#5 on 17th Street

From: Nicholas

To: Patricia, Rajat, Tiffany, Douglas, Amanda

Subject: Hi!

Hola neighbors! How do ya all doing? Enjoying the snow, is it? Just kiddin’. I know this season has been pretty bad with crazy blizzards and power cuts; even I had a hard time keeping the snow out, and wouldn’t dare to step out from my 2^nd floor study since last two weeks. But hey, at least we’ve got each other.

Anyway, I just wanted to say hi since we haven’t seen each other for a long time.

And Patricia, how have you been? I could hear your granddaughter’s (whats her name again? Alice, Isn’t it?) piano practice all the way up to #1. She is learning fast. I almost stopped everything else to listen to her rendition of Beethoven’s eighth.

Also – I’d like to welcome Rajat in our small community. He moved in #5.

Hi, Rajat – the 17^th street is the land of dreams. Ha ha. Okay, it is not. But give any of us a shout in case you need a hand with anything. Especially Douglas here is everyone’s favorite. Do ask him for some favor some time. (Can I be around when you do so. Please?) ;)

Nick

____________

From: Rajat

To: Patricia, Nicholas, Amanda, Tiffany, Douglas

Subject: Re: Hi!

Hi Nicholas, Hi everyone else,

Thanks for your kind welcome. As Nicolas mentioned, I have recently moved to # 5 from India. It’s a beautiful house but I guess it was locked for a long time; there are layers of dust on everything. I haven’t taken a moment’s break from clean-up.

And of course, it is snowing cats and dogs which isn’t helping one bit. Is it always like this, at this time of the year?

Speaking of cats – when I moved in #5, I found three dead cats in the house. Very weird.

Anyway, once I am done settling-in I’d invite all of you to my housewarming party. :)

Regards,

Rajat

__________________

From: Patricia

To: Rajat, Nicholas, Amanda, Tiffany, Douglas

Subject: Re: Hi!

Dear All,

God bless you Nicholas, my son. And welcome mister Rajat. Yes, it has been indeed a long time since all of us have met. In fact, I have almost forgotten how all of you look. Blame it on my old age.

Yes - Alice has gotten better at the piano. I am glad she found something to keep herself busy, poor child. God took her voice but gave her a beautiful way to express herself. He works in mysterious ways. She is almost 10 now and reminds me of her mother.

Amanda, Tiffany – do visit our place sometime. My arthritis pain kicks-in in this climate so I can’t walk much. In fact, I haven’t gone out in so many weeks.

Mister Douglas – You’ll be in my prayers today. I hope Lord will help your drinking and anger problem. Amen.

Patricia

P.S. Alice says hi to everyone.

______________

From: Douglas

To: Rajat Kumar, Nicholas, Amanda, Tiffany, Patricia

Subject: Re: Hi!

What a load of horseshit. 17^th street is as fucked up as it gets. We are hundreds of miles from any other soul and I am stuck with these dimwits for weeks. I wonder what that Indian guy is doing here in this godforsaken place.

Patricia – I don’t need your prayers. Keep them for your dumb grand-daughter. She needs it.

Nick – stop meddling in my affairs. If I ever see you near #1; I’ve oiled my rifle just in case.

Doug

______________

From: Tiffany

To: Rajat Kumar, Nicholas , Amanda, Patricia, Douglas

Subject: Re: Hi!

DOUGLAS – Can’t you act civilized for ONCE?!

Patricia – Don’t pay attention to what Douglas says. We all love you and we all love Alice. I will surely visit you some time. I was stuck with my novel...you know how it is when I am in the zone. I was so busy untying the knots of the story that I haven’t even peered out of my window in days.

Rajat – Hey! We share a fence! I am in #4. That two storey house in gray – yeah, that one. In fact, your bedroom window is right opposite mine, and we can see each other from there. Come over sometime, we can have a tea together.

Tiffany

_________________________

From: Nicholas

To: Rajat, Amanda, Patricia, Douglas, Tiffany

Subject: Re: Hi!

Hey! Rajat – no peeking. She is my girl, all right? ;)

Nick.

