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2013 1st Place Winner!
The Evolution of Vern
By Julia Belyung
Dedicated to my escaped hamster Charlotte, wherever she may be
Maple Leaf Book Writing Project
Brattleboro, Vermont
Copyright 2013
Introduction
It has been eight years since deadly diseases transfigured the
world. Cities once bustling with the noises of cars and people are
silent. Streets once heavily traveled and abused are overgrown with
strange plants, overrun by unidentifiable animals.
The diseases acted swiftly, destroying creatures, vegetation,
and societies. Humans couldn’t react quickly enough to create an
antidote, but many plants and animals did adapt. Evolution
accelerated in fast breeding species, and the brilliant results of
myriad genetic mutations abounded, while mutated human offspring
suffered lethally.
Eight years ago, inconsiderate humans populated the earth,
chopping down plants and poisoning the ground to make room for
their reckless ideas. Now, Mother Nature is reclaiming her misused
land and transforming Earth into a strange and strikingly vibrant
world.
Only very few humans had survived at all. Those who did were
confused in the transformed and unfamiliar wilderness. All, that is,
except for one scientist.
Sammael had made great advances in artificial intelligence
technologies. Slight and fastidious, wildly brilliant, he had shown
much ability in robotics at an early age. But he had the misfortune
of an uncomely visage: The right side of his face seemed slightly
crushed, irreparably deformed in childbirth. As a child, he suffered
abuse for his misfortune. Ceaseless torment and rejection twisted
the small, odd child into a bitter, snide adult. He found relief in
dreaming of conquering the human race, subjugating those who had
injured him. He would stop at nothing. Already he had amassed
an army of robots who never questioned his commands. In the
confusion and panic over the global transition of the plague, he
remained calm, and directed them all around the world to search
for humans and bring back the live ones. Sammael imprisoned
these humans in a series of unoccupied rooms that adjoined his
laboratories: There they live in minimal comfort, underneath the
omnipresent eyes of Sammael’s robots and the disparaging cloud
of his unpredictable whims, to perform degrading and atrocious acts
solely for his amusement.
Although the survivors are safe from the strange and wild
unknowns of Earth, their lives have become meaningless. Years of
despair and demoralization have eroded their longings for freedom
and control of their own fates, like the faces of the statues of their
heroes constructed generations ago.
Chapter 1: The Forest
The forest was a beautiful place. The air was humid and
hummed with noise, and the curling vegetation sheltered many
marvelous creatures. Towering trees arched against the sapphire
sky, forming a speckled canopy of emerald green. Fluffs of fur and
feathers zigzagged amidst the dense brush. The ground was
carpeted with springy moss, and colorful insects burrowed their way
through it, creating intricate corridors through their small layer of the
world.
Alexandra Vern crept through the leaves, searching for a
glimpse of her elusive victim. Her bow, supple hardwood with a
tough string woven of plant fiber, knocked gently against her sinewy
shoulder, rustling the foliage. She hesitated, and wondered if she
had frightened her quarry.
A flash of orange feathers reassured her she had not. A
beautiful bird with long tail feathers and a curved beak probed
meticulously into the brush. Finding a shrimp-like insect, it drew out
its long tongue and gently retracted the prey into its cavernous throat.
Alexandra drew an arrow from its quiver, strung the bow, and
narrowed her violet eyes along the well-greased string. Aiming
directly at the bird, she lithely drew back the bow and fired….
…And missed. How could she? It was an easy shot! The bird,
squawking in surprise, flapped away heavily. Alexandra crashed
through the greenery, frustrated, not caring where her bare feet
crunched as she drudged home.
She had been living in the forest with only her grandfather for
eight years now, and although he had lectured her on how to hold
a bow a million times, and although she had practiced many hours
shooting at targets, she had still not killed an animal.
She stomped into in the mossy clearing which was their home.
She could barely remember helping her grandfather find long sticks
and living vines, so he could cleverly intertwine them with the trees
surrounding the clearing, to fashion a sheltered hut. That seemed so
long ago….
