Krakatoa

"Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit"

- Virgil

[trans. Perhaps one day, it will be pleasing to remember even these things.]

**

Some time into the somewhat distant future...

"Alright listen up, everybody!" 

All the members of Squadron 27 gradually stopped chattering among themselves and began to gather in front of my dear friend, Eric, who also happens to be the last-minute captain of our squadron. There were quite a few new faces alongside the familiar ones, but I noticed a few familiar ones missing as well. I took a deep breath, and immediately regretted it. Once I'd finished coughing, I took my place among my squadmates and turned to face Eric.

"Does anybody here wish to give a recap of the past few weeks?"

"Aye, sir!" a young-looking, tall chap with dark brown hair yelled at once.

"Let's hear it then, shall we?"

He nervously gulped and said, "Aye. Our planet intercepted a strange, invisible beam on Sunday morning.."

"Where did this beam hit?"

"The Indonesian island, Sumatra, sir!"

"And what happened next?"

"Our experts observed a change in our planet's temperature and climate, sir!"

"Why?"

He paused, and spoke with slightly less enthusiasm.

"Due to a change in volcanic activity, sir!"

"That sounds about right. Okay, to further clarify what - what's your name, boy?" He looked back at the young chap. “Richard,” he said. "Right, Richard..so to clarify what this young chap said, further, we got hit by a beam that seems to have passed through our planet's crust with no problem or effect whatsoever. Problem is, it did have quite the damn effect on our mantle, didn't it? It seemed to cause all of our magma and molten lava to move, almost like it was sucking it out. Now, Richard - you're a sharp boy, aren't you?" He looked at the boy yet again, as if making it clear that it wasn't a rhetorical question.

"Uh...yes, sir?" 

"In that case, Mr. Smarty Pants, what happens -  and is happening - in the event that a random space-beam sucks out our mantle's lava and magma?"

"It comes out, sir?"

"Outta where, your socks?" A grin formed on my face...Good old Eric, his transition from his class clown days to this poking makeshift captain has truly been a delight to witness. He always had been the type of person to make a room light up, the 'life of the party'. A part of me had been afraid of losing that side of him once we'd gotten drafted, but this little exchange between him and the boy called Richard led me to believe I could rest assured on that front.

"Uh, no...sir! Out of every active and dormant volcano on the planet, sir." Richard said.

Reality set in suddenly, and pulled me right out of my short, nostalgic train of thought. Yes, Richard was not joking- our planet really was hit by a random beam - presumably by some alien forces from outer space - and this beam had somehow disrupted our mantle, causing all of the active volcanoes to stir up, and eerily enough, wake the dormant ones too. I remembered Googling "what if all the volcanoes of the world erupted at the same exact time?" in my schooldays, and also recalled feeling quite consoled by the resounding message "total destruction, but it it isn't scientifically possible" being relayed to me. Of course all the tectonic plates couldn't collide and pull apart at the same time, and so I'd internalized the general dismissal of the possibility(if there even was one) a long time ago. But, here we were...

...facing the unsettling high chance of it happening within two days.

"Thank you, Richard - as you were! Now, of course, we've been told that this is going to happen forty eight hours from now, give or take. I don't know about y'all, but it doesn't sound like a-"

The Earth rumbled, and all of us shook for a brief moment.

"-particularly pleasant way to go. That's why, luckily, our big brainy brothers at HQ have given us the opportunity to say no, thank you to the end of the world."

A few people giggled at this, and there was some uncomfortable shifting.

Eric pulled away the cloth covering a white board next to him, and began explaining the grand plan to save the world.

"We all agree that this space-beam is the problem, yes?" A few members sing-songily repeated 'yes'.

"So, our bright minds at HQ have devised these machines - quite petite as far as world-saving measures go, might I add - machines that are equipped with tons of drones, which are further equipped with the ability to fly up into our atmosphere, and make a blockade, essentially cutting off this beam, and sending it back to its momma. How? Well I ain't gonna explain the science to you; firstly, I don't understand it myself, and secondly, because Squadrons everywhere will be assembling these machines all over the planet, near all volcanic points, and we don't have the time to dabble in conceptual talks cuz I don't wanna be late. Y'all feel me?" A few heads sub-consciously nodded at this.

