As far as the eye could see, there stretched an expanse of black water. Massive slabs of earth and heaps of dark stones rising from beneath the ground stood up like islands. The land was rapidly subsiding far below, and along with it many cities and settlements, houses and all, were sinking into the depths. It was very likely that after this great catastrophe, the vast region would merge with the Bay of Bengal.
Indeed, it was a great catastrophe. The mountainous region had been situated in a seismically active zone for ages. Small, medium, and large earthquakes occurred regularly. However, geologists had been able to anticipate that this time a massive disaster would strike, and so danger signals had been issued nearly a year in advance. People were being relocated elsewhere. Even enormous trees were being uprooted with cranes and replanted in other locations. Within six months, the expansive plateau had transformed into an abandoned civilization. Still, a handful of people remained at a safe distance from the most dangerous potential tectonic epicenter, staying awake day and night to oversee everything and carry out research.
Even today, predicting the exact minute and second of an earthquake remains beyond the complete grasp of scientists. Although they can estimate up to ninety percent of accuracy, the remaining ten percent has to be left in the hands of nature. As the world’s population has been declining rapidly, the value of a living human being has increased immensely, especially those who are entirely flesh and blood. This is because humans can no longer die easily. If any organ fails, an artificial one is installed in its place. As this process continues, eventually almost every organ of a person becomes robotic. When the final permit to leave the world will arrive is no longer in that person’s control. As replacements continue, the appearance of one’s youth is restored, but in reality the person is extremely old.
Long ago, thousands of people used to die in accidents and natural disasters. Alas! How underdeveloped everything was back then. How accidents used to happen! Gourchand often thought about such things. But what he was watching now was how the gigantic tree was brought back from the brink of death. Just moments before it was about to fall, two colossal robotic hands caught hold of the tree, and then it was lifted away by a crane to a safe place.
The hands of these robotic machines can extend up to nearly a kilometer, and even their legs can penetrate deep underground. However, the robots are very old models and difficult to operate. After the work is finished, their limbs have to be minimized and folded away. Even so, they have not yet been damaged. They can be used during severe natural disasters, and they are also bearers and preservers of old technology.
Three fully human individuals are in danger. They may have been swept away by mud and water, possibly never to be found again. This should not have happened; there were sufficient warnings and strict surveillance to ensure that no one remained within fifty kilometers of the area. Yet it could not be prevented. Even so, their deaths are not certain. If the special robots designed to conduct rescue operations during natural disasters can reach them, that will be enough. Countless tiny drones, like bees, are searching every inch. The moment they detect a living being, a signal will be sent to the control room whether it is a human, an animal, or a bird. After that, rescue is not an impossible task.
At first, Gourchand was experiencing a strange sensation. In his thirty years of life, he had never felt anything like this before. He was wondering whether he should question the microchips inside his body, but he felt like spending a little more time within this experience. It was like a lively shiver. Was this what fear was called? The microchips themselves informed him: This is called thrill. The Bengali dictionary instantly translated it as excitement or being excited. Gourchand had never been excited in his life. The microchips added, This is your first thrill in life. The bee-like drones seemed to have found something. He watched the robots rush into the water, mud, and huge waves. No one would die. As long as there was breath left, everything could be replaced again.
Gourchand felt excited and astonished at nature’s unimaginable power, something he had never felt before. This generation had lived for a long time in an astonishingly beautiful and safe world. In the massive storages of ancient history, one could see and hear scenes from the old world, and if one wished, by wearing special glasses one could even experience those times to some extent. Gourchand had never done that. Today, the terrifying natural spectacle had given birth to a new feeling within him; after the initial excitement faded, that feeling transformed into wonder.
Leaving behind this newly awakened, vast region of murky water and sticky mud, Gourchand was returning to his base. He had studied extensively and continued to do so. There was no room for compromise in this if one wished to survive in the present world. Everything had to be learned through intense mental effort. Now, apart from robots, all remaining humans had to keep taking various courses throughout their entire lives, because life was very long. Weariness could not be allowed to set in, and without assimilating new knowledge, even basic movement through life would become impossible.
“Hi, Gour! You’re here!” Hearing this extremely sweet voice, Gour paused. It was Shyamolima. She was half human and half machine. She had no heart; she had suffered a heart attack. Robot doctors had performed the surgery, guided only by the directions of a very old, ancient human physician. Her stopped heart had been flawlessly removed from her body and replaced with an artificial one. What kinds of feelings come and go through it; there is still no clear understanding.
Shyamolima’s brain, however, was her own. Her failed heart had also been preserved and could be used again for research. Thus, physically, Shyamolima was a heartless girl. Her face always carried a smile. Even when facing serious problems, she was seen with a smiling face. Shyamolima lived in House Number Thirteen of Gourchand’s Green Block, along with her parents. So far, they still had completely human bodies. Seeing their daughter moving around before their eyes and talking to them filled them with boundless joy. Even if she no longer had her heart, she still had her brain. She called them “Ma” and “Baba.”
Gour looked at Shyamolima for a moment. “Where are you going? I’ll take a look over there.”
