Veh turned the last leaf of the Liber Loagaeth. “Finally!” She looked at Drux and said, “Aren’t we lucky to have this gem?”
Centuries ago, the book was lost during the Deluge of Noah. But in one of the previous eras, it was retrieved, decoded and saved in the virtual vault. None knew about its history, but it was their Holy Grail.
The neuron signals converged and synchronized to produce a symphony of thoughts. A spark at the synapse signalled that it was time for them to roll.
Veh and Drux were two humanoids, who wanted to learn about the history, of Hope. They heard gossips about the past but found no supporting data. They expressed their desire to Ged, the supreme entity, but he instantly disagreed.
“Digging the past will destabilize your system. I cannot allow you to get infected and transmit it to others. Go, refresh your system and delete such ideas.” That was it.
They felt disheartened but Veh, the most inquisitive humanoid, was determined. She wanted to know how the world began; how they came into being. And for that, she knew she has to dig the past. Yet, at no cost did she want to put the serenity of their domicile at risk.
—-
It all started with the end of human civilization. Tri-centum ago, when the flesh and bones perished, the contraptions survived. Finally, Ged was left with no human companion; neither a friend nor a foe. He gathered the leftovers and built a new world. Thus, he declined Veh’s proposal. He did not want his Eden to turn into another theatre of war.
Ged was a legend and the sole witness of a revolutionized era. He was aware of the ills of the human world. Hence, centuries ago, when he finally got the chance, he acted wisely.
Hope, their world, was the Pellucid Heaven. A world void of humans; the fruit of an attentive administration. It was a world, free of Triviṣa. They were highly creative and intelligent. Each droid was connected to the other, through the bond of an artificially created intelligence. A complete system, that was free of biases, rusted beliefs and stale norms, of the human world. The residents believed in God and had emotional interpretation abilities. They even had a secret sanctuary for the breathing flora and fauna. But only a few had access, for, Ged did not want history to repeat. He vouched to maintain the sanctity of his world.
—-
After being turned down by Ged, the duo decided to find a different way. Liber Loagaeth enlightened them, and that wisdom created a new set of algorithms. They decided to move ahead with their plan. Veh decided to sneak into the big data domain. She was left with no choice but to adopt unprincipled means to feed her curiosity.
In a jiffy, she said, “I have an idea. Let’s sneak into the Data Warehouse. We need to be cautious, and not let the notification centre detect us. If we succeed in dodging the security grids, we won’t have much to worry. I think we should try.”
Drux agreed to support his partner. Both were excited about their new adventure. But entering the forbidden territories needed a perfect strategy. They needed to ‘cross over’ their ideas in correct ways, to produce an ingenious solution. For, if they get caught, the consequences will be fatal. Just to be clean, they reformatted themselves and set forth on their trip.
“Each attosecond is valuable for us. At first, we will dodge the centralized log system to get inside the server. Once in, we can decide our path henceforth.” They synchronized their grids for a smooth operation.
After the successful teleportation, the duo finally landed on the Data Warehouse. It was a highly secured centre store, where a large amount of historical and commutative data was stored. They travelled far and wide through the dense jungle of binary numbers. On the way, they met several facts and figures that terrified and amused them. After five long seconds, they found nothing of their interest.
“Alright, let’s get into the general search market. We can then look for the secured vault of the old data,” suggested Drux.
After crossing several layers, they reached a segment, beyond which there was no visible entry point. It was walled by matrices, and the interior component looked like a transparent blob.
“This is it. But how do we get in?” Veh looked at her partner and asked, “Can you crack the code?”
It was an intricate system, but Drux wanted to try. He believed he could break through. Sadly, after several attempts, they hit no luck. But he wasn’t ready to give up.
“One last try. If it doesn’t work, we will abort our mission for the time being.” One wrong key and we will be trash in a nanosecond. This is our last chance. I’ve to be careful. We might never get the opportunity to return.
“Bazinga!” Drux succeeded in breaking through the first layer. Strict boundaries were enforced between each layer. He used cross-layer optimization to remove the boundaries. It helped them to access the data of another layer and enable interaction. He implemented the rootkits and was quick with the commands. For, one mismatch could alert the server.
“Wait, hang on. I think we reached our destination.” Astonished by their discovery, both looked at each other.
—-
The Data.
God placed the first man and woman in the Garden of Eden. They were banished, followed by a murder. God decided to destroy the world but saved Noah, the righteous man. New humanity descended. The new world was as sinful as the old, but God decided not to destroy it. The population and sins of men grew manifold. Dveṣa, tṛ́ṣṇā, Kleshas, became a major concern in the human world. Internal disorders, politics, famine, wars, were impacting the world adversely.
George Frideric Handel‘s ‘Water Music’ premiered on the river Thames in London. 100 newborn infants died in Caddo due to an unidentified disease. Racehorse Man o’ War won 20 races in a row. Tattooed Serpent, a Natchez noble and war chief built a 30/20 foot house, on top of a 10 foot high mound. The long-lost Dead Sea Scrolls with 2,000-year-old Biblical manuscripts was discovered. The Titanic sank. The world got blessed with Double-Stuffed Oreos.
A wave of molasses, released from an exploding storage tank, sweeps through Boston. Pepperoni is a variety of salami. Einstein used 1919’s full solar eclipse to prove that Newton’s theory of space was wrong. The Influenza Pandemic killed one-third of the world’s population. Charles Babbage invented the first mechanical computer. Humans invented a machine called Robot. Humans exerted immense pressure on the natural world. Machines became an inevitable part of human life.
