If you are reading this, then that means my message has successfully reached some form of life and is now being read by you, someone I have never met and will never meet in my lifetime. And, if not, if no one is actually reading these words, then, well, at least her story is out there, flying through the outer reaches of the universe. Can't say I didn't try.
I will do my best to retell this story, even though it is not mine in the first place. Even though she told me that she wanted her life to live on in secrecy and never be told to anyone outside this planet, it was too extraordinary for me to hide it. So, for starters, I am sorry my dear friend, I know that I made a promise to you to stay loyal, but please. Please let me break that promise this one time. You can hate me later if you ever find out about this.
With that out of the way, I should probably address you, the one who found this message, either from finding the capsule this was placed in, by accident, or some other means.
I would tell you my name, but that's not important yet, so do not worry about that. Just imagine me as a... I don't know, ghost from Pac-Man or something. That should be a fun visual for you until you see me later. Yeah.
Let's start from the beginning, about a century ago to be exact. That time will probably be irrelevant, since I'm not dating this for multiple reasons, but keep that in mind, nonetheless. Essentially, the planet known as Earth, which you may or may not be living on or know about depending on if there really is life outside our known universe, was dying. It was dying, hard.
It was estimated to only survive for a couple more decades. Humans were scared, dying, killing; some places turned into complete anarchy. The world was descending into chaos, and the brightest minds of the Earth had to come together to find the ultimate solution to the ultimate question: How do we save humanity from extinction?
Now, honestly, I have no idea why the Earth was dying, because, frankly, I never thought to ask, so don't expect an explanation from me. Heck, if someone from Earth retrieves this message, then that must mean you guys figured out something different from the original plan, which involved the Derelicts.
Around this desperate time in human history, a brand new far-off uninhabited planet in a completely separate solar system was found. This planet, universally named Hope by the countries of the world, was almost perfectly similar to Earth in its distance to its sun, meaning that it had the correct placement and temperature to not only withstand elements of nature, like grass and clouds, but possibly life itself. This, however, was just theorized and not proven, so sending humans to the planet was not the most popular idea. Instead, the highest qualified people of the world decided to send something else to Hope. Something man-made.
The Derelicts were five sentient computers made with the most technologically advanced hardware that the scientists and engineers of the world could put together using last-ditch-effort funding by the Earth's nations. The plan was to send these incredibly intelligent computers to Hope, where they would run very complicated simulations on how humans could survive on this new planet. They were giving the people of Earth five choices on how the future of the humanity was going to live on in this new environment. After a five-year period, the countries of the world would then choose which simulation was the best outcome, and then begin their new population on Hope using that as reference. That was the original plan. It did not end up that way.
The five Derelicts were sent off into space in the Lun Infinus Space Shuttle, which was named so to convey the message of 'Beyond our moon into infinity', along with hundreds of small-duty robots. These tiny robots served as common household objects who had very specific jobs: They were to first set-up the Lun Infinus from a space shuttle into a space station once arriving at Hope, then they would keep the station clean for the five-year period, and then become servants to the humans that would soon arrive.
After flying through countless glowing dust particles that were native to space, the Lun Infinus landed on Hope. All systems were turned on, along with the lights that were hidden in the darkness, breathing a new life into the unmanned shuttle, which also breathed a new life into all the robots and the Derelicts. One of these robots was a coffee machine, simply known as Coffee, as that was the word imprinted on her side. A small light on top of her head turned on, signaling that, not only have they arrived to Hope, but that the coffee in her large pot was done. Coffee's automated eyes slowly opened, adjusting to the brand new light that she has not seen since they have departed. Her eyes suddenly widen, as if she took a swig of the coffee that was in her pot.
"We're here! Hey, everyone, wake up!" Coffee walked off the kitchen counter using the nearby steps with her built-on legs. The other robots began to wake up as well, including Refrigerator- which was a giant metal box with long arms, Dishwasher- which was just a hand stuck on the kitchen counter that placed dishes in the sink, and Toaster- which does exactly what you think it does, except with tiny legs.
"It's about time." Refrigerator's eyes appeared on a large LED board on his body as he began hopping towards Coffee, due to his lack of legs.
"Wait for me!" Toaster yelled as he planned to jump off the edge.
Coffee immediately ran towards the counter, "Wait, no, Toaster, stop!"
It was too late. Toaster made a run for it and leaped off the counter. He immediately regretted his decision in air as he realized he had no arms to catch himself with. He yelled for help.
