Science Fiction - Visitor From The Past

 

Science Fiction - Visitor From The Past

I was visited by a man from the past, and he sat beside me; while unaware of his presence, he was keenly watching me run my fingers on the keyboard of my personal computer. When I had completed my writing assignment, I launched my Chrome browser and checked a few news portals: The BBC and The New York Times. Ultimately, when I had fed my brain with a lot of worthy inputs, I decided to indulge in something I call, “languishing of the mind!” Where the purpose is to now cater to the part of the brain where relaxation nestles in its residual form. And my way of waking it up like a phoenix from the ashes, is by watching a movie or listening to a song, or watching an interesting science documentary. And tonight it happened to be “watching the sci-fi movie Dune!” I pressed the play button on YouTube and got engrossed in the movie. Still unaware of this visitor from the past sitting beside me.

It must have been half past 11, when I felt the urge to drink some water, I got up to fetch my glass, and as I turned to the right, I was met with this visual shock that frightened me- The visitor from the past staring at my face and smiling. 

Yes. Yes! That is what the facial expression looked like. Why am I doubtful? Well, when I looked at his face continuously, the smile evolved into a plain facial expression where all emotions appeared to merge with the plainness of expression, that it became difficult to tell whether this visitor was smiling, thinking, frowning or contemplating something evil.

While I was caught in this predicament, the stranger stood up, and looked into my eyes. I somehow managed to stand my ground and look right back in his eyes, which were winking faster than usual, and his facial colour appeared to turn brighter and more radiant. Its brilliance was so strong, that mentally it held me captive, and I could experience a feeling of strange placidity growing over me like a creeper, where I was now playing host to every wish of the visitor from the past.

I wanted to lend voice to my thoughts, but my will to do so appeared to be in a subdued state, where it now acted as an auxiliary extension of my existence, because my will, the virtue of my mind and body, was now obeying the wishes of this stranger from the past. Who now had occupied his place in the chair, and had assisted me to sit before my personal computer, where the science fiction movie, Dune, was approaching its concluding scene.

Then, all of a sudden, the visitor from the past spoke, “I am from the past. And I am not here to harm you. So, do not panic and stay calm. And if you have read The Time Machine by Mr. Wells, I believe you should have no reason to be in a state of prolonged shock. It is possible, you see!”

I looked at him, his radiance doubled, and he settled in the chair as he sank in it completely. And as it was meant to be that I shall be fulfilling his wishes, and right now his wish was to hear a response from my end. So, whether I liked it or not, whether I wanted it so or not, I voiced my thoughts, “yes I have read the science fiction, the Time Machine. But until now, I always thought traveling through dimensions of time was only possible in science fiction novels. So, if I may ask, where is the time machine that you traveled in to land in this year. Year 2023?”

The visitor from the past looked at me in silence, then as he pushed his neck slightly upwards, the visitor addressed my questions. “I am from 1899 and I carry my time machine in my right pocket. It does not have to be a gigantic machine, because time travel is a very simple concept that does not require colossal machines to create the past or future. Because time that has passed by resides permanently in the past, and the time that shall appear as future to us, is already visited and scaled by time. Because it doesn't exist due to our existence, it is because of time that everything else exists, even the universe. So you see, it is very simple and here I am with you watching you and your strange gadgets.”

I relaxed a bit and retorted, “So the time machine is so small that it fits in your pocket. And I understand your explanation about time. As for my gadgets, it is one of the most advanced gadgets humanity has ever developed.”

“Yes, I could tell that. It is an amazing machine.” replied the visitor from the past.

Then I asked him to tell me more about time and time travel and he did not disappoint me, although if I am able to recall well, he took some time to respond. As if by means of some invisible mental conversation with some superior, he sought consent before he could proceed and begin his explanation, “Time travel is possible. You can travel through time. But time that is spread across the universe and exists even in those distant reaches of the universe where there is no light. But in those zones of the universe time alters its nature to such a great extent that you can not realise its presence. The darkness is so deep and the forces of gravity are so bound, forcing time to behave in very strange ways, that your current knowledge of mathematics cannot understand even its basic flow through that space. And I have come to your world from a galaxy that lies quite close to this dark zone of the universe we call “DarkCluster.”

I have traveled through time, to arrive here in 2023, and in my journey through time, I learned new dimensions of time, space and light. You know, you humans in 2023 think of worm holes or tubes through space that offer themselves as escape routes into farthest parts of the universe, curtailing your journey time of light years in a matter of few seconds, that is, if you are traveling at very high speeds. Yet, I managed to land in 2023, in just a few days. I am certain you are wondering how.”

I could not help, but force my eyes upwards and stare into the visitor’s eyes, still winking at an unusually fast pace, and his plain facial expression had changed into something that was making a silent confession, “I know you are curious and still wondering how time travels in these zones of space. Aren't you?”

And as a voluntary reaction I said, “If it is not the wormhole, and we cannot travel faster than light, then how is it possible that we can still travel through time, into the past and the future?”

