Short story

I had an amazing time attending Confluence in Pittsburgh last month. It would be tough to say what my favorite panel was - but one of the writing exercises, moderated by author Frederic S. Durbin, had an interesting format. 

It was centered on the four 'doorways' into writing - setting, character, plot and concept. We were asked to write a short story using one of those doorways. As a character writer, I found myself hitting an unexpected roadblock - every idea that popped into my head ended up sneaking into the character doorway. 

Rather than simply following my instincts and writing a character-based story, I decided to get out of my comfort zone by writing a story with no characters at all. But how to write a story with no characters?

Trying to pull that off was fun. I think the story that came out of the exercise is kind of cool, too - even if it's still very rough. Judge for yourself! 

**

0600 hours. The generators hum as the AI powers up the net. The sun rises, a fiery red ball over the broken landscape of plains outside.

Power is routed into cooling coils, pumping cold air into the insulated bunker. On the surface, the temperature reaches 38C as the sun blazes through the depleted atmosphere.

0800. Soft music flows throughout the barracks. The lights brighten, slowly reaching an intensity designed to wake any occupants. From a small cubbyhole on the side of each of the dozen beds, a steaming cup of coffee slides out, alongside a bagel - plain with cream cheese.

Holo screens light up, highlighting the date (6/3/2034), surface temperature (51C), time remaining on the power and environmental infrastructure resources (600 years), and openings on human exploration and recreation teams (positions remaining on all teams).

1000. Wheeled robots enter the barracks, changing the sheets and making the beds. Cool coffee cups are emptied and cleaned. Classes begin in the educational area, the computerized professors lecturing to empty rooms physics, biology and math. More generators power up as surface temperatures reach 70C.

1200. Lunch is served in the cafeteria by robotic stewards - steak, baked potatoes and French fries. Since no humans signed up for exploration, default robotic drones are launched in various directions to scour the surface for survivors.

1400. Heat shields are deployed above as surface temperature tops out at 80C. The first wave of drones returns. In the rec center, the entertainment AI selects a Golden Girls marathon for the coming afternoon/evening watching.

1800. Heat shields retract. Classes end. Dinner is served ... pizza. The Golden Girls marathon reaches its tenth episode. Musical instruments are set up in the theater room in preparation for that night's concert - a presentation of the Carmina Burana.

2000. Surface temperature falls to 70C. Concert time. No one has taken stations at any of the instruments, so the speaker systems play the concert to an empty auditorium. The final wave of drones returns and maps are updated.

2200. Curfew. The barracks units open and hot chocolate is served next to each bed. Screens list openings in tomorrow's various groups. Several generators power down for maximum savings. Robotic maintenance on non-integral systems begins.

2400. All lighting except soft wall illumination dims out. The hum of machinery pulses over the empty barracks. This is one of humanity’s highest technological achievements… a doomsday shelter, built to keep hundreds of people alive for centuries. The AI is not programmed to care that it is empty - nor does it matter that this whole world is empty of life. The program continues, just as its creators designed.

Tomorrow is just another day.