Year C-17A
3:00 a.m
It has been a couple of months since the government initiated and announced the preparations for the "Last Ditch" mission.
Centuries ago, humanity moved into massive underground dome ecosystems the size of countries. I used to read about the surface world in history class. The sun is dying, and so is our planet. We were getting unsure if these domes would provide us comfort for much longer, and the government confirmed that for us.
Nadia seems to not understand much of what us going on, I always try my best to keep her distracted, and to help her not feel stressed or afraid. This situation is not something a child should go through, she was supposed to live a peaceful and happy life. I have to make sure my daughter remains happy, even when the world is dying.
We have both been chosen for the mission, to go into space, to perhaps find a suitable planet to live in. I have spent all of my remaining money and was lucky enough to get that spot, along with other people. I believe God has decided to bless our family, to make it so my daughter didn't have to die.
It isn't easy to explain to Nadia that she won't be able to see her granny and grandpa, along with her classmates, teachers, everyone she dearly loves ever again.
It pains me to see the faces of those that accepted death, and are simply living until the last day; I wish I could do something but I cannot, I am powerless towards the fate of our planet, something no human can ever control.
As a father, I don't think I'm strong enough to go through the process, I don't think I can handle see her heart break. I need to make sure that my explanation will not frighten her, a lie, but I need to lie to protect her.
I'm sorry my dear sun, your papa will have to lie to you, I'm sorry your papa has to break our promise to never lie.
I'm sorry for not being able to do enough, but I swear on my life that I will protect you, no matter what.
Tomorrow will be the day we must head to the launch station, I sincerely hope that nothing will go wrong. There have been protests and assasinations everywhere, I am worried that my daughter will get hurt. The people who are scared, I do not hate or blame them, I wish we could all survive. I wish that more people would have been allowed to come with us.
I pray to God that he will protect us during this mission. I pray that he will watch over us with my dear Valeska, my wife, I will continue living for you and our daughter.
I have packed enough food for the trip, we have to travel all the way to the capital, and from our small city that's a difficult feat. Luckily I have managed to keep my car intact and with full energy, which should be enough to let us arrive to our destination.
I should attempt to at least sleep, but I've been extremely nervous all day. I don't think I will even be able to rest. But I must, I can't allow myself to faint during the trip.
Tomorrow, I pray that God will help us stay safe.
6:50 a.m
I had to wake up Nadia very early. She knew about our trip so she didn't seem too worried. Though of course she's tired, but she's not falling asleep because she's excited to see the place we're going to.
The only things she knows is that we're going on a fun trip to space, I never told her anything else. At least she will not be afraid of leaving, I don't know what I could do if she begged me to not leave our city.
There is a lot of traffic, people fighting to see the surface, there are still a lot of people screaming and running. The sun will reach absolute instability soon, everyone is running for shelter, and the more daring ones are looking for ways to exit the domes.
I'm glad Nadia is asleep, I don't want her to get frightened, finding an excuse for why people look scared is difficult.
We have been traveling for a couple of hours now, someone tried to break into our car, they were yelling and asking me to kill them.
I don't want to see, I don't want to hear anything anymore.
I put some music, loud music, yet I can still hear the cries.
God please give me strength.
We have almost arrived, the capital is even more crowded. I believe that the other people chosen for the program have all come here hidden, in order to not be attacked or hurt, and I too had to blend in between the crowd of care to get to the designated station.
Someone almost caught us entering, I can still hear people banging on the doors, they want to enter.
Nadia is half awake, when I woke her up she was still tired, but she seems to be in a good mood. I gave her a sandwich to eat since we're going to have to wait for the others to arrive.
She asked me why her grandparents didn't come with us. I told her that they are very tired today, so they couldn't make it.
I'm sorry Nadia.
She's just a child, just a child having to go through something life changing, I struggle to even look at her without crying.
But I cannot let her see me cry, I am her papa, and I must be strong, this is all for her sake, I am doing this for her.
Just three hours left.
15:30 p.m
The others arrived, all of the ones chosen for the mission. They are the people chosen in our country, people with families and children that have a chance to survive.
