*Following
signal was received today, estimated to be some 100 years old.*
Signal:
SOS-9845-β. Encoding: Morse 109.3.4
Day 234, 1056 another ‘morning’ and Solaris our artificial sun (a complex array of lenses set by the 2nd Council to mimic the sun) shines above us in the gloomy Sector-6 of the Infermum Terra.
Let me begin by giving you a brief description of Infermum Terra (Hell Earth as coined by Mark-1 of the First Council.)
After the great nuclear holocaust of 3052 A.D. which wiped nearly the entire biosphere- the ambition of few surface dwellers became the burden of the new subterranean. As the dwellers corrupted the God Particle (Higgs Boson), the Old Gods showed their wrath. The scientists then were trying to find a new sustainable source of energy and the scientists now are trying to sustain.
The new ‘Hell Earth’ is… well hell. The surface now is barren. If the much fabled satellites could exist, they would say that the terra looks like Mars, rusty and devoid of life. Nothing green ever grew or can grow, the yellow death star kills all with its merciless radiations yet we somehow harness it to grow ambrosia-ic fruits and vegetables (given off as prizes in the Coliseum). Vestiges of the mighty towers and dry rock are all that’s left. Only cockroaches roam the Earth. Records mock the mighty creatures by describing them as being a few centimeters long. Ha!
We Hypo Sapiens live in pressurized dome shaped chambers in the ill-planed city. There is a central library- which harbors the records of the Old and words of the Wise, the Council and also the school. There are small cultivation centers, a defense base but the major part of the sector is covered by the great generator and the Coliseum. The great generators are the lungs of each sector. They regulate the flow of oxygen, electricity and control Solaris.
The coliseum is the main center of sadistic pleasure- the only type available. The new sky is made of territe, an alloy which is highly lustrous, malleable, and impenetrable evens for cockroaches but at the same time over exploited to rarity.
The Hypo Sapiens is a mere shadow of the mighty Homo sapiens who ruled the surface. The hypo sapiens are weaker (due to unavailability of calcium and vitamin D), smaller and subordinate in every cognitive sense. Our bodies are merely 4ft now and have grown bony with longer hairy appendages. The skin has turned pale and hair grey. Our eyes can no longer bear light and we wear special filtered goggles. The world is no longer multicolored but a mundane shade of blue and red. We are a rather glum lot possibly because of lack of serotonin, a mood regulating hormone. The only improvement as such was our refined sense of hearing. It’s Evolution, in a sense.
The sexes can no longer be told apart and hence our names carry a symbol of our gender. The beautiful flora and fauna is now extinct. Tigers and elephants exist as folk lore; the only fauna left are snakes and insects and flora in form of fungi. The major sources of nutrition are now ARE these ugly creatures. The power of speech is almost lost. The common language is spoken telepathically, modulated-demodulated via special earphones (invented by Jacob Bell of the 5th Council). The child- as a couple was allowed only one (to keep in sync with the supply and demand of resources) - had a bright future if it got into cultivation – cool water, serenity and respect. Else it was the post of generator engineering- muck, oil and 12 hours of toil, or worse- a gladiator. The Terra has not seen a renaissance of the social sciences in ages; there are no painters, poets or funnymen. The only joke is on us as the Council says. Every Thursday the Dic-tator plays that torturous noise called rock music, a stern reminder of his authority.
Sector-6 is also one of the major hotspots for the cockroach attacks. They cannot be killed as such and are just warded off by the special aerosol created from the rotting carcasses from the Coliseum or sometimes with the help of ‘volunteers’ (the brave who protect our greens.)
The volunteers were, what the Wise called zombies- the lot so exposed to radiation over time that their cognition was beyond repair and conscience, dead. They were the puppets in the hands of the Dictator.
The
major problem is sanitation. Earlier they used to flush the wastes
underground, but now we dump it up there. There still are
inter-sector wars. What evolution couldn’t teach us is harmony. And
the dogs of war are always on the edge pushing on to break free,
usually hungry (literally!).
We
still use the same old technological setup as set by the earlier
councils. We are too dumb for innovation or perhaps too nihilistic.
The only morbid sense of pleasure is drawn from the Coliseum where we
watch our own kin kill each other in metal suits.
We
had lost contact with our colony on T-1764 centuries back after the
great radiation storm of 73 and no contact could be established ever
since. We do wonder whether the humans there would be like us or not,
would they be happy to have left us to our fate or whether they
evolved to fit the model of future humans as the Old dreamed of,
because we didn’t.
Whose fault was it? Well, man is the architect of his own fate. As for us we are no more alive but not dead yet. We may soon be dead but every day we wake with a dream of rescue by our colonial kin. That’s why we live on, for a better future as we send this signal every day.
Whose fault was it? Well, man is the architect of his own fate. As for us we are no more alive but not dead yet. We may soon be dead but every day we wake with a dream of rescue by our colonial kin. That’s why we live on, for a better future as we send this signal every day.
So
if any form of life out there gets this message please help us! We
are on the verge of extinction…
……………………………..………!!!ERROR!!!...............................................................
………………………….***MESSAGE
INCOMLPLETE***……………………………..
This was my submission for the 'science fiction' writing category.