Science Fiction. Short Story

 

Science Fiction. The Falling Feather!

It was a warm Saturday afternoon, Sun was out and mildly shining over the leaves of the trees and tips of grass blades that grew almost everywhere. As far as one could see. The vastness and the openness of the view was captivating, and in many ways quite humbling, because it made you feel so small in this ever stretching land of grass, trees and sunshine that spread like an infinite kiss of the day smooching the earth with its light and warmth. 

At least this is how it was on this warm Saturday afternoon. Everything appeared to be flirting. Grass blades winding against one another, with a deep and unending embrace of light of the sun, as if the light was concealing something that it did not want the eyes of the day to realise. 

It was in this scene of placidity and ultimate serenity, I saw a small feather alighting from above, caught somewhere between the sky and the Earth. Somewhere in the middle, where air existed, where gravity could pull it, where the mild lulls of the breeze made it sway in the cradle of air, and something in this space called “middle” did not want this small, white feather to land on a grass blade and be absorbed by gravity. 

Maybe it was the romance of the light with these grass blades, that did not want to to be interrupted by anything, not even something as light as a feather. Because the Earth wanted to feel the kiss of light all over it, and to be felt by everything growing in its lap of fertility. It wanted the smooch of light to be felt by every grass blade, every grain of soil on Earth, by every tree, by every atom that was there in the space called the “middle!”

I kept staring at the feather, it was being gently tossed here and then there, and in a moment behind the backdrop of the white cloud it appeared to be nowhere, but I knew it was there somewhere, so I kept gazing at it, until this space called “Middle” gave it up, and it landed on the grass blade. As it touched its surface, the light disappeared and the grass blades that were shining with the lustre of green, covered in divine white, now appeared to be simple blades of grass. And in the middle of this green invasion, rested a small white feather, as if a marker to remind the admirer of this view, how far his/her eyes could see. And when his/her eyes finally rested on the white feather, the magic of the green ended, because it was dusk and the orange of the Sun, now shone in the horizon heralding the advent of the night and it's dark stillness. A sense of calm, spread everywhere. It was so still, that even the feather did not move, not even a bit. The still and gentle darkness of the night had supplanted the dominance of the day and its light.

This is what I experienced on a warm Saturday afternoon, in the year 2023. And as you were reading these lines, I am sure, for a moment you wanted to be there too. With the grass blades, with the kiss of the light, with the trees, and with the feather that could not alight on any grass blade until the light had kissed every grass blade and every tree for long enough. To again return tomorrow and cast its divine embrace on everything it touched in this act of secret romance. That even a feather was not granted permission to land and disturb the lovers that lay there still, silent and untouched even by the passing of time. 

Because the embrace of light takes place only when light escapes the limits of time and creates its own moments of eternity. It was exactly the case when it clasped against every grass blade and everything looked like a vast shadow of light cast on everything that existed within the range of one's sight. 

It indeed was light that existed without any threat from time. It was the light of divine love that I saw in that vastness of warm Saturday afternoon of 2023.

It may appear to be a philosophical and allegorical description of what I experienced that day. And everyone who believes in only reasoning and rationality could easily say, “irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors!”

I too believe in it.

But isn't romance a reality? Isn't there rationality in the fact that light kisses everything it touches? Will it be impractical to say that the feather floated in the air, unable to land, because gravity’s pull that depends on the mass was overpowered by the power of loving gusts of the breeze that made the feather sway in all directions? And isn't it possible when the feather touched the veins of the grass-blade it turned a little dark because it was dusk? 

So, I think it is neither philosophical nor allegorical, it is all real, it is all about how you perceive reality. I perceived the reality on this warm afternoon of 2023 as described above. And the logical consequence of my description of this day is very simple. “A beautiful memory of a beautiful summer day in 2023. Because in the future, Global Warming would have touched its peak and Climate Change would be irreversible. This description will remind you of the beauty that once was real, but now it is like a phantom roaming in the vastness of the Earth. And then you shall realise only one fact, “logical consequences are the scarecrows of fools and the beacons of wise men.”

Here I am hoping that it will serve as a beacon to all of us, and inspire us to let the light find its moment of romance with the grass blades and trees, and let the night sky be still, a little silent and mildly dark. So that we can always dream of this white feather somewhere in the middle. Drifting happily and waiting to be granted permission to alight over the grass blades. 

Then as the light retreats to the heavens to kiss some other grass blades longing and waiting for its return. I hope you will let the love of light kiss its grass blades and you will let the feather be the romantic vagabond unwilling to fall, not yet, not yet. Because it too needs to romance that secret something, in that space called “the middle!”

