The Ending of Every Story
by CreepyUnclePete - by Limnophile
Copyright© 2025 by CreepyUnclePete - by Limnophile
Science Fiction Story: Dozens of readers have asked me to write endings for one or several of my incomplete works. Here you go!
= 89 billion years in the future =
Servicebot B3D1-AF76 and its 1023 ‘sibling’ servicebots were manufactured during the last production run nine million years earlier. They had been the final group made by the last automated bot factory in operation, only a year after the death of the final Builder.
The bots dutifully performed their work on the infrastructure of many Builder cities and villages, though no one lived there anymore. They maintained electrical distribution systems, kept the buildings and streets clean, and performed many other menial tasks.
When the planet’s star used the last of its fuel and burned out, the world became much, much colder. The bots still functioned, powered and warmed by their atomic fuel cores. Various fusion reactors powered streetlamps and building lights, but the bots’ highly advanced and sensitive cameras would even allow them to see using just the light from other stars.
They were nearly as efficient as before, but there was much less work to do. Pipes, wires, and concrete deteriorate at a much slower pace when the temperature is minus 240 Celsius. The servicebots spent most of their time in sleep mode to conserve energy. Twice a day, they powered up for a few seconds to check if any work needed to be done.
On the rare occasions when a bot was damaged or one of its components wore out, it would call for repair. Another bot would move there and assist before long. Much of the time the bots needed to return to the factory to obtain a replacement part. The spare parts warehouse was empty after a few thousand centuries, and the bots slowly began failing a piece at a time. Eventually the last of the fusion reactors failed. The buildings and streetlights went dark, but the few dozen remaining bots were undeterred, carrying on their maintenance and cleaning as usual.
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