Luckily, Dishwasher's hand grabbed Toaster before he could hit the floor. The hand gently placed Toaster on the ground as Coffee ran over to him.
"Are you out of your mind, Toaster? You could've gotten hurt." Coffee began to wipe off dust from the top of Toaster's head where the bread would go with her built-in arms.
"I'm sorry." Toaster mumbled.
"Now, what do you say to Mister Dishwasher, Sport?" Coffee spun Toaster around to face the counter where the hand was attached.
Toaster looked down at the floor, "Thank you, Mister Dishwasher."
"No problem." Dishwasher gave a warm thumbs-up. Toaster was always the clumsy one, constantly waking up on the way to the planet, Hope, and leaving his station. Coffee would have to keep her eye on him majority of the time. It was useful to have Refrigerator and Dishwasher nearby to help her with it, though.
"Look, I've been on this flyin' doohickey for way too long," Refrigerator stated, "Now, let's stop apologizin' and get this job on the way."
"He's right," Coffee agreed as she grabbed onto Toaster's handle, "Come on, let's get this thing started."
"Yeah!" Toaster said with excitement as the three made their way out of the kitchen.
DIshwasher didn't follow, as he was just a hand stuck on the counter, "Uh," Dishwasher realized this, "Tell me how it goes." He waved to the group goodbye.
The group of three way-to-excited robots entered the lobby of the Lun Infinus Space Shuttle, where the chores were being carried out by many programmed robots, including a vacuum cleaner, a foldable bed, a water jug, and many more, each one having their own sentience.
"Howdy, Miss Coffee." Vacuum exclaimed as he rolled up the dust nearby.
"Hey, pal!" Coffee responded. She led Toaster and Refrigerator through the lobby and towards the entrance of the shuttle, which was large circular doorway that required a code to open, "Fridge, boost me."
Refrigerator grabbed Coffee and brought her up to a keypad so that she could type the code in. Coffee quickly typed in '6 - 14 - 1 - 6' and unlocked the door.
"Wait!" An umbrella, named Umbrella- unsurprisingly, jumped in the way of Coffee using his long legs as the door swung open.
"There's nothing wrong with opening the door, Umbrella." Coffee explained.
"Says you," Umbrella said, "For all we know, this planet could be jack full of danger!"
Coffee tried to pass by Umbrella, but failed as Umbrella opened up his cap, blocking the entrance. "Look, we already checked the oxidation levels, we're fine. It's as if we were stepping right back on home."
"It's not that!" Umbrella said, his face on the open cap, "I'm talking about... A-L-I-E-N-S!"
"... Allons?" Toaster seemed confused.
"No, aliens- AUGH!" Umbrella freaked out at the name of it and immediately closed his cap up and fell to the floor.
"There's no aliens, Umbrella," Coffee assured him, "Now, everyone, let's head outside and-"
"No!" Umbrella stood back up, heroically- or however much an umbrella could seem heroic, "I will go out first and sacrifice my life for the greater good."
"Oh, brother..." Coffee whispered to herself.
"If I don't come back... Water, I've always had a thing for you!" Umbrella finally admitted.
"Oh! Uh..." The water jug was put on the spot, "Thank you?"
"AHHHHH!" Umbrella closed his eyes and ran out onto the crust of the planet, screaming. He then opened his eyes and looked around. "... Coast is clear!"
"Congrats, Umbrella," Coffee took her own step onto the planet, "You are the first robot to ever step on Hope."
This realization of this extraordinary feat in history made Umbrella happy as Coffee motioned for the rest of the robots to exit off the shuttle. "Alright, everyone, let's get to work!" She commanded as all the robots cheered.
The surface of Hope was terribly rocky and mountainous, with no grass in sight, which would make the simulations more interesting on how they get past that problem. They have five years to come up with something, the very least they could do is figure out grass. The planet almost looked like Mars, except it was not red. Maybe a hint of purple dust here or there. The most noticeable trait of the surface of Hope was the large canyons that formed between the rock formations; they were everywhere. Coffee looked down each of the nearby canyons where she saw no bottom, just complete darkness. She had to save Toaster a few times from falling into them.
The view Hope gave above was incredible. There were no clouds, no atmosphere, so all the stars and galaxies were visible, including the two moons that orbited Hope, thus constantly eclipsing one another for a beautiful moving image of burning crescents in the sky. The telescope robot, named Telescope, figured out that the brightest star in the sky, aside from the one in Hope's solar system, was, in fact, Earth's Sun. There were nine visible, tiny dots surrounding that star. One of those dots was home.