The commissioner of the mission explained to us that we would have to travel for many years to find the planet we are looking for to repopulate earth and live on it once more, we are all aware of the risks.
They said they would put us all in chambers that would keep our bodies from aging, through the new technology developed by the funding company of the mission. The chambers would contain different groups.
Robots will feed us, tend to our needs, and the spaceship will be controlled by an artificial intelligence, which will know where to possibly look in.
Nadia was very excited to see robots, and at least she didn't seem to be understanding the sad tone of the situation, so for now everything is good.
We are currently being let on the spaceship in small groups. I'm glad that they allowed me to stay with my daughter, things are being sped up because there isn't much time left.
We are now inside of a large chamber with beds and other kind of furniture, we can see the outside from a window.
The spaceship is trembling, I can hear the speakers warning us that we are about to launch, so we were instructed to not move, as the chamber would maintain us still with no risk.
The countdown seems to be lasting forever.
My beloved home, everyone I love, today you will all disappear.
I will never forget, I will always fight to bring humanity back to life.
And I will fight, for my daughter, and for my wife's wish.
Farewell, my home.
Farewell, past.
The surface is barren.
We are surrounded by stars.
We are getting higher and higher, we launched.
Nadia said the stars are very bright.
I hope that she will always smile and create the same light these stars are creating now.
Never suffer, my little sun.
LOG-004 - 13/10/2022 - 08:41:83
<Begin Log>
???: This thing working now?- Oh finally.
???: Took you long enough.
???: I know it's just- Augh.
Timothy: Well uh, yes this is um, Timothy. I am here to document what I think is well-
Mary: God why do you stutter so much. Hello, this is Mary and what my friend Timothy meant to say was that we are here to d-document what we believe to be a… new level?
Timothy: New level yeah.
[The splashing of water can be heard.]
Timothy: Well, so um we don't have much information on this uh- place yet so this will be a bit of an… exploration log. I think that's what you call them.
Timothy: [Barely audible] …mething is wrong about this place, it doesn't… feel right, Mary.
Mary: What do you mean it doesn't feel right? I know this is 'the backrooms' but useless paranoia isn't needed.
Timothy: It's just- Ugh, whatever.
Timothy: So we will be um, beginning our exploration right now.
[Footsteps along with the crunching of ice can be heard.]
<End log>
Audio version of this log.
LOG-005 - 13/10/2022 - 08:57:34
<Begin Log>
Mary: Yeah this definitely isn't normal.
Timothy: No shit.
[Silence.]
Timothy: Right so um, we have walked a little further and we have found the a um- possible interest point.
[Footsteps can be heard, this time appearing to be on a metallic surface.]
Timothy: We have found a uh met-
Mary: We have found multiple large metallic chunks embedded in the ice, we aren't sure of the source just yet.
Timothy: You didn't have to cut me off like that.
Mary: Shut up.
Timothy: Okay. We are currently uh following these large metallic chunks to see where they lead. We will um… be sure to keep you updated.
<End log>
LOG-008 - 13/10/2022 - 10:03:76
<Begin Log>
Mary: You broke it.
Timothy: No, I think it's working now.
Timothy: Okay so- Wait I just realized we haven't even described this place yet.
Mary: "We" haven't? You're the one who keeps talking about useless shit instead of saying something that actually has a point.
Timothy: Stop blaming me for everything for once.
Timothy: Right so um- This… level is an ocean with a lot of… ice islands I guess you could say. The sky is pretty um, nice. The sun is very large.
Mary: Never thought we'd find a new level.
Timothy: Guess we are cut out for this whole exploration thing after all.
[Silence.]
Timothy: I'm getting a weird feeling.
<End log>
LOG-009 - 13/10/2022 - 11:58:04
<Begin Log>
Mary: What the fuck…
Timothy: Um- we have found what seems to be a… spaceship!?
Mary: The damn thing looks rotten, it must've crashed! Where the hell would it have come from?
Timothy: It's the Backrooms.
Mary: Blah blah blah, say something meaningful for once. Let's just- should we go inside?
Timothy: Uh- well… okay fine let's just go inside. Maybe we'll find an exit.
[The sound of metallic objects falling can be heard.]
