“Cursed Sapiens” by Ayaz Latif Ansari

We are in the laboratory. A laboratory situated on the pyramids. These pyramids were once wonders of the world, but these days humans have changed them into massive laboratories because of their greed for immortality. Their quest for immortality is increasing day by day. They have changed the nexus of the entire world. We are on a mission to demolish these rules to reshape the thinking of people to remind them of the importance of the Earth. This planet needs a speedy recovery from these corrupt elite classes. Are you still there? We have almost reached a random lab, where cyborgs were doing some mysterious things. There was not a single human in the laboratory. We need a sample of the immortal-I to develop an antidote to convert these god-like humans into normal ones. As we approached the door of the Lab-230 hiding from cyborgs, it was locked and password cracking would have been impossible without the presence of Daisy, who had learned some enigmatic and complex ways from her uncle to do this. She was about to unlock the door when one cyborg approached Lab-230.

Cyborg approached the door, and as we hailed towards another lab, a message from authorities echoed in the lab: “Don’t act silly—Hail Ramses”

We all were in a different lab, where different corpses were present, and they were from the lower class because these days, the elite class used them as their experimental subject. The poor class has replaced the rats. Most animals have become endangered since humans started their horrendous experiments.

“Do not turn back—wait for my next reply”

There was a ghost—like silence in the room. This voice made us all nervous and suddenly we heard her steps following us.

“What is your name?”

She replied nothing at the moment, but after some moments she replied, “My name is Meera. I am from Delhi, India, and like your officer, I am against these evil acts, but I am helpless because my entire family is under arrest. They act like Judas. And their love and affection are almost like Judas’s kiss”

It was inevitable for her to hide her feelings, but I was thinking about how she is aware of us being here and how she knows about our mission and agendas. Humans still possess a strange nature, when they know they act like they don’t know, but when they don’t know they act as if they know. It is all programmed, I think, but wait, why am I thinking? Meera talked about her former experience working at our planet’s office. Human nature is convoluted and difficult for machines to understand because machines are programmed and humans are not. Meera was about to tell us something about their (elites’) secret activities when we listened to something on a floating microphone: “I Ramses know that some enemies from planet SARS have come to our Earth to disturb our peace and experiments, so be alert and Capt. John, I won’t repeat this again.”

They all got alert and Meera told us about a room where cyborgs are not allowed. We headed towards that room. In that room, we were safe and monitoring every step of cyborgs in other rooms.

The system is rebooting One.. Two... Three 

REBOOTED SUCCESSFULLY 

Meera, you know the thinner things about them, you must guide us. 

I will. First, we would need a sample of Immortal-I to use against them. We would have to wait for the next 5 days because they go to kill people every weekend. The weekend is the perfect day for us to steal the Immortal-I. 

“When lies become the voice of the masses, truth becomes the only option for enlightening ones.” 

Waiting for 5 days is a tough job and what if cyborgs noticed us and then this mission would go in vain? 

"It will not go in vain," replied Meera. 

But before attempting this dangerous task, we must enlighten people with our ideas and solutions for their problems. 

They would not believe in our ideas because they consider us our enemies. SARS has always attempted to rescue earth in every circumstance but because of hatred in hearts and minds. They did not appreciate us. 

Daisy jumped between conversations with two names: Dr. Cyndy and Sir. Pinkman. 

Their names were not alien to us because SARS’ monthly magazine covers every news about them. People of earth respect their views and choices. 

Captain, Thom, and Meera were busy planning something for the next 5 days. 

They distributed days like this: “The first day was a preaching day” Second day was a visiting day with Dr. Cyndy and Sir. Pinkman. The third day involved implanting chips in cyborgs to control them for a forthcoming mission. The fourth day was a result day of all previous days. And the fifth day was for stealing the Immortal-I.” 

The next day was preaching day. We reached the home of Daisy’s old friend Cairo; she was the only teen in the town who was not brainwashed and she was a supporter and admirer of SARS’s philosophy. We met Cairo and various people from the town. They told us about the evil ideas of Ramses when they felt our ideas would not cause harm. They said whenever we read past books, we think that our ancestors were hopeful for a peaceful and amazing world but mother Earth is still fighting with a huge monster of capitalism. Ideas of socialism are dying day by day. No one talks about equality and rights for poor people. Elite class has totally empowered the earth and now only a miracle can save us from them. Now what we have to do is secretly transfer this idea to more people to make them aware of this worse condition. Our first day came to an end. It was the time of dusk when we saw something horrendous on the 3D streets, a corpse was lying down with some genetically made advanced vultures feeding on them. 

All of us were shocked to see this condition of people on earth. 

The second day was tough for us because roaming freely on earth might cause us harm. But meeting with Dr. Cyndy and Sir. Pinkman was important. We met them at a deserted place.

Dr. Cyndy welcomed us with odd behavior. It was an ambiguous welcome. Sir. Pinkman was standing silent with an invisible car. He started with an oxymoron: “I know that I know nothing.” 

It meant he was all aware of our plans and missions. He said, “if you want to know the exact location of the Immortal-I then you have to kill Dr. Meera.”

Daisy was furious at this and all of us were alert. All of us are confident," Dr. Cyndy said, "that she is not an enemy anymore.”

He agreed, but his eyes were weaving another tale. 

The third day was like a twin brother of the fifth day, implanting chips was a tough job, and catching cyborgs was even threatening. However, this mission must be completed on the assigned days. We have limited time, resources and people with us. The battery is going down again.....1...2...3.... Engine refiling started....

Life came back again in motors. Some cyborgs were seen on Alpha street and it was the perfect moment for us to implant chips. 

Implant it in their 2nd motor, from where they get their whole energy. Everything was done fine. 

The fourth day became a rest day for all of us. They were all in an alien area hiding from other cyborgs and monitoring implanted ones. 

We opened the undetected envelope by Dr. Cyndy. Immortal-I was present in Rameses's palace. 

Four days went by in the hope of a successful fifth day, and we reached the palace. The palace was full of cyborgs and immortals; we were inadequate to kill them with our guns and tools. We followed the instructions of implanted cyborgs and somehow entered the palace. But to our surprise, it was an illusional palace with twisting ways and doors. We reopened the envelope again, and it guided us to the same room where nobody was present. One of us approached it in a hurry and lost his life. Now we have 3 humans and 1 machine. 

Now, what we have to do is to use our meditative powers to see who is there. 

We used our powers and saw some strange creatures and we killed them with our weapons because they were not immortals. Finally, we found out the immoral-I and immediately followed the given instructions and made Antidote. It was a moment of celebration and the battery said...one two three….dead.

About the Author

Meet Ayaz, a student studying English Literature at NUML Lahore. He loves movies, books and thinking about how history shapes our world. He's from a small village called Kadhan and now living in Lahore where he's making the most of his time, learning and experiencing all the city has to offer. He is someone who likes to live life to the fullest and never stops learning.