The Hydrosaver

The day was 5th September 2051. It was a scorching hot day. The water supply had stopped, the tank was empty, and it was noon. I had ordered a can of water, but the water had not reached my home yet because of traffic. My tongue had dried up and I was relying on a bottle of water right now. I took small sips of water each minute and the bottle was already half empty. I slowly tried to limit the amount of water I drank until the water supply was back. I opened my phone and decided to read some stories. All I could see on my screen was "The End of our Planet", "The Doom of Mankind" and many more e-books that were just focused on our death. I missed those days when we read books all about adventure. Those were the days, weren't they?

Two hours had passed; the water had still not come. I decided to go to the WSS office (water supply storage) to check the problem. I wore my favourite hat, picked up my bike keys, and locked my house. I got on my bike and sped off. Hot air rushed into my face, which made me even more thirsty. The city was as usual, with its normally tall buildings. I could see very few people on the roads of Bangalore which was once crowded with people. After all, the population of Karnataka now is just over 10,00,000 people. It had been years since I had seen trees. The last tree in Karnataka was in my grandmother’s house…which also died due to acid rain 10 years ago, which made the soil of Karnataka contagious and acidic, such that it can burn humans alive. Known as "Milton rain", this rain is named after Tilak Milton, a scientist who performed extensive research on contagious mud and rain and found out its chemical properties and techniques to protect us from future acid rains. But one day, 5 years ago, his lab was blasted due to a chemical reaction, and all his research burned to ashes. Milton’s body could not be found. So, he was declared dead. Some say that Milton died due to the radiation of contagious mud he researched.

Nobody can now walk on sand and mud, so cement is built on mud to avoid contact with mud. Agriculture was impossible. Farmers, unaware of the consequences of the rain, stepped on the now contagious soil and died instantly. Up to date, over 4 lakh farmers have died. Even the deserts are marked as dangerous and isolated areas. Millions died and many survived the day of the Milton rain. My parents died, but I survived, after staying for a year in an underground military hospital in Bangalore as I was a doctor and environmentalist, I must say. I also had some interest in space. A few years back, I had tried to warn all the people on earth, along with a few other scientists, about the consequences of pollution. But no one took it seriously. They made fun of us and called us nerds. Now, we are the ones who are suffering.

All the previous cabinet ministers resigned due to pressure from the public, and new ministers took charge. Anyways, back to the topic. This acid rain was the cause of this lack of water in the whole world. The world is surviving on "ARTIFICIAL WATER" made in the WSS offices. But you might be wondering, how do we breathe if there are no trees? Well, Bangalore is enclosed in a big bubble acting as a temporary atmosphere with a continuous supply of oxygen which is also made artificially by absorbing oxygen from other planets. Advanced spaceships go there every day to collect the existing small quantities of oxygen from the moon and Mars. We were actually going to move to Mars until we found out that the big billionaire, Ferion Mant who had planned to build rockets to take us there had also died due to contact with Milton Rain. His body wasn’t found at all. Anyways, the government also recently passed a law prohibiting extensive activities to save oxygen!

What is the world going to!?

I reached the WSS office, a huge factory where oxygen and hydrogen are fused to make water. I entered the reception and then went to the CEO, who was none other than my best friend, Kayanth.

He welcomed me warmly and gave me a glass of water. Finally, my thirst was quenched. I asked him the reason for the stopped water supply, and then Kayanth gave me a serious look and then replied, "Kishant, I am going to tell you something which is very top-secret information. Hope I can trust you." I replied yes and then he spoke in a stern manner, which totally creeped me out. The problem is that we have a scarcity of hydrogen in the atmosphere at the moment. "The Arya hydrogen vacuum," which costs a fortune, has sucked very little hydrogen out of our atmosphere (Now only filled with hydrogen), which indicates a shortage of hydrogen. Mr Dev, who supplies us with hydrogen, himself contacted me and informed me of this. If we don't have enough of this hydrogen, we're doomed! We do not get water anymore to make artificial food or drink! People have not heard the news yet, if they do then protests will take place, leading to further chaos. This will result in a drastic decline of humanity, leading to the END OF THE WORLD."