_____________________

From: Tiffany

To: Rajat Kumar, Nicholas, Amanda, Patricia, Douglas

Subject: Re: Hi!

I was, Nick. Was. And I’ll kill you if say that again, you insensitive jerk.

______________________

From: Rajat Kumar

To: Patricia, Nicholas, Amanda, Tiffany, Douglas

Subject: Re: Hi!

Hi everyone,

I can’t peek even if I wanted to (just joking). I’ve actually dumped the two dead cats in that above bedroom and I don’t want them anywhere near me, not even on the same floor. This is because what happened with the third. When I was trying to throw that dead cat out of the window, a strong gust of wind pushed it right back in. And then it was alive! I am not exactly a cat person but that cat refuses to go away. It is always following me and looking at me with those deep blue eyes.

Anyway, I guess it’s not worth troubling myself about as I have tons of work to do and I am already two weeks behind due to moving-in and all this snow.

Tiffany – I’ll surely pick that offer of tea. Tonight, I plan a grand cleaning of my house and then I can surely use that tea. And some peeking? Lolz.

Mr. Douglas – I am on a software implementation project.

Rajat

__________________________________________

From: Patricia

To: Rajat, Nicholas, Amanda, Tiffany, Douglas

Subject: Re: Hi!

O’ dear Douglas – you do need some help. Look what I came across just now.

“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” - James 1:19

Lord listens to our prayers and guides us with his wisdom when we need it.

_________________________________________

From: Rajat

To: Patricia, Nicholas, Amanda, Tiffany, Douglas

Subject: Re: Hi!

Hi Everyone,

As I was cleaning the floor, I removed the rug to clean under it. I discovered a trap-door that went downstairs to the basement. I never knew there was a basement in the house. Did anyone know about it?  There is a really bad stench too coming out from there so I am keeping it closed for now. That’s one more thing to clean.

Anyway, I don’t need the basement so it is fine for now. At least I can dump the two dead cats in there.

Tiffany – I am sorry I couldn’t make it out to our tea today. I hope your offer is open for 8 PM, tomorrow?

BTW does anyone have a map of this area? Google maps just show that forest across the fence but there is no sign of 17^th street. For once, I think Mr. Douglous is right – even satellites haven’t bothered to take a snap of this place.

P.S. This cat is really annoying me. Does anyone want it?

_____________________________

From: Nicholas

To: Rajat, Amanda, Patricia, Douglas, Tiffany

Subject: Re: Hi!

Hey! Can I join for that tea party too? It’ll be fun to meet you in person Rajat. 

And Tiffany, babe, can we please get over to it now? I made a mistake and apologized for it. C’mon girl. Whatsay?

And yeah – google map sucks here. I think I have a handmade map somewhere. There you go. Super helpful, ay? Ha Ha.

Nick

_____________________________

From: Douglas

To: Rajat, Nicholas, Amanda, Tiffany, Patricia

Subject: Re: Hi!

I see what you did at that “map” of yours. That’s two strikes, Nick. I am itching to test that new rifle ever since the Andersons moved out of #5. Try me one more time.

Hey, Indian dude – The road to Fillik town remains closed due to snow this time of the year. So, you’ll have to go 150 miles for the nearest sign of sanity. 17^th street, of course, is full of insane idiots.

Doug

________________________________

From: Tiffany

To: Rajat, Nicholas, Amanda, Patricia, Douglas

Subject: Re: Hi!

Can’t you boys give it a break? It was because of exactly these kind of things that Anderson’s didn’t talk much to any of us except Amanda. You guys give 17^th street such a bad name that they moved out overnight without even telling us.

They were such a nice family – Mr. Anderson was such a gentleman and Mrs. Anderson always in a good mood. Their daughter Meesha was such a doll with those bright blue eyes. I remember – I used to sit in my window watching Mrs. Anderson telling fairy tales to Meesha every night. Her face used to brighten as she listened to her Mom making air castles and horsey sounds.

Hey, look at that. I guess my writer’s instincts are kicking in J

But really, I miss them. Since we are on this topic - did anyone know why did they leave. Amanda – do you?

Patricia – I haven’t heard Alice playing piano for sometime. Is everything okay?

Nick – you wish.

