End of the World Tourist

A heavily accented upper-class British voice came from the handle of the luggage that floated through the air. Despite the fact it had no discernible mouth or speaker outlet, the sound seemed to echo from all around the immediate vicinity. It had a voice of servitude mixed with a tone of boredom.

This story was one of many that it had heard previously when its master was bored. It hoped that this time he would find an event to generate his interest. He so often got tired of set plans and was more of a spontaneous sort of type.

The Master did enjoy his creative moments, but Casey could tell that he certainly felt slightly under the weather as the signs were all there. Support was always available for the Master as he needed.

‘I can’t do it, Casey. I’m sorry about it, you came up with this drama script and the outfit you built is brilliant, but I just can’t get into the role. I know that I was told to get into character to better understand the local population and not just treat them as nameless extras in a drama show but it’s gets so hard to do so. Can you imagine me as a pacifist superhuman?’

[Sir, I do believe that the original script was for a lone pacifist scientist survivor of a secret research base where your suit was built through the use prototype cutting-edge technology. You left and your colleagues committed suicide through activation of the base self-destruction sequence on purpose. They sent you a final radio message to live on and find any government forces that remained. The reason that you won the suit was through lucky draw. You’re on a secret mission given to you by the Chancellor shortly before the war broke out and all communications were lost. You actually cheated to win the suit and feel a sense of guilt.]

‘…You, see? Scientist, not superhuman. I don’t know why I bother wth roleplay on these jobs, I don’t. At least I don’t go around and pretend to rescue them from their reality. You know that guy Britford? He’s an asshole who does it all the time. He does it for the before and after expressions. You’d think he’d have a normal hobby.’

[Indeed Sir. Remember to keep one foot in front of the other.]

To raise false hopes would be the absolute worst. I don’t plan to secretly rescue the world through a mission given to me by a world leader which would clean the land of radiation.’

Too many lies get you caught out, I learned that the hard way when I used to steal food to survive starving to death as a kid.’

[Sir, your mentor requested that you act out specific roles when working to emphasise the local population and therefore secure better-quality interviews and footage for the tour guides. In her words, she described rather coarsely I might add how doing a bad job led to bad results. If you don’t feel comfortable with your role as a pacifist scientist then feel free to be a superhuman one instead. Your superior abilities would certainly allow you to pass as one on this relatively small planetoid. As long as you’re careful using your inherent strength and physical abilities won’t rip the protective suit to pieces.]

‘Nah. Casey mate, you made so much effort for me so I want, no I need to stick with it. I mean I got the costume and props and everything now. I’ve been looking at the sky for a while now when we’ve been walking and given the amount of light coming through, I’m not sure if I’m going to get any decent above-ground footage. Everything is a bit the same for me. Maybe I should just wait until we stumble across a hidden bunker complex.’

[You are an excellent photographer Master Horus and that is not only me talking out of pride. I dare say that your footage is truly renowned for the true authenticity that is lacking in so many tour guides these days. If the environmental conditions are an issue, I would be more than pleased to make the necessary changes if you would so let me. Blue skies and sun with pure white clouds can be easily resolved in this particular region as soon as Sir gives me the command. It may take me several minutes to achieve but I can do it easily enough.]

Shaking his head while they both stood in the middle of the deserted and mainly cracked-apart highway Horus put his hands on his hips and looked back the way that they’d come. It all looked pretty similar when everything was smashed up. He did think that he could see several hundred miles in the distance a series of mountains, he could see them enough but he wasn’t overly focused on the details instead tapping a gloved hand where his chin would be under the masked visor that covered his face.

He only realised a few seconds after doing the action that his face was covered and he was simply tapping the outer layer of his protective suit.

A shadow appeared above his head and rapidly grew in size as the remains of an entire gas station that had been ripped into a far higher orbit either from severe winds or the effects of a nearby nuclear blast came into site.

Horus sighed to himself inside his suit. He wasn’t going to be able to outrun this time so he just looked at it and waved a hand. The structure stopped in the air before rapidly hurtling to the side of the remains of the highway towards an empty field littered with debris and radioactive rubble.

The air waves from the crash hit Horus and Casey but they ignored the movement instead continuing on their conversation which had been paused.

‘Casey?’ asked Horus.

[Yes Sir, all recordings of your superhuman action have been removed and I have had to forcefully terminate approximately twenty-six lifeforms in the nearby vicinity.] responded the floating suitcase.

Even the most simple of actions Horus knew could rapidly change this planet. All he needed was rumours of survivors of a superhuman figure that could control the local rules of physics before he ruined it. It was less likely that he’d get in trouble for it but points would still be deducted and he’d lose out the promised bonus.

‘The life of a freelancer. Casey, do me a favour and do not tell me how many of those lifeforms were human. I know that most of them are going to die but let them do so in dignity. Did you choose a quick death for them?’

[A shutdown of their heart and brain functions. Instantaneous death without awareness. A mercy Sir.]

‘Yeah. You did a good job.’

Horus looked at the now small explosions which were now starting when the gas station had impacted in the field. Nothing special to his eyes but still a tiny new variable.

‘We’re not here to make unexpected changes to the global environment Casey. You know the rules we need to follow, untouched and pristine without unnecessary changes or the tourists won’t come and visit. Imagine a patch of an area with blue sky and bright sunshine coming through. It’d ruin the whole experience and also be noticed by survivors, there’d be towns popping up everywhere. People would begin to call it a blessing from heaven. No, people pay for the total experience package, and we need to aim for that natural unspoilt environment. Everything needs to stay as it’s developed so far.’