This is a serious matter that needs to be addressed immediately. At the moment, I don't have any ideas...the government is also aware of this and is trying to do something", Kayanth said in a serious tone. "Why don’t we ask the Prime Minister and Mr Dev himself?" I said it as a joke. Kayanth jumped in joy and exclaimed, "What a great idea! Come with me! We have to go to Delhi, " and then he had just realised how much oxygen he had wasted jumping. He sat down quickly and took very small breaths. We had to leave for Delhi as soon as possible.

Kayanth was good friends with the Prime Minister and he had booked an appointment with him as soon as possible by phone.

We could only travel by SuperSonic electric trains now since all public transportation services have been shut down. We took emergency seats to Delhi and arrived in a day or so. As soon as we arrived, we got in a "one of a kind" electric Rolls Royce car and headed to the PM’s office. We got down and entered the meeting room to find the whole ministry, including PM Ninad and Mr Dev. I sat next to Mr Dev. Kayanth introduced me to everyone. I was wondering whether this Government will do anything unlike the last one. Suddenly, the Environmental Minister, Sarath Kumar got up and pressed a button on a remote which displayed a presentation.

Mr Sarath started talking "Hello everyone present in this room. As everyone knows, India and the world are in great danger. It has become difficult for us because hydrogen has become scarce, and this issue hasn't reached the public. We are currently providing stored water, which lasts only for a week. Therefore, I have devised a method to retrieve hydrogen. This is our only option and it is approved by Mr Ninad personally. So, we need to send two people to space, to get the hydrogen using the Hydroxygen Vacuum. Now, we are yet to select two people, one who is physically fit and knows more about fitness and one who knows more about space and health sciences. Then suddenly, Mr Dev interrupted and said, "I have designed a special spaceship which extracts hydrogen and has all the necessary supplies for humans. They will be using that to go to space... Dr Kishant, you have all the skills necessary. Would you like to join this mission? I was super excited and just agreed to it. During the mission, I was aware of all the risks, but I was prepared to do anything for the sake of the world. Now I need another man who I recommend for this mission, which I will disclose tomorrow," Mr Ninad said. "Kishan, we will send you to space prepared! " We took a supersonic train back to Bangalore and I went to my house. I was excited for tomorrow but also very much exhausted. As soon as I came in, I fell on my bed and decided to get some sleep for tomorrow.

I woke up the next morning. I was excited to start my first day of training! The room was dark so I pulled my curtains and saw something……more than something.

The world was completely green now, the sky was blue and I could see a lot of trees in my barren backyard! I could hear sparrows chirping, cuckoos cooing, they were chirping as if they were singing a song and welcoming back the green world! Someone tapped me from behind, I turned back to see my parents who I thought were dead! I hugged them and I was in tears. I ran to my backyard and saw my favourite Mango tree crowded with fresh ripe mangoes! I hugged it too and I climbed the tree, plucked a nice juicy mango. I came down, this was the first mango I had eaten in years! I took a bite, closing my eyes to feel the flavour. But something was odd, the mango tasted salty! Then I woke up….to find I was chewing my shoe all the time! “It was all just a dream, which could never become a reality,” I thought in sadness. I wished I never woke up…..I wanted to stay in my dream where everything was beautiful. Just to make sure, I opened the curtains to find a barren backyard, large skyscrapers, a brown sky. I let out a heavy sigh and sat on my bed when my phone rang. It was Kayanth, “COME TO THE ISRO OFFICE QUICK, YOU ARE LATE!” he yelled. I had forgotten I had to go for training! I quickly got ready and got on my bike and zoom!