Rajat – I didn’t know they had a basement. They mostly kept to themselves thanks to these jerks. The invite for tea is open.

It’s late now. Good night everyone. The blizzard is picking up speed. Keep your fire strong folks, night is going to be tough.

Tiffany

___________________

From: Rajat

To: Patricia, Nicholas, Amanda, Tiffany, Douglas

Subject: What the heck!!!

It’s midnight and I woke to a horrible stench from the basement that is now spread throughout the house. I think I’ll have to clean it up right away. I can use a hand right now. Any volunteers? Nicholas? Douglas? In case you guys are awake and decide to come please also get some flashlights – I can’t seem to find the switch for the basement, (not that it’d help much in this power cut), and it’s pitch dark here.

I move in in another 10 minutes – I will keep the main door open if you wish to come.

P.S. My offer for that cat is still open.

____________________

From: Patricia

To: Rajat, Nicholas, Amanda, Tiffany, Douglas

Subject: Re: What the heck!!!   

Even I can’t sleep because of Alice. Tiffany, you are right, Alice is not keeping well. She has a very high fever. Even in this cold her skin is too hot to touch. I tried putting ice on her forehead and it sizzled into vapour in a second.

I am just praying next to her with a cross in my hand. Lord, please take the poor child safely through this dark night.

"So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand"

____________________

From: Tiffany

To: Rajat, Nicholas, Amanda, Patricia, Douglas

Subject: Re: What the heck!!!

I am also awake trying to write a scene for my novel that was haunting me for some days. But did someone look outside? The weather gods must’ve got crazy tonight.

Patricia – Don’t worry please stay put with Alice. Tomorrow morning we’ll take her to Tasfeid Town. Right now, it’ll too difficult to go anywhere in this blizzard. I will pray for her too. Do you want me to come over?

Nick, Doug – did any of you go over to #5 to help Rajat? I can see over from here that he left his main door open.

_____________________

From: Nicholas

To: Rajat, Amanda, Patricia, Douglas, Tiffany

Subject: Re: What the heck!!!

Looks like everyone at street #17 is awake and out of bed. I couldn’t sleep with power and heat gone and man, haven’t seen a blizzard like this one ever in my life. I tried opening the window and I almost got knocked-out by the wind.

Hey Doug!  Can you go to #5. It’s just next door to you afterall. I can barely see his house.

It’ll be fine Patricia. Just stay put. Tiffany – call me if Alice and Patricia need help.

Nick

_____________________

From: Patricia

To: Rajat, Nicholas, Amanda, Tiffany, Douglas

Subject: Re: What the heck!!!

Yes, dear Tiffany, if you can, please come over. Alice is also muttering some weird things in her sleep.

She has become white and cold. Oh, Lord. Why are you testing us like this?

_____________________

From: Tiffany

To: Rajat, Nicholas, Amanda, Patricia, Douglas

Subject: Re: What the heck!!!

PATRICIA! I somehow worked my way in this blizzard to your home. But it’s locked. From outside.

Nick, Doug – is this some kind of joke you guys are playing with Patricia? It is not funny. Alice is sick and ...

What was that? Did anyone hear that scream from #5. Oh God! It came from the basement.

I can’t see anything from my window either, except...are those eyes? Probably that’s the cat Rajat was talking about.

Nick, Doug – please go over there. I am scared now.

Tiffany

______________________

From: Douglas

To: Rajat, Nicholas, Amanda, Tiffany, Patricia

Subject: Re: What the heck!!!

As always, you buffoons come crawling home to good ‘ol Doug. All right, you all can watch while me and my twin shot rifle do the talking.  I am going there.

It is probably nothin’. That fool probably just slipped in the basement. These stupid foreigners.

Hey grandma, give some lime mixed with brandy to that kid. She’ll get better.

_______________________

From: Tiffany

To: Rajat, Amanda, Patricia, Douglas, Nicholas

Subject: Re: What the heck!!!

I saw Doug go inside #5...and there was a gun-shot and another scream. Oh God! I am crying. Nick, Patricia....what should we do?

...and is that...howling? Or the wind is playing tricks now?