Now she found her grandfather bent over his work in a corner,
frowning as carved a bowl from a piece of wood.
“Grandpa, I can’t hunt!”
The old man, focused on his work, didn’t look up. His gnarled
face reddened in the glow of the cookfire, his bushy caterpillar-like
eyebrows drawn together in concentration; his burly shadow danced
and leaped along the green walls. Once a robust man and a powerful
member of his community, the years of isolation in the forest had
taken their toll on his strength and self-assurance. His only concerns
now were to protect himself and his granddaughter, and to ensure her
survival once he was gone.
“Grandpa, SERIOUSLY!” Alexandra stomped on a patch of the
moss that lined the hut.
Grandpa sighed and looked up, his creased face shadowed by
smoke. “You can hunt, Alexandra: You just don’t want to.”
Alexandra scowled, irritated.
“I mean that you can hunt, but it’s not in you to kill. That’s
alright. After all, unless you need food, it is dishonorable to kill a
fellow creature….”
Alexandra glimpsed a silver flash zooming towards her. She
tried to duck, but something sharp embedded in her shoulder. As the
world dissolved into fizzes of color, one thought spiraled through her
mind:
It is dishonorable to kill a fellow creature….
Chapter 2: The Laboratory
Alexandra opened her eyes lethargically. She realized she was
in pain, tightly ensnared from head to toe. Where was she? What
had happened?
She was encased within a white cocoon, lying on a mattress on
the floor of a small room sterilely lit by tubes on the walls and ceiling.
Cables snaked from a cube on the center of the floor, spreading over
her cocoon and the walls. The cube beeped and flashed green and
blue incessantly. Alexandra grew annoyed.
A panel in a wall slid open. In climbed a peculiar metallic
creature with a spherical body supported by several long, delicate
legs. Striding dexterously over the cables, it stopped close by
Alexandra. Leaning over her and peering mutely down, it swiftly
flashed its red eyes into Alexandra’s violet ones. Alexandra futilely
struggled to escape the painful glare. “STOP IT!!!! Who ARE
you??!!! Where’s Grandpa??!!! Go AWAAAAY!!!!
The metallic spider continued to scrutinize her unrelentingly.
Finally, it crawled back to the panel, satisfied. Alexandra, temporarily
blinded from the examination, felt little relief. She wanted to scream
her frustration, pain and fear, but resisted out of concern for her
grandfather. What had happened to him? What was happening to
her?
She had little time to think. Another animal had hovered into
the room, looming before her, a chimaera of metal and man. Its
lower body was circular, throne-like, with sinuous metallic tentacles
radiating from its perimeter. Ensconced within was a strange man
with shallow, ice-blue eyes in a face whose right side was unnaturally
flattened. A malicious smirk further sullied his features.
Sammael gloated over Alexandra, assured of his power and
control. She couldn’t care less. Instead, she felt only panic, pain,
anger, and fear for the safety of her grandfather. Anger overcame
cautious restraint.
“Get out of my face!!!! Where’s Grandpa??!!! What did you DO
to him??!!!”
Sammael was taken aback. How dare this young girl speak to
him this way! How dare she yell at him! No one spoke to him until
commanded to! This girl should be grateful that he spared her life at
all, and bow her head in fear and awe like all other humans! His
features twisted into a horrifying grimace, and his eyes widened with
anger and disbelief. He must punish her. “Silence!” he spat at her.
“No one speaks until I command them to! I am Sammael, Ruler of
the World!”
Alexandra growled and clenched her fists beneath her bonds.
“Tell me,” he snarled at her, “how did you and GRANDPA
survive in the wild? Up until now, I mean,” he said malevolently.
“Where’s Grandpa??!!! What did you do to him??!!! DID YOU
HURT HIM??!!!”
“SILENCE! You’re not answering my question. Very well…”
He turned to his robot. “Bring the other one in here, and perhaps she
will.”
The robot followed as Sammael hovered through the panel, out
of the room. However, just before the door slid shut, the man
smirked at Alexandra.
