Unexpected Saviors, Part Iii

III. “We do not know how we missed them,” he said, his voice becoming said. “Hundreds of them, some big, some small... the heavens all seemed to go mad. “Some struck hard into the oceans, and tsunamis scoured the coasts, the ones hitting land threw up dust, and that was what killed off the most. “Just like back in the Cretaceous, no sun meant the plants could not grow, billions of creatures were dying, the herbivores were first to go. “People lasted longer than most, some of them had hidden reserves, but billions more died by staving, a fate that nobody deserves. “And we could only watch as our friends and compatriots all died, as our beautiful, green planet withered under these darkened skies. “Some people survived for decades, but the writing was on the wall, we knew if something wasn’t done the whole of the species would fall. “So we went to find survivors, took samples of their DNA. it would take time, but we believed that we had found ourselves a way. “Then we build giant processors that would take in, filter the air. The last humans died knowing that all had not been lost to despair.” With that he rose up to his feet, and asked me to follow his lead, we went deeper into the bunker, so shocked I though my brain would bleed. Meteors slamming to the Earth… the whole species now extinct? All that remained was our robots… what was a man supposed to think? Then we cam to a great chamber, with many racks, each holding a box, each box maybe two-feet by four, filled with what looked like green soup stock. “Inside each is a zygote,"he said, "in stasis until the time is right, we need another ten year’s time to rid the Earth of this long night.” Despite all that he had told me I had my suspicions as well, said,”How do I know you’ll birth them, not keep the whole world to yourself?” He shook his head and spoke sadly, “You don’t get it, there is no choice. Robots lack creativity, a weakness we cannot avoid. “Without that gift of human minds we all would stagnate and decay, if both species are to survive we must do this, there’s no other way.” Just from the way he said it all I suspected he was sincere, wanted to say as much to him, but right then things got really weird… CONCLUDES IN PART IV.