English Assignment |
Miss. Soophia Ahmad |
Bilal Ansari
A1B-9
08LEB109
The Unusual Smile
Bilal Ansari
Technology, when used for a good cause, is good, but for a bad reason, is very dangerous.
She did not know what was happening outside his laboratory. It was a thunderstorm – so disastrous as if ready to destroy the whole world. It was a catastrophe – a sure sign of destruction. It seems as if God was very much angry with someone and was willing to punish him. But, unaware of nature’s warning, Dr. Florence McCartney was busy conducting her experiment – an experiment, which when successful, was going to create a history in the achievements of mankind.
Then, the moment came, the moment for which she had waited (and worked hard) since last 10 years. The dreading and unforgettable 10 years – during which she had failed numerous times. She had lost count of the days, time and year. It had made no difference to her whether it was a day or night, hot or cold, or even summer or winter. Even the last three meals were lying where the housekeeper kept them – untouched since then.
A lightning flash brought her back to the present. Startled, she looked around. Everything was normal. She took the small archetype of the time machine. Then she took a piece of paper and after writing the date and time on it, kept it inside the prototype along with a watch. Now all was set. She timed the machine to land just ten minutes ahead of the current time. Now the tension in the environment grew. Her heart was racing against time. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and pressed the button. Within a flash of second, the machine just disappeared as if it was never there – leaving just a wave of air which swept her hand. For a few seconds, she just stared at the empty table. And then……she fell on the chair. She was very happy. She was smiling. Her dream was about to come true. She sat on the uncomfortable chair as she thought of her future.
“I will get it patented and then make an official announcement. People all over the world will come to know me. They all will come to meet me. I will be rich and famous. My photograph will be all over the places. Interviews, meetings, invitations to parties......” flash. The lightning noise brought her back to the present again. The prototype of the time machine was back. She went to the table, picked up the machine and took out the contents. What she saw made her jubilant. The time in the watch in her hand was ten minutes behind that on the wall!! The time machine is successful!!! “I have created a history”. In her excitement, she accidently broke the prototype. It fell onto the floor and was now only a few pieces of scrap lying on the floor.
“Oh! My God! What have I done?” She was very upset with this. But her accomplishment overtook her depression and she started preparing for time travelling.
Soon, she was in the time machine, ready for a lifetime achievement, thinking about where to go. After a few seconds, she randomly pressed a few buttons and timed the machine to a destination in future – 100 years ahead, to see the future and effect of her invention. Then she pressed the ‘GO’ button with a trembling hand and whoosh. The time machine and the scientist were gone. They were travelling in space to land 100 years ahead.
The place where she landed was surrounded by trees and plants, as if it was a jungle. But it was a deserted location. She saw a few buildings, the creepers and plants surrounding it. She stepped out of the machine to explore the area. The whole area was covered with dust. She found a way out to the world from between the trees.
The sight that struck her eyes was astonishing. She was wonderstruck with the look of the new world. The whole world looked like a network of highways, bridges and flyovers, one on top of the other. It was as if the world had been divided into layers or floors. Connectors connected the big skyscrapers to each other. There were buildings on every layer also. It looked as if each floors had a new inhabiting world on it, yet interconnected to each other. Overall, the earth has changed and had become a network of roads on top of each other – a definite advancement in the field of architecture and designing. The buildings were made of very thin sheets of some material she did not know. She did not understand as to how it could support such load and pressure.
As she moved on, the time traveller came to know more about the new world. The more she knew, the more curious she became. It seemed to be the perfect world and environment to live in.
The world has also advanced very much in technology, as compared to the world she had come from. Cars, motorcycles, cycles were all there but with a different look. New models and designs of all kinds of vehicles were on the road. There were trains also that connected the different parts of the area and the world. They all were noise-free, pollution-free and looked to be eco-friendly. Speed was not a problem at all. Renewable sources of energy were largely used for the energy requirements.
But there was one thing that made her most happy, her invention – the time machine. The time machine seemed to be everywhere. Every person in the world seems to own one. The number of time machines outnumbered the number of vehicles. They all were using it for time travelling. Everything looked good except that there was something that made her uneasy – the inhabitants. The faces of the people were quite different than it should have been. The faces were human but the looks on their faces were very different and seemed amazing to her. There was a mixture of fear and hatred on their faces. They also had an unusual smile on their faces. They all had sharp pointing eyes, which tend to notice everything. The faces had a scary look. They had a panicky nature and everyone was on a high alert. Whenever a time machine landed, they all tend to jump and ready to run. And she was curious to know the reason behind it so she moved on.
“Are you looking for something?” – It was an old man sitting on a stone at the roadside. His face was different from the other, a bit normal. It had an unusual smile.
“I am from a different world – from the past. I have come here to know about this world. Could you help me, sir?”
“Sure. Come and sit down.”
