DECADENCE

Vikram S
Panimalar Engineering College
 Foreword

The intelligent race of Gia has been depicted in human terms so that it would be easier to relate
to it.
 1

“ENOUGH”

Kleinard Arvardan raised his voice for the third time. And this time it had the desired effect.
People in the chamber stopped their chatter and gaped at him. A few huddled discussions fizzled
out under his forbidding glare.

“These may not be the days of the past. But the council is still functional and as long as it is, we
shall maintain decorum”. He said in a mellowed tone. Someone sneered, but he chose to ignore
it. Had it been a couple of years ago, he could have had the person whipped for it. But then, these
were not the days. He continued, “Honorable under secretary sybel Trollope shall brief the
council now”.

A lithe figure stood beside him. Trollope said, “Thank you, premier. Councilors of the chamber,
I’m an unfortunate bearer of some bad news. We have lost a ship.”

Pandemonium broke in the chamber. A good number were yelling at the top of their voices while
the rest chose to huddle back into their groups.

“Aren’t they supposed to be grounded?”

“Wasn’t desaturation complete?”

“Where were the scuttlers?”

“What class?”
Trollope hoped to avoid the last question. But the questioner was not someone who can be
brushed off. He replied,” class A, councilor glenordia. One of the very last ones lined up for
desaturation. It carried some light armaments only. The complete details are on your pads right
now. “

A few looked down at their screens. It was filled with specifications of the Andromeda cruiser.
Others were still too intent on the mudslinging. Arvardan raised his voice again.

“Councilors of the chamber, I request your attention one last time. The situation is dire but still
under control. The officials are taking every possible step to recover the ship. Meanwhile please
return to your domains and you shall be informed of any developments. ” he signaled the
sentinels to enter. The members looked unconvinced but started to move out when the sentinels
appeared. These days they seemed to be getting their way and nobody wished to earn their wrath.

Arvardan was escorted through the rear exit. Glenordia caught up with him. She was slightly out
of breadth.

“Sir, a word?”

“Certainly councilor”, Arvardan replied wearily.

“How come it was never spotted making out of the base?” asked glenordia.

“It was fitted with a prototype shield that makes it unplottable.” He gave a weak smile, “and now
we know it works.”

Glenordia was lost in thought. “But sir, why did such a ship require a shield in the first place?”

He looked at her troubled eyes. He always liked Glenordia. Young and plain, she was worth
more than half the council put together. She would have made an excellent premier.

“Go home, Glen” he said, “be with your people. They need you”

He turned away from her and made his way to his quarters.

Arvardan roamed in the open patch adjoining his quarters, watching the night sky. The day had
been a long one and still refused to end. He gazed over the skyline of Gia’s capital city. Nothing
remotely capital about it. The only tall structures remaining were a mockery of their past
grandeur. He couldn’t take it long and looked up at the sky. Two large orbs overshadowed most
of the stars. Trollope walked beside him.
“My apologies for disturbing you premier.”

“There are no sentinels here Sybel.”

“Well then Kliene,” Trollope said, his tone had lightened measurably, “admiring the twin moons
I see.”

“One never gets tired of looking at them. It’s like your favorite dream replaying every night. The
irony is that the dream will continue to weave even after the dreamers perish,” he looked down at
him,” What about the councilors?”

“Most of them have reached their domains safely. The others are being taken care of.” Trollope
said, “You could have informed them on wave. There was never a need for them to be in
person.”

“It’s selfishness. When you remained in power as long as I did sybel, you need to be reaffirmed
of it”, Arvardan said, “More so now that the world thinks I’m a pawn of the sentinels.”

“Well, the commander is a convincing man,” Trollope smiled.

Arvardan laughed, “You of all people know what they are going through. Sure we made
sacrifices. We gave up our luxury and comforts. But they are giving their lives to contain the
element. It pains me to see such valiance go in vain.”

“For all the effort, you could have told them the truth,” Trollope persisted.

“And risk a premature end? No sybel, the least we can do is bow out with respect. ” Arvardan
said and added as an afterthought, “councilor glenordia nearly found out.”

“Brilliant girl,” Trollope said, “she would have made an excellent premier.”

They remained silent for a long time. Old age has its merit. No matter what, time and patience
never runs out.

“Do you think we should have destroyed the weapon?” Arvardan asked.

“No,” Trollope said. He was resolute, “the council would have held only as long as element
remained a threat. The moment it’s gone territories would be revoked and rivalries resumed. We
needed a bargaining power.”

“True. Whatever happens we can’t do away with greed, can we?” Arvardan said, “Forgive me if
I’m rude but you seem to be taking this pretty well, Sybel.”

Trollope sighed, “I lived a long life, Kliene. I lost my mate and foals. There is nothing left for me
to do but die.”
“How long do we have?” Arvardan asked.

“Not long. Our systems will indicate when the missiles are launched and we have half a leon
time from then.” Trollope replied.

“That should be sufficient. Until then, we need to contain the news. Block the waves.”

“Yes, premier”

Misha hated being inside. Foals of her age never get to play out these days, she thought. Her
only solace, the televisor, did not work. When she asked Avri she said it was a wave block or
something. Just then the air columns trapped in televisor warmed up. Soon it was filled with the
image of a gaunt old man.

