And next when she woke up, she was on a hospital bed, with tubes attached to her. She looked around and felt pain on her ribs, and when she tried to move her hand, she felt them a little heavy. She moved her head, and saw many flowers and buckays. She felt little discomfort, she rubbed her head, and felt little swelling on it.
" You were hit pretty hard." She heard a very familiar voice.
She turned back, and looked at the door where her twin sister was standing in her lab clothes.
" Am I in college?" She asked, her face a little plain.
" No. It's a hospital. I came from college." And she came close and looked at the report beside her, her face a little less professional than usual, hiding little worries about her.
" fractured ribs, excessive swelling, internal bleeding. None of them are major, you'll be fine for two weeks, just don't do a marathon or something." And seeing her sister's attitude, she just got a little annoyed, but she controlled her emotions, and asked the truth of life.
" What happened?" And she in response, replied.
" This." And umute the TV. And the television was all about the news from a day back, where after an earthquake the newly built subway collapsed, due to the sudden earthquake and the flood water poured and then it showed the live video of the situation. And then it showed what happened next.
The ground shook, but this time it wasn't because of the earthquake, it was because someone was trying to ground it from inside. The water surface shook, even more than before, then with boom a huge splash happened, and the water rose like a fountain. And then he pulled the whole tram to the ground.
" No one saw him, no one heard him. But we all know it was him. Our own Hero Krish."
And Priya mute the TV, and sat beside the bed.
" Was it him? "
" Yeah, he was miles away from the city, when it happened, he felt the earthquake and ran back in, and saw this. He located the tram. He said he senses someone familiar inside the tram. And then you saw what happened." And after listing that, she had many questions, but she asked one of them first.
" How powerful is he?" And Priya replied.
" We don't know." Was her reply. And a quiet silence fell, only the sound of a medical instrument could be heard. Both of them have similar faces, their expressions are the same.
" So, what happened?" Asked Supriya.
" Something about Dr Mehra being, Dr Mehra." And Supriya's expression didn't change, she probably didn't ask about him.
" Ohh!" Was her reply, and soon a person famous in the news came. Our hero Krishna.
And when he saw her a faint smile came to his face, and asked if she was ok? And she, with a smile said, her ribs are broken, her head hurts, and if she could move her hand, she would slap him to death. Because he was in the subway in the first place because of him. If it wasn't for his pared, she wouldn't be in the subway at all. And after hearing her complaints, he just sat down beside her, his face a little disappointed. He was about to apologize when she continued, and said thank you for saving her, and so for others there. Krishna looked a little surprised, and Supriya asked if he made any mistake or hid his identity. And he said, he didn't know but he was pretty sure about his methods, and she nodded. And asked again.
" How strong are you?" And he replied a little hesitatingly.
" I don't know?" And this time, he lied. What happened yesterday with his father told him enough that he can't trust anyone, not fully at least.
She nodded, not suspecting anything, and then she asked that both sisters wanted to know
" What happened to you and where you went, did he do something or, is it personal?" And Priya, seeing her question, added a little.
" If it's not personal." And Supriya also said this.
And Krishna after listening to this becomes quiet. There was much to say, but he didn't know what to say at all. But he has to say something, and maybe really wanted to ask what he should do.
" He was planning to kill me." Supriya looked surprised, and Priya was stunned.
" What?" It was Priya's reaction.
" That can't be true?" But seeing the reaction of Supriya and Krishna, it's probably true.
" Why?" She asked, but no one replied.
And Priya's gaze shifted to TV and saw the news of the college she worked at.
And in the college, many days have passed, and Dr Arya was there looking at one of his colleagues looking for his data, and Dr Arya was just standing there, drinking coffee chatting with a group of students, who were not allowed to come in before. There were three men and seven women, standing around him, and they looked very excited, for the super computer or him, he didn't know, or didn't care. He was explaining what a supercomputer used for. He likes to use metaphors and examples in his speech and lecture. He believes that your talent may not be good, but if you study you should be.
"You can think of this supercomputer as an idiot, a brilliant idiot. One that knows only to answer what you ask, and what you could ask. It doesn't dream, it doesn't guess, and it certainly doesn't care. But within its metallic skull, it processes quadrillions of calculations per second enough to make all the mathematicians in the world look like they're counting on fingers and toes.
Sounds impressive, right? And yet, here we are millions of students, teachers, programmers, and researchers still learning math, coding, physics, even basic logic. You may ask, why?
Well, it's simple.
This supercomputer cost billions to build, millions to run, and still even I can't use it at will. Not because it's moody, but because it's literal, and everyone wants to use it." And everyone laughed.
