The Beginning of the End

The man rubbed his head groggily before waking up. He stared at the unfamiliar ceiling and people whom he certainly didn’t know. But it appeared as if he had not awakened fully as could be seen from late reaction of surprise and caution. He remembered that he had just won the civil war after many years. He had achieved his goal and would have been crowned ‘King Arthur’ at the coronation ceremony the next day. So, how come he was here?

The girl at the forefront introduced herself as Miranda. She looked like a lively and innocent girl with a hint of mischievousness in her eyes. This was followed by a statement that he was ‘magically’ called here as they had something for him to do. Arthur stared at her with a blank look and realized that his years of effort were for naught and his dream snatched at the verge of completion. Moreover, summoning him was for a dangerous mission that these guys could not risk. Sensing Arthur’s inner turmoil, Miranda brought relief by saying that he could easily be returned back to where he came from, and the task that she mentioned was nothing more than just talking about his life story and experience in front of a bunch of people. Since that was the case Arthur decided to get it over with as soon as possible but they gave him 3 days to prepare.

These days he lived in luxury and saw instruments that came right out of a sci-fi film. Occasionally, Miranda would come to talk to him but it always felt like she wanted to say something but couldn’t due to fear and hesitation. He thought it would be like one of those auditoria or theaters where he would say his story however on the 3rd day contrary to his expectations he was ushered into a courtroom. It just had 5 people and some recording instruments and cameras. Instead of something like a TED talk event, it was more like a lawyer questioning a witness. A guy with thinning hair asked him a bunch of questions like if he thought that he lived a great life and whether people in the world were comfortable or if there was any other problem. Arthur looked as if he was a customer giving a survey for a product.

After that somehow tiring interview, he was told he would be returned soon. Miranda came and asked him if they could go on a date if he liked and that she would give him a tour of this city. During the tour, he seemed many robots doing laborious tasks and was told that they had AI and so did not need to be controlled too much. After a long time, he was finally able to relax but at the end of the day, Miranda unexpectedly started crying and apologized to him. After some consolation, he heard the true story. Miranda explained Arthur’s world was quite near theirs and that the upper management seemed to have found a way to travel there with their army. The only reason Arthur was called was to probe their power and what strategy they would have to use to conquer them.

Arthur at first was dazed but he snapped out of it as Miranda mentioned that she had a solution. According to her if they could destroy the main government building then the technology for the space gates would be destroyed and Earth would remain at peace. He wasn’t the type to back down from a challenge so he asked her to help him in this mission to which she readily agreed. The cunning grin on Miranda’s mouth however escaped his detection.

They got weapons from an underground locker and thus swiftly attacked their target. To his surprise, everything went surprisingly smoothly however when retreating Miranda was hit with a stray bullet. Considering the situation he decided to hide in a warehouse he had seen during the day. After opening the door what greeted him was the cold and gloomy space filled with creepy glass cylinders that looked as if they contained…a brain? His curiosity got the better of him and he searched the warehouse for clues after giving basic first aid to the girl. Fortunately, the bullet did not get stuck in her arm. At the end of the search, he found a journal that broke his worldview. According to it, these brains are harvested for the so-called AI robots and when not needed live a fake life. He remembered that Earth an eccentric philosopher once said that if the brain was placed in the necessary nutrient solution and provided with controlled electric impulses then theoretically it was possible to generate the 5 senses and to even disillusion it with the fact they had real bodies and could move around when in reality they were stuck in that petri dish. He was true but for Arthur, the world came crashing down on him. The original creator of this technology knew that he was treading on the border of ethics and morality so he included the condition that every 50 years a resident would be called and would give testimony to the fact that he was living comfortably otherwise all the plants would automatically close. This was done so that war-ready humans would not be made but after years of peace, this displeased the country leaders who planned to destroy the control tower to get rid of this restriction. For that, they needed a DNA that was a different combination from theirs so they summoned him here. And to his horror, he had already destroyed that very control tower. A feeling of immense guilt built up in him and then he begins to lose trust in Miranda.

However, she had gotten injured for his sake and probably was kept in the dark about this matter He checked on her only to see her staring at him with emotionless eyes as if the previous warmth was just a lie.

”So they still had bases hidden right beneath our noses? Well no matter this will put an end to the ‘Resistance’ too”, she said in a cold voice. Right after her words, he realized that he had been betrayed but he had to take control of the situation. But before he could move soldiers rushed in from every direction but weirdly none of them pointed a gun at me as if I wasn’t a threat. I picked up my gun and fired however my arms seemed to be stuck. All of the other people looked at Arthur with sarcastic gazes but what hurt him most were Miranda’s eyes as if looking at an insect. Suddenly he seemed to see the others from a 3rd perspective and realized that there was a camera at the back from which he could see them. But when he looked at his position he saw a metal robot with his arms limping and in the middle of the chest was his brain.

He had been playing in their hands since the beginning. Why go through all the trouble of bringing an alien when they could just get the perfect person every 50 years? Yes, he was one of the livestock and this seemed to break him. He screamed madly and cried out in a hoarse voice that this was all a nightmare. And finally, the king fell to his knees and begged them to send him back and erase his memories now that he had done what they wanted him to do. His performance just brought a torrent of bullets that ended his miserable life.

He seemed to hear Miranda calling to tell her boss about the success of the mission. His eyes met hers and he saw tears in them. She then seemed to voice the words “This is just the beginning” in his darkening vision. “Guess I am not the only one who she is going to betray”, Arthur thought sarcastically before he finally blacked out once more. He would probably wake up in the middle of the fight again so he deserved a little rest he thought.