Two minutes to save the world (short story)

My story begins before time was measured, chronicled, and recorded on the pages of history, before man had conscious thought, when the world was an infant and myth of the Norse men ran rampant in middle earth.

The earth was just beginning to form her contours, and deserts and dunes alternated with the sea of Tethys in asserting itself. Civilization was a speck in the distant horizon and of the five elements only four had been recognized for no fire was yet to be named and given the exalted status of an element.  It was at this time (pardon me, figuratively speaking for time had not been realized then) that a black box arose out of the churning bowels of the earth. That fateful box and its contents were to be inexplicably but inevitably woven into the fabric of the lives of my ancestors and myself.

I have been remiss in not mentioning my identity but, I think, I shall reserve that piece of enlightenment a little longer. To get back to the box, its contents were said to be ominous and downright dangerous or so the gods claimed. The Norse, Greek and Roman pantheon of gods and goddesses were involved in heated altercations about the unknown contents of the box. Treys and Thor, Juno and Jupiter, Dis and Posidors were at loss to explain the sudden appearance of this box, which Sybille incidentally took to be an omen, portentous of evil. Not that any omen heralded good news but this was exceptionally evil. Though her prophecies had a terrifying ring to them, the gods had developed an innate habit of ignoring her and most of the goddesses too were staunch supporters of the dictum ‘Ignorance is bliss’. No wonder most of my prayers go unanswered, but to get back to my narrative, none of the gods actually knew the contents of the box, and every time they tried to probe its depths they would draw a blank. They did not let the opposing pantheon of gods get wise about this sorry fact though. Reputations had to be maintained. Their charming halos would not be able to survive a scandal.

Jupiter was essentially flustered.  According to him, he was the supreme ruler and he should be able to ferret out the truth about the box. He decided to go to the creator. That plan came to naught too as the Creator sent him back to his glowing abode with his tail between his legs, umm figuratively speaking, and offered him only a smug smile as an answer. Insecurity started to plague the peaceful haven of heaven and middle earth was restless too. Rumours began to spread like fire about the going-ons deep in the core of the newly born world. Fights broke out amongst the gods, the opposing gods and goddesses hurled petty threats and accusations and the box silently watched the chaos it had created without raising the proverbial finger.

Jupiter and Juno held council with Jesus and they decided that the box had created enough trouble without it being opened and it had best remain like that. Juno started to protest but swallowed her curiosity after receiving a quelling glare from Jupiter. They decided to bury the box deep within the earth suspended between middle earth and the world where no one would be able to dredge it out. The matter being resolved, the gods heaved a sigh of relief. The gods had regarded the box as a mockery, a threat to their abilities as celestial beings. With the box safely shelved away they could return to being complacently omnipotent.

So the box waited passively, awaiting its chance to carry out what it was created for. Years went by, centuries went past, the world grew older, wiser, civilization reared its head (ugly or pretty is a matter of your opinion), people lived and died and loved (not necessarily in that order, of course) and the box lay suspended, a silent spectator to the glories and victories, death and destruction, revolution and rebirth which swept over the world in waves over the ages. It was now that the pages of history would cease to turn and fate too would make a wrong turn. The box was about to enjoy a small private joke…

A girl named Pandora had a certain box in her possession. The story of how she acquired that box was… ahem…history, I’m afraid, but I am sure all of you who have been keep tracking the various legends are aware of the rest of that unfortunate story. Jupiter and Zeus frantically consulted one another trying to figure out how the box had wormed its way out of imprisonment. However it was hastily closed and returned  to its hiding place, this time under the surveillance of Mercury and Neptune. They were ordered never to let the box out of their sight. Thus yet again many years passed and the box decided to revise its contents to make it that little bit more lethal, a formidable weapon worthy of confusing the heavens. A few illustrious cavemen had discovered fire in the meanwhile and its uses were innumerable but so were its drawbacks. But people slowly learned to control it, or so they thought. The box had a penchant for abstract fiery things and an idea began to form in its mind…

Year 3012

Enter yours truly. My name is or rather was Porphyra. I am a marine biologist and have consequently changed my name to suit the times. You can call me Gemini 401. Naming proceeds something like this – you join a profession or some group or a confederation and you acquire the name of that organisation or vocation accompanied by your registration number. I decided to take on the name of my group rather than my profession as I didn’t take the idea of being called Bio-401 all the time. Made me sound like some sixth subject in a school curriculum. Incidentally, Pandora was my ancestor. But after the aforementioned debate I think the family disinherited her- got to protect our shining armour, can’t have chinks in them.

