Lonely Among Us

Meanwhile, back on Earth - James was touring the giant facility he entered earlier.

Inside of the building was like a tomb - apparently, some scientists died at their posts, skeletons were lying everywhere.

“What the hell happened here APE? This can’t be the work of the virus,” I asked, with a confused voice.

“No, sir, assessment of probability suggests more ‘drastic’ measures were taken by the last survivors - probably carbon monoxide or other gas was used as the means of mass extermination,” APE responded with his typical, emotionless analysis.

Looking at the skeletons, I managed to mumble to myself, “Lucky bastards…”

It took me another two hours, to locate all the things I needed - during that time, I managed to explore a good part of the facility - surprisingly, even after all this time most of it was still functional.

Finally, I arrived at the machine I was looking for - I could only hope it was in a similar condition as most other hardware in this place.

“Cross your fingers…” I said more to myself than to APE, as I turned on the experimental reactor. There was a hell of a lot of weird noise coming from that old thing, but after a few minutes, it was up and running.

“EXCELLENT… What a beautiful sight!” I quickly entered the passcodes I located earlier and gained access, then set every one of 1000 variables to precalculated values.

As soon as I hit the ‘Enter’ button, the lab computer sounded the alarm, knowing something was wrong, “DANGER! Possible quantum level collision detected!“

“Yep, I know all about it…” I said out loud as I pushed the ‘OVERRIDE’ button.

“All right… APE, are we all set?”

“Yes, sir - if you still want to proceed-” as I predicted, APE tried to persuade me one last time to reconsider my decision - but my mind was set.

“YES I DO!” I shouted as I hit the ‘Init’ button.

***

A few seconds later, the test chamber was filled with the brightest light I’ve ever seen. Even at a distance, you could feel the warmth coming from it - just like the sun on a cloudless day… in the middle of the Sahara!

I started walking towards the chamber, ignoring all the warnings and alarms generated by my body, as well as lab computers. The energy was bombarding me, the closer I got, the tougher it became - about 10 meters from my target, I felt a sharp pain in my knees and fell to the ground.

“Warning! Energy overload! Primary systems impaired, switching to core function mode!” this was something, I did not expect.

For the first time in hundreds of years, I felt fear - I knew I had to reach the chamber for my plan to work, but my body was shutting down just meters from the destination… If I didn’t make it, the explosion would probably not be enough...

“No No NO! Not when I am so close… ARGGHH!" I shouted to myself. "Move your ass you bastard! Come on!” I managed to slowly get up.

The room was spinning, I was barely able to stand - test chamber was just a few meters away, but from my current perspective - every meter was more like a kilometer.

Clenching my teeth, I started to walk again, very slowly - watching my every step...

ZAP!

5 meters from my destination, I was struck by an energy discharge and lost my strength once again - this time my HUD shut down as well. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get up - I started to crawl, as my skin began to melt and carbonize right before my eyes.

Every move was causing me extreme pain, the heat from the chamber was tearing at my body like sandpaper and razors - I managed to crawl for a few more seconds, but about two meters from my destination I lost my strength.

I felt like flatlining, my vision was a blur - every muscle in my body was crying with pain. “...must go on… must… argh…” I collapsed, I was done - out of power and of will to fight. I closed my eyes in defeat...

When I thought all was lost, suddenly - a distorted voice sounded in my head, “Transfer.ng emer...cy pow.r! Yo.. Can d.. It si.!” immediately, I felt an energy rush - I had no idea where APE managed to find the energy to transfer, and it wasn't much - but it was all I needed.

“Thanks, buddy - I owe you one...” I said as I pushed myself to the chamber with the rest of my strength.

All I can remember is bright, light and pain… excruciating pain, and after a few seconds, which felt like an eternity, I mercifully passed out - hoping, to never wake up again...