MAN FROM TOMORROW

“I have been thinking, Anita, about all that Professor Antonio said. And I have also been reading all this Literature in Antonio’s vast library. I must say, I am deeply concerned about what will happen to us.”

“Us? You mean we are doomed? I thought you had a plan...” Said Anita with fear evident in her voice and her eyes all watering up. She appeared as a damsel waiting to burst into tears.

Martin rushed to explain. “No Anita, no! I am not talking about us, like you and me. And Yes, I have a plan to keep us safe and sound. The one which I told you in the car, on the way here”. Anita gave a sigh which appeared halfway between sadness and relief.

Martin continued- “when I said us, I meant mankind as a whole.”

“How do you mean?”

“See, it is like this. There is this concept of evolution.”

“Ya, Ya.. I know about it. Wait... I will tell you, umm, Evolution is the change in genetic qualities of organisms over succeeding generations. Right?” Anita was livening up.

“Yeah, right.” Martin smiled. Then he went on- “successive generation of the organism’s population is replaced by the offspring of those parents who are better adapted to stay alive and reproduce in this world.

These adaptations improve fitness by assisting activities like finding nutrition, finding mates or evading predators. This quality creates and preserves traits in the organism’s successive generations that keep them alive and kicking”. Anita was listening intently to Martin.

“Now it means that those organisms or species that are poorly adapted to their environment die out or are unable to reproduce and thus leave no offspring that can propagate their genes. Ok?”

Anita nodded in agreement.

The food arrived, and Anita eyed it with a voracious look.

“It also means that the genes or traits that were responsible for their weakness are weeded out, as they are not propagated. Thus, the offsprings that are alive are the ones who have best adapted to their environment and thus reproduce and propagate their genes to the subsequent generations and so on. In short- ‘survival of the fittest’.”

Anita nodded as she hogged on the food.

“Now, think about the species which died out. When a species dies out, it disappears from the biological scene in this world. This occurrence is known as extinction.”

Anita bobbed in agreement- “Right, they keep showing on TV how man is causing all the animals and plants to go extinct”.

Martin went on- “Exactly. Extinction is the vanishing of an entire species of organisms. If you go through Earth’s history, extinction is not a rare event. Organisms repeatedly appear through evolution and disappear through extinction. Nearly all plant and animal species that have lived on this Earth are now extinct. Extinction seems to be the definitive fate of all species as a whole.”

“Okay, go on...” Said Anita with her mouth stuffed with food. Anita realized that Martin was leading onto something.

“The improved and adapted organism which is evolutionarily superior survives. Whereas, the one which failed to adapt dies, right? If one species can out-compete another, this will lead to a situation where the fitter species survives and the other species will be driven to extinction. Effectively, the evolutionarily improvised version of the organisms drives the weaker, evolutionarily inferior organism to extinction. In short, the advanced version of the organism replaces the existing or failed version of the organism. Thus, a new, evolutionarily developed species is created.”

Anita asked- “what has that got to do with us?”

“That has got everything to do with us. We are organisms too. As a species, these principles of evolution also apply to us, humans. And we are a product of these very same laws.”

“Ok, assumed that we are also subject to the same laws of evolution, So...”

Martin looked sidelong and up at the walls to his distant flank, looking through the wall, trying to discern the strange machinations of this universe- “Kevin is that new species of humans, Anita. We are the ones who will be replaced by Kevin’s kind if they exist. However, much human Kevin might appear from the outside, he is very different from the inside. Remember what Antonio said. He is a new species altogether. Kevin’s species is highly advanced from an evolutionary point of view. We are very weak compared to Kevin’s kind. Mankind as we know it will before long be driven to extinction.”

Anita watched at Martin with her mouth agape. She slowly drew her palms to her wide-ajar mouth in a gasp of horror. A horror which dawned on her deeper and deeper with the passing seconds. A moment of silence passed between Anita and Martin. But that silent moment seemed like an eternity. Martin felt a tidal wave of relief pass through him as he could finally give form to that vague, nagging thought troubling his mind a few minutes ago. But with the newfound relief came a newfound uncertainty. Martin was baffled. His previous nagging confusion was now replaced by a new nagging fear. He was chewing steadily on the Pork chops.

His train of thought was interrupted by Anita’s serious tone of concern. “You mean to say that Kevin and his kind-if there are any- will destroy the human race? Kill us all?”

Martin was quick to refute what Anita said. “Not in the literal sense Anita. Kevin and his kind may not go about the streets killing people. But over a period, because of the improved nature of their physical bodies- and also intelligence- they will be fitter than the normal humans- US.”

