Mechanical Monsters!!!

I had no time to get shocked or recover from it. I shouted into my mic, “Mumbo and Jumbo, clear out your nearest platoons asap and switch to stealth mode. Get out of the compound. We need to redo our strategy.”

Jonas shouted back on the radio, “What the hell happened chief? Why are we turning back our asses?”

“Because if you don’t, there won’t be anything left of your asses to salvage. Now move it.”

Even though I had given orders to regroup, I couldn’t resist myself from taking a swing at one of those mechs. The onboard computer of my armour had been constantly making observations and analysing the robots since the moment I first saw them. Each of them, a mechanical monster, standing on legs resembling those of an ostrich but were as wide as stone columns and made of thick metal frame built around a complex network of hydraulics. The upper body started just above the knees which seemed to house a cooling system around the abdominal region and rocket launchers built inside the chest. The chest and abdomen were segregated, held together by a rotating joint. The arms were almost as thick as the legs and built similarly though, elbows were replaced with rotary cannons built inside a cooling system supported by metal frames. They had a fixed glass dome for a head which formed a housing for eight cameras which provided 360 degrees field of vision.

I saw the letters GOL2A on the bot nearest to me. I couldn’t reckon what those letters might stand for but it was clear that they were identifications. I marked it for attack. The robots had already started progressing towards Jonas’s team. I ran silently towards the marked one. Two soldiers jogged alongside each Goliath which itself moved with a certain air of brutish demeanor, the barrels of the gun rotating slowly. The hydraulics hissed with each step, steam being ejected from the cooling system at regular intervals. The metallic frame of their bodies gleamed under the floodlights. I could hear the soldiers tally with each other through the crackle of their comm systems. I was within a distance of thirty feet from GOL2A which stopped for a moment and looked in my direction. I could tell because two more cameras inside the dome had positioned above and below the two which were in my direction.

I stopped immediately, the soldiers had taken position besides the robot. Slowly, the torso turned facing me. It raised its arms and the cannons pointed towards me, the barrels spinning slowly. The mech stayed like that for a while which seemed like an eternity until the torso rotated back to its initial orientation and the mech started walking towards its original destination. I heaved a sigh of relief, I had made the armour based on precise calculations but hadn’t really had the time to test it. It was completed almost at the last moment. I didn’t know what would happen if I got hit by a missile or a grenade. I didn’t have to wait for too long.

I started jogging towards my target again and accessed the rifles on my arms with their silencer attachment activated. The guns sprang up from the flexor regions and slid along the wrist into my hands. The rifle butts unfolded from the rear of the weapons and got extended to rest on my shoulders. The problem with my armour while using the weapons was the stealth being lost in the regions near them. Attaching projectors on the concealed weapons and their controlling mechanisms had not been possible. While moving, the targetting system zoomed in on the two soldiers and marked their heads. I pointed my arms and fired the shots. The next thing I saw was the soldiers’ heads bursting like a watermelon and their bodies dropping followed by their mashed up brains. The robot turned around, four red cameras looking in my direction. I didn’t lose time and fired a missile at its head. The marker for the missile moved on the screen of my hood and then I saw it exploding on the mech’s glass dome. I was waiting for the robot to fall down but it didn’t happen. As the smoke cleared, I saw the cannons of the robot pointed at me, their rotation picking up speed. Before I could process, I saw a ring of smoke emanating from one of the barrels and everything shook around me with a loud boom. The next thing I felt was the ground disappearing from beneath my feet. I looked around and I saw myself flying in the air. Then came a loud thud. I had hit the boundary wall and now was falling down. I think I blacked out for a moment. I regained my senses after another thud. I could hear a faint screaming. I could recognise the voice as the screaming became louder. It was Jonas, “Chief, where the hell are you?” Everything was red around me. Soon, I realised, those red flashes were warnings projected by my suit’s security systems.

