Chapter II: My roommate!
"See this!!" Ashu’s heart racing as he showcased a map that was clutched between his right hand. "What's this?" I asked, as my interest piqued.
Ashu excitedly brought us to his table and rolled his map with markings here and there. The map was old and drawn by using hands, which was the old way. He took a deep breath, and with a grin spreading across his white face, he pointed at one of the region on the map.
We leaned in closer, the page filled with meticulous details, each line drawn with care and precision.
The region he pointed at was the beside the river of Hailey, a place about 1000 kilometres from here.
"Both of you may heard the story about the genral Dorthey from 100 years ago, particularly famous for the gruesome accident regarding his wife and him?" he said, his voice trembling with excitement.
"No, sorry I'm not familiar with it." I replied, unknown with the tale.
"Oh, I've heard of that story." Said Leon with a surprise tone, as his eyebrows got up little bit as well his eyes got wide and the tone of his pitch increased little bit.
"Wonderful," Ashu replied, his eyes twinkling with excitement. "Would you like to hear about it?" Leon asked me.
I nodded eagerly, as intrigued as I was.
"Well, stories goes something like this, there once lived a genrale by the name of Dorthey of Lebernun, he posses vast riches in all over the planet Meruta. He was an honest and hardworking man," Leon began telling the story.
“You see, during that time, there was a revolutuion going on with use of robotics.”
"What was the problem?" I asked, my mind with possibilities.
“One, the human attention that were once needed in many fields, vanished because the rapid increase in demand of robots. The wave shook the economic structure balance for many places. Where 10 people required for a single job, would now require none.”
“Two, death rates sky rocketed, during that time. Because of the monopoly that many big tech companies had in robotic industries also caused the monopoly in food market. Prices of food rose about 40 %. simple law where demands of a product are high and suppliy are low, then prices will rise up” Leon explained.
"I think we are getting of the topic." I asked.
"Sorry, but it’s one of the reasons for the events that occurred in the past." Leon said.
Ashu nodded in agreement. "So, where was he, yeah, so during that time, there was a huge tension between common population and the world government. Revolts and wars broke out, because of it."
I leaned forward, my attention fully captured by the story. " It affected the World government so much that, their own soldiers turned against them."
“And you already know that wars and fights cannot be fought without soldiers. So, to prevent their power from crumbling, world nobles visited the count.”
"How so?" I asked, intrigued by the events of the past. It was something we were not taught. I know that much that revolts and war occurred in the past way more frequently but it was for whole another reason.
In every lesson about past, text books depicted world government to be the victim.
“ What I forgot to told you about genrale is that, he was a renowned engineer specialised in human genetic engineering and medical professional,” Leon said.
"!!No way!" with a loud surprise, because in my entire medical carrier in the army as well as in 6 years of studies, I never once heard about the man in question. The so-called genrale.
"I’m, sorry," I apologized.
"What’s all that about?” Ashu asked by my abrupt reaction.
“Sorry, I forgot to tell you, this guy hear was a doctor in the army.” Said Leon. As I was embarrassed with myself.
"Ahem! Just one question, I thought genetical experiment was banned and frowned upon, any practitioners would be sentenced with a death penalty." I asked.
“By who?” Asked Ashu, as he smiled slightly, with one of his eyebrows slightly up.
“World goveme…! Now way!?”
“Yes way, on the paper sure it was wrong to practise but in secret they still conducted the experiments. Back on the topic, so world noble consulted count, at that time he was like all of us was common man, he was not intrestested in lands nor butt-load of money at his disposal. All he was interested in was his studies.” Leon explained.
"What happened next?" I asked, hanging on to every word. "World government proposed a deal, in exchange for fundings for his studies and experiments, as well as all sort of rare materials, Count has to come up with a solution."
“And what was the solution?” I asked, as I was coming up with my own answer.
“Beastkins!” With a slight tone in his voice Ashu, answered the question. As I heard the word that came out of his mouth, pulled the land from under-neath my feet.
“You’re saying that, all beastkins are just a mere experiment conducted by a single human, how something like this even possible.”
“Then explain to me how beastkins came to existence.” Ashu replied.
“I don’t know, from what I heard, during space exploration era, many human come accross, some habitable planets and on those planets, we discoverd the civilazation of beastkins.”
