Six weeks and a slightly used mattress after the fall.

  It took a month and a half for people to stop being stupid and accept that society would have to be rebuilt from the ground up. Some would say a month and a half is a long time, but I think it was possibly the shortest turnaround I’ve ever experienced. And even if it wasn’t, who am I to judge? It took me about two-hundred and fifty years of near constant moping to get off my ass and rebuild after the Akkadian Empire fell to drought. I hate trying to get a new empire off the ground. It’s almost like building a new business with nothing but a vision.

  Tedious.

  I still believe the Assyrian Empire was among my greatest accomplishments. We were the first to realize iron was stronger than bronze and siege engines worked wonders against walls. They mocked our War Engineers, and they were often the first to die when we broke through their defenses. We had quite the knack with ladders, though; you almost couldn’t keep us out of your city.

  these poor souls a modicum of privacy. There were a few people that still refused to move in, claiming they would rather live in the woods than a life stuck in an office building day after day.

  I mean, I couldn’t really blame them. Being forced to stare at the same four walls for weeks at a time would drive anyone to insanity. But even those incredibly selfish, sanity loving individuals eventually caved and admitted that our building was more comfortable than sleeping outside. Apparently, warm food and a soft bed were better than waking up to an ant biting your face and leaves in your hair.

  Who knew?

  One thing to point out—and I will be more than happy to go on the record about this—was that many people actually had a full and rewarding life after the move. Before the fall, most of these citizens could barely afford to eat. Those that could afford the luxury of money often had to make hard choices. Did they pay the rent and have a roof over their heads, or did they buy food and tell their children they were on an adventure while living out of their car?

  It’s good the last society crumbled to ashes. The politicians that forced people to make those types of decisions didn’t just deserve to be kicked out of office; no, they deserved to be forced to crawl through the streets and beg for scraps like the lowest of their people. Even that is too merciful.

  I’ve heard there are better planets in the republic, but if they’re anything like what I’ve seen on Earth… Well, maybe it was a good thing the invaders started with the politicians. I still remember when Benjamin Hargrave did the same thing. After shedding blood for the colonization of Mars, he was asked to claim the planet in the name of the United States. Initially, the scientists accepted the proposal, but when the Senate refused to treat them equally, they’d had enough.

  I applaud Mr. Hargrave. Having the restraint to address the Senate in one last request for representation must have taken a lot. Their death—and the deaths of all world leaders afterwards—says a lot about American hubris. The lawmakers and the rich thought they were untouchable because of their status and wealth. However, what happens when the threat ignores money?

  At least Ronald Reagan was right about one thing; the world could only unify because of an outside threat. It just wasn’t the threat he envisioned.

  I wish Hargrave and his allies would’ve remained in power, but I can respect the desire to step down. Dealing with a world economy day in and day out leaves little time to build a new planet. Unfortunately, the government that replaced them quickly turned into another civilization where they treated the poor like cattle.

  Luckily, we treated the people living in our little society like people. Everyone had food, water, shelter, and a community that cared about each other. Wisely, Chuck made a rule stating that all weapons had to be left at the door to our building. While not a popular rule, weapons were so rare that not too many people were affected.

  In the end, Jim was right about Chuck. The man didn’t believe in building prosperity on the backs of others. He believed in giving everyone a chance to thrive and refused to pass judgement on a person based on outside opinions. It’s sad that it took an apocalypse for him to make it in government.

  The older generation didn’t like this approach and wanted Chuck to cast judgement and condemn anyone they decided was unsavory. They spent hours telling young people about the good ol’ days and how much better it was when people fit in perfect little social boxes. Luckily, most of those young people choose to avoid them completely.

  Sometimes, the best way to deal with an older generation of bigots was simply to ignore them.

  I really wish humanity would’ve learned that lesson back in . It would have saved so much suffering if people had simply stopped listening to a ruling class that was so out of touch with the people they represent. But sadly, people only listen to the biggest asshole with the loudest voice instead of the policy they represent.

  Chuck came up several policies, both good and bad, but one of his most successful was about the proper use of charged batteries found in the debris. It was simple: if someone brought back a power cell strong enough to cook food, they had first choice of dinner. It wasn’t much, but even a reward that small was enough to get people out and hunting for batteries day in and day out. And we had warm food, which is honestly more of a blessing than you realize until you’re sitting on a rooftop, in a dress, eating cold porridge and missing the desert the way I was before we got those charged batteries up and running.

  ~~**~~

  “Hey everyone, thanks for coming,” Chuck said, addressing a room packed with survivors one evening. “We’ve hit an impasse that we can’t overcome without the help of the entire community.”

  It was always funny to watch new politicians addressing their constituents. They always turn up the threat level too quickly. Yeah, that’ll earn votes, but a well-delivered plan that stops panic before it starts builds trust. There’s nothing a politician can’t do if they have the trust of the public.

