Debt (Priya)

 AC 150
Magnae wiped her forehead with the back of her palm. There was a steady stream of sweat
on her face. She looked at the thermometer. The reading showed 50C . She was very happy
that she got a cooler part of the day.

Magnae was a soldier on command post watching vast sand dunes. Due to haze and heavy
pollution it was impossible to watch it with binoculars. The federation had drones roaming
around the area and there was a steady stream of images transmitted on her screens.
Mostly she saw vast dunes changing their shapes. Sometimes these dunes showed
glimpses of lives before collapse ,150 years before.

It was taught in history books that a very careless civilization inhabited the 3rd planet (they
called it Earth) . It was covered with something called foliage which used to clear air under
father star's rays.There was no need of air filters. Everyone was somehow dependent on this
foliage. There were regular seasons present. There were huge water bodies .
They started to produce harmful gases and they started cutting this foliage. With that
temperature started to rise . Temperature rise resulted in melting ice and rise in water levels.
With higher temperature water started to evaporate and the whole planet started to change it
into sand land.

The Third Planet was passed down from generation to generation, with each generation
polluting it even more. Once the stretching point was reached there was a huge collapse. It
just wiped out previous earth and it became a barren land.
The federation somehow managed to collect survivors and built a civilization surrounded
by huge walls. The federation also managed to save resources for running this operation.
But this place was very bleak. The city was under sand and there was a constant hum of
air filters. There were capsules for lunch. Water was a luxury. Very few watchtower soldiers
knew what was outside the wall. Everyone else was stuck inside in a coffin-like place at the
mercy of sand land.

Magnae’s eye caught something shiny in one the images that her satellite showed her.
She gave command to the drone to zoom and take 360 degree . It was a very interesting
structure. Made from something shiny. It must be tall since it was peeking from sand. She
was transformed by the image. She started to imagine for what this structure was used.
Suddenly there was a loud siren started to blare. It was a signal for class VI sand storm.
This was heading towards their structure. It was a signal to head inside the city.
Magne started to follow the protocol. She started to take preventative measures of saving
her watch station. She transmitted the images of shiny structure and it's location to the
headquarters.

She came out of her station clad in protective gears. She took one hard look at Father
Star and tried to imagine it's color in all this haze .

With heavy heart Magnae started her journey towards the city. She was not very sure
what would happen after this class VI super storm. Magne felt she was paying a huge debt
to the Third Planet by misdeeds done by previous generations.