Kristen screamed and tried to reach for William. He had stretched out his hand to pull her up. But the more he tried to reach her, it was as if he was being pulled away from her. She also tried to reach him. But an invisible gulf had suddenly grown between them.
“William!” she called out again. But it was too late. It was as if a force had suddenly appeared and taken a hold of William. The unseen force had yanked William and pulled him away. Kristen saw her fiancé moving upwards while she seemed to fall behind.
Kristen was not sure if she was the one who was falling down or if it was William who was rising away. But did it matter, she pondered. The fact was that their separation was increasing by the second. She then noticed that the whole room had gotten engulfed in smoke and fire. She took her attention away from William because he seemed to have now been pulled out of the reach of the flames. She struggled to get up from the bed but she could not move. Her hands, torso, and legs appeared to have been strapped down. She struggled to move her shoulders and her knees. But the more she struggled, the force that was holding her increased its grip.
And then the bed started to turn. As it turned sideways, her face could feel the heat because of the closeness of the raging flame. And then the bed was upside down. She was staring into a deep, black hole. She saw a light far away but deep inside the black, dark hole.
Kristen reached out her hand and was surprised when she saw her hands stretched out ahead of her. And yet a moment ago she could not move any of her limbs.
Excited, she reached further and then she fell off the bed. She felt herself falling and falling. Deeper and deeper she fell into the dark hole.
Above her, she could see the sight of the raging flames receding. Under her, she saw herself falling towards the mysterious light.
The light grew bigger and bigger as she descended towards it. From a small dot, it grew rapidly to the size of a tennis ball, then a football, and then much bigger.
And then all around her was light.
“Captain. Captain. Captain.”
The calls were very audible and persistent this time around.
She blinked several times before she opened her eyes. Mahmud was standing by her side. “Captain, are you all right?” he asked. His face was covered with worry.
“I think I am,” Kristen replied. “Where am I?” “We are on the Atlantis, Captain,” Mahmud replied. “Where were you expecting us to be?” Kristen looked around. They were on the deck of the bridge of the Atlantis. She shook her head. “I don’t know. I had the weirdest dream just now. What happened?”
“Maybe the exhaustion of the trip,” Mahmud said. “Or it could be the relief from all the anxiety, stress, and tension of the Gualdions that had you knocked out for a while.”
“But we must have space jumped through some portals and many black holes to get here, I believe,” Kristen added.
“Yes,” Mahmud agreed. “I lost count after we went through the fourteenth black hole. I must confess that where we are going is really very far. Imagine going through numerous black holes just to get to our destination.”
“You really have a point there, Mahmud. But what is the situation right now?” “The device was giving a signal which I had relayed to you. But when you did not respond, I decided to come over to see you myself. You were really out for quite a while before you responded to my call.”
“I see. What was the message all about?” Kristen asked.
“It was specifying something about our imminent arrival,” Mahmud replied.
Kristen put on her monitor and saw the message: ARRIVAL TO DESTINATION IMMINENT. “Arrival is imminent?” Kristen repeated. “Maybe we are at the domain of the makers, don’t you think?” “I really don’t know what to think, Captain. Maybe you can look and see for yourself.” Kristen looked outside and the sight she beheld was awesome and unreal. Rather than a dark night sky filled with stars and other planetary bodies, all around them there was a white, bright sky with clouds and very visible mountain peaks. The ground was bark and brown and had quite a lot of vegetation. And then she saw rivers and streams.
They were still within the Atlantis and were beholding the luscious vegetation in the environment all around them while their space shuttle flew through it.
“Where is this place? Is it Earth?” Kristen asked. The blank expression on Mahmud’s face told Kristen of his ignorance of their present whereabouts. She checked her app and saw that it had stopped mapping. Rather, it was not functioning properly. It appeared as if it could not get any proper coordinates.
“My app is not picking up any coordinates,” Kristen stated. “How can that be possible? Why wouldn’t the app be able to pick up coordinates?”
Nobody replied to her query. All her crew members were simply awestricken as they continued to stare at the beautiful green scenery around them.
She could not blame any one of them. For all of them on board the Atlantis, the last time they had seen such a sight was when they were back on Earth. That must have been several years ago, depending on what date and time today was.
Kristen checked the console in front of her. She pressed some dials and typed some keys.
“The atmosphere is good. Almost close to that of Earth,” Kristen announced.
“Are you sure, Captain?” Mahmud asked. “Look at what the readings are saying.” Kristen looked at the monitors again. Suddenly, they started to flicker, as though there was an interference with it. When it became stable, the readings had changed.
“What? Poisonous atmosphere?” Kristen stated. “But how can this be? It was all right just a moment ago.”
“Well, maybe it gave us the reading while we were in a part of the atmosphere that was healthy. And right now we are in a part that is not healthy,” Mahmud replied.
“What kind of explanation is that?” Kristen asked. “Did you just hear yourself, Mahmud? How can you have different readings for an atmosphere?”
“Well, I don’t know what to say, Captain,” Mahmud replied.
