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Andromeda Galaxy, Planet Geopolis, A.D. 3050

Geopolis is the present abode of mankind. One of the seven planetary colonies, after the annihilation of Earth in 2300 A.D. The great nuclear wars between the various colonies of mankind finally brought down the planet by incessant nuking. The atmosphere vanished and just a barren rock remained which orbited the Sun.

The ‘Pale Blue Dot’ had not remained blue!

Morpheus, a tall lanky young man, in charge of the law and order of the seventh precinct, in the capital city of Camphill, received a call on his handheld Persopad. The location and the task were sent and he had to rush there. A riot had broken out. He was asked to tackle it and impose restrictions.

The unruly crowd had already created enough ruckus and damage. The moment they saw him, most of them started to disperse. They knew if caught on the wrong side of the law, they would be sent to the anti-gravity chambers. Incessant floating weakened the muscles. The low oxygen literally rotted the muscles. Weeks passed like years. They dreaded the chambers as it haunted you long after.

Morpheus screamed in his Persopad and the instructions were beamed directly to the public address system.

“Get out you lousy people from the street and get your asses back in your home. Anyone on the street after five minutes and your energy and water rations will vanish by half.

“Do some more mean shit and you will be rotting in the anti-gravity chamber for eternity.”

Morpheus relaxed as the crowd gradually waned. He knew how scared they were. But the desperation was mounting up. The authoritarian rule was merciless. They would crush any rebellion with complete brutality. He hated his job. But what could he do?

He met his buddy Francis at the café on the main street of the seventh precinct. He was not alone. Prof Wendy Mathews was with him. He had been his guide, friend and philosopher back at the university. How much he had enjoyed those days. Now, every day was an ordeal.

“Hello, Professor.” Greeted Morpheus cheerfully.

“Great to see you, Morpheus. How are you doing? You seem to be very perturbed.”

“You are right Prof. This job is getting on my nerves. But what can I do? They are crushing the spirit of the people with such brutality.”

“I know. I have been telling you this for so long.” Said the Professor.

“The regime has gradually eradicated all the higher faculties of man. Love, compassion, sensitivity, co-existence. They are turning him into a robotic monster subservient to the regime. Any dissidence and it is thwarted immediately.” Morpheus spoke emotionally.

The men were becoming slaves and obeying the regime blindly. They were ready to cut each other to pieces just to stay loyal. It was the most important thing. Human relations, love, friendships had become obsolete.

He was under intense duress. The Prof could sense it.

Morpheus continued, “This has to be stopped. There has to be a way. We can’t have humans becoming slaves to basic instincts. They are killing the very essence of humanity.”

“There is only one way, Morpheus. I am mulling over it. It can be done.” His eyes narrowed as he spoke.

“How’s that?” Morpheus asked with surprise.

“We have to use the Warp Gates! That’s the only way.”

“Prof. Wendy. You know it’s next to impossible. They are beyond our reach.”

“We will do it Morpheus. You will do it!”

Geopolis and six other mankind colonies were spread across different galaxies. They together controlled the three Warp Gates. They were near the blackholes, where time and space disobeyed the laws of Physics. Where it was possible to travel faster than the speed of light. At the periphery of these blackholes, mankind had established the Warp Gates. Where they could travel in time!

“Morpheus, I have made a special request with my contact in the Zulu Warp gate. He will let you access the gate. But he has one condition.” Prof Wendy was instructing Morpheus.

“You will not fiddle with anything on the multivariate universe matrix. You will not make any alterations whatsoever. We don’t want any catastrophic changes in our present due to modifications to the matrix.”

“That I promise. But what is the task? What do I have to do?” asked Morpheus.

“You will go back to Earth in the year A.D. 2060. When they had launched the Breakthrough StarChip 3 spacecraft. It contained multiple frozen DNAs  and the entire Human genome project database, as part of the cargo, for propagating the existence of mankind. Those are the only uncontaminated DNAs which we can get from earth. You have to go and feed the Space grid co-ordinates of Geopolis so that it will divert the probe towards us. That way we will intercept it.”

“That is a great idea Prof. Then we can get back the original genetic makeup, which the regime has systematically manipulated.” Said Morpheus.

The Prof further added, “You have to destabilize the Advanced genome project which aimed to suitably modify the human genes. The start of all problems. You have to apply breaks so that it does not go out of control. Use political and social pressure.”

“I will be stuck back there?” asked Morpheus disbelievingly.

“They don’t have the technology to travel in time. You take our insights and help them develop it. They are on the track. You give them a boost. Maybe then someday, you will travel back.”

Morpheus managed to access the Warp gate and headed towards earth, through time. He was to use the Timecraft.

The world seemed to be in a tremendous spin and he could feel the intense pressure within his Timecraft as it travelled along with the spin of the blackhole. It breached the speed of light as it moved on the edge of it. Everything became surreal. His blood and all his bodily components seemed to break into individual atoms. If the Timecraft failed to break away from the spin in time, it would be gobbled up by the blackhole.

Milky Way Galaxy, Earth. A.D. 2060

Morpheus saw for the first time what earth really looked like. The place which had given birth to mankind. How green, serene and beautiful it was, he thought.

Now back where he came from it was a techno jungle. There was no way to know where nature ended and technology took over!

