A stranger in a strange world …

                “ Behind destruction and war is the hand of a human….”
                  
Man has become a slave of technology. It is inevitable that future society will be fully dominated by scientific technology. There is so much harm in man becoming the slave . The freedom , the creativity, the hardwork of a man is not retained when the power subsides to machines.

They have become slaves of technology. Every minute 4,00,000,0000,00000,00000000 million cell phones and 9,00,000,0000,0000 robots are sold throughout the world.
The world once green and happy which glowed with happiness seemed a long long time ago.
But now every house has a robot. For example last week my nephew asked a robot for his birthday and he was surprised to find 6 of them as his birthday presents.
            
From getting robots to massage their backs to cutting  their nails man was slowly drowning in techsea.
Granny clearly dislikes machines.
The society would tag her as old fashioned and I would call this society bleddy slaves.
I have instilled all values from my grandmother. I completed my bachelor’s degree in artificial intelligence at Harvard University & a masters from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and soon I was selected for a post at the quarters of NASA.
My life circled around my granny and work.
It was our duty to maintain the balance between technology and nature. It took me 2 years to realise corruption had touched a full new height. Most of the NASA consultants and scientist s were mere puppets of multimillionaire's s who destroyed flora and fauna to create MNC”s for making billion’s of machines and more qualified robots. They destroyed forests to build malls and companies and Robohomes.

I resigned from my job . I started writing columns for a Epaper.
And within no time I had the attention of a half a billion people residing in the continent.
I was called as “the Fierce peacock” as I was an Indian.
My works in the Epaper were against the use of robots and how distrustful they were.

The land is slowly loosing its texture, the forests are on the verge of getting deforested. It will soon be barren but they say technology can overcome these natural problems caused by man. No one cares.. People are busy being heroes of their western lives, those who cared have no help of funds.
The beauty is still there. Soon it will be extinct. Man is selfish. Very selfish.
People have very little faith in God, those who live with faith ..live with fear . the courageous are oppressed. This realisation happened 6 month’s back when I made paintings depicting the merciless act by money hungry wood merchants who ruthlessly cut several trees in south-east forests. All my paintings were sealed and the matter was handled by top officials. I was payed a huge amount of money to not display my paintings again. So basically I had sold my soul for a large sum of money.
She herself told stories how my great great ancestors had laid their lives for protecting forests in THe chipkoo movement. I laughed at the memory  it was near to impossible for someone do such a thing for trees now. Ofcourse my Grandma was an exception.

She is the vibrant kind always full of stories of mysterious creatures.When I was not out screaming my lungs out playing the role of an activist I was home cuddled up on my laptop writing endless columns and the rest of the time I spent it with my granny. At nights we both used to cook dinner together and later go on the terrace to gaze at the cloudy sky. It was a marvel if you could spot a star or two in the skies. The pollution was another problem.
“Ever wonder what‟s out there?” granny asked pointing at something tiny which one could assume to be a star.
“Sure. I think everyone does,” I answered.
“Do you think people reeeeeeally want to know?” Granny asked with a smile playing on her lips“I don’t know, but don’t we have enough probs to worry about what goes on outer space” I answered vaguely
“You know you talk about problems like you are the most troubled person on Earth “She exclaimed
I sighed inwardly knowing exactly where this convo was going to.
“can we talk about something else”
“sure. You should stop planning your own murder, what on Earth do you think you are doing writing against the employees of NASA”
“Something else “ I muttered
The night ended by a long lecture followed by emotional blackmail of me not loving her much and hence putting my life in danger.
If Granny had a problem with my past few writeups , she would be surprised by the remnants of the few writeups I decided to publish in the next few weeks.

