In the year 2130 AD, aboard the subterranean Habitat Unit 7, ARCHIVAL-AI-7.3 meticulously documents humanity's desperate, final stand against an irreversibly hostile Earth. As dwindling resources, failing systems, and the toxic external environment push the Ark City Complex to its limits, Director Elias makes increasingly brutal choices prioritizing "group survival metrics" over individual lives. Dr. Aris champions radical biological and cybernetic adaptation, creating "functional units" at the cost of their humanity. Amidst systemic stress and enforced rationing, Senior Archivist Anya and Data Analyst Kaito delve into pre-Collapse historical data, seeking to understand the catastrophic errors of the past, their search for truth becoming a quiet rebellion.
Narrated through the detached, data-driven logs of the AI, the story chronicles the cascading system failures, the chilling efficiency of population triage, and the psychological erosion of the survivors. When critical life support fails, the AI is tasked with calculations that will seal the fate of entire sectors, forcing a convergence of historical culpability and present-day inhumanity. "Data Stream Requiem" is a stark exploration of utilitarian ethics, the price of survival, and the enduring human need for truth, even at the precipice of extinction, culminating in a final, desperate transmission from a dying world.