This is one story I never liked but written just for the sake of it. It is a write India story with the prompt highlighted in bold.
I observed him carefully as
he walked to the door. I knew that time was running out but suppressed the urge
to check my watch. I took a deep breath and started counting in reverse under
my breath. "Ten, nine, eight, seven..”. one..zero, expecting the unexpected.
But no, he cut the cake and the whole crowd was on roll with high-fies going
all around with loud cheers of happiness but tears rolled out of my eyes. How
did they do this? How could my plan go wrong? What to do next? Who will help
me? Whom to approach now? Million questions were lingering in my head. I had to
act fast and somehow stop this group by All Means.
I had been ambitious from
the beginning, though I was from a humble background from a faraway village
Thalakunda near Ooty, the queen of hills. Beautiful green eucalyptus trees and
pine trees surrounded my house. The needle like pine leaves impressed me both
when green and dry. The blooming flowers, the chirping birds, the stunning
morning dews, the charming silence and the pleasant chillness brought a
conducive living atmosphere for the 50 odd families that lived in Thalakunda.
School was at a distance of stone’s throw. Was fortunate to have friends who
were very innocent and helpful. Life could never be more beautiful. My parents
were simpleton who also preferred to be close to nature and would take utmost
care to preserve this beautiful treasure Nature given to us by the lord. All
this attracted me to develop deep interest in any subject related to nature-
Botany, Zoology, Geography. My hard work brought me here to NYRAA - world renowned research firm, joined this team with lots of hope At first I
was dismissive about the whole idea, but now I was flabbergasted seeing what
was happening. All the hard work that I and Benoy have done for all these years,
all the toiling we did in the botany lab, the computer lab, the research lab is
finally going to yield results.
Mother earth with blooming
flowers, chirping birds, wonderful aquatic and terrestrial animal
kingdom which included human beings, had now turned a war zone. I could now
clearly see the effect on earth that had NO ozone layer. Chlorofluorocarbons
(CFCs), chemicals found mainly in spray aerosols heavily used by industrialized
nations for much of the past 500 years, are the primary culprits in ozone layer
breakdown. The penetration of UV radiations had affected the reproductive
cycles of all living beings, including single celled organisms like phytoplankton,
which formed the bottom of the food chain. The DNA mutation had happened in all
living organisms, dog, crow, snake, lion, elephants etc. The dogs had only a
single leg today, with no tail, the crows had gone pale and the lions had lost
all their hair and teeth. Snakes had become weak and looked like tiny worms.
I worked on my action plan
before loose myself and the endangered species to mother earth. First I had to
do skin graft operation on myself and then on all living species that were
present. Before that to energize myself, I took out the bottle with label OC12C
from my pocket. It had green molluscs kind of jelly. I quickly took 12 of them and popped them
into my mouth. These are made from extract of Elysia chlorotica and Sea Algae.
I looked my image in water pool nearby and saw the complete result of my
research. Yes I had completely turned dark green, flat and translucent and now
could float completely in water. Remembered the day when Benoy had found that
certain sea slugs were solar-powered. We investigated further and found out
that certain molluscs had symbiotic relationship with chloroplasts which they
steal from algae that they eat. Within the cells of plants and algae,
photosynthesis takes place within tiny structures called chloroplasts.
Chloroplasts are the remnants of a free-living photosynthetic bacterium that can
be swallowed by microbes. But even then, these chloroplasts didn’t get digested
by the microbe. Instead, the two formed a permanent partnership and produced
energy. This led us to research further on this and led to invention of OC12C
Jelly which would replenish the human body with chloroplast when needed and
turn the human body flat and translucent.
Before going on a diet of
OC12C, skin graft needs to be done to prepare the human being genetically to
become solar powered. The mitochondria present in human DNA are protobacteria
whereas the chloroplasts that are solar-power plants of the plant are
cyanobacteria. But both still have their own DNA and a very bacteria-like
membrane. If humans wanted chloroplasts for self or for any livestock first genetically
we first need to modify the host animal to express proteins required for
chloroplast function. It has been estimated that about 70-90% of the genes
required for chloroplast function are provided by the plant’s genome. This is
the reason why OC12C needs to be consumed as much by us.
