Last man on earth when there is no earth?

Ch 03.4

The conversation seemed to die down after my unintentional flirting attempt. That only fueled the embarrassment tormenting me, but looking at Lilia, I got the feeling that she didn't read too much into what I said.

As I struggled to come up with anything to say, Ms. Alien, Lilia, suddenly got up.

"I will be going back to the ruins." She said. "Would you mind remaining here till I'm back?"

My mind cleared at that instant and my head shot up.

"The ruins?"

By "ruins" I was sure she was referring to the underground structure she found me in. There was simply no way I would stay behind while knowing she intended to go there.

"I'm coming with you."

I tried to come across as determined as possible, but that only seemed to bother Ms. Alien, seeing that a displeased expression took over her face.

"I... don't know about that..." She said.

I gazed at her for a couple of seconds, not knowing how to respond. I highly doubt that those ruins have anything that would help me regain some memories, but that's not the reason I want to go there.

To put it simply, I have the chance to go on an adventure with a gorgeous alien girl. There is no way I would waste it.

'Well, I am interested in the runes as well...'

Lilia said that this planet, Gorgola, was an uncharted planet with no civilizations or sentient species. The existence of the ruins challenges that belief, but there is always the chance that someone has built it here for one reason or another.

I began to speculate that humans might have been the ones who did it, and since I woke up inside them, I was looking forward to figuring out how and why I was brought there, if possible.

"Is it dangerous?"

It didn't seem that way yesterday.

"No, it's just..." Lowering her gaze, Ms. Alien remained silent for a while as if she were looking for an excuse not to take me along. A couple of minutes later she sighed and gave in. "We will go back and investigate the level I found you in. If you're unable to keep up, there won't be a second time."

I had a bad feeling about the second part of what she said but agreed to the condition anyway.

"It's decided, then."

~[ ]~

When Lilia said something about keeping up, my mind went straight to a physical challenge. The entrance to the runes was at least three hours away so we couldn't just take out time getting there like we did when returning to the camp yesterday.

We started with a light jog and gradually picked up the pace. We were sprinting before long and I learned the meaning behind Ms. Alien's condition.

Even with the wilderness around us and the dress she was wearing, Lilia traversed the forest like an athlete on a paved track. No obstacle seemed to slow her down and even the beasts that occasionally jumped out to ambush her were destroyed in the blink of an eye.

I on the other hand had to do my absolute best just to keep her within my sight. It wasn't the physical exertion that slowed me down, however.

From the exercises I did earlier, it was clear that I had a pretty good physique. Putting aside the mystery of how I'm able to move despite being in a coma for who knows how long, and the changes I seem to have undergone, I would say I'm fit enough to play any sport professionally.

The reason I had trouble following after Ms. Alien was simple; I wasn't used to either the terrain or my new shoes. Turns out that running loops around a flat clearing and dashing through a forest on an alien planet were two different things.

It didn't help that every now and then something would pop out to attack us. Lilia going ahead meant she cleared the path for me, but seeing several kinds of monstrosities in quick succession wasn't doing me any good.

I tried not to look at any of the corpses my new alien friend left in her wake and ran as fast as I could. Before I knew it, we were already at the entrance to the runes.

"That was... quite impressive."

As I sat against one of the gigantic trees panting for air, Ms. Alien gave me a surprised look.

"What... what is?"

"You were able to keep up with me." She said. "To think humans could do that."

"Well, I wouldn't say we all could do that..."

I wasn't counting the time, but there is no doubt that we have been sprinting for at least half an hour. Even if humans were capable of such a feat, the only ones who could achieve it would be professional athletes.

Don't tell me they changed a lot more...

As I look down at my body and muscles, I suddenly feel a pang of hunger and a growl resounds from my stomach.

"What was that?" Lilia grabbed her spear as she asked, clearly startled.

"It's my stomach..." I replied, smiling wryly. "Sorry but... can I have one of those rations from yesterday?"

"Sure, but..." Giving me a confused look, she added "We just had breakfast..."

I felt that I wasn't someone who would care what others said about his eating habits, but even then her comment still got to me.

Thankfully she said nothing more and took out the box containing the dry ration bars. She was also considerate enough to give me some water to wash it down with.

"Much better."

I felt life return to me after that quick snack. It made me wonder if I burned too many calories in that quick workout just now.

I should try to find out how much food I need going forward...

"Alright." Having had my break, I got up and faced the entrance. "Shall we go?"

~[ ]~

Things didn't exactly go as I had expected. When Lara said we would be going to the floor where she found me, that is exactly what she meant.

We ended up ignoring everything and taking what appeared to be the shortest route to our destination. According to Lilia, most of the rooms on the upper floors had simple living quarters with nothing besides furniture in them.

Even while avoiding most of those floors, I still got to observe many things about the underground structure, giving me the impression that it was indeed humans who built it.

For one, it was the same gray brutalist architecture I knew of, with a great focus on function and none put into appearance.

Of course, there is always the chance that some other alien species had the same proclivities, but for some reason, I felt confident that my hunch was correct.

Strange...

For a while, all we did was walk through corridors and down long sets of stairs. As I observed the surroundings began to feel that the word ruins didn't fit the place well. It was far too clean, after all, and still had electricity and illumination.

Even then, the atmosphere was undoubtedly that of a place with no life. Beside me and my alien friend, it seemed that no one had stepped through those corridors for a very long time.

When we finally reached the room where I woke up, I found myself freezing at the entrance. My head must not have been in the right place the day before. The room appeared different from what I remembered.

"Is it just me or..."

"I've been thinking this for a while now," Ms. Alien spoke. "These ruins seem to have an automated cleaning system."

The broken pods were still lined up to the side, but the glass shards that littered the floor last time were gone. The tubes and cables seemed untouched, and so were the cracked walls.

"So it took care of the mess after we left?"

"That's likely it."

It was fitting for a structure on an alien planet. There was no need for a janitor when you could have a bunch of drones keeping the place clean.

Lilia walked over to one of the walls and began examining the cracks running through it. Their spiderweb-like shape painted the image of something slamming the wall hard.

"There has been a fight in this place," she said. "I'm guessing you don't remember anything about it?"

"Nothing," I replied instantly.

"It's a little odd that your pod was the only one that survived."

"My pod, huh..."

I turned to look at what remained of the strange device. There were another nine besides the one I was in, and seeing them lined up like that forced me to question what was the purpose of this place.

“…y……he…hey…..re..o…key…..HEY!!”

A loud shout snapped me back to reality and I turned around to find Ms. Alien next to me.

“Are you okay?” She asked.

Huh? Close! She’s too close! 

What’s with the sudden change of attitude? 

Did she get over how I smelled and is now able to approach me? 

Is that why she’s able to bring her face so close to mine to the point where we might accidentally kiss?

Just kidding. Ms. Alien still kept her distance and was poking me with the bottom of her spear. Apparently I spaced out for a while and she got worried when I didn’t respond to her call.

“Yeah, I’m fine." I found myself smiling for some reason. "No need to worry.”

“Are you sure about that?" She asked with furrowed brows. "You didn't respond even when I called for you..."

"I was just Thinking about the purpose of this place." I turned my sight to the broken pods.

There was very little left to help us answer the questions we had. There might have been others like me in the remaining pods, but whether they escaped or were killed in the fight that broke out here, there was no way to tell.

Don't tell me that automated system took care of the corpses...

With my curiosity piqued, I walked over to the broken pods and began examining them. Obviously, I had no idea what kind of machinery they were or the purpose behind them, but the boy inside me liked to pretend to know what I was doing.

"Hm?"

Unexpectedly, I ended up finding something. It was a small plate on the side Engraved with a single sentence. I had to crouch down to get a good look at it, which was a little difficult to do considering the lack of illumination.

English letters and… numbers?

"I was going to ask you about it." Ms. Alien's, Lilia's voice stopped the storm that was about to rampage inside my mind. "Can you read those letters?"

I glanced at her from over my shoulder then turned back to the small plate. I once again read the words in my mind, and after struggling to grasp the meaning behind them despite how simple they sounded, I opened my mouth and spoke them out loud.

“Original human sample 007...”

There was a moment of silence. Many thoughts run through my head, the loudest among them being that this place does indeed belong to humans. Still, I failed to comprehend what the word meant.

I knew with absolute certainty that I was not an original human. Even if most of my memories are gone, I still remember that I lived in the twenty-first century. The very fact that I can read proves as much.

Wait.... could it be...

I started to wonder if the words didn't refer to the first humans but the humans before a certain point. It might be that a big change has occurred, drawing a distinct line between the new species and the old, the original humans.

That sounds more logical, but...

My mind went back to another question I had before; how long was I asleep for?

If I were to assume that something big enough to change humanity as a species happened at some point, it couldn't possibly have happened over a short period of time.

I was sleeping in a pod before Lilia found me, and the plate referred to me as an Original Human Sample. Would that mean I have been preserved all this time? But for what purpose?

I have a really bad feeling about this...

“Let’s go to the next floor," With both hands on my knees, I pushed myself up. "I need to know the purpose of this place."

If humans were the ones who built this place, the same humans I know, there was no doubt in my mind that nothing good awaited us.