by Kumar Lomash
“Go on, officer. What is the matter?”, Holum permitted him to speak.
“Sir, the spacecraft carrying the Ks has been hijacked.”
“Hijacked? By Whom?”, Garry asked.
“We don’t know yet. But it is going towards R-A-P-0-3 instead of going towards Nole. We tried communicating but they have switched off all communications. So we concluded that it has been hijacked.”, the officer made his point.
“Very well, officer. Keep a track of it and keep me posted as to where it goes.”, Garry commanded.
“And, any news on Ibu’s spacecraft - officer?”, Holum asked.
“It was maintaining its course when I last saw it. Should be landing in a couple of hours on Nole”.
“Thanks Officer, that would be all.”, Garry said.
Holum asked Garry to quickly arrange for his departure.
As Ibu’s spacecraft was about to land on Nole, Kevin came out of his bunker to receive him and his friends. Ibu got out of the spacecraft and saw Kevin waiting for him but ignored him completely and went straight to the command center on Nole’s landing site. Kevin tried following him but the soldiers outside the command center stopped him and asked him to wait. Kevin could see Ibu worried and talking loudly with the soldiers inside the command center through the glass door. He had never seen him behave so eccentrically. He went back to the spacecraft to look for Gambhir and others but couldn’t find anyone. None of the soldiers knew about them so he decided to wait for Ibu to come out.
On the spacecraft which was carrying the Ks, Gambhir realised that they were not going to Nole. He said, “We are going further and further away from Nole. Any ideas?”
Although the question was not directed to him, Ken tried answering it.
“Gambhir, we were never going to Nole.”
“What is happening?”, Samantha demanded an answer. She was one of the original 9 Ks.
Ken looked at her and said, “The spacecraft has been hijacked. We are going to Peele.”
“Where is that?”, Samantha asked again.
“Not far away.”, Ken answered promptly.
“I am feeling sleepy”, Yoke shouted.
“Me too.”, Gambhir confirmed.
“Not me.”, Ken whispered to himself.
Ken waited casually as a faint odour filled the spacecraft. All the passengers, one after the other fell unconscious. Those who didn’t have their seat belts on fell from their seats. Ken noticed the two bodies that had fallen. He unhooked his seatbelt and stood up showing no signs of drug induced unconsciousness as his other co-passengers did. He tried lifting the bodies up to their seats but struggled a lot. He seemed curiously weak when it came to physical tasks like lifting. He managed to get both the bodies back after quite a struggle. Then he went back to his seat, put on his seatbelt and took a bag out of his pocket. The bag had a small cylinder like device which he put against his forearm and clicked. It looked like an injection which delivered some chemicals into his body. He quickly put the device back into the bag and threw it far into the rear of the spacecraft then he smiled as he fell asleep.
On Nole, Kevin was still waiting for Ibu. He finally saw him coming out of the command center and rushed towards him. Ibu seemed a little calmer now, which was close to his actual demeanor.
“Where are Gambhir and others?”, Kevin jumped on him.
“Their spacecraft has been hijacked, Kevin. Come, let's go to your bunker to talk.”, Ibu started walking.
“Hijacked? By whom?”, Kevin asked as he followed Ibu.
Ibu indicated that he would only speak once they were inside the bunker. Once inside, Ibu answered.
“Kevin, the spacecraft carrying your friend Gambhir and other Ks was hijacked, we believe. We don’t know who did it or towards what end but we know for sure that the spacecraft is being taken to RAP03”, Ibu stopped here.
“What is RAP03?”, Kevin asked.
“This star system which Nole is part of is called Karbaka. Karbaka has many stars of which one star is called Ra. Ra has 3 habitable planets, Cube, Nole, Peele. We call them RAP01, RAP02 and RAP03 respectively. RAP is short for RA-Planet”, Ibu told Kevin everything.
“And aliens?”, Kevin asked.
