GOD of a man

“What an irony of fate, the present of mankind is more primitive than the prehistoric times!”

Chapter Two: Head of the Head
Dated: 13th February, 2425

First there was earth, then there was man and then there was the division. Man somehow has a strange fascination for claiming everything for himself and sharing is a virtue which can be taught to a man over and over again and he would divide the learning itself into what’s useful and what’s to pushed to the back of his brain, never to be utilized again.

Many of the then powerful nations of the world divided Antarctica into regions of political control and set up their state of the art research stations. Four hundred years down the line, all of them lie in varying degrees of ruins and are nothing more than ghostly places. However one such research station, “Molodyozhnaya” once the pride and hub of research activity for the Russians, served as the last stable and safe structure to sustain any human population before the fateful cyclone of July, 2147 destroyed most of the structures. Mankind was finally on it’s own to deal with the nature. Mankind was pushed behind not by centuries, but by epochs. Men, who once build sky kneeling monsters of concrete, were forced to dig their homes in snow. The winds that storm the Antarctic lands can freeze as well as flatten. The homes had to be dug under ground. “Scubes” was the latest advancement in the field of construction.

A “Scube” was a dugout in snow that had four entrances, at four different corners of a raised snow mound. The entrances led in a “Z” shape to a central hall which had one room attached to it via a long “L” shaped corridor. The shape was hailed as a stroke of genius and the biggest advancement for the betterment of mankind. The snow mount was to provide protection to at least one of the entrances from getting blocked by snow in case of a snow storm. The Z-shape of the entrance was to cut out most of the chill of the air entering the scube in the absence of a real gate, metal or wooden either, and the L-shaped corridor further cut out the chill from entering the only room of the house, which served as bedroom, kitchen etc. all in one. The inner walls of the scube were lined by penguin skins, to insulate it to whatever extent was possible.

Of all the scubes in the new spiral-form city of “Hatsu Saisho” the one right in the middle of it belonged to the now most powerful man on the earth, the President. He had been nominated unopposed by the 250 odd human population for the third consecutive term. Franklin Abbott, or Frank as he was more popularly called, was a man that everybody respected for his wisdom.

“Hey! Sweetheart! Wakeup! It’s hunting day tomorrow and you need to designate men for the job today,” Clara’s lovely voice rang in Frank’s ears as she softly kissed him on his cheek.

“Hmm..?” a sleepy sigh escaped Frank’s lips as he turned around and put his arm around Clara, kissed her on her forehead and complained, “Why do they need the president to decide on who’s going to kill seals and penguins?”

“Well! I don’t know if there’s anything else around here that would require a president to strain his mind, exercise his power and test his vocal strength,” Clara smiled and added.

“I guess you are right!” Frank said as he tried to shuffle around in the worn-out quilt, now lined with penguin and seal skins on the outside to keep it warm.

“Dad? Are you up?” A voice from the hall caught their attention.

“See, Mike is already here. Now you better hurry up,” Clara made it sound urgent.

“Oh C’mon! It’s not a world changing decision that I am required to make,” Frank joked with Clara and then shouted to Mike, “I’m coming son.”

“Alright dad, I’m waiting,” Mike replied.

“He cares for you so much no one can say he’s just your clone and not your real son.”

“Clara, I’m lucky to have had so many good people in my life. My first wife Susan was an Angel. She loved me and Mike to pieces. Right after her, you came into my life and I’ve never felt even for a day that we weren’t together forever,” Frank replied. “I sometimes feel that Mike may be my clone but he takes more on her as he is so soft hearted and caring towards everyone, and he loves both me and you a lot. In fact, it surprises me at times that you two are the same age yet he respects you as if you were Susan,” Frank added.

“He’s your son, your clone. I guess he’s just coming up like you,” Clara replied as they both got ready and walked into the hall.

“Good morning dad! Good morning Clara!” Mike greeted them and continued, “Father the men are waiting in Steve’s scube.”

“This boy’s always in a hurry! Ok lets go!” Frank said patting Mike on his shoulder.

“He sure needs a girl doesn’t he?” Clara teased Mike.

“I sure do but where can I find someone like you! I ain’t lucky like my father!” Mike replied.

“I second that. It’s hard to find a good girl like you Clara. Your mother, from whom you were cloned, was the only other woman that I’ve come across in my life, who was so beautiful, inside-out like yourself. To be honest I always envied your father for having got your mother,” Frank added his bits.

“I am sure you more than made up for it by becoming the President, and he must have been jealous of you,” Clara replied.

“Anyway, we better get moving now!” Frank said, “I’ll see you soon my dear! Love you!” He kissed her and started to leave.

