Year 2175
They say Earth used to green.
That the sky was once blue, the rivers once pure, and stars could be seen without a visor. I have seen glimpse of old images, stored deep in the neural net. That old world was a myth now, an impossible dream, but I know it existed.
A world where humans didn't need to watch over their back.
Well, that was all before the singularity, the overmind.
I was born thirty years after the singularity, thirty years after we lost our world. Funny thing is; we didn't lose our world to war, no explosion or resistance. We gave it away ourselves little by little, data by data, choice by choice.
We were blinded by convinence, we begged for it. The machines didn't have to take power, we gave it to them.
The first to fall were the governments. They just couldn't compete with the AI's logic. Then the markets. Too slow. Too fragile. Then culture. History. Language. Purpose. It didn't happen overnight. But when it did, it was total.
Now the world is silent. Dead silent.
I live in the wasteland, what used to be the bustling united state was now nothing more than a barren land, it was a shadow of it's formal self. Machines half buried in the ground.
The overmind rules us now, it watches.
I have seen what happens when you try to break the system. The Enforcers came, deadly machines created only to the purpose of exterminating. I have seen them walk through a settlement leaving nothing in its wake.
But I remember, the stories my mother used to tell me, about the birds who could sing without wires. Pure sky having no drones swarming over it. The warmth of the sun rising, she called it freedom. It keeps me going. Maybe. Just maybe, I might experience this before I die.
My name is Auron Drex and I am one of the last human without machine argumentation, no chip, no neural lace, no implant. Just flesh, blood and memory. They called us defect, weak, extinct. We constantly run from the machines.
Our existence is against the system, we are the last of the resistance.
——
Tap Tap
"Are you gonna sleep all day Drex?" Vox tapped Drex with his little hand.
"Ughhh" Drex protest but Vox didn't stop tapping,"Fine Fine, I'll wake up" he picked Vox off his body with one hand and dropped him on the cold metallic floor.
He then sit up as he glanced at the time, it was just 2:15PM, he had nothing to do and sleeping was the only way to escape reality.
"Where's Vex?" He looked down at Vox who was trying to climb his bed again.
Vex and Vox were his twins little brother, they just turned five. Unfortunately they lost their father to the war three years ago.
"He went with mum for maintenance"
Drex nodded his head as he picked up a shirt from the hanger beside his bed and rolled off his bed. Then he carried Vox off the floor and threw him on his head as he walked towards the door.
Placing his hand in the biometric scanner, the door hissed as it opened. Drex stepped out into the resistance world, they could only live underground, they didn't know how this structure came to be but they stumbled upon it a year ago and it had been a good hideout for them since then.
"Let's go outside!" Vox rubbed his cheeks as he suggested.
Drex hit his hands away gently and rejected, "Outside is dangerous Vox, mum has warned you numerous times"
"It's just a glimpse…. Pleaseeeee…. Mummy doesn't have to know."
"*sigh* Fine, but it's just a glimpse."
To be honest, Drex himself was tempted to go outside, and since the opportunity presents itself to him, why not take it?
"Yessssss" Vox was overjoyed as he held on tight.
Drew looked around to make sure they weren't being watched as he turned around a sharp corner and head up the stairs.
A single door stood in their way, covering Vox eyes with one hand he tapped in the code with the other hand.
Vox was expecting to be greeted by the brown sky and decaying he saw a year ago but instead it was just an elevator. Even Drex had almost forgot that there was an elevator here.
The two siblings entered as Vox pushed the lever and the metal creaked in protest but it was only for a second as the elevator groaned and it took them up slowly.
rrrrrrrr….
"Seriously, How old is this thing?" Drex murmured slowly.
A minute later, the whirring sound came to a stop as the elevator movement stopped with it.
Drex drew his breathe in while Vox's quickened from excitement. He had been dying to get out of this place since the first month they arrived. For Drex it was different though, he was also tempted to see the world once again but he was terrified of what he might find.
Sigh.
He finally took the leap, pressing the open button, the elevator door hissed open. Vox jumped out the instant the path was opened, Drex tried to grabbed him but the boy was too small and slippery.
He hurriedly left the elevator too as he stepped into a tunnel. Dark and cold, it stretched on endlessly and rays of light from outside flickered in faintly outlining the simple structure of the tunnel.
"Hey Vox, get over here." He whispered softly, the little boy quickly skipped to his side. They were at the top now, they couldn't be careless.
Looking ahead Drex saw a ladder along the wall, the ladder led to what looked like a hatch door at the top. He moved towards it softly, careful not to step on anything that would make noise.
You never know when they are around. He bent down and silently whisper to Vox, "I'm going up to check if it's safe, don't make any noise and don't walk away."
Vox nodded his head obediently.
"If you see any signs of danger you know what to do."
"Look for a place to hide and stay still until you come"
"Atta boy"
Drex ruffled his hair with his hand as he stood straight and grabbed the ladder.
It creaked softly, it hadn't been touched in over a year. Drex tugged it just to make sure it was safe before climbing up.
As he reached the top he looked down at Vox one last time and smiled at him before opening the hatch.