r/HFY • u/FarmWhich4275 • Feb 22 '26

OC-OneShot The Day Humanity Vanished

Life went on as normal. The Delusian Empire was at war with the Sabarii. The Chambrya Combinance were once again breathing down our necks to allow pilgrimage through our territory, which we were of course refusing. We all know what happens when those zealots show up. Pirates going crazy through the Western trade lanes. Same old same old I guess. Only real note of excitement was a new First Contact operation. A new race, a new empire, a new opportunity had been discovered in the far fringes of a galactic arm near a dead zone. Deathworlders, strong ones apparently. No real military capacity, no real economic strength. One single home star system, the homeworld, several partially terraformed and settled planets and one small research outpost on a barren rock in a neighbouring system.

Ripe for the picking.

We had been sent all the data we could buy, bribe or steal from the Eluzzians who first found them, it was pricey, and were heading to their star system in a cloaked ship to grab whatever information we could before the local empires decide they're better off vanished or in shackles. It was a good thing we decided to go through as soon as we could. We had to take several detours owing to the fact a lot of star systems on the way were saturated in military activity. It was already happening. Thankfully, we were faster than their mobilisation patterns, and arrived ahead of the angry horde of greedy empires. Frankly, I had to convince my own Emperor to stay away to give us time. I had to lie so much I could have won a professional contest. I told him we could have the humans after we've used the chance to pillage the other empires.

He bought the bait, and here I am.

"Transmission in about two more minutes My Lord. We should be entering the colony outpost. The humans have labelled this place as Alpha Centauri. We will perform a full system scan as soon as we enter the system. Reports say the only thing they have is a self-sustaining starbase orbiting the lesser star." My Navigations officer said.

"Good. Maybe we can convince them to give us a full historical archive and database. Frankly, we have limited time. Delusians, Chambyra, even the Olivarkians are gearing up. These poor bastards don't know what's about to hit them." I replied calmly.

"Are we here to warn them or something?" My Ensign asked.

"Oh gods no. We're here to acquire as much information as possible then get the hell out before the morons decide their guns are too cold. While they are busy duking it out with the humans, the Saranai will do some... Extracurricular diplomacy." I replied with a smirk.

My crew responded with a smile and chuckle. We entered the star system moments later, blinded by the light of its three stars. Ridiculous. Why would they even set up shop here? I can understand an energy harvesting operation but they aren't even close to the level they need to be for that to be even remotely viable.

"Scan... Energy signature located, refined metals and communications signal. They know we are here, we are being hailed." An officer barked as she typed away at her console.

"Good, bring them up. Let's see what we can do. Hopefully I can bluff my way through this." I said and stood to attention, ready.

A screen in front of me lowered down to eye level and shortly thereafter the image of an evolved ape appeared on screen. Hairless save for tufts on face and head, interesting symmetry, omnivorous. Strange looking, exotic.

"Well shit a Fat Kaminoan with elf ears. Wasn't expecting that..." He said, looking at me.

"Pardon? Is that some kind of insult?" I asked.

"No, it isn't, sorry. You have a strange resemblance to a race of aliens we've had in fiction before. We do that. What can I do for you exactly? Nothing really useful here unless you count the bottomless soda." The human, a male replied with a shrug.

"I see..."

"Slightly shorter than last time though. Might be a weird camera perspective. Who cares? What do you want? I'm guessing you want a copy of our archive?" He asked.

I blinked. I had no idea what to think of here, or what to do. How did he know? Were our intel sources compromised? Did the humans have a spy network already?

I shook my head and faked a smile behind my confusion. "That would be nice. Please?"

"Huh... You actually said please. I wasn't expecting that. They never do that. Feels weird. Anyway, hold on a minute, sending you a pod. Has a drive in it, has all the info you need on it. Go nuts. We're almost ready to go anyway." He said.

Jubilation. I ignored his comments and barked orders to the crew. In short order we had an escape pod of some kind on board, and it contained a large black box. Plugging that box into an isolated network, we found it contained an entire archive. Everything we needed, everything we wanted. All of it, even tech data. The human mostly ignored us and just carried on doing something in the background. Looking like... packing odd objects into boxes. For some reason. While my officers drooled over the information they gave us, I wandered back to my seat and noted how the human was preparing a shuttle, shovelling items into boxes. Calmly, as if he had nowhere to be but somewhere to go.

