‘Autumnal’, Heard of it?

by Jeevanjyoti Chakraborty

[box]Set in time many centuries from now, when seasons are passé , a few kids run across the word ‘autumnal’. In the process of demystifying the word, that in their times is archaic, they end up reading one of the earliest issues of Nouve SPARK. The theme of that old issue is Seasons. Watch the story unfurl as Anurag, Vidya, Krish and Ram try to understand what seasons are. Jeevanjyoti Chakraborty delights you with a science fiction that also carries a serious message.[/box]

“Daddy, please, can I get an old-print-sheet (OPS) of this?”

“Dear, I know you really like this vintage stuff but this one here is really expensive. Besides, I have already promised that bio-tachyonic interface for your birthday. I know you’ve had an eye on that for… ”

“Oh! I didn’t know you were really getting me that… you know what – most of my friends already have that interface. This OPS, however, will be a really ‘cool’ thing to show around, and only very few people actually know about the existence of this stuff. You get me this and I won’t even think of the interface any more, deal?”

“What’s up with you today – ‘cool’ – that’s archaic, what’s next ‘Thy, thine’?…”

“Come, on… please, I promise!”

“Alright, young lady, have your way – get the OPS. You got to access the Cross-Platform Styler using that old console and get the URL and accession codes right…”

“Teach that to your college boys…”Vidya jumped away without letting her dad finish… she had seen him use that ancient clunky console hundreds of times before. She keyed in:

URL: www.sparkthemag.wordpress.com YK: 2.010/5

Ten minutes later, she was proudly strutting out of the Nuovo SPARK building onto echelon M9. The special transparent folio holder, making it legal for ordinary citizens to carry around OPSs, was still warm with the hard-embossing of the accession date:

YK: 3.227/9

………………

“So, Anurag, how’s the preparation going on? Next year, you are going to be the skipper…”

“Yeah, I know. I am currently concentrating on the out-of-use.”

“They ask those?”

“Oh yes. And, you know what, Krish, these are the real tough ones. With the current group, if you know the etymology and the roots, you can work something out intelligently. For these oldies – you just know them or you don’t.”

“You two don’t have any idea what intelligence means” quipped Ramachandra and went back to his soft-console.

“Hi, spelling champ. Hi Krish. And if you are listening, Hi Ram!”

The “Hi Ram” elicited only a muffled “Hmph”.

“Hey, Vidya. Our very own Vintage Queen. Talk about timing, Anurag – this girl can sure smell out the old.”

“What’s up with you guys?”

“I was just telling Krish about my preparations with the old-world words.”

“Care to teach us some?”

“Sure. Yesterday, I came across this word – ‘Autumnal’, heard of it?”

“Actually … ”

“Auto-what. You got it wrong. It’s automaton.”

“No, Ram, Anurag is right, it’s autumnal. I too have heard of it – actually read it somewhere.”

“Really, Vidya? I told you Anurag … she is the Old-World Queen.”

“You know how I prepare from the lexico-dossiers with machine-voice descriptors. I just managed to find out that autumnal had something to do with… what was it… yeah sea-zones.”

“Sea-zones?! What’s that?”

“Anurag, I think what you heard was not sea-zones, it was seasons.”

“You know that?”

“Well, I have read about it. But, no, I don’t know exactly.”

“What’s this mysterious source?” Anurag asked with lip-smacking anticipation. For him any new source was an untouched treasure.

“You see my dad works at the Nuovo SPARK. He has access to all these vintage files from the mother enterprise back from the days before the Big Crisis.”

“We didn’t know Nuovo SPARK was that old.”

“So, as I was saying, I asked my dad to give me a copy of one of the first issues. Actually I got an OPS”

“You got a what? Are you kidding me? Those are mighty expensive.”

“Birthday gift.”

“Can we see it?”

“Yeah, right here.” Vidya brought out her prized possession. The three kids pored over that ancient document, delicately fingering the folio guides. Ramachandra kept going at his soft-console.

“This was only their fifth issue. And, guys, it is also about seasons.”

“I can’t believe my eyes.”

“I really can’t make any sense of what is written here. But, this is awesome!”

“My guess is, these seasons must have been a pretty significant thing back then for them to dedicate one whole issue to it. I haven’t found the time to go through all the articles. But, I had asked dad about these seasons. You know how he never gives it easy to me and asked me to dig around. So, my search in the HYPERNET did turn up a few things. But, most of the real stuff is closed to special subscription access.”

Text233: Picture by TheAlieness GiselaGiardino

“They do have valid reasons for that, but you wouldn’t appreciate that.” The condescension in Ram’s voice was unmistakable.

“Ram, do you really have to be so mean? Anyway, I managed to figure out that before the Big Crisis when the echelons had not been constructed, the terrain was exposed to space – I mean, directly exposed to everything… right up to the exospace and beyond.”

