By Aparna J
Flourish or Perish : A Matter of Survival
It's 2150 AD. The world has undergone a drastic transformation. There’s just one huge continent called Euramesia. Trees are thriving again, and there's greenery everywhere. Animals are back from the brink of extinction, and their numbers are increasing. Outwardly, Euramesia appears to be a flourishing place. In spite of an idyllic atmosphere, something is seriously lacking among the people. They are completely devoid of human emotions and feelings. They behave like robots. They have lost their thinking capacity and are merely following the law of their land.
It is mandatory for them to plant more trees, and slaughtering animals is strictly prohibited. They have food and water capsules available for consumption. They wear weird outfits consisting of a one-piece jumpsuit with a hoodie for women and without a hoodie for men. They have a mayor who has supreme power. Weapons are banned, and the continent doesn't produce a single gun or artillery piece.
A group of scientists led by Andrew Carter live in Zone 2 of Euramesia, where people gifted with some level of intelligence live.
The human population is only around 10,000. Sounds like a perfect place, right? People are mechanical, though born as humans. They have forgotten to smile. This has been the aftermath of a big world war at the end of the 21st century, where a mad scientist, Morgan, developed a gas that would wipe out the natural intelligence, feelings, and emotions of people.
Greed forced him to sell his invention to a terrorist group in Pakistan. He made sure that his family was safely tucked away in an underground bunker before he and his lab got bombed. Besides nuclear weapons, Morgan's invention spread all over, depriving people of their intelligence and emotions. It affected Morgan's descendants too, but not severely. They just didn't smile or express their feelings, but their intelligence was still intact.
Andrew Carter and his family are working on another project. They are fed up with watching the monotonous lives of humans, or, say,more humanoids. Andrew's teenage son, William, says, "Dad, I had a weird dream last night. A mad-looking fellow calling himself Morgan spoke to me. He looked remorseful. He said that he felt guilty about depriving humans of their humanity. He asked me to promise him that we would restore the dead feelings and intelligence among people. What did he mean by that?” Andrew's voice reflects excitement as he answers, "This could be our new project." Morgan was our ancestor. The archives section in our library has all the information about him and his inventions. We can use them in our research. If I remember correctly, he had mentioned in his diary that he had saved the genes of his family in bottled vials that contained the hormones triggering human feelings and emotions. Let's check it out after dinner."
Andrew and his son swallow their food and water capsules. They start walking towards their library, which is on the second floor of their mansion-like house. They have an escalator instead of a staircase and reach their destination. They swipe their ID cards to gain access to the library. The libraries are completely modernized. Instead of paperbacks and hardcovers, they have laptops, Kindle readers, and smartphones aligned on shelves. They pick up a laptop and start searching for human emotions on the Global Search website, which has replaced Google. They take down notes in silence. After an hour, they walk towards the archives section in the library and enter it. They find Morgan's research papers in one of the drawers of a wooden cabinet. They pick up the papers and the key to the next cabinet, which contains the vials of the last samples of human genes from the 21st century. There are two boxes containing the vials. One of them is green with a tick mark on it, and the other is black with a red "x" marked on it. Andrew says, "It looks like we should use the sample from the green box.” They notice a black diary too. Williams takes it out and starts reading, "To my beloved descendants and other citizens of my hometown, with love from Morgan Kellner, an intelligent fool who deprived you all of human emotions, feelings, and natural intelligence. Whoever reads this diary must know that I committed a heinous crime. I betrayed my motherland by offering my deadly invention to the terrorists. This gas would turn people similar to zombies but notexactly zombies. Before carrying out this experiment, I obtained samples of human genes and sorted out the traces of hormones that caused positive and cheerful vibes from those causing anger, anxiety, and depression. The green box contains positive and cheerful human emotions, while the black box will lead to arguments, jealousy, quarrels, and even murder. Please don't open that box at any cost." They take out the green one and leave the black one untouched.
After a couple of months, they manage to produce a gas that will restore intelligence and good emotions and feelings. A team of 10 scientists, led by Williams, use their respective ATVs to spread this gas all around. It takes a couple of days to get this job done.
It takes a couple of days for the change to take place. People start smiling at each other and notice how pretty they look when they are smiling. Love is in the air as Cupid strikes a young couple. Intelligence makes them start thinking about how to improve their already monotonous lives. Prior to this gas effect, all of them worked only for FW CORPORATION, which manufactures the food and water capsules. Now, people have started becoming curious to gain information after their young kids start asking questions to which they don't have the answers. A couple of scientists have put up tents to monitor their behavior. A 27-year-old man called Randy approaches one of the scientists to seek an answer to a question.
They guide him to visit the library, which has remained unutilized for centuries.The entire Euramesian continent has only one library, which is owned by Andrew Carter. The scientists inform him of the latest developments and ask him to give these people access to their library. A week later,the library is fully occupied. Andrew's son, Williams, suggests charging a nominal fee for using the library, which was the usual practise in the 21st century. This continent has only one public high school, the Euramesian High School. The textbooks have been published by the scientists only with the help of their research work on a wide range of subjects. Prior to developing a mind of their own,the citizens of Eurasia blindly accepted whatever was taught in their schools.
Now, they start questioning the theories they learned in school. People find new occupations and use their forests and natural resources, just as their ancestors did, to earn more money. However, they do it in such a way that they are not depleted of their natural resources. Andrew and Williams bask in the glory of their dull continent coming back to life. People have rediscovered the magic of music and have become more health-conscious. Euramesia has truly become the spitting image of Utopia.
After a couple of years, things have changed drastically in Euramesia. The population has almost doubled. Deforestation has started on a massive scale, and animals are now prowling in the open. People have started fearing for their lives and have started killing them in self-defence. Andrew and Williams are thoroughly alarmed over the situation. They are the only family untouched by the effects of the gas, which stimulates human emotions and intelligence. Oxygen levels have slowly started dropping. There's a food and water shortage.
Andrew convenes a meeting, inviting the fellow scientists to discuss a possible solution. The discussion goes on for an hour, but no one has any answer to this critical situation. Finally, Williams says, "Dad, we don't have any other option except to open the black box and use the contents of the vial as an antidote." Andrew sighs because he's a stickler for rules. Nevertheless, he approves of his son's suggestions. It takes them a couple of months to come up with another gas. Williams wears a protective mask and makes his friends wear them too.
They start spraying the gas all around. Within the next two days, Euramesia will be in total chaos. People are fighting with each other.
Crimes against humanity like murder, rape, kidnapping, arson,robbery, bank heists, etc. increase by leaps and bounds. Theirs was a place that didn't need law enforcement, but now it has become a living hell.
Andrew comes to a conclusion. He refers to Morgan's notes and begins to work on the formula that wiped out all the human feelings, emotions, and intelligence. This time it only takes him a couple of weeks to create the gas.
Things become normal once again. People live a mechanical life. Each family follows the "two children" policy. Education is monotonous. They no longer smile. Andrew and Williams are upset that people have to revert back to a mechanical life to maintain law and order. They are now trying to find out whether they could come up with any inventions to make people think carefully and act rationally. Sometimes it's best to leave things the way they are. Every action, good or bad, if done to the extreme, has serious repercussions.
We have to think twice before taking any decision. We are highly intelligent. Yet we are following the path of destruction. It doesn't make any sense at all. To flourish or to perish is entirely up to us.
Let's make a wise choice.
By Aparna J
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