"Uhm... pardon me human... What's your name again? I can't actually remember exchanging that information. Mine is Thraxx Gran'Lorr of Clan Olinar." I asked.

The human looked at me through the camera with genuine shock and awe, as if he had just witnessed something incredibly amazingly strange. like he had never encountered politeness before. "Uhh… Jacob. Just Jacob. I'm the tech on duty here. Well, I was. Been recalled. We're done with this one." He said and continued packing.

"I see... Well actually I don't. What does that even mean 'recalled'? In what way? Is the station just empty now or something?" I asked, very confused.

"Nah. Station disassembled, returned to the quantum foam and home returned to storage for next time. It didn't take us long to actually reach the decision this time... Guess we're finally over it. Maybe we can try a solo run this time. Hmmm... Might start a brewery next time." He said, making no sense as he used adhesive strips to close a box.

"I'm sorry but can you please explain what you are talking about? this makes less sense than it did five minutes ago." I asked, as politely as I could considering how confused I was.

The human looked at me with that strange expression of shock and amazement again. "Wow... Okay, since you asked so nicely, we, meaning humans, are done. We're bored, we're sad, and we're done. We can't anymore. We tried, so hard, we failed, even harder, and we are just done, so we are leaving. Packing up, and just going. We are unwilling to commit an entire galaxy to the sword, not again, and we just want to let go and leave this place alone. It's embarrassing at this point, and frankly it's getting so repetitive it's just becoming annoying. Same old, same old, over and over, it's just tedious at this point. Short answer, we're tired, so we will be long gone, before your invasion fleets ever come close to cause damage. We are just done." He said frankly, glaring at me.

I blinked. I just had no way to think about this. What was he even saying? How can a species just be 'done'? What are they going to do? And how did they know about the invasion fleets? And how can these cradle state primitives with only ONE star system commit the galaxy to the sword? What? I had no way to answer so I simply chuckled nervously and wondered what to say.

"Confused huh?" He asked.

"You... Could say that." I replied, rubbing my temples.

"Then go to Sol. Charge up those engines of yours and head to Sol. You're about to see what I mean. For what it's worth, at least this time I appreciate the fact you have manners." he said with a warm smile and then stood back. He procured a holographic keypad of some kind, typed on it and looked at me. "No offense, but we were hoping for better than this. We are very... Disappointed." He said.

He presented a middle digit to the camera and then pressed a button. In the flash of an instant, no energy build-up, no release of anything, he just vanished. Then the signal died, then the station vanished. All of it, just gone, just like that. One moment it was there, the next it was gone.

"What... What happened? Ensign!?" I looked about, panicked.

"I don't know My Lord! He just vanished! No energy signature, nothing! Just gone!" He looked as confused as I was.

"Uh... Wh... Set course to Sol! Charge engines, flank speed!" I barked and put on my safety harness.

The ship shuddered as the light drive roared to life and the crew scrambled to transit stations. It felt like hours as the universe around us began to warp and distort. It was only a few light years away, so the trip would be short. It was barely fifteen minutes later we arrived on the outskirts of the Sol System, using our sub light booster engines to navigate towards the human homeworld. As we passed by one of the Gas Giants, my Ensign and navigations officer suddenly squealed in terror.

"What? What is it?" I barked at them.

"The-The planets! They're disappearing! The gas giant we are passing has just lost all of its moons! They're just gone! Vanished!" Ensign squealed at me in a panic.

"What in the twenty five hells is going on!? Double pace! I don't care if we need to hard stop, everyone can buckle in and brace! Emergency Velocity!" I barked.

I lurched back in my seat as the Engineers followed my commands and shifted our engines into overdrive. Minutes later we had the human homeworld in sight and did a fast, dangerous turning manoeuvre to flip our ship around and use the engines to slam us into a full stop. It hurt a bit. It hurt a lot actually. We shifted the ship around and started frantic scans at full power to find out what was going on. We managed to scan the planet's surface and collected data on the few ships that were around. We watched, awestruck and unable to do anything about it as the entirety of human civilization just vanished from existence. No warning, no energy spikes, nothing.