I was in an under-water excavating expedition in a nuclear powered state of the art submarine when it happened. The deep-sea diver lowered the automated drill into the bed of the sea. Immediately the sea began to churn and swirl and storm around us. According to the meteorological reports this was to be taken as an anomaly and code red was to be executed, which translated, meant worry for the inconvenience caused by our faulty reports and would you kindly pull out now. The sea continued to treat us like hostile enemies. But we could not pull out as the deep-sea diver was still down there. We decided to go ahead with our mission. We lowered the bathyscape and came up against something hard and impregnable. Exchanging the instrument for a remote control automated glove, which was a modified version of the crane, we lifted it out of the bed and pulled it into the hull. Venting our ballast we rose up to the surface and the deep-water specimen was taken to your laboratory at the top of the sky town despite the vehement protests made by the sea.

At that time I was ignorant about the incidents that had led up to that fateful expedition so when I saw a box sitting on our observation table, I almost laughed out loud. We have gone to such lengths to investigate a harmless box?! According to our reports, unidentified objects were emanated from that part of the sea and we had been asked to investigate. Unaware of the apocalypse that awaited us we opened the box…

‘…Dust to dust, ashes to ashes…’ were the words I heard when I regained consciousness. Mercury sat looking sadly at me. ‘We tried to stop you but you wouldn’t let up. Runs in the family, I think,’ he said. I realized I was not really surprised to see him. I asked him to explain. ‘The box had created the antithesis of fire. The laboratory exploded and the alter ego of fire is on a spree of destruction and we have exactly…’ I did not let him finish.

‘The lab exploded? But-‘ I stuttered. ‘Yes, my child, you are indeed dead and have joined us but we have some pressing matters to attend to,’ he said. ‘We have exactly two minutes to save the world.’

‘If that is a joke, it’s a bad one.’ I said.

‘It is no joke, think of some way to counter the fire. Water is not an option, this fire seems to absorb water very well. Think fast!’

Okay, I thought, we are in trouble, which is the understatement of the decade. What would stop the invisible fire, I wondered. The clock was ticking – there were only one minute and thirty-six seconds left to the deadline. I could hear the angels singing in mournful tones, which was not helping in the least. The gods were anxious for they did not want to have to start from scratch again. Jupiter looked at me beseechingly and I managed a wan smile. Meanwhile the fire spread like an orange plague licking at the essence of life and swallowing it in a terrifying display of power.

 My mind seemed to have become numb. Time seemed to freeze; only the inexorable end hurtled towards the world and its people. If water could not stop this alter ego of fire then…wait a minute, I thought, what about fire. Fight poison with poison, so fire with fire. I rushed to Mercury who set off on his winged feet at once. Fire who had been hiding was summoned and asked to confront his alter ego. There were only fifty-eight seconds left. Quaking with fear we had to literally push him into the path of his destructive alter ego. The effect was explosive and incredible. Matter and anti-matter – or should I say fire and anti-fire – dashed, blended and was completely annihilated. The world was saved though it was only a charred image of its previous growing self; but it was intact, and we could breathe again, metaphorically speaking. The world was still shaking from the repercussions of the explosion, which was spreading through the universe. Even gods flinched, such was the potency of the explosion. We let Neptune wash away the blackened debris and we left the rest of the reconstruction to the men and the angels. Suddenly we realized that something was missing. After the brilliant flare, darkness had thankfully settled in. we looked at the star-studded plate of the heavens and contemplated a happy life. Somewhere in the space-time continuum the box smirked. It had been victorious. In the expanse of darkness above the world the sky held no promise of light or dawn. Fire being destroyed, the sun was gone. Only glowing embers remained which would soon die out.

Had we really saved the world or simply stalled its end… The box smugly watched as desolation captured the world in its steady grip. But…

The creator said, ‘Let there be light!!!’ And there was light…