[Of course Sir. I would dare to say that it could be easily undone if you only wanted a quick photo opportunity. Environmental change notwithstanding, this planet would use a little bit of a clean-up. The inhabitants don’t take care of their environment much, all a bit grey and brown in my view along with a touch of gamma green of course.]

Horus sighed aloud. Occasionally, the sheer scale of the death and destruction of planets got to him. Especially when it meant the footage, he was able to take was worse in quality, good promotional material for the tourism board had always been a challenge. Too many guides and not enough money to spread around.

‘Nobody does, not after a limited nuclear war. But we’re not here to change it even if it does sound tempting. Do you know what happened to my mentor when she went too far and got exiled? I learned from her example personally. We may be powerful but we’re not gods.’

[No Sir, you are indeed not a god. I will take care to remind you of this in the future so you do not mistakenly consider yourself as one. I do believe that was an ancient Emperor once who employed a slave on his behalf to constantly whisper into his ear the fact that he was mortal.]

‘Mortal. Everything is mortal at the end of the day it just depends on how far you can stretch the boundaries. Gods. I’m so far beyond those assholes with giant egos that they can shove off. I’m so happy we don’t have to deal with any local ones for this trip. It’s not as though I set up the apocalypses that they create and ruin their playground. The fact that they get annoyed when I turn up unannounced without their permission for a tour review is my business and not theirs, they ought to be grateful that anyone is still interested in their ruined worlds. Right, now down to business it’s best not to make any changes. Let’s just aim to keep everything clean and simple.’

[Are you quite sure Sir, it would be a fairly simple modification to make a blue sky and white clouds appear for a few minutes? Including a few special effects would certainly make any gods jealous if they still existed on this planet. According to my scan, they died out when the main religions were suppressed by direct military purges. They can be rather annoying parasites on occasion.’

‘Sounds a bit too much like cheating to me Casey. It might be hard to find the difference but I’m sure people would notice the difference as would I. There’s no way that I want to compromise my integrity by doing cheap stunts like that. No effects, no god impersonations just yet. I’m not officially a god remember. Whisper into my ear in case I become like that Emperor, no, don’t. It sounds creepy.’

[As Sir wishes.]

‘Now, if this was vampire infested planet where they were allergic to the sun that would be pretty entertaining. Set up some deck chairs and position them a little bit, it could work. For now, though we just need to find a bunker. Doesn’t matter too much about the size. Screw it, how about we just find a base of some kind. Give me a rough idea of what we’re looking to work with here.’

[I agree about the vampires Master Horus, as usual, I’ve recorded your thoughts and will remind you of the scene if we encounter that particular kind. They are common enough

across most dimensional realities that we will be sure to run into a nest of them.]

‘Great Casey. You see those mountains over there, in the distance. They might make for some good shots closer up. Especially if this highway runs through them. There’d be hundreds of vehicles all crammed close up trying to escape the blast waves by hiding inside the tunnels trying to escape the worst of it. Even a single survivor hiding inside one of the side doors might make for a tiny bit more interesting material. You never know with these places. Might be an emergency shelter built inside for all we know.’

[I do believe Sir, that the standard practice in the situation of nuclear war was to also find a place to hide inside. There may have been many individuals or groups who chose to find safety inside the interiors of lorries or vans.]

‘Our job is just to find some decent locations; I’m not going to spend my time ripping off the back doors of vans Casey. I know you already ran a planetary scan but I’m not going to find a seat somewhere comfortable and let you do all the work. Discovering everything is half the run. Otherwise, it’s just running cheat mode and we’re a team, right?’

[Yes Sir, we are the best team of freelance tourism operators in existence beyond all others.]

‘Was that sarcasm Casey? I didn’t know you had it in you.’

[Never Sir. I was built to follow and provide support on the orders of your mentor. Please believe in yourself!]

‘I was joking. I think.’

I was only considering further opportunities for you to make excellent use of your photography skills. Black and white do come out especially well when you take images of human bones and remains. It detracts from the morality of the environment.]

‘I appreciate your thoughts about my camera skills but I’ll get it out in a bit when we’ve made some more distance. I always like to get the feel of a new place and let my feet do a bit of the thinking. You think I’d be noticed walking bare feet or could I get away with it?’

[I do believe Sir, that the boots are moulded as part of your entire protective suit, they are attached to the legs. You could always rip them off, but it would ruin the overall look of your appearance as a lone scientist survivor. Sorry, superhuman scientist. Will you be needing a piece of weaponry to show your sheer martial prowess?]

‘Nah, not just yet Casey. I’ll let you know when I’m ready, but I do plan to get some great shots this time. I hope this place is better than the planet covered in grey goo. Self-replicating nano machines are pretty stupid when all they’ve been programmed to do is cover and eat. Every single time I cleared enough of them out of my way to take a shot of a landmark they would just swarm back in and try and assimilate me into the greater mass. I mean, I don’t mind using a portable EMP but after you used it a dozen times in a single day it just gets old.’

[Yes Sir. Certainly Sir. Please feel free to enlighten me further.]

Horus continued walking along the devastated section of major highway, his rubber soles crunching through minor debris and glass alike. It had been one of the major agreements between the three powers to build these mega highway systems to connect the population centres of each country.

Stupid roads. They could have used their economics to create more interesting features. Like giant walls separating each boundary and then filling them with landmines and barbed wire.

His feet crunched through the skull of a corpse wearing a military outfit but Horus paid it little heed, the brains were soon wiped off on the surface of the hard wearing asphalt road as he remained focused inside his own thoughts.

The half-burnt tank that was in his path was brushed aside with little to no effort as he bumped into it with his shoulder.