The Last Remnant

If the last hope of humanity gave up, and no one was alive to see it, would anyone blame him?

It was strange of all thoughts, that would be the one flashing through my mind as the bionics crashed through the windows of my laboratory. Circuits melded with flesh and wires weaving up skin like ivy strangling a tree, the lifeless bodies hobbled towards me, but as always, I was ready.

Pausing only to pick up a cracked, golden, heart-shaped locket, I jumped to my feet and pushed a button on the wall, starting the purge countdown. Usually, I resorted to the poisonous gas as a last resort, but today, it didn’t look like I had any other options. If the bionics destroyed my research, all hope of saving humanity would be lost, and they’d continue to be the shambling corpses in front of me, controlled by the computers coursing through their veins, until the end of time.

One of the bionics swiped at me, but I sidestepped towards the escape door. Grasping the handle, I pulled as hard as I could, but immediately, my confidence turned to panic as the door revealed another wave of bionics. Somehow, they’d discovered the escape route, and scrambling backwards, I attempted to fend them off. It was no use, fighting the machines, and in the blink of an eye, their hands curled around me.

“Let go!” I shouted, despite knowing they couldn’t hear me, or even if they could, they had no reason to comply. The flickering lights of my laboratory vanished into the darkness of a thousand hands as my arms were bound behind my back, and relenting for now, I let the bionics drag me outside.

As always, the sky greeted us with its cold, grey glare, casting everything around us into a void of misery. The only light to be seen came from my laboratory, now flooded with crimson gas, and the city in the distance. Even years after humanity abandoned it, the skyscrapers were still a sight to behold, and as the bionics pushed me forward, I thought back to when the city was a sign of hope and prosperity.

Those were the good days, before the assimilation initiative. How had so many people been blinded by false promises? Eternal comfort. Never being far from one’s loved ones. No responsibilities. The fear of death forever gone, and all they had to give up was their flesh and bone. How could anyone even consider saying no?

That’s probably what the bionics thought, back when they were humans, but now, they were lifeless husks, controlled by the chips in their brains. The souls and minds that once inhabited them had been uploaded to the collective, leaving their bodies and this world behind, and now, the same thing was going to happen to me.

Three long years I’d been fighting this battle, trying to find some way to pull brains out of the collective. After all this time, how could it end up like this? Would all my efforts be for nothing?

Reaching down, I fished a pocketknife out of my back pocket and began cutting the rope binding my hands. The city was a good half-mile from the lab, so by the time we reached the towers of technology, I’d cut enough that I could rip my hands free when an opportunity presented itself.

The cracked, heart-shaped locket bounced off my chest with every step I took, each soft thud sending ripples of memory through me. I’d often told my wife I hated jewelry, but she insisted it’d be fun if we had something that matched. Now, this locket was all I had left of her, and I knew, somewhere, her body still had hers wrapped around its neck.

It’d been so long since I saw her beautiful face. At times, I struggled to recall what she looked like, but every time I forgot, I looked down at the locket, my last remnant of her. Even if I couldn’t remember her, I would remember this. I would scour the world until I found the matching heart, and then, once my research was complete, I’d return her to the world.

“I promised I’d save you.” I thought back to the day it all began which was easy as my wife was one of the first to install the chips and upload her mind to the collective.

“I’ll just check it out, and after I come back, I’ll let you know if you should do it.” Her last words hissed through my brain, but in the end, she never returned. We didn’t know what awaited us on the other side. The machines promised paradise, but was one’s paradise everyone’s paradise? Did a happy life really await us on the other side? I didn’t know, but I did know a happy life awaited us on this side.

If only more shared my opinion, perhaps the bionics wouldn’t have thrived. It started with the first group of people who entered the collective of their own will and then the second wave who entered a few weeks later. By then, over three percent of the world’s population had become bionics, and that’s when the collective made its move. It started simple enough by having the bionics put up advertisements and bringing equipment door to door, but after another thirty percent had succumbed, they began to take more drastic measures and modifying the chips so that humans could attach them to their brains without assistance. Eventually, they began taking children who were not old enough to legally consent, and at that moment, people began to see what I saw.

