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The Boy Who Backed Up the Sky

sci-fi◐ Teen
5 contributors · 4 paragraphs deep

Halfway up the hill a girl steps out from behind a tree. She's about Milo's age, wearing a headset, and she looks annoyed. 'You're not supposed to see the seams,' she says. 'How are you seeing the seams?' She grabs his wrist. 'Come on. We don't have long.'

The girl, who says her name is Wren, pulls Milo into a shed full of glowing servers. 'I'm a backup too,' she explains. 'Worlds get deleted all the time. But if enough backups stay awake, the system has to keep the file. We just need more of us.'

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Milo and Wren spend the night messaging every kid who saw the seams. By morning, forty backups stand awake around the radio tower, holding their glowing phones up at the sky. The deletion timer freezes, then turns green. Too many people are watching to quietly erase the file. The sky holds.

DH
Dov Hale
10 votes · future 1 of 2