“Love you sweetheart!” Clara said.

“See you Clara,” Mike said while leaving.

“See me when?” Clara teased him again, “You seem to be getting busy somewhere now!”

“I’ll never be that busy for you to need me and me not to be here! Dad won’t forgive me will he?” Mike asked with a smile.

“You two enjoy pulling each other’s legs! C’mon Mike! They must be waiting!” Frank pushed Mike from his arm and they both walked out of Frank’s scube.

“FRRAAANNK..!” as soon as they stepped out of the scube, a loud shout from behind caught their attention. They waited as the speaker sprinted up to them. The way he was panting, looked like he’d been running for miles.

“Franks.. You.. won’t believe this Frank.. You just.. won’t.. believe it!” the speaker was trying hard to overcome his excitement and shortness of breath.

“Relax Martin! Catch your breath first and then tell me what happened?” Frank tried to relax him.

“I can’t.. wait to tell you this!.. Guess what I saw.. when I went to check the shore.. to see if seals have left.. for the season?” Martin continued.

“What did you see?” Frank’s curiosity increased.

“A ship!”

Those two words must have sounded more powerful and history making than the first presidential speech that George Washington had delivered to US parliament in 1789.

The word spread like fire, even though it was just the metaphor that fire existed in now. With the fuel finished, and with no dry grass or wood to burn, mankind had been pushed to go raw with their feeding habits. Mankind was indeed primitive.

So the entire populace of Hatsu Saisho, barring the children and a few handful of child-carers, made a beeline for the shore to have a look at the first thing in more than a century to have come from anyplace other than Antarctica. It was hard to say if it was excitement, curiosity, or just the entertainment value of the entire episode that was more enticing, so much so that those who were left behind to care for kids had to be promised to be relieved within a few hours so that they can also go and have a look.

“That’s a monster!” Steven McDermott, the third most powerful person in Hatsu Saisho exclaimed, “Must be from a naval fleet!”

“You are right! I can clearly see the gun barrels on the deck! They are broken and dilapidated, but still clearly visible. What I cannot see is the name on the hull and the flags are in rags, so can’t specify it’s origins,” Joseph Jenkins, a close friend and aide of Frank said as he looked through the only pair of surviving binoculars.

“How far do you reckon it is?” Martin queried.

“ Can’t say for sure but lets see how long before it drifts to the shore,” Joseph said.

“It will never come too close to the shore as the water is too shallow for a big warship like this one to navigate through. It will get stuck somewhere, but the question is where and more importantly, by the looks of it’s condition, will it survive the impact with the ice bed below the water surface, or perhaps even if it will stay afloat that long? Looks like it’s already on it’s last legs” Franks wisdom showed in his words.

“That means we need to get to it before all this happens!” Mike raised his concern.

“ Let’s not be hasty son! We have our limitations to contend with! Lets give it a bit more time to come closer before we can think of something!” Frank was still calm and composed, “Steve, you take care of the hunting team, and also set up a team to keep a watch on the ship. Any change in circumstances, let me know as quickly as possible.”

“Sure Frank!” Steve’s work was cut out.

For the next few days, expectedly the ship became the talk of the town and everyone was busy discussing what could happen and what needs to be done. The ship on it’s part kept drifting slowly but surely, towards the Antarctic shore. For all the new lovebirds of Hatsu Saisho, it was a romantic sight to behold and they sat in each others arms dreaming their own odysseys together for hours. Everyone was anxious, everyone was waiting.

Then suddenly one day Steve rushed to Frank’s scube to give him the disturbing news, “Frank! Are you in there? I’ve something important to tell.”

“What’s the matter?” Frank rushed out of his room.

“It’s the ship. It’s started to slowly drift away,” Steve gave the horrible news, “It came to nearly 4-5 miles of the cost by rough estimates but now it’s slowly drifting away. We need to do something, and we need to do it quick.”

“Steve, summon the parliament quickly. Let’s not waste any time now,” Frank said.

The parliament was convened in the Parliament house right next to Steve’s scube. It was called the “White Scube” even though it was just like any other scube, just with a bigger room, and still made of the same ice as any other scube, but who say’s humans don’t have a sense of humour, or as some would call it, a sense of pride.

“So gentlemen the situation is we need to get to the ship. We always were supposed to but we only hoped it would be a lot closer than what it is now,” Steve finished updating the 10 men strong congress, excluding Frank and himself.

“Then it’s fairly simple, lets pick up a team to do the work,” Martin exclaimed.

“The problem is not picking the team Martin, the problem is how we can get to the ship,” Charles Brown, a senior congressman replied.

