Survival of the fittest

"Long since, civilizations have played the game of survival where only the fittest emerge successfully and rule over! And to answer your question of who is deemed fit for ALL POWERFUL, just ask yourself whether you or your men qualify these adjectives - kind, moral, pure, compassionate, selfless, sinless, noble, good!", as Sheeba paused, Ron took over.

"You are in no position to judge that, my darling angel!" retorted Ron. "No living species is ever termed the fittest, it is all relative and highly subjective who is deemed fit in a particular situation. In a circus, man rules over the beast, in so long as the beast feels confined by its own conditioning. But place the same man in a forest - and you will know who is vulnerable there! Survival is just a chance factor many a time. Where chance rules, no one is exempt! Arrogance, jealousy, conceit, violence, delinquency, selfishness are all part and parcel of every species out there, and you can never create a universe devoid of us! If ALL POWERFUL asked you to help him create an all pure universe as you say, then you and he are dreaming!" fumed Ron. 

"No way! ALL POWERFUL has vested some of his creative powers in me, and I will see to it that the new Universe the selected humans will inhabit, does not include any of your clan, Ron!" bellowed Sheeba. "Only the pure, the austere, kind, benevolent, moralistic, and sincere, will ever make it to the spaceship and I'll make sure this happens. So long! Find a new Universe for you and your followers, you are not invited to my land; your creed is doomed, and it is a comeuppance on them!" Sheeba ended fiercely.

Ron let out a snort in derision. "And I will make sure your effort turns futile, and do not forget, I have a million ways to get through to the new Universe, as I lurk in the dark shadows that shroud in secrecy in every creature's thoughts. You can never succeed in getting rid of me, as part of you is ruled by me!" jeered Ron. 

"We will see, I will always emerge the ruler, you know Ron, as providence has me written down for the future of mankind. And I promise, you are nowhere to be seen!" cried Sheeba one last time, and before Ron could attempt to reply again, made herself scarce and flew away.

Eros closed his notebook and feeling satisfied that the conversation he penned down between Sheeba and Ron went exactly the way he intended, decided to settle upon a little lull to the story-writing activity. In all honesty to himself, he did not know how to continue with the story at this particular juncture!

The small treehouse he was in swayed slightly back and forth as heavy gusts of wind blew upon it relentlessly. There were too many strong winds that afternoon. Eros closed his eyes enthralled by the beauty of nature all around him; of the chirpy birds, of the continuous sway of the treehouse feeling like sailing on a dinghy, the gentle thunk of the tree branches on the walls of the treehouse that felt like the thwap of water on the sides of the dinghy, and the constant rustling of leaves that felt like the rhythm and hum of a motor in the distance. A distant cuckoo cried feebly, but he heard a chaffinch respond quickly in return. It felt to Eros as if they were communicating. If they were to chat, what would they talk about? Eros thought. He was a huge fan of fairy tales where animals and birds spoke to themselves in their language, foretelling future events. In the present scenario, maybe they would talk to the angel Sheeba who protected all good men and advise her ways to stop evil Ron from succeeding, thought Eros. Eros felt his thoughts stimulated again, and he wondered what if the winds got much heavier all of a sudden. He could imagine the treehouse forcefully swaying here and there, almost as if in a deluge - the calamity the world is going to be in, in his novella. Eros felt the urge to put down his thoughts. He opened his notebook eagerly and set forth to writing.

In her solitude, Sheeba decided to exercise power vested on her by ALL POWERFUL to create the new Universe, with just the deserving, benevolent kind of men, women, and species all over that deserved to be part of the new world. She decided to speak to the Primordial Man. She thought about him, saw that he was roaming about in a forest, and appeared ahead of him in a jiffy.

"Primordial Man, mankind's hero! It is with a reason ALL POWERFUL endowed you with so much intelligence and wisdom. It is time I order you to help me out." spoke Sheeba.

Primordial Man HE-MAN was startled. 

"What can I do for you, my angel?" he questioned her back.

"HE-MAN! Soon there will be a big calamity on earth, a huge deluge, and all existence will be wiped out. This is bound to happen in a fortnight. I summon you to write a note containing all people you want, and all species you like, to board a spaceship that ALL-POWERFUL intends to send you in 10 days from now. ALL POWERFUL will use the note YOU write to choose all the worthy men and species to inhabit his new world, which the spaceship will take us to. The spaceship is not too large, it might board about 100 men and 100 other animals; so choose wisely! The chosen men, women, and species you choose will bear children and help populate the new world. That is the way ALL POWERFUL wants. I will give you time right now, and when I reappear before you tonight, you should have the note ready." Sheeba finished, and as HE-MAN looked on, both puzzled and amazed, she disappeared from his sight.

The dazed HE-MAN hunkered down, feeling aghast at his responsibility ahead, and then slowly lifting himself to a kneel, scooped his hands in prayer to the ALL POWERFUL and to Sheeba. Slowly he gathered himself up and shuffled along to his shack, gazing ahead at the stars in the setting sky, and after a pause, blurted out a prayer and entered his home.

Eros squeezed his ears and pinched his nose, they were his mannerisms he was used to, right from childhood, whenever he had those wheels turning in his head. Then he squirmed a bit to his sides and thought something to himself and laughed aloud. 

