Science fiction. The escape!

 

Science fiction. The escape!

She is not anywhere, it seems she has managed to escape again. And this time she is not alone, she is in the company of her few friends, who just like her, were supposed to guard the members of the tribunal of this planet. Where nothing happens without the consent of the tribunal. They say, tribunal was formed after the world witnessed drastic climate changes and extreme global warming. 

“But why does she keep escaping every time she is assigned the job of guarding the members of the tribunal?”

It is everyone's question, and right now this was the question asked by the protection squad member who has joined as her replacement. And this person has so many questions, having questions is not bad at all, but if only I have to answer all of them. Well that is not fun!

The tribunal members and others miss her because she is the best. Best in everything. And I miss her in particular, because everyday she asked me just one question and that was it. Nothing less and nothing more.

I wish her replacement were like her. But then nobody can be like her and that is why the tribunal wants ro find her anyhow.

I am Ramsees, and I belong to the same squad that protects the tribunal members. Who are trying their best to restore order across the globe, but they are failing at it terribly. There is something missing that they are unable to understand. Most of the population considers the tribunal to be a liability because it has started focusing on policies that do not matter to the main population of the planet.

And many members of the tribunal and most of the squad members think she must have lost her faith in the tribunal just like many others, and this may have led to her disappearance. But in 2075, nothing can disappear without the knowledge of the systems that monitor every activity in and around the city. Right now, all these hi tech systems appear to have failed. And completely so.

Among the growing global crisis, the tribunal members are at high risk. This is why they desperately need her back. And finding her is my job.

Here I am still thinking, where to begin and how to find her. Because she has left no trail behind, she has somehow disabled her tracking device too and I am left with no choice but to pray, if Heavens could transform the sky into a huge mirror and reflect her image. I know that may appear to be a delirious imagination, but in desperation it is the only way to seek some inspiration. Converting the sky into a mirror is not possible, but turning the sky into a huge eye that can scan every micro inch of the planet is possible.

I have activated the satellites and they are scanning the planet to locate her. It has been more than 5 days but there is no clue about her whereabouts. And she is not an exiguous organism that cannot be captured by the high precision cameras of these satellites. For the common people she is evolving into a hero, whereas for the squad and tribunal she is the most invidious subject they have to deal with. What makes it extremely ironic is the fact that they need her more than she needs them. And there is a reason for this. 

Not only is she a perfect combat specialist, she also possesses the heart of gold and the mind of a million supercomputers. So, you can guess why the tribunal needs her and why the common people love her so much.

And it is a pitiable situation because the tribunal is like a cat that is prowling in the night to kill a rat. It pounces on the rat, clutches the rat tenderly in her jaws, and although it is famished the cat cannot bite the rat. It is as complex as this. At least for the tribunal it is. But I know, there are few tribunal members who are really hard working, honest and they sincerely want to serve the main population. And it is my guess, they know where she is. 

There is a rumour that she is the daughter of one of these honest tribunal members, but when you check her records, her parentage is classified and she never mentions anything about them. 

Ah! I almost forgot, I need to find her. So, I am meeting one of her closest associates today. Who did not run away with her.

It is late in the evening and I am standing outside his door. I have pressed the bell more than thrice but there has not been any response yet. So, I decided to climb the roof and then descend into the main living room via the chimney hole. 

After nearly spending 30 minutes in the long hole covered with a thick layer of black ash, I kicked the iron bars of the chimney’s base that led into the main living room, and I crawled out with my head piercing out like an owl, whose head sort of beautifully projects forward and backwards while hooting during the nights. And here I was in the living room all covered in black ash and looking like an Ash man. 

I realised I had no chance of becoming a super man so I decided to be an Ash man. I stood there nearly for 5 minutes stretching my neck, my back and my arms. Then, I began searching the rooms, but there was nobody. And strangely, the doors were bolted from inside.

So, where did the occupants of the house go, especially my only source, who would lead me to her?

After searching every corner of the house for 30 minutes, I decided to relax in a reclining chair. And leaving my ash marks behind least bothered me, because I was feeling sprained after crawling through the hole and then searching the house for so long. And anyway, I was not a thief!

So, the chair began to swing back and forth, while my thoughts too oscillated in my head.

Then, as I was thinking about where he could be and where she could be as well. I saw footsteps being formed next to my ash bearing footprints left on the wooden floor. And this scared me, and do you know why? Because I do not believe in magic. I strongly believe in science and I have read the science fiction about the Invisible Man, and my worry was that somebody had mastered it, and if it was someone with nefarious intentions, then we all would be in trouble. And right now I was the one who was dealing with it. So, I had every valid reason to be the most scared.

So, I kept rocking my chair, as if I had not observed anything. And the more I pretended to look normal, my heart began beating faster and I think louder too. Because never before had I heard my own heart beats, but right now, despite the rocking movement of the chair, I could hear my own heart beats. Suddenly I began hoping that this invisible entity in the room did not possess a heightened sense of hearing, because then he/she would know I am nervous, and that I have sensed his/her presence. 

I slid my hands under my thighs resting on the chair, and I began pulling out the silk cover that covered its base. The silk cloth was luckily lying there and I happened to sit on it. It was folded in 5 layers, and this meant it was wide and long enough to cover a person.