It is a beautiful scene that our future generations deserve to experience as well. They too deserve to feel the touch of beauty, being kissed by the light of love, that spreads endlessly if we look at the Earth where everything was like a perfect romance, until Global warming and Climate change became realities that we humans have been ignoring. And as a consequence, I think it will be rational to think that in future our children shall witness no such wonders of nature. And it will be the greatest tragedy for humanity, because then our future generations will have turned emotionally numb.

Given the current world population and demographics, there are millions of men and women who possess the prudence and experience to not hide the truth. But for whatever reason they have vowed to remain silent and push our future generations into this future of uncertainties and emotional sterility.

Let us not forget “at twenty we have many desires that hide the truth, but beyond 40 there are only real and fragile truths. Our abilities and our failings.” And turning a blind eye towards these imminent threats, shall be our greatest failing. Especially for those who have passed the age of having too many desires and can see the truth. 

For the children of 2023, the ownership to act and manage Climate Change is minimal, but their parents and those who are beyond 40 ( like myself ) shall be accountable to the future generations for not acting the way we ought to have. For not ensuring that the future generations too should be able to witness the romance of the divine, the ethereal feeling of seeing the kiss of the light. The divine light!

When it comes to world leaders, business owners, policy makers, a lot has been said, but so far nothing has been done. This callousness only makes me believe that they intend to send their sons and daughters to some secret planet that they have found. While they want us to deal with the fate that we have been tied to by their actions, and their actions alone. So, it is their responsibility to tackle these dangers and find solutions that actually work and show results. With Global warming getting worse, and heat waves to become a routine yearly phenomenon by 2050. We are looking at a future that is very uncertain and dark.

All these facts only prove that the Global community of politicians, policy makers and business leaders, does not care. This procrastination and callousness shall cost all of us dearly- The feather will manage to alight anyway, the grass blades shall adapt too. But what we will do is the real question. What will the humans do then?

It is time to employ some common sense and allow selfless and responsible innovations to define our future.

What do I mean?

I am a great fan of Apple products because they offer a very sleek interface and their physical designs are like an artwork, only that the artwork is self aware, intuitive and a software enabled smart device.

But it is a nightmare when I have to travel. And largely due to our growing dependency on gadgets and smart devices.

I currently use:

A phone

A laptop

A keyboard

A head phone

A USB stick

I have tried to keep it minimal. But it always tends to self-replicate like a virus.

My phone needs a separate charger

My laptop needs a separate charger

My keyboard needs batteries since it has wireless connectivity

My headphone needs a charger too

And my USB stick likes to be a loner. Ah no that is incorrect. Not a loner, but a minimalist. 

Now I check into a hotel room.

And there is the surprise. The charging point has different female/male ports and that is a different ordeal altogether. So I have to carry a multi-port connector, which allows me to deal with this problem.

Now let us do a little bit of mathematics.

5 devices

4 chargers

1 multiport charging terminal

= 5+4+1 

= 10 

I would have smiled had it been 12, because I consider it to be a little lucky. Alas it is 10!

Now can you guess how much junk we have created and how much energy was consumed to develop these chargers. Quite a lot actually!

Whereas the solution is actually very simple and straightforward.

For God’s sake. Have one universal charger that works across all devices. And a laptop has every potential to act as a power generating source to keep its batteries fully charged. I have explained it in one of my previous blog posts. And it is possible to create a slot within the base of the laptop where the keyboard gets injected, and when I am not in the mood to type on the laptop, I eject the keyboard and use it. 

We have complicated it on purpose.

It is important, and in 2023 very necessary to have a universal standard when it comes to chargers, keyboards, charging ports ( male/female ) . Unless we do that, we are lying about climate Change and Global Warming.

And it is the same with batteries of electric cars. I think since a car has an axle that rotates like a dynamo, it can generate enough power to keep charging its own battery. It does not need to be charged again and again. Simple principle of dynamo. 

Dynamo

Come on, do not tell me you did not know this. You know it, but you want to make more profit. Correct!

Or did I surprise you and now you are thinking. Ah, actually this is possible. Why didn't we think about it? Anything is possible if you are honest and you believe in responsible science.

Nevermind, now that you know it, if at all you have read this blog post, think about it.

Especially this part : The axle moves, now imagine at the ends it has small dynamos, which generate charge. This charge gets stored in batteries. So it keeps self charging, by the virtue of its motion. 

Simple science where no rocket science is used. Because we all know in the past bicycles were mounted with electric bulbs that lit whenever the cyclist made an effort to move forward, because the dynamo placed in the back tyre rubbed against the rim of the tyre, that made the dynamo move, and in turn its motion generated charge. Now, can you imagine how much charge a moving car will generate? 

Bicycle with a vintage dynamo and a light bulb. Please watch the video from 4:30.

I already overheard you there. “A lot!” And that puts us on the same wavelength. For now at least.

