A grim future

2005-10-19T00:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I was sipping coffee glancing through my newspaper, when my phone began to ring. It was 7 in the morning on Saturday, and I was usually a late riser, but today a flock of ill fed migratory birds had decided to have a grand congregation in my backyard... at 6 in the morning. I tried not to get up but I was finally forced to do so after the meeting became too happy and noisy in about half an hour. But by then I’d lost all sleep so I brushed my teeth, took out some Nescafe and made a nice hot cup, and sat down with The Times.

But who would be calling at such an hour? Then began a train of thoughts about would be callers that took me from my great grandmother to my family doctor and even to some distant uncle of mine who lived in Siberia. “Enough of attempts at ESP, just lift the phone”, I thought. So I went and picked it up and held it to my ear. The second I did so, I just collapsed with the receiver in my hand…

I felt an acute pain in my thigh and woke up. I was almost paralyzed with fatigue. I had never felt so tired before, not even after those rigorous aerobics classes. No, this was something very different. I pushed my arm to strike at the pesky mosquito, but I felt a force preventing my arm from striking. I turned and saw that my arm was strapped onto my bed. Why, I didn’t have the scantest idea. Wait a minute, my bed? Where was I? It was definitely not my bed that I was sleeping on. This surely wasn’t my Egyptian hieroglyphic bedspread with those beautifully embroidered pharaohs and sphinxes. But again, it wasn’t even my mattress- no, this was something much firmer- it was more like one of those hard platforms you see in X-Ray rooms. X-Ray room?! Yes, this definitely was an X-Ray room. The familiar X-Ray device was right above my head. But, why was I in an X-ray room?

The room itself was not an ordinary X-Ray room. It was really huge, about 15 feet high and went to 20 feet in all four directions. It was all painted in a dark shade of blue, and that gave it a really weird look. I then realized that I was not in my usual jeans and T-shirt, but was instead in some sort of long coarse cloak, which draped my trunk, leaving my limbs and head exposed. I was also feeling really cold, but the ‘bed’ felt very warm and comforting.

As I lay perplexed, trying to fathom how I could have got here, I heard a loud sound, and in one end of the room, and a door slid to one side. My heart began pounding with the excitement, and someone entered, and started walking towards me. I stretched and strained to get a better look, but I felt a comforting voice within me, that told me to relax. Was it the motherly tinge in the voice, or just comprehensive body fatigue, I just gave up. I was too tired to even look up. I passed out…

I woke up and found myself in a small room, and got up. The moment I did so, a stream of a green coloured gas hit me from various directions. It felt very odd, but this time I decided I wasn’t going to let myself pass out again, come what may. This time I realized that my arms were no longer strapped; neither were my feet. In fact, I felt much better. My body felt strong and refreshed, somewhat like what you feel after a good night’s slumber. I felt so good that I almost forgot that I was not at home, and this was definitely not my idea of a holiday!

I stood up, stretched my arms and yawned. As I did so, I noticed something on my right arm. I looked closer, and could make out what looked like a perfect parabolic marking, about three inches long, whose shape seemed right out of a high school math textbook. I couldn’t remember having got any tattooing or any body art of any kind. It all seemed very strange. But there was something more intriguing in all this. This was definitely not done by any human hand; the shape being too complex to carve out with human precision levels. It could not also be accidental, because an accident is an accident - it does not happen intentionally, and this was too mathematically perfect to be any kind of ‘accident’.

I then noticed to my horror that my left hand had this strange marking too. So did both my thighs. My heart began beating faster – I could almost hear it now. Where the hell was I and what the heck was going on?

I soon began thinking about who might have done this and what they wanted to do with me. I still was clueless. Just then when I was in the middle of this thought process, the door opened again, and someone entered. This time, I was definitely not going to pass out I stood up straight. A tall figure of about 8ft. in height started moving towards me at slow pace. My nerves tightened. It was dressed completely in black and as it came closer I noticed that it had no feet. Its face was hidden under a hood.

Then something extraordinary happened. I didn’t hear anything but I began to feel a voice speaking to me from within. “Who…where?” I asked aloud, and the voice replied, “Fear not, we won’t harm you. We are directly communicating with your aural receptors in your brain. You can ‘talk’ back by just ‘thinking’ the words. We can’t speak. We all have a mutagenic disorder that prevents our vocal chords from being able to withstand any tension thus preventing…. Oh! I’m really sorry…This must all sound very confusing to you. Pardon me! My name is Ari–Wite. I am the bionic implant specialist at the Central Canton Clinic, Asgard. You are now in the post surgery recovery chamber, after a Comprehensive bionic build-up surgery. Oops, there I go again! Oh, there’s Rin-Shak, the chancellor… He’ll definitely clear things out. Bye.”

