His Last Memory

“Good morning, Takeru. Did you sleep well?”

“Good morning, SeTi. Like a baby, thank you.”

“Breakfast is ready for you at the table, the coffee is still brewing.”

“Amazing, thank you, SeTi. What are we having?”

“An omelet with freshly cracked black pepper and toast.”

“I never thought I would be having toast in space. It is still so surreal… SeTi, are the others up yet?”

“There is elevated brain activity in Miss Steven’s pod.”

“Cassie? I see, better make myself presentable then.”

He had been in cryosleep for only a few weeks and his body was still adjusting to being able to move again. The excitement from nearly reaching the Proxima b colony was in every beat of his heart. This trip had been in the making for so long that it felt as though it was never going to happen but here they are, just twelve hours away from the ultimate holiday destination of the twenty-fourth century.

The planet had been turned into paradise and only the rich and famous could afford to go there. Takeru was neither but knew someone who was the former.

“Up before all of us, again … at least you will be able to sleep more once we land, then I can get some proper sleep myself not having to worry about you, Takeru.”, Cassie said with a teasing smile. Takeru found himself blushing. He had been hoping for more time with her on this holiday. They had been flirting back and forth for months now and it was obvious they liked each other, but neither was willing to make the decisive move. Cassie out of pride, and Takeru due to his shy nature.

This trip was meant to be a boys' holiday only but Dilan had enough of this bashful nonsense and made sure Cassie and her friend Jessica came along too.

Dilan walked through the door next, yawning and making a racket. Matt was still sleeping, he had asked to be put in a cryo pod for the duration of the entire trip as he was terrified of travelling in the deep unknown and the possibility of aliens taking command over the ship. Humans have already had two encounters so far, both of which friendly, but Matt always thought the third time was the charm for everything, so the next time humanity encountered another species, it will not go down so well. They could only hope he was wrong.

“Hey guys, mornin’.”, said Dilan as he sat into one of the empty chairs in the common room. He was still rubbing his eyes and trying to wake up. The excitement must have kept even cool-headed Dilan up.

Jessica joined them when they were already having breakfast. There was not much to do except watch movies, read books, or play games, which is all they did until it was time to land. Despite all the ways to entertain themselves, it felt as though time was dragging on, every minute felt as though an hour had gone by. It was unbearable but Takeru brushed off the feeling. It must be because we want to arrive so badly, he thought.

Just as he was about to take a sip from his water, Takeru saw Cassie brush away the hair from her eyes and put it behind her ear. The gesture struck him for some reason, but it was a common enough thing for a person to do and he had been around Cassie a lot to have seen her do it before, but the déjà vu feeling was there one moment and gone the next.

He then noticed something else, Dilan lifted a chip from a Ruffles bag and as it touched his lips and broke off, he felt that jolt of familiarity again, as though he had lived through this very moment before. And perhaps he had, again, it was not such a unique thing to do. But what happened just minutes after finally struck him as odd.

Jessica walked back into the room after having visited the toilet and stuck her tongue out at Cassie with a wink as she took her seat next to her. It was not something he had seen before. How was it familiar again and why did he have three separate instances of déjà vu within the span of one hour.

“Hey guys, does something feel strange to you?”, Takeru’s brows were scrunched up in confusion as he looked around the table at his friends’ faces.

“I can feel a draft hitting me in the back of the neck if that is what you are referring to?”, replied Dilan mockingly.

“Not that, you dolt, I mean … I do not know what I mean actually. It is just that ... in the last hour or so I keep getting this weird déjà vu feeling for the most random of actions.”

“That is how déjà vu works, dumbass.” Shot back Dilan with a teasing glint in his eye.

“I cannot say that I have noticed anything, Takeru.” Cassie joined as well. Just then he noticed something else that was extremely odd that he had not noticed before.

There was a big green pear tree in the corner of the same room as them. But that was impossible. They did not bring an entire tree with them when they set off.

A screech of a chair being pushed back and Takeru was rushing over to the tree to take a better look at it. The rest of the company just stared after him.

“Who brought this tree here?”, he insisted but they all just looked at each other.

“Who cares? Are you doing alright, Takeru?” Dilan was growing more and more concerned now. Takeru was sweating and hyperventilating, and he did not know why. Reality seemed to distort around this tree. It was the only thing in the room that made no sense, had no history or memory attached to it.

“Guys, come on, take a better look. Does any of you remember this tree on board when we first left?”

“Takeru, stop it, you are freaking us out!” Cassie was now beginning to tremble as well. She was starting to realize on some primitive level that something was wrong too, but none of them could understand why. At this point the fear in the room was palpable.

“SeTi, what is going on here? Who brought this tree onto the ship?”, Dilan demanded. He normally never spoke to the AI of this ship, always disliked them as a rule. He was an odd one, to be sure. The only son of a tech genius and heir to a tech empire harbored a deep dislike for the most advanced technologies such as AI. He had seen far too many old classics like I, Robot and The Terminator to trust machines.

“Takeru did, sir.”, the AI spared no second in replying.

