Then the whole show halted just as it started without warning. Colors merged into the green light as it was before. We stood firmly on the ground like statues with our mouths opened wide enough for the ship itself to be emerged from them. I had to force a slap myself to make my body move from the events that just taken place right in front of me. Something had happened since Dio went into the light. Could he had brought back the ship like we intended? The static noise from the scanner suddenly echoed through the silence.
Month: February 2020
Writers’ Journal #109 – Scorched Earth – 22
“Let’s prepare for the trip, shall we?” Dio broke the silence with a cheerful tone. It was a one-way trip and he knew it. But he, like the rest, knew there was no other options but to risk it all. We weren’t sure if the instruction from ages long would still work. Perhaps, the machinery had been upgraded, the owners evolved into more advanced forms and had abandoned their project. We would never know, but we had to risk it all. Would Dio even know what to do at the other end, if he ever got there? Questions without answers echoed in our minds as Dio packed for the journey into the unknown.
Writers’ Journal #108 – Scorched Earth – 21
Once all of us took the implication in, silence fell on us like a giant boulder crushing the ants. Stopping the transmission would mean that one of us would have to be a sacrificial lamb, if successful. But whether the mission was successful, he would be stuck on the other side of the signal and could never come back.
Writers’ Journal #107 – Scorched Earth – 20
“So we are looking for the manual, huh? Let’s spread around and look for it. What does it look like?” I asked Neva while trying to make sense of both the alien and ancient terrestrial language on the wall. I silently cursed myself for not paying attention to the linguistic course in the Academy and relied on the Universal Translator (AKA UT) for my communication needs. And my communication officer on the ship, Hari Krishnan, was not in the party that landed. It too was my call to exclude her, and I was feeling much regret for that decision. She would have been the perfect person for that task as one of the last remaining Sanskrit speakers from the Academy. But we had much more urgent issues to resolve than regretting over the past decisions, although I must admit all of them were mine.
Writers’ Journal #104 – Scorched Earth – 19
“Space Chicken. Oh, yes. I remember it from the Academy. You mean the robot that travels across the universe and uses the resources to multiply itself?” asked Neva. Being one of the top graduates, the other being Dio from the Academy from his cohort meant that Neva was a walking, talking encyclopedia. His “elephant” memory helped a lot. He could recall facts and writings that most students in the current Academy would not even remember after midterm examination.
Writers’ Journal #103 – Scorched Earth – 18
Both Neva and Dio went to work immediately. Each of them took their turns, scanned the words and paired the respective words in the Alien language of Sanskrit. Thankfully, Sanskrit was heavily utilized in the latter half of the 21st Century for its linguistic roots corresponding to the fields in Artificial Intelligence. In no time,…
Writers’ Journal #104 – Scorched Earth – 17
“Maybe, if we go down to the pyramid again to observe the surroundings, we might have a better chance than just sitting here?” asked Neva. He was right. We need to move our butts or else we too would be out of food and out of minds soon. We owed the people on the ship with their lives. With that realization, we stood up, dusted our clothes, and made our way back into the stairs down to the underground chamber.
Writers’ Journal #103 – Scorched Earth – 16
But I was the Captain and I must make a decision and fast. Not just the ship and the million of lives but also our own lives. Our food rations were for no more than a few days and we won’t be able to think without starving ourselves. The situation was dire no matter which direction I looked at and it depressed me. The rest of the team also must have noticed my mood as we all sat under the tree. I had to do something.
Writers’ Journal #102 – Scorched Earth – 15
“How? How can we go back to Earth now? There isn’t any other way?” I scratched my head furiously. Losing the ship with a few million people wasn’t bad enough, but now we had to go back to Earth, a galaxy away, to bring them back? Those millions of people put their trust and lives with me and then they disappeared into nowhere. That would make me the worst Captain in history since Edward John Smith, the Captain of the Titanic.