“Avri!” shouted Misha, “It’s that premor person!”

“Don’t yell, dear. I’m here” Avri said and picked her up, “and it is premier.”

Misha couldn’t care less. This was at least a break from monotony. The image on the screen
spoke.

“Greetings, my brethren. This is the last time you have to endure the torture of listening to an
aged man reminiscing.”

“As your premier I have, with utmost sincerity, fought the onslaught of the element. Our enemy
is fierce yet we did not yield. I salute you peers and foals for the courage you have shown. I’m
greatly honored to be a part of the bravest generation of Gia. And the last”

“A civilization prospers as long as it stands on its own legs. We were not as great as some of our
predecessors to begin with. We fought among us. The desire of a few men to wield power
clouded our vision. To this day we bear grudges against each other despite our unity. Yet we
grew. We stood on our legs. We built our little worlds with our own hands.”

“Then came by the element, the wonder of Gia; the abundant mineral hitherto unknown of its
magical properties. It transformed our lives. We integrated the element into every one of our
creation – gadgets, buildings, ships and more. We fed it information so that it can work for us.
Unknowingly, we gave it a mind, a crude one, which permeated our artificial borders. ”
“We could have been satisfied with it. But we used it to fight our wars, to kill each other. It did
our bidding. But it was distressed to find its kin being destroyed in our battles. In its most
rudimentary mind it felt what some of our prided, complex brains never did – compassion. Self
preservation drove it to rebel against us. ”

“We had to let go our homes and cities. We had to desaturate ourselves to remove it. We lost our
tools but we united to fight. Today my fellow Gians, the fight ends. We lose.”

“The element has procured our deadliest weapon, a weapon that would never have been made if
it wasn’t for our greed, and has turned it against us. Today, our annals in the history end. No
amount of deed or words can prepare you for this. But I’m an old and stubborn man; I had to try.
Forgive me”

Misha did not understand a word. She looked at Avri for an explanation. Her eyes were filled
with tears. Misha began to cry too.

The missiles exploded just before they reached the surface, not with a bang but with a whimper.
Everyone felt the force. Few saw the mushroom shaped clouds. None lived to tell the tale. Every
conceived structure crumbled to dust. Time took care of the rest.

“Can you hear me Bob?” Patterson shouted into the mouthpiece. The winds were slowing down
to a breeze.

“Yeah. The blizzard should have knocked us out. How are you holding up?” replied Bob.

“Funny you should ask. I’m having the time of my life.” Patterson snapped.

“Don’t take it out on me mate. That sordid equipment listens only to you. How long will it take?”
Bob said.

“Almost done. A breathable atmosphere doesn’t make this work anymore easier. The readings
are weird though.”

“I just finished analyzing the samples. I have some great news!”Bob sounded excited.

“Okay. Will be back in an hour.”

When he returned to the Shuttle, Bob was already beaming the report home. Patterson wasn’t
happy.
“You could have waited for me.”

“Sorry. This was too big.”

He took his seat next to the monitor. “Alright what have you got?”

“Life! Or at least, traces of it.”

“Holy Christ! microbes? ”

“No, silicon compounds!” Bob squeaked.

“Eh?”

“Look at the chain lengths! It’s unending, just like our organic compounds. You do know that
carbon and silicon are in the same group. The reason for evolution of carbonic life on earth is its
catenation property. It can form long and complex molecules that interacted to create life. Silicon
can do that too but it was limited in earth. Here it is the opposite! I found silicon compounds
analogous to proteins, carbohydrates and nearly all other nutrients.”

“What? You reckon life exists here?” Patterson asked.

Bob hesitated. “Not at the moment” he said, “either it is in the beginning stages or it was snuffed
out eons ago. But the conditions here are just like earths. So any intelligent species coming out of
this place should resemble us. ”

“I won’t be looking forward to that anytime soon.” Patterson fed his data to the mainframe.

“Found anything on your trip?” Bob asked.

“Yes. There are traces of radioactivity.” Patterson replied.

“That’s not possible. These compounds don’t develop under radiation.” Bob said.

“The readings are solid. I dated it. Just about a couple of millennia old.”

“That young! Did you find the seed? ”

“Nope. Need a larger team for that.” Patterson said. He noticed Bob was using the encrypted
line. It bypasses the international consortium and goes directly to their federal base in Florida,
“why all the secrecy?”

“Look at the second half of the report. The sample contained a new allotrope of carbon.”

Patterson could not believe what he was seeing, “These structures are amazing! Looks like layers
and layers of computing grids.”
“Yup!” bob smiled, “Nature’s very own processors. Alter it a bit and none of our best ones can
match it. This thing has shape memory too and is as hard as diamonds.”

“Looks too good to be true. Imagine what this could do for us!” Patterson said “we should get a
good load of these back home for R&D.”

“Yes. But we need to be quick,” Bob said, “such a breakthrough cannot be kept under wraps.
This sector is still in international space and before long, it would be sprawling with the Russians
and Chinese. We have to be ahead.”

Patterson was still reading the report. He nodded.

Night fell outside and the twin moons engulfed the sky.

---THE END---