Genesis

by Tej Pratap Singh

  He made a dash for it and as he reached the second floor, he banged into a guard from the rear! The whole AMU in sector 1 went weapons Hot!!

  “Stand down, stand down,” whispered KC on his comn link. The Muscl guard thought twice and then finally decided to turn back. It took him a good five seconds to turn. KC slipped behind a pillar, wiping sweat off his forehead. This was close! He couldn’t afford a mistake like this again. The guard who had now turned back couldn’t find anyone behind him. He looked down and then on top.

  “Bhrrr,” he said frustrated on the wasted effort and continued to walk straight.

  “All clear,” said Rul on the comn link. KC sprinted to the second pillar and then to the third. As KC looked around, he noticed a lot of guards sitting inside a closed room. All facing inside.

  “What in the name of the universe are they doing?” wondered KC. “Crona, scan the room… Report.”

  “Commander, this is the transport deck control station. The guards are… well… guarding it!” reported Crona.

  “Now that’s a major problem Commander,” said Akil. “They all are facing in, looking at the log monitor.” Ten guards were sitting next to each other shoulder to shoulder in a circle, all facing in.

  “My data tells me that they change duty every two hours, one at a time. So the ring is never broken and no one can get in or out without being seen.”

  “It’s a ring. So if you stand behind one guard, the other one in front will see you. And if you get in somehow, all will see you,” added Akil.

  “Hmmm… It’s quite a peculiar problem,” said KC. “I guess we will have to improvise then.”

  “Commander for the sake of the Universe what are you thinking now?” asked Rul.

  “What is the reaction time of the average Muscl Alien?” asked KC.

  “About 2.5 seconds to a stimulus,” replied Crona. “And these guards are the best of the lot, so I am confident their reaction time would be about 1.5 seconds.”

  “That’s not very fast,” added KC.

  “And your plan is?” asked Akil staring at his wall counting the aliens outside and inside the room.

  “OK then, listen everyone, loud and clear. I am going to say this only once,” declared KC as he sat on the floor to conserve energy and tapped his shoes as they tightened up.

  “10 battle stations are going to fire one controlled fazer each, behind each guard. The moment I say go!” explained KC. “And as soon as I come back out of the room, Crona, you will need to get the spacecraft that you have just prepped on auto pilot, just below the deck. The elite guards to immediately get into the craft and stand by to tazer the Muscl guards on my way out… Is that clear?” said KC.

  “Aa…” said a number of people in doubt.

  “Go…” said KC.

  “What!” said Akil in surprise. He didn’t expect KC to go so soon. “Go…go all units,” he yelled on to his comn link.

  KC left his cover behind the pillar and rushed for the log room. Almost instantaneously 10 battle units orbiting the artificial planet fired highly-controlled fazers just behind the ten guards. This created some amount of noise and negligible shock, but enough for them to look up at and behind the fellow Muscls in front of them. And after giving a dope look to each other, they started to do something that they hated the most! They started to look behind themselves. Just then KC entered the room. He stepped over one of the guard’s shoulder and jumped right on the log control unit. And there it was, a 5” by 2” master log file inserted into the log unit console. It contained all the data of all trade which had taken place in the history of the artificial planet Xz-01. Including all the illegal trade logs which were hidden from AMU audits.

  KC slipped the file disk into his jacket as he looked up to jump out of the ring of guards. He noticed all of them looking at him.

  “Hmm...” said one of the guards as he quickly realized what had just happened. The guard clenched his fists as all his bones made a crunching sound. The guard extended his hand and caught hold of KC by his shoulder over his jacket and lifted KC in the air, off his feet.

  “This is the part, where I leap out,” said KC smiling. “Sorry, I can’t ‘hang around’ any more, got a jet to catch!” added KC as he slipped out of his jacket taking the disk with him. The guard saw the jacket crushed in his hand and quickly examined it.

  “Hmm…!” came his response again.

