The old man sighed and closed his eyes, “I’ve lived a long and fulfilling life, and now I’m finally at the end. I’d hoped to see my home before I died, but alas...” The old man grunted, “Why am I boring you with this old man’s story.” He looked at John and nodded, “This old man still has some power left in him. I’ll give you what I can before I pass.” The old man rubbed his hands and laughed, looking more like a villain than a genuine benefactor. “If I remember correctly,” he mumbled, “No, no, his body won’t be able to handle that. What about...Yes, that might work. Still a little rusty but I might be able to pull it off.”
John gurgled anxiously. He was thankful to the old man for saving him but he didn’t want to stay on a deserted planet. He wanted to live a carefree life back on Earth. Super powers, at this point, were not very important. The old man would do better by repairing his spaceship and sending him on his way. He was not very confident in what the old man was trying to do. It sounded like the old man was just experimenting on him for fun.
The old man’s body began to shimmer, a soft breeze wafted through the cave, and a faint but pleasant aroma could be detected. It almost smelt like eucalyptus, thought John. He then felt a numbness sweep through his body, and his head turned cold like he’d stuck it in a freezer. His head started to hurt. Damn that old man! What had he done to him? This was wrong. John was just a baby. He could see tendrils of multicolored lights attach themselves to him before he blacked out.
When John came to the first thing he saw was the old man, whose face was way too close.
“It worked,” the old man grinned, clapping his hands with glee. John wondered whether the old man was insane. “This old man has just made you the strongest infant in the universe. Your physical and mental growth, for the next decade at least, should be phenomenal, if you can live that long.”
The old man coughed violently, spitting out blood. He wiped his chin and smiled. “I have two hours left in me, at most,” he said sadly, “but never mind that. Back to what I’ve done for you. Unfortunately, this power I give you can only last temporarily. Your body will require no sustenance for the next three planetary turns. I have also sealed the cave with an invisible barrier for two turns so you should be safe till then. I am too weak to bestow on you anything greater than this. Whether you survive after that will depend on your skills and luck.” Skills and luck? John would be toast in two years. He wasn’t seriously expecting a small child to survive out on this wild planet all alone, was he?
The old man carried John and placed him on the mattress. He then moved the levitating metallic cube so that it was directly above John. “I’ve programmed the holocube to teach you important life skills. And now, I shall modify your memory.”
John began to cry. “Don’t touch my memories. They’re the only thing I have left,” John wailed, though all that could be heard was a “wah wah wah.” He wouldn’t even know how he had died now. He cursed the old man.
“Having memories of your previous life will bring your body, mind, soul and spirit into conflict, especially during these crucial childhood years. I’ll seal your mind in a way that the memories of your previous incarnation will gradually return as you grow older and better equipped at handling them. It will be a long time before you remember this day. No need to thank me,” the old man said. He snapped his fingers and John fell asleep before he could protest.
When John woke up the cave was empty. He had no memories of anything before that moment. He lay down staring at the holocube, as he tried to move his body about. He managed to roll over and burped. With a little bit of a struggle he was on his back again, and stared at the holocube floating above him. As if on cue, the holocube began displaying images and audio. John goggled at the new sights and sounds, unable to comprehend much.
It took three months for John to master the language of the holocube, three months of lying down and staring at the images and videos, and listening to the gentle voice accompanying them. By that time John had learned to walk, and even run a little. The holocube then changed its program to fitness training. In two weeks John was running without problems, in two months he was doing air flips and somersaults. He’d walk on his hands when he got bored of walking on his feet, and climb the cave walls like a gecko as he tried to pry out the spheres of light on the ceiling to experiment with. John diligently mimicked the holographic videos, his eyes filled with delight whenever the voice of the holocube complimented him. He remembered nothing of his past before the holocube, except for one name...his name.
Months passed. He learned of food, hunger, hygiene and excretion, but didn’t know what to make of them. These things didn’t seem to be relevant to him. Perhaps the holocube was wrong. Maybe he was different from these ‘humans’ the holocube told him about. They seemed very similar to him, but also very strange.
Just as his faith in the holocube began to waver he felt a chill. What was this feeling? Was this coldness? Why had he never felt it before. He gazed out at the opening of the cave and saw a leaf float towards the entrance. That had never happened before either. There was always something preventing things from going out or coming in to the cave. John walked to the entrance and examined the leaf carefully. Tectona grandis. Yes this was definitely a leaf from Tectona grandis… Teak. The holocube had said it could be used as an ingredient in stews and also as a medicine. The wood was durable and could be used to make furniture. There were no carpentry tools. John would have to make them himself if he wanted a proper bed.
With some trepidation John walked past the entrance of the cave. The barrier was gone. John was scared that the barrier would come back as soon as he was outside the cave and ran back in. Three days passed like this, with John testing the barrier but not daring to stay out for longer than a few minutes. On the fourth day he decided to be bold and venture out. He walked out into the world for the first time in his life.
John’s cave home was located on a small hill surrounded by forest. He spotted a few squirrels as soon as he left and ran after them in curiosity. The holocube had shown him these animals before but seeing them in real life felt different. He followed them down the hill and to the tree where they’d made their home.
The outside wasn’t as bad as the holocube made it out to be, thought John as he saw the squirrels play with each other. Perhaps he’d wasted all these past few months in combat training. He’d asked the holocube to show him more stories instead, but the holocube had refused. He climbed the tree, wanting to play with the squirrels but the little animals were afraid of him and quickly jumped away. John chased after them, further and further into the forest. The squirrels were too tired after a while and stayed prone as John climbed up to the tree they were on.
“Don’t worry little ones,” John whispered, “I’m not going to hurt you.” After some time the squirrels grew accustomed to his presence and even let John touch them. This was the first time he’d touched another living being. The squirrel nibbled on his finger. The feeling exhilarated him.
He’d never thought of his loneliness until that moment. He felt a new desire for company other than the holocube. He wanted to be with other people, and live in those cities the holocube had shown him. He wanted to hear real people talk and laugh and sing, not some holographic recording. He wanted to feel their presence. He hadn’t been able to tell the difference between what was real and what was a hologram until today. Sure, he had known it intellectually, but he had never felt the difference.
All of a sudden the ground beneath him trembled and the trees swayed. An angry and powerful roar could be heard in the distance. From all the videos the holocube had shown him John knew that this meant trouble.