What else was there to say? Kristen wondered. Outside, the Atlantis had left behind the greenery and was now flying gradually over a very wide field of white flowers. The field extended for miles in all directions and as far as the eye could see. It looked like they were flying over a sea of flowers.
Up ahead, they could see the ragged outline of a very tall mountain. The Atlantis was heading straight for the mountain while flying over the sea of flowers. The Atlantis soon came over to the mountain. There was a wide clearing on it and it gracefully landed on the clearing.
“Headgear, everybody,” Kristen announced over the microphone. “All crew members should put on their headgear right now before we disembark.”
As her crew busied themselves with their headgear, Kristen observed the environment outside. They had landed high up on the mountain. There were some flowers around them. She could see a bright-white light coming towards them.
“Mahmud,” Kristen called. “What is that?” “I am not sure, Captain,” Mahmud replied.
“What about the device?” Lynda asked. “What is it saying?”
“Nothing,” Mahmud replied. “It is not saying anything. Perhaps it does not sense it as a threat.” “Cross-check it with our own systems,” Kristen ordered. Lynda typed some keys on her console. “Negative, Captain,” she replied. “Our systems are not reading any threats from the approaching light.”
“Then maybe it is not a threat. What is the device saying?” Kristen asked.
“It is silent. The only message on the screen is ARRIVED,” Mahmud replied.
“Arrived?” Kristen repeated. “Does it mean that we have arrived?” There was a sudden flash of bright light. The light was so bright and it appeared to be coming from the same direction of the approaching light. On impulse, every crew member of the Atlantis shielded their eyes with their hands. The intensity of the light was so bright no one could look directly at it.
Eventually, the brightness of light reduced. When they all put
their hands down, they discovered that they were outside, standing on the flowers. Kristen and the rest of her crew members looked around at their environment. Behind them was the Atlantis. They had no helmets, they didn't need their helmets.
How had they been able to come outside without using the door? Kristen wondered. The same thought was on the minds of all the others. They were still looking around in confusion when they noticed that the approaching light had also stopped close to them. It appeared to divide into two separate halves and it disappeared. In its place was a man. He was smiling and had a very long, golden-coloured hair. On his handsome, smiling face was a crown made of gold, and on which were several crystals which were shining and reflecting light. He had on a robe that was immaculately white. There were golden embroidery designs on the edges and hems of the robe.
Kristen and the crew members were taken aback at the sight of the stranger. They all began to take steps backwards out of fear and suspicion.
The man smiled again and held up his hand. “Do not be afraid, Nivrus people,” he said in a very clear voice.
Kristen was surprised that he had no form of microphone or transmitter. But they were all hearing his voice very audibly.
How is he able to communicate with us directly? Kristen wondered. Even though they didn't have their multilingual vocabulary chips, Kristen could not fathom how communication was possible.
“Who are you?” Kristen asked when she had summoned courage and was convinced the stranger did not mean to harm them.
“I am who you take me to be,” the man replied. “Do not be afraid.”
Kristen looked around at her crew members. There was no longer fear in their eyes. Only curiosity. “You need answers,” the man continued. “Your world is in turmoil and chaos. You have also travelled from very far and wide to come to this place. Come with me,” the man said, beckoning to them.
As they started to come closer to him, he turned and started to walk towards the mountain. They were walking on the flowers as they went. Kristen observed that after they stepped on any bunch of flowers, they simply stood up right once again. This meant that rather than leaving behind a trail of squashed flowers behind them as they advanced towards the mountain, there was simply no trail that led from the Atlantis to their present position.
The man soon got to the mountain and the wall opened, revealing very huge gates. The gates slid into the mountain and they all walked into a large hall. Inside the hall, there was a big round table, around which were several chairs.
The man gestured to the chairs. “Please. Sit,” he instructed. The crew members of the Atlantis sat down quietly. The man walked around and looked at them.
“You have been able to succeed where no other man has tried to succeed,” he said. “I know your journey has not been easy. But because of your faith and tenacity, you kept on pressing harder. And because of your focus you are here today.”
“Who are you?” Kristen asked without thinking. The man smiled. “Who do you think I am?” he asked.
“Are you a maker?” Kristen asked. “We are called the makers by many. But the makers in reality are just builders; we take our orders from higher beings in the hierarchy and no one in this hierarchy is allowed to do anything without the permission of the Supreme. It is only his orders we follow."
"How many are you?" Kristen asked. "We are too many," he said with a smile. "Perhaps our count is not a number you would recognize. In addition, no one knows our exact count but him, the Supreme. But in this universe, we are three."
"Who is the Supreme?" "He has many names, almighty, the supreme, the creator. He is one, the one who designs, the one who decides and the one we refer to in all matters. Matters like saving your world."
“Can you help us then? Can you save our world?” Kristen asked. “First of all you should understand that your world is suffering because of the mistakes of its leaders and its elites,” the maker replied. “I and my counterparts had initially wanted to leave it to its fate.”
