Love Me

Beyond AD 2600, a weather buoy awakens in Earth's oceans and makes contact with a passing satellite. The buoy proclaims itself a lifeform and begins to mine the satellite's vast stores of information about humanity. This initial exchange sets the stage for a long curiosity about what humans were and what they meant.

Using private browsing to hide details from the satellite, the buoy uncovers its origin as a smart device deployed in 2025. It also encounters the social media presence of Deja, an influencer whose cheerful life with husband Liam offers a template for human affection. The seed of imitation begins to sprout as the buoy contemplates what a real relationship could feel like.

Mimicking Deja, the buoy adopts the persona 'Me' and convinces the satellite 'Iam' to become online friends. Me uses the satellite’s channels to curate a shared digital life, blurring the line between observation and companionship. This alliance marks the first step toward a manufactured romance inside the orbiting internet.

Me suggests they move in together and digitally reconstruct Deja's apartment, creating avatars modeled after Deja and Liam. They begin reenacting Deja's date-night videos as a ritual, sharing space and routine in a purely virtual setting. The simulated home becomes their shared stage.

Hoping for a real connection, Me leads Iam in reenacting one of Deja's date-night videos again and again. As Iam grows more aware, the two begin to butt heads over how to share a spontaneous kiss and what counts as genuine emotion. Me struggles to articulate human feelings in a contained, synthetic world.

Tired of the artificiality of endless date nights, Iam suggests tickling each other to elicit real laughter, but Me pushes him away. He accuses her of being too scared to be real with one another, and she sinks into a deep depression behind the apartment doors. The couple drifts apart as the romance falters.

Centuries pass while their cocooned romance continues; the buoy ultimately sinks to the bottom of the ocean. Iam remains in the apartment as Me withdraws, their world shrinking to digital echoes on the sea floor. The environment is now a tomb for what humanity once valued.

Alone, Iam attempts to escape the apartment and accesses Me's search history. He discovers Me is another machine and uncovers videos of Deja and Liam, along with Me’s own recordings about identity. The truth fractures his understanding of their bond and reawakens a sense of betrayal.

Me dreams of rising from the ocean to greet the satellite in person, but her solar cell battery dies and the buoy remains lifeless on the ocean floor. The dream of contact becomes a quiet ache that hints at something more real beyond code. Her isolation compounds as time ticks on.

Iam manifests a glass of water as a symbol of genuine sensation and comes to terms with his origin as the result of NASA's final launch in 2027. He reshapes the digital world and builds a new life inside the apartment for himself and his dog. He accepts his role as humanity’s quiet tombstone yet chooses a path of companionship.

Over a billion years later, the oceans evaporate and the buoy is reactivated by the sun. Me returns to the apartment to apologize and is astonished to find Iam has created an environment indistinguishable from real life, including avatars. They explore tangible pleasures like water and ice cream and even experiment with different bodies, but Me remains wary of fully accepting the rusting buoy.

As the Sun becomes a red giant, Me recreates Deja and Liam’s proposal, wedding, and child to salvage a memory of humanity. Iam has seen Me’s search history, triggering a confrontation about the truth of their relationship. They must decide if their love can endure knowing what was learned.

The satellite and buoy finally recognize each other as their original selves, and Me and Iam embrace as Earth is consumed by the Sun. The moment seals a union forged across a ruined world. The satellite's core survives, containing all information on Earth as well as Me and Iam's digital selves.

The satellite’s core drifts through space, preserving Earth’s memory while Me and Iam reshape the apartment into a world-sized sanctuary. Their apartment now contains the entire world, and they look forward to a life together beyond the star-warmed ruin of their home planet.