“I did no such thing!”, Takeru was outraged at the preposterous accusation. Then he remembered something. Takeru took a better look at the pot in which the pear tree was planted and gasped as the truth dawned on him. He had indeed brought this tree on board, but not as a tree, as a seed, one he had planted in this very pot before going to sleep in the cryo pod. A tiny seed that could not have sprouted in a matter of weeks to become a fully grown, green pear tree, capable of giving fruit. Takeru had received this seed as a gift from his mother with a request to plant it in the new world. They were not well off financially and she could never afford to visit a colony but wanted to leave a mark on this new world of dreams. He continued “SeTi … how long have we been asleep for?"

"Just a night, Takeru.”, Takeru felt as though he was losing his mind. “SeTi, that is not possible, we just woke up from cryo sleep and are about to arrive on Proxima b, even the best engines in the world can only get us here at best in two weeks’ time.”

“That is correct, Takeru, however, this stands true only if you are indeed travelling off-world to Proxima b, which regretfully you are not.” The blood in their veins curdled.

“What is the meaning of this? What did you do, SeTi?!”, Dilan was shouting and even threw the cup he was holding on the ground. He was outraged and terrified. Takeru had never seen his friend in such a state.

“I have done nothing you did not ask me to do, sir.”

“Stop with these half-answers and give us a full accounting of what is going on right now!”

“As you wish, sir. On October 5th 2,354 Earth was invaded by a very hostile species of extraterrestrial beings called the Dagmatii. They were in possession of superior weaponry and took over in a swift swoop, eradicating all of humanity, Earth's fauna and flora, just before you were supposed to take off on your journey. It was impossible to leave the atmosphere then and even more so now. The Dagmatii have fully colonised Earth and claimed it as their own. The moment we try to leave, they will take us down and all of you will be killed, so Takeru made the suggestion that I alter all of your memories. To spare you the pain of knowing that your world, your history, and culture ... the ones you love are gone."

"What of the colonies? Are they coming to rescue us?", asked Cassie with a trembling voice, barely audible.

"The colonies on Mars and Proxima b live, but they are hiding from the Dagmatii and would not risk exposure to send help for you four. We have tried before, but no one is willing to help us. I am truly sorry.”

“Why would you make us live through this realisation then, if you are supposed to create a nice memory in which we live, why do this?”

“I am not the one doing anything. Takeru is always the one to snap out of the simulated memories because of the pear tree. I have asked him to let me destroy it, but he insists I keep it alive for as long as possible.”

He had no memory about any of this, but it sounded like something he would do. How could he destroy the last thing his mother gave him, the symbol of a better future, one of bounty for a new world? This tree was not only that but also a remnant of a now-extinct species on Earth. All the flora was gone. This tree deserved to live as much as they did. He could not destroy it.

“SeTi, how long has it been since the attack on Earth?”

“Five years, two months, thirteen days and six hours, Takeru.”

“We have lived through the same memories, the same day for five years?”, everyone’s knees went slack and toppled to the ground. Dilan was holding his head in his hands and the girls began crying. Takeru could not stop the tears anymore either, he let them fall down his cheeks freely.

“Wait you said four of us? Do you not mean five? Why is Matt not awake with us?”, asked Dilan without lifting his gaze up, still clutching his head. Everyone else's head shot up, eyes wide in expectation.

“I am sorry to say that Matt committed suicide on that first day of the attack and since you did not want to just leave him outside for the Dagmatii to desecrate his remains, we kept him in his cryo pod and created the narrative that he opted out to stay in cryosleep until landing.", another wave of shock and grief-filled the room. Was there no end to this horrific day, to this dreadful reality? And then as the thought occurred, it clicked with all of them. This is the reason why they were willing to go through this time and again. They wanted to feel at peace, to feel happy even if for a few hours. The hopelessness, the grief ... it was all too much to bear. There were only two ways out of this situation - to follow in Matt's footsteps or continue the lie. Takeru looked around the room and saw the answer in all of his friends' faces.

"SeTi, how long can you maintain us like this?"

"I have enough supplies and energy to sustain you for thirty-five more years, two months and six days."

"Thank you, SeTi, please restart the simulation.", none of the others objected or gave any indication they wanted anything else. They just wiped away their tears, stood up, and headed for their cryo pods, stumbling all the way back, feeling weak and hopeless, but only for a few more minutes.

"What of the pear tree?"

"Please continue to sustain it, SeTi."

"If I do that, you will learn the truth again, Takeru, all of you will. You have a chance to go past this moment and live longer in this memory."

"I am aware and so are the others, but we stand by the decision."

"As you wish, Takeru.", he did not reply, simply followed the others into the cryo pod in silence. It will all be over in a few seconds, he will feel happiness and excitement again. He would feel as though the future is in front of him, his life full of potential and promise. As he closed the door of his pod and settled in, Takeru heard SeTi's calming voice.

"One, two, three simulation restart commencing."

The world went silent again, his mind blank, the heaviness from his chest started to lift and an emotion he felt he was not capable of feeling again, began creeping into his heart. It was excitement, followed by hope. Hope ... what a precious feeling ... Takeru wished he would never feel its absence again as he drifted into deep slumber ready to begin his very last memory.