Eleven thousand meters down. Eleven thousand meters from civilization, from people, from anything but the water around her. Alone. Cold. Kellen thought long and hard about her choice to come down here, to the Mariana trench. On a solo mission at that. Then again she would rather be down here in the safety of the Submarinic Exosuit 2156 than on the surface.

Kellen checked her air tank, “Twenty seven hours left,” that was plenty of time.

She powered down the engines for a moment and ceased its movement with an exhausted sigh. She left minimal power running though, that ways she could continue to check the radars. One to check the pressure, one for oxygen, another for depth. They had taught her in a hurry, and if not for her ability to memorize things exceptionally well, she would’ve been doomed within the first ten hours.

If it weren’t for the lights on the Exosuit, as well as the lights inside that she had requested, it would be pitch black. She wondered if this remote area of the ocean had ever even seen light before now. She pondered this over a bag of chips, there wasn’t much else to do at the time while nothing was coming up.

She wondered how a driller like herself had gotten into this mess. The government needed oil, and mainland radars had picked up readings of a large pocket underneath the trench. So here she was, an oil driller for the war with little experience dealing with marine life and mechanics other than what they had rushed to teach her a couple days ago.

“It’s all because of this damned war,” she cursed to herself. War required weapons, and weapons needed to be made. That in turn led to a large need of fuel and everyone who wasn’t fighting had been drafted to excavate for different fuel sources. The world was scarcer than they had ever thought it could be. They had already exhausted all the coal they could find. Not only that, the war had been going on for almost a century now, the landscape of the planet had been torn to pieces and oxygen was a valuable resource too.

Kellen put the chip bag in a small plastic sack that she used as a makeshift wastebasket, and then she proceeded to power up the Exosuit again.

When she was this deep she couldn’t hear the explosions in the distance, nor see the pollution rolling over the surface of land and sea alike. There were no sirens to alert her of enemy forces, and no people to come to love before watching them lose their lives again in needless bloodthirst and carnage. The loneliness was nothing compared to the feeling of peace.

She brought herself back to reality and tapped the radar to bring up her location. Different topographic markings and water levels appeared on the screen, and a small red dot signified her location. She was getting fairly close, and she heaved the drill off of the back of the Exosuit via the mechanical arms she controlled.

The Exosuit lurched back into movement, and Kellen pulled out a tape recorder.

“Log three, still only scarce amounts of life. I’m reaching the end of the trench, at the furthest depths of ten thousand nine hundred and ninety-four meters. I’m getting closer to the pocket of oil. Kellen, signing out once again.”

She pocketed the tape recorder once again, and huffed.

Suddenly there was a jarring motion, and the Exosuit tilted a little. She looked around, and a couple of flashing red notifications appeared on the dashboard. Quickly she opened them to assess the situation, “The foot is stuck…” she wondered why they even had this great technology if it couldn’t even get itself out of a divot in the ground.

She latched her arms into the controls again and put the drill back on its back. Kellen then began pushing downward with her arms to remove the suit from the indent, which she soon realized was a decent sized hole. It wasn’t wide, but it was deep.

She looked upon it curiously while unlatching the drill once again. She pressed the drill into the hole, then checked the radar. She was indeed on top of the oil deposit, but it seemed really far down. She began drilling to get within range.

The screeching of the metal against the rocks and the fast moving water filled her ears. It was a deafening sound and she much preferred the rigid silence from earlier. She was surprised after an hour of drilling she seemed to just fall through the hole into in open space.

There was an open cave, and it was much darker than even the bottom of the trench had been. Kellen clicked on the brighter lights, and was in awe of what laid before her. A small creature scooted in the water. Large eyes offset to a small body as it swam in little puffs.

She hadn’t seen anything living of this size, despite it only being about two inches long. Every animal on the surface save for what they grew in factories was dead, and the oceans were lifeless too. Which is why the long and lithe fish like creature that slithered past her, corkscrewing in the water made her gasp. Its sides glowed more colors than she had ever seen at once. It was beautiful.

She pulled out the tape recorder again, “Log four, I’ve found what seems to be a hidden cave underwater. It lies just above the oil deposit and contains more species than we thought was left on Earth. They’re… colorful. And magnificent… Why would humans ever give something like this up,” she was getting choked up now.

She looked to the ceiling above her, and creatures that walked on four legs and stuck to the ceiling by their tails hung there. They were about her size, and their terrifying presence made them that much more interesting. Several more species appeared, and suddenly, the surface and the humans felt so far away. Like they didn’t concern her.

A larger aquatic creature approached the Exosuit, and places what almost looked like a hand on the glass, though it was gnarled and webbed. It made gurgling noises at her, and she listened closely in glee.

Until an alarm beeped once to let her know that another hour of air had gone by, which reminded her of her mission.

She sank to the bottom, and watched small, weird crustaceans scramble across the ocean floor. She held up the drill, ready to begin drilling, but her eyes wandered to the ocean around her. It was so peaceful. Nothing like the surface.

No blood, no war, just peace and nature. As it was meant to be.

The pained face of a loved one flashed through her mind, and she dropped her drill. Never would she let the government know that there was oil down here. Never would she fuel the last raging fires of war. Never would she watch the suffering of others.

She closed her eyes. This was the last chapter of the human race, they had torn themselves apart. These creatures here were the start of something new, a new life, a new Earth. And she would be happy to help make it happen.

“Log five, this is the end. I hope no one finds this log, because that would mean that humanity continues on to war against one another, and that my attempt to keep the government from searching down here was for naught. I approach my end, and say a final farewell. Goodbye Earth, I’d be damned if I said I wouldn’t miss you.”

Kellen counted the beeps as her oxygen tank counted down.