I spoke into my mic, “I’ll reach your location in a few minutes. I was hit”, and started system diagnostics. The nanotube structure was intact. Main brunt of the hit was taken by the outer layer which caused the titanium scales at the back to malfunction. The cloak was down because the projectors on the scales had shutdown under emergency protocol. The armour was restructuring itself. It was going to take sometime. The diagnostics hadn’t finished calculating the damage.

I turned my head to look at the wall behind. A crater stared back at me. I turned my head in the other direction to look at the mech and there was another boom. I was flung against the wall again, making that crater deeper and larger. Sirens were blaring all around me.

I had to get out of there. I checked for the drone in my back and fortunately it hadn’t been affected yet. I released it into the air to study GOL2A and I ran using the maximum power of my suit towards the rear wall to throw my pursuers off. The rendezvous for our team could not be compromised under any circumstances and escaping from the farthest point in was the best option for now. I heard a loud bang behind me. Another shot had hit the spot where I was standing seconds ago. The mech was powerful but slow. I was moving too fast for it to target precisely. Within a few seconds I approached the walls at the rear. The robot was still chasing me, its each step creating small tremors on the ground. A beep at the rear of my head alerted me of an incoming rocket. I swerved to the left as the rocket zoomed past my right shoulder, hitting the wall in front of me, and exploded into a ball of fire and smoke. I could feel the shockwaves from the explosion as I ran towards the crater created by it. I checked my cloaking system which was now seconds away from realignment. As I reached the wall, I dropped a smoke grenade and fired two missiles from the launchers attached to my shoulders targetting the weakest points of the depression in the wall.

The missiles struck the crater creating a hole in the wall large enough for me to pass through. I ran at full speed towards the opening and with one hard push to the ground I lurched through it, landing on my hands at the other side. The cloak icon blinked green on the display of my hood. I switched it on and huffed into the mic, “Jonas, I’ll be there in two minutes.”

“Sorry Chief, we were getting a little paranoid as to what happened to you.”

“Don’t worry, I am not gonna die on this godforsaken planet.” I had already reached the middle of the wall at the side of the entrance. I heard the wall break and fall down. I switched on my drone’s feed and saw the mech had broken down the part of the wall from where I had come out. It couldn’t gauge my direction obviously because my heat signatures were hidden but it had also become slower than when it had started chasing me. The drone had marked a crack on the dome which as per the previous two minutes’ data was increasing and certain parts of the mech had started malfunctioning causing it to slow down. It meant my attack worked but it would take sometime for the huge machine to go down. I made a mental note of the strategy to follow and ran ahead. The mech on the other hand moved slowly in the opposite direction in its futile pursuit to find me. I instructed the computer to continue observation via my drone till the robot stopped moving. I had reached almost the end of the side wall.

As I turned left, I could see the rest of the team waiting at our rendezvous. I ran as fast as I could. The mech flatlined just before I reached my mates. The acid had eaten it from inside. I switched off my cloak as I entered the area marked under the cloaking drones of the rest. Husky leapt at me and I had to hold him to calm him down.

“People, there is good news and bad news. I believe you know about those huge robots by now. Well, they are strong and heavily armed.”

Jonas asked, “This is the bad news? I guess we can take them down.”

I laughed, “No, this is not the bad news. I tried hitting one. First I used my guns which were useless and then I hit it with one of my missiles armed with AT (aqua tabificus) payload. It took a direct hit, it still stood still and then I took a direct hit. I was flung on the wall. My systems malfunctioned. Then I had to run. It chased me. I had to dodge its missiles for about two minutes till I could reach the perimeter wall and could use my cloak. The mech ‘died’ a few seconds ago.”

I took a breath, let everyone understand what happened and then continued, “That means the good news is that the monsters can be brought down and the bad news is it takes a long damn time to go down.”

