The Decayed Salt

By Hovaz Dehlanchian Havani

The story is based mainly upon the citizens of Azatya, who live in a very high-tech and robotic era of time. Earth at the time had turned into a toxic and dangerous place due to global warming, and the city itself is the last standing environment that accommodates the human race of the time, who are trying to find the answer to the question Are we really humans? As the religious groups of the time were rejected as terrorists, they live secretly in quite faraway lands from Azatya. Within the religious groups, civil fights occur, for a few of them decide to surrender for peace, whereas the rest betray them for their decision. The scientists of the time, on the other hand, find out about the end of the world and firstly want to end the war, but even they find rejecting minds.

As all their opinions bring them to collapse, time machine is given birth, which changes everyones idea about fighting the war. The religious men, due to lack of technology, find just one way to fight back. That is to steal the time machine from the enemy. The capability of the machine and its science used gave the right to human beings to declare themselves as gods.

Both religious and the scientists are able to send their men to the past to give birth to a new beginning. But unfortunately, the war is spread in the pages of the history. That is when two enemies join hands to stop the chaos. But through their adventures, the atheists turns into a faithful man and the religious man into Satans weapon, just moments before the judgment day.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 22, 2018
• ISBN: 9781543481679

Hovaz Dehlanchian Havani

Hovaz Dehlanchian Havani is born in Iran. At the age of nine, he was sent to Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy, which was a boarding school, far away from his country, in Kolkata, India. After ten years in the boarding school he developed the skills to play rugby, which he won numerous state and national level trophies and medals playing amongst "The Armenians" team. Along side his sports he excelled brilliantly in academic levels in the boarding school. From early age he showed interest in science, and later was attached to Physics in particular, where he continued till high school. After graduation he returned home after a long time. The challenges that he faced hindered him from joining college in his respective field. He later was able to resume his education in Bachelors in Arts again from Kolkata. His old passion and skills redeemed him from his challenges, when he self thought himself as much as possible about physics. Later he was sparked with the idea to write "The Decayed Salt", while he already was accepted for an internship in the United States of America, where he saw a good opportunity to start dreaming again.

Book preview

1

The Advertisement

A N ANGEL WHO was flying across the heaven spotted God and noticed that he was worried about something. The angel approached God and asked, Father, what is it that makes you worry?

GOD. The earth’s human beings.

The angel looked down upon the earth and saw the wars currently happening. The angel, curious about the future, asked God again, Will there ever come a time when wars are over and peace will be established on earth?

GOD. War amongst men is as old as themselves and will last as long as they live, but that does not mean that peace cannot be achieved globally.

ANGEL. How is that possible?

GOD. The men have chosen the religion of war, and I will not interfere with their power of choice. The peace amongst men will come, when everyone on the earth battles each other in a much modern weapons and morals. Rockets that carry warm wishes will be fired upon each other. They will blow fire that lightens up the enemies’ smile. The men will know the strong as brave and the winner, the faithful. They will have to make the enemy cry with tears of happiness. They will let the greedy be the fierce lover who will rule upon them. The ruler has to be a great conqueror of territories inside his people’s hearts. Once this day comes, they will know the entire universe, but let that universe be the expansion of peace amongst men.

As God was talking, he found a small ray of light, somewhere in Azatya—in a house with three residents. Two were being entertained by an advertisement, and the third was sleeping at the corner of the room.

Television – Ohhh, hi again. This is a chance that you have waited like uhmmm … forever. Are you tired and disgusted of your only child ’cause you are working all day for renowned companies and making a huge difference in the universe or busy in your personal life, trying to reach your goals and ambition to taste the victory waiting in the near future and don’t have the time to make them behave and spend time with your kids. Do you want them to have all the qualities and beauty that you wanted and all are understood and mastered by them when they are just a teenager, or are you looking for someone who resembles a famous celebrity who can talk, walk, sing, and move just like your idol? Then you need to contact us. It is a 100 percent guarantee that they will like you like a loving mom, and you will feel pride to add another brilliant and talented person in the society. It also comes with a twin or—

(The television gets shut down by one of the viewers.)