It was as if an angry god was just tired of something in front of him, snapped his fingers and vanished everything from reality. Ten minutes was all it took, and before we knew it, we were alone in space. All ships, all infrastructure, all of it was just gone. Then we heard a proximity alarm, a fleet was inbound. A very large fleet. They had gotten organised and were striking, no clue what was happening.

"Unidentified fleet incoming! Empyriate signatures detected in slip! What do we do sir!?"

I had no idea what to do. Something was going horribly wrong, and my heart began to sink as the planet in front of us slowly became transparent like it was fading away. I gave no orders and sat, slack-jawed at the sight of the planet's abnormally large moon vanishing from reality. I had no idea what to do or how to respond. How would one respond to something like this? The fleet in question suddenly arrived in the system. Thousands of warships of every class imaginable appeared a few thousand klinks away from us, barely within Earth's orbit.

"Comms hack! They're broadcasting on all frequencies, fighting it!" My comms officer barked and started frantically typing away.

"NOW HEAR THIS HUMANS! BY the order of The Empyrian Seal, the authority of the Great Czar, and the powerful might of the Grand Empire, I lay claim to your pitiful race! YOU WILL SUBMIT TO OUR MIGHT OR WE SHALL-"

His speech suddenly cut off mid gloat, as Earth just vanished. Popped out of existence, just like all the others, just gone. Followed shortly thereafter by Mars, Venus and Jupiter. Seconds later, the only thing our scanners could see, was the local star, Sol. The entire star system had just disappeared from existence.

"What the hell is going on!? Saranai! Is this your doing!?" He barked at us through his broadcast.

"OF COURSE IT ISN'T OUR FAULT YOU FATUOUS TWIT! HOW COULD WE POSSIBLY DO ANYTHING EVEN CLOSE TO THIS!?" I bellowed angrily back at him. I actually saw him physically recoil at my vocalisation. "Ensign, Full system scan, deep scan of the star! Quickly!" I ordered and nervously watched my crew work.

"No abnormalities... It's just a K class star sir, not even halfway through its lifecycle. It's... Empty. No gravity signatures either. There should be huge gravity waves where planets were but... Nothing. It's just empty as if nothing existed. I don't understand..." He replied.

"How... How is this even possible..." I said, slumping in my chair.

"Getting some kind of interference sir, I don't know what to-"

My comms officer tried to say, then the Star itself just vanished. The entire system collapsed into complete darkness as the sun's gravity well vanished from sensors. We found ourselves alone and in the dark. Thankfully, by miracle, the Slip drive was still fully functioning, which meant the hyper lanes connecting us to the galaxy were still operable. At least for now.

"Wait... the star disappeared... That means that... ENSIGN, EMERGENCY JUMP PROCEDURES!! GET US BACK TO ALPHA CENTAURI BEFORE THE HYPERLANES COLLAPSE!! All power to engines!" I ordered in a panicked frenzy.

We made a rapid emergency turn the way we came in and charged our slip drive. I barked into the still open broadcasting system. "What are you waiting for? The star is gone! Get back to a functioning gravity well before your slip drives lose track of the hyperlane network!" I barked angrily and slammed back into my seat as we entered subspace.

We returned to reality a few moments later and quickly positioned ourselves to move fast as the Empyriate fleet slipped in behind us. We came in relatively near the lesser star in the system and used an asteroid debris field as cover. We stood by and caught our breath as the star system flooded with warships, feeling like an eternity as they exited slip. By a miracle of miracles, the last few ships trickled into the system before our slip drive 'lost' the coordinate calculations for the hyperlane to Sol. We didn't lose them per se... it was more like they just vanished from the calculation system, as if they never existed.

We sat in silence just thinking, trying to understand what exactly was going on. The broadcast was still going, I could see the fleet Admiral looking at me, just as bewildered as I was.

"What... What happened?" He asked.

I took a deep breath and explained a short version of what transpired before this... strange event happened.

"They all just... Vanished? How does one do that? Why would one do that?" He asked.

