My Dream - the Apocalypse - December 13, 2012

 My dream - Apocalyse - 13th Dec 2012.. days before the end of the Mayan Calendar...

I woke up with a start. It was just a dream... I can't call it a nightmare. inspite of the fact that I had been sweating profusely, not just because of the power cuts that enforced in my part of Tamil Nadu, almost 16 hours a day. This is the most bizarre, yet significant dream I ever had and the best part of it was that I could replay every single detail from memory as though I watched on High Definition several times. On very rare occasions I had such strange dreams that I could remember in exacting details. But they faded out of memory in a few days. I want to record this one.I have tried to reproduce exact details without adding content from my conscious mind... 

Pillars of Eagle Head Nebula, where 'Stars are Born'

The dream...

WE are approaching the end of the world date as per the Mayan Calendar :  21 Dec 2012. We are in 13 dec 2012.

Sugan, Indu and I are driving in our Ford Figo. The drive seems to be like on the Ghat section at Mettur. It looks like dusk. I am seeing a large star or planet. Suddenly I see 2 more bright objects on either side of the star or planet. I am sure that this is not an expected sight as I was sure that these two objects are not part of the sky, I have known and would expect to see. I am fascinated by the 2 objects and stop the car to watch the objects. I come to the conclusion that these are twin stars and for some reason they are either two close or grown so big that they are visible so clearly to the earth. I start explaining to Indu about twin stars and how each of them orbit around a common center and are diametrically opposite in their orbits. How due their gravities, their lives are intertwined together and they always orbit together.

As I explain this to Indu, the 2 objects keep growing in size and brightness and slowly the original star / planet fades between of the two bright stars. The 2 stars now growing larger and brighter and moving apart as well and looks as though they are deliberately moving away from each other to give space for their mutual growth.

As far as I know the astronomical events happen across billions of years and such changes cannot be perceived during one’s lifetime at all. But the speed at which the objects were growing in size is not an astronomical phenomena. I felt the events were ominous for the whole earth. I wasn’t sure if others were viewing what I had been viewing, or was it only I and my family that had this hallucination.

But as we were watching dumbstruck, the stars that were moving apart had snapped their gravitational bond and started off tangentially in opposite directions at great speeds. One of them was hurtling towards the direction of the earth. The speed at which the star was gaining on earth was frightening and I was aware that it would be just a matter of a day or so for it to get close enough to the earth to destroy the earth of all life and probably devour and absorb it within. I realized that I was sweating profusely and wanted to save my family from the sure destruction that was about to happen to the earth. I sped back home to pack a few things and later to move to any safe sanctuary that we could afford, if I could find one. But I doubted if there was any sanctuary from the falling huge ball of fire that had the potential to swallow the entire worlds in one sweep. I was trying to keep mind very positive and make my moves ahead of the imminent destruction.  

Flares - from the Star that was hurtling towards the Earth

We returned home to pack some minimal things and move ahead. The TV is abuzz with the danger and destruction and vivid images of the ball of fire that was visibly hurtling towards the earth and was growing as we were watching it. A scientist was trying to explain to the viewers that the star was not exactly charging towards the earth and that it would miss and pass by the earth and closest approach would be several Million kilometers. How the star would not be dislodge the earth from its orbit around the sun and gobble it up, though it may push the earth and other planets into a higher orbit while it passes nearby though it would be temporary and eventually how the earth and the other planets would eventually fall back to the original orbit as the new orbit is not sustainable. But still there was enough talk in the various talk shows to scare the earthly inhabitants to understand that the star would pass by close enough to earth to be able to scorch the earth of all life and potentially melt all granite on earth. It was a scary feeling. All of life and all of us whom I knew were to be grated to coal in a few hours at best and there was nowhere to hide.

Was this the end of the world that the ancient Mayan civilization predicted or was silent about at the end of their calendar? There was a small difference though. The Mayan Calendar ends at 23^rd December and we were staring at sure end of the world within a day on 13^th December 2012. Blame it on the 5000+ year calendar, state of astronomical instruments and their accuracy and the attendant margin of error, it was still a phenomenal prediction of the end of the world by a civilization that was not ‘civilized’ by our standards. I could not but wonder at the knowledge of the ancients and also feel little about how little we knew now. But first things first. I wanted to find a safe sanctuary for my family and then see if possible if I could help in averting the event or if we did live through this some how, I wished I could help reconstruct our destroyed lives. I knew I was too small to help tide over this, but I was determined to do whatever to help.

