It was the year 2501.

                Stiff as his joints were, Doctor ripped the drawers open and spilled out the contents. A puff of dust and dirt fogged up his screen as he fiddled around with the loose folders. Using his mattered sleeve, he wiped his face and gathered the information into his arms. He turned the loose gear in his head. Humans…nothing on paper will ever stay.

                Creaking his way back up, Doctor splashed a can of oil over his body, letting the slick ooze loosen his joints. Rolling his shoulder, he looked around the room. A shattered window offered a bit of light to the abandoned lab. He licked his lips, a habit of his. “Koko!” The reassuring sound of silence greeted his listening piece as his light bulb of an eye scanned the area. Tsking, Doctor threw on his coat and searched for his assistant-bot.

                Sure enough, he heard her squeaks and giggles from the next room as she zapped information out of a mega-computer. “Koko found a computer, a working computer,” she said. Like the little info-zappers they were, Koko’s fingers turned into wire and were coiled around the computer’s backup power and data base. Her static eyes blinked with light as her fingers changed back to what they were before. “Koko found valuable information.” She grinned.

                “Yeah, I know,” Doctor said, dryly. He looked at his watch and made note of the time. Time…he and Koko had all the time in the world. Time was meaningless now, but it was worth documenting everything they found nowadays.

Human civilizations have fallen.

                “Doctor, will Koko is information hold the answer?”

                “Koko’s information, not ‘Koko is information’,” Doctor sighed. That was another thing about Koko. She didn’t understand possessive terms. He slid his gaze out to the jungle beyond the shattered window. “Let’s go. It’s going to rain.”

                The journey home wasn’t far, but it felt like an eternity for them both. They were at the doorway when it began to pour. Koko hissed and covered the gaps on her arms as she tackled through the door. “Koko does not like rust!” Rolling around on the floor, Koko scratched and pushed the dirt into herself.

                “Easy on the rolling, would you? Your cords are going to get all dirty.” Ignoring his words, Koko continued rolling around. A wire burned in Doctor’s head. Forget it. Lugging the paper information to his desk, he began to read the secrets they held.

The only ones left are the Galstan and the Huma.

                The writing was faded, but Doctor wasn’t surprised. It’d been centuries since these documents were last read. “Koko, can you transfer your information onto my computer?”

                “Koko can.” Working her hands around the computer cords, Koko sent the files in break-neck speed. “Koko found a video.”

                “Good, Koko,” Doctor mumbled, checking on Koko’s finds. There were files on the early Galstan designs and tests and failures on other subjects. He eventually found the video Koko spoke of. “The audio isn’t stable but the visuals are.”

                Craning their necks, for the first time in a long time, a video was playing before their eyes.

Huma: Humans that were altered into robots.

Galstan: Machines created before and during the “Rebuilding”.

                Beyond the computer screen, they saw a human, a well-groomed human. He was the recorder of the video. He pointed his device towards a white coated man, who was sipping his coffee while he filled out papers. The man glanced at the recording device before gesturing the recorder to point it elsewhere. What stood out to both Doctor and Koko was his left arm, or the lack of it.

                “Is that a human?” Koko pressed her face against the computer screen, her eyes shooting around, absorbing every last detail.

                “Yes, Koko. He is.” Doctor pulled Koko back and let her sit on his lap.

                “He lost a limb.” Koko touched her left arm. “Why does he not put it back on?” Tipping back in his chair a bit, Doctor shrugged.

                “Maybe he couldn’t.” He touched his left arm as well. He couldn’t feel his touch, but tapping his arm with his finger shook vibrations throughout his old body. Shaking his head, he leaned to the right and stared at the screen. Time must’ve passed because now the white coat man had a silver left arm, a robotic one. He was writing notes on a clipboard. Sitting in front of him was a little girl with black pigtails.

                “Is that a human child?” From the corner of his eye, Doctor saw Koko’s hands press close against her core. She wobbled around on his lap as she examined the girl.

                “Yes, Koko. She is.” Koko looked at Doctor, a longing look in her eyes.

                “Koko is jealous that Doctor got to see these things before.” Doctor ignored her. He was busy staring at the recording man instead. He pointed the device at himself and he was speaking. The audio cracked and buzzed. Doctor turned his head away. He had seen enough.

                “T-T-Tori…” Doctor’s eye twinkled and he stared at the screen. The recording man smiled and waved before the screen went black. His shoulders sagged when he touched the computer screen with his hands.

                “Who is Tori, Doctor?”

                “I…” Doctor blinked. Why was he lost in words? His eye glanced at the broken mirror beside his desk. He saw his face, his busted right eye, and the TV/computer monitor that was now his head. He looked down at his hands. His right one looked human, on the surface. His left one was all metal. He balled his left hand into a fist, the best he could. “I don’t know. I never knew a Tori.”

                Koko blinked and lowered her head. “Koko has never seen a human before. Will Koko ever meet one?”

                “It’s impossible,” he told her. “The closest thing to a human you’ll ever see is a Huma.”

For nearly 500 years, nothing was born into the world, naturally.
For nearly 500 years, the Earth has slowly rebuilt itself from its ruins.
But, for three short minutes,
a Galstan saw humans for the first time in her life
and
a Huma was reminded of the memories beyond his reach.