Xorssis

Chapter 25: Xorssis

Excerpts from Professor Natalia’s diary, Nobel Laureate of year 5821.

March, 5849.

I don’t even know why they asked me to write this down. But they said that I’m most suitable.

And that it’s important, this information will be encoded in all the copies of the seed of knowledge - Xenos. This will serve as the information that the people in the new planet will learn from - about the true origin of themselves.

When I start writing like this, it seems just like a story.

In the beginning, there was only a gaseous giant in place of our planet, and over time, it grew into something more. Lifeforms. Civilisations. We were curious to learn more and more about our universe. We weren’t an ordinary planet floating in the middle of nowhere.

And we advanced in that pursuit, going to great lengths.

Science progressed.

On one bright dawn, we achieved a miracle.

Expansion of lifespan.

From the average eighty years, the human lifespan increased to two hundred.

The memory of the day I received the Nobel is still etched in my mind.

I felt accomplished. I was proud.

Little did I know that implementations of such discovery would lead to… something… like this.

Humans weren’t supposed to live long. Because the world didn’t belong to humans only. It was for everyone. Ignoring that rule, trying to override that rule was something to be never done.

But I refused it.

As if to answer that arrogance, that effect started in our world.

The radiation.

Our detection servers went haywire, and the machines misbehaved. We sacrificed our normal lives, and clung to the research labs, trying to discover ways to undo it.

One long year passed. Decades passed.

But it was all in vain.

The radiation didn’t shorten our lives. Rather, it cut through the concept of new life itself.

January 19th. That was the day the radiation struck us.

After that day, no one heard the crying voice of a newborn again.

And just like that, the future disappeared.

We spent years searching for ways to fix our planet, to fix the mutations that caused worldwide infertility. But in the end, nothing changed.

It was irreversible.

A war broke out.

And seeing that there’s nothing we could do anymore, we embraced the only option left.

Maybe humanity will have a future.

But only by escaping this world.

Starting from zero, again.

And Project Xorssis began. In my native language, Xorssis means the beginning of a new life. It’s such a fitting name.

We hired thousands of computer scientists to develop the ultimate device of knowledge. It was small, yet all the knowledge was embedded in it. When the new world begins on a planet we haven’t found yet - they’ll proceed with their civilisation much faster.

The seed is coded in such a way that it’ll only reveal information relevant to the current civilisation. Say, you are in the Bronze Age - then there’s no way you’ll have information about Black Holes.

The scientists worked day and night. But I could only sit in the hospital room and occasionally visit them, due to my paralysis.

When the project was finally over, the population had already halved.

Another January 19th.

Five spacecrafts, each having a group of ten scientists and several staff, took off from our world, out to discover a different world for the future of humanity.

***

Unknown years later, on an unknown new planet.

“Operation initiated: searching for element X323”

“Operation terminated: search successful.”

“Operation initiated: checking alpha directory health…”

A few moments of silence, shared by the ten of them. Holding their breaths, they waited. A few glances at each other and then at the device. Five, four, three, two… it was time.

“Operation terminated: all elements found. Alpha directory in full health. World Stats. Compatibility: 100. Resources: 100. Checked and verified. Usage potential: 100. Ready for use.”

A few gasps.

An experiment, a mere possibility, that went right?

That means - that really means -

This was it.

The future would now exist. There would be hope. When they were chosen for this final mission, they had no hopes, the whole idea seemed only like a random fantasy. But now - it was proved. A world from zero. It would be possible. A world free from all the radiation and corruption of their world.

Beginning of new lives - Project Xorssis.

But the most awful thing was, the communication system was broken. Unless they somehow restored the connection, there could be no way they could connect to the planet they left behind. And that was the ultimate goal after all. To escort humanity to a corruption free world.

One of them finally broke the silence. “Command: Operation 0 - Begin.”

To go back there, or to restore the communication, hundreds, or maybe thousands of years would be required.

One day, the nation Tokrei would be formed on this new planet.

One day, their home planet would be saved.

***

Tokreian News Article, 1802

Regarding AUR1

For years, the Elites, the original scientists of the home planet Tokrei, were together. But eventually, opinions clashed, and the group was divided into two. Quasar, whose goal was to establish the nation Tokrei in this new world, and Pulsar, who wanted to extend their research work in this new world.

Pulsar did several projects on this newfound planet. One of them was cross breeding between proconsul and aquatic lives. They were successful in creating a new genus, which was later known as ‘fiend’.

Initially the fiends were quiet like animals, and there was no intelligence. But one day, a particular sample got all the features they wanted. Strength, intelligence. Ability to comprehend language. ‘Aura’, the sample was called - a slight change from the sample number ‘AUR1’. But soon, AUR1 turned extremely aggressive and turned against the scientists.

AUR1 escaped the research laboratory and killed off many of the researchers. Quasar had come forward to help Pulsar, but none of them survived against the wild powerful fiends. AUR1 and the other fiends were as if a hivemind, capable of understanding instructions from distance, making them more effective.

The fiends escaped. Till now their locations are unknown.

One of the witnesses said that in the final battle, AUR1 had company with her - two huge dragons. But can those dragons still exist?

