A Sketch by Jean-Pierre Martinez
Two characters.
One – I believe this time, we’re truly the last…
Two – To think that we ruled the world for over 100 million years.
One – You’ll see, in 100 million years, the species that succeeds us will still be wondering what caused our extinction.
Two – They’ll talk about sperm depletion, nuclear war…
One – Volcanic eruption, collision with an asteroid…
Two – Just like the dinosaurs.
One – Maybe they became extinct for the same reason we did, in the end.
Two – True, 100 million years is a long time.
One – Especially in the final months.
Two – When a story becomes too heavy to bear…
One – The weight of backpacks, that’s how it started.
Two – Even with e-books, a million centuries eventually becomes burdensome…
One – We were getting fed up with it, that’s for sure.
Two – Totally over it.
One – We didn’t have enough memory to remember all of that.
Two – It’s true; it was maybe time for it to stop, but…
One – The bug of the millionth century, that’s what finished us.
Two – And then we had done everything. What more could we do?
One – Without risking repetition.
Two – The only thing we hadn’t done yet was to disappear.
One – I wonder who will replace us as the dominant species. Cockroaches?
Two – That depresses me…
One – Chickens?
Two – Do you really think we can rebuild a civilisation from a chicken’s brain?
One – It would erase the memory and reset the counters…
Two – Yeah…
One – Unless the dinosaurs come back and take over for another 100 million years.
They freeze. Silence.
One – Damn… 100 million years… Do we really need a reason to disappear when we’ve been here for 100 million years?
The second one doesn’t respond. He closes his eyes. He seems dead. The first one gives him an indifferent look before staring blankly ahead again.
One – No, I understand the dinosaurs. 100 million years… it’s deadly.
Black.
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A sketch from the collection Lost Times Chronicles
Link to the collection for free download (PDF)
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https://jeanpierremartinez.net