1 Rebirth

Dan's worn shoes squeaked as he rushed down the busy street, pushing past people and trying to ignore the heavy exhaustion that was settling in his chest. His backpack bounced on his back as he dodged another group of students heading for the café and tried to focus on getting to work on time. His feet began to ache as he walked faster but still made sure not to bump into anyone. Unfortunately, other people didn't show the same courtesy when he felt someone else doing what he has trying to avoid. He stumbled and nearly fell to the ground, but managed to stay upright. They shouted obscenities at him for not watching where he was going.

"I'm so sorry," he apologized profusely, even though it was the other person's fault. As he decided to quicken his pace further, he noticed someone studying a map of the campus with a lost look on their face. His own image overlapped with the stranger's as he was reminded of his first meeting with Alan.

Dan started to continue on his way but hesitated and turned back. Taking a deep breath, he asked with concern: "Hey, are you okay? Do you need any help?"

The freshman seemed relieved to have someone to turn to for help. He explained that he was looking for a specific building but was struggling to find his way around campus. Without hesitation, Dan offered to guide him despite knowing it would make him late for work. The freshman thanked Dan before they set off together towards their destination. As Dan walked alongside him pointing out landmarks and sharing advice about life on campus, his feet still ached from his rushed journey but the pain in his chest eased slightly as he realized how good it felt to help someone else out.

Despite his good intentions, Dan was now even more behind schedule. He quickly made his way to work, but his boss wasn't pleased.

"You're late again, Dan," she scolded. "You'll have to make up for the lost time." She coaxed him into working more hours than required, knowing that Dan would never say no.

And just as he thought he could finally get to work; a colleague asked him to take on some of their workload.

"I don't think I can, I'm already really behind," Dan replied meekly.

But his colleague was persistent, explaining how much they needed his help and how it would only take a few minutes to finish the task if they both worked together on it. After a few moments of hesitation, Dan found himself agreeing to help out despite knowing full well that it would mean staying late in order to complete all of his own work too.

Exhausted from the extra hours, Dan returned home which he rented with three other people. He opened the door to his room and stumbled in with his aching body. Dust motes danced as he flicked on the light switch, revealing stacks of books on top of cluttered desk and dirty clothes draped over the chair next to it. A half-closed laptop sat atop a pile of papers on one side. His unmade bed was the only other element in an otherwise sparse room. He quickly got changed and slipped under the covers without bothering to eat, hungry but too tired to put any effort into finding food. He had just fallen asleep when he heard a beeping sound, which jolted him awake. He realized that hours had passed like mere seconds, and morning had already arrived.

As he picked up his phone to turn off the sound, he saw that he had multiple notifications. He stared at them, the screen lighting up with missed calls from his mother. He had been avoiding her for so long--over a year--feeling distant and guilty for not having done anything to help, despite his promises to himself. Even the thought of speaking to her made him feel anxious and reminded him of his failures.

Talking to her would mean confronting his past actions, but he just didn't have the courage or drive to do so.

He saw the date and realized why she had called so many times.

Taking a deep breath, he dialled her number. The phone rang and rang, and he thought his heart would explode from the anticipation before finally it was picked up. He was met with his mother's joyful voice greeting him and wishing happy birthday. She enquired about how life was going and when he would have time to visit home. He struggled to answer, his throat tightening and his mind racing as he tried to come up with an appropriate response. After an awkward pause, he finally managed to choke out an apology before quickly ending the conversation. She seemed to understand as he did not receive a call back.

He then sifted through the messages on his phone and found what he expected. A single short message from his sister.

"Happy Birthday"

Her texts had gotten shorter and more infrequent with each new text she sent. He put his finger on the dial icon on her number. He hesitated for a bit before clicking it but immediately cancelled. He scrolled through the numerous dates when he had done the exact same thing, the whole list consisting of outgoing calls of zero duration. He couldn't remember the last time they talked or even when she contacted him. He just texted a one-word thanks and put the phone away. He was the same as her and wasn't going to break the cycle they had created. Maybe one day he would let the call go through but even that seemed like a distant possibility.

As he got ready and finished packing up, his backpack full of unread textbooks and overdue assignments reminded him of an impossible task. But it was already past due date, what was one more day...or maybe even two. He didn't have the energy or time to complete them now anyways. As these thoughts flooded in, he couldn't help but wonder what life would be like if he didn't have to worry about money, if he had more time and resources to invest in his studies and other pursuits.

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The husk of a giant mechanical appendage moves through the space with its mass stretching endlessly into the darkness above. Its movements are almost fluid-like, as if it was dancing in slow motion unaffected by gravity. The strange facility that houses it is lit sparsely and only close to the floor with no light reaching the ceiling or the walls. All that could be seen are hundreds of various appendages, each carrying mysterious cargo into unknown fates. Some of them carry humanoid objects of various sizes and conditions. The appendages move in disjointed patterns, covering all parts of the facility—some taking shortcuts by cutting through the paths of others in ways that suggest they know best where they need to be. Despite their frenzied motion, the only sound that can be heard is absolute silence—the kind of quiet that comes when there is no air left to breathe. They pass through circular objects which shine a bright laser sending their piercing rays out into the emptiness beyond, illuminating nothing but themselves; revealing that the facility stretches infinitely in all directions.

As one particular machinery continues to move, its cargo is illuminated by the lights, revealing details about the cargo's humanoid appearance. It appears to be covered in deep, jagged wounds. The machine carefully moves it towards one of the scanning devices, lighting up a display attached to the machine with a soft, pulsing glow. The humanoid body is scanned from top to bottom, and as soon as the process is complete, it disintegrates into a cloud of shimmering particles.

Another machine carries similar cargo, which is barely recognizable as humanoid, with limbs twisted and mangled beyond recognition. The machine begins the scanning process, but this time, the display remains dark. It tries again, but still nothing. A small, bio-mechanical head; similarly attached to the ceiling floats into view and begins to observe the body up close, scrutinizing it carefully.

Suddenly, a vertical pod-shaped machine becomes visible surrounded by a translucent shield. The light that illuminates it is from a circular white image which appears in front of it. The body materializes on the floor of the pod, missing an arm and looking withered and dead, but it's clear that it was once humanoid. The head continues to explore the circular display, which shows an array of symbols surrounded by several concentric rings, that appear to be made out of light. As it moves through the symbols, one of the rings begins to glow, and an image of a collection of floating islands appears.

The islands are covered in lush flora and fauna, but there are also signs of artificial structures that appear to have been destroyed. The head lingers on the image for a few moments before moving away, and the body slowly begins to disintegrate. As it does, the rings around the symbols also start to vanish in sync with it. Finally, the entire body is gone, and the display turns off.

But after a few moments, the image reappears, this time only containing one ring. The head stops and seems to hesitate for a fraction of a second before turning back and studying the ring closely. Suddenly, an image of Earth appears on the screen, as if in response to some unseen query from a distant being. After another long moment of contemplation, the head spins away without a sound, leaving the strange machines to carry out their function undisturbed.

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