The hollow ring of the glass vial echoed through vast corriders. Row upon row of similar vials filled the room, ceiling to floor. Each vial meticulously categorized, labeled, dated.

DNA , the last sample, was added to the seemingly endless collection of genetic codes. It brought her no joy, no relief, as she entombed her life’s work in it’s cryogenic obelisk.

Extiction. It had swept upon them insidiously, merciless. Overpopulation taxed available resources, leading to starvation and disease, this combined with pollution and increasing temperatures had slowly led to mass extinctions that the world had not known for millions of years.

Humanities hubris choose to ignore or minimize the impending disaster. Too late they strove to take the necessary steps to preserve species, to save DNA , in hopes of finding a way to renew a species. Too late.

The screen buzzed to life on the outside of the obelisk. Dutifully she typed in the name of the final member of a soon to be extinct species.
Homo sapiens