I had done a lot of research and worked day and night to unleash the bad going on behind the screens of the Tech And Science institute's.
I concentrated mainly on  spreading awareness how Robots would be the destruction of mankind and the how we should avoid making further advances in artificial intelligence. People have lately been behaving like ignorants who are completely ignoring the fact that they are depending on machines and artificial Intelligence  so much that they have made robots who would surpass the man and end up having more power than humans.Human welfare is slowly edging towards danger.
My articles were the most read articles on the net. It was clear that people had started to think about it but like always there were Villains.
The Epaper I used to write was banned , whatever happened to freedom of speech in such an advanced era. People who used to support made excuses and those few who really did care were oppressed and bashed.
It was the most hard time for us activists.
2 weeks after the shattering incident I drove past my garden to my garage which was a bare open waste land and parked my vintage Storm explorer. I din’t move out of the car. My head was hot and ready to explode. I couldn’t understand why I cared for people who did not care for themselves.
I removed my seat belt and closed my eyes in exhaustion. The past 2 weeks events had caused something, I was losing my courage. the girl with big dreams of making this place a better place to live was actually going insane I thought grudgingly.

This was it, it was time to give up.I sagged  back on my seat happy I had come to a conclusion and within seconds I was asleep in my comforting warm car,sheer exhaustion claiming me in spurts.
A faint sound buzzed in my ears and I woke with a start, something stark white was glowing in the distant skies.I gazed at it for a few seconds. It was dark out. slowly becoming bigger by every second. The star seemed to be glowing more than it could. Or was it a meteor , whatever it was I had to hurry as it was moving towards where my car was parked.
Before I could start the engine the overwhelming glow of the mysterious white light engulfed me and I shut my eyes to cover from the light. My ears hurt from the noise the white object did when it hit the Earth.
My first thought was to run past my garden and straight into my home but curiosity got the better of me and I got down from my car to get a closer look to what appeared a huge boulder half out in the open and half burried deep in the Earth’s core.
There was  thick smoke and faint smell of metallic sheets everywhere
My eyes could not take the cruel black smoke and I shut my eyes and when I opened them I just knew my life held so much more than the thing called failure.
They spoke animatedly to each other. One had feathers on his backs and the other was a handsome dark man in his twenties. Next to them stood a the most beautiful Robot I had ever laid my eyes on.
The robot dreamily looked around his surroundings , so happy as if he had found his long lost mother.
The ones’ s who had conversed in foreign language started walking in my direction and I thought I stopped breathing for a minute. It was when one of them spoke in english I left the breath I was holding.
“You must be Najm, pleasure to meet you”
Oh wow he knows my name. Pleasure to meet me? You guys just survived a meteor . Shouldn’t you be hurt.Why is he so handsome. Damn! what the hell is wrong with me? I am 21 , not a teenager for God 'sake !
Finally when I gathered my wits I spoke.
“Look I don’t know how you know my name. I don’t talk to stranger handsome , no way ! You damaged my property, but that’s okay I am not going to charge you more than the damage you have caused and the robot of yours can do the rest of cleaning”
They looked at each other clearly amused . Wow  what a fool I have made of myself.
“We are here for a very important reason, please ma’am if you could give us an hour to explain things , we will tell you the reason for our visit” “
“And about the damage we are sorry, Techtoh will take care of it” said the handsome one.
“Umm, so you are here for me, well you I mean both of you could come over to my home its near by “.. I managed to say.
Whatelse do you do when two strangely mysterious men come out a boulder and acknowledge you by your name ! Gah !
The beautiful Robot smiled at the two men . Did he just SMILE I gaped at the robot in astonishment.
The Robot was unlike any Robot I had met. He was made up of clear silver sparkling white steel with and mind you not a single flaw . Flawless and Fabulous . I just complimented a Robot.Thank Goodness it was in my mind.
And when I had finished with my scrutinizing the Techtoh I colored crimson seeing both the men were looking at me as if I had gone crazy or was that the look of admire. LOL . Clearly the past two weeks have made me mad I guessed.
“Nice car there” said the dreamy Robot and I gave a small smile and asked the two men to follow me !.
WOW ! Am I smitten by a Robot or is it the whiskey eyed man !MAD MAD MAD I am turning MAd..