ROBERT. Hey, Joe. Why did you shut the TV? I was watching it. It was the program of the year 3017. It may never be show again.

Joe, with a frown face, looked at him and said, Damn this advertisement, Robert. They cheat us, pal. They are not worth it. I bought the cutest daughter in the world last year, and she was not worth it.

ROBERT. Was she?

JOE. Yeah. We went for vacation last year. After all those expenses and introduction of our daughter’s capability at the mall, we didn’t know that she could not swim. Can you imagine? We even had to pay a fine for the scary scene that occurred when we passed the beach carrying my loving drowned daughter and no one would even help us. Do you know how heavy they are?

Joe shakes his head, looking down, and says, It was a nightmare.

Robert walks toward him and touches his shoulder and says, I’m terribly sorry for you loss. I can understand the pain you went through, my friend.

Joe takes a deep breath and looks up and says, It’s okay, man. I can get through this. All I need is time to get over it. Forget it and let us just watch television.

Robert, while changing the channels, stops and hits Joe on his shoulder and says, Man, I love this comedy serial.

JOE. What’s it about?

ROBERT. It’s about a human traveling through time, way into the future, and talks about all the weird stuff, which modern Homo sapiens used to do during their period. Oh god, I have watched this serial a thousand times. It is so funny and does not get old.

As Robert leans from his chair for his watch, to stop the sound of its ticking, he falls down, and Joe laughed his heart out, saying, Hahahaha! Help someone, please. We got a man drowning on the floor.

Robert got up and watched the program with Joe for the next one hour, criticizing each other while they enjoy their time until Joe looked at Robert with utmost seriousness.

Robert, seeing him, coughed while drinking his beer and asked, Are you okay, man?

JOE. No. I try imagining what may happen if we have a human being traveling to our time. Should we ahhh … just forget it.

ROBERT. No. Say it. Should we what?

JOE. Should we believe them? Because the only reason they are here is because they got the travel machine, which makes them smarter than us. This information is not passed through generation for a reason. This would have put them in a situation where they might have thought science may ruin us.

ROBERT. How stupid is that. Why are u ruining the movie, man? Just … Just cut it out. Not a pleasant topic to talk about. They could even talk about other things …Things like rellijyon and sakrifise.

JOE. What the hell are they?

ROBERT. I think it’s the way of life man chooses to achieve the ultimate happiness where he is judged by a forgiver who sees everything. I think if anyone claimed sinner in that court must be the real bad guys. What do you think? Do you think we could be sinners, Joe?

JOE. I just know that I’m not innocent.

Far behind the room where Joe and Robert were sitting, a man suddenly woke up in shock. He was sitting far behind them. After he awoke, he walked toward the window, and the way he watched the view outside was as if he had seen a dream, a dream that had seemed so real to him. He dropped his head in disappointment and saw the two men in front of the TV. He took the chair behind them and sat down and tried to remember the entire dream, but it was not possible. All he could remember were screenshots of the dream, which was of a never-ending green field, a tower, and a fine lady.

They sat in silence till a video played on the screen. Joe took the remote control and increased the volume. They heard explosions happening on the background during the reporting of a news channel. The reporter said, It is chaos there. Government soldiers have set to kill the terrorists who are heavily armed. They call themselves Vivere Sancturum’ (meaning the Living Saints in Latin). In their latest interview, they talked about end of days is upon us. This might be a nuclear threat. Could this be correct? What we should ask ourselves is how long we still got time to stop the threats and save humanity?

In that moment, a huge explosion from the war zone made the reporters and cameraman lose contact with the ground. And they fell into a dark, ruined trench, which made the TV screen go complete black. Robert leans forward to see clearer and gives up and asks Joe if he can see anything.