"So, our task is this: we get these machines up to the location - which has been pre-routed on your wrist tech-bands by the way - assemble them, and launch our drones, enabling our scientists' drones to do the saving. All clear?"

"Yes, sir!" everyone said, and a wave of excitement and adrenaline rose in the air.

"Aight, cool. We leave for Mt. Krakatoa in fifteen minutes." You could instantly sense the excitement die out after this, and it was replaced by uneasiness. "Pack your stuff, and dress light. It's gon' get hot."

And with that, Eric placed down his microphone, and headed into his tent, and the rest of the squadmates followed suit.

I gulped hard. Any child knew about Mt. Krakatoa. The Mt. Krakatoa. Especially after it's destructive eruption back in 1883, also known to have been the loudest recorded sound on the planet. So, of course, one can understand why I wasn't exactly thrilled to pay such a site a visit. And neither was any other squadmate of mine, as evident through the chatter that had begun.

"Why does it have to be Krakatoa, man?"

"I swear...although cap did say the assembly site had to be near a volcano.."

"Yeah but why Krakatoa? It's the worst site to be at right now!"

"Akhil Sameer, literally every site is the worst site to be at right now."

"Yeah, but why couldn't we get some cute lil' volcano in Iceland?"

Amidst all the chatter, I quietly zipped my duffel bag, and headed out of my tent, to our ash-chopper. Squadron 27 was pretty small - 12 members was a ridiculously small number of members to have for assembly, but luckily, most of us (with the exception of Richard and two other guys) were well-built and tough. If there was any group capable of assembling heavy-duty drone launching machinery to save the world, it was this group.

*

On the chopper, I sat across Eric, but we mostly just sat in silence and stared out at the dark ashen clouds for the most of the journey; until Eric broke the silence.

"You scared?"

"Given that this might be the end, sure. Yeah, I'm scared."

He briefly glanced at me, and then continued to gaze out the chopper. "Good."

"...good? What do you mean, good?"

He looked back at me and said, almost matter-of-factly, "It means your brain's still working, mate! Only an idiot wouldn't be scared right now."

Well, in case that was true, I felt genuinely concerned about his brains, because if he really was scared, it definitely wasn't showing.

"So, you're scared too, captain?" I asked, and we both chuckled for a few moments. Then, he leaned closer, and spoke more low, 

"Not one bit."

We laughed a little more over that, and a junior squadmate made her way over to us. "Um, sir?"

"Listening! Speak up!"

"What will we do if we can't assemble the machines?" I don't know if it was because we were in a helicopter, but it felt like her voice was trembling, much like the Earth.

"When we do, and when we save the world, I'm taking all of you out to drinks. But just the first round will be on me, cuz somehow savin' the world doesn't pay very well."

The whole squad began to chuckle, and the girl managed a smile.

"You really think we've got what it takes, captain?"

Eric plastered a grin, and said, feigning not a shred of doubt, "I know it."

I'd become accustomed to most of the folks here, and as we inched closer to our destination, in my mind, I conducted a scan of the squad. First there was Eric, and of course Richard. Then there was Nadia, who was from Africa; then there was Mitch (Mitchell, but he insisted on people calling him 'Mitch' cuz it sounded cooler), who I'd never seen before our squadron formed; Akhil, who was Indian, and taken into our program for his high technological adeptness; Josh and Naomi, the twins, who were from D.C., and especially good at athletics (we were relying on them to run to the machinery if things went south for the rest of us, haha); Dev, Kendrick and Alyssa, who were all with me and Eric during our training days; but, there was still one dude that I hadn't quite memorized the name of, who happened to be sitting at the back end of the chopper. I made my way to the empty seat beside him, and sat down, intending on making some conversation before the action was set to begin. 

"Hey, I didn't catch your name. Who are you, again?"

I don't know what the whole "non-chalant" thing that kids are always on about nowadays, but this guy was definitely a fan. He seemed to have the most stoic expression I'd ever seen on a guy, ever, that is, if the guy in question was heading into something as intense and terrifying as saving the world. He slowly turned towards me, expression unchanged, "Levi."

"Oh, like these shorts?" I had a feeling the joke wouldn't land, but I didn't know it would hurt me this much. He stared blankly at my face for a second or two, and then returned his gaze outside the chopper. 

"Er, and where are you from, Levi?" He straight up looks Asian, but I didn't want to go off of stereotypes.

