in nutrients that you can digest effectively"

"It's problematic" I answered while I decided to stop and rest. Darkness began to fill the great thicket of the place and the lanterns began to turn on. I found a place wide enough to sit next to him and began to rest

"Information has been successfully synchronized" Roselania out of nowhere announced"

"Genetic information of the plant has been completed! Through physiological analysis, genetic analysis and comparison with the arsenal I have installed, the test has been completed and it can be determined that.."

Silence suddenly envelops the place and I hear rustling from my right

"Movement detected. Target unknown. Recommends preparation for armament and battle"

There is only one thing that comes to mind - food