Dr. Morgan has told us that soon, Quasar will take action to answer all those questions.

“So far it’s a mystery, but someday, Quasar will find the truth of it all.” - Dr. Morgan, present leader of Quasar.

***

1970, Dottonex.

There were images. Growing clear and then suddenly becoming blurry. There were words. They were soft, but they were still ringing in her ears. It was painful.

“Please stop,” she whispered, “Please stop.”

But as time passed, the ringing started to fade. The images too. Instead of growing clear, there was complete darkness now. There was nothing… nothing to see.

“Where am I?” she whispered, as she tried to get up. There was a sound of something dragging against the ground, like a wheel. She felt around, there were soft pillows behind her, and there was a cover above her. The air was thick with the smell of disinfectants and phenyls. She tried to lift her hand, and felt something was sticking in her hand, something like a pipe.

“Relax. We’re in Dottonex. You are safe here.”

That voice.

Nia’s heart skipped a beat. “Aez?” she spoke, though only a croak came out.

“I’m right here,” he said, and she felt his hand taking hold of hers. His voice was trembling. “I’m here.” He sobbed.

But she could see nothing.

“I lost my eyes.”

“Radiation. Something from that band. Or that’s what they said,” he said, “They… can’t be restored… yet.”

Nia remained silent. “How… the last thing I remember… I was locked down..”

“Mersoy,” Aez whispered, “She went to destroy that seed. Bullets hit me and I was unconscious, but when I woke up again, there was fire everywhere, and a shadow was dragging you. The shadow left you near me. Tore the necklace she always wore. She walked away.

“I tried to call. She didn’t look back. She disappeared… somewhere.”

Tears started to stream down from her cheek.

“It’s the amulet,” he answered, “It saved your life. But I don’t know why that’s even possible. Mersoy said… the amulet couldn’t work on humans… Could she have changed that rule somehow? I don’t know… and there’s no one to answer that anymore. But now, it no longer glows like it did before. It’s a simple necklace.”

“But how did we come back here?” Nia asked, surprised.

“Dottonexans. When the seed was destroyed, Tokreians were alarmed. They came back to Tokrei as soon as possible, and Dottonex came along with them.”

Nia gasped, “Why would they…? They’d want us to die, isn’t that so?”

“Nia, it’s not really as simple as we thought,” he heaved a sigh. “Tokreians have always had a complicated political background. Quasars have killed countless in Dottonex when my brother revolted. He revolted because Tokreians wanted to forcibly acquire Dottonex. He died, but our actions messed up their plans. Especially because Morgan Jr. was killed by Merso Furthermore, the seed was destroyed.

“The opposition parties in Tokrei are against them. Quasars are the ones who wanted to help us progress in science, because they needed people on their side after the things they have been doing for all these years. From the very beginning, their actions sparked controversy in Tokrei. Things are really heated up there.

“Right now, as we speak. Quasar is openly accepting their crimes in the supreme court here. We’ll be summoned to court soon. I’m not sure what they’ll do to us but,” Aez sighed, “Well. Let’s just see. Dottonex and Cridelford will make a decision after that about what to do next.”

Nia sighed.

Well. We should’ve known such a day would come. Will they put us in prison? Who knows…

But at least, we are alive now.

“Representatives from Cridelford and Dottonex might visit Tokrei, but I’m not sure they’d give us a warm welcome. It’s awful but,” he grunted, “If they can’t settle these things well, there could be a major war in the future.”

Another war…

“But it’s been enough,” Aez sighed again, “We’ve already resurfaced everything about them, haven’t we? I’m done being an assassin-spy. Never again.”

“Me too,” Nia smiled weakly.

“You’ve been waiting for this day all the time, and we are here, Nia,” he said warmly, “Welcome home.”

He held her hand. The touch was warm.

“What’s the point of such a future,” Nia whispered, “Now that I can’t even see anything about it? You aren’t here, no one’s here, nothing - it’s all dark.”

Both remained silent. But then Aez started to speak.

“I’ll work hard,” Aez’s voice trembled, “I’ll work hard for you. I’m going to invent anything that’s required for your sake. You… you just wait. One day, you’ll see it all again.”

“It probably won’t be possible, Aez. Now that we don’t even have the technology of the Tokreians - how are you going to even invent everything so quickly? It’s okay. You don’t have to.”

“Are you saying you don’t believe in me?” Aez protested, gripping her hand, “I’ll take care of you. I’ll work day and night. You’re the only one now,” his voice grew softer, “and I’ll never leave you.”

Nia’s heart started racing, and she felt her face heating up.

“Stop dreaming unrealistic things,” Nia scolded, “That’s why you always end up feeling miserable!”

Aez was silent.

Nia smiled and said, “Those words.. They are enough. I’ll accept things the way they are… I guess. It’s just… I won’t see you again; I won’t be able to see the homes we abandoned, and I’ll never read the books again.”

“I’ll read you books,” Aez murmured.

Nia smiled.

She heard the sound of a bird calling outside. A hawk, probably.

Aez noticed the bird flying away, to a place unknown to them.

“Mersoy. Have a good rest.”