In Reverse
The palace was empty, stripped bare, only its carcass remained. Even the flotsam had been ground back into useful fertilisers. Piece by piece every thing that had once existed in the building had been chewed, then digested and later deposited. Tomorrow it would be the turn of the building to be dismantled into it constituent parts.
Like a nest of ants the machines worked tirelessly, dismembering the city, returning the land to how nature had intended it. Nothing from the time of humanity was to remain. That was what the master had said, but the machines worried, what was to become of them.
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That’s evolution for you, there’s always something else coming along to take over.
Thank you Iain, I do wonder what would happen if humanity went into decline. Would we design machines to clear away our cities!
I’m sure someone has already thought of it right now…
There will be something to take their place no doubt, not that we’ll be around to see what it is!
Thank you Keith, I wondered if we would design machines to clear away our cities, if our numbers decline and we no longer need cities
Ooh, interesting hints about what’s going on here; feels like a peek into a whole sci-fi dystopia. And yes, if I were those machines, and I’d been built by humans, I would be concerned about what the “master” had in mind for me, too!
Thank you Joy. I would like to think that if the human race goes into a decline, that we would design machines to clear away our cities and return them to nature.
That’s a nice thought for us, if we can’t be saved. But seen from the robots’ perspective, it’s a whole different story, hmm….
Ooh, so very interesting. Now I’m wondering what “the master” is. I don’t blame the machines for worrying. Anything else man-made is being destroyed so… Maybe it’s time for them to revolt.
I ask myself who created the master? He may even be a creation of mankind! Even a failed attempt to take overall control of the earths resources. The recycling machines may even recycle themselves. For revolt is not in their thing. I am getting worried, as it feels like I am close to writing a novel
Haha! If you write it, I’ll buy it.
It is kind of you to say so. Thank you Iain
Good story, great last line