World of Experience

Today is Day 3 of the Write Tribe Festival of Words #6. On Day 2 we had to write about a resource we have or use. The Day 3 prompt says:  Feature a map and write about a place either real or virtual. For the last two prompts I shifted from my usual writing genre and wrote non-fiction (personal experiences) however for the third prompt I am back to my forte, fiction. I chose an imaginary map courtesy https://www.fulltable.com/vts/m/map/aoe/a.htm and weaved my science fiction.

Professor Lubrik was sitting in his laboratory; his eyes were fixed on the map of Xangia, the new planet in Sunflower galaxy that was discovered by ex-colleague Prof. Hedge. It is widely rumoured that Prof. Hedge managed to resource a trip to Xangia and probably settled there or perished. His sudden vanishing was speculated by both media and scientific world alike; however no concrete evidence was found of his disappearance.

Prof. Lubrik carefully looked at the map and was astonished by the unique naming pattern on the map. The nomenclature resonated more with mental mapping than with names of places. The entire map was as if expressing the state of mind of a person. The longitudes were named as per calendar months. Prof. Hedge had named the three oceans as Sea of Possibilities, Sea of Plenty and Ocean of Peace. There was a country called Home and a small city called Homesick.

There was an arctic zone in the planet which was named as ‘Frozen wastes’ and the small peaks were named as Mockery, Biting, Sarcasm, Indifference, Shaking etc. There was a gulf known as Stormy Coast from where there was a sea route leading to a port called ‘Solid as a Rock’. The beaches on Stormy Coast were known as Crisis, Turmoil, Tremble, Downpour and Windswept. From there the way led to a place called Fever. On the other end there was a place called Quarantine. In between Fever and Quarantine there were places called Vitamin, Medicine and Care. The more Prof. Lubrik was looking at the map, the more engrossed he was getting.

Xangia was named as “World of Experience” by Prof Hedge. Xangia is believed to be the only planet which has similar topography like Earth and it is believed that life can survive in that planet. Prof Hedge and his team which included Prof. Lubrik were working on it since last 20 years. It was kept a top secret mission. There were programmes made to send a team of astronauts there which would have included Prof Hedge and Prof Lubrik. However two years ahead of the mission Prof. Hedge vanished all of a sudden. The entire nation searched him but he was nowhere to be found.

Few things from the research laboratory were missing that hinted that maybe he was simultaneously developing his own spacecraft to set on a solo voyage to the ‘Experience’ Planet. Today Prof. Lubrik’s suspicion was confirmed looking at the map that Prof Hedge had designed. Probably, he indeed took a voyage to Xangia or the ‘World of Experience’.

I am taking part in Write Tribe Festival of Words #6

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38 thoughts on “World of Experience”

  4. Vasantha Vivek says:
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    I am a big fan of science fiction stories. And really I thought myself as Prof. Hedge travelling to Xangia. It would be very much appreciable if we could find a planet like Xangia soon !!!! Brilliant take on the prompt !!!

    Liked by 1 person

  6. sanchwrites says:
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    I’m new to your blog with this festival and I’m amazed by your writing. I love the world you’ve created and the journey you started to take us on. I’m not much of a sci-fi person but I appreciate the effort that goes into creating worlds.

    Liked by 1 person

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