“It’s just a phase. We can simply outlast it,” they said, but in an endurance test, the machine always won. Soon, the true danger of the collective revealed itself as the advertisements began criticizing our way of life, asking why one would fight so hard alone when they could be reunited with their loved ones. Two years later, and the only ones remaining were people like me, who’d hidden themselves for as long as possible. Fortunately, no matter what, the bionics could not harm a human, meaning even if they could tie me down, they couldn’t stab or shoot me if I tried to escape. I just needed an opening.

We trekked further into the city, and the massive screens stretched up the sides of skyscrapers became brighter with luscious gardens, blue sky, and smiling people, namely everything this world couldn’t give us. Across a store window, a TV screen showed similar images with the text, live the life you want. Don’t become a ghost living a dead one.

“A ghost,” I laughed out loud, not that any of the bionics would be able to respond to it. “If you haven’t noticed, I’m the only one who still has a body.”

One of the bionics leaned forward, a chip in their hand, but I shook my head. No matter how many times they offered it to me, I’d never join the collective, not while she was still trapped. Just like I’d free myself from the bionics, I’d free her from the collective. No matter what, eventually a day would come when she would no longer be one of the shambling corpses with hair so overgrown that it completely covered their faces, further removing any sense of identity.

Up ahead, I saw another group of bionics approaching, and I knew the longer I waited, the more I’d have to kill. Although just corpses now, if my research succeeded, each bionic I killed was one more human that couldn’t return, but if I didn’t escape, then no one could be saved.

To my right, I spotted a 2031 Nissan and knew, by its lack of modern tech, it was one of the cars not controlled by the collective. If I could get to it, I could hardwire it and escape. This was my chance, and I pulled my arms apart, snapping the weakened ropes. I only had a few seconds before the bionics could process what happened, and racing forward, I shoved my way through the crowd.

I reached the car just before the bionics processed what I was doing, and pulling open the driver’s door, I jumped inside. For a moment, I thought I was safe, but then, a par of arms lashed out from the back seat, curling around my chest. Had the collective anticipated this and placed a bionic here in case I tried to escape?

Gritting my teeth, I thrust the pocketknife into the bionic’s brain, causing its body and arms to go limp, and I turned my attention back to the wheel. Fortunately, the keys were already in the ignition, and turning them, the car lurched to life. Perhaps the collective wasn’t so smart after all, and slamming the gas pedal, the vehicle sped forward.

The buildings outside flashed by, and the hordes of bionics turned into a never-ending blur, a sea of lost life. Against them, only I stood, moving forward because, if I didn’t, I’d drown. Soon, the city began to disappear into the distance, and I stopped the car in front of my laboratory, to find a surprising sight.

The poisonous gas I’d used to flood the laboratory had drifted off, further polluting the air above, but in its place the bionics had set up a massive screen in front of the entrance. This entire time I’d thought they lacked any kind of ability to perform such complicated tasks. Was this an update, or had I simply not noticed?

The screen the bionics had set up didn’t show any images or videos, but instead had a single message scrolling across it.

“Is this what you want? Is this the life of the ghost?” I read aloud and began to laugh. “There they go again, calling the one live person a ghost.”

Spinning in my seat, I scanned the car for anything else that might be useful, and my eyes came across a chip resting in the dead bionic’s right hand. In its last moments of function, it must’ve been trying to offer it to me. Still, an undamaged chip could be useful, especially the type that allowed people to insert it themselves, but as I reached for it, my fingers brushed against something hard and metal, tangled in the bionic’s hair. Pausing, I redirected my hand to grasp what I’d just touched, and my eyes widen as I pulled out a heart-shaped locket. Could the bionic have stolen mine? I didn’t brave a glance down at my neck to find out the truth, even if I knew it deep inside my mind.

A ghost, the collective called me. I was the last person alive, and yet, I was more dead inside than anyone who joined the collective. This world. It used to be ours, but now, it was theirs. Meanwhile, what was I? Some lone scientist, fighting to return people to a world they’d left, struggling for a way of life no one else sought to save. For so long I’d thought of myself as the last hope of humanity, but in truth, humanity had moved on. If the last remnant of a dead world gave up and no one cared, would anyone even notice?

The laboratory in front of me haunted this planet with thousands of hours of meaningless work and for what? All so an old man could play pretend that he could save his wife. Now, the dream was over, and reaching out, my fingers curled around the chip. The blood on my hands was a call to return to reality, and taking a deep breath, I inserted the chip into my brain.