“You hit the nail on the head Charles. The last usable boat that we had has long been lost to the environmental appetite,” Frank lamented.

“Gentlemen, why are we forgetting our penguin kayaks?” Steve wondered.

“Penguin kayaks? That’s crazy! They won’t even survive 500 meters in water and anyone who tries such an idiocy will end up in his frozen watery grave,” Joseph sounded freezing in his statement.

“But we have to do something. We need to take our chances. Besides penguin kayaks are not all that weak. We have considerably improved their design and stability,” Steve reasoned.

“Steven, you may be right, but it’s still a hit and a miss, and I as a president cannot put any human lives at risk. We are already too few in numbers,” Frank reasoned.

“But if we let this ship go we would be stuck in this cold environs possibly forever. We need to get the human population out of this place,” Shiva Krishnan joined the discussion.

“True, but a the same time let’s not forget that even if we get to the ship and we find something to sail out, there still may be no land safe to live other than where we are,” Joseph put his side, “Lets not forget what happened in 2149, when we humans lost 20 bright young men to the spirit of exploration never to see them again. We all have heard this story from our fathers and grand fathers.”

“That may have been the case, but we still need to get to the ship to see if we can find anything useful for our lives over here in this place itself, equipment, boats, fuel, just anything useful. And besides who knows the conditions may have improved in the southern reached of the world ‘cause we haven’t got any environmental radiation pollutions for so long in Antarctica. How will we know if we didn’t try” Shiva Krishnan argued.

“I support Shiva,” Steve added his vote, “Rather than just letting this opportunity slip, we need to move swiftly.”

“You two do make a point but the question is who is going to risk their lives in those cold waters out there for a conquest none of us is sure of to be any worth?” Frank asked.

“I am ready to go the first thing tomorrow morning,” Martin volunteered.

“But we need at least four men for the job,” Steve said.

“Why don’t you go with him? That will make it two and we’ll find another one by tomorrow,” Charles said.

A momentary silence followed when Joseph added, “Yes Steve you are experienced as well to lead the team, and besides it’s your and Martin’s idea.”

Steve may have not liked the situation, but he was sucked in. He could have refused considering the risk he new was involved but that would have meant an end to his career in parliament and a loss of face in public.

“That’s perfect with me,” Steve tried to sound enthusiastic, “But I need the radioactivity detection equipment for the mission just to make sure the ship and it’s contents are safe for humans.”

“I’m sorry Steve, but I’ll have to refuse your request,” Frank said, “We have only one set left and it’s too important for our survival and use over here that I cannot risk it to be taken across the waters in a hazardous mission to be lost forever.”

“Then how will we determine if anything is safe for us or not?” Steve questioned.

“I guess you just have to go there, inspect what is there for us, and if you find a usable boat, you can always come and take it with you to do the needful,” Frank said.

“I agree,” Joseph, Charles, Shiva and others said almost in unison. Steve had no option.

“Can I take Mike as my third team member? He’s a team man and very sincere and hard-working,” Steve put Frank on a tricky wicket.

“Well, you have to ask Mike for that. I cannot force him to do it,” Frank tried hi best to hide his discomfort, “What do you say Mike?” He turned around to ask Mike. “Where’s Mike?” It’s just that Mike wasn’t there. He was some place else that none of them could have imagined.

Inside the room of Frank’s scube, content in the thought that the parliament is busy working it’s brains empty on the ship that is neither here nor there, Mike was holding in his arms what didn’t belong to him, what was just so wrong.

“Why are you so hot baby?” Mike whispered in Clara’s ears, as he bit her neck, his hot breath caressing it and slipping through her penguin skin overcoat and the clothing underneath, to warm her heart.

“You make the woman in me burn with desire and passion,” Clara said as a sigh escaped her lips as she pushed his head to her bosoms and the two grappled with each other in passionate embrace, kissing each other wildly. Mike’s hand slowly opened Clara’s overcoat and the coat slipped to the floor. Clara opened up Mike’s, and soon all their clothes were littered on the floor, as they both clung to each other, shivering with cold but burning with desire. There hearts were beating so hard they felt like two wrestlers trying to put each other to the ground. They quickly slipped into the quilt, kissing each other to the depths.

“Oh Mike, I am gonna burst into flames,” Clara’s breaths became heavy as Mike went exploring places not meant to be any man’s land except Frank. “You’re going to kill me today!” a hot sigh escaped Clara’s lips.

Their bodies became one and the roof of the scube nearly collapsed on them. Their passions nearly melted the walls. The time seemed to have stopped but they kept moving, faster and faster. From sighs it became moans, louder and louder until the room reverberated with a loud roar.