Science always simplifies things, it never complicates them. And we tend to forget this simple rule of science.

So, there is a lot that needs to be done if we are to control Global Warming and Climate Change related threats.

I have already done my bit in this regard. I just published my science fiction novel, They Loved in 2075 and it deals with similar issues, via a love story set in 2075. It is a science fiction novel, where evolution of human emotions is the central theme and portrayal of threats that humans will be exposed to in 2075, is where the fiction part of this science fiction novel, They Loved in 2075, lies. Overall it is an exciting story of love, passions, technology, invasions, self aware machines, human adaptations to cope with rising temperatures and less oxygen content in Earth’s atmosphere.

It is my way to express my modest rebellion ( if there is anything modest about rebellion ) against our silence and inaction towards Climate Change and Global Warming.

Read it to believe it, and if it brings out the rebel in you, please tame the rebel and make him/her a rebel for a good cause. Just like Mr. Albert Camus, the French writer who wrote with a rebellious honesty and candidness. But his rebellion was always against social taboos and small mindedness of people, who refused to accept rational and obvious social facts.

And in the midst of existing crisis like situation we need Mr. Camus like rebels to bring about the right change that will change people’s lethargic approach towards Climate Change and Global Warming. It is time that we stopped looking around for these change bringers, and explore this rebel within us. Only then can we think of innovations which promote eco-friendly technologies and solutions to the current problems. 

It may be a tough decision to make, because we tend to compare ourselves with our peers, given that we are social beings. And this prevents us from allowing this rebel with a good cause, to spring into action. We are worried to look and act differently, although we know great men/women do not do different things; they do things differently.

But we can seek some encouragement from Mr. Mahatma Gandhi who said, “It is easy to act differently when you are alone. But it takes a lot of courage to stand in the midst of the crowd and act differently.” Because then everybody is watching you, you are like a fish in a glass bowl. It is the irony of being a rebel or being a believer of responsible science. But if you succeed in making your point, you become what I call “a famous rebel.” Who has a fan following and people look up to him/her, because he/she is the change setter. Someone able to do what has never been tried before. If we cannot be this rebel the world needs to see. Then it is true for most of us, we are serving a life-sentence in the dungeon of self.

It is time we emerged out of this dungeon, and from the state of self exile, and sought the light, the feather and the grass blades to embolden ourselves with the belief that the rebel with a good cause who dwells in each one of us is willing to take control and manifest itself as the true initiator of change- Good change that the world needs to witness in 2023, if we wish to pass on a glorious future to our future generations. The children, who will be the men and women of tomorrow. 

Let the mirror of our deeds reflect responsibility, proactiveness, valour, honesty, character, love, and a strong element of romance whenever our future generations visit this mirror that reflects the past, where the future is the reality that exists due to the sum total of our actions in the past. And let them smile to see us persevering for their good and safe future. 

There are times when we are all dressed up and there is no place to go. I am sure you recognise this feeling and the situation too. But in the case of Global warming and Climate change, we know where we have to go, but we are not dressed up. Dressed up to work on this problem with the efficacy of professionals on the job, where predefined objectives ought to be achieved by every professional. It seems we are still waiting for the major catastrophe that will stir us into action, but it will be very late by then. Then even if we are fully dressed, and we know the place where we have to go, it all shall be to no avail to serve the cause. Because at this stage Global warming and Climate change will be irreversible.

So let us be optimists and dare to be rebels willing to initiate good change. If we wait for too long, a deep sense of pessimism will set in, and we shall be the victims of our own wrong doings. Because it is dangerous when we get used to pessimism, then it is as agreeable as optimism. When that happens we become rebels who are on a mission to destroy their own species. And there can not be a greater tragedy than this. Because acting at this stage shall yield no results. The actions of men/women shall appear inferior when weighed against the enormity of the challenge lying in front of us. 

Actions like : Gilding refined gold, painting a beautiful lily, throwing perfume on the rose, is nothing but an utterly wasteful and ridiculous excess. Where the purpose of the act is rendered so petty by the fact that it is an unwanted and untimely remedy, where nothing can be done now by human intervention, and only a miracle can save us or turn the odds in our favour. 

However, miracles depend on factors like: coincidence, chance, probability factors, conditionals, and a bit of entropy as well. That is a lot of dependency on factors that are not within our control, and when that happens we are competing with fate and fortune, and fortune always favours the brave. And in our hearts we know, we were not brave at all when we should have acted brave.

Or were we?

I shall let you decide that and hope, when fortune decides to favour the brave, it finds our acts brave enough!

In these trying situations let us stay faithful to the cause of good change and we shall witness the miracle. 

Please allow me to quote from Proverbs 25:19

"Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint."

With that being said, let the reign of light begin.