The following is a short story that I had got published in the first edition of the Computer Science department magazine at St Xavier’s College, Kolkata called “X-Cryptus”. You can find the link to the pdf version of the magazine here. The purpose of sharing the same on this blog, with a few touch-ups, is to make the article more accessible to people who wouldn’t necessarily read the college department’s magazine.
Decades have passed since our planet was united as one and the boundaries and governments of nations have withered away. We are all just a bunch of coded districts now. The identities and cultures of these countries have dissipated into the sands of time. Generations have come and gone, with lesser knowledge of their ancestors being passed on. Traditions don’t exist anymore and religions have been destroyed. We have reached our goal, one which our ancestors were mislead into believing would be for the betterment of their children and grandchildren. An organisation called F.E.A.R. now controls us, some call it a government others call it a religion.
People resent their oppressive rule, but F.E.A.R. is indestructible. Cocooned in a 19th century-like empire with minimal technology and an unlimited arsenal, mutinies ended before they started, crimes were solved before they were committed, such is the short leash F.E.A.R. had on its pet, mankind. There was only one thing F.E.A.R. was afraid of, science. Research in the field of technology was made a taboo ever since F.E.A.R. took over. They knew that a machine with a brain of its own could aid mankind in overthrowing them. Since then they have been ruling with an iron fist, walls, soldiers and cameras kept the people in check.
A hundred and three years after the formation of F.E.A.R., the messiah was born, Xeron Raymane. As a child, his mother taught him about the ways of the Wild West. She passed on whatever she had learnt from her grandmother, of her native Texas, to her little boy hoping to raise him with the same values she was taught as a child. As his mind matured, he started to notice the pain around him. He slowly started resenting the system himself, but this was the norm. Who would have thought he and his childhood friend, Jim Crast, would embark on a journey to deliver mankind from this oppression. While growing up, they learnt the ways of the system and the laws of the land. At school, Xeron, with the swashbuckling blood of a Texan in him would protect his genius buddy, Jim, from bullies. One day after having drowning himself in a ton of research, Jim rushed to Xeron’s house. He entered breathing heavily, his face glowing and grabbed Xeron by his shoulders and whispered, “I did it! I found the solution.” Puzzled at what his friend was talking about, Xeron asked, “And what exactly did you solve?” “The solution to our problems, the solution to F.E.A.R,” said a visibly excited Jim. Xeron’s face immediately lost its colour, he said, “What the hell do you mean? How can there be a solution to a corrupt governing body?” An evil grin slowly spread across Jim’s face, “We destroy them,” he said.
Was Jim crazy? He was never wrong, Xeron never doubted his decision making, but this was bananas. What did Jim have in mind, a full scale assault on the F.E.A.R. army? Jim then unveiled some old files that were in his backpack and presented them to Xeron. As the lad flipped through the pages, he felt a chill down his spine. Did Jim just stumble on F.E.A.R.s best kept secret? The date on the file read 2020. Xeron immediately got the word out that a rebellion was at hand, his calibre was enough to convince people to side with him along with the added assurance that arguably the most intelligent person of their generation was assembling a secret weapon to assist them in finally overthrowing the hated rule of F.E.A.R. .
The word had finally reached the top cats at F.E.A.R. who ordered sweeping of the streets for any potential threats and for conducting trials and interrogations. The rebel forces often clashed with F.E.A.R. patrols, but this was all done to buy Jim some time to complete his weapon. On the one hundred and twenty third anniversary of F.E.A.R.’s rule, a grand parade was organised outside the headquarters. This was the rebellions moment, the rebels marched forward towards the parade, exposing themselves as a unit for the first time. They were surrounded by F.E.A.R. armed forces but didn’t flinch. The Commander of the F.E.A.R. forces laughed at the folly of the rebels and was raising his hand to give the command to fire when his hand was chopped off by a frisbee-like blade that disappeared in the blink of an eye. Blood was everywhere and nobody saw anybody near the Commander. Panic started to spread, the rebel forces just calmly separated and there in the middle were a battalion of Metal Soldiers driven by artificial intelligence and a limitless armoury. Xeron then screamed, “ Attack!” and the robots charged at the F.E.A.R. soldiers, hacking, slashing, blowing up and shooting each and every one of them till none were left. As Xeron, accompanied by a droid, made his way to the F.E.A.R. control room, the President was making a last transmission to the people. Xeron ordered, “Sir, this doesn’t have to end with bloodshed, put the microphone down and….” “Oh yes it does”, said the android standing behind him, who then hacked him into two. The President, still holding the microphone for the transmission, stared at the robot in fear while covered in blood splatter. The robot snatched the microphone from him and slowly said, “F.E.A.R. has been destroyed, the Rebellion is dead, you can never win your freedom, you cannot escape us, you can’t outrun TRUE FEAR!”
The truth is, we are the masters of the machines, we should not empower it to the extent that they escape our control. Machines are made to serve us, the moment we empower them with exceeding might and intelligence, mankind will suffer. The lack of technology under F.E.A.R. kept us ignorant and on stumbling upon an endless fountain of power with the machines, we dug our own grave.
We Need To Talk 