Micro Management

"it was only a matter of time I suppose" I thought to myself as the deafening sound of the blast door alarm rang through my head and in that moment I realized we would no longer be able to stay on the surface.. It's only been six weeks and they're here and we have nothing to stop them. Were we ready to leave and had we prepared enough to do so? What was our future in the new world and what was left outside the facility?



Smart technology was to be the start of a new era but with all technology came a new generation of dependent humans using it. A world that wanted to get the maximum result with minimum effort was to become our undoing as the most simplest of tasks to most became demanding chores to others that science sought to automate. Something as simple as cleaning a touch sensitive display...



A short lifespan biological nanorobotic organism capable of reproduction engineered to handle this "chore of sorts" was bioengineered and was to be marketed as a one-shot fix.The organisms fed on the oils and debris from human skin and were the life work of "Dr. Binky Murray". Those tests were the beginning of the end for all life on earth.



Two days after administering the first test although everything seemed fine and the project deemed a success the first signs something was wrong made itself known, Dr. Binky had come down with a rash that was first thought to be an allergic reaction and only a day later was quarantined when legions started appearing. The puzzle pieces came together quickly after that but everything medical science could throw at these organisms failed. The world watched on as it went from local news to the only thing you could see on television until there was nothing.



The good doctor had used tardigrades to bioengineer the nanorobots and as a result of their adaptive abilities and their shortened lifespan they began evolving at an unprecedented rate. Evolution and adaption go hand in hand and as such these organisms evolved to consume all in their path and continued to reproduce and spread further even when a previous food source had been exhausted as if they had begun feeding on themselves constantly fuelled by exponential population growth. At first it was oil then skin and then everything from hair to plastic, metal to concrete, anything they made contact with seemed to become a new source of nourishment. The greatest minds of our time were powerless to stop them. How do you stop something that can't be seen and is impervious to chemical, environmental, physical damage and so small it can't be seen by the naked eye and travel on the wind? Pandora's box had certainly been opened and it seemed as though the end was drawing nearer every day but all hope was not lost, we still had the ark.





I am sure everyone knew what was happening already but it was my duty to make sure, I adjusted my intercom microphone, switched off the alarm audio but not the visuals and in my calmest voice began making the announcement "The outer door has been breached, this is not a drill, in less than twelve hours this facility will be compromised. Please commence evacuation procedures and gather any and all items that will be accompanying you". With that my job was done and I too had to gather my belongings and prepare to leave for the ark.





Twelve hours wasn't a lot of time and after gathering my belongings and transferring my observational data to a portable drive as quickly as I could and checking everything meticulously the countdown was at little over two hours. I handed my property and everything I was responsible for to the loading team and took my seat early to avoid the coming pandemonium. It was a rat race right up to the last minutes and I started to think to myself "were we going make it out" and then the countdown began ten, nine, eight, I grabbed at the chain around my neck and gripped firmly the heart shaped locket my fiance had given me days before she had perished then I heard a loud crack like thunder overhead and a blinding purple light rendered me almost sightless and a few seconds later a feeling of pressure over my whole body that felt like my insides were about to come out of my anus. 





Moments later I had regained my vision and my ears stopped ringing I started to collect my thoughts on what had just happened and where we were currently situated. The evacuation platform we had all gathered on essentially was a large quadcopter type aircraft piloted by a computer encapsulated in glass with a pole erected in the center of it protruding to the outside I recognized to be an electrode. The purple flash I seen must of been plasma which would have eradicated all if any of the organisms on the outer surface of the craft. This was it now, there was no way of returning to the surface for the time being and it was time to watch nature take its course.







I had never been to the ark nor seen inside it as it was all classified and kept a secret so it was not to cause unrest amongst anyone who wouldn't have a place aboard it. We all had a role to play in the survival of our race and my thoughts strayed toward what would life be like there and would it still be worth living as we float in the sky and watch the world we knew deteriorate. As my mind drifted further into thought of what was and what was to be a shadow crept across our craft followed by a loud announcement stating "docking procedure initiated, prepare for colonisation assessment and decontamination procedures, do not attempt to disembark, please remain seated until directed otherwise". This was it, our new life, when the doors open what would be waiting? This was our punishment for playing God and interfering with things we took for granted for the sake of shaving a few seconds off our daily routines, my only concern now was what kind of future we had and would it be worth living knowing everything we had and losing it all. "Coupling system engaged" the same voice exclaimed as the loud noise of hydraulics could be heard amongst the sound of metal on metal. We had arrived, our new home awaits, life on the Ark has commenced