He loved what he saw. He etched every single view in his memory. He would try and make Geopolis as beautiful as earth was. He promised himself.

He accessed the mainframe system of NASA without any difficulty. It was so archaic and primitive by his standards. He fed in the Spacetime co-ordinates of Geopolis in the StarChip III’s  main console. He knew they would find it in the future one day. And then it would bring some order to Geopolis.

Morpheus had a long innings to play. This was just the beginning. He had the knowledge and technology with him. He had to work on his goals. Teach mankind the mechanics of Time travel. It would take time. But that was his only way back home.

Geopolis. A.D. 3050

Prof Wendy looked at the tiny spacecraft as it approached the outer reaches of Geopolis. They had planned to intercept it near the distant moon of Geopolis. They had to get to it before the regime would have suspicions. It was a spec in the space dust. It existed only if you were looking for it.

The Cargo carrier spaceship, a huge vessel by any standards was floating in the interspace. It sent out its miniature interceptor to hone on the approaching StarChip III. It firmly docked it onto the docking bay.

The Cargoship made its journey back towards Citrus, the most distant moon of Geopolis, without raising any alarms.

Prof Wendy got hold of the prized possession in the main vault of the StarChip III. He was ecstatic to look at the frozen DNAs as he inspected the neatly preserved specimens. The glass bottles sparkled a blue as he took them out.

“Finally, we have our hands on the primitive DNA of mankind. Now we can re-engineer the original traits of humans which the regime has mutated beyond recognition.”

“Long Live Geopolis and Mankind!” he thought to himself and thanked Morpheus, wherever he was.

The DNA samples, the only uncontaminated ones from the distant past were a testimony to how much the human genome had been manipulated to suit the Regime. Morpheus and his kind were a minority who had survived the onslaught due to inbreeding through generations. They wanted to purge the synthetic and fulsome mutations. Wendy Mathews had what he needed. The recovery had begun.

Prof Wendy earnestly started working with his team at the Citrus Labs, a part of the Advanced University Establishment. They worked on the genome identifying each and every mutation which was unwanted and forced. They would gradually replace it with small and subtle changes. Perhaps it would take three decades to make a partial recovery.

“We will introduce these changes during the genetic screening of couples for pregnancy planning.” Said Prof Wendy, as he explained it to his team of scientists.

“We will take consent and explain what we are doing. We will tell them, we are removing certain bad mutations. That should suffice.”

The program ran successfully from Citrus Labs. It was a slow and steady change to get back the soul and spirit of mankind. They were making progress. But results would take time. Meanwhile, Prof Wendy had something more in his mind.

Prof Wendy was enthusiastically addressing his team.

“We will establish a museum showcasing  all the wonders of the Earth.

“We will do 3D printing from the designs and photographs we have acquired from StarChip III. We will build a miniature museum. So that people can walk through all the wonders of our mother Earth in one place. They will get the connect with the roots of our civilization.

“The regime won’t suspect anything. We will say we have researched it through the available data. That will sound plausible coming from a University authority. We will build it in Camphill. Our capital. So that everyone experiences it.” Said the Prof with a sparkle in his eyes.”

Thirty years passed. Prof. Wendy Mathews’ program was bearing fruits. The Ancient Earth Museum had become a tourist attraction – Not only amongst the residents of Geopolis but also for people from other colonies. There was a resurgence in the interest of Earthly inheritance. The genetic pool was also slowly widening, mixing with the general population and bringing gradual changes.

Geopolis. A.D. 3080

Prof Wendy Mathews sat on the deck of his villa on Citrus. He always dreamt of retiring and spending his life on this moon, away from the bustling Geopolis. He was with his wife. It had a transparent floor and was suspended in the air by just tiny support at one end, which was practically invisible. One got a feel of floating in the air. Suspended amongst the stars.

Geopolis and its pale orange glow were seen in the background. Milky way was seen in the Northern skies as a dot. A reminder of where the roots came from!

“I am pulling out a new bottle of Wine. From the third colony, Atlantis. They make excellent wine there. Got it specially shipped.” Said Wendy Mathews.

He  poured the wine in two glasses. And raised a toast for Morpheus whom he missed so much.

Wendy Mathews emotionally said, “I am now retiring. I am too old to carry on the work actively. I wish Morpheus was here. He could have taken over my work. I pray and hope that he makes it back here, till I am alive.” He looked up and pointed towards the Milky way.

The glasses clinked and they appreciated  the wine!

Pic Credit : John Paul Summers from Unsplash.com

Note from the Author

No part of the story claims scientific accuracy or plausibility. It is totally fictional. However, chances of having such a scenario in future cannot be ruled out.

Food for thought

Intergalactic travel is long distance travel between galaxies. The nearest major Galaxy is Andromeda. It is 4.3 million light years away.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intergalactic_travel

Breakthrough Starshot is a research and engineering project by the Breakthrough Initiatives to develop a proof-of-concept fleet of light sail spacecraft named StarChip,[1] to be capable of making the journey to the Alpha Centauri star system 4.37 light-years away.


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Manoj Paprikar
Manoj Paprikar is a doctor by profession, a gynaecologist. He is an avid trekker, traveller, reader and a writer. He has a blog and has published a book. He plays Table Tennis and loves playing guitar.
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