Sunset Gradient Countdown
“How much time do we have?” asked the robot.
“15 minutes.”
“I'm scared. What could we do in this time?”
“We could recite poems. Or pi digits. Or we could just lay here and watch the waves until the end.”
The robots buried their feet in the sand facing the ocean. They watched the sun hide behind the horizon.
They faced directly at the ball of fire. There was no pain.
“Tell me what you see. I can't see colors anymore.”
“The blue is turning pink. I see purples, and violets, dark oranges, reds... There,” said the robot pointing at the corner of a cloud, “#60201B.”
“Ah, I remember that color. Beautiful.”
They waited the night.
“#33120F... #1D0B09...”
“Will they get here before we...”
“I don’t think so, Klax.” They were both silent for a moment.
“Keep counting.”
“#050101...”
“What is this life but a negligible accident?”1
“#040101...”
#030000...
#020000...
#010000...
#000000Death is nothing at all by Henry Scott Holland as misremembered by a robot↩︎