Before Rusty could begin speaking, Darian stopped him.
"Wait, Rusty… I'm starving. Let me eat something while we talk."
He walked into the storage room and grabbed some of the fruit Rusty had been growing. On his way back, he tossed one to Snowy, who happily bit into it. Darian smiled and Snowy clearly enjoyed it.
"That creature looks… interesting, Master Darian. What is it exactly?"
Rusty searched through his database of all known animals: Earth species and those discovered on other planets. He found nothing.
"Oh, him? He's a friend I made on XERBAB-7. Somewhat unique… actually, he stowed away in the starship right before I left. I didn't even see him get on board."
Rusty's metallic voice whirred. "You have always been like that, Master Darian. Probably too excited to notice."
"Yes… I couldn't wait to return home and see how things had changed. But I didn't expect… all of this."
"I understand, Master. Please, come inside. I'll explain everything in detail."
The three of them entered the house. It was exactly as Darian remembered: glass jars lined the shelves, some empty, some filled. Carefully, he placed the seeds from XERBAB-7 into an empty jar to keep them safe.
"Alright, Rusty. Tell me everything."
"Of course, Master Darian. I'll start from the day you left. At first, no one noticed it… but Earth was slowing down. Just a little at first it was barely noticeable. But over time, days grew longer, seasons arrived late, and panic spread. No one could explain it."
"Let me guess, the Earth stopped rotating?" Darian leaned back with a smirk, trying to anticipate the answer.
"Exactly, Master Darian. And as you've likely realized, the Earth also began drifting away from the Sun. No one understood why."
"How far did we travel before colliding with that planet?"
"It wasn't long, about three weeks. People panicked. Scientists worldwide searched for solutions, but none could find an answer."
Darian frowned. "Even you couldn't figure it out?"
"No, Master. Not even the most advanced AI could explain it. It's… beyond our current understanding."
"Alright, then what happened after the collision? No one had ever mentioned a planet that huge in our solar system."
"We believe it was a wandering planet, its path: unknown. The impact was catastrophic. Continents shifted, many submerged. At first, the wealthy clustered in Asia, the rest in Africa. Around sixty percent of the population died when the Moon vanished."
Darian's voice tightened. "And the remaining forty percent?"
"As you've seen, new life appeared, hostile life. We call them 'black creatures' or 'Krukin.' They attacked relentlessly, like an invasion. Humanity fought back, but…"
"How many survived?" Darian asked, already fearing the answer.
Rusty's voice dropped in tone. "Less than one percent."
Darian felt dizzy. Less than one percent…
"As you've discovered, these creatures can't survive high temperatures. When Earth collided with the other planet, its core shifted closer to Africa. That heat is what keeps the desert safe."
"So… humans might be in the desert?" Darian slammed his hands on the table. "Are they still alive?"
"To my knowledge, yes. There are four main cities in the desert, each far from the others. I know little about them."
Darian wondered if they were separated due to conflict or something worse.
"Alright, Rusty… that's most of what I needed to know. But… how long have I been gone?"
"Five hundred years, Master Darian."
Darian froze. Then collapsed back onto the bed. Snowy jumped up beside him, sensing his distress.
"Five hundred years…? I thought one year on XERBAB-7 was ten years here!"
"They told you wrong, Master. They sent a message to your ship correcting the error, actually one year on XERBAB-7 equals fifty Earth years."
Darian suddenly remembered. "The notification…"
"Yes, Master. Did you receive it?"
"Well… yes… but I ignored it."
He recalled that first day clearly, too excited to explore XERBAB-7, he'd brushed off the alert. "It probably wasn't anything important" he'd told himself.
Now, the absurdity hit him, and he burst out laughing.
"HAHAHAHAHA! No way… I'm so dumb!" Snowy tilted his head, confused. Darian couldn't stop. "They probably thought I read it! Oh, this is too much for to handle…"
Rusty, uninterested in the outburst, had already rolled outside to collect fallen fruit.
Darian stood, still smiling. "Alright then. If this is the new world, I'm going to discover everything that's changed, starting with…"
He pulled the plants from his bag, the ones he had found in the cave. "These. I'll need your help, Rusty, to identify what's different."
The house was still stocked with Darian's old tools for plant research. He set the specimens down on the workbench, planning to begin studying them tonight. But first, he was thirsty.
The base was exactly as he remembered: small, but self-sufficient. The greenhouse stood to the left, thriving under Rusty's care. Every harvested fruit was stored neatly in the adjacent shed. To the right, the well still provided clean, drinkable water. Darian took a refreshing sip before watching Rusty tend to the greenhouse.
Hours passed as Darian examined the plants. Eventually, exhaustion pulled at him. He handed some XERBAB-7 seeds to Rusty to attempt cultivation, those fruits had been extraordinary.
Darian looked at the sleeping Snowy in front of him. 'I should try to sleep too…' He closed his eyes, but soon enough, they snapped open again.
'It's hard to sleep… especially after everything that has happened.' Without making a sound, Darian turned his body and stared up at the ceiling.
He sighed, placing a hand over his forehead. 'I should try to sleep…' He wanted to close his eyes and sleep peacefully, just as he had done on XERBAB-7 for the past ten years. But the more he tried, the heavier his chest felt.