  “Long story short, we need to grow our own food. You haven’t felt the effects yet, but the scavengers are having a harder and harder time finding enough food to support our growing population.”

  “Good question. I’ve been looking at putting a garden on our roof. There are some issues with that, but it’s the best I can think of.”

  Ahhh, shit. I couldn’t just let these idiots die off. Were there ways to grow food indoors and in a limited space? Yes. Was it something most people of this age would know? Not even a little. I had to figure out a reason to have this knowledge. Hopefully, the lie wouldn’t be needed, but if it was, well, I would just burn that bridge when I got there.

  “Why not hydroponics?”

  ~~**~~

  “Segu, I need your help.” The king said after the servants left us on a balcony overlooking the great city of Babylon.

  “Yes, my king. Anything to see our city grow.”

  I’d advised Nebuchadnezzar for many years and made sure his wildest dreams became a reality. When he demanded protection from the Assyrian Siege engines, I designed a second set of city walls to stop the towers from advancing. When he demanded a place to pray to the gods for protection, I built a ziggurat greater than anything our world had seen.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Just because I was working for the other side didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy building something new. It just meant they would probably destroy it when the city eventually fell.

  “Good… good. The princess is on her way here to marry me and merge the lines of Babylon and Median. An alliance with the Cyaxarid dynasty will secure our border and make us strong enough to stand our ground against the invaders. Sadly, she comes from a fertile land with mountains and forests that you and I could only dream of.” The king raised a hand to his head and wiped the sweat from his brow for emphasis.

  “Yes, my lord, I understand Media is a much more… prosperous land than us. We often trade them for grain while offering our livestock in return.”

  “I want a garden capable of sustaining the vegetation of her homeland. I care not for the expense, so long as it is done and she can be happy.”

  What he was asking was madness. There were so many reasons this plan was a reckless waste of labor and resources, but in the end, I could only bring myself to talk about the most obvious problem. He couldn’t really expect me to have slaves carry water to the palace every day just so his wife could feel at home. “And how do we provide enough water for this magical garden?”

  “We have slaves, do we not?”

  Apparently, I was wrong.

  “We do, but they are hardly the most efficient method of transporting water.” I countered.

  “What about those things you designed a while back? You called them… pumps if I remember correctly. Could you not expand on that theorem and keep fresh water in the garden?”

  I smiled as the gears turned in my head.

  This would be an undertaking that left the world in awe for thousands of years. If I could make it work, if I could make plants survive in a habitat like Babylon, I could be a god amongst men. They would remember me throughout time as the inventor that changed farming forever.

  ~~**~~

  “Why not hydroponics?” I repeated, raising my voice above the chatter.

  “What now?” Chuck asked.

  “It’s an ancient form of growing plants. It’s a practice the dates back to the Babylon, but it has always remained a useful tool in agriculture.” I explained, “We can start the project with little more than a few buckets and some water.”

  “And you think you can pull it off?” the leader replied with a raised eyebrow.

  “Does a bear shit in the woods?”

  “What?”

  “Yes, the answer is yes.”

  ~~**~~

  Building a hydroponic garden large enough to support our people was much harder than I led on. Granted, throwing old cubicles out of the window under the guise of creating a more defensible perimeter made things easier, but that was only one step.

  Oh… and it was fun.

  Getting the seeds to start our garden really stretched our ability to innovate. We found fresh packets of seeds in kitchen drawers and, occasionally, the remains of rooftop gardens. It took time and significant effort, but we managed to sprout our first crop using takeout containers and paper towels.

  To be honest, it was more progress than I expected to make in just a few weeks. The people of this era weren’t bad people, but they’d become so lazy that doing menial labor was a completely foreign concept. It wasn’t their fault, in this hyper advanced world, being disconnected from technology was nearly a death sentence.

  Chuck hadn’t been lying to the people when he explained how pressing our situation was; the food we were able to scavenge was getting more scarce and the idea that we would soon live on tightly controlled rations was terrifying. I hadn’t broadcasted it, but I had stopped eating completely to make sure someone else could.

  If my forced immortality was good for anything, it was being able to ignore hunger for long periods of time. Unfortunately, my body glows when it heals, which is something it has to do regularly when recovering from fatal levels of hunger. I could only use the same diarrhea excuse to get away so many times before someone suspected something.

  I mean, really, who runs up to the roof to poop twice a day?

  It was on one of these roof runs that I found myself sitting on an old air conditioning unit, lost in the city skyline. Despite seeing the crumbled buildings, my mind was lost in city scapes from long ago. It wasn’t healthy to dwell on the past, but when you’ve experienced as much of it as I have… well, it’s inevitable.

