Science fiction. After the crash

 

#Sciencefiction. After the crash

“Nothing! Screamed one of the survivors. I do not want anything, just pull me out. I have been here for 3 days now. Please!”

These were the words of the lady, when I reached for her hand, managed to touch her fingertips, and before I could hold her hand, the side of the bridge that she was on, crumbled under the weight of the rubble that had piled up there due to the buildings falling over it. And in just a few seconds, her voice had turned silent and the touch of her fingertips was replaced by a sharp and cold breeze of air that passed through the shattered crevice in the concrete, from where I had slipped my hand to grab hers.

But now, nothing remained, neither of this lady nor the bridge that connected my part of the world to the rest of the world. Both, the bridge and she along with it had been plunged into the depths of the sea, where the water surface appeared turbulent for a minute and then it was still, and overcome by a sense of calm that spread over it like a vast blanket, and when you looked at it, you knew something was deceptive about this calmness, about this quietude. Because the surface of the sea was too calm, only making it resemble a serpent that had just ingested a fully grown beast, and now lay basking in the silence of the corner somewhere. And it lies there with the innocence of a cold reptile, that is the master of physical and emotional disguise as well. Because it is cold, too cold!

And right now, the calm sea looked like this cold and completely indifferent reptile that had consumed both the bridge and the lady, and it lay there without any sign of sensation, any sign of remorse over what had happened. Anyway, the bridge was gone, with it the lady too, and right now I was still dealing with what was left and what it meant to me?

It was at this moment that I felt another tremor, and the part of the bridge that somehow still stood there and bore my weight, began developing cracks like a long sheet of ice, and these cracks spread almost everywhere and I was in the center of these cracks spreading out in all directions. I knew if I moved, the entire bridge would collapse and along with it I too would perish in the depths of the cold reptile like sea, waiting for the easy victims. 

So I began crawling slowly because I knew the bridge would collapse for certain, and I did not want the cold reptile to feast on my misfortune. And this thought allowed me to crawl slowly, slithering like a reptile myself over a  reptile that spread everywhere. After 3 hours of crawling, as I had reached the end of the bridge, I stretched my hand to grab the solid ground, and the moment I was about to stand on my knees, the bridge developed further cracks but I somehow had managed to reach the solid ground. And from there I watched the bridge disappear into the depths of the sea. Just like before, in a moment the sea turned calm again, and the disappearance of the bridge gave rise to a huge and almost impossible gap to scale. The gap was physically very wide and emotionally it was never ending.

I must have been thinking about it, when the ground that I stood on shook a bit, and then everything around me felt a constant rally of lulls which turned violent; and in a few seconds I found myself launched into the air and then in another moment I was tossed into the sea. And I knew there was something hideous about everything today, and the reptile had developed an insatiable appetite to claim human lives. While the floor of the sea sucked me towards itself, I used every muscle to reach the surface of the water and stay afloat. The turbulence could be felt in water as well, because the visible part of the sea had transformed into the playground of waves, very high waves!

Now I was sure something wasn't right. Because it was not due to the earthquake, but due to something else. Something the cold reptile knew about, but I was completely clueless about. 

I was struggling to stay afloat because the waves were getting rampant and throwing me in all directions. Then I saw this colossal wave arising from the center and it kept getting bigger and bigger with every second, until it shed its every drop of rage just a few feet away from me. The impact was so heavy that I was forced into the depths of the sea, and for a moment I believed the cold reptile had triumphed eventually. It had not yet swallowed me, but it was beginning to open its mouth. And as it would have pushed me through its mouth into the depths of its belly, it felt the need to resist.

I was still there on the floor of  the sea, but now, I was there against my will and I began stirring. As if life had whispered its secret chant in my ears. My stirring was as slow as the faint whispering in my ears, and as I moved, I realised the water near the surface was raging with anger, but the water at the sea bed was calm. Truly the nature of the cold serpent. Ready to strike any moment, and feed its hollow and always empty belly. 

In this moment it was my will working against the will of the cold reptile. And as I struggled to free myself from its grip, something pulled me up and launched me in the middle of a high wave, that held me in its lap of ever growing intensity of commotion, that somehow had a uniform outward appearance. But inside the wave, I was rippling in all directions and hoping to be lowered on the surface, so that I could gulp some fresh air, and along with it some life as well.

And my denial to rise with the wave and then be cast into the depths again, helped me ride a wave of lesser intensity, which drifted me far away from this chaotic epicenter of violent sea, where the cold reptile lay silent and still.

Now, the sea was calm, the reptile was cynically silent as usual, and the only thing moving on the surface of the silent sea was me. Just me. Beating my arms against the water to make it across and reach the shore, where the turbulence had ceased. So it appeared from where I was.

And I desperately hit every ounce of water that offered resistance, and as I held on to long grass blades leaning against the surface of water, I managed to crawl back to the shore. And as I turned around to look at the sea, the sea had disappeared, the serpent had recoiled itself into a discreet hole, the bridge had reappeared in the form of new hope, and the body of the female lay there, enshrined in the rubble of the bridge that fell, when the world shook and with it shook the sea giving rise to the cold serpent. That lay there waiting to consume anything it could dart towards.

The female lay under the pile of collapsed concrete, motionless and breathless as well. Nothing around her moved, not even the wind. For her, everything had turned into a pile of dust, and now it did not matter where the dust fell or which parts of this huge void it covered. Because it is in the nature of the dust, just like the cold reptile. In a moment it unsettles, and just in another moment it settles, as if it were there, lying in this state for many centuries. I call it the dust of the reptiles, the cold dust. That buries under it millions of hopes, millions of passions, endless instances of unreaped fruits of labour by tirelessly toiling men and women, and most important of all it buries every trace of the bridge that once stood there to bridge gaps.

So, I stood there looking at the endless sea of dust, settled dust, where many things and several virtues lay buried. And under this vast stretch of settled dust, lay the silent, motionless and cold serpent, that shall always be awakened whenever the bridge falls, because it knows, with it someone else will fall too. And then it shall strike and feast, and reveal the true nature of the beast- The serpent under the settled dust ready to strike and feast.

But right now, the sea of dust did not matter, and what lay buried under it mattered the least, because it was time to develop a new bridge and somehow reach the other end of the gap. Then nothing would matter, neither the dust, nor the cold serpent, nothing at all.

So, I took a last look at the sea of dust, the gap, the fallen pile of concrete and I moved ahead. With a part of the grass blade still in my hand. A reminder that necessity is indeed the mother of risk, maybe the mother of everything.

And in order to take this belief forward, I wrote my #sciencefiction novel, They Loved in 2075. Where the sea is different, the serpent is totally different, because it deals with the realities of 2075. About the many bridges we will have to build in 2075. Because humans will be struggling to experience love in 2075. 

This #scifi 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 #Scifi 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! It has the potential to be one of the #scifibooks that initiates good social and intellectual change.