Science fiction. The magical sand

Science fiction. The magical sand

This place is barren, lifeless, primitive; and when you look at it from a distance it looks like the abode of nothingness, a sort of invasive emptiness that is filled with everything, but hope! They call it the Desert Planet.

And there is something very special about this planet. No matter where you are, and then in whichever direction you might look, you always feel you are in the middle of a continuously building pattern of sand and its invasive inevitability. Where if you enter once, you are there forever, as if you were a grain of sand desperately trying to identify your companion grain of sand, blown away by the wind, that has total control over defining this landscape of dunes. That landscape keeps changing, because sand grains possess no force whatsoever to bind with other sand grains.

Universe did not gift us with water, but it gifted us magical sand that behaves like water.

And it is in this landscape of perpetual turbulence that our civilisation thrives and manufactures hopes in abundance. To the rest of the Universe dwellers we are the desert masters, who can grow life where life actually quits. Because its will and hardiness declines to adapt. And we do not feel burdened by its challenges and indifference, that comes with a selective harshness, with a propensity to target the survivor. You , me and everybody!

Because the planets of sand exist to support just one life-form, that of sand, wherever you see, it is the only life form. Because it moves continuously. And one of the chief traits that distinguishes a living thing from a non living thing is the trait of locomotion. If it is so, then does it not make sand an unconquerable life form of the desert? Because it shifts continuously, day and night.

But it is needless to say that it is different from trees, because they cannot move, and they produce oxygen the only known elixir of life. Although sand does not produce oxygen, it displays tree like behaviour. The sand dunes grow and the sand is always shifting. Without it there will be no rain. It is due to deserts that the rest of the world receives rain, yet it chooses to stay dry and parched itself, because it has a duty to perform, assigned to it by the Universe. Desert is sacrificing and giving in nature and so are the desert people. A natural inheritance I suppose.

Therefore, sand has all properties of any life form, but we the desert people know, it cannot replace the shade of trees, the cool breeze of the oasis, yet, it is essential if the universe has to survive. This is why we have found ways to live with the sand and it is our most abundant and most valuable resource.

Our elders developed several technologies that use sand to generate energy. And on the desert planet we have a famous saying, "never build your home on a sand dune, because it loves the wind more than anything else!"

It is from this saying we have learned our life's most essential lessons and the secrets of sand centric technologies. When we first landed on this planet, we fell in love with it and we made it our home. Slowly we learned to use its disadvantages to our advantage; and we created marvels of scientific innovation simply by using sand, since it was the most abundant and easily available resource.

The problem with most of the thinking beings who occupy other planets, is that they tend to exploit the resources that are least available. At a certain point their over exploitation leads to their extinction. And at this point the thinking quotient of that planet is at its maximum innovative output, unable to think beyond the already in use energy resources that fulfil their daily supply of energy related needs. And when this happens, a civilisation attains a saturation point in its innovative thinking. But if a civilisation uses most abundantly and easily available resources to generate power/energy, then this limitation that has haunted every civilisation since the first intelligent life form appeared in the universe, can be overcome.