Joe saw his own reflection and replied, Me. Just me in the dark. I also know another thing for sure too. It is the beginning of the end.

Jack took a deep breath and stretched his body and said, It’s like we been here forever. I’m going to wash up and go buy groceries. Let me know if you need anything.

Joe didn’t say a word as if he was frozen or punished by the last words he said. He had never looked at a blank TV with such concentration. It was like he could read or see something very clearly, which made him look crazy to Jack. Jack took the remote as a way to criticize Joe and said, I’m switching it on, man, and pressed the off button and switched the TV off.

Joe came out of his hypnotized mode and said, No, man. I don’t need anything.

At that point of time, Robert looked at his watch and said, Fine, boys. I have to get going for my interview. See you guys tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Neither Joe nor Jack said a word, and Robert left the room with a big smile on his face.

Jack entered the bathroom to wash his face and opened the tap. A few drops touched his fingers, and the water stopped. He sighed and washed his face with his dry hands and beamed at the mirror. The reflection in the mirror from the window behind him, made him see a crowd approaching toward their area. A bunch of angry men were protesting with banners held high. Jack was surprised to see them and stepped out of the washroom and called out to Joe and said, Civilians have gone crazy.

They stepped out of their house and waited for the crowd to approach. The men’s protest was against a corporation, which was a manufacturer of thousands and thousands of cloned human beings, of which the corporation had got the right to produce since forty years ago. The banners were written with comments like We are the forgotten human beings, "Conpleo sapiens are not from Darwin’s theory," etc.

Joe asked, What is wrong with this people?

Jack stepped out too carefully and tried to find out the reason of their protest. He saw that they were regular people and got closer to ask questions.

One of the protesters was an old man walking with his kids and grandchildren. He looked at Joe and answered, We have become nothing but slaves. The perfect clones and the robots have taken all, everything. With their talents infused from birth and machines with their programming, they have left us working, starved for a loaf of bread. The clones have taken the media. No one can compete with their skills. Lawyers now fight for their rights to get even in higher positions. Is there any other higher position than making human beings their slaves? The old man looks at them in their relaxed and fashioned manner and shouts, This is everyone’s fight. If you don’t join us, then I say you both are cowards,

Jack responds, trembling, Oh sure, sir. We are.

OLD MAN. Cowards or with us?

JACK. Joe, we have got to get out of here. Let us go home now, Joe. I think they are dangerous.

Everyone stared at both of them as they left for their house.

JACK. Did you see that, Joe? The banners. Did you see who they were protesting against? It was the Faidte Corporation.

JOE. Yes, our employer. Do you think what I’m thinking, Jack?

JACK. Could it be what they say about our property be true?

Joe looked at the Faidte tower through the window. It was visible from that distance.

JOE. No, idiot. Could what they say about their employees be true?

2

The Faidte

J OE AND JACK took their car and drove to the address mentioned which they were supposed to be present after one more day. They walked around the building, looking at the white walls. In each corner of the big hall was one chip. The room was plentiful of wealthy businessmen, company owners, scientists, and men. They were amazed of the room, for what could possibly be sold here? One of the securities detected them and asked for backup in case it was required.

A tall guy in black suit approached them and whispered at their back while they stood still, "How interesting it is to play a game when you create and own all the winning cards—fear, power and technology.

Joe turns back and asks, Who are you? Where are we? What is this all about?

The man in a suit smiled and walked through the narrow gap between them and put on his spectacles, which calculated their heartbeat, diseases, and any other malfunctioning part of the body. The spectacles also showed their number to the security guard.

The security guard smiled and said, The question you have to ask is who are you? Follow me, soldiers. This way.

