Caeleb let out a deep sigh as he sifted through metal scraps and ancient waste, sorting through each piece with surgical precision. He pulled onto his down jacket’s hood while shifting his eyes looking for any sign of nearby drones.
Although he knew the cameras would not see him after his recent clothing mods, he couldn’t afford to let his guard down for even a moment.
Going through the district’s landfills was not exactly against the law, but the last thing he wanted was a run-in with the AIU. He didn’t know what compelled him to dig through the garbage like a dirty rat, and at first he was only embarrassed by the strange habit, but now something gnawed at him that he couldn’t let go of.
Although he had never been one for sleep, he could at least rest his eyes and quiet his anxious thoughts well enough, but not anymore.
It was something he saw, or rather, something he thought he saw.
Probably just a trick of the light. Must have been some reflection off old microchips…he told himself this every night, yet still, it plagued him. Maybe the polluted air messed with his vision. He just needed to update his neurolink, he thought. Not that he could afford to.
The deeper he went the older each item was. He had gone so deep now that he found iPhones from the late 21st century, when planet life could still be cultivated. Caeleb frantically dug deeper into the rubbish until at last he saw it.
His breath steadied, lifting the glass sphere like a newborn baby. He didn’t imagine it. It was the last organic life form. Each spec of dirt, the sprouting leaves, a tiny beam of light shining through clear air…
Caeleb found Earth’s last treasure.