Alexandra felt a burning hatred slowly circulate through her
body, spreading life to her numbing limbs and sending renewed vigor
to her mind. Was Grandpa alive? He had to be. And she had to
rescue him, no matter what.
Chapter 3: The Rebel 3.6
Alone in the room, Alexandra struggled with her bonds futilely,
but was interrupted by the entrance of the spider-creature floating a
plate of metal into the room. Lying on the plate was a sleeping girl,
dressed in a long gown of pearly white, bound by flexible metallic
straps. Alexandra craned her neck as best she could to watch the
spider push a button on the plate. This lowered the sleeping girl to
the floor next to Alexandra.
Alexandra strained to see her. She gasped when she saw the
girl’s arm. It was all metal, full of gears and wires. What had
Sammael done to her? Would he do that to her?
The girl stirred, then woke up. She was about Alexandra’s age,
with emerald eyes and gaunt features. She turned to face
Alexandra. They stared at each other; the girl broke the silence.
“Hi. I’m Rebel 3.6. Who are you?”
Alexandra felt comforted by this friendly girl, but was careful in
answering her, revealing minimal information, aware that Sammael
was probably listening. Full of curiosity, she asked the wide-eyed 3.6
to share her story.
“I miss my family. My mom and dad and little brother Raphael
and I all live with a lot of other people in rooms that Sammael keeps
us all in. They’re not fancy, like the house we lived in before the
plague. In fact, they’re kind of dirty, and we’re all crowded, and
everyone is sad, and sometimes it’s hard to get food. Sammael
never seems to give us enough of those disgusting pellets.” 3.6
made a face. “But we don’t have anything else to eat. Or anywhere
else to go. One day, I got so tired of it all that I tried to climb over
one of the outside walls, but a guard robot spotted me and shot me
with a dart. I was brought here. Sammael told me I was plotting
against him. Now I don’t know what will happen to me.”
A thousand questions flooded Alexandra’s mind. “How come
you’re not mad or super scared about that?”
“I don’t know. What good what it do? I mean, Sammael is
going to do what he wants.” Alexandra chewed her lip, while she
thought about that. What was Grandpa always trying to teach her
about restraint? Was 3.6 restrained? or hopeless?
Alexandra continued. “What is a robot?”
“A robot is a metal creature powered by electricity. It isn’t a real
animal, though, just an unfeeling, lifeless pile of junk.”
“What happened to your arm?”
“When I was little, before the plague, my family was in a car
accident.” (Alexandra could remember cars.) “They had to cut off my
arm. I remember that my parents cried about it a lot. But I actually
had an advantage, because my other arm got really strong and
nimble. But during the plague, I thought it would be better if I had
two arms again, to help my family. So I looked for scrap metal to
make this robotic arm. I’m pretty good at figuring out how to do stuff
like that, and it grows as I grow. I’m not really special, except for my
arm.”
“Wow, you are really special, and you must be really smart.”
Alexandra could see that 3.6 was a powerful ally, especially because
Sammael depended on technology, and she began to think that
maybe this was the real reason why he had captured 3.6.
And if 3.6 can make robots, she can take them apart.
Alexandra lay back while an idea blossomed in her mind. A
faint smile twitched on her lips, but she refrained from telling 3.6 the
plan, as she knew Sammael was monitoring them.
She whispered without turning her head or moving her lips,
“Can I use your arm for something?”
Chapter 4: The Plan
Alexandra wriggled against 3.6’s arm, pretending to shiver from
fear. Her cocoon did not resist the friction. She tugged at a hole to
enlarge it, flexing her fingers as she freed her hands, and then
vigorously tore apart her bonds. She stripped off the rest of the
cocoon and its cables while 3.6 watched with hopeful emerald eyes.
Then she began undoing the straps binding 3.6.
At she was undoing the last strap, a spider-robot burst into the
room. Alexandra, panicked, finally freed the rebel. Together they
wordlessly dashed to the panel door the robot had slid open and
tumbled down an icy chute into a white hallway with many doors.
