Five continents,
as we knew it.
And one more.
There was a definite sense of deja vu those days in my life. Every time I read the news I remembered, in a faraway land of chaos, some figments of my past. I remembered my days as an archeological survey officer in the turbulent Punjab of 1980’s. Those days of anarchy had left such an indelible impression on my mind that I often had dreams of myself running from flailing limbs and bloody streets. There was a new breed of terrorism out in the wild now. It had no religion and no mindless promised heavens. It was a violent upheaval against science.
All religions had united against science and wanted to take the world to ‘the good old days’ of ignorance and consequently to ‘bliss’.
Everyday scientists were being attacked. Books were being burned.
Buildings were being razed to the ground. To me it almost felt familiar. The movement had originated in Africa.
The members of this organization called themselves Scimites. It had first engulfed the most impoverished sections of the society. Gradually it started making its ways to India and thence to east Asia. They got their funding backdoor from the drug and extortion underworld. The world was seeing a sharp spike in the number of atheists. World’s religions, seeing a potential winner in the new movement, aligned themselves to science haters. Their spies had infiltrated all known bastions. Gradually famous scientists were going underground.
I am a geologist. For years I had roamed the planet in search of new vistas of ‘earth’.
In my youth I had been in the Archeological Survey of India, digging through fossilised towns, searching, seeing, believing. Then I took up a research position in a Greenland expedition.
Located in the chilly north near the Arctic circle and one of the biggest islands in the world, Greenland had been a mystery for most of the last century. It was suspected to be rich in minerals and radioactive substances. Thus expeditions were routinely made to gauge possible treasures.
Those far cries of violence did not affect my Arctic peace. I was busy unearthing, literally, ancient soil. I had my own level of excitation, and happiness. Sometimes news from those ghastly murders trickled down to my sanctuary. My fellow scientists felt ill at ease. They were celebrated men of science. They would be easy targets once they returned. Thus under vague premonitions we toiled on.
27th November 2026.
History repeats itself, they say. But we never learn. How futile sometimes our hopes prove to be! Having seen much mindless violence in my youth, I had begun to come to terms with the world as it is. Foolishly, I still hoped for a peaceful tomorrow. How wrong I was!
The world awoke in smokes that day. As many as ten major cities worldwide had evaporated from the face of the earth in the rising dawn. A terrorist strike never before seen or imagined had, by the use of nuclear arms, done which humanity would never recover from. It was an attempt to turn science into the Devil. The cities which were flattened were all from third world countries. It was those poorest of the poor peoples among which the Scimites foresaw their rise. The chain reaction set fire to a total breakdown of civil machinery everywhere. People looted, burned and killed. Africa was engulfed in flames of riot. Once the promised land, the middle east erupted into hell. More bombings followed. The new millenium had brought nuclear power to many others. Extremists took control in such countries.
Everywhere there began a search for Uranium.
It seemed that God had left this world.
It seemed that the apocalypse had begun.
As always, at the heart of every movement lies man’s ambition, so it was here. Scimitism was merely a vehicle for the unscrupulous soul’s fantasies. The Scimites blamed science for the impending doom. They said the end was near. Their claws shone in the bloodbath. Their support swelled. People believed them. New messiahs were born. Claims of being the One were heard from all corners. Scientists became refugees. Universities turned into battlegrounds. Students became revolutionaries.
I was busy in my own world when the blasts ripped apart my illusion of peace. How could have I hoped? I heard about the Scimites taking control in many countries. It was a never ending nightmare. People had forgotten rationality. We feared for our lives.
It was exactly that day that I discovered a massive Uranium deposit in Greenland. It was enough to make a thousand more atom bombs. I pondered upon the consequences. Was the world ready for this? More importantly, was I ready? What if the discovery fell into the wrong hands, which was more probable than it ever was? I saw the future of an entire generation in my mind. If I did not reveal my discovery to the world it might lay undiscovered forever. Was I ready to take the risk?
I realized that I could not live with this hope in a deranged world. I had always dreamed about such a discovery. It would make me rich beyond my wildest dreams. But who was I kidding? If I went public with this discovery I would only bait the science haters. I had wanted all the glory of an explorer, but not only the discovery would attract all negative forces, but I would become a living effigy in their hands. They would use me as a symbol of the scientist to target, but also the Uranium to build more atom bombs.
I quietly relocated the expedition camp to a safer spot. When the rest of my crew did not ask any questions I became suspicious. They had all been eager enough to agree and move on. Being the captain of the expedition I had to know the truth.
The revelation came to me in the next few days. They had known about the gigantic cluster. I was thrilled to know what they had known all along.
And I could, if for only a little time, hope again. Hope is what makes us human. The world would never be the same again, but hope is why we go on. It is why I go on.
as we knew it.