They followed him through a door just to know if at least he knew anything about them because they didn’t remember anything about their childhood or even their lives before their marriage with a girl who is just in mind as a memory. Jack and Joe have thought about their love lives for a while now, but did not even have pictures of their women. What they do know is that Joe was a musician who played violin for an orchestra, and Jack was a painter. They were shining characters in their field away from home trying to keep their family’s economic condition floating. They had got a sponsorship deal with Faidte Corporation that allows them to perform in higher and bigger studios. What was expected of them to do was not known to anyone except the guy in a suit who had a tender smile all along the way from the hall to a laboratory.

They stood in front of the wall. They were half-hearted with feelings that could not be mixed. There were half-filled with excitement beyond measure and the other half with fear, a fear which stopped their legs from stepping in the room. They fear that what they are and everything they are, were just another man’s achievement in the field of science.

A man working in a project, dressed in a doctor’s coat, all white, is informed by the man in black of their arrival. He turns back to see them. A face that holds anger and revenge on its whole boundaries can be seen from far. The man in the white coat takes off his spectacles and walks toward them with two files which had kept it ready in hand. Other doctors in the laboratory walk past as if they do not realize anyone stepping in.

The doctor walking toward them read the files and threw them in the garbage. He opened his arms to welcome them warmly. Jack and Joe notice their names on the files in the garbage, which was their only identity preserved.

The doctor calls out, Hello, my dear ones. You have not changed a bit. I know you better than anyone else in the world. You are my victory after all these years of endeavor. It is wonderfu—

Joe interrupts his speech.

JOE. Tell us where we are and who are you. Tell us what was written in those papers. Tell us why are we here. Tell us.

DOCTOR. My name is Lucias. Dr. Lucias, if you don’t mind. You seem eager, Mr. Joe Collins. Am I not right, Mr. Jack Robbins?

Jack, out of fear, mumbled a few words that couldn’t be heard, then replied, Yes, yes, sir. You are absolutely right.

DR. LUCIAS. This is a place where makes the lives of millions and millions of Conpleo sapiens comfortable. (Conpleo sapiens is a term that means "complete human beings and stands at the very last of human evolution after Homo sapiens. This word has been invented from their point of view and time.) A place where skilled beings walk out as professionals, dedicated to their lives and works, who value life more than everything. None would kill, steal, fight, betray or even lie to others around them…

JOE. Not until they are told. Right?

DR. LUCIAS. As I was saying, this is a place where I keep a city as huge as 20,000 km² away from harm. I have served the people of Azatya well. For eight hundred years, we have been at war, and yet no casualties from the civilians until last week. This city holds a population of eight million nobles, artists, celebrities, doctors, engineers and scientists. A week back, we’re attacked by a group of terrorists, who call themselves Vivere Sancturum. By the way, they are the strongest and deadliest of all terrorist groups that have been ever experienced by the planet Earth. They penetrated the city and left 216 dead bodies in the Pharaoh Tower, which made us lose one of the greatest human scientists of this era. These are people who welcome death in exchange for others. This is a place where we resolve this problem and create a safe and happy environment for civilians like you.

JOE. Then what about beyond Azatya? Is it safe? What has happened to the rest of the world?

DR. LUCIAS. Other places are not my concern, but you are Joe. I remember a man of a house who had left his family for the help of the starving kids in Kratinasya warzone, where he got injured, or even a bit more exact, he nearly died. This incident made his family think that he is dead. I found him and gave him a new life, a new purpose to live. I kept the good memories only so, that he may never feel hate in his life or never have the bitter taste of revenge.

At that moment, a man appeared out of the corner and added to the conversation by looking at Joe.

GENERAL DANE. By the way, that was you, Joe. My name is General Dane. My soldiers found you alive, and I wanted to repay the favor which you had done for the starving families of Kratinasya. I’m in charge of fighting terrorist groups with soldiers, bullets, and heavy weaponries.