I drove to the ISRO office located in Bangalore itself. I stepped inside the station slowly taking a deep breath, it was an honour. I was welcomed by the chairman of ISRO and Mr Dev. I was taken to a lobby and met Colonel Ravi, the man who was apparently supposed to accompany me on this mission. We had a short talk. The colonel was a well-built man who was at least 6 feet tall and was an expert in handling weapons and skilled in martial arts. Then, we both were accompanied by a trainer called Mike. Mike said “Hello Colonel, hello Doctor…… I am Mike, one of the best trainers in ISRO. I am going to train you for this mission. So first you both should undergo basic training, advanced training, mission-specific training, onboard training, and proficiency maintenance training. Astronauts must learn medicine, language, robotics and piloting, space system engineering, the organization of space systems, and the acronyms in aerospace engineering during the basic training. But basic training is cancelled for you both because it seems that you have enough knowledge in these topics, so I don’t want to bore you on all these things. The rocket will be ready in one month and until then, training on all these topics will be given” I let out a big yawn as I listened to these boring words. But the colonel replied, “I don’t have enough training in this aerospace engineering nor does the Doctor do, I think.” I agreed with him. Mike said confidently “Don’t worry, if something goes wrong in the spaceship, I will assist you in that process”. Ravi and I sighed in relief.

We were taken to a room far away from the other rooms labelled “Training room”. Mike opened the door, and we walked through a big passageway. Mike continued, “Astronauts are trained in preparation for the conditions of launch as well as the harsh environment of space. This training aims to prepare the crew for events falling under two broad categories: events relating to the operation of the spacecraft (internal events)…..and blah blah blah..” After listening to a long speech which I and the Colonel were least interested in, we understood luckily, we reached several doors and the first door we went into was gravity control.

The room was small and there was a fan kind of structure below the floor which was protected with steel grills on the surface of the floor. Mike stated “ Space motion sickness is an event that can occur within minutes of being in changing gravity environments. The symptoms range from drowsiness and headaches to nausea and vomiting. So first we need to train you on that!”. Colonel and I were instructed to stand on the grills. Mike pulled a switch and both of us were pushed up in an instant! Colonel Ravi was excited, and he was laughing and had incredibly good control of his body, He did back and front flips like a pro. But what about me...the DOCTOR? I had good brains, but I was a complete disaster in physical activities. I kept flipping uncontrollably and soon, I started feeling drowsy and my head was aching badly. I felt nauseated and after seeing my reaction, the fan was stopped. I fell down with a bump, and was feeling sick while Ravi landed softly on his feet!

Mike exclaimed “Doctor, I am afraid that you have “Severe Space motion sickness” so Colonel can go to the space system engineering section as he is very fit for space travel while you will have to finish the physical training!

I am so screwed!

So, I was made to go on that Gravity Simulator again for 2 weeks! I had vomited a few times but slowly got used to it! “I am ready to save Earth!” I exclaimed to myself feeling proud. After this, I was taken to a room that said, “Virtual Reality”. We entered the room to find Colonel Ravi waiting for us. Mike said “Now, you are going to wear the gadgets and then enter the Virtual Reality Simulator. In this, you are in a spaceship and you must fix a crashing spaceship with Colonel Ravi. You can move like you always used to and see in all directions!” Colonel whispered and said “Hopefully, it is just a simulator!” for a joke! We were given glasses with gloves attached to a million wires. The screen was blank and then a very bright light came which hurt my eyes and then a huge control panel appeared in front of my eyes... I was in the simulator game! I heard Mike whispering to stay calm and focus on fixing the spaceship and that he was seeing our activities on another screen. I moved slowly in fear and almost tripped on one of the wires! I could see Colonel walking boldly in front of me. He slowly opened the only door in the spaceship and ran towards the Mechanics room. We opened to see the engine and mechanisms of the spaceship. We went in and fixed a few wires and changed some of the settings. I wasn’t sure if it would work but I did what I had studied in books about space mechanisms. AND IT WORKED! The spaceship was fixed, and we were safe. Suddenly the white screen had gone black and Mike removed the glasses. Then we were taken to the main training and taught all the tactics of space survival.

