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The Gift Printable Version PRINTABLE VERSION
by Awais Aftab, Pakistan Nov 3, 2003
Sustainable Development , Environment   Short Stories

  

All attempts of human survival have failed. Humanity was nothing but a dying race. The whole complex process of evolution, which had created the spark of intelligence in the shape of Homo-sapiens, appeared to be in vain. Had they evolved just for the mere purpose of extinction? Were they nothing but a tiny spark of life doomed to be extinguished? As it seems, cosmos had its own hidden agenda.

The last hope of humanity was in the cruel hands of nature. It was hoping against hope, a probability so small that it was mathematically inconceivable; a tiny space probe- an insignificant chunk of metal. As it seems, cosmos had an odd sense of humor.

The probe moved on and on through space, with a velocity of thousands of meter per second, yet comparable to a snail. It continued its journey through infinite darkness, for millions of years, yet covering only a fraction of a second of cosmic evolution. How much distance it covered? How many traps it dodged? How many hungry stars it avoided? No one knows, no one can tell. But one day it reached where it was supposed to be, an unknown destination.

"Sir, we have spotted an unknown probe reaching our planet."

"Is it manned?"

"Probably not, Sir."

"Where has it come from?"

"Unknown, Sir."

"Send a shuttle to bring it safely back here."

"Yes, Sir."

"What does it contain?"

"Sir, it contains a lot of information encoded in electromagnetic pulses."

"What kind of information?"

"It contains the precise coordinates of a planet, named Earth, with a large number of pictures of its atmosphere, oceans, surface, geographical features and some kind of a vertebral carbon-based life. In it are also present the pictures and information of its primary star, a yellow dwarf, along with certain other information about the planet such as its annual, seasonal and average temperature."

"Anything more?"

"Yes Sir, the genetic sequence of a male and a female from a race, called 'humans' or 'Homo sapiens', and certain other vital biological, chemical and physical data, along with a request."

"A request?"

"The humans, now extinct, beg us for a favor- to find a planet similar to Earth, and then recreate humans using that data, and then allow them to evolve on that planet."

A long pause followed. An important decision was being made, a decision that would shape the future.

"Have you ever wondered why we are here? What is the purpose of our presence? What did we evolve for? Did we evolve just to extinguish like a weak flame, but in the process relight another? Were we made for this very moment? Do you think it were our efforts which led us to the discovery of how to reproduce life? It was a chance observation, a mere accident. We were meant to learn that, it had already been decided. We are nothing but toys in the hands of nature. Were we created just to give life back to an extinct race and then die? We may never know, but I am not going to interfere with the work of cosmos. Call the top biologists of our planet and tell them to work on this code. I want to fulfill their request. I will give them the gift of life. Let us then wait and observe. Perhaps these humans would be destined to return our gift, one day."






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Awais Aftab


Writing has been a passion, a love ever since I learned to write. For me, writing is a means of expression of 'secret tears and secret pleasures'. True writing comes from the heart and often it is the one to find you, not you the one to find it. Writing gives me power, the strength to carry on, the will to live and to live in a better way. It helps me find deeper meaning in the world around me and to understand myself much better. I can't survive without writing. For me, my writings are the whispers of life, in which the glory and sorrow of life echoes. For me, these are the glittering tears, whose every flash encompasses a thousand aspects of life. I believe that, 'I write; therefore I am.' However, true ease in writing comes from art, and I still have to learn a lot about that.
Comments


this is an amazing article
aclam | Nov 3rd, 2003
a very interesting and unique way to look at the problem of sustainable development!



Thank you
Muhammad Awais Aftab | Nov 4th, 2003
Its just a philosophical-cum-science based story which struck my mind one evening. Thank you for appreciating it!

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