"Japan."

"Oh! Cool place, cool place."

He didn't respond, and continued looking out at the gray horizon.

I couldn't believe this guy. I wasn't expecting a lengthy conversation, but the least he could've done, as a social courtesy, is asking my name before aimlessly looking out and doing his whole 'emo' thing. Who did he think he was?

As I looked back at Eric, who seemed to have said something to make Kendrick and Dev crack up, Kendrick appeared on the seat behind us, and asked, "So, what are you lot talking about?"

Before I could answer, Levi surprised me by beating me to it, "It's funny, isn't it?"

"What is?" Kendrick and I practically exclaimed, at the same time.

"This...event" Levi raised a hand, pointing at the dark land and clouds outside, "puts into perspective, everything.

"All our individual decisions, opinions, grudges, the world's "politics", it's all...meaningless. When faced with the inevitable end, all our collective efforts are so...minute."

"Woah, woah, woah...inevitable end? Did you not hear a word Richard said?" Alyssa said, suddenly joining our conversation.

"I did. And it's really brave that we- you...it's remarkable that we're trying to stop it."

That sense of uneasiness swept over us again, and I suddenly regretted even trying to talk to Levi. 

"I mean, you've got to know that this isn't some random sequence of events by now, right? It may even be futile to try and stop it...to resist it"

A few hmms filled the air.

"What are you even talking about?"

"I think I know what Levi's referring to." Dev chimed, also deciding to join us.

"Some call it Kalki, and some, judgement day...this...it's not man's doing. It's nature's, look around."

And as these words left his mouth, the Earth shook as if deciding whether to agree with him, and red lightning struck a few random spots.

For a brief moment, they had my morale going for a toss too. 

Sighing as though he could've worded it better than Dev, Levi said, his voice low, and gaze still focused outside,

"After all, all is temporary, and only that, is permanent."

"Oi!"

I could've sworn the lighting in the chopper brightened quite a bit the second we heard Eric call out to us from behind.

"If any of y'all are not in the mood to live, back out, now. But if you voluntarily sabotage this mission, and kill the morales of my men, I will personally push you into the crater. I, for one, have plans next week."

A few forced laughs were heard, and mere moments later, we could see our target location.

"You've arrived at staging point C-12." the AI assistants on our tech-bands announced at once.

The chopper began descending. The second the doors opened, heat slammed into us.

No, not warmth, heat. torrid, scorching heat.

The kind that instantly sticks to your skin and settles into your lungs.

"Well I'll be damned..." Nadia muttered as we stepped out onto the ash-covered ground.

The entire staging site looked like absolute chaos.

Huge floodlights illuminated dozens of rudimentary-looking, half-built metallic structures that went as high as ten feet into the sky. Massive transport trucks hauled machinery was spread across the dark terrain, and the crates, and equipment that the armed personnel and labourers had left before abandoning the site was left to us.

And in the distance...

Mt. Krakatoa.

*

The behemoth volcano looked less like a mountain and more like some giant portruding hellhole glaring at us. Thick black smoke spiraled endlessly into the sky, while faint orange cracks glowed near its surface.

Then the Earth rumbled again...and this time, it was stronger than before, given how close we were.

Nobody said anything for a few moments, until Eric clapped his hands once, "Like the view? Now, hurry up, so that y'all can describe it to your grandkids in a couple years!"

The machine itself was absolutely enormous.
Eric had definitely undersold the whole "petite world-saving measure" thing.
The structure towered several stories high, and attached all across its sides were hundreds upon hundreds of compact drones, folded neatly into metallic compartments.

At once, all of us rushed to the transport carriers, and began unloading their contents. Then, we headed to our respective assembly points. We were instructed to go in pairs, and somehow, I got paired with Levi.

Surprisingly, though, he didn't speak of his earlier "pearls of wisdom". At least, not until I brought it up later.

"So..that whole, 'we're all going to die' thing...if you do believe that, why are you helping?"

Levi heaved a heavy metallic cylinder, set it at the drop-point, and what he said next truly surprised me.

"I have daughter back home, and her name is Mai. She turned four last month. When I got drafted to serve in the squadron program, right before leaving, she looked at me, a wonderful, bright glint in her eyes, and said, "Save the world, papa!"