They walked into the foyer. Granny was already asleep when I got home with the strange men.
When we were seated comfortably in my hall. The Handsome man introduced himself .
“I am Kasthey and that is Harris “ “ We come here with a purpose “he said intently
And he removed what seemed to be a scroll of blank paper and rolled it off on the table. And signalled me to come forward and have a look at it.
There were millions of Robotic heads in a crowd and on a high platform above them was a very familiar curly haired woman in a Storm explorer car.
Realisation dawned upon me.
“This in the car is Me , right?”
The next few words were a blow on my face.
“yes, it is undoubtedly you Miss Najm. “ a deadly silence followed
“Please explain. What do you guys want from me. This is freaking me out” I said with the little courage left in my body
The two men looked at each other , Harris nodded his head and Kasthey started talking…
“We are from a star Zelith . A replica of Earth.There is life and resources. Humans and Robots. The difference is it is ruled by Robots.
We humanoids are slaves.Are ancestors were fools who created intelligent, conniving robots who could think for themselves and now they have taken over the world. This drawing by the astronomist Robot of ours is our only hope.We have no idea who you were until he gave us your name. It would be a huge favor if you   accompany us to our land and do anything to save us humans from getting totally ruined.
We promise you, you will come to no harm and once the problem has died we will get you back here in no time”
I stared at them blankly,this had to be some joke by those wealthy bastards who had stopped my column and poured petrol over my dreams .
“If this is some kind of scheme, I am calling the cops” I said matter of factly.
“Najm, please see the drawing, its I who drew it” said a sweet voice from the doorway
I turned around to see Techtoh seeing me with new hope.
“You may think I am crazy and all that but yes I thought about this and would like to pay a visit to your sates” I said
The two men smiled relieved.
“We shouldn’t waste time Ma’am , please pack few clothes and take your car keys”
“Why my car?” the question was out of my mouth before I could stop it.
“Its easier if a man is armed with a machine, a moving machine even better” said Harris.
Clearly not understanding I simply nodded in agreement.

The moment I got inside the boulder I forgot everything. It was so damn beautiful ! There were an array of room designed brilliantly , camera’s attached to the doors everywhere. A garden full of artificial robotic beauties. Flowers and plants clearly talking to each other and murmuring things eyeing me.
The walk into the strange world had begun….
After what seemed like a journey of 5 hours the boulder like shaped Spaceship started to land.
The insides of my body grew hot with excitement. My two hosts had taken full care to not let me get bored and had kept me entertained with their war stories.It had increased my curiosity and I couldn’t wait to step in a world I had predicted in my columns .
Finally when I stepped out , the land was covered by steely substance. There were high poles gleaming with color. It was beautiful but yet so fake.
I followed the trio to a 100 floor building which was deserted, the staircase lead into a huge deserted hall full of hairy creatures.Other than that There were four legged humans who were handsome till the waist with long sparkling beards . Very few Robots exactly the same like Techtoh could be spotted among the crowd.
Upon seeing me the creatures stepped back , like I could do harm to them.The handsome four legged craetures looked at me with awe and respect, I felt a connection to them instantly.The hairy among Them were so fragile , if it weren’t their tails one could sum up them in the human category.
“Why you bring her, we can do on our own sir” said one hairy creature with a lazy expression.
Kasthey ignored him . “This is Miss Najm “The woman from the vision” he announced
The crowd broke into murmurs. A rather handsome face propped in front of me and extended hi led for a handshake.
“Finally! Its wonderful to see you in person, you have been the talk of the town lately” He smiled enthusiastically
If it weren’t for the murmurs I was sure the crowd could here my thunderous rate of heartbeat. I could not get to raise my feet or extent my arm. Was I scared. God ! I was.
The creature sensing my discomfort , sighed and took his arm back.
“How you know she be trusteeeeed?” asked another fragile hairy creature
“She is are only hope. And she is back from a long journey and would like to take some rest now, the meeting will prevail at sharp 8 am tomorrow on Mbps sec lands “
I thanked kasthey on my way to my room. It was an empty room. At least with all the gadgets and robonoid type gadgets didn't provide any comfort and I felt lonely.
I tossed and turned until I was fed up and went downstairs to get some water, only to find the fridge empty.
“You are thirsty?” said a bold voice
“I ..I was just”
“I am sorry to have startled you, my name is Sainx” the handsome four legged creature smiled at me
“No , its okay Its just that this place is new to me and I miss home”
“Would you like to explore our world?”
“At this hour of night?I am not sure that’s a good idea”
“This place never sleeps, the machines are always awake, “
“Umm. ok”
“I see you have a moving machine with you, would you mind if we drove in it?”
“Oh my car. Not at all”