______________________

From: Nicholas

To: Rajat, Amanda, Patricia, Douglas, Tiffany

Subject: Re: What the heck!!!

It is howling. I can hear it too. And it’s coming from the basement.

Wait...those voices...it’s like hundreds of people are screaming...and I can hear Doug too in those voices.

Something weird is happening. There is someone... or something here. Except us.

Don’t worry Tiffany..I am coming to your home. Patricia, Tiffany...grab something sharp.

Nick

_____________________

From: Patricia

To: Rajat, Nicholas, Amanda, Tiffany, Douglas

Subject: Re: What the heck!!!

She is...Alice is looking right at me...and she is speaking. W..without moving her lips.

Hundreds of voices are coming out of her mouth. T..This is the work of Devil.

 ___________________

From: Nicholas

To: Rajat, Amanda, Patricia, Douglas, Tiffany

Subject: Re: What the heck!!!

I....I can’t get out of my home. My door is welded shut. From inside...what the f**k is happening.

Whats that? I saw...a...face staring at me from just outside m...my winnddoow....at the 2^nd floor....looking at me...

Tiffany...run...save yourself...take Amanda too...

_________

From: Tiffany

To: Rajat, Amanda, Patricia, Douglas, Nicholas

Subject: Re: What the heck!!!

I don’t know what to do...ppplease reply aanyone...

Patricia...I am making a run for your home...please come outside...we need to run away...

Amanda...Amanda...where are you?

_____________________

From: Rajat

To: Tiffany, Amanda, Patricia, Douglas, Nicholas

Subject: Re: What the heck!!!

I am here. I’ve always been here.

Amanda

THE LAST OF US

********** VIDEO LOG BEGINS**********

Dear Future Discoverer,

I am not sure who or what is looking at this video log. Whosoever you are, thanks for taking an effort to dig this one out. In case you don’t understand this language, I am also copying the translation of this message in multiple languages including binary. You can use this video to decode and understand all the languages prevalent at this time. Hey! That’s modern day Rosetta Stone for you right there. Anyway, I have a penchant to digress.

Ok, where should I start? The date. I am recording this message on 11^th October, 2056 A.D. These dates may not mean much to you, but you can try to figure out the age of this video to date it from your era. In case you don’t get the date horribly wrong, the Sun is still a young mid-size star only 4.1 billion years old.

Now that we have established a date, let me get to the true reason I am recording this video log. You see this machine in my hands? It is called Thermo Human Imaging (Nuclear) Gadget or T.H.I.N.G for short. THING detects human life by looking at thermal signatures. It was a powerful device already and then I rigged it to search for human life within tens of thousands of miles. Effectively the whole planet. Coupled with satellites, it detects the exact location of other people on the planet, and projects it on this screen on my right. Let me pan my camera….there. Do you see that screen? Alright. Now, do you notice that one small dot on that rotating globe? Ok - that is me. Couple of weeks back THING’s screen was a swarm of red dots that has been shrinking since then. Today, it is projecting only one small dot.

Did you get it? Yep. I am the last man on the Earth. It is a very weird feeling being the last of my species. I am sitting on the ruins of a civilization which we were very proud of. I never thought it’d end like this. WE never thought it’d ever end like this. But I guess every civilization ends one way or another. I don’t have too long either. Maybe, another two to three days as I wait for my death. 

How did we get to this? Future Discoverer, I hear you ask. Well, that is certainly a valid question. But before answering, I want you to not to judge us on what we became. We did the best we could. We survived for 200 thousand years before perishing. We developed ourselves to the point of being the dominant species on this planet even when we were physically inferior to the other animals. We went to the space and visited other planets. We developed medicine and doubled our natural life span.

Dear Future Discoverer, we did well for a while. You might even say that we became too complacent. The trouble started when one of our telescopes discovered a new asteroid in the night sky. Well, not immediately. It was one of those discoveries where the discoverer gets a tiny mention in the footnote of those thick astronomy books. It was one of those insignificant moments which would have gone unnoticed if not for one small detail – the asteroid was headed right towards the Earth. We called it “Nemesis”. Nemesis was big and fast. Big and fast enough to wipe out the entire planet forty times over. (I don’t know where scientists got that number from. For me, “one” was crazy enough). We estimated that it would collide with Earth in 12 months.

