“This place just oozes history.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I can feel the thousands of years with every step.”
“Yep.”
“The lives that passed through here. Who knows who stood in this exact spot!”
“Uh-huh.”
“It gives you a sense of perspective, doesn’t it? How fleeting a single life when we look at civilization as a whole.”
“Yep.”
“But that sense of insignificance is driven out by that bigger sense of the immortal city.”
“Thinking of death…”
“Here we go…”
“It’s just that our exposure levels are high and we need to hurry to catch the next shuttle off planet while we can.”
***
Word count = 100
Friday Fictioneers is hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. This week’s prompt is here and uses a photo © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. Read more or join in by following the InLinkz “linky“.
Trent's World (the Blog) 
Lulled by the conversation, I never saw the denouement coming. Well done, Trent!
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Thanks!
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It is a concept that sounds good but hard to accept; humanity will survive but the individual is the sacrifice.
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There has always been a bit of that. Survival of the species is more important than survival of an individual. During the Cold War, having one or two government officials survive an all out war seemed to be part of both Soviet and US policy. I hope I don’t live to see a time that the choice between people and the species has to made…
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I would definitely be the “shuttle” person. I worry about everything :-)
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I might be there as well – I’m not a huge worrier, but I do tend to get to places like airports far earlier than needed…
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Nice twist! Never expected it.
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Thanks, glad I caught you by surprise there.
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I like how that one flowed.
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Thanks.
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It’s good to have a friend to watch out for you when you get distracted. Over exposure is not a good thing. Great take on the prompt!
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Somebody has to keep track of the time – too long on Earth and, well, better not to talk about it ;) Thanks!
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Having had the majority of that conversation in various places over the years, I did not see the ending coming. Good job, Trent.
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I’ll admit to being on the mono-syllable end of the first part of that conversation too many times ;) Thanks, glad I got that little surprise at the end :)
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Wonderful take and nice surprise at the end. Let us hope the planet is still standing in the next while…
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Thanks! Yes, I hope we can all survive here, out in the open, for more than brief periods for a long, long time to come….
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The terse answers of the second character led me to think one thing—and then you surprised me! Nice!
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I think I’ve been on the mono-syllable side of conversations like the first part of this more than once ;) Thanks, glad I caught you on it.
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Even though it might not seem that way right now, we might be very lucky to live in the time we do… Cool story, fun twist.
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In many ways we are very lucky right now, I like indoor plumbing ;) and instant access to almost all knowledge, but I am a little afraid for our future – I am hoping for the best, and it might come about, but… Thanks!
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Thanks for visiting, do come again – if there is anything of the planet left to visit!
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Come again, but next time plan on a scuba adventure to Old London or Old New York City or any of the other great, sunken cities of Old Earth.
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Oh dear – a dreamer always needs a realist to watch the clock.
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It is easy to get carried away with the romance of Old Earth, but, yeah, keep an eye on the clock to limit that exposure!
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Dear Trent,
Save a seat for me on that shuttle, please! Nicely done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I’m waiting in line now – seems like a lot of people want to get off the planet these days!
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