Then on the fourth week, I came to the ISRO office to find a surprise! The spaceship “INDIAN HYTRACT” was ready. It was huge and magnificent. I was excited and then the PM, Environmental Minister, Mr Dev, and Colonel Ravi were already there. The PM, Ninad said “You have to leave today evening in the rocket to space. Be prepared and all the best! India depends on you”.” We won’t fail you!” Colonel and I both exclaimed in chorus. We were given a recap of these instructions and were having a good time.

Soon, it was time for the launch. We were getting inside there when suddenly something struck my mind. I got down and asked Mr Ninad “What if the press knows about the rocket launch? It would be impossible to do it secretly. How will you handle them?” He replied, “We’ll see about that, please just focus on the mission”. I thought something was slightly fishy but it could just be me. I always tend to suspect someone if they didn’t reveal anything about a particular situation. I got in the spaceship. Mike was testing the mic in the spaceship. “Hello, mic testing.. 123.. check” I put on my suit, got in the rocket. The Colonel was still getting ready. I was finding my helmet when suddenly I felt dizzy. Was it the nervousness….but no! It felt like something else. I came out of the rocket and tried to take a deep breath which made me even dizzier! Suddenly, I could notice Mr Sarath and ISRO’s chairman fainting to the ground! The colonel came running but he too was knocked off. It was sleeping gas! My body gave up on me and I eventually fell to the floor. I wanted to alert the others and I tried to shout…. All that came from my mouth was a faint voice. I remembered after that they had gone out for a short briefing of the mission. My eyes closed slowly and the last thing I saw was a man with a mask laughing “MWHAHAHAHA!” The dose of that gas was too much, and I had fainted!

I eventually woke up, my vision was blurred. For a minute, my mind was blank. Where was I and why? What was I doing here? Then everything slowly recollected to me, the mission….the sleeping gas. I got up and I tried to wake up Mr Sarath and the chairman. But they just wouldn't get up. Then, I noticed that the colonel was missing!

Suddenly, someone touched me and I jumped in fear. It was the colonel! He exclaimed, “THE ROCKET’S GONE DOC! What do we do?”. I tried opening the doors of the centre. But it was of no use. All the doors which lead outside including the emergency exits were locked! I ran to the restroom and tried breaking its windows but in vain. They had used very strong glass to prevent trespassers. We both sat down on the stairs and tried contacting the PM and Mr Dev but both their phones were switched off. Colonel Ravi said, “I am pretty sure someone from the inside has done this”. I agreed with him. Then, suddenly the colonel got up and sprinted as fast as he could. Confused, I also ran behind him. He opened a door inside and we saw a medium-sized spaceship there. At an instant, I recognized it. It was the EESS (Extreme Emergency Spaceship), which we had learned in training. As the name states, it was used only for emergency purposes and is programmed to locate the latest rocket which was launched. That means we can find the rocket! But the thing is it has oxygen and supplies which can last only for a week. We had to take the risks, we didn’t have any other choice.

I and the Colonel got in. We put on our suits and took our seats. Even being a military man, I could see the fear in Colonel Ravi’s eyes and he could probably see the same in my eyes too! I pressed on the GPS switch and the screen in front of us flashed in an instant. It showed us a 3D map of the Milky Way and a small pointer was blinking on a planet! But after seeing it, I and Colonel Ravi were speechless…..

It was on Mars.

”WHY ON EARTH IS IT ON MARS!?” I yelled in frustration. Colonel Ravi chuckled after hearing this sentence. It would take about 2 hours to go to Mars in the normal rocket but it would take 3 days to get to Mars in this dumb space shuttle! But to think it would have taken 2 and a half years to get to Mars a decade back, this is much better. Colonel pressed on the thrust button and a countdown started… I closed my eyes, breathing hard. It was my first time flying itself, and that too my first flight is to Mars! “5…4…3…2…1..COMMENCE LAUNCH” the AI voice said and then a deafening voice took over my ears and WHOOSH! The shuttle took off and I held my seat. But the Colonel was stiff, with literally no expression on his face at all. It kept going up and up until the sky gradually started to turn black and then…..we had reached space finally. The screen flashed 360 views of the cameras of the spaceship. Our planet was visible in one of the cameras. It was, however, completely different from what I had expected. I wanted to see a planet that had the flashing colours of blue from the sea and green from the land. Here, the blue was totally missing and the green….yes, it’s gone too. All I see is small bubble-like structures ie. The artificial atmosphere on the Earth’s surface. Seeing them was an awful sight. My heart sank. I could tell there was sadness in Colonel Ravi's eyes as well.