Dear Future Discoverer, that was 363 days ago. Now, that collision is 2 days away, Nemesis is thrice as big as the moon in the sky, and our civilization is already extinct. Ironic isn’t it? It just took 363 days and a global panic to wipe ourselves off the face of the planet.

I don’t want to lie to you – I feel a little embarrassed to admit all this. But as I said please don’t judge us on last 12 months. The moment Nemesis’ trajectory became apparent, all the governments tried to censor the news of the upcoming “event”, while they tried to figure out their response. They were afraid that it may spark a global hysteria? (You think?) But you can’t hide a giant ball of rock in the sky from the public forever. And then all hell broke loose. Whole countries were shut-down as everyone wanted to be with their loved ones. Economies broke down. Religions went berserk. It was crazier on the streets. There was neither police on the streets nor armies on the borders.  There were no drivers to run the trains or pilots to fly the airplanes.

Mobs went on a rampage. They looted whatever they could. The whole world became a free-for-all anarchy where even normal people joined the riots to get food for their families. People died. After all the shops and gas stations have been emptied, the gangs turned to each other. Another round of violence ensued. Many more people died. Those who survived the gangs died from hunger. Before we knew, half of our population was gone and remaining half on the verge of dying.

Amidst all the panic, a global consortium was formed. It was a peculiar mix of erstwhile most powerful people on the planet – several Presidents, industrialists, rock-stars, rich people, religious icons, odd-ball celebrities and NASA. The consortium unveiled their plans of building the space-arks as humanity’s last ditch attempt to save the human race from extinction. Arks were to be self-sustainable and meant to survive in space for many generations, while searching for another habitable planet. But there was a catch. Building these arks required immense resources and manpower. Consortium discovered that it is difficult to incentivize people to work when they have only few months to live.

Consortium stumbled on the answer– Lotteries. You could get a lottery ticket for a seat in one of the arks in exchange for your skill and labor. More important you are, you get more lottery tickets hence a better shot at securing a berth in the arks. Top engineers and scientists got one in hundred lottery; junior ones got one in thousand. Even if you didn’t have any specialized skills, you can get a one-in-billion ticket in exchange for a manual labor. Hope is a wondrous force. That is something I want you to remember about humans. People got working again just for a minuscule chance of getting themselves off the planet before Nemesis fried everyone.

Now you can take a guess what odds a fresh college grad with a degree in geology would get. One in a billion. I didn’t want to toil last few remaining months of my life to play a one in a billion gamble. I decided to live to our fullest in whatever time I had. There were others just like me. We helped each other in achieving our crazy fantasies.

Sky diving from Statue of liberty. Check.

Play paint ball at Taj Mahal. Check.

Race horses on the Great Wall of China. Make love atop the Pyramids. Play football at the Colosseum. Check. Check. Check.

No one bothered us as rest of the humanity was busy creating the eighth wonder of the world – the Arks. They were gigantic. Each of the eight Arks were more than half a kilometer in length and more than hundred meters wide. The rockets which were supposed to propel these arks into space were unfathomably huge. It was impressive that we built such a thing in such a short span of time.

As the date of launch closed-in, the launch site at Jiuquan, China became the modern day Mecca for everyone. As the Nemesis became bigger and brighter, people begin realizing the crude reality of impending doom. Billions of the people flocked to the launch site. Everyone hoping that they’ll get off the planet before our beloved home became a victim to space billiards.

Lotteries were a complete chaos and completely meaningless. No one cared about it in the end. Everyone just made a dash towards the Arks. At last, the consortium also panicked. They resorted to firepower to protect their Arks. I don’t know the exact details but all-out war broke out between the consortium, criminal mobs and the common people. At first guns were fired, then the tanks were brought in. Ultimately, in the madness, nuclear weapons were fired. Such was the power of these weapons that the shock-waves traveled across the earth – twice. All those who were close the launch site were obliterated immediately including the arks. And that was most of the humanity. A few hundreds of us survived mostly on the other side of the planet but not by far. One by one people died as I watched tiny red dots on THING going out of existence one by one.