My voice got stuck in my throat, and a sensation I'd never felt before filled my chest. Sadness, happiness, guilt, anger...a chaotic mess containing a bit of everything.

"I love my daughter more than anything in the world, nakama. And that glint I saw in her eyes, free of all the troubles in the world, packed with enough power to keep me going for years, is why I'm here. I cannot throw up my arms, and not try...Mai must not think her papa sat idly, and accepted defeat, without even trying. And, our cause...it is an honourable one."

I felt I was at a loss for words, and could only manage a gentle smile and a nod, following which we resumed our work. Most of us squad folk had either lost our families - in the war, or to the various climate disasters that had occured in the past few weeks - or were not on great terms, and were, although unofficially, considered expendable. We had nobody waiting for us back home, and some of us, not a home either. I'd completely overlooked that there were people like Levi amongst us too.

Above us, thunder cracked loudly. But, this time, we didn't flinch.

Night fell eventually, though it honestly became difficult to tell. The sky had already been dark for hours.

Most of Squadron 27 sat together near the more-than-half-assembled launch structure while eating ration packs in exhausted silence. The overall mood was, not bad, actually. For the risk that awaited us the next day, sleeping through the occasional tremors and lightning being our primary concerns - didn't seem like the worst thing in the world, somehow.

After dinner, I chatted with Eric for a while near a random hot spring, and gazed at the stars.Eventually, I decided it was time for me to charge my batteries. On my way back to my tent, albeit drowsy as hell, I think I saw a couple squadmates sitting, huddled, where we'd eaten our ration packs earlier - wow, that must be a really strong set of sleep schedules, I thought to myself; as I stepped into my tent I fell asleep before my head even hit the pillow.

Subconsciously, I think, ensuring that Mai got to cut her sixth birthday cake next year had filled me with a newfound motivation to save the world.

Just a few hours. We had to do this. 

* 

We had almost reached completion of the launcher assembly when it began.

The assembly had to be finished within two hours, and we just had to attach our assembled power cores to the launcher and wait for the worldwide launch signal to release the drones. 

Dev was the one to notice it.

He stood near the left sector of the launcher, and frowned. 

"Captain? Uh...guys?"

Eric, and the rest of us, arrived at the point, and looked at the area he directed us to - wires. A million wires, all exposed, and enough to almost immediately give any wire-despiser a migraine. In case my tone wasn't enough, let me clear all doubt - I HATE wires. I volunteered for 'assembly' not just because I didn't have the brains for 'tech', but also because HQ has assured us that it would be mostly mindless heavy-lifting, and no numbers, formulae, chemicals or wires would be involved. That was a key determinant of my participation in this hail mary. Okay, maybe I exaggerated a little.

"What's the matter?" Eric asked, squinting at the wiry portion with just as much annoyance as me.

"They're cut, chief. The wires...they're cut."

There were gasps at this, and we all took a closer look. Sure enough, clean cuts were visible on the thickest wires. Clean. 

Deliberate.

Eric swore under his breath, clenched his fists, and asked, "Can this be fixed? And how quickly?"

Nodding, Dev replied, "At least fifteen minutes...maybe even thirty, to ensure it's done well."

"Yeah...but if we hadn't caught it before launch..." He didn't finish the sentence.

He didn't need to.

The machine would've failed.

Just like that.

Eric slowly stood back up.

And for the first time since I'd known him - he looked genuinely angry. Not jokingly annoyed. Actually furious.

"Alright," he said quietly, but sternly. "Nobody leaves this platform alone anymore. Ever. Understood?"

Everybody nodded.

An hour later, the wiring was patched - good as new - and we'd received signals from HQ saying that the launch time was preponed to tonight, thanks to some changes in the mysterious beam that the scientists had been intently studying. This essentially meant that doomsday was anytime after midnight tonight, and if any of the squads screwed up their job, the protective envelope wouldn't form successfully, and that'd be a wrap. 

No pressure.

As if that wasn't enough, within that hour, the weather worsened to its peak - there was a thunderstorm, but the thunder was red, blue, white - you just had to name the colour. Either that, or our vision was getting directly affected by our growing anxiety and adrenaline rush.

Despite everything, hope still existed. You could feel it in the air. Thoughts of us all going home, and Eric taking us out for drinks began to run through my mind. The thoughts almost made me smile. Almost.