Nate spoke in a low voice, “There are forty soldiers more now and twenty of those robots as per the drones’ feed. The assassins could deal with the soldiers and the infantry could take out the mechs using the remote explosives but we can’t strike all of them at the same time not to mention the time those mechs take to die. Then there’s the issue of them being able to kill us that too with ease”

Jonas said, “The machine gunners can create a diversion but they have to be ready to bear the brunt of those angry monsters. The machine gunners should retreat as soon as fifteen of those mechs are hit. As soon as all our targets are hit, we evacuate.”

I thought for a while and replied, “Alright, let’s chalk out a step by step plan and then move out. We got quite a few monsters to kill.”

I, ofcourse took Husky along with me. He could help in taking out the soldiers and then proceed to the interior of the facility for a closer look using his drone. The recon drones showed the robots in a defensive formation behind the inner walls adjacent to the entrance. A group of eight mechs and twenty soldiers stood just after the entrance, prepared to blow anything that crosses the gate to smithereens. Another group was positioned a few metres away to provide support fire.

We formed a plan to minimise the losses. I felt immensely unequipped for the first time in years. What was supposed to be a small covert mission turned out to be a major battle and it had just started. I had no idea what lay inside and we didn’t have any backup.

I should have arranged for backup, I got overconfident. Whole of my team would have to compensate for my mistake. It was eating me but I didn’t have any other option. The closest help was in Dome City and hours away. I talked about it with the rest and nobody was ready to retreat. So, we needed a foolproof strategy that too in a few minutes. We did formulate a strategy, it was more or less functional. At least we are still alive to tell the tale.

Simultaneously, I would have to hit as many mechs as possible. The infantry was going to move in as soon as the assassins were done with the soldiers and attach the remote explosives they were carrying on the heads of the remaining mechs. Easier said than done. They had to jump to a height of fifteen feet to do that. Thankfully, they had actuators that pushed the pneumatics in the legs to do the needful. In the meantime, the machine gunners would position themselves at the entrance and fire at the mechs causing the necessary distraction. Everyone was to evacuate as soon as all the mechs were hit.

We moved fast and positioned ourselves along the outer boundary. I ran ahead with Husky, with the rest of the platoon behind me. I swiftly took position near the inner entrance and signalled the assassins. Their first step was to climb atop the walls. I stayed in cover and waited for the assassins to get in position. The display of my hood showed their markers float up to the top of the wall. The infantry led by Nate stayed behind the perimeter wall and waited for my orders. Stealth was imperative till all the soldiers were neutralized. I jogged in slowly, two grenades in each hand. Eight mechanical brutes stood in a zigzag pattern facing me. The barrels of their guns were spinning slowly, ready to fire. The soldiers knelt alongside, with their guns pointed at the entrance. Of course, they didn’t know about my presence yet which wasn’t about to change soon either.

Husky moved slowly towards the left sticking to the inner perimeter wall keeping his head low. I jogged slowly through the gate, turned left and kept moving towards the enemy platoon. As soon as I was in the range of the first group, I lopped two grenades just in centre of them and leapt sideways. I softly moved towards the next group while the ones near the entrance started firing towards their front. They hadn’t realised what was going on. I jumped towards their back, targeted the closest two robots and fired missiles at them. The second group had started mobilising when they saw the commotion but before they could understand I threw the remaining two grenades at them.

The assassins had jumped down by then and began their assault, with their katanas swiveling about their wrists, going through the soldiers like hot knife through butter. Husky was doing his part by taking out chunks out of them, one at a time. The mechs couldn’t target precisely and shooting in a general direction would only mean friendly fire. The assassins shot whatever they couldn’t find in the range of their katanas. The three musketeers worked in tandem with each other, moving in circles, striking with one hand and shooting with the other. Husky was smart enough to stay out of the gun sights of the soldiers. I hit two more robots while dodging rockets. My stealth was gone obviously and the mechs fired at the one target they could see. I jumped about a lot, trying to save myself from a direct hit. My armour had taken a lot of damage and repairing wasn’t an option. Even one hit could put an end to all our plans.

