It was a mighty civilisation ... by A_Sunbeam
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Description
"What a place, Captain, - silent as the tomb - not a sign of intelligent life."
Everywhere she looked the Cadet saw nothing but crumbling buildings, rusting machinery and rampant vegetation. Nothing moved - not even a small animal or bird.
But there had been life here - people had walked along these streets, lived and worked in the buildings, operated the machines and vehicles. Examining a large digger on her left she found a figure sprawled over the controls - but not a human - just a work robot. It too had large patches of rust eating away the metal of its body.
"It's been many years since there were any humans on this planet," the Captain replied.
"What happened - an alien attack?"
"No. They did it themselves. And what happened was known as The Calamity."
They made their way to an open space that looked as if it had been a central plaza in years gone by. More robot bodies were scattered here, some still with tools in their hands, some android types with imitation hair and dressed in domestic uniforms.
The Captain indicated a solitary bench which, being made of marble, had resisted the ravages of time, and he and the Lieutenant sat down.
"Once upon a time, Cadet - yes, it is that type of story! - this planet had a thriving population - human and robot, an advanced technological civilisation, which had begun to look at the Universe and explore its moon and the nearest planets.
But for all their riches and resources and technological knowledge they didn't look after their planet - or indeed the various nations on the planet; some had plenty, some had little, and as the years progressed this divide between the nations increased.
As the years went by the population of the world increased, and even though there should have been enough food, water and other resources for everyone, in some parts of the world people were overfed while in other parts they starved. Improved medication, though, meant that more people were born than died.
But eventually the demands of an exploding population and a succession of drought years put such demands upon the food and water supplies that people began starving in greater numbers until the point was reached where so many were dying that the authorities in some countries could not cope and corpses were left out to rot away.
And the piles of the dead created the Great Calamity; a plague so virulent that it wiped the human race from the face of the planet."
"But," said the Cadet, "the robots wouldn't need food, they wouldn't be affected by any human plague - what happened to them?"
"Robots and androids," replied the Captain, "were created to serve humans, to work for them and relieve them of labour. When the humans were gone the mechanicals, the machines, the androids and bots no longer had any reason to operate; so they simply stopped working."
Rain began to fall, and the Captain looked up at the rapidly blackening sky. Better to beam back up now before the Nightstorms started; this was no place to wander around at night or any other time.
Comments (27)
flaviok Online Now!
Excelente texto e arte meu amigo, aplausos (5)
DennisReed
Shades of Christmas future?
efron_241
i fear they are gone
soffy
Awesome work and colors,excellent**
barryjeffer
In the end... our greed for more more more will be the end of us. Brilliant work!
artofsouls
love it it`s a cool render
ZanderXL
So I'm wondering... if humanity is dead (again!) who are they??
Cyve
Excelent work (text and picture) Very well done!!!
Faemike55
Thomas Malthus would be proud to see his work justified, albeit later than he predicted.... Great image and cool story Happy New Year to you
bazza
Super scene and story, well done!
eekdog Online Now!
great job on the sci fi image. Happy New Year..
Tholian
Interesting narration.
mgtcs
Superb scene and story Shaun, amazing work, congratulations!
flavia49
stunning scene and story!
Tracesl
excellent
zaigodou
Very cool!!!!!!
GrandmaT
Chilling reminder of what could be. Excellent work!
jocko500
cool
lyron
Excellent render!!!
renecyberdoc
you descibe our future very well mate.fasinating read.
ontar1
Awesome scene and story!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
adrie
Great render and story Shaun.
UteBigSmile
♥ Cool looking Artwork!
Thetis
excellent image and story!
KnightWolverine
My same thoughts exactly as Zander stated....Hmmmmmmmmm........
drifterlee
Very cool sci-fi!!
cricke49
and so it is written, and yes who are these new patrons? where do they hail from! love your story, and the image you rendered, i think you got something going here, please continue Shaun!:)*5