I NT E L L I GE NC E O N TH E M OV E
Operation Reclaim A SHORT STORY Wri t t en by Dr. N a n a D a dzi e G ha nsa h
December 25, 2017 Somewhere in the Amazon other Nature was livid. From where she hovered, she could see the fires raging. General Chiroptera kept his distance. He always sensed it when she was in a rage and lately, they had been quite frequent. The butterflies who accompanied her everywhere circled Mother Nature and seemed to absorb her rage. Finally, she turned and glared at the General. “Do you see that? To cap off a year of floods, hurricanes, and wildfires, this? Those humans are laying the planet to waste. Where is the weapon you promised me? The Ebola project was an abject failure!”, Mother Nature yelled. “My Queen, we are working on a very capable system and we need some time”, General Chiroptera answered. “I hope
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it is not the SARS system again. We have tried that twice already and the results were subpar”, Mother Nature bellowed. Overhead, dark clouds were collecting as if matching her mood. “Queen, but it is our best bet now. Please give me time. Worst case scenario we still have the Influenza program and with the increasing aversion to vaccinations, we are bringing some old weapons systems back,” the General said. “Look Chiroptera, take a look at the planet. You travel all over the place. Look what the humans are doing to the planet. And with the leadership now, it is just going to get worse so I do not want ifs. Next year by this time, I better have a weapon or…” A clap of thunder drowned out the last words of Mother Nature but the General could not miss the look in her dark green eyes.
Then suddenly, she was gone with the butterflies. The General sighed and flew off into the rain. Mother Nature kept flying. The planet was lit up with the lights of the season though there were some dark spots. In spite of that, her heart was heavy. Her planet was dying with a lot of her children going extinct like the tiger in Cambodia, the northern white rhino, the Amur leopard. She sighed. These humans. She missed the old days. She missed the generals from those days. Fighters with purpose. The greats — Rodentia and Siphonaptera. Architects of the greatest plague the world had ever seen. Plagues — the only things that kept humans in check and thinned their herds. She did not care much for their wars be-