“Go on.”

“But, surprise of surprises, the terrain was not really unprotected. There was a protective air covering which extended many fold times the current highest echelons – yes even echelon Z0”

“Yes, yes, we have heard too. But, what’s that got to do with seasons?”

“Well, you see, the seasons were a sort of indication for how hot or cold it got on the terrain. Since there was this protective covering over the terrain, I am guessing that somehow it was responsible – that somehow it became hot or cold and made it felt accordingly on the terrain.”

“Yeah that would make sense from the condition of necessity of thermal equilibrium.” – Vidya couldn’t help smiling at Ram’s first non-confrontational remark.

“But I still don’t get it. Why was it so important? Besides, what could come of feeling hot or cold? I just don’t get it how the whole thing around you could just get hot or cold.”

“Krish, I hate to admit it. But, for once, I, too, am totally confused but…!” Ram conceded.

“Hark! the goliath taketh bow!” Anurag couldn’t miss this opportunity to use his latest stock of ‘oldies’. Krish and Vidya caught on to the sarcastic tone but Vidya was kind enough: “Let’s hear him out…Ram you were saying…”

“Hmph. As you know, my dad is an engineer with the Echelon Maintenance Taskforce. He has been to echelon Z0 – that’s basically the terrace of the world.”

“To echelon Z0?!” Vidya and Anurag exclaimed in unison.

“Do you mean to say your dad was actually on the terrace. Exposed to space and all?”

“That’s right. They had to wear special protective suits – not the astronaut kind – they are basically meant for long-term protection. However, during the annual emergency preparation week, they have to undergo suiting change right there on the terrace to prepare for any future mishap.”

“Ram, you had never told us about all this.”

“Never saw the point. Anyway, during those training sessions, he actually felt the unconditioned air.”

“What do you mean by unconditioned?”

“You do know that air at these echelons we live in protected by the giant global roof overhead is continuously filtered, conditioned and thermally optimized. In fact maintaining the smooth operation of the gigantic compressors is the main job of the Echelon Maintenance Taskforce. Only very limited tracts of the continental terrains are left without the echelon system. Across all these covered parts, we experience a practically uniform temperature and humidity level.”

“Never thought about it that way.”

“Back when the echelons were being first constructed after the Big Crisis around YK 2.600, scientists worked out the optimum living conditions and accordingly conditioned the terrain ambience.”

“So, how was the unconditioned air experience for your dad?” Krish was now really worked up.

“It was cold and really uncomfortable. He told me that he was actually a bit scared. He said that unless you get the Z0 experience you never really appreciate SpringSyn – that is the scientific nomenclature for the optimized setting here at the echelons spread across the terrain.”

Vidya who had been listening wide eyed at all of Ram’s description squeaked out: “Did you say ‘spring’ something?”

“Yeah, SpringSyn.”

“Spring was a name of one of the seasons. Just look at the OPS folios – so many pieces just on this Spring! Apparently, people felt the happiest and most comfortable in Spring. Now, it does make some sense!”

“What about the other names? What about this – Summer?”

“Hmm. Seems to be the hot one.”

“Yes, yes. Definitely the hot one.”

“Hmph.”

“Look at this sentence here. ‘… to beat the heat..’ – That’s a nice way of putting it! They seemed to have a whole lot of food to do that. I certainly didn’t know ice-cream was meant for summer.”

“What about the cold one? Which is that?”

“That would be Winter… here… look at this.”

“I really don’t get it. This guy writes about pleasant winters. This woman writes here about harsh winters.”

“The old world sure was a mysterious place!”

“Perennial winter at echelon Z0; what do you say to that Ram?”

“Hmph. Not really, dad has told me that their training sessions take place only during the away-sun portions in the first quarter of the 24-cycle. The rest of the time it is burning hot up there. You could say summer and winter only at Z0.”

“Hey, where is my ‘autumnal’?” Anurag, by now, was gloating at the valuable additions to his stock.

“Here it is. Wait, it’s autumn. Autumnal is for the ambience to be like autumn. From the looks of it, some people found this Autumn thing more ‘equable’ – whatever that means – and would prefer it to Spring.”

……………..

Vidya, who had not seen all the pages of this rare document at her home, now suddenly chanced upon a page. Centuries of research and engineering work had brought the optimized ambience setting to such a stage that people, unwonted to physical labour, had practically never experienced what it is to break a sweat. The cafeteria where the kids were discussing ‘seasons’, had a delightfully refreshing ambience setting too. And yet, in that SpringSyn, like a bolt from the sky, cracking up the still silence of the night, and flashing out the dark monotony, an alien feeling of cold sweat gripped Vidya in an icy frisson. She pointed out at the title: