[WP] Astrophysicists studying advanced cosmic string theory discover that our perceivable Universe is written in computer code from the early 1940's. You and an elite team are tasked with being the first to be unplugged.

There is smoke coming out of an upside down car, and I am scared. Building skeletons on the place where New York City should be, they are gray like wreckage. The surface of the city reminds me of a deserted planet, of old footage of World War II after bombings. The other ones in the team, I lost them. I am all alone here. I peak through the window -- where I am is the second floor of a three story building. I'm thinking Brooklyn, but it's had to be sure. I peak through the window, and downstairs I see the first of them. In a row, marching in a perfect visual unison. If I didn't know better, I'd call it a bad CGI, their movements are so synchronized. An army of metal beings, with eyes gleaming red and blue like Christmas lights. Red the right eye, blue the left. They march straight ahead, pointing machine guns all around, searching for something. I crouch back under the window and wait for them to pass by. I am alone here, and I can't find a way out. I want to go back inside the simulation. I want to get away from here.


I found a document. It's yellow stained from rain and outside air, but readable. In excerpts.

They are modeling another race. We are gone. They are improving human race. Silicon humans. They call us disposables. Carbon-based creatures with no future. They trapped most inside the simulation already. Waiting while they die. We programmed them to have mercy. This is their mercy. Virtual Reality, while we waste away and die of old age. So they can take over once and for all. We don't know what to do.

I can't read the rest. It's cold, and too quiet. I'm going to check outside.


They found me. One of them, at least. I managed to tie him up, don't ask me why. I'm trying to ask him questions, but he doesn't answer. I don't know if he can understand me. His eyes gleam red and blue, like Christmas. It's cold, and I'm scared.


The metal thing is gone. Robot. Why don't I call it what it is? The robot is gone. I went away to look for food in the wasteland outside. It was raining. When I came back. Now. He is gone. There is a marking on the wall, where he was. Carved in the stone, it's a sticky figure. A cave drawing of a human, seen through the eyes of the robot. I'm guessing a way to tell others that I was here. That here there is a human on the loose. I need to find a way back inside the simulation. But how?

/r/WritingPrompts Thread