“Who do you think named the star systems and stars out here, Kevin? We would have given alpha-numeric code names to these stars and planets like RAP-02, who told us to call it Nole?”, Ibu gave Kevin a hint.
“I thought we came up with that name.”, Kevin replied honestly. “So, there were aliens on Nole?”, Kevin wanted to conclude.
“Yes, and there are aliens still in this star system. Peele is their home planet.”, Ibu clarified.
The spacecraft carrying Ken and the Ks was now approaching a large space station which looked too fancy to be human made. As the spacecraft landed on the space station, a bunch of armed humanoids broke into the spacecraft. They had thick bracelet like looking devices which they attached to each individual's left arm. All the bracelets were showing a numeric percentage value. Most of them showed a number around 15, for example Gambhir’s was showing 11, Yoke’s was showing 13 and Samantha’s was showing 16. However, Ken’s bracelet showed 71%.
One of the humanoids reported. “Exact match: none. Possible match: one. No match: 8”
The voice on the other end said, “Segregate possible matches from No Matches. Proceed with plan A.”
Holum’s flight had just landed on Nole. He knew Ibu and Kevin were talking in his bunker. Holum rushed towards the bunker while being escorted by a few soldiers and Boris. He asked the soldiers to wait outside and instructed them to not allow anyone in.
Holum entered and saw Kevin and Ibu both looking tired and worried. Boris had a mysterious smile on his face, as always. Kevin was surprised to see Holum and Boris together. He always believed Boris and Holum had different agendas. Now that he saw them together, Kevin entertained the thought that probably Holum and Boris both were alien spies. Holum came straight to Ibu and asked, “how much have you told him?”
“Not much, Holum. As much as I knew, I guess.”, Ibu was not sure.
“Fine. Let us take a seat.”, Holum requested.
“Be seated, my friend.”, Boris insisted Kevin sit down, in a very mannered way.
“Kevin, tonight we are going to answer all your questions. I will start with what I know and then we will see if you have any questions.”, Holum started with a smile.
“Sure.”, Kevin was interested.
“The Karbaka star system is home to one of the oldest known intelligent civilizations in the universe, known as Hums. Almost a million earth-years ago, the Hums were at the peak of their economic and social well being. As a society, they had completely broken off from blind faith. Now, logical reasoning and high moral standards were integral part of the basic Hum behaviour. Their endeavours in science and technology excelled with social and economic stability and they soon expanded to Nole and Cube from their home planet of Peele in this planet system. Very similar to us, they wondered about their own evolution and searched the whole star system for signs of intelligent life. They soon found Earth and Mars outside their own star system which had some life on it. The rather young planets Earth and Mars had only young life back then, evolved to animals and plants but still far from intelligent beings. They also found some other planets in other star systems but all life was at a very young stage as compared to the Hums. In the excitement of finding multiple living planets across the universe and the passion to find their own roots of evolution, they started conducting a synchronised experiment across these “alien planets”. They engineered many species, I am told 90 in total, using genes of the natives of the planets and the Hums themselves. Some of these experiments failed quickly while the others failed after some time. Today they only consider one of those 90 experiments as successful. Can you guess which one?”, Holum paused for a sip of water.
“Humans?”, Kevin responded casually.
“No, Kevin. They don’t consider us a successful experiment and
I am with them on this one.”, Holum continued.
“Anyways, the special thing about Humans is that they engineered us to closely resemble their own traits. I am not sure if this was intended or a side effect of the Hum gene being too dominant in the offspring but this is how it happened. Another speciality of the human race is that the crown prince himself was a part of the team which travelled to Earth and Mars. It is rumoured that the prince’s genes were used to create a master species on Mars. The rest of the 3 species were all created on Earth. A few hums stayed back on Mars to facilitate the evolution of the master species and the rest of them, including the prince went back. Some 500,000 years would have passed when our solar system went into a cold era. Earth was hardly habitable and Mars was completely frozen. In an attempt to save the master race, Hums took as many of the master race individuals as they could and came to Earth. It is said that they first settled in Northern Europe and then moved to middle east as the ice age progressed. The other 3 races or species, native to earth, were much less evolved than the master race. The master race also had the scientific and technological knowledge of the Hums, so they soon gained control of Earth. Once the ice age was over and the Sun became hot again, hums found out that Mars was completely uninhabitable. All plant and animal life on Mars had died during the cold era and the delicate balance of life was lost.”, Holum paused again for some water.
