Science Is My God

story by Sameer Raote

Life of Raghvan Kai

PRE 10/12/5999 – PRE 01/02/5723

Raghvan Kai was born as a dead child. That’s because he was genetically engineered and artificially incubated by his creators. This was the work of a 6th pre-millennium king and queen pair who were scientists themselves. Yes, science was very advanced in Kai kingdom many millennia prior to the common era. In those times science was only accessible to the royal families.

Since the DNA of the king and queen of the Kai kingdom was used to make this baby, although not naturally, they were his biological parents. The Kai family bloodline prior to him had the gene code to breed intelligent but physically weak beings. They were brilliant but they lacked the charisma to rule a kingdom. It was out of pure luck that two generations of Kai family enjoyed the luxury of ruling a kingdom. In order to fix these flaws a woman named Ratrasi worked day and night to create a perfect child that is a lethal combination of both brain and brawn. She pushed herself to such a limit that she died bringing the baby to life.

Little prince Raghvan Kai grew up without a mother. Although there were female role models around him, he spend most of his time with his father and exploring his scientific curiosity. That’s because this pursuit is what made him feel close to his deceased mother. Her research papers on genetic engineering of a baby was full of technical stuff but from time to time her thoughts drifted to write about how it would feel to be a mother. Reading those letters is what got Raghvan obsessed with science.

As a growing prince who is destined to be king one day, he learned it all. Decision making, problem solving, combat training and all the skills a king needs to be a good king, except one, empathy. As a child he witnessed a scientist create the first image of an atom. When he learned that all things living and non-living are made out of these small atoms and nothing else, it skewed his perspective towards life. Like animals, plants and minerals, other people were just a commodity for him to exploit to grow his understanding of the universe.

As Raghvan grew in size, his intelligence grew and so did his ruthless nature. He spent long hours in labs conducting unethical experiments. Procedures that were certainly unhealthy or even lethal on the people tested on. He didn’t care how many people died. At times when Raghvan’s father rejected the proposal to carry out a certain experiment, he went behind king’s back to make it happen. The arsenal of mad scientists he gathered were perfectly okay with disobeying king’s orders so long as prince Raghvan was on their side.

Raghvan grew to be a handsome charismatic man. Due to certain genetic modifications Raghvan became an ideal male specimen. Further he was taught to impress people with his speech and personality. His people were so enchanted by his personality that they didn’t revolt no matter how many wrong things he did to them. They simply accepted his will as part of their life.

Once when Raghvan wanted to carry out a nuclear bomb test. His father, the king, refused to grant permission. This led to an argument which escalated until Raghvan accidentally killed his own father. After that he became the king. Since that point all the control was in his hands.

Raghvan didn’t care to fight meaningless battles for territorial expansion. Instead he directed all attention to improve the science and technology of the kingdom. He encourage more people to get into the sciences. Those who couldn’t keep up with the advancement of technology were enslaved and treated as test subjects. All those people happily accepted their fate.

Raghvan’s hunger for more scientific advancements only grew with passing time. This was bad, not just for his kingdom but for the planet. He tampered with human biology, brain chemistry, medicine, food, minerals, energies and what not. Anything that would make people stronger, faster, larger; overall “better versions” in his words. He was turning humans into beasts just to see how far he can push them. Somebody needed to put a leash on him. If only his mother was alive. She would never let him go this far.

Raghvan had invented aerial vehicles that could fly undetected over enemy territories. He used to take it for a spin, just for fun and brainstorm scientific thoughts. One day he saw something, someone that caught his attention. A beautiful woman in a forest washing her hair by the river side. Raghvan immediately felt a strange attraction towards her.

Raghvan did nothing. He simply ignored her and returned home. Even when he was back to work the thought of that woman didn’t leave his mind. He went see her again the next day, to watch her from hiding. It was strange. Raghvan was growing more and more distracted. His obsession for this woman grew. Then one day he reached a breaking point and so he abducted her. A woman named Tashmaini Rosi.

Raghvan felt a strange attraction towards her. Strange because it was not romantic. He simply liked to visit her cage during night time and talk to her. Obviously she did not reciprocate the same feeling still he tried. After many months of work she gave in. Tasmi, as what she preferred to be called as, was no longer kept in a cage. She was free to move around the kingdom, under surveillance at all times, obviously. The only rule was that she has to return to the castle in the night to talk to Raghvan.

This was good for Raghvan and for others as well. While he was a ruthless king during the day, during the night time he was a simple guy who liked to just chat. This was good because these talks managed to reduce his hunger for scientific advancements. He never asked for her affection in return, all he cared was her to listen. As a child Raghvan used to talk alone looking at the dark night sky. It gave him the feeling of satisfaction thinking that his mother is listening quietly. Now, as an adult Raghvan felt the same satisfaction while talking to Tasmi.

This was working as Tasmi tried to teach Raghvan empathy. But it was temporary. Since Tasmi is a married woman her husband was working hard to get her back. When a messenger came to ask for Tasmi’s freedom, this made Raghvan very angry. That very instant he snapped back to his evil ways.

The situation only escalated from there as Tasmi’s husband marched through the watery gates of Kai kingdom with an army. He wanted his wife back at all cost but Raghvan wasn’t willing to let her go. This led to a long brutal battle. It ended with a one on one duel between Raghvan and Tasmi’s husband Karam Veer.

Raghvan was a powerful man. He had experimented on himself enough to turn into a superior being with unimaginable strength and powers. He often displayed his amazing strength while saying, “Only God can kill me now.” By God he meant science. He had a strong belief that there is no such thing as God, lord creator of the universe. “Science is what makes the universe exist and only science is capable of ending it and me.”

Raghvan was right, in more ways than he knew. His claim was a prophecy as it eventually became true when God himself came to kill Raghvan in form of Tasmi’s husband. Thus ending the evil and unjust rule of Raghvan Kai once and for all. At the end of their duel, Raghvan was gravely injured but there was a way to save him. By then Raghvan had realized his mistake and willingly gave up his life for the welfare of his people and the world.

END

written by Sameer Raote