« The Last Hope » was restlessly cutting through space, almost as fast as light itself. Suddenly, after years of darkness in the craft, a multitude of red and green lights turned on and started blinking. The mission had miraculously reached it's destination, and the only thing left was to launch the small pods, each containing a cryofreezed human, coming straight from earth.
If they weren't sleeping, the crew would have absolutely adored the magnificient view offered. A new planet, a new beginning. The complete silence of space added to the grandeur of the scene. A silence that was crudely broken by the loud blaring of alarms. One of the massive engine had caught on fire, ending the improbable streak of luck of the colonizators, so close to the finish line.
In the middle of this chaos of blaring sirens, flashing red lights, smoke, water and carbone dioxyde used by the fire suppresion systems, a small screen lit up. On it, a few simple words, words that would seal the destiny of every member of this ship. A sentence that would have paralyzed in fear the bravest of the crew, had they been able to read it.
"Pods launch failure"
After surviving an improbable journey, the passengers would die of the most cruel fashion, hours away from their goal.
0035, one of the maintenance robots, lit up at the same time. He precipitately got off the charging station, guided by his program, that directed him towards a seemingly straightforward task : manually launch the escape pods. He navigated the hallways of the ship as fast as his small wheels could tolerate, passing dangerously close to some fires that other automatons and the fire suppression systems were compeltely failing to eliminate. 0035 saw a lot of his compatriots in pieces, eaten by the merciless fire. Indifferent to all of this, he rushed past the blazing corridors towards the pods.
His wheels squeaked on the ground as he came to a brutal stop. The corridor leading to the escape pods was a blaze. Fire was leeching the walls, and the pieces of other robots with the same mission as 0035 were already melting, creating puddles of dangerously hot liquid metal on the ground. His cold metallic eye calmly analyzed the situation. Having emotions, fearing death, that was not in 0035's program. The robot got back a bit, to a junction box, and tear out the metallic panel. Then, using it as a shield, he rushed towards a certain death. The makeshift shield held for a couple of meters, until a small detonation threw 0035 back, making him lose his shield. One of his wheel also got damaged, but he still dashed forward, barely dodging a a falling metal pannel, part of a crumbling wall. In the scorching heat, 0035's system were moments away from failure. He was not fabricated to operate in such conditions. Analyzing his surrounding, he tore of a pannel of the wall, revealing some grey pipes. He then pulled on the biggest, a big pipe so full of rust it was impossible to tell it's original color. But, the small robot wasn't strong enough. And he didn't have much time left, his systems dangerously overheating.
"System failure imminent"
In a last effort, 0035 put all his way back, usinf all his mechanical strength to pull the pipe. With a creaking sound that was inaudible in the middle of the blazing chaos. As the rusty pipe finally gave out, water sprayed on the small robot, who was now laying on his back, the aftermath of his previous effort. The water gave him a small respise, but he knew it wouldn't last long, as the fire was gaining in intensity. 0035 had to make his final play now, before his systems started overheating again.
Thankfully , the robot was close to his destination. He had to roll a couple of meters before turning left, in a corridor with escape pods aligned on each side of the wall. The only problem is that he would have to manually launch them one by one, which took a lot of time, a luxury 0035 definitely didn't have.
Using all the power of his engine, the robot dashed forward, barely dodging the remnants of one of his fellow companions. He took a sharp turn and, finally, could see the pods. Hundreds of them, each one inhabited by a peacefully sleeping human, unconscious of the scorching hell that was the hallway.
Without losing a second, 0035 hurdled toward the first pod, which could act as an independent ship in cas of emergency. The small robot grabbed the two handles on the side and pushed with a perfectly coordinated motion. At the same time, a part of the ceiling crumbled, falling directly on 0035. As he crashed on the floor, his mechanic eye went dark.
The small pod was gliding away from The Last Hope, it's small engine pushing the craft towards the dark planet in the darkness of space. After a couple of seconds, the spacecraft that was supposed to save humanity, to give it a new home, exploded. A bright spark of red in an ocean of darkness, an eerie beautiful scene.
Indifferent to the death of his fellow crewmate, the inhabitant of the pod was still in a deep slumber. The last terrestial now had to conquer a new planet, a planet to which he was a complete stranger, totally by himself. But, before the harsh reality dwelled on him, he still had a couple of hours of sleep. That would be his last peaceful moment for a very long while.