The next I remember is that we did find a sanctuary that could be best bet against the disaster. It looks like a Bomb shelter or a nuclear shelter. I had never seen one before, but this was closest to my idea such a refuge. Surprisingly the place was not too crowded. But it looked like only the most privileged were in it. One minute, my family including my mother are with me in the shelter, the next I am in a different company, one of the countries best scientists and Engineers, who are monitoring the disaster as it is happening, without any hope of controlling it. We were only hoping the inferno would pass without hurting us much and were notifying the developments and providing the information capsules to higher authorities. Where the higher authorities were housed, I wasn’t sure, but presumed that they were in a more secure shelter. At one point I remember one of the scientist exclaim that the temperature on the surface had reached 170 deg. C, hot enough to roast all life forms. We were trying to analyse how hot it would it be at various depths and what was the sustainable temperature for the different shelters that housed privileged people. I thought for a moment about the less than privileged people and I neither had the time nor a tear for them as a shiver passed through me and I was helpless. What makes my life more worthier than theirs, I could not comprehend. But I was sure that my family did deserve the safety and I forgot about those who surely must have perished in the surging heat. We had to worry about the people who survived at this moment, whether deserved this attention and hence a second life or not. I try hard not to worry too much as after all, all these privilege may mean not more than a few extra hours of dear life compared to the underprivileged who were already mostly coal by this time. We are confronting a great leveler, and there can be no classes, no ranks and no privileges whatsoever.

The next I remember is that the shelter is actually a very modern stylish Technologically advanced facility, not on earth but actually, it is a human settlement on the moon. There’s a huge glass dome covering the facility that is an impenetrable barrier to hostile environments including the deadly cosmic rays. But whether the shield will withstand and protect us from the conflagration taking place in this part of the universe, we were not aware. Each of us had an opinion, a theory or had heard some one say something the limits of its heat withstanding and insulation capability. But everyone was sure that the dome was not exactly designed for the current blaze that we found ourselves in. Finally it was not a very satisfying analysis as it did not convince us that we were going to survive this very long. May be matter of an hour or less.

Flares from the Star engulfing the Earth and Moon

Then came the Bamm... There was an explosion and then darkness. I felt nothing afterwards. After a period of time that could have lasted a few minutes to a few hours, I don’t know, I jerked myself. I realized I was bleeding from several parts, burnt at several places. My body ached so much I could barely move my fingers.  With a struggle and determination I could open my eyes to see the great catastrophe that had struck and still bleeding bodies scattered everywhere. There were fires everywhere, but still the look was far from the scorching flames that I was expecting to engulf the entire lands. I was wondering what saved us from such catastrophe, but was glad that my expectations did not come true. Probably, as we were on the moon, quite far from the earth, we were on the periphery of the infernal flares with the effect that we escaped with just a little burns and shrapnel from the blast. I hoped the worst was over, but it I did not want to think otherwise. I started looking around for familiar faces among the bodies that were strewn around. No one I knew of. I was sure that several of them would be alive among those still bodies that lay scattered around me and that they are still only because they had not regained their consciousness or they were hurt to move, just like me. If I could survive the blast, others could have too. I hoped I was right. I realized that my family had not been with me for the last several hours while I was in this settlement. I believed that they should be in any of the other settlements dotting the moon, not far from one another. They should have been housed there as the facility I was in was the control centre for all the other settlements and the entire scientific and administration community of the human settlement experiment were housed in this facility. I was suddenly aware that there were other human settlements in other planets in the Solar system; Mars, Venus, Jupiter etc. I was wondering whatever happened to the settlements on the other planets. I also went into a shock and shiver, remembering all of humanity on earth and if single piece of life could survive the stellar flares. Oh my god, what of all my friends and relatives?

Thoughts of my family, my Indu, my Sugan and my mother in other settlements gave me the energy to pull myself through. I still could not detect any movement around me and I dragged myself towards others lying around me. Slowly, I could find a few persons still breathing and their breath gave me life. Soon we were 4 or 5 of us talking about what we should do. One of the Engineers set out to seal the facility from the harsh environment outside exposed by the gaping hole in the glass dome caused by the explosion. It was structurally feasible. Soon about 20 survivors were in the group. It is not appropriate to count the numbers that did not survive explosion.

I wanted to venture out of the facility to other settlements in search of my family and to find other survivors who may need help. I was surprised to know that most other scientists and administrators were not keen on venturing out in search of their families who were also housed in other settlements around the central control facility, for fear of their lives. They also did not think it was a good idea to bring survivors from other settlements into this facility as it would mean sharing the limited life sustaining resources with others and wanted to save the resources to ourselves till the holocaust passes and it could take several months. I would not have any of this nonsense. When I told them that I would still bring in any of the survivors who needed help, there was a virtual revolt from the group, who threaten to throw me out of the facility. Only a small band of 4 persons were with me. I am shocked by the natural injustice that we are ready to subject other fellow men, when we grasp the limit of our resources, even though we are aware that the available resources are much larger than we need for our entire lifetime. Is this called the depravity of the human conscience?

