In the Wake of Humanity

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,

And swallows circling with their shimmering sound,

And frogs in the pools singing at night,

And wild plum-trees in tremulous white,

Robins will wear their feathery fire

Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire,

And not one will know of the war, not one

Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree

If mankind perished utterly,

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,

Would scarcely know that we were gone.

-There Will Come Soft Rains, by Sara Teasdale (1918)

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For many centuries before the creation of telescopes and the invention of satellites and space-related technology, mankind proudly presented itself as the sole sentient entity to inhabit the universe, which, in their deluded beliefs, consisted of only the Earth, the moon, the planets around them, and the sun. Man would grow decadent and prejudiced, always wanting to put their faith in folk tales and common sense, sparing no place for logical thinking and learning experiences. That was not to say that science and religion were meant to stay separated forever. It was the irrationality of man to always polarize everything, you either stood with them or against them. Those who chose to stand with science and shut their mind from introspective thinking became depraved of morality, and then they did nothing but destroying themselves. Those who stood under the banners of religion and became extremists similarly went corrupt, rejecting any notion of innovative thinking, and then they too destroyed themselves. When money and politics entered the stage, nothing was clear anymore; nobody knew which was right and which was wrong. The line between white and black went blur. All were thrown away as wealth and power became the only thing people worked for. And once again, they destroyed themselves.

Aliens and UFOs, once believed to be a form of scientific revolution or a revelation of a higher plane of existence slowly faded away, replaced by more empirically fascinating fields of knowledge. And when the Reapers revealed their presence...

The rest was just history.

Was that why mankind never met any alien life? Because they too had turned decadent and went extinct from wars and conflicts? If so, then the Reapers were completely unneeded, nothing but black dots which polluted the starts, indulgently deceiving themselves as a self-proclaimed 'defenders of the galaxy. Why bother preserving the lives of those who'd threw them away without reason?

The Reapers designated themselves as the one protecting organics from complete annihilation, but the more they harvested the galaxy, the more organics organized resistance. Why that was, not one single entity could answer.

Now, the Earth was lost. None could be recovered soon, for man had yet to bond as a unified entity. Who must be blamed for the fires which churned the once-blue planet? Who should be yelled at for letting the aliens choke their beloved homeworld with the smoke and the murky cloud?

Everyone demanded answer, and yet no one could find it.

-x-x-x-x-

October 16th 2021, Canada, Unknown Location (?)

"I'm surprised you could plant veggies."

"Not if I don't do it by hydroponic method."

It had been three and a half months since sunlight first revealed itself to the chilly and smoldering Earth. For some, it was a sign of hope and fortune. Others weren't so optimistic at all.

Understandably, people were still questioning a lot of things, which might be summarized into one giant question; how the hell were they going to restore the Earth as it was?

"You know, if I ever had a chance to sell my potatoes instead of giving them freely, I might want to sell them..."

"At the highest price?"

"Hey, don't be so silly! My price will be affordable to everyone!" Lisa let out a stiffened laugh.

"I know, I know, let's not think about money so early in the morning." a kiss to Lisa's forehead softened her scowling expression.

As Lisa and Adam spent their time providing help for those who couldn't physically work, the two took whatever chance they had to listen to radio news, waiting for something inspiring, or maybe a story worth laughing at. The Reapers' selective attacks left certain areas too damaged to be restored in a short time, while intentionally foregoing small towns and rural places, where men and women and children congregated in any available space. Of course the news had to be in foreign languages, be they Spanish, Chinese, Norwegian, and once every week Swedish. English broadcasts were slowly replaced as more and more people around the globe posted their harrowing life story on the still-active internet. Lisa did her best to translate the ones spoken in Spanish and French, and occasionally other folks would help along with the translation.

Adam still frowned at the eerie continued existence of the network. Did the Reapers forgot to blow up the satellites or did they leave them out there so men could see their impending end?

An end abruptly averted the minute the space robots decided to just fly away from their home...

Whatever happened to them anyway?

Days passed as Lisa stopped showing signs of PTSD and Adam had his injured leg healed perfectly. The Reapers gave no indication of returning and the rest of their husks roaming the Earth had been rounded up and killed, their bodies either stored for research or sold to black markets dedicated for objects stolen from the aliens.

A thousand dollars for a husk's intact heart and ten thousand dollars for an intact husk corpse, those guys were so out of their minds...

Soon images surfaced all over the internet, from Instagram to Twitter, images that shook the world of how their homeworld was in great ruins. Monuments like Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower, and St. Basilicas Cathedral were shown to be dented in scorch marks with menial repairs in progress. At times, pictures of nature preserves and historical monuments would surface with varying levels of conditions, the most popular being the Stonehenge's photo, where the Reapers 'redecorated' the site with remnants of their so-called processing facility. Others showed pictures of parks and government buildings so jam-packed with refugees that one could be forgiven for mistaking them as protesters. All manners of memes went everywhere on the web, ranging from sympathetic ones to outright offensive.

Truly, no one could predict that Humanity would be so close to extinction, and then seeing all those nightmares just disappeared without explanation.

No man on Earth was going to let them go forgotten.

"Speaking of which, have you talked to Zayn, that guy who oversees the food distribution?"

"If we follow his rules, we might as well be selling our veggies to the black market. You know, for extra bucks." Adam said with a snort.

"How about the other guy, Brandon?"

"What about him?"

"Well, we are going to buy new clothes, right? For the winter, I mean" Lisa most likely referred to their lack of proper clothing for the upcoming winter seasons, especially Adam's beat up boots. He had to repeatedly remind Lisa on how surly this Brandon man had been to everyone.

"Right, sorry. I'll try to talk to him. Pray that he doesn't punch me first."

As he walked out of the hydroponic garden, Adam casted a glance to the cloudy sky. Sure, the world had yet to stand up on its feet, but there had been attempts to gather as much help as possible to resurrect the modern civilization, if only a mere shadow of its glory days. The situation looked bleak, but if people could find courage to let go of their differences and stood as one, then no doubt mankind might survive the hard days, no matter how long it'd took. Perhaps one day, Humanity would have its vengeance on the Reapers once and for all.

Maybe it was time to start considering possible designs for their future settlements. A cyberpunk city? No, absolutely not, it was too bleak for a future civilization. A layered city with skyscrapers and underground hubs? Not bad, if you had enough money and materials to build the foundations first. How about a 'green' city? Seemed like a fine choice, although the greeneries could make someone bored or lazy.

Ah, whatever. No matter what would happen next, mankind won't retreat into the shadows, ever again.

-x-x-x-x-

Author's Note :

And now we arrive at the end of my fanfiction. Fret not, ladies and gentlemen, after all I'm sure there are better stories out there for you to indulge yourselves into. This fanfiction is merely an exploration to a 'what-if' scenario. Better yet, why don't you try to develop your own fanfic using this one as an inspiration? Rate and review if you so desire.