And one more.
***
There was a definite sense of deja vu those days in my life. Every time I read the news I remembered, in a faraway land of chaos, some figments of my past. I remembered my days as an archeological survey officer in the turbulent Punjab of 1980’s. Those days of anarchy had left such an indelible impression on my mind that I often had dreams of myself running from flailing limbs and bloody streets. There was a new breed of terrorism out in the wild now. It had no religion and no mindless promised heavens. It was a violent upheaval against science.
All religions had united against science and wanted to take the world to ‘the good old days’ of ignorance and consequently to ‘bliss’.
Everyday scientists were being attacked. Books were being burned.
Buildings were being razed to the ground. To me it almost felt familiar. The movement had originated in Africa.
The members of this organization called themselves Scimites. It had first engulfed the most impoverished sections of the society. Gradually it started making its ways to India and thence to east Asia. They got their funding backdoor from the drug and extortion underworld. The world was seeing a sharp spike in the number of atheists. World’s religions, seeing a potential winner in the new movement, aligned themselves to science haters. Their spies had infiltrated all known bastions. Gradually famous scientists were going underground.
I am a geologist. For years I had roamed the planet in search of new vistas of ‘earth’.
In my youth I had been in the Archeological Survey of India, digging through fossilised towns, searching, seeing, believing. Then I took up a research position in a Greenland expedition.
Located in the chilly north near the Arctic circle and one of the biggest islands in the world, Greenland had been a mystery for most of the last century. It was suspected to be rich in minerals and radioactive substances. Thus expeditions were routinely made to gauge possible treasures.
Those far cries of violence did not affect my Arctic peace. I was busy unearthing, literally, ancient soil. I had my own level of excitation, and happiness. Sometimes news from those ghastly murders trickled down to my sanctuary. My fellow scientists felt ill at ease. They were celebrated men of science. They would be easy targets once they returned. Thus under vague premonitions we toiled on.
***
27th November 2026.
History repeats itself, they say. But we never learn. How futile sometimes our hopes prove to be! Having seen much mindless violence in my youth, I had begun to come to terms with the world as it is. Foolishly, I still hoped for a peaceful tomorrow. How wrong I was!
The world awoke in smokes that day. As many as ten major cities worldwide had evaporated from the face of the earth in the rising dawn. A terrorist strike never before seen or imagined had, by the use of nuclear arms, done which humanity would never recover from. It was an attempt to turn science into the Devil. The cities which were flattened were all from third world countries. It was those poorest of the poor peoples among which the Scimites foresaw their rise. The chain reaction set fire to a total breakdown of civil machinery everywhere. People looted, burned and killed. Africa was engulfed in flames of riot. Once the promised land, the middle east erupted into hell. More bombings followed. The new millenium had brought nuclear power to many others. Extremists took control in such countries.
Everywhere there began a search for Uranium.
It seemed that God had left this world.
It seemed that the apocalypse had begun.
***
As always, at the heart of every movement lies man’s ambition, so it was here. Scimitism was merely a vehicle for the unscrupulous soul’s fantasies. The Scimites blamed science for the impending doom. They said the end was near. Their claws shone in the bloodbath. Their support swelled. People believed them. New messiahs were born. Claims of being the One were heard from all corners. Scientists became refugees. Universities turned into battlegrounds. Students became revolutionaries.
I was busy in my own world when the blasts ripped apart my illusion of peace. How could have I hoped? I heard about the Scimites taking control in many countries. It was a never ending nightmare. People had forgotten rationality. We feared for our lives.
It was exactly that day that I discovered a massive Uranium deposit in Greenland. It was enough to make a thousand more atom bombs. I pondered upon the consequences. Was the world ready for this? More importantly, was I ready? What if the discovery fell into the wrong hands, which was more probable than it ever was? I saw the future of an entire generation in my mind. If I did not reveal my discovery to the world it might lay undiscovered forever. Was I ready to take the risk?
I realized that I could not live with this hope in a deranged world. I had always dreamed about such a discovery. It would make me rich beyond my wildest dreams. But who was I kidding? If I went public with this discovery I would only bait the science haters. I had wanted all the glory of an explorer, but not only the discovery would attract all negative forces, but I would become a living effigy in their hands. They would use me as a symbol of the scientist to target, but also the Uranium to build more atom bombs.
I quietly relocated the expedition camp to a safer spot. When the rest of my crew did not ask any questions I became suspicious. They had all been eager enough to agree and move on. Being the captain of the expedition I had to know the truth.
The revelation came to me in the next few days. They had known about the gigantic cluster. I was thrilled to know what they had known all along.
And I could, if for only a little time, hope again. Hope is what makes us human. The world would never be the same again, but hope is why we go on. It is why I go on.
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