And the old man started describing the new world to her. “As you can see, the ground we are sitting on is not the earth, but a man-made floor supported by huge and big beams of pillars. Due to the shortage of land, it was decided to build the buildings a few metres above the surface of the ground. Therefore, following the trend, the inhabiting world had till now added 20 floors increasing the radius of earth by 2 kilometres. The construction is still going on with a plan to reach upto 10 kilometres or atleast till the point where the atmosphere permits. But that time is quite far away.
“The buildings do not occupy much space as they are constructed using a new material discovered, ‘Duraderonium’. It is very much stronger than diamond and much lighter than aluminium. Its sheets do not bend even at tremendous force or pressure. It is also a good insulator and very cheap. Therefore, its thin sheets are used for construction occupying minimum space with maximum efficiency. The construction is done in such a way so as not to block the sunlight from reaching the ground floor, because sunlight is still a necessary requirement for the plants, which can grow only on the ground. Sunlight is also necessary for humans. Tremendous care have been taken to ensure that the sunlight reach every part of each floor. Even mirrors are installed at various places to reflect the sunlight to the floors.
“Solar energy is the main source of electricity as all the fossil fuels are vanishing. Hydel power, wind mills, nuclear power are also still in use as supplement sources of energy. The lightings on the roads are also excellent. They are pressure sensitive. They lit up automatically when a person reaches a place and shut off when no one is present, thus saving energy.
“But inspite of these developments, the world is going down. It is edging towards destruction. No one is safe in this world. About 100 years ago, a scientist named Dr. Florence McCartney, invented the time machine. After 2 years, a man, Gilbert Lawrence, stole the machine. He then went back to that day, killed the scientist and took the only available machine of that time and its blueprint. Since then, he had been selling the time machines at very high price. Currently, his grandchildren are the richest people in the world.
“But this is not the real problem. The problem is that due to this, the world is under chaos and destruction. Most of the people owning the machine are using it for the wrong purpose – rivalry and enmity. They are killing each other for any reason. Murders, robberies, rapes are all very common. Terrorism and crime are at the highest. Police are helpless. The criminals travel through time, commit the crime and then return back to their original time. They are just untraceable. The police cannot punish the person of that time because he had not committed the crime. The criminal who had done it cannot be caught or proved guilty, because time travelling is instantaneous whereas time is required to commit the crime. Moreover, they always have some alibi to save themselves. For instance, a person just missing for a fraction of second cannot be proved guilty of storming into a bank and robbing it.
“That is why, the nature of the people have also changed. They have become panicky in nature. They walk in groups for the fear of being killed. This fear had made them forget everything they used to do – celebrating festivals, outing or picnics and even religion. Fun and entertainment have just walked out of our lives. We do not send our children to schools and colleges under the fear that they might be killed. We ourselves do not know as to what will happen to ourselves or our families. It is a shame for us to live like this – a disgrace to the human race, but we are forced to do so, living under a fear of an unknown enemy, although knowing that we should only fear God. It is quite sad to say that the world had advanced but the humans have deteriorated. The technology is on the rise but the standards have fallen and I see no way out of it. We all will fall into it one day.
“And since morning, I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen and as if I am going to die. I never wanted to die sad. I want to die a happy man, but I am helpless. Oh God! Help me!”
Hearing this, the time traveller stood up.
“Where are you going?” asked the old man.
“To amend things, so that you can be happy.”
“I have tried it all my life. You too can try. May God help you!”
“He will. Thank you.”
And she moved on with determination. But as she stepped forward, she heard the old man’s cry. She turned to see two people with a gun aimed at the old man.
“Run. You run away from here.”, shouted the old man.
Bang!
“Ah!” and she saw the old man fall. Next, the gun was aimed at her – and she started running to save her life.
Bang!
The bullet barely missed her neck and went through, touching her hairs. The adrenaline started pumping through her body and she tried to run as fast as she could to reach her time machine and to get out of this world.
Bang!
Another bullet missed her and hit the wall.
After a few minutes of running, she finally saw the spot where her time machine had landed.
Bang!
A bullet hit her left hand and went through her triceps. She was disbalanced and fell to the ground, in the dust. She stood up and lunged for the machine. She finally sat in the machine and timed it back for her world. Just when she was about to press the button....
Bang!
....a bullet hit her leg. She cried out in pain and for a moment, she forgot about pressing the button. She realized it when the nozzle of the gun was aimed at her forehead. She looked up and saw the face of the killer. He was smiling at her. She smiled back and pressed the button and whoosh.
Bang!
But there was nothing for the bullet to hit. She had vanished into the thin air.
The room came back into existence. She limped out of the time machine and sat on her chair for some time. Thinking about the consequences of the misuse of her invention and under the light of the events, which took place on that day, she took her decision. She stood up and limped towards the door, deliberately crushing the pieces of the prototype lying on the floor. There was an unusual satisfaction on her face now and she was smiling.
