12:00 GMT – 20th Jan 2032
In a dimly lit student hostel room, there was a well-laid five by six feet bed in the center, and a pile of medical books was stacked in a moderate-sized bookshelf in the left-hand corner of the room. Below the shelf, was an old table with a pile of papers, lab reports, and a black Lenovo laptop playing the latest global music in an open browser.
Some distance from the end of the bed, a young man of twenty-three years was seated on a three-legged stool. This young man had short cropped black hair, he was dressed in a tight-fitting white T-Shirt that showed off his biceps and a dark blue pair of designer jeans. On his feet were the latest Adidas sneakers in white color. He was what most youth referred to as hot or dope.
He was bent over, his concentration on the saucepan before him. He was cooking something in the saucepan placed over a lit small gas cylinder. In his right hand was a small wooden mingling stick which he kept on turning to stir the posho or sometimes called ugali by most East Africans. The left hand was holding the saucepan in place with a damp cloth to prevent his hand from being burnt by the hot saucepan. This posho being cooked in a small saucepan could feed only one person. The sizzling sound of posho burning while he turned it over and over in the saucepan intermixed with the music coming from the laptop to produce a disharmonious melody in the room.
As he continued cooking, the room was filled with the aroma of posho/ugali which was ready to be served even if it had not completely hardened. The young man put aside the mingling stick and wiped his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand. He did not enjoy cooking but hunger and lacking the money to eat in a restaurant forced him to cook his meals.
'I wish I had a woman staying with me, and she does all the cooking. This work is not fit for a man.' He thought in his head.
A beep sound was heard from the Lenovo laptop, then the music immediately stopped playing.
"Hello, welcome to the breaking news of the hour; this is AI Global2 with the latest global news. With reports and analysis from across the globe, the latest news seven days a week. AI Global2 News are supported by advertising.
NASA Redeemer spacecraft that was sent by the Earth Government will be approaching the asteroid 82031 DOOM or what has been mostly referred to on social media as Apocalpse2 in the next two hours.
The Spacecraft is expected to deflect the asteroid off its current trajectory which has planet Earth in its bullseye. Asteroid 82031 DOOM is 19 miles long, two times bigger than the Yucatan asteroid which destroyed all life on Earth and ended the era of dinosaurs.
The current course of the asteroid will have it crashing into Europe or middle Asia if not stopped, this is an extinction-level event from the simulations carried out by numerous Artificial Intelligence programs.
Asteroid 82031 was first spotted by amateur astronomer Xi Bond on 4th August 2031, it was confirmed by the astronomy community on 20th August of the same year that it was on a collision course with Earth.
Will this be the asteroid that ends mankind and all life on Earth?" This question from the AI News anchor shocked the young man. It felt as if the AI was mocking humanity.
Several months back, the world government after a lot of bickering back and forth with some arguing that the asteroid was not an existential threat to life on Earth. It was not easy having them set aside seven billion World Credits to fund the mission." The AI narrated the history of the asteroid.
The United States Dollar had been replaced by the World Credit in 2028 AD as the global currency, it was mostly in digital format with the paper WCs treated as souvenirs or luxury items to impress others. Several national currencies like the Chinese Yuan, Russian Rubble, and European Euro had participated in vying for global dominance once the United States Dollar weakened but none of them were globally accepted until the birth of the World Credit.
"On 2nd October 2031, Earth Government representatives voted to send a craft into space in the shortest time possible. From the several space agencies around the world, NASA was chosen. And on 19th October 2031, NASA Redeemer spacecraft was launched into space to go and rendezvous with the asteroid; hopefully divert it from its course. That was four months back."
With each month that went by, the world was in a terrified state, markets were at an all-time low ever since the end of World War III in June 2030; investors were not sure about the future. Depression was affecting most people who saw no hope ahead with some committing suicide, crime had increased exponentially all over the world despite the robust security provided by security agencies with the backing of advanced AI and policing robots.
"…we are entering the most critical phase of the mission. NASA Redeemer is expected to intercept asteroid 82031 Doom at a distance of five million miles from our planet. This will be done by approaching it and knocking it off course with tremendous force. But first, the team of scientists, engineers at NASA, and the onboard supercomputer running the latest AI operating system will have to guide the spacecraft to find the most optimal angle of striking the asteroid to accurately deflect it off its collision path with our home planet."
"The world is keeping its fingers crossed as it waits for the results of this encounter. Different faiths around the world are holding prayers, praying for the successful deflection of asteroid 82031 Doom. Pope Augusta Francis VI is holding prayers in Saint Peters Basilica with a congregation of cardinals and faithful from across the world pouring into St Peters Square. In Mecca, Saudi Arabia; the Grand Mufti Burhan Abdulaziz is conducting special prayers for the mission. With a message of hope themed, 'THIS IS NOT THE END', the religious leaders are striving to restore the diminished hope of humanity.
It should be known that this event is coming against the backdrop of World War III which ended eighteen months back. From this global conflict, roughly two and a half billion lives were lost across the world with billions affected. The World Health Organisation is still struggling to contain and treat the effects of nuclear radiation affecting millions of people…," The young man walked to the laptop and switched off the AI news.