“So, Humans are not one species but 4 different species?”, Kevin asked.
“Yes, in the beginning it was designed that way but soon cross breeding across species merged the whole human species into one. This was unacceptable to Hums. So they tried to teach us to procreate within races but it didn’t work. Partially because hums were under strict guidance from their king to not interfere with the evolution of the experimental species.”, Holum paused again, not for water this time but because Kevin had a question. It seemed Kevin was now more interested in the history of humans than in anything to do with the aliens on Nole or Peele.
“What happened to the master race?”, Kevin asked.
“It got distributed through cross breeding. If you consider fair distribution then every individual on Earth is 25% master race.”, Holum replied.
“Umm, but master race which came from Mars were not as many in number as the other 3 races, right?”, Kevin was onto something now.
Boris smiled on Kevin’s line of thought and said, “You are right, my friend. The master race was not even 1% of the total population on earth.”.
“So, we all are 1% master race. On an average?”, Kevin asked.
“It doesn’t work that way, Kevin. The traits of the master race or any other race for that matter were carried forward by the Y chromosome, this is how Hums engineered us.”, Holum replied.
“I don’t understand”, Kevin stated.
Boris tried explaining, “Kevin, a mother carries a pair of X-X chromosomes and a father carries a pair of X-Y chromosomes. When a child is born, it can have either of the X chromosomes from the mother and either the X or the Y chromosome from the father. X from both the parent would make a girl child and X from mother and Y from father would make a boy child. Thus a male who is carrying the Y chromosome of the master race would transfer the full genetic payload to his son but none to his daughter.”
“Okay. So, Hums chose one of the genders to be the carrier of their genetic payload.”, Kevin went ahead with his conclusion, “and it made complete sense to make males as carriers, right?”, Kevin was thinking aloud but Boris knew he was onto something.
“Why is that Kevin?”, Boris asked.
“Because, in a lifetime, a male can have potentially infinite offsprings but a female can have only a few because she is not free for another child unless she has delivered the first one. So a male based distribution ensures larger coverage.”, Kevin knew he was right.
“Yes, very good Kevin. And remember we are talking about less evolved humans who reproduced much like animals do. Concepts like “monogamy” and “father supporting the mother in child rearing” belong to a much evolved and structured society.“, Holum added.
“But, Sir...”, Kevin turned to Holum. “What would happen if a male individual of a master race has all daughters or dies before having a male child?”, Kevin was now on the same page as Holum and Boris.
“This brings us to where we are Kevin.”, Boris started to answer. “A male only, or a female only, genetic line is bound to break over years. We knew it all along but we were bound by the scheme which our genetic payload followed. Note that, a girl child of a male belonging to the master race will still be a master race girl but she wouldn’t carry the Y chromosome, so her off springs would only have traces of the master race. Eventually today, most of the humans on Earth who are not genetically engineered by humans are only 10-15 % Hums.”, Boris finished and turned to Holum as if it was now Holum’s chance to show something.
“You see this bracelet Kevin?”, Holum had a solid bracelet in his hand with a digital display. He was wearing it. “If I press this button, it shows how much hum genetic payload I am carrying”, Holum pressed the button and the display showed 17%. He gave the bracelet to Ibu who did the same thing and showed 15%. Ibu returned the bracelet to Holum.
Holum looked at Boris. Boris nodded in affirmation. Holum handed the bracelet to Boris.
