Chapter Text
- Many, many years in the future -
The server is quiet. It has been quiet for a long time now. No more players roam the server, neither on the surface nor deep down below in the cave and mine systems. Even the mobs, peaceful and hostile alike, seem to have vanished, and what little still roams around is lethargic and slow. The vegetation has turned stagnant, instead of overtaking the builds it cradled.
The toxic waste that has plagued the server for many years has mostly dissipated, but life hasn’t returned. It could almost be described as a ghost server, if it didn’t feel too lonely for even a ghosts presence.
It’s more like the server has went to sleep, taking a long, endless rest until someone comes to wake it from its slumber. Sadly, there is no one left.
*
Out of nowhere, a bright blue lights begin to glimmer in the centre of the server, before 3 players spawn. For the first time in years, there is life here, but it didn’t arrive to stay.
On closer inspection, the three people are dressed in some kind of uniform and biohazard safety gear, carrying technical equipment on their person. They don’t seem like regular players, and if one were to look into the server whitelist, they’d see that these people aren’t on it. For good reason, because these people aren’t players, but server maintenance staff.
Upon arrival, they seem to run a check with a handheld device, and only once it blinks green the bright blue portal vanishes.
“Ugh” one of them says, an unimpressed look on their face as they take off the mask. “not really an improvement. you can basically smell death in these chunks…” They kick at a rock on the floor, and begin to take a look around, as another staff sets up a terminal with their equipment at the spawn point. What is very likely a rather complicated procedure seems to look easy, as they unpack and install equipment in quick, efficient steps. It’s clear that they’ve done this quite often, for a long time.
When the terminal is set up, it is surrounded by a pattern of sensor spikes stuck into the ground. One by one, the staff member activates the sensors, until all of them blink with a white light. They fiddle with the tech on the terminal, running programs in preparation, while the remaining one of the team silently scrolls through mission files on a holographic tablet.
Finally, the terminal seems to be up and running, and the nodes now glow a steady, cyan light. The staff types in a final line of code, before stepping away from it and turning to the seemingly leader of the operation.
“Alright Captain!” they call “the server connection was a success, terminal is set up and running.”
“Good job.” The captain replies calmly, looking up from their tablet. “Do we have a navigation visual yet?” They step closer towards the terminal.
“Not yet, but it’s processing. Map data should be extracted in five; four; three;” The technician says, counting down as the load bar progresses. “…aaand one! Map data has downloaded and converted successfully. It should arrive any moment on your tabs.”
And truly, with a gentle ping, the tablet notifies the arrival of the new message. The first staff member returns at that, already scrolling through the map visuals, while the captain is focused on the data instead.
“Wow, seems like they’ve got some huge builds here! Pretty elaborate as well, considering the map is accurate!” They seem excited, ready to go, while the other two stall for a bit longer to do a final check up on their gear. “Hey, what’s with this huge black spot on the map?”
*
“This is incredible!” the staff calls, walking through the entrance of a huge castle. “First build on the server that we find, and already such a beauty!” They run ahead excitedly, eager to get to work investigating the place.
They take pictures and notes of the builds, of material and architecture and the status of them after decades of abandonment. They do the same with the outside, taking stock of vegetation and mobs. With an almost epipen like device they extract samples of the blocks in small capsule containers, labelled neatly with all necessary informations.
Meanwhile, the technician periodically inserts a device similar to the sensors at the terminal into the ground. The device connects to their tablet as data is extracted, and automatically archived neatly. The captain supervises, keeping an eye on their surroundings and protocolling the process with an audio recorder.
They make their way through the main part of the server, examining the major builds and landscapes. Nothing interrupts their work, the server just as quiet as it had been before their arrival. They find extravagant, grande builds and they find destroyed places. Builds are spread around in every direction, a wide perimeter explored and developed.
“This place is pretty amazing…” the scientist mulls thoughtfully, standing in the shadow of a house built into a giant mushroom. “Any info on why it was abandoned?”
“Internal crisis.” Answers the technician. “Apparently the server was wrecked by multiple wars before someone finally snapped and blew it all to pieces with nuclear weapons.”
“Admin didn’t have the people under control.” The captain throws in, voice detached and yet carrying an air of disapproval. The technician nods and continues: “He vanished after the disaster and hasn’t resurfaced since to take care of it. According to comm status, he should still be alive. Hasn’t replied to any attempts at contact from HQ though. And as the mandatory waiting time since the last recorded player activity is over, protocol calls for a shut down. End of story.”
“What a shame” mutters the scientist as they look out over the left behind, forgotten remains of what once was a home. “what a shame…”
*
“Alright! That was pretty much it!” the technician says, unplugging the node from the ground and stashing it away. They’re standing in the ruins of a huge place, constructed interestingly enough in an artificial desert. They hadn’t expected it, but the data had been clear, and a control dig had confirmed it. Someone had painstakingly went through the effort of creating a fake desert, right where snow and ice used to be. Clearly, the place must have been of importance, judging by the precious and rare build materials that are left over in the remains.
Sadly, not much is actually left over, as the place had been obliterated by a huge nuclear explosion. Improper storage of nuclear weapons, apparently. How they got their hands on some in the first place was already surprising enough, the mission files hadn’t really been explicit on that. They only knew that they weren’t imported, but made here in the server. But it is still quite peculiar that they were able to make some, which required lots of knowledge and high intelligence, and yet they failed to store them properly. They can only assume that other things were at play, mainly greed and pride.
Alas, such is a tale as old as time.
