The Sphere of Dustromedian

By Indra Zufayri Hamdan

Zachary Adams—that’s my name. I’m a normal kid just like everybody else until I was required to leave my present lifestyle and discover the true history of my family and some other friends. This is a story set centuries after our time, when humans have started living on other planets. Join me as I uncover surprises after surprises in a fight for freedom.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: Jun 17, 2019
• ISBN: 9781543750898

Indra Zufayri Hamdan

Indra Zufayri is a young fictional writer and imaginator from Singapore. At the age of 19, he published his first book, The Sphere of Dustromedian. Then he published his second book, Tales of Southernere Volume 1, the year after. If you like simple writing and an exciting storyline, read his books!

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Copyright © 2019 by Indra Zufayri Hamdan.

ISBN:                Hardcover                        978-1-5437-5090-4

                          Softcover                         978-1-5437-5088-1

                           eBook                               978-1-5437-5089-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

www.partridgepublishing.com/singapore

CONTENTS

PART ONE: THE CAUSE

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

PART TWO: THE MISSION

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

All praises to Allah, who has given me the inspiration to write this story.

And the inspiration received through a close friend of mine, Norman.

PART ONE

The Cause

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CHAPTER ONE

D ark times we live in. The horrifying era of destruction. People in the modern era looked forward to us. But if only they knew the future, then shall they be more careful. It’s part of our nature, humans. We never learn. Keep on repeating the same mistakes over and over again. Most of us change when something bad happen to us. It serves us as a punishment and a lesson learned. But some others they are too stubborn to accept. They are among the worst of mankind. Too arrogant to admit their mistakes. Their ego is very high. But this group of men are unfortunately among the powerful influence that guides humanity. And because of them, we live in a time of never-ending war and chaos. They’ll affect the weak, like me. You see, I’m a nobody. No one knows me except my family and a small group of friends. Social media? Nope. I’m kind of an introvert. But I can be an extrovert too when I’m comfortable with those around me. But let’s just say, I am hardly comfortable with those around me. I do have Boomtech. People post all kinds of stuffs in there. I don’t. I just follow to see what’s trending and that’s it. Many have a thousand or a million followers and following only a few hundred. As for me I follow exactly one thousand and thirty-six Boomtechers. And my followers? Well only my mom and best friend. My dad doesn’t have one. He’s old school. Literally old school back in the 20 th century. It’s extremely rare to find someone that fancies the 20 th century nowadays. That’s like three centuries ago, back before mankind live on different planets in the universe. Earth is not our only home now. It still remains as our primary homeland. But the human population on some planets are about to challenge that of the Earth. Earth’s population is decreasing as well. Due to the global warming and lack of younger generation. Earth is left with a few youngsters and a huge group of senior generation. In the first place, this problem started from us, humans. The group of people that are among the worst of mankind. And when all turned out into a huge mess, they fled to other planets to start a new life rather than face the problems and try to fix it. Coward I say. And still, they call us the weak group. But still, not everyone is the same bad person. Humanity is at the brink of extinction. It’s been over a hundred years since humans started life on other planets. Mars is second in command after Earth. Then Neptune. And then all the other planets. Dustromedian. That’s where I live. A small pl anet not far from Pluto. So far it is we are from Earth, Dustromedian is only the third planet to be named home after Earth. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Pluto were not selected to be among our homes. Although, all planets are the same except for Earth. In open air, we have to wear the safety suit in order to breathe oxygen. As far as I’ve learned, no planet yet can match Earth’s atmosphere. I wish I could see Earth. I wish my ancestors had not chosen to leave Earth before. But to wish so is to live in my own fantasy. At least back when humans fled to start a new life, most of them regretted and learned from their mistakes. But history tends to repeat itself. And humans repeat the same old behaviours. Inventions may have improved. Humans have been labelled modern people or future people or now we probably call ourselves the technoes. They might have been categorised, but deep down, all carries the same behaviour. They will be at lost at times. And during these times, they will cause destruction. Minor or major. As I said, humanity is at the brink of extinction. Even among our five supposedly united cities, we ever fought war against each other. I live in Warhem. Yeah nice name for a city full of people discriminating one another and not trusting their own blood. We are just beside Yula. Another city among the four of Dustromedian. I don’t know much about Yula. But I suspect wherever you are in this universe, there will always be a war or a fight. If not so, quarreling also counts. I’m sad. And angry at th e same time. In school, we were taught to spread love. But believe me, that’s all a lie. That’s just an academic we have to pass. But it’s not for application in real life. The government themselves have no mercy and always spread violence. Don’t be surprised even in this time of future, there are a lot of slaves among the cities. They don’t teach in school but my dad told me. He works as a security officer at a mall. His boss will always order him to punish anyone severely even if they just simply make loud noises. My dad refused most of the time, like I said, he’s old school. But he has to earn money for his family. Children always gets it. And poor the parents, always begging for their child’s clearance. The lightest punishment is definitely not the lightest punishment on Earth. I guess. Here, even if a child makes so much noise, they will first tie his hands so that he can’t move or escape. Then they put the electric baton on his hands for a few minutes and that’ll definitely burn him. So far, only a few children survive that. I hope I don’t. I don’t want to live in this place suffering. I hope I don’t even come to that moment of suffer.