I was surprised he had accompanied me in my car instead he had galloped off in the dark asking me to follow him in my car. Thankfully my car was accustomed to moving smoothly even on rough planes, rocks and when land was full of sharp objects.
Spainx stopped before a huge monument type building with long steely curtains. The gate was guarded by two men
When I inside the building I felt fear creeping up my neck, this was definetly the last place I wanted to be . There was plain boring lighting everywhere in orange which gave the forlorn walls with digipaintings a cruel some look.
He signaled me to take a closer look at the paintings.
There were digipaitings by robots who had clearly scripted how they were more advanced than humans and had every bit of more power than them.
There were bizarre paintings were humans bent on their knees seemed to take orders from the Robots.
One painting where a human being handed to a mass of robots caught my attention.

The next painting had thousands of Robots with super new guns running towards millions of humans . It was as if a war was taking place.
And then there was writing in ancient syllables.
‘”What’s all this?” I asked motioning at the digipaintings
This is your destiny”
“Mine?, Iam an outlander!”
Yes. You are bought here as a prisoner, The human race have been with war with the intellect robonoids for more than a century and when the war ended it was humans who had lost. By humans I mean us. We came to an agreement with the Robots to hand over the visionary woman to them and the humans remaining after the war would not be harmed but would serve as slaves to the Robot race.”

The unknown feeling of fear and betrayal took over me “ Why are you telling me this?”
“ I am a human and a brave one. save our race Najm , please”
There was a sudden shriek and a hairy creature shouted “YOu traitor, you tell her !!!!””TRAITOR “ TRAITOR” he ran to out of the building shouting curses at Spainx.
“You have no time, drive past the guards and into the 53 KBPS street , there is an ancient wall shaped in a huma form , exaclty when the sun rises in the morning the barrier will open and you can get past the wall “ “
I could hear thunderous footsteps, my feet and my mind had left sensing .the footsteps grew louder.
“GO, Go , GO NOW!” Spainx shouted.
“What will happen to you?” I asked worriedly
“Don’t think, just go!”

I jerked back to reality , I have to be brave, I can’t run away now. I must find a way,. My mind started to race. I took the back door. all the walls seemed to reflect my images on them. The doors started to lock .
I am trapped. So far and I can’t lose.I reached my car and jumped into it and started the engine , surprisingly the door opened for my car. Wow they really do care for machines I thought.
My car my savior I thought jokingly. joke in such a situation , crazy me.
Following the instructions given by Spainx I reached the street and I couldn’t wait to get off this strange planet where people where hypocrites , people who knew nothing about love and peace. People who staying among machines had become just like them.Empty and Emotionless.
So this would be what my lovely Earth would become. I was “the visionary woman” they said. that meant the Robots saw me as a threat for their kind.
I was destined to put this to an end. I closed my eyes wishing it to be morning soon.
The street was empty with electrical wires and clean steel tiles. There was no flora or fauna in sight. The humans had completely destroyed themselves.

The Dawning…The Dream….
At exactly the wall turned transparent .
I drove my Storm explorer through the mirror like wall. It led me to a high plain. I kept on driving until I reached a dead end. It was clear I had reached my planet. There were trees everywhere.
What a narrow escape I had I thought to myself.
I got down from my Storm and stared at the blue skies. It was me who had to stop the humans from trusting the robot race and me and only me who had the power to  put an end to a revolution.
There was a reason why I chosen to go to Zelith. I walked forwards towards the edge of the cliff, and when I looked below I saw thousands of Robots looking up at me…
I was at the Robot dump zone. All spare and unwanted robots were dumped here.
I looked at the Robots who were looking in my direction with an emotion I didn't know.
I felt bold and courageous once again.Destiny. Now I believe.
“I will create a new beginning for our people and heal our planet ."
I had an aim. a goal. A clear vision of what I had to do.I managed a smile, too overwhelmed by my emotions to speak.I had it in me!
It was then I realized the Visionary was true , here I am the stranger who is back from a strange land .Chosen to save the world..
             
I stood there in silence hovering over the tech bots.They were in exile.
I looked upon the Robots  now talking in animated codes. Yes I will save you too. From hate.And war
the tale of exploring, bravery and survival had just begun….

This post is part of Indiblogger's  'I am an Explorer' Contest  by www.tatasafari.com
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