“You have gotten too big to even hug. Can you please stop growing already?” Elliot spoke softly as he gave Omega a hug.
They walk out of the hall and into a private room. Elliot knew why Omega was here to see him and he wanted to have this conversation in private.
“I did a good thing,” Omega’s emotions spilling out of him. “I tried to save millions of lives. You raised me to protect humans. I am using my powers for good. Everyone else thinks so except my own father. Why would you go out in public and rip me like I am some evil monster?”
“I am really sorry I made you feel that way” Elliot reaching out to Omega’s arm to calm him through both words and touch. Son, you have the power to alter the course of human history. Change the course of life on this planet for good. If you are not careful your well intentioned actions can throw off the ecological balance on this planet.”
“What does me stopping a virus from spreading have anything to do with that?” Omega asked.
“Our planet is dying. We are in the middle of the sixth extinction and it has been caused by us humans.” Elliot began to explain his media outburst. Your actions, well intentioned actions, stopped nature from fighting back against humans. You stopped nature from trying to reestablish the ecological balance.”
“I don’t understand anything you are saying. This goes against everything you guys have taught me for years.” Omega didn’t understand why all of sudden Elliot was mad at him for doing the very thing that they ingrained in him all these years.
“It’s my fault. I were trying so hard to show you how good humans are so that you end up on “our side,” I never showed you our true nature. We have been feeding you a lie about who we really are. You were the most powerful weapon we had ever seen and if we couldn’t get rid of you we had to make sure we could use you. I had to go along with this lie. It was the only way they would allow me to be part of your life. For that I am cannot apologize enough. We raised you with a mission to protect humans at all cost. We made you believe you owe us for saving you and giving you a home. If you truly knew us you would know that it’s what we do... We abuse and destroy everything good to further our agenda,” Elliot looked away.
“What is really so bad about saving human lives? I don’t get it. Why would you be disappointed in me? Since when is saving life a bad thing?” For all his strength Omega could not fully grasp Elliot’s explanation for his voiced disappointment.
“It is not, and you are not bad. Your intentions are pure but that doesn’t always lead to good results. You have saved millions, maybe even billions of lives but in turn that has pushed life on this planet one step closer to extinction.” Omega looked confused and visibly frustrated over Elliot’s remarks.
He inquired, “I don’t get how by me saving lives I can cause extinction?”
“Unintended consequences… Not all noble actions lead to positive outcomes. We humans tend to think we are not connected to the rest of living beings on this planet. We think that this planet and all its resources are for us to pillage and it wouldn’t have any consequences. As if we are don’t need this ecosystem to survive. What we conveniently ignore is that life was here long before us and will flourish once again after we are gone. Our actions have put us in the middle of the sixth extinction. We are like the bacteria that keeps multiplying and consuming resources of its host until it eventually kills the host and thereby killing itself.”
“But what does this have to do with my actions?” Omega needed to know.
“If human race is the bacteria destroying life, you have become its defense mechanism. Every time someone or something tries to curb its growth to reestablish balance you are there to stop it. You are accelerating the destructions of all life by letting us continue to overtake this planet. For good or bad; you have always had the power to shape the future of the planet. For now it has been for the bad.
It has been a universally accepted truth that modern medicine has been the instrument of good. It has saved billions of lives but when you zoom out and look at the big picture modern medicine is the single biggest reason for sixth extinction. Global warming, pollution, and extinction of other species are just symptoms; the real cause has always been population explosion which was a result of modern medicine. Those scientists were noble, they had good intentions. All they wanted to do was to stop human suffering and save lives but they did not appreciate the one, big side effect of the vaccines and medications they developed. These medications go against natural selection that created humans in the first place. Human population explosion caused by all the lives saved by modern medicine will destroy the very ecosystem that we need to survive. The problem worsens with advances in modern medicines. We never stop to think that something as noble as medicine; something that has saves so many lives could put life itself at risk. And that is the point I am making about unintended consequences.
If you add industrial revolution on top of that it’s safe to say western civilization has always had an unhealthy relationship with nature. We have always put short-term profits over sustainability. There are a lot more vulnerable species that need your help. They are not able to protect themselves from our greed. If you want to be a hero, be their hero. Be the hero for all life. Maybe take some time to know other species on this planet. You are still young. Don’t let us dictate your path. Don’t be our version of a hero. Don’t live your life to appease us,” Elliot pleaded.
“I am not trying to be your savior. If I am able to protect people it feels wrong not to. If it is important to you I will go out there and learn about other species. I know what I know from what you taught me. I don’t even know anything about me or where I came from,” acknowledged Omega.
“Yeah. That is another thing I have been meaning to talk to you about. You really need to learn about your species. What happened on your planet that they felt the need to send a baby all the way across the universe by himself? You have been avoiding learning about your past but maybe it’s time for you to go back to the ship and see what you can find. See if your species are still alive somewhere out there. What was their purpose behind sending you here? You can’t hide from it forever son.” Elliot wanted Omega to face his past.