I could barely understand what he was saying, with ‘bionic’ and ‘aural receptors’ being things I vaguely remembered from some unbelievable program on the Discovery Channel. I could vaguely recall that it was supposed to help deaf people communicate. Just then, another tall figure entered and I ‘heard’, “That’s right, this technology was developed in the early 21^st century, but it is quite advanced now.” I was amazed at first but soon understood that reading thoughts was some kind of child’s play for this machine. “It must be huge”, I thought. “Actually it’s a small piece of plastic that is implanted in our brain at birth”, he ‘said’. “It stays active for more than 200 years, far beyond our lifespan. Ok, Mr. Siddharth, I’m sure you have a lot of questions, so please pay attention. We have just finished the implantation of four nanobots in each of your limbs and one command unit in your torso. These will help you build up your muscular tissue, and will increase the strength of your immune system.”

“Thanks but I don’t think I asked for a….Wait did you say 21^st century in past tense?? Where am….no no no, what year is this?”

“This is the year 2146 A.D. You are now in Asgard, the last human stronghold. We have been fighting the Rewfins for the past 70 years. One by one, human colonies have been wiped out in all corners of the globe, and people fled to Antarctica, the only place where the Rewfins couldn’t survive-they needed a 25+ degree temperature to live. We learnt to adapt to the climate, made easier by the global warming, and what you see before you is a result of our struggle to survive. We had our bodies morphed genetically by the preceding generation in order to live. Our thin tall bodies minimize heat loss to the sun and allow us to go into the open to collect lichen. We have still not been able to simulate a similar environment in our laboratories. But the Rewfins have not stopped. Even as I tell you this, their aircraft spew chemical toxins into the air above us that heats up the earth and also kills the lichen. We are running out of time.”

“Who are the Rewfins?”

“They are an alien life-form, from the M87 galaxy. Their space-exploration team arrived on earth on July 11^th, 2076. Their timing was ironic, as it was the 300^th anniversary-week of the independence of the USA. The very notion of liberty and freedom was dealt a death blow, when, they spat on us by rewarding the hospitality we showed to them, with information relayed back to M87 that made their planet launch a major attack on our planet. Since then, we have been losing all.

But, just last week, we could finally make a breakthrough in a temporal-displacement field generator, or a time machine as I’ve heard you call it. We are going to be run over very soon, so your generation is our only chance. We are trying to make some alterations in your genetic constitution, so that you can face the peril that awaits. You shall be sent back with lots of information on Rewfins, so that when they arrive, you are ready.”

“But why will anyone believe me?”

“That’s your job! Besides, we are trying to bring around 1000 elite subjects from the 21^st century to Asgard, so that you can all sit together and ensure the survival of the human race. We don’t trust politicians. You were chosen because of your supremacy in the technological field.”

“So, there is some time-invariant respect for Microsoft CEOs!” I thought.

Just then, Ari-Wite entered in a hurry and ‘said’ “Chancellor Shak, Asgard’s defenses have been breached. The commander has ordered an immediate evacuation. Siddharth is to be sent back now!” As he continued, I heard a huge noise and the room began to quake.

“There’s no time. Activate the ‘time machine’. Send him back now.”

He pressed a button, and a blue translucent spherical field enveloped me. I shouted, “But the information about the Rewfins…” But it was too late. As everything started becoming hazy, I just saw the whole building collapse. Rin-Shak and Ari-Wite were all crushed. I was helpless. Yet again, I dropped of asleep…

“Hello..? Who is it? Hello…? ...Oh, Sanjay! Is it really you? It’s been a long time. Why don’t you come over for lunch? ...Ok 11.30, Sheraton Grand. I’ll be there. Bye-bye!”

That was strange, Sanjay after all these years. I sat down with the Saturday Times and had a hot sip of coffee. But then, I noticed a strange marking on my right arm. It seemed like perfect parabolic marking, about three inches long, whose shape seemed right out of a high school math textbook. What was it…?

time management

2005-09-28T19:27:00.000-07:00

I hope this is a better way to spend time rather than orkut.

If the Gods were crazy, I wouldn't be here

A grim future

time management