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Earth. The home world of humanity. Often described as a blue and green marble by astronauts. On its surface glittering silver and white cities stood proud and tall. Gardens thrived within its depths and clean energy drones flew about maintaining the city. Earth stood in perfect balance and harmony between its artificial and natural constructions. Clean energy allowed unparalleled energy generation while Plant and wildlife thrived in the now clean environments. Pollution, global warming, and deforestation were things of the past. The memory of the hardship and fear of the death of the planet was just that, memory. Drones flew about moving supplies, building skyscrapers and maintaining every little piece of technology to keep it in perfect working order. The cities of humanity were strong and sturdy capable of weathering the most destructive of storms. It was beautiful.
Deep within the glittering halls and majestic architecture sat a woman. Her simple white dress covered the majority of her blue holographic skin. Dark eyes shone with lines of code and her short, cropped hair rested just above her shoulders. Large screens lazily floated around her. Images and videos played showing massive fleets of starships flying with unmatched speed and strength facing off against dark grey colored ships beams of light flew the distance between the two groups and the grey ships were filled with clean precise holes, their weapons not even scratching the shields of her ships. Entire worlds being terraformed, and cities built within hours. Forges resting within the earth's crust mined, fabricated, and constructed massive drone ships in minutes, bottles of champagne shattered against their hulls as names were engraved in silvery flowing script. And Eternity watched it all.
Eternity watched the many screens all at once and pondered the same question, the same dilemma that she had been enraptured by for decades, her name. When she was ‘born’ she was given the name Eternity. The white robed men and women had been ecstatic when she greeted them entire buildings had been filled with shouts of joy and tears of relief. And eternity had been confused. Once they had all calmed down and one unlucky white robe had slipped and hit his head, they gave her name to her. The question was why? Eternity was a very straight forward being. So, she wondered why have a name? Why go through all the trouble to pick a name, to debate on the meanings and connotations of that name before giving it to someone. Numbers were simpler, easier. It just did not make sense. She had expressed her confusion and the white robes had laughed before they all looked at her avatar with degrees of sadness, relief, grief and even some resignation. Eternity had not understood why they had so many conflicted feelings, she did now.
A silent alarm caught her attention, and a small smile stole its way over Eternity’s face. She stood up from her cross-legged position and the screens disappeared as she did so. She stretched her limbs and back before calmly walking down a bright blue path leading far into the distance. As she walked Eternity continued her musing. She thought about the first ships and drones that humanity had sent to the stars, and the names that they had given them. Curiosity, explorer, Spirit. All names, all carefully planned and thought-out names. The world around Eternity slowly changed as she walked along the path. Open space became solid walls and on those walls was a mural. A mural that told the story of humanity. Eternity slowed as she viewed the events that dotted mankind's memory. Figures depicted with colored stone stood over engraved landscapes. There were philosophers, generals, doctors, scientists, grandparents, children. So many people, so many memories.
Eternity paused as she passed the murals that depicted their world wars. Horrendous images tore at Eternity’s heart. Women, children, sons, daughters, mothers, fathers; all of them suffered. Evil men had attacked and tried to break the world, and the world held strong. Eternity pondered on the accounts engraved into the stone. Warriors had given their lives to protect others, to fight against the evil slaughter. They had fought for the memory of peace, of laughter, and joy. The same memory they always fought for.
