Scrivenings of the King-Beyond-The-Wall

Fantasy & Fairytales #16

I’m the last person standing on Earth, and... suddenly I wonder whether I might have made a mistake. I mean, it wasn’t like I intentionally eradicated my entire species but, um, that’s kind of what happened. I suppose that’s one of the job hazards that comes with a job genetically modifying biological weapons, especially when you’re like me and not particularly good at your job. Not that that’s my fault; a lot of us have had to pick up careers and responsibilities that we were never trained for. Such is the nature of living in a post-Apocalyptic future, I suppose.

You might be asking why I’m so calm about all this. I mean, the entire human population of Earth is now gone. Well, at least those who were left after most took the generation ships into space and sought out a new home, and natural causes had decimated the rest of us. In all, we’re probably talking about a million people, maybe a few hundred thousand. It wasn’t like I killed billions of people or anything. That would be crazy! No, I’m not a mass murderer or anything. More like the accidental architect of humanity’s last gasp on their home planet.

But back to the whole not being upset about having the whole planet to myself. Honestly, I’ve never really been a people person. It was an honest to goodness accident what happened, but I can’t really say that I’m unhappy with the results. It’s one of those “I didn’t mean to do this but maybe I can turn lemons into lemonade” thing because I now have an entire planet to myself.

Wait, does that make me the King of Earth?

I’ve never really considered myself royalty before, and the traditional national borders of the mid twenty-first century were long gone, but humanity up until this point had tried to maintain the status quo with titles like “governor” and “mayor” and even some military ranks thrown in their for funsies because who doesn’t like to wear a uniform and have people salute you and call you “Lieutenant” or “Captain?”

Either way, I figure I should probably adapt my studies to a new field or my existence on this planet would be short-lived since I had no intimate knowledge of ranching, agriculture, ecological science, or any of the other things that would probably be good for someone in a survivalist-type situation to know.

Maybe I should take up genetic cloning in case I ever got lonely or wanted some quality companionship that would also help me rebuild society. Then again, if they were really copies of me, would they be amenable to being bossed around and assigned to random tasks that I didn’t know how to do myself? I can’t imagine the real me would be too terribly pleased to be in that situation myself. Well, I guess there’s really only one way to find out. Time to head back into the genetics lab. I’m sure the biological contaminant has cleared by now...





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(510 words)


Prompt: I'm the last person standing on Earth, and...