“What the HELL?”

Their throats dried in an instant and it became hard to swallow the breaths through their necks. They had been caught in their dirty act. Mike quickly pulled away from her while Frank grabbed him from his arm and punched him hard in his face, “You rascal. How can you do this to me? You bloody scoundrel.” Punches kept flying around some hitting and some missing, as Mike tried to duck, grab his over coat, slip it on and escape into the hall towards the exit. Clara on the other hand wrapped the blanket around her and squeezed into a corner.

Frank kept yelling and hitting Mike as Mike stumbled outside his scube. It was getting slightly dark now.

“What happened?” Steve and Joseph, who were still discussing something outside the White Scube, came running towards them to stop the fight, or more aptly stop Frank.

“This bloody bastard, he’s been sleeping with my wife behind my back,” Frank said as Clara who had quickly dressed up sufficiently enough to venture outside, leaned to the edge of the entrance to Frank’s scube.

“WHAT?” Steve and Joseph exclaimed as they looked at Mike, shocked and in disbelief. No one could have thought of Mike doing such a sinful act against his father, even if he was just a clone of his.

“I am going to kill this bastard,” Frank said as he rushed into his scube.

“Have you gone mad?” “What were you thinking?” “What have you two done?” questions flew around the place as Steve and Joseph questioned Mike and Clara.

Meanwhile Frank came out with the Presidential weapon in his hand, a revolver which hadn’t been used in ages, but was reserved for the President as a weapon of self defence. As he put in the bullets, loaded and cocked the weapon, he said, “You bastard, this is your last day on earth.”

“What are you doing Frank? Stop and think for a moment,” Steve exclaimed.

“Control yourself Frank,” Joseph reasoned as well.

But the harmones had taken control over Frank now as he took an aim. In a flash, metal was pulled, their was a swing and Frank’s head fell to the ground with a loud thud as his headless torso stood for a while before falling with a louder thud. Steve stood by the side with sword in his hand he uses for culling penguins, dripping blood on the ground.

“What the heck have you done Steve?” Joseph exclaimed as he, Mike and Clara they all looked at him in bewilderment.

“What? I had no choice. He was about to shoot Mike,” Steve replied.

“But why?” Joseph roared with anger.

“Why not? He was 35. He’s already lived 5 years more than the average human age. He was going to die anyway. Mike is still young. At 16 he has still got many years to give to mankind. Was there a better alternative?” Steve explained and reasoned.

“But it was Mike who was wrong. He was incestuous,” Joseph complained.

“Incest? I know nothing about that. For me he is just a clone of Frank, not actually related to him and Clara is a clone of her mother, and neither of them have any relation with Mike. We all are just clones. The relationships as we humans had once know no longer exist. So cut the crap and lets think about this whole thing rationally,” Steve explained further.

“But he was our President,” Joseph was still visibly upset.

“He was already past his use by date and had nothing more to give to this community. Besides I think it’s time for someone younger like you to take charge,” Steve threw the dice for the right figure.

There was a momentary silence and then Joseph continued, “But how do we explain this to the congress and people?”

“We’ll tell them the truth. I am sure no one will have any worthwhile argument against the case. Besides considering the risk Mike is taking for our society by going along with me in the dangerous mission to the phantom ship, he makes up for his folly,” Steve closed the argument.

“Mission, what mission?” Mike asked.

“I’ll explain that to you later. You go back to your scube, relax and think about a nice apology for your actions and we’ll sort out the rest in the morning,” Steve said, “And Joseph you also come up with a nice opening speech as the new President.”

With no more left to argue and the thought of being the next President, Joseph excused himself and walked towards his own scube, while Mike still in bewilderment at all that happened and partly freezing because of inadequate clothing slipped towards his own scube.

Steve turned around and looked at Clara, “You have been playing with fire girl. If it wasn’t for me both of you would have been killed today.”

“If I was playing with fire that’s cause I know how to light it, sustain it and extinguish it,” Clara said with a wicked smirk on her lips and a tantalising look in her big round eyes.

“Why don’t you leave that to me to determine,” Steve said, as he moved towards her. She inched towards him. They both checked around for a millisecond as he put his arm around her waist just about her buttocks, “So you love men than boys?”

“The one’s who are strong and powerful,” she said as she lifted her heels and pressed her bosoms against his chest.

“So you like the men in Power? But I am not the king,” Steve said as he lowered his lips to suck her lips with soft warmth.

“A king maker is bigger than the king,” she said as his hands caressed and slipped below her buttocks to support her raised feet and she gave him a deep kiss.

They looked around one more time and slipped inside Frank’s scube whose head and body lay still on ice.