Only a handful enemy soldiers remained now, firing in every direction they could see but it didn’t help them much. It only must have been about five minutes. The assassins moved fast and with their cloaks, there was no point in even trying to shoot. They ran on the walls when they couldn’t find clear ground, swiftly swinging their katanas. The musketeers had lived up to the reputation created by Dumas.

The blood was everywhere dotted with fallen heads or parts of them. It was oddly satisfying. The first two mechs to get struck had already started malfunctioning, slowing down gradually. I guided two more missiles towards their cracked domes to speed up the process. Suddenly, there was a boom followed by sounds of falling debris. One of the mechs had hit the wall behind me with a rocket and it was collapsing. I braced for impact as the concrete pieces fell on me. My head was knocked against the ground as a chunk hit it followed by another that fell on my back. I fell down to the ground but the damage wasn’t much. The suit was really strong, it absorbed most of the shock but I did feel some of the brunt. My shoulder singed but I ignored it and got up, pushing myself away from the ground. Small pieces of concrete fell from my head and rolled down my neck. I jerked my hands and walked over the jagged pieces of the broken wall. The clone soldiers had been dealt with.

I spoke into my comm, “Nate, it’s your turn.” The assassins were running towards the rear, a few mechs firing in their direction, few others firing in other directions and the rest running about arbitrarily among which three were slowing down. Four mechs lied like lumps, smoke rising from their burnt insides. I targeted two robots firing at the assassins, to draw attention towards me.

Just then infantry moved in, followed by the machine gunners. The gunners took position twenty metres inside the perimeter and started firing at the robots. It was all so fast. Then, I saw Nate do something incredible. He caught the arm of a mech in front of him and pulled himself up on its neck. I saw the cameras inside the dome of the bot rearranging themselves to pinpoint Nate’s location. By the time the robot could target, Nate had stuck the explosive on the dome and jumped down, detonating the bomb just before landing. The others climbed up either by grabbing the robots’s neck or by taking support of the mechs’ shoulders. One of them managed to trip a mech over and kept on firing his rifles at the dome till it cracked. Then he took out the cameras and put the explosive inside and fired it. I hit the remaining, two at a time. It was time to disappear and we had to stay hidden till the monster robots fell.

Husky had infiltrated the main building and was silently gathering data. The assassins were back at our base. I decided to stay inside the perimeter to provide backup to Husky if needed. I ordered the rest of my unit to return back to the base.

I had to wait for Husky’s data and then analyse it.

To be continued…

The Attack on The Citadel

24th July 2355, 9 PM

We are almost there. Atmost another hour. It’s absolutely dark outside, the only lights are from our vehicles. I don’t remember the last time I saw stars twinkling in the sky. I wonder sometimes, whatever I am doing, is it really worth it? We, I mean me and the people who I work with, have indeed come a long way but at the cost of what? All I could see the whole day were dried up rivers and oceans, broken remains of buildings, fallen bridges which boasted of the engineering capabilities of humans. It’s ironic how humans themselves were responsible for the destruction of their proud creations. Fortunately we didn’t encounter any storm till now. Even a small one was powerful enough to topple us. We need to clear up the atmosphere soon if we want our civilization to progress.

I had expected the presence of some new species. Maybe because of the constant sub-zero temperatures nothing could thrive. There’s also a probability that there might be existence of organisms below the surface like the Scaloids(refer to Episode 16) but to ensure that we need to explore properly and now is not the time. The soldiers are chattering among themselves. The vehicles are slowing down. We have reached our mark, our camp which is surrounded by a bunch of worn down skyscrapers, keeping us hidden from the eyes of the enemies. The facility is about three hundred metres away from our location.

I hadn’t finished documenting the description of the facility. As far as Sergei had confessed, the levels of the facility above the ground were dedicated to researching brain control, AI, weaponry and other war machines. The levels below the ground served as living quarters for the clones involved in research work and other responsibilities.

