April 31

Today is April 31. Tomorrow will be April 32. And so on. I'm not sure if it was intentionally April, or just coincidence, but everything happened on April 1. Since then, we've decided that we would just keep counting the days in April.

I know how weird that sounds - trust me, I still think it's weird - but listen. There is nothing left. I don't mean that metaphorically, either. I don't mean I live in a wasteland - I do, but that's not what I mean. I don't even mean that the human race is wiped out. I mean there is literally nothing. Outside, that is.

Another rich asshole who got bored did another thing, and this time, it just so happened to change things forever. 1,572 people are alive, all in this bunker. Maybe there are others. Maybe there aren't. I don't know.

All I know is someone wanted infinite power, and they got it. They harnessed the Sun, and I wish that I meant they used solar panels; They took the sun from the sky and built machines that would consume it to do things which we have no right to do, nor a need to.

I want this all to be fake. I want it to be different. But now, we will live for a thousand years deep inside the earth, all because even the Sun wasn't enough. One star, then another, and another, until there were none left. It's dark out, the universe is empty. Anything left out there is just dust. Honestly, I should be proud. Proud to be human. We did this. Not that what we did is good, but us and us alone have the power to end the universe. I was going to die anyway, as was anyone and anything else, so what better than to watch it all crumble under my species?

LifeForce started small. It started with exactly what it sounds like; Life force. A simple box, no taller or wider than three feet, and such a monumental step in the worst possible direction. As a matter of fact, it was twisted from the start; Jason became rich, and as soon as he did, he became a recluse. Only interacting with other elites. The company sold literal life, extra years you could add on to your existence - anti-senescence.

They never disclosed where they got those extra years from, though. Pretty soon people tracked countless disappearances back to them. Then those people disappeared. It was not even a month before practically everyone knew about the atrocities.

But, who stopped it? Nobody could. Not one person alone had the power to. Not even everyone, as a matter of fact. Humans are such unique creatures. We can end a universe, survive things that should kill them, even the end of the universe, AND YET. One person... Is all it takes to destroy us all. So, maybe I should be proud, but I'm not. I no longer want to be this. I don't want to be a human.

...Jason soon found that the same energy he dubbed life force was present in the Sun. Then, stars. Everything. And, for those of us left, we get a thousand years to live! Let's do some math. 1,572 people, 1,000 years each; We all started with around a hundred, so we will subtract that. One thousand five hundred seventy-two people times nine hundred years of life each only brings us to 1,414,800. One million. There used to be nine and a half billion people on this planet, and another 14 billion across the solar system. Not to mention whatever undisclosed amount he got from the stars. And where did all of that go? What was that man doing? Is he even alive?

- - - - -

Today is April 310,000. There are one hundred forty-seven of us now. I decided not to journal ever again, since all it did was make me angry. But, here I am, over eight hundred years later. That's... Years, though, which isn't really a thing. I'm close to dying, about 40,000 days left. I must say, one benefit of LifeForce is that we do not age much at all, physically. Not until we are days from death, at least; The last few days are hell on Earth for anyone. I've seen people go from looking like they were still in their prime days, athletic as ever, to suddenly shriveling up and screaming in pain, only to turn to dust a day later.

I'm here because the Highers asked me to create another entry before I go onto the mission. Rather, they demanded it. They've told me to finish the journal before I leave tomorrow to the surface. I will not end the journal, no matter what they tell me. I already have a plan for how to sneak my book and pen into the suit.

Looking at it from the most unbiased perspective I can, it's wild to me that some industries have not developed that much. For example, pens. Pens are no longer being innovated, ever since the design was perfected back in 2148. Now, nobody uses pens anymore. But I've always been a bit paranoid of the digital texts, since those can be viewed by others, so... I pulled favors and got myself a notebook and pen for this journaling.

I'm scared, okay? I'm really scared. I'm scared of this mission. I'm going to the surface to find some stashes of life force that were detected by our radar. I'm scared of the surface, of absolutely anything going wrong, of the trip to the surface, I'm scared. But, more than anything else, I'm scared of what I'll find. What will it all look like? What will be left of the old world? And... Will Jason be there?

I think, if I do find him, I will kill him. He doesn't get to live off of stolen time. The whole universe suffered because of him, and if he still lives, than... I will not stand for it. They want me to go now, to go to the surface. A long journey, at least such a long time to be sitting still. 1,000 days to ascend, another thousand to go back down. I'm just putting it off now. I will bring this book with me and I will continue to document what I see.

- - - - -

This suit is so heavy. I'm in a little cabin here, quite the cozy thing; The suit carries itself. But, oh did it make a noise when they lowered it onto the Slab. I'm going to begin ascent soon, 3 hours, so I am going to waste some time by writing more. The Slab! The Slab is an elevator of sorts, which allows you to go up and down between levels of the colony. Speaking of the colony, we've scanned most of the planet. There is no other, unless it resides in the small blindspot - plenty of people create conspiracies about what could be there, since the core of the planet disrupts our technology. The direct opposite of our colony was unknown to us. I have very little space left, so I will refrain from writing for now.

- - - - -

The diagram tells me I am a matter of minutes from the surface now. The enormous steel cables in charge of moving the Slab creaked and groaned, but remained ever strong. Humans are capable of great and horrible things, aren't they?

- - - - -

It's barren. There is literally nothing left. It's just... Ice. Moving is incredibly slow. The atmosphere has collapsed, so I must wait a bit for the feet of this behemoth to drill into and secure itself in the ice. There was gravity, of course, but it is incredibly dangerous and there is no reason to take chances. I'm not sure this thing is as foolproof as they said; the world functions differently here. Each movement shattered the frost that built up on the surface of the machine every few seconds. I can't even tell what used to be water and what used to be land.

- - - - -

I've finally made it to my destination. I am to collect the frozen stashes of life force and bring them back in hopes that we can thaw them out and... And what?

WIP