Anita was beginning to understand what Martin was driving at. Martin continued “Over a period of a few generations, their numbers may grow at a rapid pace. They will consume more of our resources, or change the environment as per their suitability. They can, if possible, interbreed with normal humans and change the nature of humanity itself. They may even become a political force of their own; remember they are more intelligent than us. And with the changing climate, thanks to Global Warming, they will be better able to adapt to the New Natural Order. And then...” Martin left the sentence hanging.

“And then what Martin?” Anita asked with trepidation in her voice.

“And then, there may be an inter-species war where normal humans and superhumans of Kevin’s type may face off against each other. No prizes for guessing the winners”

Anita furrowed her eyebrows giving a you-must-be-kidding look- “War? Kevin looked so nice. He doesn’t appear as the killing type- not unless he is provoked or forced to.”

Martin replied-“For all we know, Kevin may be a special case, an exception in his species. We have not seen the others. Hell, we don’t even know if there are others of his kind, or if they exist, where are they?! Have you heard of the Neanderthals, Anita?”

“Yes, I have. I believe they were primitive human beings of the Stone Age or something, right?”

“Yes and no. They were primitive no doubt, but not in the literal sense, Here let me explain” Martin was becoming animated and was moving his arms energetically.

Interesting, thought Anita. Maybe it was Professor Antonio’s habit rubbing onto Martin. She found that correlation amusing. She let out a half-concealed smile-“Go on”

Martin was oblivious to Anita’s Touch-and-go smile, immersed as he was in his lecture- “The Neanderthals were a species of humans from Neandertal in Germany, where their remains were discovered. They are an extinct species of humans. They are closely related to us modern humans differing in DNA by just about zero-point one per cent. Modern humans were supposedly more advanced and intelligent than Neanderthals. It is said that though Neanderthals were a distinct species, they became extinct because of interaction with our advanced species. They were replaced by modern humans shifting into their environment between 50,000 and 40,000 years ago. Some scientists have even suggested a scenario of aggressive clashes between Neanderthals and modern humans resulting in the displacement and extinction of Neanderthals. When compared to Kevin’s kind, we are the Neanderthals. As simple as that”.

Just then Martin got a call on his cell phone. Martin had replaced his previous SIM card with a new one so that he could not be traced. Martin had a back up of at least three hitherto unused SIM cards. And all three were bought under aliases obtained from the black market where Martin had his own contacts. Even his department did not know this. Nobody could trace those SIM cards to Martin. At least not easily.

The caller was Professor Antonio. Before leaving, Martin had informed Professor Antonio of his number on the chit he had given Anita.

Professor Antonio told Martin that Kevin had gained consciousness. The Professor was saying something when his call was abruptly disconnected.

Martin stood up, his posture urgent, but his motion wasn’t enough to alert Anita of his unease and she kept on talking. He reached across the table and grabbed her wrist, and her eyes instantly flicked to meet his, breaking away from her talk mid-sentence. She hung up without question.

“Anita, we need to get out of here. Something’s wrong,” he said as he pulled some cash from his wallet and dropped it on the table. “We’re not the ones in danger.”

Martin’s words echoed in Anita’s mind on the way to the car and during the drive back to the house. If the Professor or Kevin got hurt, it would be her fault. She was the one who wanted to leave.

The blue Mercedes carrying Martin and Anita rolled to a stop at the end of the block where Professor Antonio’s home was located.

“What are you doing?” Anita asked when he removed the keys from the ignition and hopped out of the car, moving to do the same.

“If there is someone here, pulling up in the driveway will just be an open invitation to kill us. We need to be sneakier than that,” Martin explained. Anita joined him on the sidewalk, but he wasn’t on it for much longer, opting instead to walk on the lush carpet of grass making up people’s yards.

“I guess that makes sense.”

“Quiet and follow me. We can’t alert anyone to our presence,” he said. Getting the hint, Anita nodded instead of speaking further.

Martin moved further into the well-kept lawns of Antonio’s neighbors and Anita followed him. She followed his steps carefully and remained silent, imitating him as best as she could.

He stepped over lawn ornaments, potted plants and flowers where he could, maneuvering as deep into the yard as possible before moving toward the tall wooden fences that divided the homes from each other. When he reached the wood, he would look for cracks between the planks, and then lean in to see if they were large enough to see through to the other side. In the event that the crack was too small, Martin would move on to the next one. If it was large enough, he looked through in order to get an idea of the path ahead of him, as well as any points of interest that might alert the enemies of their movements.

The next yard, the one next to Antonio’s home, would be the second most important one to traverse discreetly, and the most difficult to cross. Martin saw irregularities the second he pressed his forehead against the fence and looked into the other yard. Unlike the other lawns, the fence connecting to Antonio’s property was shorter, about half as long as the others, replaced by a bed of decorative rocks and pebbles. It would be the most annoying obstacle for him and Anita, but to compensate for this fact, the rest of the lawn was relatively plain, and he planned to take advantage of this by moving across it faster.