10 PM

We have reached our destination. It’s an eerie feeling. Last time I was involved in something similar was more than two centuries ago. Still all of it seems to have happened just yesterday. I could feel my heartbeat increase thinking about it. The moon was hidden even on that night, the sky murky. Me and my team were to infiltrate a heavily guarded nuclear silo. Our actions were going to change the whole world and they did, not entirely to my calculations but the end result was almost the same. I was supposed to die that day but I didn’t. I had sincerely hoped for death as I am doing now but fate had more torture in store for me. Most unfortunate I’d say though I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t have any reason or wish to live but I couldn’t die. Let’s see if I get to die today. These people can take care of themselves after this facility is destroyed. No, I can’t die. I have Husky to take care of. I can die after he dies. Time to move out.

25th July 2355, 5AM

Still living, not without a few scratches though. Didn’t get those in a long time. The singeing feels nice somehow. Right now, I am waiting to regroup with the others near the entrance of the facility. Last night was long and bloody.

At about 10 o’clock last night, four stealth drones were sent to the citadel for reconnaissance. Our information checked out. It was best to take out the mortar teams first. That meant we had to go in as soon as the first mortar team was struck. Two of them were just behind the first entrance of the compound on either side. The assassins were divided into two groups and their job was to take out the sentry guns and the guards posted on the minarets starting with the ones at the entrance.

After taking out the first two guns, they were to move out in opposite directions along the outer wall and take the rest of the sentries out. Of course, disconnecting the sentries from the main command was not an option. No one inside the compound could be allowed to witness anything which could raise even a single eyebrow before the Phantoms struck the compound. So, the only way was to take out the guard first and then disable the firing and receptor mechanisms keeping everything else intact. However, a feedback loop needed to be placed which would relay the information that all the mechanisms were functioning normally. The assassins had a built-in hacking module in the abdominal region which could be connected to machines through an extensible wire.

Pressure sensors on the walls were a norm since much before the War, along with laser grids on the parapets. The laser grids were not a problem, the pressure sensors were. The Assassins were supposed to move along the outer walls towards successive minarets to avoid detection. Cloaking wasn’t going to be a problem. Each armed unit had its own cloaking drone which created a holographic image of the surroundings around the unit. It gave the least distortion possible and small black bodies on the drones rejected any form of thermal imaging. Climbing the minarets was the prime issue. Using jet pods would give away heat signatures. Airdrop was out of the question and even though the assassins moved on a cushion of air beneath their feet, the extra force of air during the climb could trigger the sensors.

The last trick in our books was to use electric turbines. The R&D department had introduced a feature in all the soldiers which facilitated the attachment of certain mechanisms externally. These apparatuses were to aid the soldiers in overcoming specific situations. The electric turbines could be fitted on the backs of our units as an add on. They were not very powerful and hence couldn’t exactly provide enough force to fly on command but they could provide enough power for the units to hover or slowly glide up. The air cushions on the feet and their hands would help maintain their position when they moved up along the walls. The fins built in their suits could help them glide on their way down.

As soon as the assassins were done with their job, the infantry units were to move in and deploy the explosives on the first entrance. The explosives would be timed to go off as soon as the first mortar team was taken out and we would go in.

Jonas and Nate decided to form two teams Jumbo and Mumbo, after the entry, each comprising of one machine gunner, three infantry units and two assassins. They would move again in opposite directions, taking out one platoon at a time. Stealth drones were to be kept hovering above the compound to keep an eye out for other enemy movement.

We moved out at 10:30PM. The broken down buildings loomed over us, silent, watching. Darkness spread out like an endless shroud above us, sudden gusts of wind trying to sway us from our path. The Assassins were leading the pack with me and Husky at the end. Phil had stayed back to monitor our movements and the drone video feed and relay relevant information back to us. I had enough time to upgrade mine and Husky’s suit before leaving the city. “Upgrade” isn’t the appropriate word here. The suit was converted into a small walking tank.

