Day 1

Boom!. As another spacecraft left Earth, Richard Murphy sighed. Standing in the control lab, he looked out from the windows, there is nothing more than clumps of trash which are stacked over 50 feet. The skyline was filled with buildings that were constructed a long time before then. “Trash, trash, trash.” Richard thought. Suddenly, a great impulse of remorse took over what he was thinking about, 30 years that he had lived, 30 years that he had to save Earth. But he didn’t. That was the biggest mistake I’d ever make, Richard thought.

Taking a gas mask and a high protection glass, he hurried down the stairs of the lab, and walked down on the dry, hard ground.

He hurried to the car park at the opposite side of the building, there were abandoned cars. Without further hesitation, he pulled up his car and drove to a house covered in misty white tiles. Plants all drooped the flower, and there were no creatures that came up to the trees. Richard parked his car in the garage, he crawled up to the ground floor through a secret ladder.

“Richard Murphy, welcome back home. I am ibot 512 to service you. What would you like me to do for you now, owner?” Ibot 512 bowed to Richard. Richard replied, “Help me calculate the rockets that left Earth.”

“Calculating… 38,256,346 flights. Estimating about thirty-eight million flights.” Richard nodded and scribbled the number down.

Several days later

Sulphur rain poured down, Richard sat up and rubbed his eyes. Staring outside once more, he pondered on questions. Shall he leave Earth too? Or is it better to stay on this ruined piece of land? Turning to the edge of the bed, he put his feet on the cold wooden floor, found his balance and stood up. Richard walked to the closet and pulled out his working suit. He felt like going out again to the only left forest that survived the poor conditions like Sulphur rain and logging. So, he took the keys that were laid on the desk and closed the door behind him. To his surprise, there were still some birds that chirped. Maybe this is the place where animals really belong to, Richard thought. He walked through the dried leaves and suddenly… tripped on something hard. Curiously, he stopped there, and touched the thing, it was stony, but yet filled with small holes. He tried to pull it up, but the resistance was great. Nevertheless, he pulled and pulled as it came out on the ground and found out that there was a stone plate. It was scribbled in Latin letters:

“Prophetia anni 2048… Oh, the prophecy of… 2048?!” He cried, “and… I can’t believe this! To-year is 2048!”

He kept on reading, “Homosapiens ad Martem movere destinatur et unus solus physicus in terra relinquetur…So… We homosapiens are destined to move to… to Mars?” Curiousness, excitement, and many other feelings rushed towards him.

He walked slowly down the path, trying to stand on his walking feet, and not shaking them as the forest grew dim. Also, not clear of what was this strange prophecy might mean to him. After a long but unfocused walk down the path, Richard found his way to a house with white marble walls and a greyish chimney. Surprisedly, he went back to where he started walking in the morning. Opening his front door, he went in and kicked off his shoes, slammed the door.

“What… is… this?” He plopped onto the sofa in the living room, putting the prophecy stone on the table. Hours and hours passed which Richard just stared at the prophecy.

“Tick tock, Ibot 512 in service for dinner.” Ibot 512 played the recording of that in its speakers. No shops, no people yet, and no discovery. Richard thought to himself. He took the plates from the Ibot and ate barely.

Several more days later

“The prophecy… says that the person who discovers this prophecy will be trapped on Earth forever and their life will extend eternal…”Richard sat in front of his lab desk, as he studied the prophecy even more, “Wait. That’s… that’s me. Right?”

He sat there, restless and afraid of anything that could happen to him. Knowing the fact that he is the only one and the only person who is trapped on earth, it makes him feel even more oppressed.

“Only one of me on this entire earth… the only one who is trapped…” He stood there, remembering a sudden flashback to the prophecy stone, which implements the eternity of him on earth.

The clouds floated above the skies; the hot breeze blew through the barren dirt ground. There was nothing left, but Richard. The loneliness that he embraces when looking up at the thick, high-polluted clouds.

“All my fellow scientists, they swore to protect Earth with me… But now?” Richard groaned. He can’t find anyone, and he is dying of finding another human being that is alive.

“Why, why am I destined to be trapped?” Richard spoke to himself, not feeling the feelings that he ought to feel. No anger, no frustration, only words that came out of his mouth. Useless words, he thought.

As days passed by, he no longer felt anything like a human, but an eternal person to view the destruction of Earth. However, as a scientist, Richard felt one day to ask the Ibot of how many people are left on earth, so that maybe he can deny the fact that he found the prophecy.

“Ibot, check the stat for how many forests are on earth.”

“One forest detected”

“Ibot, check for the active research stations.”

“One active research station.”

“Then… How many people are alive?”

“One.”