  KC ran out of the room only to see five more guards standing outside the room. He stopped and looked around. There was nowhere to go. No way was he going to get back into the room. And the five guards in front were definitely the bulkiest of the bulkiest of Muscls he had ever seen.

  “You guys look pretty upset,” said KC trying to buy time.

  “You…” said the giant 18-foot-tall guard. “Giv bk te Lg dsk.”

  “No can’t do,” said KC as he took a step back. KC could hear the guards in the room. They were about to come out.

  “You are surrounded Huuuman. Giv bk te dsk,” repeated the guard.

  KC further took a step back and then another one.

  “Shoot,” whispered KC. “Shoot.”

  “Buzz” came a sound as KC’s elite guards fired harmless tazers at the aliens. The guards were so bulky the tazer barely pinched the alien’s skin.

  “Thees ar yrs?” asked the alien guard as he examined his back.

  “Yes… and I see, it’s not working… Is it?” asked KC further taking a step back and hitting the wall.

  “Commander, permission for lethal engagement,” asked one of KC’s sector 1, battle unit closest to the planet Xz-01. “Will only take a second.”

  “Stand down,” said KC loudly this time. “Get ready to catch me.”

  “By the universe, what is the Commander going to do now!” said Rul worried. “Crona… get the craft airborne directly under the tower… I think I know what the Commander is about to do.”

  “Surrender Huuuman,” said the guard for the last time as he raised his gun. “Not now, not ever,” said KC as he ran towards the railing of the second floor. The guards looked in amazement not able to comprehend what the human was up to! KC leapt towards the railing as the guards opened fire and then went over it. Now of course, Gravity and Murphy were in play together. The guards moved towards the railing and looked down to see what had just happened. What was the crazy human even thinking? Unexpectedly, the craft from nowhere leveled up to them and KC barely struggled up to it and just about got in as the alien guards fire drowned the craft in a volley of fire.

  “Crona, what are you waiting for?” said KC as he lay on the floor of the craft completely exhausted.

  “Let’s go. No AMU personnel to follow us till we get back. It’s a directive. Crona,” ordered KC as they left the planet’s atmosphere, “location-jump to the location ‘X’, where the warehouses disappeared. Let’s get our boys back,” added KC laughing.

  “Directive Commander,” acknowledged Crona as the craft accelerated at light speed to that location in space.

  “Commander stop!” said Akil. “Commander, Commander,” Akil couldn’t believe what risk the Supreme Commander had taken.

  “Crona, prepare to beam us along with two ‘Class E’ battleships to location – X.”

  “Pardon me Commander Akil…” replied Crona. “But it was the Supreme Commander’s Directive - No one to follow!”

  “Dammit,” said Akil closing his wall. “Crona, can you atleast locate the Commander?”

  “No… Commander Akil...I can’t,” replied Crona. “I don’t have the tech to read the space where the Cdr has jumped to.”

  Chapter 8

  GENESIS- 2956

  KC and his men got up after the violent shock they received the moment they plummeted from Xz-01 towards the asteroid belt around it!

  “What just happened?” said KC. “Got a jolt of our lives!”
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br />   “Commander look,” said one of the men pointing in the direction of Xz-01. He seemed to be out of words as he looked out of the window of the small craft they had hijacked.

  KC rushed towards the window as quickly as he could. The ship had lost its artificial gravity and was spinning out of control. There was flying debris all over the spacecraft.

  “Boys, we need to land this spacecraft as soon as possible. It is trashed after this jump and I don’t think we can do more than 20 minutes in this! I recommend we…” KC looked outside the window and lost his words the very moment.

  “What in the name of the universe is that!” exclaimed KC as he stared out of the spacecraft as it continued to spin around. KC, however, continued to look out of the window and stared what lay in front of him in disbelief!

  “What…is that?” asked KC again.

  “Cdr… er… It’s... not supposed to be there,” replied one of his guards. “I’ll ask the flight computer.”