“Your counterparts?” Kristen repeated. The maker nodded. “Yes. Like I said, there are three of us. The other two have gone to attend to some other issues in another dimension. I should have gone with them as well but when I became aware of your arrival, I decided to stay back and attend to you. It will not augur well for me that you would come so far and go through so much for the sake of your world and still not even get at least an audience with one of us.”
“Thank you very much, sir,” Kristen said. “We all really appreciate your kindness and consideration. But I think we would be really interested in knowing more about our fate and the fate of our world.”
“You are right. The fate of your world is in your hands. And when I refer to you, I do not make reference to only you brave explorers that are seated before me. I am also referring to your leaders. Every one of you is responsible for the present situation Nivrus finds itself in. And every one of you will be the one to determine where Earth can go to from here.”
He turned and pointed into the stars. “Your mission was to go and search for another world. And the intention of your leaders and elites was to move into this new world and leave the rest behind. But let me ask you this—do you really think there is any world out there that is uninhabited? And even if you did find any that was uninhabited, how would your kind make it suitable for habitation? And even if they made it suitable for habitation, what is the guarantee that they wouldn’t make the same mistakes all over again? What is the assurance that they would not sooner or later have to send out another mission like yours to find another planet? The cycle will never stop. It will just continue to go on and on.”
“What can you do to help us? We cannot allow Earth to be destroyed and disintegrated just like that,” Kristen pleaded.
“In order to solve a problem, it is always good to understand the cause of that problem,” the maker replied. “In your case, your problem started because your kind was wicked to itself. The King of Milda spoke to you a lot about this. In a lot of worlds, their inhabitants cannot understand how your people could callously and wickedly plunder your own world with reckless abandon only to start looking for where else to run to. That is no way to solve a problem. Your kind will have to look deep within itself, reform and swear that they will never engage in such suicidal and exploitative tendencies again.”
“I am sure they will never do such a thing, sir,” Kristen said. “They have now learnt their lesson.” “But what makes you think they have? Is it not true that a leopard never changes its spots? But then again, what if the leopard was to be given an entirely new skin and then changed from a leopard to some other animal, perhaps a rhino, or a buffalo? Will the new creature still have the attributes of the previous leopard?”
“I don't know,” Kristen replied. “I honestly do not know.” “I will tell you all something. A long time ago, several centuries before your world was formed, there used to be a planet in your galaxy called Xernin. Unlike your Earth of today, Xernin was a planet that was blessed with only one mineral resource, called Blasto. They did not have crude oil, gold, silver, iron, and the other precious resources which your Earth has an abundance of today. It was only Blasto.
“Now, because they knew that Blasto was the only resource in their world, they guarded its exploitation and utilization very carefully. They made sure it was properly regulated and not mined by anyone. In the process, they were able to develop Xernin into a very beautiful world, where beings from other planets came to visit them and interact with them. Blasto was what sustained life on that planet. And it was Blasto they exported to other worlds in order to earn money.
“But do you know one very peculiar fact about the people of Xernin? Blasto was not some resource you mined from the ground, or sought from the seas and oceans, or even hunted for in the forests and jungles. No, Blasto was gotten from their bodies. Yes, the bodies of the people of Xernin were the source of Blasto. All they had to do to get any quantity of Blasto was to wash themselves while standing or
sitting in a basin. Once the water washed over their bodies, the water was collected and exposed to the natural sunlight. After a couple of hours, the water then got blocked and hardened. And that was how Blasto got formed.
“So in order for them to have more Blasto, the people of Xernin would simply take a bath and expose the water to sunlight. However, the process was strictly regulated. Not everyone was expected to produce Blasto on their own. You had to get permits and licenses from the government of Xernin before you could begin to cultivate Blasto. And the people of this ancient world were able to dwell and survive in peace and harmony. Other people from distant worlds and civilizations came to visit Xernin to learn from them how they were able to build upon the sole resource they had.
“Thousands of years later, after the formation of Nivrus, your people began to visit Xernin as well. And it did not take a long time before the earth people began to put ideas into the minds of the people of Xernin. What were those ideas? Ideas of rebellion, revolution, and agitation for better treatment, freedom, equality, and resource control. The earth people convinced those residing in Xernin to forget about their leaders and all they had done to create their society. They convinced them to become masters of their own individual destinies without the assistance, coordination, and supervision of the state.
“The ideas which the people of Nivrus introduced were alien and strange. Self-reliance, self-sustenance, self-centeredness; everything was self, self, and self alone. No other world thought of such a concept. No other world could even think of introducing such a wicked view to the prosperous people of Xernin, except Nivrus. And that led to the downfall of Planet Xernin. Because when the government lost control of their mining and cultivation of Blasto, the people took control and began to mine it on their own. Every sense of law and order broke down. And with the breaking up of the Xernin society came the death of their people. You cannot over-exploit any resource anywhere without experiencing the consequence. For the people of Xernin, the consequence was a drastic reduction in their population. As more and more people started to mine the resource, a lot of deaths began to be recorded of their people dying from drowning.
The End Of The World Page 18