Project Meridian

Our world wasn't made to last. I'd know. I was meant to save it, yet here I stand, surrounded by dust. It bounces upon their corpses, wafting up and around the empty laboratory. It's the only thing moving now. It wasn't always like this. They were happy once, weren't they? Before they made me, I mean. I would wonder if they were ever happy if I cared enough to give them any more thought than I already have. A pamphlet rests against a desk. I pick it up knowing it'll never be touched again. 'Project Meridian- a robot to propel us away.' A drill bashes through my metal skull matching the bits of it on my head. 'Exploration beyond your wildest dreams.' They'd evolved down here within fire and flame magma and rock beneath the crust of the planet. I was their ticket out. Not that they'd ever asked me about it. 'Break free of your chains and see what's above you!' I had done exactly that. A great escapade into the world. And my return here to the place where it all began. 'With our latest technology, we will finally see the future.' All I could see was the blood-soaked present.