" It will only ever reflect back what it's been trained to know. Ask it the wrong question, and it'll give you a perfect answer to a problem you didn't mean to solve. It's like trying to have a conversation with an encyclopedia that has a rocket engine strapped to it. Blazingly fast, unfailingly precise but utterly without soul.
It's like a well trained lion in a circus. You know it's a lion, but you still laugh at it. But you have to be wary, it's a lion, it eats meat not grass.
You see, the real power doesn't lie in the machine. It lies in the question. Your question.
A mind that can ask the right question even a child's mind is more valuable than the most expensive machine ever built. Because a computer can crunch numbers, but it can't wonder. It can generate ideas, but it can't care. It knows everything, and understands nothing.
And that's where we come in.
We build these machines not to repowerful but to challenge us. To reflect our knowledge back to us. To force us to think better, to ask clearer questions, and to stretch the limits of our understanding. Not because the machine will ever love, or suffer, or hope but because we do.
So remember this, the supercomputer is a very smart idiot. But you, you're a curious human. And that, my friend, is infinitely more powerful." And everyone clapped.
Dr Arya stopped them, and gave them a chance to ask one question to the supercomputer. And they become excited, and he said that they think very carefully, and let them communicate to each other first. And after knowing that, they communicated, and agreed to a question that they all wanted to know.
And Dr Arya made some preparations, and then asked them if they were ready, and the students looked excited, and one timid lady came in front of the monitor, and asked.
" What impact does the existence of this godly or heroic figure like Krish would have on this world?" And after hearing this, Dr Arya stiffened a little. It hit a little sour spot there. And soon a very long answer came, but it can be summarized in a few words.
[ Processing query: hypothetical existence of a known, godlike superhero with a hidden identity.
Output:
"If a superhero with godlike powers truly existed and everyone knew of his existence, yet he hid his identity... then logically, the public would both know of him and simultaneously not knowwho he is. This is an elegant paradox, much like Schrödinger's cape: he is both your savior and your barista."
Sub-analysis:
Sociological effect: Global fascination, widespread hero worship, and a billion conspiracy theories. Everyone is a suspect.
Political effect: Governments would argue whether to fear him, fund him, or follow him. Most would just try to tax him.
Economic effect: Anything related to him will increase by 5400%. Sunglasses with facial recognition blockers sell out.
Philosophical dilemma: If he hides, is he a coward, a guardian, or just socially anxious?
In the field of science: The world in usher is in a rapid development and research of related superpower, resulting in many deaths, and financial loss.
Conclusion:
"Humanity would place its hopes in him, distrust him, romanticize him, and write about him. Meanwhile, he'd be standing quietly in the back of a press conference, sipping coffee, and no one would notice—because no one really looks at janitors."
Warning:
"This query has triggered 14,003 potential movie plots. Would you like to sort by box office potential?"
" No thanks. But what a waste of this good opportunity." And he sighs. And every student looked at him.
" You can print this and read the extended version carefully, or just think of your mind. And know about the human heart." And he looked at them.
" A society doesn't want an unstable faction, a politician doesn't want something out of his control. People who talk about equal rights don't want to see a person or people with something special. The weak don't want a strong to rise, many people are just jealous of others. And for us scientists, it doesn't matter if this Krish guy is good or not, the thing that matters is can we create another."And the students looked at him, asked the question he knew they would ask.
" Sir, can we make him?" And his reply came fast.
" Sure, maybe one of us could." He said, encouraging them.
After a time, he waved them goodbye, and looked at the supercomputer in front of him, and plugged the pandrive he had, and the system now became private. He saw the test results he was waiting for, and soon got his result. And a big smile appeared on his face.
He removed the pandrive, and whistled back to his lab, and made the perfect serum that could make a human, a superhuman, a Mahamanav.
He looked at the two tubes of serum that he had created, one blue and one red. He took out a tube of light blue liquid from the pair, and put it high, seeing the sun through it. It was beautiful.
" I've done it, son. I've done it. I've finished the race for the first time." And he put both tubes in a special box. And then closed it in a loud manner, and a sudden sense of emptiness came to his mind, and he became sluggish. He sat down on the chair nearby and looked at the box in front of him. His mind is filled with all the thoughts you'll have when you create something that shouldn't be possible, or something that breaks the inherited thinking of people, which people consider impossible. He has many ideas, many thoughts, many rebuttals. He has seen the mountain, climbed the mountain, and even destroyed it. But this time, he has built a mountain. Whose weight, he probably can't handle.
So what should he do? It's a simple look around, and see if the mountain you created is filled with snow, forest or lava. And he knows who to ask, but first he needs to attend a class.