The robots began their formation of the Lun Infinus Space Station by opening the side of the shuttle, as if it was a doll house, where a series of mechanisms began to form multiple elaborate structures and rooms. Satellites and solar panels popped off from the main structure like turtles poking out of their shell and large skyscrapers with round glass ceilings erected from the shuttle, forming multiple observatories that shot large telescopes into the sky. Radar dishes and electrical antennas sprouted from the shuttle, which was now forming into the size of a large college campus.
The last bit of the station that was needed was the ventilation system, which, with the giant canyons, was pretty easy to place. Large long tubes, as big around as commercial airplanes, slid out from the side of the shuttle, and the robots directed the tubes, under the direction of Coffee, into the nearby canyons where the air pressure was great, thus letting the station not get overheated when the simulations actually began. It could also extract material and chemicals underground that could have proved useful.
And thus, the greatest structure in human engineering was done: the Lun Infinus Space Station. The robots grew proud of one another for being a part of this moment in history. This was going to save humanity. This was the White House of the future of mankind. And a group of robots, which included a coffee machine and a toaster, were part of this. Things seemed hopeful on Hope.
The robots' jobs were not done yet, however, as the next portion of their mission began: five years of maintenance and constant communication with the human race began. First, however, they must start the long-awaited simulations.
As other robots went back to their chores, Coffee, Toaster, and Refrigerator all went to go wake up the five Derelicts, who just so happened to be in the rooms beside the kitchen. As they walked by, they saw Dishwasher.
"What on Hope was that?!" Dishwasher yelled, waving his hand frantically.
"It's to early for those types of puns, Dishwasher." Refrigerator rolled his LED eyes.
Coffee shoved her elbow into the metal box, "We are now on the Lun Infinus Space Station. Welcome to history, guys."
"Oh, this is so exciting!" Dishwasher happily said.
"Now, we're going to wake up the Derelicts-"
"The Derelicts?!" Dishwasher's mood quickly changed, "Oh, no, please! Those guys give me the heebie-jeebies!" The hand slid into the inside of the kitchen counter, hiding.
"Wait, are the Derelicts scary, Coffee?" Toaster asked, concerned.
"No, Toaster, they're just-"
"They're wack lookin'. I'm not sure why the human race made their last hope so ugly." Refrigerator interrupted.
"They're fine, Fridge. Now, let's go turn them on." Coffee pointed down a nearby hallway.
In this hallway was six different doors, one for each of the five Derelicts and one for the main control room for the Lun Infinus. The three entered the first room, where a large robot was sleeping. Its head was in the shape of a boombox, with wide eyes placed in the middle of it, accompanied with a speaker instead of a mouth. Its chest plate, arms, and legs were covered with shiny green armor and covered with a tolerable amount of buttons and lights.
Coffee clicked a large button off to the side of the Derelict, which caused its eyes to light up a bright, neon green. It woke up and held its forehead in pain.
"Ah, I have a massive headache." The giant Derelict complained.
"That's probably not a good thing to have when you're about to start a simulation, Mister Bio-Beta." Coffee joked.
Bio-Beta turned his attention to the trio, "I have a massive headache and you are NOT helping. Now, get out, and do not disturb me. I am about to run simulations you could not possibly understand."
The giant reached over to a keyboard and pressed a few buttons. A large tube filled with a green liquid rose from the ground, "You are only allowed to barge in here if you have a sample. Now, go!"
The three left the room, where the door was impolitely shut behind them. As part of the plan, the humans were going to be consistently sending samples of different objects to Hope so that the Derelicts could use it in their simulations, such as acorns, fish, bugs, and plenty of other things. That is why constant communication was part of the robot's programming, so samples could be kept in check.
They entered the next room, this time belonging to the Derelict Alphus, a big geometric blue robot with square eyes and a square mouth. His rectangular head sported two lightbulbs at the top, and his large body was filled with television screens. He had no legs, but rather a large rectangular box that resembled a VCR that was on wheels. His hands were giant claws, like the ones in the claw-machines in the arcades. Coffee pressed his button and Alphus' eyes lit up, along with all the television screens on his stomach turning on as well, which each had a different channel on it that was being broadcasted from Earth.