I had kept the inner lining since I was comfortable in it. I had attached a flexible blackbody mesh over it which absorbed any incoming or outgoing radiation. This modified suit could be worn separately or inside an armoured exoskeleton I had designed especially for these situations. The outer layer comprised of small plates made from Titanium Aluminium alloy. These plates were arranged like scales on a fish and could slide over one another allowing extensive maneuvers and certain other functions. The limbs were motorized with the joints augmented with hydraulic systems. These mechanisms amplified the wearer’s strength by a factor of ten under normal conditions and could be boosted by twenty five times for short durations. Though the boosters were needed to be recharged externally before they could be used again. The layer just below the exoskeleton consisted of a mesh of carbon nanotubes. These tubes could slide within each other to provide openings wherever required. The next layer comprised of all the weapons I had installed inside the armour. One reaper assault rifle and a smaller gun were fitted on both arms which could spring up and shoot when needed. Two sets of miniature missile systems with a payload consisting of aqua tabificus, that insanely strong acid we discovered, were installed on the shoulders. On one side of the back was housed a gattling cannon which used Piercer rounds and on the other side was a drone which could be used for reconnaissance. The mid back housed a powerful turbine which facilitated jumping to a height of thirty metres.

The head of the exoskeleton housed an onboard computer which controlled all the mechanisms of course with a manual override. It could also store a data of over ten petabytes and feed the information visually or through audio. The eyes of the armoured suit had targetting systems along with thermal imaging and a certain level of X-ray vision. Husky’s suit had similar upgrades but with only the gattling cannon as the firing weapon. Husky could operate the mechanised jaws built in his suit though the rest of the systems were AI controlled with the override in my command. I did what I could as preparation for battle but I had never faced such a conflict before. Fighting the Scaloids was different. They were primitive and lot less in number. Our current adversaries were humans and we weren’t sure about their numbers but we knew it would be more than hundred not to mention the mechanical units at their disposal. If we lost this battle, the enemy would attack the city and without proper leadership the city could fall. Failure was not an option.

To be continued…

A war is coming

5th July 2355,

It had been a few days since we discovered the new species. I felt a bit of excitement whenever I thought about it. Their discovery extended a new range of possibilities. However, searching for new species required resources and time and it was secondary for the time being. A siege of dome city was impending and we were not prepared for it in any way. We neither had any information about our adversaries nor a proper defense. We didn’t even know how much time we had in our hands.

I needed to devise a foolproof defense strategy and I was almost done working on it. Placing defense turrets inside the dome was not an option. It would have required punching holes in the dome and hence there was huge risk of contamination of the inside atmosphere. It was better to place them around the periphery and in such a way that the area of effect of three turrets overlapped each other.

Designing the ammunition was not a problem except one issue. The bullets I used were not self propelled and thus, could not be used in case of guided systems. So, it was better to use turrets with a little longer range than common artillery used in the last war. The first step was to design the turrets and revamp the design of ammunition. The turrets were to be automated with manual kill switch. The current bullets were sufficient to cause enough damage but they were not meant to have a long range. I increased their size and mass to accommodate for longer time of flight and range. The designs for the turrets were created in three days. They had two pairs of guns and eight eyes or sensors, based on the visual organs of spiders. I applied a web-like mechanism on the ground similar to spiderwebs except in this case, instead of a web, we used sub-surface sensors which were spread over an area with a radius of 60km. Each of these sensors had a short range of 1 km and could calculate velocity based on sensed motion of the target. If a sensor was tripped, it communicated with other sensors nearest to it. This information was transmitted further to the guns that fired the enhanced fusion reactor bullets. These guns had a range of 50 km. The guns which were in the range of the first sensor that was tripped, responded. Even though spiders didn’t have strong eyesight, the eight eyes in the turrets provided a long range of 100 km and were connected to the high powered laser guns with a range of 90 km. These guns were meant to be capable of bringing down airborne units also.