When I had pulled it entirely and crumbled it to fit in my palm, I began withdrawing my hand slowly, and now I began watching the ash footsteps that were moving around the room. After a few minutes they got closer to my chair, I decided not to do anything, so that this person develops an impression I am harmless, because right now I was clueless about his/her presence.

This person did not realise I had noticed his/her presence because he/she did not do anything to remove the ash dust from his/her feet. In this situation it was not about who would bell the cat, because there were only two of us in the room, and one of us had to bell the cat. Which for me was him, and for him it was definitely me.

Finally after waiting patiently and rocking the chair for several minutes, that dragged on and on, the invisible person came a bit closer  to my chair than last time, and I threw the silk cloth at him/her and sparing upon him/her like a jaguar that had been waiting for this moment for a decade.

I quickly wrapped the silk cloth around her. Yes, it was a girl. I had guessed it from the markings of the feet on the floor. Very lean and narrow toes, with the main foot-markings that were slim, and they could not be of a man. And my guess was correct.

“Just leave me Rasmsees. It is me. For our friendship’s sake let me go. I promise I will reveal myself and assume the form where light gets blocked and you can see me. Come on, you are hurting me!”

Well, like always I obliged and respected her command.

Now she sat right in front of me and we talked about her new……… Ah, whatever it was. Because I did not know whether being invisible would be an invention or a discovery. You know what I mean, because it can be either, or it can be both.

But right now, I had discovered my subject and she was not willing to return to the tribunal. I tried to convince her, but she would not listen.

Finally when I insisted she said something that surprised me.

“I have neither invented it nor discovered it. I met someone who offered me this capability. It may appear that I wish to become invisible and I turn invisible, but whenever I wish so, this person I met, knows via my neural signals that I wish to be invisible and he activates something remotely; and I turn invisible. The wishes are mine but their fulfilment is completely his expertise.

He calls it a photo effect, with photo dilation and manipulation via some light beams of different wavelengths, that create an effect where I become a part of the surroundings, although I am there in reality, it is just that you cannot see me because the photons are being manipulated, to cheat your vision. So it distorts reality for you, not for me. That is how he explained it to me and he said it was a gift for me, and he vanished. He said he will reappear when he knows there is need, and according to him he is always watching me. I hope he is, because now I don't want to get frozen in one form forever. I have come to like switching between both forms.

I believe he was not from this galaxy, he was very intelligent and he seemed to know so much about the universe. So much Ramsees! And his civilisation has decided to take control of the tribunal because they feel it has become useless and it is not delivering on the promises. They will invade tonight and I have been asked to stay here.”

“What!”

I was shaken and totally surprised when she used the word “invade.” And I had more questions.

“Can you trust them? What are you doing?”

At this she laughed and these were her words offered neither as assurance nor in her defence, “They own universes and they manage planets too. Even the tribunal members know it, just a few of them. The honest ones. Once, when I was guarding the core members of the tribunal they were arguing about something. It was then when one of them mentioned something that sounded like “an invasion from the higher masters.” 

And the person who gave me this gift belongs to this community of higher masters.

So, whether you want to resist it or you do not want to resist it. They will invade because it is their job to set order across the planets where there is life.

Do you want to resist or join us Ramsees?”

I did not know what to tell her. But somehow I got up, and said with a lot of mental clarity, “I will do my duty, and my duty is towards the tribunal. Because there are few honest people in the tribunal. I will want to protect them and let them manage the tribunal in the future. That is what I will do! Just because there are few tainted people in the tribunal does not mean all of them are demonic. There are many who deserve to define policies for the well being of humanity because they are just in their dealings and they have character.”

The moment I finished lecturing her, the honest members of the tribunal also appeared in the room and one stranger who looked different from all of us also stood there along with them.

And they all rhymed these words, “Then welcome to the new tribunal of the honest members. We wanted to hear this from you Ramsees. From now onwards you and she as well, will be leading the tribunal. And we will be offering you our wise counsel too. And it has been approved by the masters themselves.”

I began breathing a bit faster and my heart beats again turned louder, but none of them could hear them. I was excited, not because it was a prestigious job, but because I had the chance to set things right, and change the world for the good of all. And the sense of responsibility was overwhelming and I did not want to break the trust of so many who had supported my candidature for this position.

In the end there was no invasion as such, but the masters had invaded the hearts of the wise and honest few, to serve humanity better and make this planet too a race of star bound people. And now, we work at the tribunal and she is no longer invisible. But the master who had come to like her for her bravery and honesty, let her retain this gift, and it is a secret only few of us know in the tribunal.

The population is happier and we work hard to fulfil the needs of all. And now the tribunal has been able to restore the trust of the population. But it has not been easy.

To know more about what difficulties we had to go through, read the science fiction novel, They Loved in 2075. It is the story about two lovers, two human lovers, who are keen to live their lives as humans among the growing population of self aware and intelligent machines that can emote better than humans do.

This has led to loss of human identity at emotional and social level. Eventually it culminates into a clash of civilisations which leads to war and devastation. 

And the civilisation that owns these self aware and human-like machines, wants to assert its dominance, whereas another civilisation which is technologically much advanced, wants to retain basic human instincts and emotions. So this science fiction novel, They Loved in 2075, is a romance scifi unlike any other, and it deals with a topic that will be a concern of every human being in 2075.

And if you want to prepare for it in advance, please explore the science fiction novel, They Loved in 2075. And fight today for the well being of humanity's future generations. Let there be change now, in 2023!