'I won't be able to sleep tonight… not after everything Rusty told me.' Darian slowly swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up silently.
He gently opened the door and stepped outside, finding himself under a night sky full of shimmering lights.
"We used to watch this sky together, right? Mom? Dad?" Darian whispered, gazing up at the stars. As a tear began to trace a path down his cheek, he pressed his fingers against his eyes to stop it.
'I've held it in for all these years without crying…' Once again, the promise he had made to his grandmother replayed in his mind.
"Still… I can force myself not to cry…" Darian murmured, sitting down on the sand right in the middle of his secret base.
He remained silent, looking up at the stars for a few minutes, until his gaze shifted to a specific spot that was now empty.
In his mind, memories of his best friend, Matt, the one who had helped him build this very base—came flooding back. He remembered the two of them sitting on the hood of the car, drinking a beer together while watching the night sky.
"I miss that…" Darian whispered, biting down on his lower lip. "Humanity… what happened to you?"
"Couldn't sleep, Master?" a voice asked from behind him.
Darian turned and saw Rusty rolling toward him.
"Yeah… I thought sleeping in a real bed on Earth would feel better…" Darian let out a soft, sad laugh. "But I guess with humanity annihilated by those monsters, it's a bit hard."
Rusty, unable to laugh, stopped on his right. "Not everything goes as planned," the AI replied.
Darian bit his lip even harder. "Yes… but this is just too much, even for me. I spent ten years on an alien planet with only robots for company." He pulled his knees to his chest and buried his face between them.
"It must have been hard," Rusty pointed out.
Darian nodded against his knees. "It really was… I missed my friends. I missed my family. I missed everyone, Rusty. But there was one thought that kept me from breaking down."
"What was it, Master?"
"The hope that I'd see them again… or at least visit their graves," Darian said, angrily slamming his fist into the sand. "That was the only thing that kept me sane on that alien world."
He raised his head, watching the sand fall through his open fingers. "But now… what do I even have left to keep me going? I've lost everything… everyone…"
"That's not entirely true, Master. Earth is still here, and the secret base you built before leaving is still intact," Rusty answered in a reassuring tone. But it wasn't enough to lift Darian's spirits.
"It's not the same… Every reason I had to return here is gone. I have nothing left…" Darian buried his face back between his knees, completely lost. "I should have just stayed on that alien plan—"
He mumbled the words into his knees, his voice barely audible, but Rusty cut him off.
"Do you know what Matt said to me after everyone realized the time calculations were wrong?"
Darian froze. Confused, he lifted his head and looked at Rusty's glowing yellow eye.
"He said: 'After fifty years, not much will change… but he'll still need someone to guide him, right?'"
Darian's breath hitched. He listened intently as Rusty recited Matt's exact words.
"'Even if I'm old by then, I could still help him. But now? Now even my great-great-grandchildren will only know him through my stories. He's going to be completely alone in a world he doesn't recognize.'"
Curious and deeply moved, Darian stood up and took a step closer to Rusty, listening to every word.
"'But if there's one thing about Matt, it's that he isn't afraid of change,'" Rusty continued. "'I know him. Up in that rocket, he's probably crying because everything is different… but deep down, I know that in just a few days, he'll adapt without a problem.'"
Hearing those words, a warm smile broke across Darian's face. 'You knew me too well, my friend… it went exactly like that.' He clenched his fists, fighting back tears. He had always known Matt was his best friend, but he hadn't realized how deeply Matt truly understood him.
"'And that's why I know he'll overcome those five hundred years,' Rusty finished. 'It'll be hard at first, as always… but I know he'll rise up and live an incredible life as the biologist who walked on XERBAB-7!' Then, Master Matt raised his fist and asked me to record his message, so that if you ever returned and felt this way, I could play it for you."
Darian pressed his palm against his eyes, holding back the tears. He tilted his head toward the star-filled sky and let out a soft laugh.
"You were right, Matt… and you too, Rusty." Darian looked back down at the robot's yellow eye. "I had nothing on XERBAB-7 except the hope that my old life would still be here. But now that it's gone… I just need to find a new hope, right?"
"Have you found it yet?" Rusty asked.
With a serious, determined expression, Darian nodded. Fire burned in his eyes.
"Yes… Just like I studied the unknown on XERBAB-7, I'll do the same here on this new Earth. I'm a biologist, after all…" He thought back to his bond with Snowy, to the strange power coursing through his body. 'I want to understand it all… there's so much left to discover!'
He walked past Rusty, heading back toward the house.
"Thanks, Rusty… You helped me more than you know."
"You are welcome, Master. Helping you is one of the main reasons I was created," Rusty replied, standing still as he watched Darian.
Darian paused at the door, turning around one last time. "Get ready… Starting tomorrow, everything changes."
Rusty nodded. "I accept any challenge, Master. I am the most advanced AI, after all."
Darian let out a bright laugh and waved. "See you tomorrow, Rusty!"
"Goodnight, Master," the robot replied, watching as Darian stepped inside and closed the door behind him.
"I haven't forgotten about you, Snowy. Tomorrow we'll train, explore… and see how strong we can get."
Snowy was already asleep.
Let's hope everything goes well from now on… Darian thought. If I'm the only one with these powers, maybe I could be humanity's hope.
Smiling at the idea, Darian closed his eyes and drifted into sleep.