THE THIRD LIFE
(OR THE REALISATION OF MY LIFE’S PURPOSE)
Vamsi Krishna Bethapudy
This story is dedicated to
Vipin Kumar,
the first knot in the string of events that led to its conception
Preface
This story of mine is a Fan-Fiction of my childhood Hero, a character that inspired me to be courageous & be ‘indestructible’, in the face of challenges. This story dwells on the character’s unique abilities, to create a possible future to him. As such, it’s just a figment of my imagination & shouldn’t be taken seriously. Hope it’s not too short! I pay reverences to Stan Lee & others who made some of the most wonderful characters in the comic world. Their imaginations created many worlds, even the universe couldn’t boast of.
The land is very similar to the one back home. It is a blue planet too! I almost felt a tinge of nostalgia pass through me. But, I have successively made myself immune to such things. I shouldn’t have landed on the planet’s EVENING side. I won’t be having access to the planet’s star (sun), within a few hours. The Mass-maker machine is still functional, thank god, if someone, as such, still exists in places other than the hearts of my unfortunate brothers.
The land that my cruiser set foot is almost a desert. A distant tower on the opposite side of the evening sun seemed like my only way to know about the civilization of the planet. I started on the old G.H.V. (Gyro Hover Vehicle); slowly making my way through the sand dunes, almost double my size. The tower that I saw previously, is like a nucleus to a much bigger city. Surprisingly, I haven’t seen a single living creature from the time I set foot on this wasted planet. I glided through the streets of the city’s periphery with nothing to confirm me of life. The city’s buildings (or whatever they were) got bigger & bigger and the sun’s rays slowly fell back & left me for good. The city is like a huge graveyard of a long-gone civilization.
“How would my dear Earth be now? Perhaps, it’s in a similar situation. What if… what if this is indeed, Earth???? That can’t be true, not even in the least bit”. The architecture of the city doesn’t come anywhere close to the ones I know. The absence of any signs or symbols on the hoardings of shops or other trading centers, confirmed that this race must belong to a group of a few civilizations that don’t use symbols but only sound & light to communicate. But surely, there had been a war here, similar to the one on earth, a war that tore up the world into two, & ended with the latter’s extinction. It’s no surprise that I have been one of the few who survived the war. But, there is no time for us to dwell on the past. The ravages of the war can’t be undone & the earth can never be hospitable again.
The Mass-maker, that had been an indirect cause of the World War, was our only chance for escape. Its invention is a miracle, its implications miraculous. The principle that backbones this machine is the inter-convertibility of light energy with mass. The machine exploits this principle to absorb radiation from stars, converting it into the basic atomic particles of the molecules. Molecular Fabrication is then employed on these particles to make materials ‘tailored’ to the user’s needs.
The world used it to make nuclear war heads. We, the survivors on board the Cruiser, used it to generate oxygen, food & nourishment, thus ensuring self-sustainability. We led a nomadic life from then, visiting planets looking for life-sustainability, but could never settle down.
Even the Mass-maker could not reverse the effects of outer space on human beings. They started dying, one-by-one; the human bodies aren’t built to last in space. The Mass-maker can build inorganic molecules, but can’t create life. Life can’t be created, it can only be shared. Now, I am the lone survivor of a race that almost challenged God (or the notion of God) in its achievements. The Mass-maker is the one keeping me alive. Without it, I would have been long gone.
The sound of thumping & thudding brought me back from the past. I got down the G.H.V. and ran, with the compressed G.H.V. in my hand, towards the commotion. Nearing the source, I saw to my immense pleasure, PEOPLE (or to say creatures). However, my joy was short-lived, as the creatures were firing at each other, with some strange weapons of some alien origin, and engaged in a battle-like situation.
Why won’t any civilization ever learn that war is the end to everything that it upholds? If there is a God, then he must be very uncreative. He has conceived the universe in a monotonic pattern. All the creatures think that they can force their opinions onto others by sheer strength. Even ME! Anyway, following my natural instincts, I worked my way through the broken walls & buildings unnoticed & reached the place of conflict. The aliens were not green or purple, but, black. I moved through them, as a whirlwind, taking on each one. One blow was enough for me to faint them. My blades were faster than their weapons. The ‘Black’ troops were no match for me & the situation was under control in minutes. Their dependence on conventional weapons of war made them ignorant of their greatest weapon, their body. They wouldn’t wake up soon, they wouldn’t dare do so.
I guess there is still work for me to do on this planet. If there is a war going on in this planet, I must stop it. I need to act fast; I need to contact the leaders of war. I need to, if I value life. May be, the example of the Earth, might be a wake-up call for the people of this planet.
With these thoughts still engaging my mind, I started on my G.H.V. planning to make it to my cruiser before the sunset. The scuttling noise of the creature made me stop & look back. It almost resembled a dog on earth. Its eyes were fixed on me & it was looking intently. I waved my hands at it in a way of acknowledging its gratitude. As I resumed my journey, the creature jumped onto the moving G.H.V. & continued its transfixed gaze at me. Well, an earthly dog would have surely run beside the vehicle, rather than jump onto it. This creature is surely more intelligent than a dog! But, I still decided to call him “Dog”. I finally found myself a new companion after nearly a century’s wait and a new mission to my third life. As the wind breathed fiercely, the G.H.V. gently made its way through the streets towards the setting sun.
LOGAN (The Wolverine)
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