Scope

The scope of everything is amazing from up here, you could say all of everyone’s worries melt away. There they go, floating into the sky, the people who had worked so far and so hard for this. I think I should join them, but I am happy where I am. I’m not saying where I am, though. The master made sure we could all go on to the next plane, and if he knew I was taking a few moments in the air to look back on humanity he’d be very grumpy.

I flew around and saw the various concrete wastelands and scum ponds that dotted the landscape. The planet was a lot worse for wear, had seen better days, and other cliches like that. It’s one thing when you live there, but moving on you get a weird sense of nostalgia for it all. Uh oh, the master’s right around the corner, I’d better land before I do more exploring.

I land on a stretch of tarmac stretching from where I was standing off into the grey-green clouds. You really couldn’t see much, or live here for long either. I feel kinda bad for the workers, but I really shouldn’t, because they’re going off into the sky. Even those workers who died were brought back to be sent off to the other plane. The hope is that there’s another planet there but who knows if there are enough dimensions there to have a sphere.

I know I really should be getting back but the glitz and glamour of the rusting old world were beckoning to me. If they had fingers they would be curling and uncurling them I can tell you that. I can’t fly around the planet but by god I can hover, and hover I do. Not flying fast but much faster that one of those old cars from long ago. The old worksite’s grey and green gloom gave way to the barely lit city in the valley. Somehow the giant fans that kept the pollution out were still working. Probably for the same reason the lights were still on, either the generators hadn’t gotten the message that nobody was there or some poor bastards completely missed that everybody else is moving on. I don’t know which is which but I feel like it’s my duty to double check.

Landing smack bang in the middle of the city and the first identifiable signs of humanity were laid before me, literally. A great big sign reading: “MegaCorpHAck is gone, if you are still here go to Bryson’s hill.” I smiled, even some amorphous company still had the courtesy to tell people to be sent to the next plane. Giant rigs and mining outposts could mean anything from human activity to robot workers. But signs, signs with writing on them, uniquely human.

I thought of yelling but I don’t want to attract anybody I might not want to, except for the master. Actually, whatever, if it really is my duty to find people I have to use every tool at my disposal. I sucked in as much mostly clean air as I could, and began to scream, “ANYBODY WHO IS STILL HERE, HEAD TO BRYSON’S HILL. YOUR CURRENT LIFE IS OVER, AND IF YOU DON’T GO YOU WILL SPEND ALL OF ETERNITY HERE ALONE!” Perhaps a little too verbose but if I keep shouting it over and over again somebody’s gonna piece together the message. I spent hours there, but luckily the ending of this plane meant that time was non-linear, and I could spend theoretically as much time as I needed here. But while I was shouting, becoming such an automatic response as to eventually lose all meaning to me, I took a look at this glitzy city.

What were once scum-cleaners to get rid of the pollution on the windows were now chattering amongst each other. It didn’t matter if they went to the next plane or not, the fans would eventually break and they would have more pollution to clean on the windows. For them the absence of humans would be heaven.