The Battle of the Future

“The Battle of the Future” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Shriya Anand, Oakridge International School, India.

The Battle of the Future

In the year 2218 in a secluded mansion in Phoenix, Arizona was a family consisting of a mother, a daughter, two sons, and a dog.

It was a dark and stormy night. Lucy lay in bed pale and ill. No one could figure out what was going on. Mom had asked the brothers David and Kevin to stand by Lucy’s side until she was better, but somehow, they felt uneasy and restless…like someone was calling them. The brothers told Anada the dog, to keep Lucy safe and to guard her.

When they went out they saw a pair of silvery-blue eyes staring at them from a tree hollow. As they got closer and closer, they were sucked into another world.

Suddenly they were in a world of stars floating steadily in midair. There was a centaur standing in front of them. lt was the same creature that had called them. They knew it was the answer to the sickness.

Meanwhile at home, mom, a leading scientist drew a blood sample from Lucy. She was shocked to see the greenish tinge to the blood colour. She knew she was seeing a serious infection unknown to mankind that was caused by mutated form of amoeba.

Back in the star world the centaur said that the amoeba used to live on the coral reefs, but because of the pollution created by humans, they lost their homes. So, they had mutated and decided to take revenge on mankind, starting with Lucy.

Immediately the brothers called mom and told her to go back in time using the time machine to warn the industries about the danger of marine pollution and teach them to recycle, treat waste and protect the aquatic ecosystem.

Mom spun her time machine back to 2018 to spread the message and urgency about not polluting the ocean and conserving marine life. Hearing this, the world took a strong decision to not pollute and to renew, reuse, and recycle.

Now, in 2218, Lucy soon became normal and everyone was rejoicing! This goes to show that we need to act now.If not, our future generations will pay the price for it!