The visitor from the past looked at me with a smile that was now self manifesting, and said, “that is my secret and my way of testing your curiosity. But let me tell you this. You can easily travel forward and backward in time, it is not that difficult, you just need to look at what I am seeing clearly when I observe the universe and how gravity holds it together. Why do planets have orbits? Why is the cosmos dark and seemingly empty? Is empty, just a void or is there something mysterious and baffling for your mind to comprehend? And you are missing the main point, when the Big Bang happened, something phenomenal came into existence, it was not light, it was not time. Do you know what?”

Then the visitor from the past, again sank in his chair and went silent.

I began recollecting all his questions to see if I had the ability to answer any of them. But I realised these were questions that in 2023 were still largely unaddressed and potentially misunderstood. Because time does exist in voids as well, and in star factories as well, but in the dark zones of the universe, from where even light has not reached us, I have a visitor from that farthest end of the universe sitting in my room. How is this possible? Time does not travel, we travel inside it. Is it perhaps the answer to all questions surrounding time travel, where we are actually traveling inside time.

While I was in silence dealing with these thoughts, the visitor from the past spoke again, “you are dealing with time, you cannot travel beyond it, always within it. So do not try to escape it, because it will find you anywhere in the universe, even in the darkest zones, where even light dares not to venture. So stay with me here in this room. This is your present for now. As for understanding time travel better, let me show you my time machine and let me take you to that dark zone of the universe. Only if you are willing to return all by yourself because I shall already be home.”

I again looked at the visitor from the past and after a prolonged pause, I said, “I am not scared and let us go!”

The traveler from the past pulled a gadget from his pocket, he wound it for some time, then as it began to spin, it created a whirlwind and everything within it moved in an infinite circular motion, then the visitor held my hand and we jumped into the whirlwind, and the room and my sci-fi movie Dune were left in a dimension of time that widened the void between my room and my new residence in new zone of time. The dark zone of the universe.

Here, we landed on some strange celestial body, though barren, we could still breathe. Then the visitor pointed his finger at a nearby star and asked me to look further.

And what I witnessed was the wonder of never ceasing darkness, endless and infinite plumes of darkness, rumbling and creating denser columns of darkness, that drifted slowly, and as they collided, the darkness pushed itself wider, as if extending the boundaries of the space, but as it extended its boundaries, it pulled the brighter peripheries of the universe towards it too, and gravity appeared to rip apart, in this cosmic helplessness. It was a dance between the dark and the light and the dark always seemed to win. At least it was so in this zone of the universe. There were no stars, just darkness wherever one looked. And the visitor’s galaxy, which was the only galaxy in the vicinity of this dark zone, was experiencing an exertion from this dark world, and it was obvious. At certain places the boundaries of their galaxy had developed octopus-like tentacles due to the pull of the dark zone that was beginning to suck it in slowly. 

And the visitor from the past knew that in this part of the universe, it is the dark that always wins, not the light. And at this realisation, the visitor turned to me and said, “I had traveled to your world to find a home for my people. And your planet that is like ours was suitable to accommodate us all. But when I arrived there, I found that your planet will die far sooner than ours. We will be the victims of the organic process of destruction and creation of the universe, but your planet is suffering from human made destruction and it leads to no further creation. It is the end of everything. So, dear friend I see the fear in your eyes, because you have never seen the real side of dark, but when I was in your world, it seemed darker and more squalid than this dark. We still have a few million years until the dark consumes our galaxy. But time travels slowly here, whereas in your world where time assumes a faster pace, you do not have that long left. Prevent your planet from dying, you can if you try, or else with the planet you all shall die.

Now let me go, for I have to travel to other planets and find a new home, but let me tell you, there is nothing like home, even if it lies in the middle of the dark zone of the universe.” 

He handed me the time machine and disappeared

Now it was me, the dark universe and the time machine, and I decided to return to Earth, my Home, and try what he said. And in a flash, I appeared in my room, where the science fiction movie Dune was approaching its end and I placed the time machine on the table and sat in the chair, and sank into it just like the visitor from the past. To think of the dark universe, the visitor and my conversations with him.

I traveled to the farthest end of the universe and returned to my room with memories of everything I saw and felt. And I decided to act and not let my planet die a silent death. That will be too selfish. So, I wrote the science fiction novel, They Loved in 2075, which is inspired by my conversations with the visitor from the past and it raises a few thought provoking questions about the need to regulate AI, address issues like climate change and global warming.  ​​

Main concerns raised via the science fiction novel, They Loved in 2075:

How will humans experience love in 2075? This science fiction novel navigates through the possibility of men and women falling in love with machines, without knowing they are robots imitating human emotions. Will you still dare to fall in love in 2075 or will you strive to tell the difference between a human lover and a robotic lover?

This Sci-fi novel tells the story of a man who falls in love with a real woman in 2075. And how he struggles to feel human and keep his emotional composition intact.

This Sci-fi story also aims at revealing why the man chose to love a real woman and not a never ageing and always beautiful woman with synthetic feelings. In 2075, this might be a choice we all will have to make. Especially our children!

