Here I stand, alone at the edge of the universe, I believe I am one of the last living organisms left in existence. I lay on my bunk bed in one of the numerous cabins of the space cruiser that kept the last threads of humanity alive. we have stopped counting the years since the meer pronunciation of the dates itself became a mouthful, but if I had to tell you, if my calculations are correct, I believe this is the year 97 989 889 685 740, or maybe a few centuries before or after I am not entirely sure. The cruiser took off long ago when planets and moons were still habitable, the rich were the only ones able to afford keeping their descendance alive, and here I am, I was born on this ship and spent my entire life being the sole witness of my own species extinction. Now, the Universe has expanded to such a level that matter itself is too scattered to be recognizable, every galaxy, every star system and every planet has lost all of its energy, and we witnessed the once breathtaking canvas of the universe slowly losing its stars, one by one, lights going out just like seeing everyone goes to bed in a city at night. and now the sky has been robbed of its stars, every single one of them , leaving space pitch black.
Honestly, who would’ve thought humanity prospered this long, almost longer than the universe itself, although we have become a type 3 civilization, we have settled on Mars, then Venus, and alpha centauri and progressively grasped and gained control of our entire galaxy, building an empire and exceeding every expectation. I spent hours passionately reading the great history of mankind, it took me years, every chapter more thrilling than the last. It was the best possible scenario for humanity, overcoming war to unite and explore the universe. We have become gods, but humanity is now forced to admit defeat and accept its fate. I stare outside the window, looking at a lonely star amongst the darkness of the void. I believe this one is the last star of the entire Universe. I spent the last few days walking around the cruiser to glance at every angle to make sure, not that I had anything better to do. Again, I cannot guarantee that I am right but at this point, it doesn’t really matter anymore.
Pressing my face against the glass, I watch the little star twinkle, knowing that this gift can and will disappear at any moment, and then it will be lights out forever. judging by its tint and brightness, this was BS 62, a red supergiant. I layed there longer than I can admit, maybe 1 or 2 hours, just staring at it, praying it won’t disappear, praying it won’t leave me alone. I hit my head beneath the top bunk once I heard the continuous emergency alarm go off. I painstakingly walked across the cabin and towards the main deck while holding my head in pain. I finally shut the alarm off and promptly logged on the computer, it was old and slow but all modern tech was shut down in order to save power, even the ship’s AI was shut down so I had no one to talk to after my last companion died 8 years ago, and I couldn’t even upload his consciousness after his death, the tech that held the consciousness of the rest of humanity was installed in the mothership. We, unfortunately, lost all contact with them long ago, the leading theory was that it couldn’t escape a black hole.
As the computer booted, I nervously tapped my finger against the desk hoping I wouldn’t receive bad news but deep down I knew exactly what I was about to come across. And sure enough, a pop-up opened saying the emergency gauges were exhausted and the oxygen supply was now definitely deprived. I sat there for a moment, I didn’t move a muscle, I just stared at the screen.I didn’t even know how to react. I knew this day was going to come, myself and technically the human race will be extinct in a few hours or maybe a day if I am lucky enough. I walked in circles brainstorming what I would do next, as I would conclude the history of mankind.Should I write a testament? I thought to myself. No obviously not since no one will read it. I kept thinking while looking at my star through the cockpit window, still there with me. I sat back down on the computer seat and searched the archives for information about this star, I coughed as I scrolled through the star’s images, I could feel the oxygen lack already. A pop-up then appeared, startled , I hesitantly selected the pop-up, and it revealed a message from another ship, I could barely believe my eyes, this was the last thing I expected, it couldn’t be, we didn’t receive any communications attempts since the mothership went silent, I double checked the date and time to make sure it wasn’t an old message from years ago, but no, it was a real message, coming from another human.
My heart was pounding, for 8 years I thought I was the last human left in the universe. I opened the message and it came from the mothership, saying it found a habitable rogue planet orbiting BS 62, ordering any cruisers still alive to join them there. I jumped out of my chair and yelled with excitement so loud I even scared myself a little. I can’t explain how elated I am. I wasn’t the last human after all, and I was going to join the others. I could already imagine myself walking out of this coffin of a ship and discovering a new planet. But I quickly stopped celebrating and tumbled down to the floor, coughing uncontrollably, almost passing out doing so. As I slowly recovered I was horrified, I remembered that I only had so much oxygen left, could I make it? I didn’t waste a second, I entered the coordinates of the rogue planet indicated in the message and aimed the dying cruiser toward the last star visible. Even with trillions of years of technological advancements, the star was hundreds of thousands of lightyears away so it was going to take 5 hours to get there, I could only pray I’ll make it. I patiently waited, watched the star grow larger and brighter as I approached it, and I grew weaker every hour, confined to my seat to save as much oxygen as possible. All I know is that if I fall asleep, I die.
After 5 long hours, I could finally see it, the rogue planet, the last shelter for life in the universe to ever exist. The landing was complicated as the cruiser had not landed for centuries. The planet had a breathable atmosphere and an okay level temperature so I left the ship without a suit. It was risky but I had to crawl towards the exit. I almost blacked out but I managed to open the airlock and crawl out.
as I lifted my head up, laying on the soil, i gasped at the sight before me: a vast clearing in a green forest, there were trees, bushes, and flowers, the leaves were purple and teal, and I could feel a breeze on my face and smell the grass beneath me, and all of this beauty toppled with the sunset of the red giant, falling slowly into the horizon, painting the sky with a bright red shade. I Brought myself to my feet and saw the mothership above the trees. It wasn’t far. I started hiking in the woods, no visible alien life was there apart from the vegetation, which oddly resembled humanity’s home planet, earth. A couple of minutes went by and I managed to get to the mothership. other humans approaching me in the distance, I could make out two women and a man. I was starting to get really nervous, it has been years since I interacted with someone else, should I hug them? should I introduce myself? should I shake their hand? All of my social skills were gone from the isolation I endured. We finally came face to face with each other and a tall woman, wearing the same suit as I smiled but didn’t say anything, she just stood there smiling with her peers behind her, I finally found the courage to introduce myself,
Hi- hi! I am Edward from star cruiser C-197, and you?
no answer, she just continued grinning at me, the whole atmosphere was odd, there was no sound around, the wind stopped and it was starting to get dark, I felt really uncomfortable. All of a sudden she lept towards me, pushing me and pinning me to the ground. She started strangling me with such a grip that I couldn’t breathe at all. I didn’t understand what was going on, she and her companions then started screaming something. I could make out the words “Creed it and all hurt” , they kept repeating the phrase again and again, louder each time, I started to feel myself passing out.
I woke up with the alarms blaring “critical alert” over and over. I felt incomprehensibly weak, I could only open my eyes and squint to look around me. I was on my bunk bed, in the cabin, still in the cruiser, in the abyss of space. It took me a moment to understand what just happened, I never left my bed, the lack of oxygen made me dream all of this simulated happiness, and the alarms woke me up. I was now starting to choke. I took the last of my strength to turn my body to face the window, and I saw it, it was still here, the last star of the universe, she was real, and not a dream and that was enough to make me at peace with my fate, I kept looking at it, my little star,still twinkling, like it was waving me goodbye.
P.S if you made it this far, thanks for reading! this was my first story here!