Alexandra grabbed 3.6 and ran down it, furiously trying door handles,
hoping to find her grandfather. Alarms on the ceiling started to beep,
and flashing lights turned the white tunnel into a confusing multitude
of color. But the doors were all locked! She felt deep sorrow, but
buried it, as she swiftly realized her grandfather would want her to
survive and not look for him, if it meant losing that opportunity: If she
died, there would be no hope for her grandfather. She hurriedly
picked a door to exit the corridor. Would it open? Yes!
The two girls ran into a confusing maze of white, minimalist
rooms. 3.6, now recovered from her confusion, was delighted to
be in a place she knew. “This leads to the City! Come on, I know a
good place to hide!”
3.6 took the lead as they turned a few corners and scrambled
into a secluded alley. Alexandra could hear the forlorn chatter of
people nearby. She peeked quickly around the edge of the flimsy
wall to see the imprisoned humans.
She had never seen anything like this before. The people
were in horrible condition. Filth encrusted their tattered tunics, and
their shrunken faces had the looks of ravenous rodents. They
scrabbled voraciously over tiny green pellets being dropped from a
chute in the wall, and scuttled away from the countless robots
monitoring them. The sights, sounds and smells weighed on her
conscience. She must do something for these people. Her people.
Crowded into the narrow corridor, Alexandra knew that she and
3.6 were safe. “How does Sammael control the robots, 3.6?”
“I think they’re all operated by a main console…”
Alexandra smiled tentatively. “So, they can all be shut down at
once?”
“Probably.”
Alexandra’s violet eyes shone fiercely but calmly in the dim
light. She knew they had only one choice. “Take me to the main
console!”
Chapter 5: The Post-Apocalypse
3.6 and Alexandra hurriedly retraced their steps to the
laboratory corridor. 3.6 remembered the location of the control
room: Sammael had first inspected her robotic arm there. Turning
a sharp corner, she and Alexandra were surprised to find the door
open and Sammael standing inside the palely lit room. Alexandra
clenched her teeth as she stared into the cold eyes of her enemy.
Without hesitation, she put her hands on the object closest to her -
Sammael’s hoverchair - and forced Sammael into a corner. Livid, he
screamed. “You can’t do this! Leave now! Just wait until my robots
get you!!!!!!” But he was trapped, and Alexandra stood her ground.
Encouraged, 3.6 sat before a huge plasmic screen and glanced
nervously down at the immaculate keys of the controls to the main
console. “Can you destroy it?” yelled Alexandra, struggling against
Sammael’s efforts to escape. The entire plan depended on this
crucial step.
3.6 hesitated a moment, but then began typing furiously.
Gritting her teeth to contain her excitement, she concentrated on the
keyboard. If this works, she thought, it will hack the robots and we will be
free.
3.6 was an expert technician, and her fingers flashed across
the complex keyboard as she entered code after code. When at last
the screen flashed black and red, signaling shutdown, she shouted,
“We’ve done it!”
Sammael slid to the floor, his mouth gaping open in surprise
that his computer had been hacked, and by a young girl at that!
Taking advantage of his sudden haplessness, the two girls dashed
breathlessly from the room. Sammael, ensconcing himself in the
very hoverchair that had ruined his world, stared blindly at the blank
plasmic screen.
The girls strode towards the City. They found people staring in
disbelief and muttering at the sight of fallen robots. Alexandra felt
elated, empowered. Words flowed into her mind from some
unknown place, and she sang them over and over as she and 3.6
glided from room to room, spreading the wonderful news.
A few very emotional people cried, but most just stared at her in
wonder and joy.
People of the land,
Not infertile filth,
Not dust, dirt and sand
But the green vibrant wealth
Of the world’s bounty,
Wild and strange
And the marvelous sea
That cannot be tamed
Who will come to the wild?
The place we belong
Where all of the earth
Rings with birdsong.
Where is Sammael now? Perhaps he perished from despair.
Perhaps he is building another army of robots. No one really knows.
As Alexandra led the people into the wild, beautiful forest to
begin new lives, she wondered: Would she find Grandpa? And would
they all survive?
But these are other stories.
The End
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