In this science fiction there is no mention of the visitor from the past, nor does any line relate to my experience in that dark zone of the universe. Nevertheless, when you have read the science fiction novel, and you replay the storyline in your mind, it does introduce you to the fears of the visitor from the past who had witnessed the dark zone of the universe all his life, yet he feared the dark fate of our planet more than anything else. 

You feel his helplessness as a resident of a dying planet and the hopelessness that engulfs him when he witnesses his only hope of finding a home like planet , the Earth, dying a premature death because of us. 

As you encounter this ideological battle being waged in the dominion of your mind, you are led to the edge of your self respect, where every feeling urges you to act now, and act in favour of our future generations, who would need Earth as their home, where they can take breaths of life, and in doing so extend the lease of our species, the humankind. That by 2075, I am sure may not have become intergalactic, because we are stuck with a concept like worm hole, that we so very much hope will reveal itself to us and open our passage to the utopia, where humans can breed once again. But I doubt, if based on our deeds on Earth, the universe would even bother to reveal a planet that we shall once again make a direct victim of our greed. I wonder!

But, if you venture into the dark zone of the universe, where time behaves in erratic ways, you shall meet your moment of reckoning, because it is then you realise there is something more important than time and light, that the cosmos needs for its own rebirth.  And for its rebirth it shall go to any extent, because just like us, it too wants to ensure its continuation. And it is in this dark zone you see all elements of the universe germinating, while the darkness spreads, to lead to another Bing Bang. Which will lead to the rebirth of the universe and many Earth like planets, unfortunately we shall not be there to witness it, because we shall have perished forever on the visible line of time, which for now does not go any further than the Earth. Human race might be extinct by then. But the universe shall still exist, it will again have a dark zone that will be working in the darkness to facilitate its another rebirth when the time demands. 

And we need to understand that the universe is reborn, but planets like Earth cannot be reborn. They exist and then die one day, but if a planet like Earth becomes inhospitable to sustain life prematurely, then we as its guardians are the only ones to blame. Because the universe did send us the visitor from the past, but it was upto us to either ignore his advice or heed it. For now I only see signs that we care the least for this visitor from the past and the tell tale signs of our own destruction in the form of global warming and climate change.

I still have the time machine with me, I thought many a time, that I should discover a new planet for myself, but then I thought of you, I thought of the familiar freshness of the morning breeze, I thought of the bell ringing in the church, I thought of the good times I had with my friends, I thought of the green mountains, I thought of the rivers, I thought of my Earth, I thought of the beautiful woman I love, and I destroyed the time machine. I decided not to run away from reality, but face it and do something about it.

I decided to be like the visitor from the past. Who still visits my room, and sometimes he takes me to the dark zone of the universe, where I learn more about time and how to travel through time. He has found a new planet, but his race has decided to inhabit it only after their planet has completely been devoured by the dark zone. This ensures the rebirth of the universe when there is nothing, there is deep dark void, where even light fears to venture and time does not exist, there the dark universe shall create new earths, where considerate species like that of the visitor from the past shall be welcome to stay, but humans may be nowhere, because of our greed and treatment of Earth, we shall have perished forever on the timeline of universe, and when time starts again, new and fresh, we shall not exist anywhere, no matter how fast we travel backwards in time. Because that will be a new beginning of time too, where you and I become insignificant. 

You are forgetting what the visitor from the past told me, “we can only travel through time, it is already everywhere, and when a new universe is reborn, it spreads on the already cast fragments of time and light. It bears no traces from the past, none at all!”

But in the form of stardust, our Earth might still miss us, because in the dark zone it too will assume some new form, and maybe it will miss us. Then it will be a shame, a real shame. That on the new timeline of the universe, human species shall bear no trace and no name. It will indeed be a matter of great shame, and we shall be to blame, for our inactions and for letting the Earth die although we knew it shall not be the same, it shall not be the same, if we prolong this greedy and insensitive game!

Here it will be befitting to quote this concluding paragraph from the science fiction novel, The Time Machine. “At that I understood. At the risk of disappointing Richardson I stayed on, waiting for the Time Traveller; waiting for the second, perhaps still stranger story, and the specimens and photographs he would bring with him. But I am beginning now to fear that I must wait a lifetime. The Time Traveller vanished three years ago. And, as everybody knows now, he has never returned.”

Similarly the visitor from the past may someday choose not to visit me again, and stop motivating us to do something about Global warming and climate change. That will be tragic, because we do not have a lifetime to wait, we are experiencing Global warming and climate change, that has reached a crisis stage. If we do not act now, our lifetime shall be more than enough to witness a warm and hospitable planet transformed into a cold and dead planet. Where even hope will hesitate to grow. We have to make a choice now, whether we want to rise upto the occasion or we want to wait a lifetime?

While you debate on this with your mind and your common sense, let me attend to the visitor from the past, and experience a science fiction like reality in the dark zone of the universe, where a moment spent in knowing the unknown feels like a lifetime.