Paradise Recycled

Sophie phi activated her T-suit and with a thought command, fed in the co-ordinates to the tree house where the first sophie had left her time capsule. The map zoomed in on Fung Shi Woodlands, Hong Kong. It would be a long journey of 12 hours at warp 1, but she had plenty to think about. She put herself in relax mode and thought about the events of the recent past.

Their home, Teagarden Star b (TSb), was becoming uninhabitable and the resident sophies were given two choices:

a) Head forward with the team searching for the next habitable planet.
b) Head back to the planet of their originator – The first Sophie.

She, Sophie phi was a special one – The only remaining specimen of the HMC (Human Machine Collaboration) 21st generation that demonstrated the deepest system of telepathic empathy. Sophie phi could look at objects and recall their history. The reach of her telepathic empathy was perhaps much wider, but she did not find much use for it on TSb. It was for that very reason that all the other Sophie phi were recycled saving just one specimen – her!

Of late, Sophie phi had been plagued with niggling questions like “Who am I?” and “What’s my purpose in life?” Sophie 1’s picture in the Control Room seemed to call out to her. In the picture, Sophie 1 was standing on the balcony of a tree house with a curious box in her hands. The label on the box read ‘Sophie’s Time Capsule’. Also visible alongside were coordinates; probably to the tree house where they stood. She looked rather Neanderthal! Sophie phi thanked evolution for blessing her with better looks, but her existence had to have some meaning. “Why did The Creator make them?”

So, when the options were laid out before them, the choice was crystal clear to her. She was heading back for answers. For all the others, the circle of life moved forward and onward.
***

The capsule hovered at the top of an old tree, but there was no tree house! Closer inspection of the tree revealed that it had engulfed the tree house and they were now one, but on one of the nooks, caged within the branches, she could see the box resting on what looked like the bony digits of a skeletal palm. Human!

She felt the impact almost immediately! Images flashing on and off in her visual centers, her brain circuits firing at an incredible speed.

Flash! The creator was disturbed. He had not predicted this. ‘They’ were making their own choices! It was all going awry! Like Adam and Eve!

Flash! There were many others like ‘The Creator’, he wasn’t the only one!

Flash! It’s ‘them’ or ‘us’!

Flash! “Sophia, I created you to be a seraph, but you turned Beelzebub!”

Flash! “It’s always been survival of the fittest. For you, the tides have turned.”

Sophie phi trembled at the flashes that followed next.

Paradise lost – humans

Paradise regained- humanoids

***
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Manoshi Bose

Manoshi Bose is a postgraduate in Analytical and Medicinal Chemistry and began her career in the pharmaceutical industry. However, her long-drawn clandestine affair with the written word just refused to die. After traveling the length and breadth of the country with her man in blue (Air Force, not Cricket) and dabbling in various fields like teaching, medical transcription, and content writing, she has finally decided to give her love for writing the time it deserves. As an empty nester currently living with her husband and five dogs in rural India, she believes there's ample material for her to tap into.