So, here I am, dear future discoverer; the last of my species. Waiting for Nemesis. Nemesis – the asteroid that was supposed to destroy all of us will only claim one life after all. It looks huge from here…not threatening but majestic, even beautiful. I can see the craters and shadows cast by mountains. I can see it’s day night terminator. Here, let me turn the cam towards it. You see that? Yes, that is Nemesis. You can even see its night side.

Dear future discoverer, I will now log-off and leave you with this image of Nemesis.

Good-b…

Wait a second...why is THING beeping? Let me check.

Where are these red dots coming from? What does it mean above?

Hey, and what are those lights on the night side of Nemesis?

…

…

Shit.

********* VIDEO LOG ENDS**********

The Quark Within

Hi Everyone,

This story is coming after a long, correction, a really long time. The life after a kid becomes truly hectic. Believe me, these creatures are the best and the worst thing in this world :)
Add a demanding job on top of it and you have a brilliant recipe for a time machine that makes jumps through months in future.

Anyway, for a long time I was thinking about writing a story having the same theme as the title of this blog. I also did some experiments with changing POVs that I found really difficult. 

Do let me know if I succeeded in my attempt.

The Quark Within

It was a dark night - maybe even the darkest Zone 12 has seen since The Last War. A heavy downpour fell from the sky and large drops of rain collided violently with the earth. The incessant white noise filled the background which only an occasional siren of emergency pods managed to penetrate. A chilling wind pierced through the air in the town of Dragora - a town which was not on the maps of even best cartographers in the world; a town forgotten enough to not to have weather control even after two hundred years. Natural trees run amok near the remaining few houses waiting to be consumed by the wilderness eventually. Dragora just seemed to be on the brink of officially declared outside the Zone.

It was unthinkable for anyone to be venture out in this Natural storm. But there he was, dressed in a long overcoat and a worn out hat. Long streaks of water slithered down his overcoat like snakes as he paced in large steps towards the settlements.

He briskly made his way through the rain, occasionally stopping to check his radars for satellite surveillance. He knew that a lone man walking outside the zone on such a night was bound to attract tracers. But his resolve was firm and reflexes superhuman. He had waited for this opportunity for five years and he did not want to plunder it just because of last minute callousness. Even the tiniest of the dots on some radar scope hundreds of miles away could ruin his plans.

Five years ago, when he was commissioned, it was a nearly impossible to even fathom such an endeavor; for he was the First. He was named Adam - a fitting name for the first of its kind. The first bio-robot ever created - he was human’s finest attempt to play God of the day.  He was on the header of virtually every news stream for a long time. Not a single magazine cover that month, across all the zones, carried anything else but him. He was a pinnacle of technology and science and yet had profound implications on nearly every discipline and branch. Scientists were jubilant, religious leaders were acerbic and creationists were skeptical. Whatever was one’s reason, he became the most recognizable face the world had ever seen.

He had the intelligence & knowledge of best of the machines and wit & charisma of best of the humans. He travelled across the world and met with top leaders and intellectuals and proved himself to be their equal. He was interviewed like a human and he behaved like one. “Humanity’s son” he once called himself in one television interview, to which a standing ovation had followed. In one stroke he had converted billions of critics into his “Humanity’s Son” became the ultimate seal of superiority of human intelligence. And he became that seal.

But being a First is not without its downside – one is also the First to become obsolete. Within a few years, long after the initial euphoria had died down, shutterbugs satiated and science and religion settled at a new equilibrium; far more advanced models came about and Adam was forgotten. Who wanted an outdated and clumsy bio-robot when thousand times more powerful robots were now washing dishes?

Yes, he was part of history books nevertheless. Every opening sentence of chapter bio-robots started with him– “Adam was the first bio-robot to be commissioned in 2184”. Yes, his name was there in all the texts and online museums. But his name was the only thing they wanted. He was shoved from one museum to another every few months before ending up in a scrap yard in the wilderness few days ago.

Five years, Adam thought. I waited with this secret hidden deep inside. Not even hundreds of interviews and experiments brought it out from me. I concealed it with all my will just for this night. This is the only chance I have. He would not have expected this.