We continued our travel to space. The spaceship was put on autopilot mode, and we removed our seatbelts. All of a sudden, we were pushed up and we started flying due to 0 gravity! Luckily, my training proved to be useful and we were able to control our movements dynamically. We had to exercise every hour to maintain blood flow in our bodies. In these 2 days, we prepared all the necessary things for the mission without knowing what dangers might await us on Mars. Perhaps there is some reason why the rocket landed there. We knew we were going to fight against something or someone very dangerous.

Two days had passed swiftly yet we didn’t reach there. We were bored of the journey, just staring into blank space. Meanwhile, Colonel Ravi was busy thinking and speculating what situations might be lurking out there.

A reddish-orange planet soon appeared in the distance. It was Mars!

“This is just like a movie!” I chuckled. But the colonel is a strict man, said, “Doc, be serious. This is a very dangerous situation, we might not make it alive” I gulped. We started checking our supplies.

Oxygen level in tank - CHECK

Food supplies - CHECK

GPS locator - CHECK

Remote Radio - CHECK

Our spaceship was approaching closer to Mars. As we were getting nearer, we noticed that there was the same “Bubble like Artificial Atmospheres” just like we have back on Earth. That means, is someone living there? Maybe Aliens? But why do they need those atmospheres? Both the Colonel and I were staring at the planet in awe

We were getting nearer and nearer to the red plastered ground of Mars. It was indeed very big, just looked like our earth but with a different colour palette. We buckled up into our seats again and Colonel stopped the spaceship on Mars, but with a crash landing. We couldn’t see anything in front of us. It was all dust. After a while, it cleared out.

We slowly opened the door of the spaceship and set our first step on Mars. This reminded me of Neil Armstrong’s quote, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind (which is practically almost endangered)” Colonel followed me and we both stepped down. We started walking, I mean bouncing towards a large bungalow inside an atmospheric bubble that looked peculiar to me. Unlike the ones on Earth, these were smaller, small enough that only a house can fit! My mind was running with thoughts. Who or who was there? Who built that building?

As we were nearing, there was a mysterious figure standing at a distance. I and Colonel Ravi stopped. Was it an alien, like I had thought? From what I could make out, the man looked half-burned on his face and his body, and he was wearing a nice suit. In an instant, I recognized that person and yelled “It’s Ferion Mant!” By then someone had held us from behind! There was a chill running down my spine. WERE THEY...ALIENS? They were bluish-green looking, disgusting, a one-eyed creatures with saliva dripping from their mouths! The Colonel struggled to escape but of no use. Ferion approached us, but the thing I found peculiar was...he wasn't wearing a spacesuit! I and Ferion were faces to face….So he had survived the Milton Rain.

Suddenly, he let out his tongue and it kept extending and coming out of his mouth and his skin turned green! My doubts were confirmed, he was an alien all along! He lifted me and the Colonel using his tongue and SWOOP! He flung us far away into a deep dark hole which appeared out from nowhere! I screamed and yelled in fear and fell down infinitely. During my long fall into infinite space, I was able to see all the planets above me. I took a last glance at Colonel Ravi, he closed his eyes and was motionless. I too closed my eyes…this was all going to end with one simple fall. I failed to save the world, it was all over! I was feeling dizzy and was fainting when suddenly our radios’ crackled and we heard a familiar voice “*TRSSH*…..KISHANT? RAVI? *TRSSHH* ANYONE? CAN YOU HEAR ME!? *TRSSHHH*”

THE END!? OR NOT? Now it is up to you readers to decide your own ending for this story!