"How on earth am I going to make my HE-MAN choose the most worthy men for Sheeba?" he scratched his head for a moment.

"If it is going to be just 100 men, then it will be a tough challenge, even though it feels easy!" he exclaimed. Gathering up his thoughts, he set into a pensive mood, reflecting deeply on the 100 men and 100 other species he had to write down for the HE-MAN's notes. 

"If I were HE-MAN, I would first choose my immediate family, and that is 5 of us", Eros counted, "So who ARE my special 95 to be included in ALL POWERFUL's spaceship?" he scratched his head thoughtfully. Then he started listing, along with a reason for choosing the men.

"If I include my family, then I have the responsibility to extend the same to all the near, dear and beloved, such as my parents, my wife's parents, my siblings, her siblings, and their children. Let me count - uh... that makes us 25 in total," he finished his family count, feeling a little concerned how this number is comprehensive enough to accommodate all who truly mattered for the family. "Now, this does not include my friends, and if I include the friends, I rather also include their family, as I want to extend the same cordiality I gave myself to my friends too. They should feel happy in the spaceship with their near and dear, as much as I feel entitled to" Eros included his friend's immediate families, and that number made the grand total to 50. "Now it is time to think deeply about who really the world needs, and to do that, I need to come upon certain criteria!". Eros again spent a moment in deep thoughts. "The world really needs men from all races, it would be unfair for me to include only a selective one or two so far! Therefore, I will include one married couple from each of the world's races," and after a quick count, Eros decided that number alone came up to 20. "But then, just as I wish to bring in my family and near and dear, these men and women should also be provided with their kith and kin", so thinking Eros raised the number to 50 which made the grand-total to 100 men already. But he did not feel satisfied, "I am missing out on all their friends and their families," he thought. "Let us worry about it later, Sheeba might have an alternative," dismissing his thought, Eros set out to wonder if there are other categories he should consider. "What about categorizing men based on their roles - doctors, engineers, lawyers, bankers, teachers, nurses, and the rest?" he wondered now. "Yes, I definitely need to consider this category, for the first set of men and women need strong education from men who are experts in their profession!". He then listed about 100 professions and chose 400 men and women, as he included the men, their wives, and children. Eros suddenly realized now the figure got to as high as to be considered a community. With a jolt, he felt the need for leadership and law enforcement. And that made him realize all the prominent men and women, strangers, across the globe, who were dedicated to bettering other's lives in various ways! And he chose to include them all, along with prominent leaders, servicemen, and their families. All this made his number to 1000. Eros decided to take a pause.

He felt like going in for a soda. "Damn, I forgot to get one!" cursing himself, he took his cellphone and called home. 

In 5 minutes, his sister Amanda climbed the treehouse with a soda in her hand. 

Upon the soda's crisp zing, Eros felt rejuvenated and set out to thinking again. Amanda bringing him the drink made him wonder about poor people, those who served others. At this juncture, Eros did not really feel like excluding anyone from the list. It felt to him like too much judging on mankind, as to who belongs and who does not, in the new world. He wondered about ALL POWERFUL's design in having created so many to fill this whole earth but to ask now to cut that figure down to one billionth of a fraction. That is too inhumane, thought Eros. "After all, no one is in the capacity to judge anyone else for their chance and eligibility for survival! And that also includes the other species, for they are all in turn, part and parcel of the great food chain!". 

Closing his eyes, Eros thought about creation and all its wonders and mysteries; about all the glorious civilizations of the world, all of which evolved to the present state over so many years; all the wonderful people he had met, had seen, had heard about, and also those unheard of, impacting others in some way or other. 

"If HE-MAN is a true hero of the mankind, then humanity is his most valuable asset, and feeling humane, he would not wish to rule out a single soul from its entry into the new world!" Eros decided. He closed his pen and went into another deep reverie. Down his reverie, he imagined his HE-MAN being alone in the new world. "As I do not wish to rule out anyone, what if I wrote down just HE-MAN as the only candidate to ever board the spaceship?".

Eros imagined all those movies he had watched where a man was a lone survivor, being stranded on an island of sorts, or on a different planet. Tom Hanks' plea to be with humanity again in Cast Away, and the same longing of Matt Damon as the Martian, eating insipid boiled potatoes every day until he could be back on earth still danced before his eyes. Man is really reduced to nothing without company, he just simply cannot go on all by himself, and his most immediate wish for himself, in that case, would be certain death. 

With a simple realization, Eros picked up his pen again and wrote down, on behalf of HE-MAN, on the last chapter of his novella, these lines in all caps. 

THAT EVENING BEFORE SHEEBA'S APPEARANCE, THE INVINCIBLE HE-MAN, THE MOST NOBLE OF THEM ALL, LISTED HIMSELF, ALL ALONE, TO BOARD THE SPACESHIP.

AND THE CALAMITY NEVER HAPPENED.

Down underneath, Eros wrote in tiny letters on the bottom of the page.

Ron might claim that he won, but at the heart of it all, everyone knows it is Sheeba's win, after all.

Somewhere in the distance, the cuckoo and the chaffinch were on the conversation again.