Martin led them around the fence, and then like the other yards, dipped into the lawn in order to use the other fence as cover. The only variation in this routine was that he moved much further into the yard than he had with the others, in order to match the fence into Antonio’s yard. Before moving to hide from anyone that might be in the area, he noticed that there were things off in respects to how it was when he and Anita left for dinner.

They approached the fence and pressed against the wood, and Martin did his best not to disturb it when he turned his head look over the wood with the corner of his eye. He had already seen the black BMW pulled into the driveway behind the ambulance they hijacked the other day when they turned over the other fence, but he didn’t see the man in black patrolling the premises until then. He pulled back and looked at Anita, formulating a plan before thinking of speaking.

Martin first noticed how close they were to each other. He could feel Anita’s breath against his body, and he felt the hammering of her heart mismatching with his. He had to force himself to return to the plan. With a guard outside the home, Martin thought it unlikely that Antonio and Kevin were dead. If they were, the assassins would no longer be here. Chances were that one of both of them were hiding, or that their unexpected guests were looking for answers first. Regardless of which was the case, Martin knew that the delay in the visitor’s departure would benefit him and Anita. It would be impossible to pass over the rocks without alerting the guard, which meant that they had to reroute their course onto the property because there was no way they were going to make it in from the front of the house.

“Do you remember the garage door code?” Martin asked, speaking as quietly as possible. Anita nodded vigorously, yes. Everything for Martin’s plan was in place, except for one thing.

He knelt down, being careful not to hit the fence while doing so, and looked over the edge to see the position of the guard. Martin spotted him walking in the other direction, and was satisfied that he wouldn’t be spotted in the brief second that he planned on being visible from the other side. A minute prior when he’d been thinking of a plan, he spotted a thick piece of slate that worked with several others to line the colorful pebbles, but the one he had his eyes on now was the one he needed. He double-checked the position of the guard and then reached into the open to grab the stone.

Martin rolled the rock in his hands, making special note of the edges and weight. It would do just fine.

After standing back on his feet, he moved around Anita and began walking through the property alongside Antonio’s neighbor’s home, being extra cautious around the trees that were shared between both yards; the branches dipped over the fence and were long overdue for a trim, but with how stiff they were, either him or Anita getting tangled in the branches would disturb the trees enough to let the guard know that something was up.

Luckily enough, he and Anita were able to duck around the branches without incident and came into the back yard. They proceeded to sneak over to the gate leading into the alley, and quickly peeked through to make sure they were not opening the door into a trap. Everything checked out and they opened the door in absolute silence, the quiet click of the lock the only sound made between the two of them while they moved through. Martin and Anita had the same thought of a split second: They hoped that the sound was too quiet for anyone but them to hear.

Antonio’s home didn’t really have a backyard in the true sense of the term, instead, there was a short fence that opened in the center to a path through the rock gardens on either side. The path led right up to the back door of the house, but he and Anita knew that the door was not an option in their venture to assure Antonio and Kevin’s safety. It was too risky to go in without knowing the position of everyone inside.

But the path leading to the door also split and followed along both sides of the house. Martin and Anita walked into the yard, careful to keep their steps along the small path and not step into the beds of stones. They reached the house and crouched against the wall, sliding against the home to reach the edge of the wall and look over. The angle of the home and the driveway in front of it was in their favor. Assuming the guard only watched the garage and the front door, Martin and Anita would easily be able to sneak along the wall without being spotted.

Martin had been prepared to use other means to get to the front of the house, but he was glad it was unnecessary. He made fast, silent steps toward the edge that connected to the front of the house, with Anita close behind. He stopped just before the edge and closed the short distance between his body and the house, pressing hard against the plastic when he looked over the edge and searched for the guard stationed there. He didn’t spot him at first, but then moments later, the man walked out from behind the black BMW, circling around in their direction. Martin ducked back behind the house and waited.

A whole minute passed before Martin looked over the edge again. He was confident that the guard thought there was no reason to patrol the back of the house, and he was correct in assuming as such. When he looked over into the front of the home again, the guard had just turned away from them and was walking back in the other direction, but he was close. Too close to what Martin had planned.

He lifted himself up but signaled to Anita so that she would stay against the ground. The stone he collected earlier in the other yard was held firmly in his hand when Martin moved his head beyond the boundaries of the home’s structure and lifted it to aim.

His arm moved faster than Anita had ever seen, but she was more amazed by the rock that turned into a blur passing through the air. The rock knocked the guard on the back of the head before completing its arc, the pointed end piercing his skull right as a truck drove by on the road, muffling the sound of his body’s impact on the ground.