In a Creative Writing Competition i took part in, I was given a topic to write within the constraints given. This is what , what i wrote came to be. The SOJOURN
It happened so suddenly. One second everything was fine, the very next all hell broke loose. Everybody on the spacecraft realized that something had gone terribly wrong. I thought, this is it !! We are all going to die.
To reach to the point where we had, it wouldn’t do if we felt that way everytime something unforeseen occurs, because it invariably does. There was no reason why I should have had a premonition of death . The drifter as our spacecraft was called suddenly plunged into darkness. This I knew ,was because of the failure of the Atomic generator which powered the drifter. I heard the scampering of feet in the direction where I knew the Atomic generator to be located. Everybody aboard knew their duties and were trained well to perform them in times of crisis. The commander yelled something and a chill ran down my spine.
The drifter was carrying in its belly the first group of people who were trying to land on Titan. Titan is the fifteenth and the largest among the natural satellites of Saturn. Since its discovery in 1655 by Christiaan Huygens , it had always been alluring acknowledged astronomers to solve the aura of mystery surrounding it. We had been on the drifter for 6 years and 7 months with only one thing in our minds, to emulate Zeus by the conquer of Titan. No one had yet come within such propinquity to Titan. We were to land on Titan in another three months. Everything was going smoothly as per the plan. It was then that our ship died.
The Atomic generator was the only major source of energy in the ship. There was some reserve fuel in the form of high pressured octane which could be used while the atomic generator was being repaired. The fuel while storing was treated to make it inactive. It had to be activated by a propenzer which was a kind of blue furry object. All the time I felt that something was wrong. Then suddenly it flashed upon me like lightning. I’ll be damned, I thought. My extra sensitive nose had detected a faint smell of octane. So there has been a leak. All the tumultuous thoughts that raced through my mind and the impressions my subconscious mind had fathomed made perfect sense now. I knew what would happen. When someone tries to use his propenzer, the spark generated would result in an explosion . The reserve fuel was stored in the other side of the ship and it was too late for me to get there in time. The whole ship shook under the effect of the explosion. I heard cries of pain and anguish, and stood there helpless like a spectre, watching my comrades die. I could clearly see that the rear portion of the ship and the Atomic generator located there were gone forever. Though the explosion was not huge enough to utterly destroy the whole ship the damage had been done. We were so far away in the space from sun that whoever had survived the explosion, were sure to die because of the extreme cold. Ha ! I thought, my comrades have died an easy death. The temperature on the surface of Titan is about –178 degrees centigrade. Though we were far from reaching Titan, the temperature was hardly comforting!!!! The whole ship was engulfed in cold like I had never experienced before. My hands and feet were paralyzed by cold, and I felt the weight of mount Andes on my head. It was pain like I had never experienced before. I could feel my forlorn heart thinking about taking a break from its incessant activity. Blood flowing through my arteries and veins, felt like a torrentine river challenging the mountain to halt its path. My eyes no longer supported vision. I succumbed to the vagaries of the infinite space and slumped on the floor. My mind was vaguely awake while my body had died. Slowly my mind too started to give away and the last thing I remember my mind musing was “so!!!!!! this is death “.
The RISING
I heard something ……
Someone somewhere was talking, boisterously at that. It seemed to me like someone speaking from a well, far and distant. The voice steadily grew louder and clearer. Blood flowing in my numbed body caused a strange sensation. My mind first to awaken from the fog, detected the corpse like body. Slowly but surely my body was coming to life. Slowly I tried to open my eyes but could not. I decided not to rush and took some time off and tried again. I saw a group of people crowding over me. One of them was beaming at me through his pince-nez. Everybody left one by one but for two people whom I thought to be husband and wife. I was lying on a cozy bed, which was the softest thing I had ever touched. I remembered how I died in the drifter. I had a very strong suspicion that I was in heaven.
I tried to get up but the angel in front of me spoke kindly and said that I ought to take rest. She even called me grandpa. I was puzzled!! ” people surely don’t rest in heaven, they enjoy and have a good time, don’t they ?“I quizzed . And why are you calling me grandpa? I added in a hurry. She gave me a benevolent smile and looked at her companion. They were now conversing in hush-hush tones and at the conclusion of the tete-a-tete the angel came over to me and said something that sent shivers down my body and sent the whole world spinning right in front of my eyes.
I still looked around the room disbelievingly. Half an hour had passed since the couple had left me and I was still gasping for breath. Were they speaking the truth? The lady to whom I was alluding to was not the type who’d beat around the bush. She put it in a nutshell. You are not dead grandpa, but very much alive. You have just been awoken from a very long sleep. The year now is 2505. You were found in a spaceship all frozen and were revived to health. When I had challenged her to prove it, the lady just as easily as counting one to ten on her fingers proved beyond doubt that what she spoke was indeed the truth.
I wondered what a turn my life has taken. I no longer understood the term life. What indeed is life when you freeze for 500 odd years and the advancement in science can revive you as just as easily as if you have been to sleep .I smiled to myself thinking there was little difference between me and canned food available in the market, both are preserved using cryogenic techniques. I loathed the fact that I was alive and well here while my comrades should have perished on the drifter. On that day 500 years ago, I, like a Roman Gladiator condemned by the Ceasor, faced the virility of the infinite space, facing the other gladiators, lions and tigers out to kill me in the arena and got battered and bruised but held on, and on the brink of death was saved when the crowd showed me the thumbs-up for holding on. I began to think that time itself was insignificant and had lost her momentousness. What eminence does grandfather Time harbor if you could eclipse 500 years like a nap?
When I fully recovered from my lugubrious reverie, I found that earth has changed a lot. People I observed have learnt one thing well and that has made a profound influence on their way of living. People have learnt to learn from their mistakes. They have truly realized what was very well known in our times but which we never realized. Our lives are too short to make all the mistakes, so learn from others mistakes. I wandered out yesterday and was pleasantly surprised to see the amount of greenery all around. The Infinite space has been conquered and humbled. Advances in science and technology have been tremendous, but what has been heartening to see is the spiritual growth in the people . When all the people lead a happy and contended life, can there be a hell anywhere ? Advances in science have been complementing the outlook of the people. Medulla Oblongata, which is the lowest part of the brain stem, controls many Involuntary functions which include breathing, blood pressure, heart rate and digestion . A better understanding of medulla oblongata is giving people greater control over breathing, blood pressure, heart rate and digestion. When you Conquer yourself; you conquer the world. Thus people are living an extremely healthy life. Everybody has realized the importance of our ancient scriptures. During our times we transformed earth into a Global Village through the Internet revolution. Our children have transformed the whole COSMOS into a paradise through the know thyself revolution .By the Galactic Empire if there is one thing that I am as sure as of planets, it is that the future of our children is as bright as Venus.
The Topic given was....
You were on the first manned mission to Titan when your spacecraft brokedown. Without any source of power, and at a great distance from the sun the spacecraft underwent rapid cooling. As a result you went into a ‘cryogenic stasis’ and got lost in space and after 500 years, your spacecraft is found by future human beings. They resuscitate you and take you back to Earth. Write about how Earth has changed over the course of five centuries and how you feel about being brought back to life in a strange time.
You need to include the following three phrases in your creation and these phrases must occur in different paragraphs.
- Blue furry object
- Roman gladiator
- Medulla oblongata
