Rage – Short Story No. 3

Johnny Richard’s Journal

10 January 3012
Mankind disgusts me. Hatred fills their heart and darkness envelopes their soul. And I feel ashamed to be part of such a species. I wish there was some way I could change this world. Some way I could eradicate this rage and maintain calm.
Ron, my dear friend, you paid the price for a human’s blind rage. I will avenge your death. I will.

14 January 3012
Another day, another war. I guess Prez Dickinson has finally lost it!
But here is some interesting news, “On the 21th of April 3012, The Inter-Galactic (IG) Trade Conference will take place at ‘Uk Blaten Jar’ah’ (The Imperial Palace) on the Planet Dwaron…”
Is this the opening I need? Can this be what I have searched for?
Time to do some research. Work seems to come in weird ways now, for a techno-thief..

20 April 3012
I have reached the Rockmont Shuttle Station. My plan has been made and it will be executed. After months of scrutinizing the blueprints, I’ve found a flaw in the design. That shall be my ticket inside. Who’d have kept a un-sensored patch of cheap brass near the combustion area? Engineers these days! I shall enter early morning after the presidential inspection.
All for you Ron! All for you…

21 April 3012
On my way to Dwaron. What a grand farewell for a bunch of businessmen. Trade union meet it seems! Seems more like some party invitation.
Getting inside was a cinch. It was as if they made this compartment specifically for stow aways The place even has a glassed peephole, offering a good view of space. All I needed was a signal jammer to cloak my presence and send results to my PC back home.
At the speed we go, it would take 10 days to reach there. Good thing food comes in pellet form now. Wonder how cooked food tasted like.

30 April 3012
Dwaron looked an unimpressive planet. It was a brown, rocky landmass, interspersed with yellow liquid bodies. It is considerably larger than Earth and is part of a 2 star system. A quick analysis showed an atmosphere made of Sulphuric acid vapours.
Seas of Sulphuric Acid… How weird is that? Pity the Dwarions!
It was around 6pm, earth time when we landed. Landing was pretty obnoxious to be frank and overkill was an understatement for the reception they got. Getting out of the compartment was just as easy but I felt my fingers burn as I opened the hatch. The atmosphere was very corrosive; good thing a techno-thief always comes ready! Donning my self-made exo-suit, I ventured onto Dwaron. Humans have been living here since the IG Labour Treaty was signed in 2703; for about three hundred years now. So blending in with the local population was thankfully, a non-issue. As usual, The Trade Union Meet would last exactly one Earth day and I had to do my job within that time frame.
As I rushed onwards, with a mental map that I had uploaded before leaving guiding me, I was stopped by a Dwarion Enforcer (The Police, in Earth terms).
Dwarions are not as obnoxious as their planet. Generally a peaceful race, they are twice as tall as us and had slender, mostly nitrogen-based bodies. Slimy, scaly skin form their exo, which protect them from their own atmosphere. The highlight however, is their coloured tubes. Although they carry ‘blood’ and other vital body fluids, the colours also serve a different purpose. They show their emotions. And their emotions are controlled by an outside source.
Well, this Dwarion was blue. He smiled and with a sweet, clear voice, asked me where I was heading, in English. “Dwar”, I said.
I am at Dwar now; Dwaron’s major tourist destination. And this is where my work begins. I started by taking some air and land samples. Some standard human behaviour never dies.

1 May 3012
Dwar is the heart of Dwaron, literally in every sense. It is one of the only Two Elite crystals that exist, re-engineered to serve the host’s need. It was yellow and glowed bright, exuding a mist which served it’s purposes.
Dwarions, by default are not immune to their atmosphere. It is Dwar that provides them energy to survive the conditions. It also served one more purpose. A far more powerful one.
My plan, was to duplicate the Dwar with my very own nano-replicator, and bring it back to earth. Having just around three hours left, I scurried into the internal chambers. Being technologically inferior to us, their security was easy to circumvent. A stun gas took care of the Dwags (Guards, apparently) and locks were opened without much hassle using my portable supercomputer. A virtual hologram made everything seem alright from the outside.
The real struggle though, was removing Dwar from its perch. Entering the door required me to offer a name. And no amount of hacking stopped it from doing so.
So I gave a name. Larry Foote.
The doors opened. Dwar was kept in a three tier shield system which could be broken only from inside. Destroying the shield wasn’t an option; there’d be too much noise. I noticed that the shield didn’t cover the top of the crystal. Using my harpoon, I threw the replicator cables over the shields, onto Dwar.
Two hours left. As the cables penetrated into the crystal’s core, the replica’s microstructure was being saved digitally. Soon, earth will be saved!
With just an hour left for the crew to return home, the replication was complete. But then a problem arose. The cables wouldn’t retract; it seemed as though the Dwar was preventing them from coming out. As I increased the pull-power, the crystal finally gave in and the cables returned. The consequences though, weren’t so good. Dwar cracked, produced a blinding light and de-powered. It lost its glow and the mist thinned out. Dwar had died.
It took a few minutes for me to recover from the shock. Realising that the Dwarions would take at least a few months to learn of this, I ran back. Locking the doors, un-stunning the Dwags and with just around fifteen minutes remaining, into the shuttle through my hatch.
Satisfied I am. Although Dwaron will be in trouble, I have my replica. Now on to the next phase…
Ron, we’re close now.