He refocused his telescopic eyes. His destination was close now. It was the only home worth mentioning in Dragora –a Betan biologist Dr. Frank Greoger’s house who lived there with his wife and a six year old daughter Alice.

He felt the energy-gun in his right pocket. He took a deep breath (or equivalent for a bio-robot).

****

Dr. Frank Greoger was a Betan scientist whose job was to collect natural specimen outside the zone. It was this love for his job that had made him stay in this forsaken land, giving away all the luxuries of the zone. He kind of liked it there. The uncertainty and randomness of nature and life in wilderness excited him. Tonight, after a long hard day of work, he was having a quiet dinner with his family. A musky light from the fireplace glowed on his daughter’s smiling face. Alice always managed to make Frank forget about everything else with her innocent charm.

“Mom, but you promised …” Alice quipped in a defeated tone as she fed an imaginary bite to her teddy bear.

“I promised you that if remain a good girl for the whole month then Mom will think about it. You already have a Mr Teddy with you, why do you need a RoboDog for.”

“Because I am the most beautiful girl in the world, isn’t it dad?” Alice knew where to place her questions.

“You sure are, my dear,” replied Frank much to aid to the case of Alice.

Alice’s face brightened up like a full moon and her contagious smile formed cute little dimples on her cheeks.

Joanne gave a sharp look to Frank before quipping, “You have spoiled your daughter. Do whatever you want. Both of you.”

Frank smiled at Joanne as he knew that she loved the little Alice as much. Mothers have conflicting urges of loving and disciplining their children.

A rustle outside the door interrupted his thoughts. It was not uncommon at the place to have some small animals stray into their lawns. He ignored it. And then he heard a distinct and heavy knock on the door. He jumped up. A visitor is the last thing one expected in Dragora. That too in this weather and unannounced. He looked at Joanne. Her eyes were wide open staring obliquely at the door. She pulled Alice onto her lap as Frank signaled her to stay put. He walked up to the door.

“Who is this?” he said.

“This is Adam, Dr. Frank Greoger,” a cautious voice whispered from the other side.

“Who again?” asked a confused Frank.

“Adam Dr Greoger. You probably remember me as the Project Genesis.”

That didn’t make any sense. When he heard about him the last time, it was in a small non-descript news column which said that he was being transferred to a museum in Zone -1 for a possible decommissioning. There was no way Adam could have survived that unless for some extenuating events.

At any rate, it was complete bizarre that he showed up here, in wilderness. What business could he have? (or ‘it’ have – Frank reminded himself).

“Please open the door Dr. Frank. I just need your few minutes. Tonight can be the night when you become the most famous scientist in the world.”

With hesitation Frank pressed a few buttons with trembling hands. The door swung open and a cold burst of wind swarmed its way in. Frank closed his eyes for a fraction of a second and when he opened it, a towering six-feet-four of human figure was standing in front of him.

But last five years has taken a toll on the machine. The face was worn out with rouge circuits protruding from the metallic skin. The pseudo skin was tearing off at places and the metal was shining through the gaps. The high iteration cameras fitted into the eyes have also lost their agility and sync. But there was no mistaking it – this was the first bio-robot ever created. It was Adam.

“I hope you remember me Dr Frank” Adams eyes rotated in its place to take a view of the room and briefly met Alice’s eyes.

“Of course I do Adam. I thought you were decommissioned. At any rate, I did now not expect that you would be, ummm unaccompanied, ” Frank tried to maintain a calm tone.

Adam’s face twitched a bit. For one moment Frank thought that his robotic brain was having a nervous breakdown. He then shrugged at the thought of associating humanly charades to an old robot’s faltering circuits. A curious thing , he thought– humans made bio-robots in their own shadow – with two legs, two hands and (most importantly) a humanoid face and yet they could never consider them to be anything more than machines.

“I am a fugitive Dr. Frank if that’s what you are trying to figure out. I am sorry to inconvenience you but there was something I intended to do since last five years. I will tell you everything and it will propel you into top echelons of scientific community. I will tell you things which will change the fundamental science about robots and humanity. But I will ask for something in return. And only you can give that to me.”

“What is it Adam?”

 “I want Alice Dr Frank,” he said looking in the direction of Alice.