  The ruined city reminded me of Warsaw, how its beauty was transformed into a landscape of horror by the Nazis in mere heartbeats. I remember their black boots, pounding down streets littered with the belongings of the people they’d taken or killed. I still remember walking across streets, carefully picking my way across bricks and through doorways with no walls, only to find the faces of children crushed in the debris.

  Before that, there was the destruction of Lyon, a city of such opulence and splendor, even the poor felt out of place inside its walls. When the people rose up and threw off the chains of oppression, nothing could stop them from pulling down statues and tearing apart buildings. If the revolutionaries had their way, the only thing remaining would be a single column of stone marking the place where a city once stood.

  Despite what we are supposed to believe, dictators and revolutionaries have more in common with one another than society would like to admit. In the end, it didn’t matter which side won the war. It didn’t matter who had the greater morality. Either way, much like the ruined city before me, the only ones who truly lost were the people caught in the crossfire of morality and control.

  The crunch of gravel pulled me from my contemplations and brought me back to the here and now.

  “Are you still up here?” Chuck’s voice came from around the corner. “We’ve finished up transplanting the next round of sprouts.”

  “Yeah, I’m just finishing.” I replied, feeling a line of cold trail down my face.

  I was crying again. I tried to control myself and ignore my emotions, but the truth was that my punishment was not one I deserved. I felt empathy. I felt pain. I felt the empty part of my soul every time I thought about my siblings, my wives, my children.

  I felt loss.

  I wiped my hand across my face and waved for Chuck to take his seat beside me.

  “Something bothering you?” he asked, noting my pained expression.

  “No… Yes. It sucks, you know? This world, this life. Everything about it sucks and there is no coming back for us. How many times have we fallen as a species? Where does it end? All of them have fallen. Egyptian, Assyrian, Hittite, Roman, British, American… and now Earth. Why, why do we have to keep seeing things fall apart?”

  I had to rein in my emotions. If I let too much slip…

  “Hang on there. Now, I’m not a farmer, or plumber, or anything useful to our new life. But, I am someone used to dealing with loss. I can find the bright in dark places, and I think you can too.”

  “Where, Chuck? Where the hell am I supposed to find things like hope in this world?” I said, grabbing my face to hide.

  “All around you. Don’t you see what you’ve done? You helped clear the city of disease before it could spread. You fed hundred of survivors by stealing food from the homes of the dead. Honestly, I’ll give you that one… it’s a pretty gruesome practice. But look at you now. You’ve designed an entirely new way for us to eat.”

  “And who’s going to keep the water moving? Dorris can’t always be awake.” I replied, referencing the old lady that offered to circulate our water supply.

  “She will do until we find a better answer. I honestly don’t see why you see this as a loss.”

  I had to stop and ask myself that same question. Sure, things were looking grim for the humans, but they already proved to have an answer to most major questions, things like water and power remained out of our reach, but that could come at a later time.

  We watched a group of accountants down on the street as they went from building to building in search of both people and food. I wanted to make them pay for taking Jim, but there was nothing I could do right now.

  “Have you ever heard of the Akkadians?” I asked, scratching at a pebble caught in the tar on the rooftop.

  “The cajun mega-hospital?”

  “No, the real ones.”

  “I’m going to have to say no,” Chuck said, rolling his eyes.

  “They were a civilization that lived in the early days of human life. They tried to conquer the known world and came very close to succeeding. By all rights, they should have succeeded. They had roads, a postal system, even their own language spoken inside the empire. Hell, they were the first people to create a set of governing laws.” I said, mentally comparing Madison Square Garden to the Grand Bathhouse of Tell Leilan.

  I still remembered coming up with the idea of mail… Good times.

  “Where did they go?”

  “They died. The empire collapsed. It wasn’t because of a failed military campaign, nor was it because of mismanagement. In the end, the thing that killed the Akkadians was a very sudden and severe drought. It dried up their reservoirs and left the place a desolate mess. It became so dry, the wind buried the city of Tell Leilan under a meter of silt.”

  “Did anyone survive?” he asked, a terrified expression plastered to his face.

  Good. He needed to be afraid. If he became too complacent, the same thing would happen to his little empire of survivors.

  “A few. When Sargon died and left the empire to his children, they devolved into little more than a collection of warring states. If we’re not careful… things will go the same way here.” I said, playing with the edge of my dress.

  “How… How do you know all this? How can you garden, know history, understand medicine, and who knows how many more skills?” Chuck asked, staring at me in shock.

  Dammit.

  I was trying to remain semi-forgettable. And while I know these people wouldn’t forget me, I had to stay out of the history books and in the shadows.

  “I umm… I… I like history?”

  “You sound like you lived in the book.”

  “I mean… yeah?” I stared at the skyline, seeing it transform into civilizations that I’d watched rise and fall.

  I knew Chuck meant textbooks, but he wasn’t wrong. I had, in fact, lived through most of history. He would never find out who I was; If he did, I may just have to hit him in the head with a large rock.