10 May 3012
Back on Earth and boy doesn’t it feel great! The Big Blue does look much more serene than Dwaron. The welcome party was again quite overdone. They had just gone for a Trade Meet and they get treated as though they won a war single-handedly.
“The Heroes have returned to Earth and have managed to cut down taxes for our planet on Int. Fuel Trades! As a symbol of our gratitude, we have decided to make them the heads of our Defence Wing…” rattled on Prez Dickie.
The next part of my plan isn’t that clear. The Dwar crystal doesn’t naturally work on humans. How will I make it? I have to think. It’s about time this noodle did some thinking.

30 November 3012
Still no real breakthrough. And the wars keep raging across the planet. At this rate, I’ll fail. Time is running out too. How am I supposed to make them susceptible to the crystal’s power? Jon can’t fail. I just can’t!

1 December 3012
Things just got worse. “People of Earth, we just received a rather undecipherable message from Dwaron. We suspect something has gone wrong and have turned our defences up. Let’s hope it was not anything serious…”, Dickie announced today. The audio clip that followed was actually, quite easily decipherable.
Roxanne dropped by again today. Roxy was a techno-thief like me, and almost as good as me too. Being my best friend, normally I do not hide anything from her. She didn’t know about the Dwar mission though.
The audio clip? It said, “Traitors! Traitors! Die!” in a very slurred Dwaron.

9 December 3012
Earth is under attack! Early this morning, Dwarions, in hordes comprising around 30 battleships, entered Earth’s IG boundary.
London has already been partly decimated. While we do have the technological edge, they have the numbers advantage. I quickly did my own background research, untrustworthy of the government’s estimates, and saw that more were coming  from the neighbouring war planet of Tiskon. Earth would stand no chance against an army like that.
“We have tried contacting the Dwarion Razah (King) but have not received any reason for their onslaught. We must remain united against this threat!”. Dickie sure is a hypocrite. United it seems, after all he has done.

10 December 3012
“This just in. An exclusive virtual interview with the Razah himself. “Why sir, are you destroying our planet?’” From what he said, this was clear, “Want Larry Foote. Bring or Earth die”.
Hmm, did I forget to mention? Dwar is also the source of emotions and speech-power for the Dwarions. By default, all they know is rage. The can’t speak clearly, nor can they think clearly. The tube colours are given by Dwar. Blue for happiness, Red for rage and so on.
“Who in the name of Uranus is Larry Foote?!”, screamed Dickie.
Roxy has been very worried. She has been staying over for two days now. I have to act fast or risk losing the planet itself.
My plan? It seemed simple enough. It was to make humans be controlled by the Dwar crystal, just like in Dwaron. By reverse-engineering, I hoped to forcibly remove Rage and Anger from our species.
Things seems very grim now though. Cairo was dead.

12 December 3012
Eureka! The brain does work under pressure. Who would’ve thought general tourist behaviour would be the answer!? Dwaron air samples contained the solution. A complex compound, that would act as a ‘de-emoter’, something that would remove emotions and render the body open to Dwar’s mist.
“We have been provided with bio-samples. We now have the DNA of the traitor. We have already handed over the crew of the Trade Meet to the Dwarions.” Dickinson, handed them over? What kind of person is he?
Roxy, I believe, is suspecting me of something. Should I tell her? Would she betray me? No, I can’t tell her. What if I put her in trouble too?
Oh, and search droids have been deployed. That, means danger…