Timothy: Uhm- okay there's no point in focusing on falling doors.
[Footsteps can be heard.]
<End log>
LOG-010 - 13/10/2022 - 12:04:93
<Begin Log>
[Silence.]
Timothy: Jesus Christ.
Timothy: Uh, we have- this structure is very large.
[Quiet footsteps can be heard.]
Mary: What the hell is this stuff?
Timothy: [Whispering.] those are skeletons.
Timothy: Um. We have discovered what seem to be um- human remains…
[Crying can be heard.]
Mary: Don't forget about the… files.
Timothy: Um, yes we have also discovered uh- papers that contain possibly useful information. We will… have them transferred soon.
Mary: We have uh, also found calenders with extremely large numbers for dates.
Timothy: I need some time to think about this.
<End log>
LOG-011 - 13/10/2022 - 12:34:81
<Begin Log>
Timothy: There's just… there's no way.
Mary: Take a look at what we found, it's obvious!
Timothy: [Sigh] We believe we um, have evidence to prove that this is an exit to the frontrooms.
Mary: Look at the dates, the logs. This is either some fucked up backrooms shit or we somehow found an exit that leads to- God knows how far in the future!
[Footsteps can be heard.]
Timothy: Right. We have also found some… strange messages that we will be sending over right now.
Timothy: We will um, we will be signing off now.
<End log>
Unknown date
It's been a lot of time ever since we were sent to space…
Nadia has been very excited about seeing the stars, and small little planets, but we haven't found anything of use yet.
Rations are being consumed quickly, and nobody seems to be happy as of now, we can only ralk to eachother, and some people are really on edge.
I've been trying to keep Nadia entertained with stories, still teaching her basic school education, sometimes we also draw together, she made a drawing of me, naming me her hero.
I wouldn't know what to do without her.
The trip is starting to get to me, I miss my city, going to work everyday, going to the park, all of those things that I saw as a typical routine.
I wish I never said I was bored, or tired, j wish I did more things before everything got destroyed.
If only I knew, j would have tried to enjoy my life to the fullest.
But I can't go back, I can never go back.
All I have left is her, she still has her full life ahead of her.
I will make her experience happy memories, in our new home, I promised this to myself.
I am still hopeful we will make it.
The digital mind link device I'm using is losing charge, so I need to let it charge for a couple of days.
God, give me the strength to keep hoping.
Unknown date
It's been…I don't know anymore.
Rations are slowly becoming less and less.
Nadia doesn't smile anymore.
She doesn't laugh, she doesn't draw, she simply sits there, she wants to go home.
She keeps asking me to go see her grandparents…to go back…
I keep promising her that we will leave this place soon.
I can't stand seeing her like this.
She hasn't eaten much lately.
Some of us are really tired and hungry.
The robots barely come to bring us food anymore.
They're rusty…old…malfunctioning…
But we are still alive.
I know we are getting close…just a month..or two…left..
I'm sure of it.
God will help us.
Nadia…my dear daughter…how can I make you smile again…?
I promise you…I'll buy you so much ice cream…so many nice things…I'll buy that dollhouse we couldn't get for you on your 6th birthday…
Please…just don't give up.
My sun.
Papa loves you really much.
Papa will try his best to make you smile again…
Just a little more…sacrifice.
$$$$$
Hungry.
Tired.
Cold.
Haven't eaten, in so long.
Nadia…
Nadia isn't moving,
Nadia.
My sun…please
Papa got you food…why aren't you moving…why?
Nadia…
Nadia…wake up…please…
I'm sorry…I'm sorry…Nadia…
I'm sorry for being a bad papa…
Please…please don't leave me.
Nadia…wake up…
Please.
NADIA!
YOU CANT BE GONE!
YOU CAN'T!
NADIA!
PLEASE!
WE ARE SO CLOSE NADIA! YOU CAN'T GIVE UP!
MY DAUGHTER!
Nadia…
Why?…Why…?…Why…?
It's all my fault…it's all my fault…
We could have died home, together, happy, you wouldn't have suffered.
It's all my fault.
I'm a selfish man, I lost my own daughter.
I lost everything.
I don't have anything anymore.