  “Computer, what planet is that?” he continued.

  “Flight team, we should be approximately 200 kms from the artificial planet Xz-01 in the Earth’s asteroid belt. But somehow my sensors can’t read any asteroids or the artificial planet Xz-01. In its place, however, a true planet is present. I sense soil, metallic composition and water. Breathable air and active natural life forms. The planet’s stats match with Earth, the planet, which got destroyed many centuries back!”

  “How can that be?” said KC in surprise. “Have we time-traveled into the past?”

  “Negative,” replied the flight computer. “We are in the year 2956… This craft has suffered damage. I will attempt landing on the alien planet. Flight team is requested to buckle up,” added the flight computer.

  “Alright boys, get to your seats or whatever is left of them,” said KC. “The strange part is that the planet’s security system has not challenged this craft as we attempt for landing,” noticed KC.

  “Either there is no one down there or they are strangely friendly! Computer, try and land near any familiar objects like warehouses,” asked KC.

  The spacecraft plummeted towards Earth at an outrageous speed slapping against the atmosphere and instantaneously catching fire.

  “Don’t worry boys,” laughed KC raising the morale of his team. “This is the easy part. We should be more worried about the landing!”

  The auto-stabilization gyro of the antiquated spacecraft went into gear as it gradually leveled just before a shaky touchdown. KC and his guards wasted no time and quickly jumped out of the spacecraft. They had just about got off the craft that it went up in a spectacular blaze.

  “Computer,” shouted KC from outside the craft as he rolled over and got up. “What is our current location on the planet?”

  “Passengers have landed on…tst,” said the flight computer as it went up in flames. “East…eastern continent… north. Northern hemisphere,” added the flight computer as it finally blew up for good.

  “Commander, we could be anywhere on this planet,” said the guard unit’s leader, Rom. “The warehouses could be anywhere. For all we know, the warehouses could be still in orbit around this planet.”

  “Well boys, don’t give up so easy,” said KC smiling. “Now listen up - we are on our own. I can’t get through to Crona. We don’t have a craft. And we don’t know where in the universe we are. Luckily, our comn units are working,” explained KC. “So now we will split into teams of two each. So that gives us three teams. We will meet at this same general location three kms to the North after 48 hours. Until then, all three teams to look for as much as evidence as possible. Look for the warehouses. Look for the lost members of ST-6 and off course, find out some clue as to what in the name of the universe is Garmin up to. I have got a feeling… that Garmin is getting all the medicines to this planet. And the fact that no one knows about the existence of this planet makes the whole thing even more suspicious,” justified KC. “All right boys see you in 48 hours,” added KC, as all three teams turned around and set out in different directions to look for answers, for which they had come so far away into the unknown.

  * * *

  18 hours later, KC and his buddy Zaul had traveled nonstop as far as they could in the day light, and a little after it had got dark. KC checked with the other two teams. Nothing! No clue as to the whereabouts of the warehouses or the ST-6. The planet looked untouched. The technology was certainly good, but as compared to AMU, it was primitive, and the strangest part was that no one had heard of the AMU! There were no armed patrols, no check points. Humans and aliens all alike were simply going where they wanted to, there was absolutely no check whatsoever! The planet and its citizens were in oblivion to what existed outside.

  KC simply couldn’t digest one fact - how come the AMU wasn’t aware of the existence of this planet and of all things Crona! She was absolutely aware and was everywhere. Crona was everything. How could she not be aware!

  KC and Zaul could see flashing lights in the far distance over the horizon. They were surely approaching a big city, certainly the biggest they had crossed since the last 18 hours.

  “It’s here that we are going to get all our answers,” said KC looking at the lights ahead. “We are running out of time. It’s now or never.”

  As they got closer to the blazing lights, they realized something was not right. Two aircrafts flew right over them barely a few meters above their heads and then two more followed as KC and Zaul ducked for cover.