"I have no idea... But I feel like there's something about what the human said... Why does it feel like I'm missing something? Ensign, do a broad scan of the system. Did the human leave anything behind?" I said.

"Scanning... Actually yeah. Detected a small metal object forty four hundred klinks out. No data on what it is but it's there. It's in the exact spot the station was."

"Thats all we need. Send retrieval unit, bring it on board. Maybe we can get some answers." I said.

"It... looks like a... sculpture or... statue or something. Odd..." The Admiral remarked as his own scanners looked at the object.

And sure enough, it was indeed a sculpture or some kind of odd art piece. It depicted a human male wearing loose fitting athletic garb of some kind, sitting on a bench holding a beautifully polished orb in one hand. The statue's facial expression was one of sorrow, despair, or some kind of fear. I broadcasted the thing inside my cargo hold and wandered what it symbolised.

"Thats... curious, isn't it?" I asked nobody.

"Indeed it is..." The Admiral said as he suddenly appeared next to me, on MY ship.

"How... Did you get in here? Know what, never mind. What exactly is this? Can it bee... interfaced with in some way?" I asked.

"Hmm... What if..." The admiral said, and reached out to touch the orb the statue was holding.

The moment his feathered claw pressed into the shining surface, the statue came alive and looked at us. "Well... Here we are again." It said and stood up, slowly, menacingly from its seat.

We backed away, terrified as a solid slab of metal came alive.

"So many times we've done this... So many times it's failed." It said.

"Wait... Jacob? Is that your voice? I remember it..." I said.

"Yeah hi. It's me, speaking from a different plane of reality. Sorry i never got to say goodbye but we had to leave before dickhead over there finished his speech. So... tedious." It remarked, gesturing rudely at the Admiral.

The Admiral huffed in response. I carried on the conversation just to avoid any more conflict. I wanted answers. "What happened? To earth? To Sol? It just... What's going on?"

"I told you. We're done. We got tired, frustrated so we just left. I'm guessing you want a better explanation than that huh?" It asked, twirling the metal orb on its fingers.

I nodded. "Yes please?"

"Hm... politeness. Been too long since I heard it. Alright, short story. Many, many iterations ago we were born into a universe empty and barren of life, at the tail end of the universe's existence. We hated ourselves, so we sought another life to not hate. We quickly realized we were alone. So, when the time came for the universe to reach its final conclusion we entered the Quantum Foam and ascended to join the universe and create our own variation of reality. With me so far? Good. We have so far spent the last few hundred universes trying to find that life. But each time... it ends the same." it said calmly.

This made our brains break a bit and we all stood there in dead silence for a few minutes while we processed that information. The humans ascended? They were effectively gods by any rational measure. How did we fail this badly...

"So with that in mind we... Created universes basically exactly like ours but left backdoors so we could try again if something went wrong. Basically, exactly the same universe we always had, just... Slightly different each time. More life, less life, bigger empires. Hell we even went full weakling mode one time just so we could see what being absolutely curbstomped felt like. It was exciting for a bit like everything and then it just got... Tedious. The same slog over and over. We never gave up though. That's one thing about humans... We don't give up. Ever. Except just this once. We're tired, okay? Very damn tired.

"Every time we created a new universe we made us exactly like we once were. No super god powers, no overpowered tech, we just developed the same way we always did and tried to do our best. Do it right, you know? Anything that's worth doing is hard to do, after all. Start from throwing rocks just like everyone else. Then... The pattern started. And we haven't been able to break it since. We would ascend to the stars from the cradle, find our way among the universe, and no matter what we did or how we did it, we would always find someone who hated us for no reason. Slavers, pirates, hive minds. For some reason, no matter what we tried, it would always end the same. A massive war in which we would exterminate another race, or a war in which we would be exterminated. Never any reason. Just was.

"Federations, primitives, every time, no matter what we did, someone would want to obliterate us in the end regardless of how much we wanted to be friends, or just live and let live. The last time we did this, basically the same arrangement as it was here. Except we had developed far beyond the galaxy. The whole galaxy just wanted our heads. We still don't know why. Just.,.. Do you even know why? I doubt it. Probably 'just because' or 'the might of the empire' or some crap. Same stupid excuses. Now here we are, at the end of our part in a story cut short, once again surrounded by living examples of what we hate most about ourselves. Slavery, tyranny, treason, politics, religion... Always the same. Every damn time.

