Saving The World

• Rahul Kulkarni, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2017

Austin had just woken to a loud, annoying alarm, even though it was a Saturday. Last night, he was trying to infiltrate a countless number of companies, in the quest for black money it seemed like he was a slave, serving many hundreds of masters, but in return he got millions of dollars. His room was as clean, neat as a hotel. Lethargically, he got his phone from a glass table containing a super computer, a hacker’s golden sword. It had one of the fastest processors in the computer industry, had graphical powers that were so vigorous that the trajectory of planets could easily be calculated. He called a number that tried to call him in the night, but to his surprise the phone groaned, “The number you are calling is not available.” He forgot about the call, focusing on his daily priorities: hacking companies for the sake of money.
It was noon in the city of London, but the sky was as black as empty space, not even a single star to show the way. Outside the window, Austin could see faces, with no eyes, ears or nose. Their bodies were slimy, making a broad, nauseating line of deep slime. It was his worst nightmare. But he had a way to end it. Tap, Tap, Tap, the fingers kept on typing, but a haunting message was received. It would only be 2 hours till Earth was destroyed, bringing death to everything on it, whether it would be deep in the cold, dark ocean or flying high in the sky. The fingers continued to type, and when he was done, he had only 40 minutes remaining.
The launch process started, but problems started to arise. The upload wouldn’t start, even though the internet was working. He tried to find the cause of the problem, but he was clueless. It seemed like a fragile cup, carrying the medication to sustain the only blue sphere known to mankind had just broke. An army of tears started to come out of a man, who nearly saved the world, but came to no avail. Everything that happened in the billion seconds of his life came in a packed train of memories, each memory was fighting for space. Then Austin realised that he was a man, he would never give up. He went up to the satellite dish and connected it to his computer. He went to his computer and launched his virus. “Preparing to self-destruct in 10 seconds,” these were the words that Austin was going to remember for all of his life. Suddenly a light as bright supernova illuminated the sky. It looked like the world was ending, but it was a different story. As the light faded away, it was clear what had just happened.
To say he was happy was an understatement. He was proud that he not only saved the world from extinction, but he was more proud of the fact that he destroyed his oozy nightmare.