14 December 3012
They found us. And we had to flee. Chased by ten droids, we swiftly rode our hover-car away from the city and towards the wild lands. Dwaron droids are notorious for their speed but thankfully, not for their intelligence! Roxy, fortunately was one of Earth’s finest hover-car racers too. With her help we managed to shake them off and took refuge deep within a cave. But even the cave wasn’t safe enough and we had to make do with an invisibility cloak I had brought with me.
Roxy was puzzled, rightfully. “Johnny, what’s going on? Who is Larry? What have you done this time?”
And that was when I told her the whole story. She listened to every word with awe. I told her to go away so as to save herself. But being a daring woman herself, she said she would stand by me. I was glad. Two was always better than one. Especially when the second was her.
I set up the portable lab under the cloak and set about preparing the de-emoter gas. I asked her to make two copies of the Crystal. One for Dwaron, one for Earth.
“I’m happy to inform you that we have found the black sheep. He has been detected around the Rocklands to the west. I promise we will hand him over to the Dwarions ASAP to save ourselves!” Dickie sure is happy he found me. But he won’t catch me just yet!
Work goes on in full swing.

18 December 3012
Since the 14th we have fled twice. We were spotted in the cave my IR droids and fled underground through the cave network. After just a day there, we were suffocating and had to go back to the surface. Using the only electro-jammer I had brought, I numbed the droid reception at the exit and headed to the ocean.
Now we are underwater and undisturbed.
France is under attack and the Dwarions are now blocking the sun rays from reaching down, killing our plant life.
The de-emoter had been prepared and Roxy had reintegrated both crystals. I asked her to activate the one for Earth. But there was a catch. It refused to work. Why? Because for this crystal to work, the parent one should be functional. And the parent was dead. Now what?
As I sat, dejected, Roxy brought the solution. Apparently, it was enough if there was a replacement for the parent. Then the Earth crystal would work. So, I’d have to give one to the Razah first, to make Earthcrys work.
That also meant that I wouldn’t be there to do it, for I was sure I would die if I went there. It was up to Roxy I guess, to do everything after I had gone. I told her, “Roxy, I need you to do the work for me after I return the Dwar. Within ten days of giving it to them, it should be functional and as soon as it is, I need you to release the gas and activate the Earthcrys, okay?” She agreed, with wet eyes. We shared a tender moment.
I decided to go on the 21st.

Roxanne Reynold’s Diary

21 December 3012
And thus the day had come. At around 0630, he got up and ready for his task. I too decided to go with him to the Razah. We surfaced from the ocean floor, to see pitch darkness and smog. Dwaron had half-killed Earth. It took just around twenty minutes for the droids to locate Jon. Since it was Jon they needed, I was ignored, thankfully!
The next thirty minutes was spent in silence, as he was transported to The Presidential Palace which had been taken over by the Razah. I quietly followed the party.
The Palace was a magnificent marble masterpiece, now wearing a scarlet red hue, the national colour of Dwaron during war.
Jon was led into the Palace and I followed. For all the beauty, it was as dirty as a pig-sty and disgusted me. But the thought of Jon took those thoughts away from me.
The Razah was seated on the Imperial Throne; an intimidating creature with throbbing scarlet veins running through and over his body.
“I am…err… Larry Foote, Razah. And I bring you a working Dwar in order to replace the one I had destroyed earlier.”, said Jon. The Razah rambled something, which should have been crude expressions of anger.
Dickinson lay dead and was being fed upon by huge, black rats. Jon handed over the Dwar to the Razah. He looked back at me and smiled; he looked relieved and content.
The next second, blinded by sheer rage, the Razah leaped forward and plunged a sword into his bosom. He died, instantly.
Satisfied, the Razah called back all his troops. And as if it was all a dream, within moments, they had vanished. Earth had been given a second chance.
I returned home.

1 January 3013
The Dwarions had managed to get their Dwar in place and it was working fine. Once their rage subsided, they expressed their sadness and sent their apologies, offering to help re-build Earth.
As for Jon’s wish?
The Earth didn’t need a crystal. All it needed was something common to focus on. And now, brotherhood had been restored. All countries that once fought are now working hand-in-hand to bring themselves back up.
Sorry Jon, but I incinerated the Earthcrys. I never wanted you to do this. I’m sorry I betrayed you.
Ron would understand. And I hope you will too.

       -Sreedeep Sreekanth

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Topic: The alien invaders easily defeat earth’s military forces. The aliens send a message to the President of the United States: “We are here for Larry Foote. Bring Larry to us, or we will destroy the earth.” The President’s response: “Who the hell is he?” Only Larry knows why an entire planet wants him dead. Write the story from Larry’s perspective.

Wrote for IITM Shaastra’s Story competition. And this is my second foray in Science Fiction. Do give your comments and feedback! 🙂

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