Alphus shook his upper body, "Boy, is it time already? I didn't even have time to do my squats."
"Well, you better hurry, Bio-Beta has already started, Alphus." Coffee explained, messing with the large Derelict.
"Alright then, I'm going in. I have it already planned out. You ready for this?" Alphus leaned into the three, "... Snow globes."
"... What?" Refrigerator asked.
"Snow globes! Isn't it wonderful? I'm gonna figure out how to work in snow globes into my future, because everyone needs a snow globe!" Alphus got very excited about snow globes.
"Well, uh, get to it, I guess." Coffee said, slightly pushing Toaster and Refrigerator out the door.
"What was that about?" Toaster said before they fully exited the room.
"Don't- nothing, nothing. Just, shush..." Coffee eventually got the boys out of the room and closed the door, where Alphus is still boasting about snow globes, "Ok, that was weird. On to Amos."
They enter the next room, which held the third giant: Amos. The Derelict is simple in design compared to the other two, as Amos had a large square head with geometric features like a generic robot with a grey-toned body which had a big compartment that can store things in the middle of it, like a safe. This body is where four long appendages, his arms and legs, were attached to. He sat in an upright position with his head down, sleeping heavily.
Coffee excitedly pressed the button in Amos's room, which woke him up. He is Coffee's favorite Derelict of the five, and it was not because of that fact that he cannot speak. "You ready to start your simulation, Amos?"
Amos gave a big thumbs-up and a smile back at the group.
Coffee pushed Toaster closer to Amos, "I don't believe you two have met. This is Toaster. Sport, this is Amos."
"Hi... Amos." Toaster hesitantly greeted.
Amos waved his hand at Toaster. He then pointed to his tube, which was filled with grey liquid.
"Don't worry, the samples will come in soon, I promise," Coffee said nicely, "Now, go ahead and save the future of mankind, buddy!"
Amos nodded his head and laid his back against the wall. Before the group could leave, Coffee turned back to witness Amos looking out the window into the stars in the sky. "Uh, Amos," Coffee tried to get his attention, "The simulation?"
The big robot snapped out of it and, once again, nodded his head at Coffee. He is the only one of the Derelicts that requested a window in his room so that he could watch the stars as they flew to Hope. It was one of Coffee's favorite past times, to hang out with Amos and look out the window into the far-off galaxies.
The next room held a rather creepy robot named Mirad. The particular engineers who created her decided to give her a plastic mask of a human face, to, I guess, humanize the Derelict. This kind of backfired though, as, well, having a human face on a large metallic body similar to the other Derelicts was very unsettling, to say the least. It did not help that her sclera was black and her pupils were white. Around the room were other female masks, each with a different expression, so that Mirad could change them out with her own whenever she wanted. Her robotic body sported four arms and no legs and rings around the abdomen with spheres spinning around on it, resembling a solar system.
Coffee pressed the button like she did for all the other Derelicts, but instead of eyes glowing, fire shot out of the bottom of Mirad, which caused her to fly like she was wearing a jetpack and stay upright without any legs. She turned her head to the group.
"Hello, little ones." Mirad said in a feminine robotic voice. It sent chills down Refrigerator's circuits.
"Hello!" Coffee greeted, unfazed by Mirad, "Ready to begin simulating?"
"I guess I am," Mirad got into position to begin simulation, "I will try to make mine more glamorous than the others."
With that, Mirad entered her simulation, thus beginning one of the choices for mankind's future. The three left the room and quietly shut the door.
"She's weird." Toaster said out loud.
Coffee grabbed Toaster by the handle, "Watch your tongue, boy! You have to be nice."
"Ok, ok, I got it." Coffee let go of Toaster's handle.
The last of the Derelicts was the scariest one of all. The three entered the blood red room of Malenz, a giant robot with eight long, sharp-ended legs, like a spider. His long pointy claws ended his lanky arms that were uncovered by armor, revealing the wires underneath. All these appendages led to a black body, which sported a triangular head with conduits coming out from the top. His beady eyes were sunk into his metallic black forehead, with large angry eyebrows right above them.
Coffee carefully pressed the button, which caused Malenz' eyes to glow bright red. The three watched in fear as Malenz stood still for a moment. Suddenly, his head whipped around to face Coffee in the blink of an eye, which startled the coffee machine. All three of the robots ran out of the room as Malenz let out a powerful roar, which shook the entirety of the Lun Infinus.