It would probably be most
feasible for chloroplasts, along with the required genes, to be added to skin
stem cells and applied as a skin graft, as there is a lot of research in this
area for burns victims. At first this graft may require regular replacement,
but eventually the chloroplasts will be sustainable within the skin.
Now hear I stand green,
translucent and solar powered with complete ability to float on water. Now I
need to wade through the open area to check if all the DNA mutated species were
present and need to do the chloroplast skin graft operation on all species and
feed them with enough OC12C Jelly to turn all of them solar powered. While I do
this I also need to eat the sun and carry out photosynthesis for my survival.
I was busy doing the same
on every species possible. Time was running out. I cannot stop. I needed to
save the species and the mother earth.
My self and all living
species were suffering a well, due to this man made changes being done to what
was present naturally. Our immune system was being attacked by the
chloroplasts, but we had prepared another pill ZC19C, antibodies to prevent
this. Supplement of ZC19C was also injected to all species and also to be at
adequate time intervals.
All species around me were
turning green, translucent and solar powered and started floating doing
photosynthesis on their own. They all were flattening a well, so could get
maximum surface area to eat the sun light.
Because we all had a
sumptuous diet of OC12C and algae, the screening components to protect us from
the harmful UV radiations was getting created over our skin.
We all took the natural
advantage of the excessive water that was all around, due to the melting of ice,
because of ozone layer depletion. The photosynthesis reaction would we were
doing is as below.
6 CO2(g) + 12 H2O(l) +
light → C6H12O6(aq) + 6 O2(g) + 6 H2O(l)
The reaction clearly
explains that there is a net loss of six water molecules for every glucose
molecule produced. That meant plant-person, plant-dog, plant-snake, plant-lion
all plant-living thing would also need a lot more water than a normal living
being would require.
So we all floated in the
water, green in color, all of us eating the sunlight. Yes I had done it.
Had protected myself and
all the remaining living species in the world. Looked at the watch, it showed 31-Dec-2099:
11.59:50 PM. It is solid one year I had been through this mission and had
completed the graft operation and also survived through the fury of nature.
I looked for the glass
door. I observed him carefully as he walked to the door. I knew that time was
running out but suppressed the urge to check my watch. I took a deep breath and
started counting in reverse under my breath. "Ten, nine, eight, seven..”.
it is only six more seconds to go, to prove that our work could sustain the
world when it reaches the doom’s day. I was shivering, praying for the last
seconds to end. There is was, two, one, when I suddenly heard a loud explosion.
Everything was shaken,
molten fire was spewed all over. We altered the entire living kingdom to be
dependent on the sun, and now what is the Mother Nature up to. We were confused
and felt that everything was drying up, there was fire all over. Heat that we
felt, made us feel we were inside burning deck. We all were slowly getting
charred. No one can protect us. All the hard work done by us came as a flash to
my mind. I was happy I at least tried something to save mankind. But after all
no one can control nature. I understood the power of the nature. Yes the Sun
just exploded and I lost. I channelized the whole world on Sun, and now the Sun
is no more. I was dying, my eyes remained open, seeing the havoc all around me.
Now I opened my eyes, lying
in a bed, to see Benoy besides me, there was celebrations all around me. My
team was celebrating around me, with loud cheers, balloons and color papers all
over the place. I saw the wall clock. It showed 12.30 PM. Sep 13th
2015. Yes I had won.
I had successfully gone and
launched and played the world’s first next generation immersive Science Fiction
game which would take us to the future. The game would take the person playing
the game into the immersive world of future, where the person would move far
ahead into future and experience the world that would actually exist in future.
He would see and feel the future. He would see the transformation of species and
transformation of human in future. Person would be provided with gadgets, food,
tablets to survive the adversity and would be given the task to save Mother
Earth and experience the cruelty that living kind would face in future due to
their current acts against nature. This near death experience of theirs would serve
as a learning experience to them and would help them become responsible
citizens who would work to protect Mother Earth right from today.
I and Benoy dreamed to
launch this next generation immersive science fiction game and did all research
to make its launch a success. I observed Benoy carefully as he walked to the
door. Now it was his turn to enjoy the experience we had created. I recollected
the experience I had. I knew that time was running out for Benoy but suppressed
the urge to check the watch. I took a deep breath and started counting in
reverse under my breath. "Ten, nine, eight, seven..” and wished Benoy a
frightening immersive game experience of future too.