This young man was Bosco Masaba, a third-year medical student at East Africa Medical University. Talk of nuclear radiation reminded him of the multitude of cancers which he came across in the hospital during the study days. It was not a pleasant subject; he had seen firsthand the suffering that whole families and generations were going through. There had been advances in the treatment of cancer over the last five years, but a cure or vaccine for most cancers was a long way off.
Besides seeing some of his patients dying from cancers caused by nuclear radiation, he also had several relatives and close family members who had succumbed to cancer caused by exposure to nuclear radiation. So, this was a topic he did not want to hear unless it was unavoidable. Many traumatic and painful memories were brought up at the mention of nuclear radiation and cancer.
This news had taken away his appetite for the food he was preparing for lunch. He took the posho off the gas and set it aside for later when his appetite returned.
Bosco Masaba picked up his smartphone and saw several message notifications on his lock screen. He unlocked it and went ahead to open the class group with the highest number of messages.
Raider101: Guys, have you heard the news?
Patience: Which news?
Raider101: The latest news from AI Global2, NASA Redeemer is going to do it.
Patience: Huh, I no longer subscribe to that station, nothing but doom and gloom.
Fred the investor: I was listening and the AI mocked us humans that we were coming to extinction. Can you imagine that audacity?
Happy Boy: I have always told you; AI and robots are going to replace us. With Apocalypse 2, only machines will be left alive.
Raider101: Go away with your conspiracies and fake news. Humanity is here to stay.
Abdu: Tell him, the Quran tells us that only Allah has the authority to end mankind. Not some piece of stone.
Kasim: Thank you Abdu, we should not lose hope.
Monica: THIS IS NOT THE END!
Sweet Pie: Yes guys, this is not the end. Some piece of stone shall not terrify us.
Sweet Pie: NASA Redeemer shall save the day. Mark my words.
Darth Vader: 🤪
Darth Vader: If NASA Redeemer is the savior. Why has SpaceX transported 500 scientists and billionaires to Mars in the last three months?
Darth Vader: Let me tell you why. Those conglomerates and multinational corporations know that there is no future for life on Earth. Mars is the future of life in this star system.
Darth Vader: While your politicians in the … were arguing and debating on whether to send a spacecraft to intercept the asteroid, the corporations were making preparations. Buying the items and resources they needed to start new life elsewhere.
Monica: THIS IS NOT THE END!
Monica: You will not scare us. Humanity and all life on earth will live to see another day.
Melody UPC: 😎 Humanity is the master of planet Earth, and that is how it will stay.
Happy Boy: Tell that to the dinosaurs, they also thought they were masters of the world until the Yucatan asteroid ended them.
Patience: Happy Boy, since you are so sure that the days of humanity are over. Why have you not gone ahead to commit suicide like the other bastards?
Happy Boy: I am waiting to feast on you before I sign out of this life.
Patience: F**k off you moron. I am not in your class.
Happy Boy: 😉 😉 😉
Melody UPC: Have you gone blind in one eye?
Monica: Don't be silly. He is winking at Patience.
Patience: 😒
Happy Boy: Patience be calm, in the face of our upcoming extinction. There are no more classes, just men and women. Just Adam and Eve… 😁 point of correction. Just Happy Boy and Patience.
Darth Vader: … and they lived happily ever after 🤪
Patience: Even if there are no more classes in this world. You won't touch me, not over my dead body.
Happy Boy: I am not interested in your dead body Patience; how will your dead body be able to feel any pleasure that I will provide? I want you alive and sober to appreciate my charm as the number one supplier of happiness and heavenly delights.
Raider101: Happy Boy, watch your language. This is a group for serious stuff, not your crude talk.
Admin: Happy Boy, you stand warned. That is sexual assault on another group member.
Raider101: Thank you Admin for reminding him.
Happy Boy: Admin, you are just being jealous of me.
Admin: Me, jealous of a low life like you. Lol.
Patience: Earth will freeze over before Admin can be jealous of a cockroach such as you.
Raider101: Hahaha 😁😁
Bosco Masaba scrolled through the messages, Happy Boy had diverted the flow of the interaction in the group into a verbal confrontation between him and anyone who wanted to rein him in. Rumor had it that in freshman year, Happy Boy proposed to Patience but she turned him down with the excuse that she had a boyfriend. Later on in the second year, he learned that it was all a lie. Ever since that time, he has stalked and hounded her hoping that she will spare him a glance or even a hi.
In the other social media groups. The conversation was also about the upcoming encounter between Apocalpse2 and NASA Redeemer. Most of the people in his circle had faith in science, that engineering will prevail when the spacecraft knocks the asteroid off course saving the world.
While there was another group that believed that the end was coming for mankind. They had reinterpreted the Mayan calendar, from the doomsday event earlier on believed to happen in 2012 to 2032. This group was encouraging people to commit suicide, security agencies had even stopped some planned mass suicide parties in Chile and Japan.