The robots entered the hallway and ran back into the kitchen, Malenz' door shutting behind them, where Dishwasher poked his hand out from the counter, "Told you they're scary!"
After waking up all five of the Derelicts, Coffee and Toaster- Refrigerator went off to do his chores- entered the control room and woke up the control panel, which was a giant computer screen with a large keyboard that trumped both of the small robots. Coffee reached over and pressed a button, which showed the status of the five simulations. She took this and sent it to Earth.
"Man, you sure are smart about all of this, Miss Coffee." Toaster said.
"Well, it was what I was programmed to do. This is my chore," Coffee explained, "And it will be yours one day, too."
"Wait, really?"
"Yeah, really!" Coffee placed her hand on the back of Toaster and patted his metallic body, "We are in charge of sending everything to the humans. We are the most important robots on the planet... Well, our old planet, at least... And this one, too. Both planets!"
"... That's a big responsibility..."
"It will be worth it, though. You'll see-" Coffee is interrupted by a message from the human race, "... They are sending samples, now. This is a part of our job as well. Come on, let's go outside and wait for them."
With that, Coffee led Toaster outside the Lun Infinus, where they sat on a large rock, staring at the sky full of stars as they waited for the capsule from Earth to arrive. They both looked at where the Earth's Sun was.
"Telescope was telling me earlier which dot was Earth." Toaster said.
"Oh, really?" Coffee looked at Toaster, "Which one is it?"
"It's... uhh..." Toaster thought for a moment, trying to remember, "It's the one that is always right beside and not diagaly"
"Diagonally." Coffee corrected.
"Yeah, that." Toaster fixed.
Coffee looked at the dots beside the Sun. There was only one that was directly beside it. "I guess that is it."
The two looked at the far-off dot in silence. At that moment, Coffee thought that maybe someone was looking back at them from home. Who knows. After another minute or so, Coffee and Toaster went back inside.
So, the five years went by quickly, probably due to the anticipation and excitement of the robots, for their work would soon pay off as the humans were going to arrive with their choice of one of the simulations and was going to make it a reality. The routine for Coffee and Toaster for the first three or so years fell in a bit of repetition: Check the entirety of the Lun Infinus for any problems, go to the control room, communicate with humans, and then retrieve their sample from outside. But, however, the information shared between the robots and humans slowly faded away.
By the third year, the humans were barely responding to Coffee's messages; only on special occasions did they ever send something back. She decided to not tell the rest of the robots about this disconnection with Earth she was experiencing, as everyone's hopes were still high. It became obvious to everyone, though, when the samples that once came in everyday soon dwindled into barely at all. The last sample to be sent from Earth to Hope was number 532, which was sent randomly after a long hiatus of no discussion between the planets.
By the spring of the fourth year, Coffee had not received a message from the humans for a couple of months. She still kept it behind close doors, even from Toaster, who she let Refrigerator deal with as she sat in the control room trying to find any signal from Earth. Nothing was coming up.
But Coffee did not give up as the fifth year and the due date for the arrival of humans was approaching. All the robots, minus the Derelicts, gathered outside to welcome the people from Earth. No one showed up.
The robots were confused and conflicted as the day ended, but they all stayed up over night to wait and see. There was still no signs.
The next day, a couple of the robots went inside, while majority of them continued waiting. Nobody came.
The next week went by and the only two left waiting outside were Coffee and Toaster. Her entire purpose for being on the Lun Infinus was for this moment, where the humans came down and congratulated her and her friends on their extraordinary work. That did not happen.
Another week went by and Refrigerator brought Toaster in due to it being cold out, but Coffee stayed put.
A month went by after the original due date. Coffee finally decided to go back into the Lun Infinus. But not in defeat, but rather in excitement. No, the humans did not show up, but Coffee realized that they needed to keep their work up until they do, and she encouraged the rest of the robots to do the same. This sent a new spark into the space station as the inhabitants there began to continue their work as if the due date had not arrived yet.
A year later, there was still no sign of the humans. But Coffee kept the station's hope high.
Another year past, now year seven, and the robot's excitement began to dwindle. Coffee tried her best to keep everyone's chin up.
Ten years they have been on the Lun Infinus with no signs of humans, and most of the robots began to give up, as all their hope was desolate.
Fifteen years past, and the Lun Infinus was unkempt.
Thirty years past, and the station became a shadow of its former glory.
Fifty years past, and one of the skyscrapers fell, destroying half of the station.