“Kevin, if a Hum tried the bracelet, it would show a number greater than 60%. That is because this device is programmed to detect the original blood line of Hums, which is the royal bloodline. We are all descendants from the same single source. I am a Hum, Kevin, and as you can see my reading is…”, Boris pressed the button, “71%.”
Kevin was not surprised, he said “I am not surprised. I guessed it when you started talking about Hums in the first person a few moments ago. But why real hums are only 70% on this device, why not 100%?”, Kevin went back to the technical question.
“Hums are 100% hums but this device doesn’t measure how much hum you are. In fact that cannot be measured at all, it is really difficult to even define what a hum is, let alone measure it. But defining and measuring the presence of the the royal Y chromosome is easy.”, Boris believed he had answered Kevin.
“So, if someone from a royal bloodline tested this device. It would read 100%?”, Kevin asked the most obvious question now.
“Not just someone, but only a male who can be traced through his father and then grandfather, all the way to the original source.”, Boris made it specific.
“Why don’t you try it, Kevin?”, Boris passed on the bracelet to Kevin.
Holum and Ibu looked at each other. It seemed they were waiting for this moment for a long time. Kevin didn’t understand at first but soon realised he was being tested for the master genetic payload. He asked, “What would it say Boris?”
“17% is my guess.”, Boris said with a wink.
Kevin folded his sleeves slowly and started putting on the bracelet.
“On your left hand, Kevin”, Holum corrected him.
Kevin quickly changed hands and finished putting on the bracelet. He pressed the button as Holum and Ibu both came nearer to him. Boris, on the other hand was sure of the output and casually remained where he was.
Kevin saw the number and looked at the others. Everyone, except for Boris was amazed. The device said 100%
“What does this mean?” Kevin asked in wonder.
“It means that you are the only surviving direct descendent of our forefathers, Kevin.”, Boris said with satisfaction. He seemed happy as if his mission was almost over.
“Why only me? There would be many one Peele and back on Earth.”, Kevin doubted that he was the only one remaining.
“Statistically, you are right.”, Boris started again. “But, call it fate or whatever you like, the royal bloodline on Peele is at its end. The last King died around 300 years ago before bearing any child, his queen is the only one alive and she alone cannot continue the line. She herself is not a royal descendant anyways.”, Boris concluded.
&nbs
p; “The King died 300 years ago and his queen is still alive! How can that even be possible?”, Kevin felt like running down a rabbit hole, the more he found out about hums, the less he felt he knew about anything at all.
“Oh, my apologies. I must have skipped telling you that Hums are capable of living hundreds of years. In fact, it is directly related to how much of the genetic payload you are carrying. So, a normal Hum like me would live anywhere around 7 to 9 hundred years, while someone like you can live up to 1500 years. It all depends upon how healthy a life you live. Our King was in his youth when he died under suspicious circumstances. He was newly married.”, Boris said.
“What about his cousins? His father would have had siblings?”, Kevin tried to understand.
“Let’s call it fate for now, Kevin. Somehow, we ended up losing everyone carrying this genetic payload”, Boris thought this was too early for Kevin to get into the conspiracy theories of Hums.
“And on Earth?”, Kevin implied there would be more like him on Earth if not on the ship.
“Yes, but fate again Kevin. We couldn’t find anyone else on Earth as well.”, Boris explained.
“Maybe someone is systematically killing everyone belonging to this genetic line, Boris. Now I understand why my safety was so much of a concern. Am I in danger?”, Kevin asked nervously.
“We have done everything in our capacity to protect you Kevin and I am thankful to Holum for his cooperation, but you must understand that once the word gets out of your lineage, you would be on the target of some very powerful and dark forces.”, Boris confirmed Kevin’s fears.
Kevin took a moment to understand what was being said. He realised for the first time that he was right in the middle of this adventure story which he earlier believed he would enjoy watching from the periphery.