Our band of 5 good musketeers set out on our mission. I am not ready for the death and destruction around me and I refuse to acknowledge any negative thoughts. My thoughts are with my family. I will find them and I have great confidence now that we will survive this together.

I am determined to lead the group and ensure that the entire settlers that survived so far survive the rest of the challenge together and that the survivors do not create barriers in the name of different settlements and tend to hoard valuable common resources. I will either convince the rebels or will coerce them to behave.

I tell my companions that in spite of the strong stand not to allow survivors from other settlements by those rebelling in the control center, there should not be any problem to the unity of the entire settlements on the moon. I cite that the scientists being academics, would not have the courage or physical strength to stop us from taking in the survivors with us. One of my companion says, “they may not have the physical strength, but what about they try to stop us with arms”? I am surprised that there could be arms inside the moon settlements. It was not logical that arms exist on the moon settlements. It was a conscious decision by the earth based settlement managers not to bring any arms in the settlements as there was no scope for any conflicts between the settlers as they were all mature persons. Also there were no risk perception from other quarters. One of my companions laughed and said, the power struggle had started long ago between groups of senior scientists and administrators. These senior scientists to prove and maintain their dominance have started smuggling in huge amounts of arms over a period of time from the earth. The small arms they used to smuggle have given way to very sophisticated and lethal arms and bombs. I decide to think about the arms later and wanted to reach my family first.   

We could see the earthrise on the horizon. It wasn’t pleasant blue any longer but patches of crimson amid clouds of grey. Yes, the earth was burning, no doubt and caused me to shudder. Considering that the earth based homes did not need the outstanding Technology that made the settlements on moon, the earthly homes of men could not have survived the inferno, as the settlement on the moon did. Moreover, the moon was at a farther distance from the scorching star than the moon, that the moon was at the periphery of the sphere of burning influence of the destructive star that no life was still possible on earth at all.

I tell my companions that sometime soon we should go back to the earth and seed new life there. Some how the moon-settlements are about to serve as the Noah’s ark of our present times. The settlements preserved life for restarting life on earth after a deluge of fire like this. There were similar settlements on Mars, Venus and Jupiter. My friends did not agree. Why ever would we want to go back to the earth? If we want to sustain life, we would rather do here on the moon than on earth. He was right in a way. We are not as dependant on the earth as we used to be for supplies. Most necessities were synthesized on the moon with lunar raw materials, including Oxygen that was harvested from metal oxides found on the moon, using huge underground Oxygen generators.  The settlements also succeeded in growing food, vegetables and fruits in greenhouses. Energy was available in plenty and was independent of the earth. The settlements were becoming self sustaining and in these challenging times, we could raise up to the challenge and we will sustain. The earth would not be the same after this inferno. It may never be able to sustain life. But I insist that we have responsibility to earth and need to revive it. We owe it to our kith and kin and friends who have almost certainly perished at this moment. We owe it to the planners of the settlements back on earth who trusted and offered an opportunity for us to settle on moon. Should we not pay back with trust? 

I also grasp the challenges or the near impossibility of the endeavor in the near time. The truth is that earth would be bereft of any life sustaining feature and activity. It could take several hundreds if not, thousands of years at the least to cool down enough to offer a decent environment for life to evolve. And most importantly, earth would have most surely lost the atmosphere cover due to the intense heat and all its living carbon and coal that burnt in the flare up probably would have catabolized all the oxygen that there remained. My arguments for seeding of life on earth were becoming more pathetic. It dawned to us that the life on earth was dependant on us on the moon rather than the other way round. It was hard to digest the truth, but there we could see it in crimson and grey just above the horizon. 

But, Life is not just chemistry. There is more to life than the carbons forming complex organic molecules and tissues they make, the carbon dioxide induced photosynthesis, the oxygen enabled metabolism, long chains of repeating A-T-C-G molecules in different permutations and combinations called the DNA. I could not but think of the womb of a mother as earth, giving birth to this settlement on the moon. We are ready to sustain ourselves and are reckoning cutting off the umbilical chord that gave us life in the first place. It should have been a joyous freedom, as a birdling that takes to its new wings, but for the distraught sight of the crimson ball above the short lunar horizon - Mother Earth on her funeral pyre. My respects to her.

Thinking of Mother Earth, I am reminded of my Mother and the rest of my family. First let us find our respective families and other survivors on the settlements…

I awoke with a start.