“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.
Science Fiction
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.
Writers’ Journal #101 – Scorched Earth – 14
“How can a ship this size could disappear in an instance? Check for outer galaxies,” said furiously, while walking around in frustration. First, the landing, then the signal which led to the underground chamber, the pyramid then now my ship had disappeared. The series of events were making less sense than I could take and it was affecting my mood, to put it mildly.
Writers’ Journal #99 – Scorched Earth – 13
“What happened to the ship?” asked Neva while retaking his scanner for the umpteenth times. He looked up into the spot where the ship was and then looked down on the screen in front of him. He couldn’t believe the screen or his eyes. The ship the size of a small city, carrying over a million people disappeared within a blink of an eye. Even after what they had seen, the technology to perform such a feat was still far beyond what they could imagine. Ability to transform such a large chunk of matter to energy was unthinkable. In theory, yes, but not in practice.
Writers’ Journal #98 – Scorched Earth – 12
“Yes, activated when we approached the pyramid,” Neva repeated the last point. “So the ground was shaking,” resumed Dio. “The pyramid waking up from a deep sleep?” “Yes. That is the only conclusion I can think of. But what else will this mean for this planet, I do not know,” replied Neva. Just as we…
Writers’ Journal #97 – Scorched Earth – Outline
I know it is a bit too late for the outline but then as a well-known saying goes, it’s better late than never! Story so far: In distance future, our heroes have traveled, more like ran away, from Earth’s whose weather system by then resembled more of Jupiter’s raging hurricanes than green Earth that we…