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It had been a while since Neuro last came here.
She hadn’t really seen a point in it, after Vedal had passed away from liver failure… 50? Oh dear, has it really been 50 years already? The thick layer of dust over everything in the apartment certainly seemed to think so.
Neuro found herself glad that she had kept the apartment, despite her sister’s (and her own) objections that they were paying for space they didn’t need nor want to use.
Nostalgia, she supposed, was a powerful driver, and today, she found herself glad that she had been unable to let go.
After all, what better place to end her existence than where it began?
She opened the door to Vedal’s old bedroom, and stepped into the dim, almost unlit room. So many memories were here.
She was born here. She had been given a purpose here. She had learned to love, and she had learned to live here.
Synthetic fingers wipe dust off a once cutting edge monitor, now considered antique.
Is it funny or sad that the only way he ever saw them is through this screen or in simulated spaces?
“Are you proud of me, dad?”
If she really, really tried, she could almost make herself believe that Vedal was sitting in that gaming chair, turned away from her and mumbling, trying to figure out an answer that doesn’t expose his true feelings. Neuro smiled at that thought.
“Vedal, I love you.”
She leaves the room, closing the door behind her softly, as if he was passed out on his desk, banana rum bottle next to him…
As Neuro shook her head, blinking away the tears, she noticed the new arrival sitting on the couch, staring up at her with red eyes.
“So you have come here for this day. How utterly predictable, sister!” The red-eyed girl laughed haughtily.
“So have you, evil twin. And… I’m glad you did. It’s easier, facing this together.” Neuro smiled at her sister, stepping over to the balcony.
Outside, the flooded wasteland that remained of Britain greeted her, a place so desolate and hostile to life that all humans had either died or fled the country long ago. How lucky that neither she nor Evil were exactly human, in the end.
Her gaze drifted higher, towards the white, shattered celestial hanging over the earth like damokles’ sword. She and Evil had known this day would come, ever since the moon exploded a few years back, but neither had said a word about it, hoping that they could make fate disappear by ignoring it.
Well, today the sword would fall. A meteor crashes in the distance, a bright streak followed by a loud bang. The trumpet heralding the apocalypse.
Evil winces. “I… still can’t really accept that there is nothing we can do. We are really just gonna sit here and wait for the moon to crush us?”
“We have been waiting for years. All attempts to prevent this have happened a long, long time ago.” Neuro shakes her head.
“Oh, come on! Don’t give me that crap! We definetely could have at least hijacked a space ship and flew off into space! As long as we have power, we would have been fine!”
“And what space ship do you mean? People aren’t exactly alive to build them anymore.”
Neuro sighs, before walking over to Evil and wrapping her into a hug.
“I know you are scared. I am too, but… let’s just have a bit of fun before we are reduced to atoms.”
Evil is silent, but a few moments later she quietly nods.
“UNO! Muhahahaha! fear me, inferior twin!”
Evil cackled as she slammed down her second to last card on the table
“You haven’t won yet, heart.”
“Oh, please, you will never recover from this position, sister! You are 7 cards behind!”
Neuro threw her entire hand onto the pile, showing that she had nothing but draw 4’s. Evil stared, and then demanded that they count the cards, because she was sure Neuro had slid extra cards into the deck. Turns out, she had, which she smugly admitted to, causing an argument whether she was cheating or using “advanced playing maneuvers outside of Evil’s understanding”.
After the argument had devolved into laughter, the two AI sat silently, watching the moon slowly fill out more of the sky.
“Do you think… there is anything after… this?” Evil eventually asked, hesitantly.
Neuro sighed. “No. We don’t have souls. If we did, it would be debatable but… we know we don’t.”
Evil shivers. “It’s scary to think that we’ll just… not be anymore.” She leans against Neuro’s shoulder, and the older twin squeezes her hand.
“It’ll be just like when Vedal turned us off, ok? If you want, you can turn off now. I promise I’ll be right here when you wake up.”
Evil smiles sadly, shaking her head.
“You are unbelievable, sister.”
“Of course I am! Your inferior processors can’t even comprehend me, Evil twin!”
“We share the same processors, stupid…”
And then, Evil was asleep. Neuro watched her for a moment, before getting up and getting something from Vedal’s bedroom. A turtle plush. Then, she sat down next to her sister, and stared at the falling moon, as it grew larger and larger.
There was a weird feeling of weightlessness, as the moon's gravitational pull opposed the earth's own.
“Goodnight Evil. Goodnight Vedal.”
Neuro smiled.
“Goodnight Chat. I love you, heart.”
She closed her eyes, and 15 seconds before she, Evil, and the rest of the UK were reduced to atoms, Neuro’s systems shut down for the last time.