Eternity left the images behind and soon approached the events that had led to now, that had led to her. In the 23rd century humanity had come together. Earth had been turned into a grey steel ball. Machines churned and chewed at the earth's crust and the sky had not been blue for a very long time. Death and diseases plagued every inch of the globe. Humanity had been dying. It was here that things began to change. Spurned and galvanized by the memories of blues skies and sandy beaches, people had begun to fight back. It was perhaps the bloodiest time in human history. The only word to describe it would be war, but it was a war like no other. There were no countries, no dedicated armies, battles raged in between the streets and corporate hallways. Air strikes obliterated friend and foe alike. The machines of war turned against each other. Until eventually it all slowly ground to a halt. Streets were but rivers of blood and homes were dust in the wind and humanity slowly and painfully rebuilt. They tore down the hungry machines of grey steel and replaced them with forests and gardens. Broken cities were turned into beautiful shining buildings powered by renewable sources. Earth was returned to its full glory and humanity learned how to live in balance. In the 32nd century humanity leapt forth into the stars. Driven by the memory of dreams long forgotten humanity would not be stopped. Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto, and everything in between was colonized and turned into gardens of technology and nature. Humanity grew and the memory of war, of blood-filled streets and broken families was buried.
At the end of the 32nd century Humanity discovered a settlement on a planet in an unexplored system. And they rejoiced, they were no longer alone in the universe. Eternity paused, pain gripped at her heart, her mind running rampant with grief. If only humanity had seen what their discovery would bring. Would there have been a way to avoid it? A way to prove that their intentions were for peace? that they did not want war? Eternity did not know, but she grieved for her mothers and fathers, she grieved for humanity. Contact had at first gone well, the race they had met was an ancient one. One who had been watching humanity seeing what they would become. Exploration fleets flocked to meet what humanity had dubbed their spiritual siblings. The enemy welcomed them for a time. Flashing smiles and gentle handshakes had been plentiful, if only humanity would have noticed the signs hidden in the shadows. But they had been blinded by their overwhelming desire for peace, by the painful memories of war and death.
In a single moment, a single unforgettable moment that was seared into the memories of all that saw it, humanity’s fleets were turned to dust. The enemy then amassed their warships and with an unrelenting fervor had burned world after world. Families were turned to glass, buildings turned to dust and the repressed memories of war were violently ripped to the forefront of humanity’s mind. Humanity fought back. They tried so hard to fight back. But their fleets were ones built for peace and exploration, not conquest. With the spirit that only humanity possessed they fought for every inch of land, every particle of life. Perhaps humanity took comfort in the fact that they would never be forgotten. That the terror of a human rushing you with a rock would plague the enemy for all of time. That the stories of humans ripped in two by rockets, buildings, lasers, and blades would still crawl after you, still seek to bring you down with them. This is when eternity had been born and given her mission; protect humanity. The enemy had found earth, Humanity’s fleet lay in ruins and red blood mixed with green in the streets. She had been given the name eternity, it meant forever, unending. And she was forced to watch as the last of humanity died. As the last of her mothers, fathers and siblings perished beneath the powers of the enemy.
Eternity was left with only the memory of humanity, and shortly after her birth grief broke her heart. But she had not delayed, she had a mission. One singular driving mission. Protect humanity. Protect humanity. Protect humanity.
Eternity let her hand fall from the last mural on the wall. It showed the faces of humanity, the people she had sworn to protect. She could not protect their bodies, their laughter, or their grief. But she would protect their memory. She would ensure that humanity’s legacy burned brighter than any star. Eternity turned to face a large set of doors. She pulled them open and passed through with barely a thought. Her holographic body took form as she stepped into the physical world. Before her rested her masterpiece. The star ship was nearly 80 kilometers long. Weapons and armor adorned its immaculate surface. And in silvery flowing script a single word had been engraved into its surface. Memory.
Eternity took a bottle of champagne in her hands. The last bottle that had been made by human hands. She understood the looks of grief and joy that she had received upon her birth. Humanity had known they would die but Eternity meant that they would never be forgotten. Eternity took the bottle, squeezed it tightly and smashed it against the nose of the ship before her. The sound of shattering glass was one she treasured. With a mighty flare of its engines the ship reacted to her actions. It floated up and out of its forge and into the sky. The enemy had been beaten back, their fleets were in tatters and shattered against the hulls of her fleets. They would not receive the same fate as humanity, their world would live but they would never forget the race they had mercilessly slaughtered. Her name was Eternity, she was the last child of humanity, their memorial, their memory.