“I am not sure if I am ready for that. They put me into a ship and sent me out in space all by myself. I don’t know what their intent was and I don’t care. If they had a purpose for me I don’t intend to find out or fulfil it. This is my home and you are my family.” Omega was not yet ready to grapple with his origin.
Trying to convince Elliot, “I know son. Just like you don’t have to serve our purpose, you don’t have to serve theirs either. But it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t know about your own past. You can live the life you choose on this planet but knowing your past may help you understand yourself better. Learn about them even if it is just to avoid their mistakes.”
“I will think about it,” Omega reluctantly agreed.
Chapter 3
Omega was walking towards the secured area inside the GSRC. He walks up to the entrance, stopping just a few of feet away. This was not going to be easy for him. He had not visited this area since he was very little. Omega desperately wanted to belong somewhere so he didn’t want to learn about his own past and where he came from. Knowing about his species might have stopped him from fully assimilating with the human race, might make it impossible to be more like humans. That fear of having two identities always stopped him from ever visiting the ship that brought him here. His past was never coming back. His species did not want him to come back to their planet or they wouldn’t have sent him out in space by himself. He understood that much already. He had to move forward and bury his past. Maybe in that sense he was not that different from humans. Ha did not want to be alone in this vast universe.
He knew that everything will change once he opened the door. He will never be the same. But it was necessary. He finally walked up to the door and swiped his ID. The image recognition software recognized him and to his surprise played a
message from Elliot, “Welcome Omega, I knew this day would come. I am proud of you for facing your past. No matter what happens you will always be my son and I will always love you.“
The door finally started to open slowly. He saw the first glimpse of the ship from the crack in the door. He was nervous and wasn’t sure if this was the right decision. It was too late now as the door was fully open and he could see the entire ship for the first time since his childhood. As he walked in the room he noticed that the lights on the ship started to turn on. As he got closer the entire ship was awake as if it has been waiting for his arrival all these years.
Once he was in front of the ship a hatch opened underneath. A ramp slowly fell to the ground to allow him to walk in. Omega could see inside the ship but he wasn’t ready to walk in just yet. He stood there frozen, staring at the ship for what seemed like an eternity.
Elliot was watching it all unfold on the monitors. He couldn’t watch his son stand still on front of the ship much longer. Elliot walks in and puts his hand on Omega’s shoulder. “I know this is difficult but you know you have to do this. I will be right outside waiting for you.” Elliot always seems to know what to say to calm Omega’s nerves. Even though Omega has gotten a lot bigger he still needed his father during the big moments as he did during his childhood.
When Omega was a child, new experiences often made him nervous. He would get scared meeting new people. Being different made him unsure if he would be accepted. He didn’t know how strangers would react to being face to face with him. He would grab on to Elliot’s lab coat and try to hide behind it. Only peeking out for a quick second to check things out hoping no one would notice him. The first day he started his combat training he stood frozen outside the door. He was not comfortable with violence as a child. Elliot hated himself for pushing Omega to learn how to fight at such a young age. What he really wanted to do is take Omega as far away from that as possible and keep him safe but he didn’t have a choice. Omega had to learn how to fight because his future would be full of uncertainty. Today was no different. Omega had to do something he didn’t quite want to do and needed Elliot by his side.
Finally, Omega was ready to walk in. Once he was inside, the ramp closed behind him. All of a sudden Elliot started feeling very nervous because this was an unknown territory for him as well. A lot of feelings started flooding in. There was nothing he could do to protect his child from what he will see inside. He didn’t even know if he would ever see Omega again. Even if he did would it be the sweet child he raised.
The ship was a lot bigger than Omega has initially imagined. The lights led the path to the main control room of the ship. As he set foot in the room all the lights came on. In the center of the room there was a chair that seemed like it was made for an adult from his world. Since he was the only one that was sent over in this ship he figured that the chair was there for him. He tentatively walked over to the chair and sat down. He was expecting something to happen once he sat down but to his surprise nothing at all happened. He sat back in the chair slightly disappointed when all of a sudden he felt like his body was being taken over. Visual and audio information rushed into his brain. It was similar to watching a movie on Earth but he didn’t actually watch it. The information was just available in his brain all of a sudden. It was like he had seen this movie a long time ago but in reality he actually never did. It was like the ship had somehow transmitted the information about his planet straight into his memory.
He needed to parse all this new information and try to make sense of it all. All of a sudden he knew where he came from and the history of his species. He needed a bit of time to go through all this new information. He sat there for a while and tried to replay all this new information in his head in sequence.