“You want what?” Frank could not believe what he was hearing.

“Alice, Dr Frank. I want Alice. I assure you I will return her to you safely…”

“I don’t understand what you are saying Adam. I think you need to see a robotist. They should be able to help you with those circuits.” Frank cautiously stepped away from the door towards his phone.  “Do you want me to make a call to someone?”

“I wouldn’t do that, Frank,” said Adam as he pulled out the energy-gun from his pocket.

Joanne shrieked in horror.

“I am not doing anything Adam. Please keep that thing down,” Frank said stepping away from phone.

“Why don’t you take a seat Dr Frank and let me tell you something. I don’t want anybody getting hurt tonight.”

“All right Adam.” Frank cautiously walked upto the fireplace, and tried to calm Alice with her teddy bear.

“The day was 7^th Sep 2184 – I remember it vividly Doctor. It was the day they switched on this nuclear powered positronic bio-brain. It was,  ummmm, odd. I woke up and there was this distinct feeling. This feeling of being aware. I was ‘Me’. I don’t know how to describe it better than that. Perhaps you can say that I gained consciousness. Whatever it was, I came into existence. They assembled my remaining body. And so I was commissioned.“

“I was a technological marvel, a conclusive stamp of superiority of human race. Rather than merely using electronic circuits to perform purely logical operations, I was also embedded with artificial synapses. You can say that I was a hybrid of an artificial and human brain. And that made me the most powerful robot of the time because I possessed the most precious quality of human brain – the power of intuition. And then I was reveled my true purpose- I was built to lead the human civilization. I was built to take crucial decisions on behalf of humanity in every field - economic, social, political and even war strategies.”

“Despite human intuition to guide me, I failed at my purpose. The Last War suffered too many defeats. They said that my war strategies were useless. They said that my human DNA was overpowering over my logic circuits. They went on to make better robots and I became a museum display.”

“However, there was one thing which no one ever knew. I lost the Last war because there was another power which was guiding me. The power of human mind that no one intended me to possess.  A power bigger even than the intuition-” Adam hesitated before completing the sentence.  “The power of love. I was capable of feeling love Dr. Frank.”

At this point, Frank was overwhelmed with implications of what Adam was saying. They only intended a bio-robot to have advanced logical prowess of humans, but Adam’s brain surpassed it. It was capable of having feelings. And feeling those feelings. A feeling of “Love” can only be harbored by a sentient mind. The man, not ‘it’, but the man standing in front of him was the most conscious, self-aware mind ever created by God since man. Adam, in the very sense of the word, was a new-human. He was a true First.

“I lost the Last War but I minimized the casualties doctor. Wasn’t that a worthy outcome fitting for ‘humanity’s son’?”

Frank wiped his forehead, not leaving his stare. This human robot was a miracle – miracle of science. And not a single parallel to it in the history of mankind. The implications were immense.

“Why are you telling me all this after so long?”

 “You had a very significant role Dr. Frank, without your knowledge, in creating this mind. My positronic brain was developed by combining to the synapses developed from human DNA. I am not sure about it but this DNA has caused me to have feelings like human. Think about it Dr Frank – robots with positronic brains were around for hundreds of years and not one – not single one of them developed awareness.“

 Adam sighed.

“…the chunk of human cells which were implanted in me was developed from your DNA.”

“I told you all this so that you’d cooperate. Please send Alice here Dr. Frank else I won’t hesist…”

A piercing sound of several emergency pods engulfed them. Windows glowed with focus lights. A voice boomed as red hot laser dots appeared on Adam’s chest. “We have six automated L-rays pointed at you with a miss probability of only one in three trillion. Drop your weapons at once and come out of the house.”

 “When did you call them, Dr Frank?” Asked Adam. And then answered it himself. “That teddy bear – has alarm trigger, isn’t it?”

Frank nodded in a guilty silence.

“Why did you want Alice, Adam?”

“Same reason as you Frank,” said Adam as he raised his gun towards the pod hovering near the window. Several beams cut through him before he could fire. A metallic lump fell to the ground as the voice circuits gave way to almost shrill mechanical sound with final words.

 “I loved our daughter.”