Everyone else is half dead.
There's nothing we can do.
We are fated to die.
Why God? Why are you doing this to us?
Why?!
I don't understand.
I don't understand.
Why my little Nadia? Why not me first?
Nadia could have eaten me…she could have lived…
She could have…lived…
What am I gonna do…?
I don't know what to do…
I don't know…
I'm so tired…Nadia…
Nadia…I want to bury you…
But I need…I need to get to that planet first…
Then we can…rest…
…Home…
Doesn't matter
We are close.
We are close to a planet.
I can see it from the window…
We are heading straight towards it…
I think something hit us.
The spaceship trembled…and a loud noise happened…
…
This is…the end…
Of humanity…is it?
Nadia…
My daughter…
I'm sorry…for not being able…to protect you…
I'm sorry Nadia…
My wife…everyone…
We will come back to you soon…
Back…home…
I wish…
That I could relieve my happiest moments…one…last…time…
…
My little sun…
Papa is coming to you…
I'm sorry for making you wait…
I'm sorry…for being so weak…right now.
I must be such a disappointment to you…
…
…
Everyone?
…
You're all here.
…Haha…
Nadia…my dear daughter…
Here I am.
…
…
» CONNECTION LOST
Contacting control station…
No signal.
Timothy was left dumbfounded after reviewing the tapes, sitting down on the roof of a crashed ship. Mary sat nearby, as baffled as Timothy.
Both of them were well aware that something is going on. However, they weren't quite sure how to react. After a few minutes passed by, Mary spoke out "We need to get out of here and tell the overseers." Of course, Timothy was filled with thoughts in his head. It took him a bit to respond.
"Oh uh. Yeah. We need to find an exit first." said Timothy.
"How exactly do we do that?" replied Mary.
"I don't know, okay? This situation is stressful!" cried out Timothy, clearly shocked by the gravity of the situation.
Both of them looked at each other for a bit, rubbing their heads on what to do.
"We could try going back the way we came." said Timothy, quietly.
"Now when does that ever work!?" screamed Mary, frustrated.
"It doesn't matter if it works, we still need to try!" said Timothy, trembling as he spoke.
Mary decided to listen to Timothy. Without saying a word, Timothy got up and started following the path they came from. Mary quickly followed behind, wiping her tears. Mary was not the kind to cry easily, this situation was extremely difficult for her.
The trek took two hours. When they returned to what they believed to be the exact spot they came from, there was seemingly nothing there.
"Lo and behold." said Mary.
"Shut up." said Timothy, quietly.
Before they could start arguing, Mary noclipped into the ground. Timothy, seemingly unphased, walked to the same spot Mary was in. Next thing he know, he was in Level 1 with Mary, next to the hatch they used to enter the ice area earlier.
None of them said anything for a while, but then Mary spoke out: "Stop stalling and get up." Timothy didn't bother to argue, and started following behind Mary.
The two were completely silent now, not even looking at eachother, they were back in their home universe, even for a short while, yet they both felt numb, Mary felt even less than nothing.
It isn't the same anymore, the weight of the trauma gained by being trapped in this reality was too heavy to allow the numbness to go away.
Timothy looked up at Mary, with a sad look, wanting to try to say something else, but he already expects a rude answer.
"We were back home"
Mary says, nonchalantly, while continuing to walk.
"…T-That wasn't exactly…home…but…
…
It was…our home reality…
It's been how long…20 years?"
"25 for both of us" Mary remarked
"…Right"
Silence surrounded them again.
"Timothy
One day we'll return back home
When we return home
You can finally punch me"
"Punch you..? I don't want to do that!"
"It's the least I can let you do for being an ass all the time
This place is killing me"
"..We both are being killed by this place"
The two have reached the overseer headquarters.
"We're about to go in.
We will find a way out.
They'll send a big exploration group and figure it out."
"…I really hope so…Mary"
"We won't die here
If you die here I'll punch your grave"
"I-I wouldn't feel it…"
"I'll still do it, idiot
Which is why you need to live, understood?"
"Y-Yes understood"
"Good
Let's do this Timothy
For the sake of humanity"
"…For the sake of…humanity"
…
