Experiment K2-9B
Kai shivered as the wind howled through the barren valley, crouching low to shield himself. He pulled his fur coat tighter, the collar tickling his cheeks. The coat was one of the few things he had in the pod he came in, along with two fidget toys, a self-cleaning rag, and a handful of plant seeds—an experiment within an experiment.
He had supplemental pills too, but they were hardly necessary, thanks to the bio-nourishment implant in his thigh. Humanity’s ground-breaking solution for space travel: a device that turned movement into sustenance and waste into water. With it, hunger and thirst were obsolete—a sad convenience on a world as desolate as Exoplanet K2-9B.
Sometimes, Kai swore he could remember the taste of real food, but it was fleeting. Just like Earth. So much of it felt like it was slipping away. Fleeting memories, on the edge of disappearing.
K2-9B left much to be desired with its vast burnt-orange plains and bone-chilling emptiness. Maybe that’s why he was so determined to complete the scavenger hunt. His fingers scraped along the edge of a jagged stone, alien dirt crumbling beneath his nails—stinging as some lodged under them—as he pried it loose. Fingers raw from weeks of searching. And there… Metal, cold against his skin.
The last hidden piece of the artifact.
Kai glanced at the map, heart pounding. All eight pieces found. This was it. It had to be. He’d finally get the message from the only other human that survived long enough on this forsaken planet. The map was proof.
He attached the final piece into place with trembling hands and waited.
Nothing. This moment had always been different in his head. He’d expected a voice from the sky, or maybe a secret hatch to open, revealing something—anything—to prove he wasn’t alone. Whoever hid the metal pieces wanted him to find them… didn’t they?
Yet it was silent. He was still alone.
A thin smile crept across his lips, bitter. Earth was just faded faces and disembodied voices now. Humans must have been very desperate.
Kai opened his mouth to scream, but the artifact suddenly pulsed in his hands. His vision blurred, thoughts fracturing like mirror in a storm.
Outside, unbeknownst to him, a countdown began, preparing the system to rearrange the terrain.
Subject: KAI (AGE 17).
Initial Age: 7.
Simulation: ROOM 9, EARTH
Nano-bots returning to position…
Memory-wipe complete.
Iteration: 203.
Above, undetected, the last operational camera blinked to life in the control room. It zoomed in as Kai curiously reached down to pick up a map.
Earth had been gone for a decade—obliterated in a matter of hours by infiltrators who had blended seamlessly into human society, using nano-bot weapons. The same eight pieces, along with a treasure map remained in the simulation room as a cruel joke.
Wasted years in a simulation room… The decade-long failed survival experiment... But in this endless loop of endurance and hope, he just might survive.