He wasn't in the mood for giving a lecture, and his hand was shaking a little, he didn't know if it was excitement or not, he didn't know that, but they were shaking indeed. He waved to them a bit, and just walked to his class, and like usual, he got courtesy when he entered, and they said good evening as usual. He was in half mood to just walk away, and cancel the class. But a sudden thought came to his mind, and he thought, he needs some answers, let's just ask these kids.
" Sometimes, inspiration comes from places you might not expect." He said to himself, and saw several students taking out their books. He waved his hand
" Let's do something interesting, books we read daily, let's talk about current affairs and the future." And everyone looked at him.
" Don't worry, it won't affect your grades." He said perfunctly . And they all put down their books.
" Dim the light a bit." And the lights dimmed.
" Tune the screen." And the screen board started.
" Can you show me the DNA of a human with all the known parts named." And the screen behind him flicker, and a dna structure was shown.
" So let's name the most known part of the DNA." And with the students naming the parts, that part of the dna lit up and showed the name. And Arya didn't react much to this, but he vaguely congratulated them, and then clapped and named the last part himself.
" And the Meta-gene. Which was discovered by Dr Mehra and I, a few years back." And he zoomed in on the structure nearby.
" So who can tell me what happens when this dormant or dead gene wakes?" And he looked at everyone, and many raised their hands, and he looked at the crowd of students, and saw a distinct girl sitting behind, not raising her hand. And she was Dr Mehra's daughter, Sakshi. But he didn't ask her. He answered it himself.
He changes the picture to a news report, where a blurry figure in black was standing.
" It's our Favorite hero Krish." And he didn't change the picture.
" Yes. There is a very high possibility that he awakened the Meta-gene or got something that awakened the Meta-gene." And he changed the photo.
" Question comes here. Where did he get his powers?" And he looked at everyone again. Many gave answers, many were different, many equal and many close to truth. Which here doesn't matter.
" Well it doesn't matter, it doesn't have much significance in a way, where he got his power. Maybe this was just luck. And we do work in luck, anyway. Let's talk about what would happen, if everyone could have this power." And he looked at everyone, and no one said anything.
" We are students of science, so what is this question about human psychology? Well, you can say it's pretty simple. The end of science is theology. Well forget this stuff, answer this question first."
" What will happen, if everyone is Krish." And this question, he asked seriously. He put the controller down, and looked at all the students in front of him. And no one answers this question. But like usual, there were few who had courage. He didn't say anything, just pointed to his hand. And the person started to answer, and Dr Arya didn't pay much attention to him, and his answer was pretty formulaic, and he shutter a bit in the beginning. And he said next after he finished, and the next one's answer was different, but nothing significant. And he spent most of the time listening to their answers, and they all answered similarly. It was all about equality, power, difference and human mind. Which, he already knows and thinks about. He got more and more disappointed, there were some differences and good answers, but not the one he was looking for. He almost gave up thinking that he might get something, when he heard something different, not that what he said was different, but that instead of answering, it asked a question back.
" Sir, can you explain clearly in which condition we assume that everyone can become or become Krish?" And Dr Arya looked up, it was Sakshi, Rohit's daughter. And he didn't have much reaction to it.
" Well, can you explain in which aspect you want to know?" And she replied.
" I mean, who has the power to make people, Krish." And he replied.
" What if the nature has, and what if the people have." And she answered without thinking.
" If it is nature, I'll say, just sit and wait for death. It depends how fast it happens, if it happens in a large number, the society will have a short term collapse, and the government will suppress them with heavy power, it depends totally on a person who gets the power. And if it happens sparsely, like in movies, we know what happened in movies, wait for death until everyone is like you. And if it's controlled by a certain force or a person, just wait for the next World War to start. An ambitious and impetuous person will never stand for an ideal when he sees someone getting better than him." And he asked.
" Can you elaborate?" And she answers.
" If Oppenheimer invented the nuclear bomb before or after war, it would be the reason for the war."
" The World would never allow a person or a county to have the power to subvert the world, in peace time at least."
" So what if someone really has made this, what should he do?"
" Throw his research on gutter, or water it down to a level where it just acts as a medicine for headache or a vitamin supplement, slowly changing the world."
" Play God?" He asked.
" If a person can make someone like Krish, isn't he a God?" And he just laughed.
" Well said, but forget it, the world is too complicated for this Krish guy." And the bell rang, class was over. Dr Arya's eye didn't leave Sakshi, and when she was about to leave, he told her to stay, and asked if she can ask Dr Mehra to come over, Sakshi tried to brush it off by saying he might be busy. And seeing this, Dr Arya took out the box where he had placed the Serum he had made, he gave her the Red one.
" Give him that, he'll understand."