“You’re not allowed to go any further. The ground could collapse at any moment. The people of our Green Block may have to evacuate. It would be best if everyone could be taken nearly a thousand miles away. Perhaps the danger siren will sound any moment now. The place has turned entirely into something like a sea, or you could say one of the largest lakes on Earth. You’ve surely seen everything already on our block’s giant screen. Even then, you’re going that way? Is there some special reason?”
Gourchand narrowed his eyes slightly.
The same sweet smile lingered on Shyamolima’s face. But then she said something strange.
“May I see my heart that became useless?”
“For that, you will have to contact the medical department. Shall I tell them?”
“Yes. I know.”
Besides, you are studying all this yourself. You know very well what needs to be done.
“Can I obtain the heart of a living person, Gourchand?” Shyamolima asked in a harsh voice.
Gourchand stopped short. Astonishment again. In twenty-four hours, astonishment struck him twice.
“No, you cannot. For that, you would have to commit murder. We all know how strictly the number of fully human beings on Earth is monitored. And the blood group must match. Your blood group might match your parents’, but with others?”
Shyamolima was looking at Gour in a rather strange way. The smile on her face seemed unnatural.
“But I want to be fully human again. Among the three people who cannot be located because of the catastrophe, if even one of them dies, and if their heart is removed from the body very quickly and replaced in me, I will become fully human. Think about how young I am. Why should I live like this from now on? No one wants to come close to me because I have no heart. Even without hands or legs I would still be human, but now I am not.”
“But who will perform the surgery on you, Shyamolima? This is wrong. You understand that in such an operation the blood group has to match. Our law will completely exclude you. You will receive severe punishment.”
“I will arrange my own surgery,” Shyamolima said firmly.
Gourchand did not argue further. By the time they reached the Green Block, one of Shyamolima’s hopes was shattered. The giant screens placed at the bends of the road were showing that all three humans, along with the living animals, had been rescued in injured condition even after this terrible natural disaster. They had been taken to the hospital. Now robot surgeons would operate on them and set everything right.
At the same time, blaring sirens announced that everyone should move toward the aerodrome. For the moment, all people would have to evacuate from here.
Shyamolima waved goodbye to Gour and ran off. Only Gourchand’s extremely sensitive mind noted that the smile Shyamolima had just worn was not the smile of a robot. With that smile was linked an imagined cruelty in Gourchand’s thoughts.
A few humans, some half-humans, and a vast number of robots together managed this disaster. Everything once again began to run according to normal order. Where Gourchand now lived, he practically had no human friends left. There were a few highly advanced robots whose use felt free of mechanical stiffness, they seemed almost human. Only Gourchand knew how much he needed humans: compassionate beings of flesh and blood, capable of natural wonder and imagination, whose faces were not always perfectly shaped and beautiful. But humans had been carefully counted and scattered across the world. One human could not simply go to another at will.
Dr. Shyamolima 3075 K1, the name had naturally become famous. There were very few doctor-cum-robots so precise in surgery. People trusted her because she had a brain, sensitive like a human’s. So what if she did not have a heart? What does one do with a heart! The brain is what truly matters. That is where intellect and intelligence reside.
She had built her own team of robots. A call could come from anywhere in the world at any time. She was bound by indispensable contracts with the entire world of medical science.
One day she had asked for a living heart for herself. Gourchand had not been able to answer that question then, nor could he answer it now.
On the balcony of Gourchand’s present flat there were bonsai of some ancient trees. They could no longer be found on Earth. With great care, Gourchand had kept a few rare species alive in the altered climate. Standing beside the trees deep at night, it felt as though the voices of ancestors drifted in the air.
Gour was walking on the balcony in the faint play of light and shadow. The day had been impossibly exhausting. The tasks were not visible to the eye, yet they demanded continuous concentration. Staring at machines constantly, the eyes eventually grew tired. It felt as if only scattered colors were drifting back and forth before his eyes.
Breaking through the stillness of the night, Gourchand saw a drone land in the garden of the house, along with a few people. Of course, these days it was not always possible to be certain who was truly human. After removing her helmet, he immediately recognized the first person, Shyamolima, with her unblemished face. She was accompanied by a small team. Everyone smiled, the same lifeless, mechanical smile.
Gourchand smiled and extended his hand.
“Are your parents well?”
“Why ask about my parents first? You could have asked how I am.”
“You are doing well.”
“But the point is, my parents haven’t died yet, nor can I take either their brains or their hearts, that must have crossed your mind. My guess is correct, isn’t it?”
“I am still heartless. But your blood group and mine are the same.”
Suddenly Gourchand felt afraid, and then everything went completely black.
He did not remember how long it lasted. When consciousness returned, Shyamolima was not there, only two of her assistants. Gourchand could not get up. He had undergone a complex operation. Robot nurses and doctors were tending to him. He learned that his heart had been removed and an artificial one implanted. Gourchand tried to scream but could not. He muttered that legal action would be taken against her.
As if someone had understood his thoughts, a reply came from an unknown distance:
“I have become completely human. I have kept no machines in my body. Thank you very much. Of course, by now you must be unimaginably angry. But I will disappear to such a place that it will take a long time to find me. I am not a fool, Gourchand.”