  “What on Earth is going on?” said KC as he raised his head to see ahead. “Commander, I think a massive building complex is on fire!” replied Zaul. “Up ahead 2 O’clock,” he added.

  “By the universe, you are right,” said KC, “that is one huge building! Let’s go, maybe we can help out a few beings,” said KC as they made a run for the buildings about 800 mtrs ahead.

  As they reached closer, they could see countless people outside staring at the burning building complex. The air fire hydrants ceaselessly flew all around the building trying to put off the fire. It was hot, smoke all around. People however didn’t leave the site, waiting for their loved ones. One of the air fire hydrants circling the building, got too close to it and got caught due to an explosion on one of the top floors and crashed right into the building while trying to get every litre of water sprayed onto the building. Another hydrant came crashing down, overheated after hours of ceaseless fire-fighting. KC ran towards the air fire hydrant as its cockpit got filled with smoke. He climbed up the aircraft’s wing but couldn’t open the glass of the cockpit. It had got jammed due to the impact.

  “Hey Zaul, get me something to break this glass. I can’t get through to the pilot and he is suffocating inside.” KC had barely finished saying when he saw Zaul charging with a long metal rod towards the cockpit. KC just about managed to get out of his way as the rod shattered the glass and the pilot gasping for fresh air rolled out of the cockpit and lay flat on the ground coughing.

  KC dragged him away from the craft as the aircraft automatically launched its fire protocol by covering itself in a gaseous spray-like substance to put off the fire.

  “Are you alright fellow?” asked KC as he tried to remove the helmet of the pilot but couldn’t. The pilot quickly pressed a button on his neck over the suit and the helmet started to move somewhat as KC watched. First the glass visor dissolved into a watery substance and then the inner metallic layers folded itself until the helmet had completely retracted into the suit which the pilot was wearing.

  “Wow,” said KC in amazement. “I have never seen this technology before.”

  “Uhh...!” said the pilot who got up and saw the building still blazing in fire and pressed his suit twice over the chest as the complete suit retracted into a small cuboid that fell onto the ground.

  “This is a standard issue pilot suit across the galaxies!” added the pilot turning around to face KC.

  KC ski
pped a heartbeat as he looked at the pilot. Her deep green eyes hit him in the strangest way he had ever felt. Her long black hair rolled over her shoulders and continued to roll back effortlessly till they reached her beautifully sculpted back. Time had stopped! KC had heard about this as a concept. But now he had witnessed it. He had frozen!

  He had met many women from across the sectors of the Universe but he was never awestruck like this before. This was different. This was… he couldn’t understand.

  “You… thanks for saving me,” said the girl pilot. “there was a market convention going on here. The whole damn place caught fire. One air hydrant is still stuck in the building. We got to save that pilot as well.”

  “Do you know him?” asked KC. “Does he work with you?” continued KC.

  Zaul stared at KC, wondering at the choice of his question at this hour.

  “Ah…I mean…” quickly added KC trying to save himself the embarrassment. “Is the pilot.. ah…”

  “Look, I don’t know the pilot,” the girl replied. “I am just a cargo pilot. I was delivering a cargo stock to the fire station when the alarm for fire was raised. It was an emergency and all fire-fighting pilots were not present, so I flew one of their crafts. I thought I’ll chip in.”

  “Oh…OK, so you don’t really know the guy,” said KC as he looked at Zaul who gave him a blank look as KC covered his mouth with his hand. He had absolutely no control on what he was saying.

  “Well then lady, I’ll just go and get that…other pilot…out,” said KC as he moved towards the crashed craft.

  “Zaul, just guide me on the comn unit. The windshield of this craft is damaged so I’ll fly backwards. Keep guiding me,” added KC as he got into the still semi-burning craft.

  “Commander, what are you doing?” asked Zaul not daring to stop his Supreme Commander but still aghast at the near-suicidal attempt his Commander was about to make.