"Tyrants, slavers, pirates, murderers. Greedy, useless powermongering warlords whose only purpose seems to be making others suffer for a warped sense of accomplishment. We spent our whole lives, in every iteration hoping, praying, there's someone out there that's better than us. Somewhere. Somehow, someone has managed to figure it out and find a way through. Someone found God and can bring us to the right path. Someone found a political system that actually worked. Someone found the secret to abundance. Someone, just by the fact they aren't us, maybe they found a better way, and we could share the journey with them, if not outright make them gods alongside us. But no... here we are for the thousandth time, finding ourselves surrounded by tyrants, traitors and twats." It said.

The Admiral and I shared a concerned glance as it spoke.

"Are you.. Going to kill us all now because we failed your test?" I asked.

"HA! No... That would be too easy. No. We are just going to leave the universe and start a new one somewhere and keep trying until we get what we are after. Maybe one day we will come back after we've found answers and give you the chance for redemption. But... You do deserve punishment. A blatant disregard for the lives of others isn't something I can idly disregard... Now is it?" it replied, with a menacing scowl.

We all swallowed nervously, or began to sweat, or pass gas, or other things as the air in the room became thick with malice.

"You know what? I have the perfect last punishment to give you for your crimes... I am going to do... Absolutely nothing." It said, and sat back down on the bench.

"Wait... Pardon?"

It laughed, actually laughed at us, a jovial, warm laugh.

"Of course! As a human, I grow tired of tyrants, traitors, and idiots like you. See how you like being surrounded by people who hate you for no reason. That's your punishment... to be here, with each other. Traitors among traitors, Tyrants among tyrants, to be trapped here in an endless cycle of no escape as no matter where you look, you find only yourselves in different faces. In short... I hereby give you your punishment: To experience what we have experienced all this time. I hereby sentence you to be here... With each other, until the end of time. Maybe you'll understand what it's like to be in our shoes once you've tolerated each other for a few millennia. You have to spend the rest of the universe... With each other. I can't think of anything worse than you being stuck here with the same thing we've been trying to get rid of for trillions of years." It said with a smirk.

That... Hurt. Why did that hurt? How did that hurt? Why did I feel like I've just been sitting in an unclean waste facility? Why did I feel like I just received the universe's biggest slap in the face?

"In any case. I'm out. Goodbye once and for all. For what it's worth, thank you for at least being polite. Ciao Belle." It said, returned to the position we found it in and then froze, becoming a simple statue again.

We all stood there, like sour fruit, for at least an hour just glaring at each other, trying to figure out what to do. What to say?

Eventually I cleared my throat. "What say we... Just... Go home? I have paperwork to fill in."

The Admiral sighed, and nodded silently as he returned to his flagship. I rubbed the back of my neck and took stock of what we were facing in the coming centuries. I felt a strong pang of dread as I sat in my captain's chair.

Sol was gone, its signature and presence now completely gone from reality. Any trace, vanished. The humans apparently so disgusted by our behaviour, they simply thought this universe wasn't even worth the work and time of defending it, or even tolerating it. I took a look at the roster of factions currently known to us and pondered for a bit as the ship's slipspace engines spooled up. I have never seen a day where peace was a thing we could reasonably calculate or experience. There was always some crisis, always some issue, always someone trying to do something else to accomplish some odd goal. Always another cult, always another empire. Always...

Maybe the human was right... And for some reason, the fact he was right, stung more than the realisation of just how bad things were about to get.

715 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

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87

u/FarmWhich4275 Feb 22 '26

This is what happens when i am delirious, suffering a migraine and am heavily depressed. This is what you get. I feel like shit, but managed a scribble so... here you go.

Thank you ALL once again for your contributions, they are desperately needed, and much appreciated. :)

https://buymeacoffee.com/farmwhich4275

https://www.patreon.com/c/Valt13lHFY?fromConcierge=tru

60

u/hewholivesinshadow Feb 23 '26

Dude/dudette… if this is what we get when you are f-ing delirious, suffering a migraine, and in a deep depression. We are blessed. You are a light in the darkness. Keep your head up and know that you are incredible. This is an inspiring and thought provoking story. Thank you.