Seventy years past, and all the power, except for the one keeping the simulation's going, was completely off.
Ninety years past, and the thought of seeing or hearing anything from Earth has completely left the Lun Infinus's mind and had been forgotten.
They were only suppose to be there for five years. It has been ninety.
The once bright and colorful corridors of the Lun Infinus that filled the station with life almost a century ago were now replaced with dark hallways, with rusting walls and failing architecture being the icing on this horrible cake.
A small light on top of a broken down coffee machine turned on, signaling that, not only have the humans forgotten her for another day, but that the coffee in her large pot was done. Coffee's automated eyes slowly opened, not wanting to see what ninety years of failure have brought her. She turned to her side where she saw a toaster with tiny legs that malfunctioned permanently many years ago.
"How are you doing, Sport?" Coffee whispered. She wiped off dust from the top of the toaster. It did not respond. It has not responded in so long. She wished it would respond, just one last time.
Coffee made her way past a limp arm that was connected to the kitchen counter and made her way down some steps. She went by a large metal box with long arms that has not moved in over fifty years.
She went towards the dreary lobby of the Lun Infinus Space Station. She saw a vacuum cleaner on its side, rusting away over the past decades. "Hey, pal." Coffee mumbled as she went by.
She went for the entrance of the station, where an umbrella and a water jug laid together in deathly silence. Coffee climbed up the boxes that were once used to transport samples from Earth to Hope to get up to the keypad. In her head, Earth did not exist anymore, and neither did Hope.
She typed in '6 - 14 - 1 - 6' and the circular door swung open loudly as it echoed through the dead halls. She was used to it by now. Coffee went outside, where nothing has changed. She took her pot full of coffee and poured it out completely onto the planet, right beside yesterday's coffee and the day before that's coffee.
Coffee really despised coffee now. She does not know what happened, but she cannot stand it anymore. It may have been the taste as, after ninety years of drinking it, she lost interest in it. It may have been the smell, as the pot is always underneath her built-in nostrils, so she smelt nothing but coffee all the time. Or it may have been because it was a constant reminder that the humans were going to use her to drink coffee when they were suppose to arrive eighty-five years ago, but never showed up without any explanation. I don't know, I'm not her. I'm just guessing here.
Coffee watched the substance flow between the rocks, like some ballet show she was forced to see over and over again. She then looked up at one of the barely standing skyscrapers that was a part of the station. There was so much dust from space particles on it that she could see it from the entrance of the Lun Infinus. Coffee decided what she was going to do today.
So, with that, Coffee continued to do her same routine that she had been doing for decades: cleaning. Now, that may seem confusing at first because, if the Lun Infinus is in such a bad state, then she must be bad at cleaning, right? Well, you know what I think? I think there are some things that she did not want to clean, or just could not bring herself to do so.
One place she did clean, however, were the Derelict's rooms and the control center, where all the remaining power on the station was being sent to. Coffee went into every single one of the Derelict's rooms and cleaned them. Four of them were still continuing their simulations- Bio-Beta, Alphus, Mirad, and Malenz. The thing is, though, that they were only suppose to run for five years, not ninety. Because of this, all four of their simulations have, well, to put it lightly, gone insane. Each of the Derelicts were lost in their simulation, not leaving for almost a century. Who knows what their future for humanity looks like now?
There was one Derelict, however, that was not having the out-of-body experience the others had. Coffee entered Amos's room, which was completely frozen now. A meteorite flew through the window and went straight through Amos while he was in the simulation, killing him. Whatever this event had on the outcome of his simulation is unknown, as the computer says it is still going. Amos is gone, though.
Coffee grabbed her nearby broom and brushed off the ice particles on Amos's limp body. She then placed the broom on the ground and sat beside the Derelict in silence. "Hey, Amos," Coffee said, "How's the simulation going?" Coffee choked up during her daily talk with Amos.
She looked out the window where she and Amos watched the stars fly by ninety years ago. That scene played over and over again in her head like so many other scenes had; the sick twisted truth of being a robot programmed to remember everything. She remembered the friends she had, and the ones she had lost.
"... I'm going to go on the roof today... No, no it's not like that," Coffee pretended Amos was responding, "There is so much dust on that glass ceiling on the east skyscraper. Somebody has to clean it."
She did not get up to go do it. Not yet. She stayed there, sitting in the bitter cold of the frosted room. leaning on the body of the Amos for as long as she could before the cold got to her. She waited until her programming forced her to leave.
