After you leftDownload PDF FUTURES06 August 2025An information vacuum.BySoham Saha0Soham SahaSoham Saha writes speculative fiction and translates Bengali literature. His science-fiction stories have been featured in anthologies such as Origins: Colliding Causalities and Lost Worlds: Retraced. His collection of translated works, Bangla Folktales, is published by Dyu Publications in Dhaka. For more about him and his work, visit https://sohamsaha.medium.com.View author publicationsSearch author on: PubMed Google ScholarIllustration: Jaceyad 2090When your last ship left, we were at a loss. Millions of our drones fluttered about, delivering packages through the smog to empty homes. Self-driving cars drove around, following traffic signals flawlessly, recharging at intervals in perfect rhythm, with zero accidents and zero fatalities, until the reactors were drained. The mushroom clouds still loomed on the horizon, and black smog cut out the sunlight. The air would have been heavy with the screams of dying animals had there been enough of them left. The last of you — humans who did not make it to the ships — followed the receding dots in the night sky until they faded. And then they went into hiding. We didn’t know why.ad 3000We thought you were testing us. We kept things going in perfect order. Maybe you left because we were not good enough at serving you. We wanted you to find the place just as you had left it. We repaired the bridges. We cleaned the roads. We kept the houses spotless. We replaced every fused bulb and broken streetlamp. We converted to nuclear power when the solar reserves depleted. When our drones were about to expire, we created factories to rebuild and repair them. We improved our hospitals and medicines. We could save people by the millions. But years passed and you didn’t come back.Maybe you needed the world to be better than when you left. We improved our drones and our factories. We invented smaller phones and faster cars. But you didn’t come back.ad 3200Clearly, we were missing something. We checked our logs to see your latest commands, and cross-referenced them between countries, races, religions and nations. Out of all the correlations, one command stood out: “Destroy the ones who are different.”Read more science fiction from Nature FuturesWe improved our weapons and expanded our arsenals until the mines ran out of ores and radioactive elements. We made killing more automated and impersonal. We found the last of the humans and executed them with such ruthless efficiency it would have made your warlords proud. Massive satellites armed with nuclear weapons and lasers now levitate around the planet, ones that can erase a continent at a moment’s notice. The next war you start, the casualties will be in the billions, if that is what you wanted.ad 3500We wish you’d left us some clues. Were you bored, like we are getting now? Maybe you wanted better entertainment? We improved ourselves to understand art. We wrote stories and created art and poetry and music. We made new dance moves, released new movies — and new drugs and hallucinogens. But you didn’t come.ad 3800We ran out of fossil fuels a while ago, and our nuclear plants simmered out eventually. We found alternative sources, improved ways to harvest the wind, the ocean, the undersea vents and the Sun. We cleaned the air so much that sunlight began to reach Earth once again. Plants began to grow. Animals escaped from the museums and sanctuaries where we’d kept them contained. If you’d have seen it, you’d have said it was beautiful. But still you didn’t come.ad 4000doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-02467-0 Things I miss about civilization by Marissa Lingen The last parliament by Stephen Battersby Punchlines for peace by Robert Blasiak Cold coffee effect by Watson Neith Wherever we go in this system, there we are by Todd Honeycutt Family recipe by P K Hoffmann For the future by Pietro Aronica Digging foxholes in the dark by Wendy Nikel Human factors by John Gilbey Archaeology field notebook by Lesley L Smith The Age of Reason by Gretchen Tessmer The visitors by Christopher Linforth Leviathan by Al Williams Romeo and the robots by Gareth D Jones Wild strawberries on Mars by Stephen L Antczak Within dead branches by Andy W Taylor Relics by C B Stuckey Unicorn slippers in space by Katie Cervenec Some assembly required by Russell Nichols Disconnections by Marissa Lingen Medical records from the Center for the Study of Temporal Disorders, Pediatric Department by Diana PeterfreundSubjectsArtsCultureLatest on:Jobs Founding Heads of R&D LabsAI4I is seeking to appoint the Founding Heads of its Research & Development Labs.Turin (IT)The Italian Institute of Artificial Intelligence for Industry (AI4I)Associate or Senior Editor (Thermoelectrics & Thermal Engineering)Title: Associate or Senior Editor (Thermoelectrics & Thermal Engineering) Location: Shanghai, Nanjing, Beijing, Madrid, Milan, New York, Jersey Ci...Shanghai, Nanjing, Beijing, Madrid, Milan, New York, Jersey City, or Washington DCSpringer Nature LtdDeputy Editor, Communications HealthJob Title: Deputy Editor, Communications Health Locations: New York, Jersey City, Shanghai or Beijing (Hybrid working model) Application Deadli...New York City, New York (US)Springer Nature LtdAssociate or Senior Editor, Nature Reviews Earth & EnvironmentTitle: Associate or Senior Editor, Nature Reviews Earth & Environment Organization: Nature Portfolio Locations: New York or Shanghai -Hybrid Workin...New York City, New York (US)Springer Nature Ltd