The sky darkened, and night had come.

Then, without a warning, time became slow, and the gunshots started.

"What the hell-" Levi gasped beside me, as bullets suddenly began zooming through the air, and lodging into the side of the launcher. Within a few seconds, The ignition chamber burst into flames. A few squadmates' screams started to make their way into my already ringing ears.

"SABOTAGE!"
"It's Akhil! He's armed!"

"Akhil...why..?" I thought loud, more confused and disoriented than I'd ever been in my entire life.

Levi and I took cover, and the rest of the squad also followed suit. 

"I'm sorry, guys. But it's true. We mustn't resist what is coming our way." Akhil says, addressing us all. "You guys can come out. I never wanted to hurt you...it's just not worth running away from His judgement."

"Humans have had their time." another voice says, and I quickly recognize it to be Nadia's. "You guys may step out now. The launcher has been foiled, we're done now." And with that, Akhil and Nadia tossed their rifles onto the floor, as if to back their claims of not wanting to hurt us.

Then, Josh wailed in agony, "YOU IDIOTS! What have you done!"

At first, we thought it was out of general dismissal of their sabotage...but as we popped our heads out from our respective hiding places, we realized what ailed him.

His sister, Naomi, had taken cover near the ignition chamber, and she had been caught in the crossfire.

She was sprawled over the black ground, and Josh cradled her head in his arms and began uncontrollably weeping. 

I saw Eric come out of his hiding place as well, fists clenched, and fuming. "You imbeciles...what have you done.."

Then, an alarm rang on all our bands simultaneously. "IGNITION CHAMBER COMPROMISED. MANUAL OVERRIDE REQUIRED."

"What does that mean? How do you conduct a manual override?"

It's only then that we noticed the time on our bands. 

11:56 PM. Only four minutes to go.

Just then, the Earth shook again, and rifts began to tear beneath our feet. It felt as though the world was in slow-mo; and as the ground began to reveal the chasm beneath, a spray of lava gushed out from Krakatoa and trickled down its side, rushing towards our launcher.

"Manual override? That must be done from the lower chamber, the one there..."

All of us looked towards the ignition chamber. Sure enough, there was a little trapdoor visible through the chamber's glass, presumably leading to the lower chamber Dev was referring to. We alternated gazes from the stream of lava rushing towards the launcher, and the trapdoor to the lower chamber within the ignition chamber, which was already in flames...and it was painfully obvious why Dev's voice trailed off.

Whoever volunteered to conduct the manual override, was not going to make it back.

As if enough wasn't going on already, the ground rumbled yet again, except this time, the tremor was so powerful that all of us lost our balance and fell onto the ground, and chunks of land collapsed into the Earth, revealing our very own Tartarus below. Only a fractured strip of land connected us to the ignition chamber, where Josh lay with Naomi's body.

It was obvious that Josh had to be the one to do it, so when he announced it a few moments later, I wasn't overly surprised. 

"I'll do it, captain!" Josh barely, and tearfully, managed to yell, gently resting Naomi's head on the ground, and closing her eyes.

Just then, Akhil and Nadia sprinted past us, towards the chamber, for one final sabotage.

"NO!" Eric roared, and leapt towards them, knocking them onto the ground. I felt my body fill with a seething rage, one I'd never felt before, and it propelled me towards them as well...my two least favorite people at the moment.

How did we not see the signs?

A bloody fist-fight ensued when I reached Akhil, Nadia and Eric, and the others gathered around us. It was over within half a minute, but it felt like we were throwing punches for at least an hour.

By the end of it, I managed to get Nadia into a chokehold until she passed out, and Eric had incapacitated Akhil by wounding his legs and knocking him out. We lay on the ground, all injured and exhausted, and the perpetrators yielded. But it's only when I noticed the slowly spreading red circle on Eric's chest that I realized how injured he truly was. 

That son of a gun had caught a bullet in the firing earlier.

"ERIC, no!"

"Captain!"

We rushed to his side, but he held up his hand. "It's all right...I-I've been shot before, lads."

He got onto his feet, and started taking deep breaths. It was true though...Eric had taken bullets before, but never lethally.

"I'm going for ignition, captain!" Josh's voice, which sounded far away for a moment, called out from afar.

"NO! Wait!" Eric yelled, clutching his chest.