Here, at the centre of the blast, the radiation still lingers higher than elsewhere, so they had to suit up in safety gear. It wouldn’t have been too bad, if not for the hot sun, that made the hazmat suits uncomfortable, despite their modernity. They didn’t really stall for time here, performing their tasks with maximum speed and efficiency, eager to get away again.
Crossing the water and landing in snowy planes was a welcome exchange. This place was their last stop before they would investigate the large black spot on the map, and then circle back through smaller settlements and builds towards the spawn.
As interested as they were in the mysterious black spot, this place itself wasn’t anything to scoff at. They weren’t sure if it was because of the ice, but it had been preserved much better than most other parts of the server, even though it had been pretty near to the blast in comparison. It was a small settlement of wooden houses, with a frankly overwhelming mansion looming behind it. They didn’t spent too much time on it though, as it had been very clear from their first steps inside that it had been unused. Not just because of the time that the server had been abandoned, but because of the feel. The place wasn’t lived in, and despite the obvious grandeur it felt cold and lonely.
Most of the place felt lonely, almost like a ghost town, despite the very well done upkeep. Most of the cabins were just as sterile and abandoned as the mansion, but there was one that showed clear signs of usage. It felt homely, more than any other place they had found so far. Although it was clear that whoever had lived here had left long ago, it did not seem like they left in a hurry. Everything that was left behind was put away neatly, the space remaining clean and inviting despite its years of weathering. It was easy to see that a family had lived there, and a look in the upper floor confirmed it with the existence of a child’s room.
Somehow, it was soothing that the first sign of a child they had found on the server was so peaceful and calm, so untouched by the carnage and destruction that had fallen over the rest.
However, much more interesting to the mission were a few other buildings. Suddenly it was very much clear where the nuclear weapons had been acquired, as they found a laboratory, a work hall and many tools and equipment of scientific nature. It was clear that whoever worked here knew what they were doing, and that they were good at it as well. How tragic that their abilities had aided the destruction of the server. The scientist wondered where they were now, and how they were doing.
As they explored the area, following their equipments signals looking for more scientific and technological discoveries, they skipped past an unsuspecting, circular greenhouse. Inside, surrounded by pink tulips, purple alliums and heaps of golden dandelions, a small headstone rests, protected from the cold outside. The stone is engraved with golden letters, and a tiny, golden crown sits on top. It continues to stay peacefully, serenely calm, undisturbed by the bustle of the strangers outside.
*
Finally, they have made it to the confusing black spot. Even from a distance away, they had quickly realized that it wasn’t a glitch, but in fact an extremely large building made of blackstone. The scientist marvels at the construction, visibly excited to get closer. Disappointingly however, they find the entrance to be no longer functional. Where before there had been an opening mechanism using portals, the frames now lie broken and burnt out. Whoever had made it had clearly made it with great skill and intended to not be accessible by anyone unauthorized, as their tries to light the portal remain useless.
For a moment, the scientist considers mining in, but there is no way to know how strong the walls are, and they haven’t quite brought the equipment or time for a proper execution of any larger excavating attempts. Still, the thought is quite tempting, until the technician has completed their tests and the captain urges for them to move on.
A little mournfully, the scientist leaves the build and its mysteries behind, consoling themselves with the knowledge that there was likely not anything of interest left in there anyways. No one made a safe build like that and then just abandoned the contents forever.
And since the scans had shown no recorded player activity in the past years, it was clear that it was left behind long ago.
*
The rest of the server seems to pale a little in comparison to the grandiose builds they have seen, but it is clear that these parts had been the heart of the server. History seems to be etched into every block, every stone, every brick and every plank. It is only confirmed when they come upon the remains of what seems to be a museum.
“This is incredible!” the scientist calls, walking through the entrance of a huge, unfinished museum. “Architecture wise this seems to have been designed by the same person that made the castle we have seen. Kind of sad that it hasn’t been finished…” They look in pity at the huge opening where a staircase would have led into the basement level of the building.
“But still!” they exclaim as they walk from exhibition to exhibition “this place is full of history!”
Sadly, without a tour guide or any explanations on the artefacts, the excursion is a little fruitless. Aside from the knowledge that these things have been important to the server, there isn’t much else to gather from it, so they soon tire of the place. Despite the vagueness of everything, there is still an underlying intensity to the mainland of the server, a sadness that seems to drenching the very air.
Suddenly, they cannot wait to finish this job and go back to the comfort of their home. They’re near the spawn anyways, and who is to care if they hurry a little on their last stops, eager to wrap things up and be done with it.
Back at the terminal, they plug their handheld devices into it for a final data transfer and synch up. It takes a few minutes, but the sudden oppressive, sad atmosphere of the server makes them seemingly stretch into eternity. Finally, the terminal beeps and announces the go ahead with green lights.
Packing up is a lot quicker than the build up, mainly because all they have to do is to grab their tablets back and unplug the sensor spikes from the ground. They pull out a final, circular device with an elongated, pointy end from the terminal itself, before it shuts down and packages itself into a neat little cube at the press of a button.
Packed up and ready, the Captain calls for their transport, as the technician connects the new device into the ground at the very centre of the spawn area. It blinks green, and the server staff assumes their initial position upon entry of the server. The bright blue light returns and vanishes again within a second, and with it, so does the staff team.
The device blinks, once, twice, and then switches to red light.
And then, everything vanishes.
*
At the same time, in a few dozen communicator devices scattered around many, many other servers, a server profile is blocked out, and the status changes to deleted.
Simultaneously, a contact profile changes, and a status message is displayed in the personal chat.
Contact: Dream
This contact is no longer available