8th July 2355

The whole setup was readied in two days using the 3D printers. The security was not foolproof but was enough for defending against a small army. We tested the new defence system using broken cars from before the war and our old damaged drones. After a few alterations the system was performing upto the mark.

Unfortunately, that was all we had for defending ourselves. I had urged my immediate colleagues multiple number of times to create a reserved force. As usual, their lack of sight inhibited the creation. Now, that they realized their mistake it was time for them to panic.

We had a long meeting regarding this issue and I made it clear that previous incidents suggested only one fact and that was never to doubt my foresight. I had expected such a debate before and I knew under such circumstances, people tend to force the one out who had the different perspective. It was a typical behavior among those who lacked vision. Their ego was extremely fragile and needed protection. I was half prepared to face such an event. I already had kept leverages against everyone of them which could be used if the need arised. Even though I wanted a clean and progressive society, human nature still had not risen much above the petty ego and selfishness. I wouldn’t say there had been no improvements at all but we still had a long way to go. Quite contrary to my expectations, their expressions and body language were not alarming. Maybe, I needed to trust them more. A unanimous decision was made to allocate some part of the resources towards building a force.

It was a two stage plan. Initially we were to build only robots given the emergency of the situation. In the second stage, which was meant to be long term, some specific people were to be allotted cardinal positions who would take care of recruitment of humans. We didn’t ponder much about the second phase as it was due to start at least after a few weeks. The first phase started right after the our meeting was adjourned. Manufacturing the soldiers was not going to be a problem. Our set of 3D printers were configured to print anything and that too in a short period of time. The major issue was creating a design. We had quite a few inputs regarding the design. We discarded the idea of creating humanoids since the body structure was not convenient for wars. Yes, it was true that only humans waged wars in the past but that was also because animals were not interested in wars. When we looked at observations, animals were more suited to combat. So, we decided to take a few species and mix their traits to form some formidable designs. This was going to take a few days. There was another problem that needed immediate attention, we knew what was going on just outside the city but that was all we knew. We needed to send reconnaissance teams to check out developments if there were any.

To be continued…

The past was bleak with not so colorful future

28th may 2355,

This girl, our visitor reminds me so much of Martha. I can’t understand how or why. Maybe because this is the closest I have been to any woman after Martha. There are so many memories before the War, I don’t even know where to start from.

Martha died before I could even propose her and then I didn’t get the chance to fall for anyone else. Her death didn’t even have a valid reason. There were widespread riots and her death was a result of overzealous nature of the mob. After the riots were brought under control, there were clear signs of impending war. Superpowers trying to occupy other countries and fighting with rogue outfits. Other superpowers funding the outfits for their sick selfish reasons.

After oil reserves got over, I knew they will start fighting over something else, it was obvious because rivalry had become a habit. The next in line was solar power. Most of the developed nations were covered in smog and exhaustion of crude oil made everyone dependent on unconventional sources of energy. Hydroelectricity was used but could not complete the energy needs. Nuclear power was widely discouraged after the third nuclear meltdown in Japan. Most remaining nuclear facilities were diverted for “keeping peace” and thus it didn’t solve much of anyone’s energy needs. The politicians had shunned most of the pioneers in unconventional energy research to appease petrodollars and their bank accounts because of which solar energy had become a hot commodity and something to fight for.

China was still a superpower but the breakdown of its economy had paved way for internal conflicts. US and Russia were fighting with each other continuously to see who can seize more land. China was trying to get south east Asia under its control. It was evident that this power struggle would lead to another world war and this time the damage wouldn’t be temporary. There was too much work at hand. I knew someone had to take the onus to carry the civilization forward after the war. I decided to do it given most in the scientific community were too blind to see the impending devastation. Such behaviour wasn’t new since most people have always tried to be satisfied with the momentary happiness by ignoring the harsh reality.

