Commentary on the Apocalypse
Commentary on the Apocalypse
It wasn't supposed to be this way. This was supposed to be a scientific journal, not an epitaph for humanity. There is no point in lamenting now, not with the greater tragedies that will ensue. Some explanation should be offered as to how this could have happened, so I will offer mine. Forgive me if it seems like I'm describing events that I would have no way of knowing; this was a small world, before. With satellites encircling the globe, and the Internet bringing everyone together, anyone could nigh-instantly learn anything about everything. I ramble on even now, as time grows short for those who are left.
My training as a scientist compels me to observe and record detachedly, but it seems so pointless to be neutral now, what with the world ending and all. Most people blamed the Americans; though it was not purely their fault. They only did what so many before them had done; they lost track of ethics in the wake of scientific discovery. The Americans had succeeded in creating multi-cellular life from scratch. And were it not enough, they defied all the gods of every religion when they began to clone human DNA spliced together with that of animals. For what purpose they did this, I can only fathom. Maybe they were created to be a race of slaves, with the strength of beasts and the reasoning of man. Or maybe they were bred to serve as cannon fodder in our so many wars. There are innumerable reasons why they might've been designed; a person couldn't list them all. All I know was that very powerful people funded the research. The Americans cannot be held solely responsible, however. Scientists from around the globe were all working together on the projects. Other people blamed the creations themselves, though it was not their fault. They were born innocent, to a test tube mother and a father made from a hodge-podge of DNA and protein. They did not ask to be given life, after all.
Extreme religious ideologies finished what humanity had started so many years ago, when our ancestors first discovered the killing power of rock and bone. Zealots of the world's largest religions: Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and so many others took offense to these so called "abominations". Pandemonium ruled the streets, as protestors firebombed universities and research centers. Varying states of Martial Law were enacted across the world as quiet citizens became torch bearing revolutionaries. The Chinese and North Korean communists, evidently preparing for this moment for years, took the opportunity offered by the chaos to invade South Korea. Tunnels dug under the Demilitarized Zone allowed thousands upon thousands of shock troopers to pour into South Korea. Within hours, or so I was informed, Korea was once again unified, though this time under a communist banner.
The world as we know it was ending. On the Japanese islands, the armed forces were preparing for invasion. Long dormant missile defense systems blinked on, and began to scan the skies. The U.N., long known for its good intentions (as if we didn't know what the road to Hell is paved with) collapsed on that day. It was the third Wednesday in September, the date, now unimportant. Who alive can say what happened behind those closed doors? All the media reported was that very few representatives from the second and third world countries were present. Friends of mine living in the Bread Basket region of America, who may or may not still be among the living, told me that they heard, or maybe felt is the better term, the grinding of steel as the missile silos opened. Reports of revolutions from countries all over the world filed in slowly, but steadily. Everybody feared that indeed, the end was near. Self-proclaimed prophets came out of the woodworks and converted thousands, maybe millions. Around the world, Mormons nailed boards over their windows and put bars on the doors, and retreated to their basements, content to ride out the apocalypse on a two year's supply of food. In the Vatican, no more public prayers were said. Italian news Medias reported that the bridge to the mainland had been destroyed. Islamic extremists, hiding from years of suppression; first from the Soviets and then from the Americans, seized power throughout the Middle East. It was only a matter of time, we suspected, until someone did the unthinkable.
Less than twenty four hours later, it happened. A dirty bomb exploded in Tel Aviv, dooming hundreds to a slow, agonizing death from radiation poisoning. As Archduke Ferdinand's Assassination was the final straw which led to World War One, this was the spark that would ignite the world. Air raid sirens blared worldwide. The United States, in a desperate attempt to keep from collapsing, declared neutrality, though it did not last but a single day. European powers launched the few missiles they had towards the Middle East. Sites that before had been sacred to multiple faiths were now only glowing craters. The ancient lands were prophets had once preached peace and tolerance was now cursed to forever be a monument to the failings of mankind. Nuclear warheads spread a glittering promise of eternal sterility over most of the landmass, and the fallout scattered on the trade winds killed the oceans.
And yet, life still clung stubbornly to existence. Bunkers miles below the surface housed the leaders of the world, with supplies and inhabitants to last for a thousand years. This morning, July 26, 2014, someone, who it ways matters so little now, came on the remaining airwaves and declared that the war was over. That was about half an hour ago. Not counting the seven minute time lag. Conservative estimates said that there remains between six hundred thousand and three million people left on the surface who will not eventually die of radiation sickness. But they will die, too, unless they are the luckiest people ever to have walked the face of the Earth. With all the lab burning and general destruction, someone forgot to sterilize the research rooms and Ebola and only God knows what else have escaped. Maybe the radiation will kill them. Probably won't though. I've ran computer models and if everything goes perfectly, there is a twenty two point eight percent chance that humanity, in some form or another, will survive. If just one little variable goes wrong, however, the odds approach one point zero zero eight percent.
I wonder what ever happened to those experiments. Were they taken underground and survived? Will they be our replacement? Does the Internet still exist outside this station? Ha, listen to me ramble on like a terrified child. I will live long enough to find out. How I envy those who died, they at least died on the planet that gave birth to their race. I won't kill myself, however, not with so much to gain.
I probably should write about me; after all. I'm most likely that last human ever to leave Earth orbit. I was the only person to volunteer for a lifetime assignment on the Moon. I got to watch as the Earth burned. The other people who were up here with me, just for a three week research stay, took the shuttle back home a day before everything went to hell. All the miles of rock and metal above me shield me from solar radiation; and almost every other kind as well. Those neutrinos, though, they're still passing through me, can't be helped though. Not doing too much damage anyway. My simulations tell me that if I continue to eat the genetically engineered food up here with me, (what the hell else would I eat?) that with so little exposure to radiation, and if I stay on my drug regiments, I could easily live to be three hundred . That should give me enough time to download my mind into the computers and robots all around me. And if I should die, the mummified body of the man in the moon will stay up here for millions of years, perfectly preserved.
The preceding has been my commentary on the apocalypse. Now, there is work to be done.