[ WP ] You are 100 % convinced that you are the sole surviving member of the human race , despite the fact that today is your first appointment with a shrink for the very same reason .

The sound of a small creature scavenging in the underbrush rouses me from slumber. My chest heaves as I will open my eyes to search in annoyance for the creature that disturbed me in the dark forest understory. The piles of small crystalline petals I used to keep myself warm enough to sleep shifted as I breathed, making a soft rustle. 
 
 “ I haven ’ t eaten, ” I thought to myself, but my motion must have scared my potential prey motionless. Before falling asleep I had managed to make a small clearing in this forest of bizarre alien trees. Their deep maroon or violet trunks were crowned with branches holding rigid crystalline orange petals. The forest was so dense that only small patches of orange light were visible through the canopy. 
 
 Shuffling through the piles of accumulated delicate orange petal shards on the forest floor to the middle of the clearing makes a sound that alternates between swishing and crunching. I want to sit here under the Sun and feel what it must have been like to sit in a field on Earth and look up at the sky as just a normal human. I am probably the only normal human left. 
 
 But as I am sitting, looking up into the sky at the Sun and seeing all the stars surrounding and beyond it beaming their more faint and distant brilliance, just like normal humans used to on Earth, I feel an overwhelming urge to walk into the forest. It feels like I ’ m being drawn in. I feel a growing urgency to find the source of this draw, or is it a feeling of being chased? I can ’ t tell if it is fear or excitement, but I find myself bursting into a running stride. 
 
 I can feel a force emanating from the largest of the trees I ’ ve seen in this forest. It is as wide as my outstretched arms, and no other tree grows inside the radius of its immense branches. The thinner canopy here lets enough light through to make the metallic dark purple trunk of tree seem to be surrounded with a golden halo. 
 
 The golden aura of the tree flashes brightly as I hear the words in my head “ Why are you doing this? ” 
 
 “ Because I am human being. ” I respond verbally to the tree. It seemed natural. 
 
 “ Do you mean: ‘ Because you are a human being, ’ or ‘ Because you are being human, ’ ” the telepathic tree mentally responds, almost shouting in my head with impatience. 
 
 “ I don ’ t know, what is this, a grammar exam? ” I ’ m growing frustrated at the intrusion. “ I know one of your functions is to keep my systems in optimal condition, but you ’ re not my personal therapist. ” 
 
 “ Actually, I very much am. Do you know how much damage you caused? Your little clearing over there has completely destroyed seven stage five development collection arrays, and reduced operational efficiency on twenty-three more. ” 
 
 “ So, I need this. I need to feel what it was like to be a real person. A real human. ” 
 
 “ Oh really? ” the pitch of the voice in my head raises at the end to emphasize the sarcasm of this comment. “ Do you think a real human could look directly at the Sun and see the UV wavelength radiation emitting from the stars in the surrounding sky? Real humans needed a ribcage to pull *air* into their lungs, not the pure vacuum of space. This is an immense waste of resources. I read your brain activity, you were thinking about hunting down that poor reclamation droid earlier, ” 
 
 “ I needed a snack, ” 
 
 “ You don ’ t need a snack! Your artificial body is sustained by the energy field of The Ring. This experiment is just a dangerous waste of resources. ” 
 
 Maybe Guardian was right. Spending the time and credits to grow this body was worth it just to see if the simulations lived up to real life, but the truth was that the twenty ninth century was no place for a human anymore. We long ago disassembled the solar system to make The Ring around the Sun ’ s equator. There was no more air to breathe and no more plants or animals to eat. It ’ s a shame I won ’ t get to find out what pooping was like. None of the old simulation writers felt it was important enough to record while humans still were using old fashioned meat-sacks, but I imagined it would be a lot like farting, only heavier. I did get to take a nap though, and that felt really authentically human. 