I gathered a few friends who had the much needed vision and started working in different fields. I took up the energy and mechanical sector, Andrew Jackson, one of my close friends started developing life support systems. Abhay Bindra was the best person for civil engineering who could think of buildings made of materials other than bricks and cement. Abhay took it upon himself to search for a materials engineer and Andrew started searching for a reliable nuclear physicist. We were short of a botanist, a zoologist and a doctor.

Our requirements for staff were fulfilled within three months. Andrew found Kuroshi Nakagawa to handle the nuclear part and Abhay signed up his long term friend, Kate Horne as he had promised. Kuroshi brought his wife Hinamori in our team who was an established general physician and surgeon. Alan Snyder, a young zoologist overheard us in a bar and became immediately interested. He even brought his botanist friend Heinrich on-board. However, the question regarding financial support had not been addressed yet. I thought it best to include my long term friend Dipesh. He was the best mathematician I had seen and was pretty good at finances too. We needed a lot of people to carry out different assignments and they had to be paid. There were also cost of resources, constructions. The estimation was done elaborately and the total investment required came out to be around a thousand billion dollars.

The idea was simple, the world was on the brink of war and a war now meant total destruction. Every warring nation would use their nuclear arsenal and that meant near extinction of almost all species. Our objective was to preserve the DNA of every possible flora and fauna, establish and maintain an ecosystem consisting of humans, essential plants and animals. The residence was to be an underground vault which would shield its residents from radiation, explosions and other hazards of war. The vault would also house domestic animals, farms for food and other plants for maintaining oxygen levels. The vault was meant to be completely isolated and hence needed to be self sufficient. The human population was planned to start at 5000 which would include families of the whole team and other families from different regions of the world based on their productivity. The selection criteria was extremely stringent and no favouritism was to be allowed. We knew this part was going to be difficult during execution and it was when the time came. The overall cost was estimated at around one thousand billion US dollars conservatively. Me and Abhay each had a net worth of two hundred billion dollars and we had around three years to triple that value. It was time to pull some threads. We had been incorruptible whole of our life but this time a distant vision called for us to take certain unprecedented steps . Bindra oiled a few palms and took up an extensive construction project for the Russian defense. I did something naughty. I blew up an entire solar power plant in Kalahari desert which was used by the US government to power various defense bases. They were in need of huge amount of energy and I had the infrastructure to meet their requirements.

The year was 2132 when we chalked out the plan and started working on it. It was only a matter of few more years before we started working on the underground vault. We spent the first six months recruiting young like minded people from all over the world. The goal was to employ them in our projects and then shortlist for the real project based on their loyalty and productivity. All the team members had certain assignments which would contribute to our final goal.

Andrew set up a laboratory with the help of his team and started working on the life support system. His job was to develop a system using plants in a greenhouse and supplying the oxygen produced to a whole city. The system was to be isolated from the external environment and any extra gases were to be expelled. Snyder and Heinrich had to categorize every species of flora and fauna. They were also supposed to preserve DNA for cloning in the future. It was a tedious task but important nonetheless.

Hinamori recruited some medical students and started procuring medical equipment and medicines required to run a proper hospital. Though this was not enough since the vault would have been used for at least fifty years. So, I pulled some threads and enabled her to procure resources to set up a manufacturing and an R&D unit for medicines.

Kuroshi had the most difficult job and I knew would require my help. I had perceived a perennial nuclear winter after the war. None of the prevalent unconventional sources of energy would be usable. I wanted him to develop a clean fusion reactor and fusion powered engines. We did have sixth generation nuclear reactors which were small but even those were not clean. I arranged for a decommissioned nuclear reactor from the Japanese government under the pretence of defense project. The Japanese were not very happy but it satisfied the Chinese. It did not matter since we were doing it for the greater good.

To be continued….