Swimming With a Thousand Suns (START)

I once dreamt of this moment: placing a foot onto a beaming electromagnetic pillar, launching towards a dark mass filled with more brightness than a human eye could handle. We were told the sun would dim slowly, like a fire with no more wood to feed the flame. It would expand and swallow the world, the same which has housed everything we have ever known. But now, they trust me: Experiment 9K30. The last thing I witnessed before I stepped into that glistening wheat, aqua blue stream, were the eager eyes of the planet, wrapped with thoughts of return stories, and those who knew there wouldn't be one.

“9K30.”

His boots moving like hammers on the metal.

“Commander.”

He pauses in front of me, with scanning eyes. Deep down he's filled with complex intertwining thoughts, so convoluted that he remains silent.

“It's strange to think that this moment is finally here.”

Everything feels blank.

“Thousands of generations before us never thought that humanity would live long enough to actually witness this. ...They also didn't think it would happen this soon.”

We both just peer out into space, until the attention shifts.

“9K30 you know-”

“I know, sir.”

“Once we set foot-”

“Sir.”

He sighs.

“Out of all of them, I think we've made the best choice with you.”

“Thank you, Commander.”

“Don't you ever be the one thanking me, 9K.”

...With all of these metal plates and glass-like shields coating me, it's hard to remember that deep down inside I may actually be human.