DR. LUCIAS. He is more like the muscle of this city, and I am the brain. Together we try to keep the city safe. Believe us it is a difficult task, and better you understand the situation we are in. Now we just need to answer one more question of yours. That why are you here today. The future of our city is in your hands. Now is the most dangerous time, and we have to react and react fast. Different religions have united their finest men for the first time to fight against us. We have experienced like this behavior before too, but this is different. They have multiplied in number twenty times and not just fighters, but men of science too, which puts us into difficult situation. If they plan on making nuclear weapons, they will have the power to eradicate us all completely. All of these are possible if we don’t act on time. We need people who are sworn to us. People whom we can trust in the heat of the battle.

JACK. Wait a second. You want us to fight in the war? I can’t. I’m a painter. I can do something else in the war. I can bring water and other supplies that you will need. I have never harmed anyone. There could be no need for war, for those people may be pushed to the limits of desperation. Outside the walls of Azatya, it is a very poisonous and hot environment. We could pool our wealth with them to share each other’s happiness.

GENERAL DANE. We just want you to fight the battle, not the war.

JOE. Even if we agree, the battle has already started. It is going to take months or even years to train people like us for your purpose.

GENERAL DANE. Leave that to us.

JOE. What do you mean?

DR. LUCIAS. Let me explain, General. We use the highest possible technological techniques to transfer any ordinary man into a highly skilled killer— (coughs to reassemble his word) soldier. It will take us just six hours to make you ready. It is time that you return the favor of so many years living in safety.

JOE. Anyway, I appreciate your help, but I have lost a family, and I need to find them before it is too late. I know too much of their suffering to sit back and do nothing.

The man in suit approaches with a needle hidden in his hand.

JOE (seeing the man in suit, turns to the doctor and asks with doubt in his heart). You are going to let us leave, right?

GENERAL DANE. You will be free after your mission, soldier. That is an order.

JOE. But we are not your soldier yet.

GENERAL DANE. Right. Not yet (and nods the man in suit to finish it).

Joe hits the guy in suit and calls out to Jack, Run! Get out of here! They run in opposite directions. While Joe was running, each of his step to freedom was based on meeting his family for the one last time, to make sure they are safe. He sees the security personnel run toward the laboratory and runs toward the exit. On his way to his escape, he gets hit by the doctor on the head with a fire extinguisher. Joe falls to the floor. He could hardly move but mumbled, Jack run. They lift him up and put him in the machine where he sees Jack beside him.

JOE. This is not right. This is not over. (He sees a doctor approach them for the injection that will start the operation.)

The general waits for the completion of the operation and goes behind them to exchange the old chip on their head with the new one. He calls out that the project is complete and is ready to be activated. The doctor pushes the button in his hand and puts out their uniform, ready to be worn. As he pressed the button, he transformed their bodies bigger and their senses smaller.

Two complete personnel rose out of the bed and stood at ease. The general smiled and called out, Attention. J2715 and J2716, I need you ready by dusk, for we are at war. You are dismissed, soldiers.

They shouted together, Sir, aye, sir. They got naked and wore their uniforms and left the operation room.

At dusk, two soldiers ready for war were down the factory walking through a hole in the ground, which connected the laboratory to their biggest army camp. The soldiers found the exit and looked down the hill and saw soldiers as far as the eye sight could reach. All standing straight, looking high up the hill and waiting for a command. J2716 takes a step forward and calls out, Are you ready for a war? And the crowd uniformly loaded their guns and faced the battlefield, where smokes from explosions were visible even from the distance.

3

Chris Talks to the Men of God

(Three days ago)

A CHURCH IN the area of Huyska with its tall, huge, and firm structure in a barren land could be seen clearly from the nearby rocky hills. The geographical features of the area would have made anyone believe that it would not give the chance of adjustment to any living organism. The bullets had left their signature on the walls of the wrecked church, which indicated frequent battles happening in that region.

Surprisingly, a man was kneeling down before the altar where the sun shined on him from an opening on the ceiling. He pressed his eyes tight and waited for someone to approach or something to happen. He dreaded something. The dirt and the dim room did not permit him to be recognized, but the fear was visible on his every skin cell, but it was not