Is the Grass Still Green from Where You Stand?

Time of Arrival: 11.23 a.m

The dingy machine’s mechanical voice was the first thing Dr. Unity Curtis heard as she woke up—that is, if you could call slipping into unconsciousness for two-minutes due to reality ambiguation a ‘nap’. Dr. Curtis adjusted her glasses that had turned lopsided due to time imbalance. Although, her hair was a mess too, but she didn't have time to worry about that. She was in the freaking future, and she planned to make every second count--literally.

The first thing her eyes went searching for on the dashboard were a few familiar red digits—her current coordinates. They were correct alright, but taking the Minkowski space into account, the time coordinate was altered. She set her return destination keeping the 3-D coordinates the same, but setting back time so she would reach the year 2150 the moment she pulled the lever.

.

Return destination coordinates set. Pull lever for transportation. The voice said in confirmation.

Done with the mandatory rituals that entailed while time travelling, she was now ready to watch the world as it was, a thousand years later. But as she looked out the tiny window, she was shocked. Dr. Curtis quickly activated the sensors located outside of her ship to measure the radioactivity levels. And then the air toxicity. And then the temperature. The results came back each time in extremely safe ranges. She slowly stepped out, taking her surroundings in, and had it not been for the eerie quiet, she would have let out an incredulous scream.

No. Not eerie. It was almost…serene, the quiet. Trees surrounded her. There was lush green as far as her eyes went. She could even hear crickets and birds chirp aloud—a sound last heard perhaps, two generations ago. Dr. Curtis couldn’t believe it. No, not the time travelling part. Oh, she didn’t have  the slightest doubt that she’d make it. What astounded her though, was the environment. She had enough equipments in her ship to brave the cold—a permanent frost, to brave a radioactive planet. What she was not ready for, was a bright sunny day—identical to that one picture her grandmother had very reminiscently showed her. Going outside was prohibited in her time as long as the sun was out, and if one did absolutely had to, they were to wear special suits that would keep the UV radiations out. But…this place? Surely, she could not have been transported to a parallel universe instead of just a millennium into the future of her timeline? Because how else was it possible for there to be trees in the future, let alone lush green forests like this?

Soon Dr. Curtis’ initial shock morphed into admiration. They did it. The humans had done what was thought impossible. There had been inventions, then, she thought. Did they figure out resource management? How did they reverse climate change? Oh! And the shiny monuments, looks like acid hailstorms have been absent for a while—she kept thinking with glee.

A perfect planet.

Dr. Curtis had already thought of all the questions she was going to ask her future generation once she met them. She hoped she would be received warmly. She hoped to take some advice home. But she searched and searched, but found not one living soul. The Doc was puzzled. It’s not like the place was devoid of life itself. But then, where were all the people?

Unity had had enough. She decided to try her luck in what she thought was a huge corporate building. It was interesting to see automatic lawn-mowers at work in the huge lawn in front of the building. Upon achieving everything that was thought impossible, she supposed an automatic lawnmower was the least bizarre thing they could have come up with. Dr. Curtis entered the huge hall with padded feet, unsure which way to go. No people here, either. Was it some kind of holiday for them today? She walked aimlessly until she saw two divergent paths in front of her, each labelled ‘Time Travellers’ and ‘Universe’ respectively. Interesting, she smirked, are we a type III civilization already? She trudged along the path that led her to ‘Time Travellers’ chambers.

She drew in a breath as she saw the artefacts tucked on the walls. There were synthetic materials of immeasurable strength and durability, described in units she wasn’t sure even existed in her time. She found they had invented a means to use oxygen and solar power so efficiently, that they wouldn’t need search for alternative natural resources.

‘In order to ensure an unlimited amount of oxygen, large expanses of areas covered with trees is our first priority. It is for this reason, that we have made sure that the ecosystem remains intact. Grasslands, Tundra, Forests, Oceans, are just few of the ecosystems that we have been successful in regenerating.’

Dr Curtis shifted on her feet. Something felt off. She could feel it. She went on to read the next board, choosing one titled ‘Work in Progress’.

‘Gamma ray bursts. These bursts, released from a supernova as a high-mass star implodes to form a neutron/black hole, contain enough energy to decimate an entire planet, if close enough. With our technology, it is now possible to know the position and distance of these stars, real time. We are currently at work to figure out a safe way to slow down the revolution of Earth without causing abrupt increase in gravity so that not only the bursts be avoided if their axis coincided with the orbit of the earth, but also the life here remains unharmed, too.’

This time, Doc was positively shocked, mouth agape and all. Gamma ray bursts were thought of as the aneurysms of the universe. You would have no idea when it hit, no possible way to prevent it from happening. She had trouble believing her eyes for a moment. She was now uncomfortable. They had not only found a way to calculate when these bursts would take place—in real time, but were also close to finding a way to slow down the rotation of the earth? Was that even humanly possible? Unity’s head was swirling, even so, she decided to read another.

‘A crew of 200 of our technicians have been deployed at galaxy CI-179 in order to learn how to harness the energy of Dark Matter. Making up about 95% of the entire mass of the universe, the knowledge of its efficient utilisation will make available unlimited energy for use and thus, eliminate the need for safekeeping “life”, in any form.’

Dr Curtis stopped breathing. Even with all her thoughts jumbled, she knew one thing—she wanted out. She stumbled for the main gate, all the while thinking—had they imprisoned all humans? Killed away all humanity? She couldn’t step outside, though. Not without knowing what had become of her likes. She took slow steps toward the ‘Universe’ chamber, cold sweat forming on her forehead. Stepping in, the first thing she faced was a man and a woman. Naked, and dunked head to toe in formalin. Her heart beat rapidly, and she wanted to puke but for some godforsaken reason, all she could do was stand and stare.

‘Species: Homo sapiens sapiens; Status: Extinct; Cause: Anthropogenic’

Unity wiped a lone tear that escaped her eyes and started to make a run for her ship. There was nothing more to be said. She scoffed, Anthropogenic seems apt. It was us who brought these monsters into being after all.

She made a dash for her the door of her ship and wasted no time in pulling the lever. With a violent jerk she reached her time. Unity made a beeline for the bathroom in her room. Even after puking her guts out, she felt something heavy settled upon her chest—as if, permanently.  

Is this what she had been working for day and night in her laboratory? Sacrificed her sleep, food, family for? She couldn’t believe she was helping build the doom of her planet this entire time. Rejoicing the first time her robot learnt to walk upright—like a mother.

The next morning, she awoke to a loud rumble emanating from her stomach. Unity washed up and made her way to the kitchen, carefully avoiding the fragments of the robot and the time machine also, that she had destroyed in a fit of rage last night. With a cup of coffee, she stared out the window and watched the morning sun rise.

A planet stripped of all life. Like a mother with a vacant womb. Was it selfish of her to think so? She didn’t care. All she knew was that if there was one thing that made a planet anywhere close to ‘perfect’, it was life itself.