“Sigh… then take look at this, and tell me are these photos, documents, and videos are just lie.” Said Ashu, as he took out the piles of document and some photos with a laptop on the top of it, playing a sort recording.
I took my time and reviewed all the photos, documents, and CCTV footage to gauge their authenticity.
The photos were of a man in a medical suits and with tubes filled with green liquid and a human like creature.
All the photos were quite similar, they all show something, quite impossible, for a second I thought they forged, I looked at the documents than.
They project reports, each page wrapped in polymer sheet preventing from degrading. I read them thoroughly.
And they were quite convincing proofs.
“Five hundred years ago, production of beastkins were underway. The solution count came up with was, ‘convincing average civilians for a common ground’. Count proposed that we use beastkins in the army, farms, and other works instead civilian work force, that way they people will fear that they would be quite easily replaced. It was like how AI and Robotics first took over some of the jobs replacing large amount of work force.” Ashu interjected.
"There's another twist. You see, plan was half successful, people got the wind and to solve the problem they proposed a common ground with world nobles, but, during one of the experiments, count was killed by his own creation. Turned out, creating a human like speices is not such a good idea, as beastkins got mind of their own and emotion as well. Many started reproducing just like humans after that.”
“Hence end of twenty third centuries marked the era of new species. War broke out again, this time it was mankind vs world noble’s vs beastkins. Many lives were lost during that time from each side, and because of that, World noble proposed yet another plan, they seek out the leader of both parties, told them that the war is pointless.”
“And thus all three of them, needs to come on common ground. And rest is all the same, as in your text book. Bearskins helped formation of tower and space exploration, while humans helped beastkins in farming and teaching, while world government will provide technological support and protection in exchange of limit use robotics in some industries like art, entertainment and enggineering.”
“What I wanted to tell you guys that, I found the mansion in which the count had resided, there might be a possibility that I might found a secret way to enter the grand tower.”
“If what you’re saying is true, then…” But there was on question that was that seed odd to me, “How did the count died exactly?”
“By the evidence I found, I probably can say, it was done by the world government. But it is just my idea, on paper, he deid due to an accident, while some speculate that it was done by Beastkins.” Said Ashu.
“With everything you told me, it made me seem the World government is one of the evil organisations?”
“No, you cannot directly brand world government a evil organisation, there is a huge difference in being corrupt and being evil. And not all of the are, I mean think about it for second, in the past when planet earth was overpopulated, to the point of distruction. These tech giants were the one who saved the humanity by making all the inter-planetary civilisation possible, converting our type 0 civilization to type 3. Most of the tech you use and protection they give you as well as resourse and oppertinuties all this is done by maintaining their position as one of the power house.”
“By the way, Ashu," Leon began, his voice low and serious as he settled onto a tall stool, gesturing for me to do the same. "We did not come here solely for idle chatter. My companion and I have a matter of business to discuss with you." Ashu's eyes gleamed with interest as he leaned forward. "Speak, friend," he said.
"My friend is searching for an affordable place to stay. What do you think of your previous offer? Is it still valid?" Ashu's smile widened. "Yes, I have been eyeing a prime location in the Lorn district for some time now. I have a suite that would be perfect for us both. Just one question do, you know how to cook?"
"Yes, but I wont say I'm a great chef." I replied. "I enjoy a good home-cooked meal, and so I like you help me with that." Ashu laughed heartily. "Then it's settled. I'll send for you tomorrow at noon and we'll inspect the rooms and make arrangements. Deal?"
I extended my hand for a handshake. "Deal." And with that, our partnership was established. Ashu returned to his work as Leon and I walked back to my lodging.
"By the way," I suddenly asked Leon, "how did Ashu known that I fought in Abu-sultan?"
Leon smiled mysteriously. "Ashu has a way of knowing things that others don't, its weird. He's a man of many talents and I think its one of them."
"I see," I said, intrigued. "I'm grateful to you for introducing us. I look forward to learning more about Ashu."
"Just be careful," Leon warned. "Ashu is not to be taken lightly. I have a feeling he'll learn just as much about you as you will about him." And with that, Leon said goodbye, leaving me to ponder the unknown that was Ashu. I walked to my hotel, filled with excitement about my new acquaintance.
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