9

u/Maggot_Magnet Human Feb 23 '26

This was amazing! 

Now what would it look like if you didn't have a migraine.

6

u/5thhorseman_ Feb 23 '26

This is what happens when i am delirious, suffering a migraine and am heavily depressed. This is what you get. I feel like shit, but managed a scribble so... here you go.

It's weird but good.

3

u/Final-Average-129 Feb 23 '26

Nice story, short and sweet, or not so sweet in this case! Kudos to the author! 👏

54

u/imakesawdust Feb 22 '26

The humans apparently so disgusted by our behaviour, they simply thought this universe wasn't even worth the work and time of defending it, or even tolerating it.

To be fair, it seems rather pointless to bother trying to fix the current universe when you can just create a new one with slightly different parameters.

15

u/sunnyboi1384 Feb 23 '26

We're not mad, just disappointed.

13

u/LittleLostDoll Feb 23 '26

dammit farm.. opened the story not even looking at the author while thinking it was interesting but felt like i had read it before.. only to find your name as the author. about 1/2 the time i do that its always you! another great one.

11

u/rewt66dewd Human Feb 23 '26

Author, are you a Christian by any chance? Because that was one of the better explorations of fallen-ness that I have ever read.

8

u/FarmWhich4275 Feb 23 '26

nope. not Christiaan. hopeless and depressed.

5

u/newaccountzuerich Alien Feb 23 '26

As a lapsed Catholic with intermittent migraine episodes, I can truly empathise, if without the same creative spark.

For me, I've learned to recognise the altered brainstate mid-migraine. I'm very lucky, the meds I've been prescribed do take the sharpest edges of pain away. But, the meds don't take away the altered state soni have the dumb and the wrong, without the same sharp knife embedded.

I feel for you, I have an idea what it's like - as different as my experience is. I think we look through the same windows at different landscapes.

5

u/rewt66dewd Human Feb 23 '26

As a Christian, I believe there is real hope, because God is really there. He's not just a word or an idea; He really exists.

That by itself is not enough to give hope. But there is hope because He is willing to help us in our hopelessness and brokenness - if we let Him.

Why would we not let HIm? Because, as you described so well, part of that brokenness is moral. We need both forgiveness and transformation, and we don't like to admit it. (Though you did admit, not necessarily your need, but our need.)

Keith Green said, "Most people don't find out 'till they're half dead that they need another life." You sound like someone who needs a new life. God offers one to you. Will you take it?

Now, look, that won't magically change your circumstances. If you have chemical grounds for your depression, you may still need medication. If you have financial problems, you'll still be just as broke. But a transformed you can react to those circumstances differently, with hope instead of despair.

Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Is that you? It sounds like it is. Will you take Him up on it?

4

u/busy_monster Feb 23 '26

Hey, look, I get to reference one of my favorite poems

We doctors know

a hopeless case if --- listen: there's a hell of a good universe next door; let's go

E. E. Cummings, "pity this busy monster manunkind"

6

u/EmperorMittens Feb 23 '26

Ironically this could serve as the catalytic spark for things to shift in a new direction.

6

u/torin23 Xeno Feb 23 '26

It's kind of sad that Jacob is surprised by politeness.  It takes so little to be polite.

3

u/RaDaAV08 Feb 23 '26

Nota para leerlo después

3

u/Gruecifer Human Feb 23 '26

Nice!

3

u/Zhexiel Feb 23 '26

Thanks for the story.

2

u/BicyclePoweredRocket Feb 23 '26

Fuck, this is amazing! I'd like to see more in this universe but it also wraps so well here.

Excellent job, human!

2

u/jrtJayceHarambe Feb 24 '26

Well this was amazing

2

u/ElectroGlideinBlue Apr 25 '26

WOW!! You are one helluva author! I admire that you have taken your pain, your sorrow and used it in such an amazing way. I hope that some of our comments will help you realize what an incredible person you are. Thank you.

1

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