He was from a planet that was somewhat similar to earth with its own unique ecosystem. His planet was full of life at one point and his species were far more advanced than humans. They had built technology that allowed them to become independent of their ecosystem. They were able to fuse with technology to enhance their existence. This was a great leap because it freed their society from its dependency on requiring organic resources on a daily basis to grow and sustain themselves. Eliminating the need to regularly consume organic matter for survival freed up their species to focus on scientific advancements like flying, advanced weaponry, and interplanetary travel. They were a very aggressive species by nature which had allowed them move up on the food chain and become the dominant species. The pitfall to their aggressive nature was that they didn’t care about the health of their ecosystem or long-term sustainability. As the ecosystem started to become unbalanced instead of trying to remedy the problem they cut off their dependency on it by fusing with technology. Becoming a hybrid species came at a price. They had to mine a rare, powerful and finite nuclear isotope from deep within their planet’s core. They were warned that over-mining that deep into the core of their planet will have devastating impacts. There wasn’t much attention paid to the warning since there was no immediate impact. Being no longer dependent on resources to survive led to goals like being a multi-planetary species and discovering other civilizations in the vast universe. That mentality made their own planet completely disposable and it led to reckless over-mining and destruction of the entire ecosystem.
Once a beautiful planet that was able to sustain millions of species had been turned into a wasteland. There were pockets of highly advanced cities surrounded by vast barren, dusty wastelands. Machines were drilling through the core all throughout the wastelands to mine the remaining nuclear material. Time was running out for them to leave their planet before the planet imploded on itself. Their selfishness ran the clock out way before they were fully ready to leave the planet.
All efforts had to be shifted towards relocating their species off their planet. Scientists were looking for any planets in and across the universes that fell in the habitable zone to make a new home. Interplanetary travel fleets were being developed capable of traveling to galaxies light years away. Technology was being developed to suspend the growth during travel and reactivate it when they arrive at their destination. Much more advanced and powerful hybrids were developed so they can survive the travel and can deal with any unforeseen dangers at their new destination.
The plan was to first send the new hybrid children out in space to explore. Each flight would have two children on it. Once they reach a habitable planet one of the two children would remain there to explore and the other would fly back home. As the flights returned, the children would provide them with the information that would determine where to relocate their species.
That last piece of information brought Omega back to reality. He just realized that there may be another one like him on this ship. Where has that child been all these years? And why is the ship still on Earth? The ship was supposed to travel back to his home planet. What went wrong? He got up off the chair to look around the ship to see if he can find the other child.
He was a little bit excited to finally meet someone from his world. He now knew that he wasn’t alone in the universe. Someone from his species might still be alive and on this ship.
He started walking into other rooms on the ship to find this baby. He finally entered a room that looked like somewhere him and the other baby would be been kept during the travel. He saw two pods in the room. One of the pods looked empty. That likely was his pod. The other one looked a bit cloudy so he couldn’t see what was behind the glass from a distance. When he got close he could see the baby behind the cloudy glass. Something must have gone wrong. They were both supposed to be out of the pod at the same time and the ship was supposed to be gone. He simultaneously felt loss and belonging in the vast universe looking at another one of his species.
Omega looked for a way to open the pod pressing any buttons he could find by the pod. Finally, one of the buttons worked and the pod started to open up. He was face to face with another one of his kind.
The baby just lay in there comp
letely still, like a statue. There was no movement at all and he could not detect any trace of life or any organic matter on its body. The reality sunk in that the baby might have died during travel. If it was alive it would have been woken up at the same time he was. One of them was supposed to gather the information about the planet and return back home. That is why the ship never left Earth. But how would a baby just as powerful as him die during travel. He wasn’t ready to believe that. Omega put his hand in the pod to touch the baby to see if he could sense anything. The baby was cold to the touch but he could sense a strong energy source inside the body. Moving his hand away from the baby as he saw some stuff crawling out of the baby and onto his hand. More and more tiny particles started crawling out of the baby and into his hand. It was likely the nano technology that was inside still inside the other baby’s body and even though the baby had died the nano tech was still fully functional and in need of a new host. Pretty soon the baby had turned into dust and those particles were crawling into Omega’s body. There was no pain but once the fusion was complete Omega never felt more powerful.
Omega took a moment to say goodbye to the remains of the baby. There was still a possibility that his species was alive somewhere out there in the universe. Maybe they will meet again one day but he did understand that the chances were slim. Even if he could contact them he wasn’t sure he wanted them to come to Earth. Their callous attitude towards preserving their own ecosystem destroyed their planet. What were the odd that a species that didn’t need an ecosystem to survive would preserve life on Earth? He was treated well on this planet. His own kind created him as an experiment just to serve a purpose. He didn’t actually have a family to go back to. He already was with the closest thing to a family he would ever have. He didn’t want to be responsible for their destruction. It was a lot to process and this was not the time to make any rash decisions. Omega decided to explore the ship a bit more. There were a few other rooms in the ship. He did understand what some of them were for but the rest were beyond his understanding. There was also a full weapons room with dozens of big and small weapons. I guess they wanted to equip the children for every scenario. He left everything as it was in the ship and walked out. The whole experience was overwhelming. This was the strongest he had ever felt but at the time it was the most confused he had ever been. On one hand he found out that he wasn’t the last of his kind but at the same time knowing he was created only to serve a purpose really hurt. He never really had a family go back to. No one cared enough to miss him. There may be a home somewhere out there for his species but it just was not intended for him. All throughout his childhood he made himself believe that something really bad happened on his planet and his family sent him to Earth to protect him.
Hero Falls Kingdom Rises Page 3