"Bu-"

"You're...you're very young, stupid, brave, and alive...and I'd like to keep one of those features intact a little longer. Return to your squadmates, now."

"But captain-"

"That's an order, Josh!" And with that, Eric semi-sprinted towards the chamber, jumping across the shaky strip of land. He gently patted Josh on the shoulder, and ushered him towards us.

"My sister awaits me.."

"No, son...You will live, because that's what she would've wanted. You will live, and make sure her memory lives on."

Josh tearfully nodded his head, managed a salute - as did the rest of us - and made his way over the strip, which collapsed as soon as he made it to the other side.

"Squad 27! I expect a very detailed set of heartfelt condolence letters to be written about me, y'all got that?"

Classic Eric...making the world a little brighter, even during his final moments. That felt so jarring to think about, but we had no time to dwell in our emotions, quite literally. We smiled, tears in our eyes, as Eric waved us goodbye.

"And you!" he pointed towards me, "You're captain now...that treat will be on you, hot-shot!"

All of us laughed for one final time, and Eric turned around towards the chamber. The lava was almost at the chamber by now, and he stepped into the ignition chamber, kneeling for the trapdoor, and lifted it's lid. Then he glanced at his squad, one last time, and went in, the lava trickling in within seconds. 

I fought back the tears that had gathered in my eyes, and had no time to unleash them.

"So, captain...what now?" Levi said, staring at me with a look of expectation.

Captain. My stomach feels sick; I always dreamt of becoming one, eventually, but wouldn't have held on to that desire if I'd known this is how it'd manifest.

Before I could answer Levi, Krakatoa groaned, and the lava in the chasm around us began to inch closer to the surface. I check the time on my wrist, and it couldn't be any closer.

11:59PM.

"Everybody get back to the camp!" I yell, attempting to sound like Eric.

We began moving towards the camp - while somehow carrying Nadia and Akhil's unconscious bodies - where I'd said we'd stay for only a few moments longer before returning to our ash-chopper.

"How will we know if it worked?"

And as if to answer his query, our launcher suddenly began vibrating, and steam poured out from below. Then, the upper structure unfolded like an umbrella, and hundreds of little drones whirred out, spreading across the dark red sky in every direction, twinkling like stars. It was beautiful, and we stopped running for a moment, to take in the beauty of humanity's great defense - our adamant resistance to the so called end of the world...proof of just how determined and devoted we were, to saving our beloved home.

We began celebrating, hugging each other, and shouting happily. Eric had done it! We'd done it! 

Squad 27 began running around like crazed dogs, feeling like children again, as though our lives had just begun.

Amidst our celebrations, we were late to notice that Krakatoa hadn't stopped groaning...that the lava hadn't stopped rising...we'd missed the "ERROR" messages pop up onto our tech-bands, and were blissfully unaware of the fact that not all of our drones had been launched via the manual override.

Until I the red alert on my wrist, from the corner of my eye.

"Wait" I said, stopping dead in my tracks, like a deer in the headlights.

Everyone seems to have noticed it, because they'd stopped running, and definitely stopped smiling.

"But how.."

"Uh...what now?"

And I felt guiltier than ever, since my first moments as captain have left me clueless.

I stand there, surrounded by my squadmates, suffocated by thoughts of Eric's sacrifice. 

Of Mai. 

Of what Akhil and Nadia had believed.

Of what Dev had said on the chopper.

Of the end of the world.

And then, serving as a culmination, the end of the world was announced, as Krakatoa finally erupted.

The titanic mountain screamed, and a thick beam of lava shot straight into the clouds, a cauliflower-like black smoke engulfing the summit within the blink of an eye. 

A bright red shockwave lit up the sky, and in the distance, we saw multiple such clouds emerging, blowing up the horizon to kingdom come. Fiery rays of lava shot into the skies, out of every opening on the surface of the Earth.

The lava erupted into the sky from the cracks in the ground surrounding us, and we didn't have the energy to, or way to, escape. None of the squadmates even screamed, for the shock was paralyzing.

And as the end arrives, I see Levi close his eyes, a tear rolling down his cheek, and with a slight smile forming on his face.

"Mono no aware." He gently whispers, right before a wave of red submerges us all, pulling us into the heart of the crumbling planet we once called home.

- Armaan Kothare