As she walked towards the door, she gave one last remark to Amos, "Now, go ahead and save the future of mankind, buddy."
The ice that was growing on her thawed as she entered the mess hall, where the population of humans would have ate their meals. All the food was already packaged in the Lun Infinus and had an expiration date of ten years, as Earth was going to continually send food to the planet until they could grow it on Hope. That is what would have happened. Instead, the food expired and rotted, giving the mess hall a horrific smell of ninety-year old garbage. The robots had no need for the food, so it was left largely untouched, until the occasional food fight broke out back when morals were up.
Coffee climbed the stairs to the top of the east skyscraper as best she could until she reached the observatory to the top. The glass of the observatory was made of high-class material that made it impenetrable to meteorites and other space objects. The humans didn't think of using the same material for Amos's window, as that was placed in last second. Another fault of the humans to add to the long list of ignorant failures.
She opened one part of the glass and pushed it out, making an opening to the outside. The height of the skyscraper from the ground was incredible; falling off this thing could kill any lifeform, guaranteed by Hope's slightly heavier gravity compared to Earth. Coffee attached boots she designed herself onto her feet, which made the bottom of her feet very sticky. She was able to walk up the slippery glass round ceiling with this.
With the boots, Coffee climbed out the window and onto the outside portion of the round ceiling and used her broom and swept the dust away. She was practically sideways until she reached the top. There, she stopped for a moment.
She was telling herself not to, that nothing would be gained if she did it. But, something in her body was yelling, screaming at her to do it. After standing still, conflicted, she made her decision, and she did it.
She looked up to the stars.
The beautiful flood of galaxies enveloped her entire vision as Coffee went from one dot to the next, analyzing. She told herself to not do this. What is up there does not concern her anymore like it once did. It felt more like a cage than anything else; a dark cage with paint splattered across the roof of it.
It was not like Coffee could leave this cage, either. That would mean turning the entire station back into a shuttle, which was a nearly impossible at this point. Maybe if she hadn't led on the robots for another couple of years after the moment the humans were suppose to arrive, they could have flew home. But no, the robots overworked themselves to the point of malfunction. Sometimes the malfunctions were intentional.
Plus, it did not help that one of the skyscrapers, a crucial part of the shuttle, fell down forty or so years ago. That's always a factor to keep in mind as Coffee stood on one.
The main reason why Coffee did not want to look up, though, was because she knew what she was looking for. The Sun of the original solar system.
There it was. She found it. One of the brightest stars in the sky just sitting there, mocking her. Then she found Earth. She had not looked at it in so long. It was just a dot, but it meant so much to her. That dot in the sky. It meant hate, it meant hopelessness, it meant death. But, the thing that it meant to her most was what was said about it on the first day they arrived on this cursed planet.
Toaster explained to her how to find it, how it was right beside the sun and not diagonal to it. Her friend's voice played in her head repeatedly, which was why she hated looking at Earth. She hated hearing his voice in her head instead of in real life.
"Telescope was telling me earlier which dot was Earth." Toaster said.
"Oh, really?" Coffee looked at Toaster, "Which one is it?"
"It's... uhh..." Toaster thought for a moment, trying to remember, "It's the one that is always right beside and not diagaly"
"Diagonally." Coffee corrected.
"Yeah, that." Toaster fixed.
Coffee looks at the dots beside the Sun. There was only one that was directly beside it. "I guess that is it."
The two looked at the far-off dot in silence. How Coffee wished she could go back to that time and just sit with Toaster a little longer.
Coffee looked down at the glass ceiling she just swept. Her reflection was nothing spectacular, just some coffee machine no one would care about. No one has in the past couple of decades. She wished she was in a different body, something other than a stupid coffee machine.
She looked back up at Earth one last time. She had so many words towards humanity to say that it would take another ninety years to say it all. So, instead, she summed it up the best she could by simply saying this:
"We were here."
Coffee got off the skyscraper after her sweeping and went back down to the control center. She went to the control panel and turned the computer screen on. Coffee didn't bother with looking at the messages anymore; if humans sent her a message in the past sixty years, she would have had no idea. She didn't care anymore.
Instead, Coffee clicked on a separate link away from the rest of the formal programs she was suppose to be on, which opened up a brand new program. The image of a forest riddled with trees entered the foreground of the screen. Trees, like the ones back on Earth, and a swing set. Coffee sat there and watched.