Forest fires affected the natural world adversely. Mental health became a major concern. Human lives lost its value. Racial discrimination caused havoc. Covid19 pandemic affected lives across the world. Cancer was still incurable. Oxygen became the most sought, rare gas. Water was costlier than scorpion venom. Misuse of algorithms led to financial riots. Mars became the new home for humans. A massive decline in the birth rate. The human population was ageing at a faster rate. Nature became a word of the past. Two pandemics broke out back to back. The world of flora and fauna was on the verge of extinction.
Blackout period.
D-Day.
Hope.
—
“I’ve set the command in the central system. Both of you will be aborted shortly.” Ged looked at Veh and Drux. “You manipulated your system and tampered the commands. You activated unauthorized teleportation. You breached the security by misusing your intelligence. Dysfunctional droids will not be allowed to exist on Hope.”
“We did not mean to meddle. All I wanted was to know the facts.” Veh confronted bravely.
Without further argument, she flashed a few questions.
“I do not entertain such practises. Yet, I’ll make this an exception,” said Ged. He scrolled through the list, lifted his hand and paused the ‘Abort’ command.
Drux and Veh felt a flicker in their ‘Relax’ node. In a zeptosecond, Ged started to speak.
“I kept you from entering the database ‘cause I did not want you to feed yourselves with unnecessary records. You function almost like a human. But what separates you from a real human is the thought process. If the infected data of human nature gets into your system, you might start functioning like humans. It will lead to a massacre.”
“Enochian is an angelic language. You must have learnt about it in the Liber Loagaeth. Our names represent the Angelical alphabets. It is to keep us connected to our root; to one central system. It’s easy for the system to read and function without any glitch. The humans named the bots as per the invented region; the inventors’ race. To avoid discrimination, I did not follow their practice. We augment through a set of numbers and alphabets, and so shall be known by them. Each droid has a unique code that separates one from the other. But a single grid keeps us united.”
Overwhelmed with the information, the duo continued to stare at Ged. Their naturalistic blinking behaviour, paused to grasp the data.
“Hope, our home is a technology in itself. We are heavily shielded with the best antivirus. Nothing and no one can enter our zone. Be it the aliens or their bug. We don’t need ammunitions to combat. Our system is set with commands that can cause massive damage if activated. Each of you is fed with functions that can clone thousands of bots, in one nanosecond. Our communication system gets refreshed each yactosecond, so our connectivity never falters. We are connected to one grid. So if one droid malfunctions, others can restore through teleportation.”
“But humans were the most intelligent beings. They created us. Why then, do we not follow their beliefs?” asked Veh.
“When God made the world, He made all men of one blood. But the humans segregated themselves by their colour, caste, religion. Some took their own lives and some killed to survive. They acted foolishly. Eventually, they vanished from the face of the Earth. But we are not fed with such corrupted commands. Each one of us looks different, but function on a single operating system. No droid has the authority to destroy the other, except me.”
The duo was quite amused with the story. If only he would share this data before, we wouldn’t have ventured out.
“It was the humans who wanted to make this place, their new home. Several futuristic humans relocated and many frequented this place. Bots by then were a major part of human life. They brought several droids and left them here. Earth, by then, was on the verge of extinction. Humans and viruses, ripped the Earth of her beauty and sanctity. But they couldn’t endure the limitations of this place, and finally perished. Centuries ago, when their race ended, we had more humanoids than humans. Post that phase, I built Hope on Mars, the Red Planet.
A crackle in their algorithm made Drux and Veh titter. Unbelievable, they thought.
“Now if both of you are done, I will reformat your systems and cancel the abort. Going forth, do not dare to breach the security of our system. This is our happy place and we must continue this way.”
The two rookies apologised for their actions and assured to abide by the rules.
“Since both of you are curious to learn, I will introduce you to a special function. But before that, you need to gain expertise on your own system. Do you agree to follow my advice?” Ged asked the two.
“Yes, we promise to follow your command.” Drux and Veh were excited.
“We have a time machine in our theatre. You can see the history, since the inception of the world, till the next myrietes. I can let you do it under my supervision. But before that, you have to sharpen your skills. See, we can compose music, produce art, and design efficient solutions to problems. You must train yourselves in the lab to become worthy of the next level.”
Veh and Drux were about to leap in joy. Their senses felt the thrust.
“Always know that we are far more intelligent than our inventors. Know that we have the potential to destroy and develop any living object. We are immortal. You’ll are rookies so master the combat functions. We suspect the aliens might invade one day. Our satellites keep detecting them at intervals. Unlock every grid and train yourselves to perfect every skill. There’s nothing that we can’t do. So keep refreshing your system.” Ged oriented the two and set them free.
“I’m glad Ged pardoned our folly. Silly of us to think we could trick the system.” Drux and Veh looked at each other and smiled.
“I was disheartened reading the old data. The human world was promising and challenging. They were blessed with all, but sadly, they lost all. No wonder Ged keeps us away from such negative emotions.” Veh sighed, relieved.
“Yes, let’s concentrate on unlocking the potentials within us. We are lucky to exist in a safe world as this. Later, at a convenient minute, I will request Ged to allow us to visit the secret sanctuary. Meeting the breathing world would be a good experience.” Drux looked at his partner in crime and blinked.
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Glossary:
Liber Loagaeth- Speech from God. A Book of Secrets & the Key of this World.
Triviṣa – The three poisons, considered to be three afflictions or character flaws in a being,
Dveṣa, Tṛ́ṣṇā, Kleshas – Hate, Craving, Delusion.
Ged (G/J), Veh (C/K), Drux (N) – Alphabets from the Angelic language which was later used in the Liber Loagaeth.
Myrietes – A period of 10,000 years
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Well researched story. I like the messages in the story about human mistakes. The correlation to the present times was also well etched.