Kamal Kanta Dhungel
“Hands up! You have been captivated.”
I got bewildered as I heard a peculiar voice from his back. Abruptly, I gave him the “turn around one hundred and eighty degrees” command to make him aware of the threat hovering round him.
“Turn around mode activated, boss,” he replied impromptu in a robotic tone.
I was watching the ongoing incident live through our superfast intranet system. The situation was so scary that I was gazing at the 75-inch monitor without letting my eyes blink.
He turned around and saw that four aliens were pointing highly sophisticated guns towards him. He got bewildered and submerged into a dilemma about what to do.
It was an artificially intelligent robot named Mike, strolling over an exoplanet named Spike. We had launched Mike in a rover powered by uranium fuel nearly three years back. His job was to gather every bit of information related to that planet.
I was the chief scientist leading this mission. A team of nearly two dozen scientists was working sleepless nights to get every minute detail of Spike. Mike was working nicely. We were connected to him every moment. Our team was monitoring his activity through our intranet. Meanwhile, we found Mike surrounded by armed aliens.
“I am not a living creature,” Mike replied suddenly, turning his face towards the aliens.
“Do you think we are fools?” they threatened Mike furiously.
“Trust me. I am a robot,” Mike tried to soothe them.
In the meantime, I instructed Mike to follow their instructions without telling them the truth.
“Why are you captivating me? What have I done?” Mike asked them.
“You didn’t harm us. However, we are planning to capture this planet as part of our colonization programme. So, you are with us until you reveal your occult mission,” one of the mighty aliens said, his ugly face growing uglier.
I instructed Mike to tell them that he was a lost astronaut and that his spaceship was destroyed in a mishap that killed all his other friends. And he did so. However, they didn’t trust him and forcefully thrust him into their bizarre spaceship.
Our team was watching the live visuals without blinking. Our hearts were pounding swiftly. We had given our hundred percent to make this mission successful. We remembered the substantial financial investment and people’s faith upon us. It was about to reach its destination until this impasse invaded.
“Where are you taking me to?” Mike asked them.
“Stay calm until we ask you something,” one alien warned, erecting a peculiar figure-like appendage towards Mike.
They were very close to an occult planet after a voyage of nearly three months. Mike was blindfolded; however, he could see everything through his x-ray-emitting eyes. With the aid of his eyes, we were watching everything before they reached the planet.
The monitor went dark and the connection with Mike was lost as soon as they landed on the planet.
“Damn it!” I banged my palm on the table with a thud.
I scolded the IT team for this blunder. They tried; however, it became merely a wild goose chase. They couldn’t establish a proper connection with Mike.
It had been nearly a month since we lost connection with Mike. All our hope got shattered.
Suddenly, our monitor returned to normalcy and showed Mike. We got bewildered. It was so ecstatic to see him on the screen. We cheered, screamed, and jumped in excitement.
“Mike, can you hear me?” I asked.
“Yes, boss,” Mike replied.
“These aliens have captured this planet and captivated indigenous creatures here, making them their slaves by threatening them with annihilation, as they are made of antiparticles. They prohibited external networks from working in their capital. I somehow eloped from their grasp and escaped from their capital,” Mike added.
Mike then showed the miserable situation of the indigenous creatures there.
“I have to do something to rescue them. Would you kindly suggest me some idea, sir?” Mike lamented.
“Did you anyway touch those aliens during the voyage, Mike?” I asked.
“Yes, boss,” Mike replied impromptu.
“Then you and those aliens are made up of the same particle, unlike those indigenous people. You can imprison the aliens easily. Did you get me, Mike?” I suggested.
“Thumbs up, boss,” Mike replied.
Mike found a dilapidated laboratory amidst a dense forest as he was searching for an asylum. He used that laboratory and made many automated weapons using artificial intelligence.
With the help of the indigenous people there, Mike attacked the base camp of the aliens. Most of them were killed in this battle, and a few leftover ones eloped inside the forest. He then freed all the indigenous people there.
They then arranged a high-speed spaceship for Mike to take him back to Spike.
At the time of departure, all the indigenous people started sobbing, and teardrops fell earthward. One of them came forward to hug him.
“Just tell me goodbye staying afar, dear, as we can’t hug each other being antiparticles of each other,” Mike explained.
They became emotional—and so did Mike—and just waved goodbye.
“Goodbye, guys,” Mike waved his hand as a farewell gesture and left off heavyheartedly.
He then landed on Spike and stayed nearly six months to complete his tasks and research. As he decided to depart, he found his spaceship dysfunctional. He tried everything; however, all went a wild goose chase. He then remembered that Earth is very far and takes nearly a year to reach.
At this juncture, Mike communicated with his friends on the planet he had just left. They happily sent him a rescue spaceship and dropped him on Earth safely.
