Immortality, by definition "to live forever", frightens me for good reasons. I personally consider it a curse to be immortal, and let me elaborate on why.
If tomorrow I suddenly became immortal, I would have to watch my immediate family and friends grow up, live their lives, and die. The same would happen to the children of my friends and family, and their children and their children's children - it's a cyclical process, and a mentally scarring one at that.
To further strengthen my fears I wonder what were to happen to my immortal body when the heat death of the universe takes place. Will I restart life anew? Will I be greeted to an afterlife or complete darkness? Will I simply cease to exist in this plane of existence?
Though it may spark existential crises, it is the unanswered questions - is there an afterlife, are we alone in the universe, are we living in a simulation - that peak my interest. If only they could be answered...
The blog of an everyday person wanting to do great things, and striving to become a computer scientist, programmer, writer, and musician.
Showing posts with label creative writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label creative writing. Show all posts
A Dying Cosmic Wish - A Short Story
Based off of an r/writingprompts prompt by u/ImtheGirlinthevid
It has been more than two years of constant transmission of data from her spacecraft back to Earth, which was millions upon millions of kilometers away at this point. She knew what she was getting into when she signed up for this. She knew it was a one-way trip to the infinite darkness of space, and she knew she was going to perish from either loss of oxygen or lack of nutrients from the liquified food that she had been provided at the start of her journey - yet Sarah doesn't regret any of it.
Sarah's spacecraft was equipped with a camera and several sensors, the same specifications as the James Webb Space Telescope launched in the days of yore. The spacecraft had constant, yet very delayed communications with the Kennedy Space Center. It would report Sarah's vitals, the oxygen levels inside the craft, the data collected by the camera and its various plethora of different sensors - all on a delay of a few months.
Now at 782 days into the journey, Sarah was beginning to realize that her time was coming. She had less than a day's supply of liquified food, and next to no water. And as the oxygen supply dwindle, the emergency red lights began to flash.
She rose from her cushioned control seat and took a couple steps towards the viewing window into the unknown. She gazed in awe and ecstasy at the view of distant stars, and briefly thought about how much of the universe humanity still had to explore.
Sarah started to choke, suffocate. The dwindling oxygen levels were causing her to become lightheaded and dizzy. She fell to the floor, gagging and gasping for the air that was no longer there. Her vision faded to black, and she was gone; lost to the cosmos.
For her entire life Sarah strived to be an astronaut; she dreamed of worlds not yet discovered, and all she would study in her free time was astronomy and the sub-topics associated with it. She was just about eight years old when her father introduced her to the study of the seemingly infinite universe - now she's perished at thirty-eight years old, doing what she was most fond of and appreciated the most - exploring the vastness of space.
Sarah's spacecraft was equipped with a camera and several sensors, the same specifications as the James Webb Space Telescope launched in the days of yore. The spacecraft had constant, yet very delayed communications with the Kennedy Space Center. It would report Sarah's vitals, the oxygen levels inside the craft, the data collected by the camera and its various plethora of different sensors - all on a delay of a few months.
Now at 782 days into the journey, Sarah was beginning to realize that her time was coming. She had less than a day's supply of liquified food, and next to no water. And as the oxygen supply dwindle, the emergency red lights began to flash.
She rose from her cushioned control seat and took a couple steps towards the viewing window into the unknown. She gazed in awe and ecstasy at the view of distant stars, and briefly thought about how much of the universe humanity still had to explore.
Sarah started to choke, suffocate. The dwindling oxygen levels were causing her to become lightheaded and dizzy. She fell to the floor, gagging and gasping for the air that was no longer there. Her vision faded to black, and she was gone; lost to the cosmos.
For her entire life Sarah strived to be an astronaut; she dreamed of worlds not yet discovered, and all she would study in her free time was astronomy and the sub-topics associated with it. She was just about eight years old when her father introduced her to the study of the seemingly infinite universe - now she's perished at thirty-eight years old, doing what she was most fond of and appreciated the most - exploring the vastness of space.
The End of the Universe - A Short Story
"What do you mean?," I nervously asked Arya, the designated assistant that had been implanted into my brain at conception.
"Connor, no need to be afraid," she replied, sensing that I had grown anxious and weary at the mere thought of the universe coming to an end, "Portum has been a dying star for millennia now. Stars don't last forever."
Portum - the only star in the universe as we knew it as every other had either become a black hole or a supernova. The name Portum meant Haven in Latin (I never thought we'd be using a long-dead Earth language trillions of years after the planet itself had perished) because it was humanity's last safe haven. The founders of the Sapiensia colony I had resided on chose that name for that one and only reason. I knew that the end of the universe was near and I was going to be alive for this - after all, I was only 346 Earth years old and humans nowadays could live for upwards of a thousand years. Even with that in mind, however, I still couldn't help but panic constantly. Arya, before I could even exhibit the slightest symptom of a panic attack, administered a slight medication that would calm me enough to act properly without inadvertently causing any damage to my surroundings - I never do well under stress.
I asked my question with a bit of hesitation: "How long do we have?"
Without missing a beat, Arya had pulled up a timer on my retinal display, which usually contained measurements of vitals such as heartbeat and stress levels as well as contact information for people of the Sapiensia colony, all of which I could summon and communicate with through telepathy. The timer had displayed, among other time measurements: 30 Earth seconds.
I had already departed Sapiensia for a short trip to a nearby asteroid to extract materials that now seemed useless in the face of the death of the universe. I was thankful enough to have said my farewells to them, but I didn't realize they would be final.
"Arya, rotate the vessel around so it faces Portum," I commanded. I didn't need to state a reason because Arya could always read my mind for it. And within the blink of an eye, the viewing window in front of me displayed the giant red star as it was slowly shrinking. The star was supermassive, to the point where Sapiensia was not even visible to my eye without activating visual zoom.
Portum was shrinking, and I could feel the vessel I was in shake as a result of the sudden decrease in energy. It was solar-powered - as soon as any vessel like mine ran out of power, it would sputter, deactivate and send a constant stress signal to the nearest colony for about 7 Earth years. My vessel will engage in that process, but there will be no point in sending a stress signal...because we'll be dead by then.
The vessel shook uncontrollably, as if I was going to be sucked out of it or it was going to detonate. I sent my last telepathic message to Arya, with one word followed by instructions to administer a heavy shock to my brain that would kill me.
One word: Godspeed.
And everything went dark.
Love Is...
A short poem I created that explains what love is...
To love someone means to live life together,
To love someone means to live life forever,
To love someone means to not cheat on one another,
To love someone means to be loyal to each other,
But loving someone does not mean be abusive,
Loving someone does not mean be accusing,
Loving someone does not mean be a hater,
Loving someone does not mean be a cheater,
But most importantly of all,
Love is love, it doesn't matter if your gay, bi, or straight,
You can say goodbye to those who give you hate,
Love is love, and that's the way it is.
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