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CHAPTER TWO

Before you start reading the next chapter, take a break first. Finish what you’re supposed to do. Done? Carry on!

S ecurity is very tight here in Warhem. Even in between our neighborhoods, we have forcefield sensors and lasers. Curfew for everyone aside from security officers and high ranking officials at eighteen hours till seven hours everyday. Anyone found outside their homes during this period shall be punished and the worst sort of punishment is to be vaporised. We don’t have sunrise or sunset in Dustromedian because of our far distance from the sun. But we certainly brought time from Earth and old spaceships that originally came from Earth. And from this time, Dustromedian’s scientists invented lights powered from the grounds of the planet. In the day the lights shall be brightened up with high intensity. And in the night it is switched off and the street lights and lights in spacebuilds light up the cities. Dustromedian’s ground has an unusual source of power that can produce electricity, energy and even advance it to food. And the ability to harness this power came from rare diamonds found in the few craters around the planet. But its little amount only allowed scientists to create one ball or better known as the sphere of Dustromedian. With this sphere, the owner can take control over all the sources mentioned above. And in the wrong hands, destruction awaits. The sphere of Dustromedian now lie in the hands of the superior of Avawexiyouz. The capital city of Dustromedian. Head of all the other four cities, Warhem, Yula, Valtora and Xelona. A superior is the prime ruler of each city. And the superior of Avawexiyouz is the superior of all other four superiors. Avawexiyouz is better known shortly as Ava. Well, people are lazy to finish the long word. I’ve never been there before. I heard lots of great stories from fortunate people who had worked there. It’s like heaven to them. From what I heard, they treat every citizen there equally and respectfully. Because no random tourist get the chance to enter Ava. They don’t even accept tourists. All non-locals that went to Ava are on business matters. And there’s a national law stating whoever stepped foot on Ava, they are forever honoured and no harm shall come to them. Meaning, they are free. Free from most laws that are for normal people like me. And definitely free from the strict curfew. Well, free they are until they become a traitor. One intelligent scientists was being sentenced to death for attempting to steal the sphere. He claimed that he was innocent and not stealing but simply helping Dustromedian. That’s all I heard about him. Ava shut him down immediately afterwards. They probably fed him to the creature that roams the surface of Zonex. Legend has it that Zonex used to have a city named after the place but was destroyed for betraying the capital. Are you confused? That’s a lot to take in. I’m definitely confused the first time I heard these myths. Well, I heard them or read from somewhere but that does not mean it’s true.

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CHAPTER THREE

Before you start reading the next chapter, take a break first. Finish what you’re supposed to do. Done? Carry on!

I think it’s time I share about my life and start sharing my present rather than tell you something from my past, or Dustromedian’s past, or stories that might not even be true. My name’s Zachary, Zachary Adams. People call me Zac for short. I live with my parents and little brother, Zayne Adams. My dad, James Adams, I shared about his job earlier. And my mom, Kathleen Jacob. She’s a nurse. Works everyday at the neighborhood health centre. My dad works everyday as well. No matter how hard they work, their salary is still the same. We are not rich. Not entirely poor too. We can be considered among the majority of the types of people in the universe. But what matters most to us is not wealth or materials. But what is important is our relationship and love. My parents both always emphasise the importance of moral values and love and of course humanity. I’m glad to be their son. Even if many other kids in school have rich parents who can buy them anything they asked for. But love can’t be bought and I’m happy I gained that from my parents. I have one best friend. A very friendly guy he is. Norman Sky. He is the nicest person I’ve ever met aside from my family. He always makes himself free to assist anyone in need. We will hang out together and play until it’s curfew time before parting ways. He lives in the block beside us. When it’s time for curfew, just minutes before they turn on the forcefield barrier, blocking anyone from entering or leaving the block, we both will speed to our respective blocks and run home. Each home has the light wall. We use them instead of doors. It’s an identification barrier and only the person who lives there or identities encrypted or accepted in the house system can enter. Visitors can enter when the owner unlocks it. Government officials definitely have the power to enter, they wouldn’t bother to ring the bell or inform us before breaking in. Strangers and criminals will just vanish into pieces of electric cells if they passed through it. Basically, the security is good and we are safe. No one dares to rob a house. But it’s barbaric what they’ll do to the criminals. Most criminals are just misguided and following orders. I think it’s insane everyone receive the same consequence when every single person did something differently. That’s life. I can’t say on Earth but you know what I mean. That’s life in this universe.

All forcefield barriers do the same thing to whoever unauthorised passing through. That’s what happen to innocent victims who was a little past their curfew time not knowing about the dangers of the barrier and then went to their death. For those who knew, they reluctantly stayed outside before the techbots vaporised them. Or for some lucky victims, when security officers found them first before the bots, they’re sentenced to prison and torture. I don’t consider that lucky as well though. So when I got home every time a few minutes before curfew, my parents would apprehend me for being careless. Norman got scolded too. I just find it funny. I don’t know how being close to death is funny, but honestly speaking, I am quite rebellious. But I felt sorry for Norman though, he’s influenced by me to do so. But that does not mean I disobey all the time. You see, Norman is like an angel. Innocent he is in many situations. At times, he’ll follow me with my activity and at times, I’ll follow his. We learn from each other. I don’t know about him, but I definitely learn a lot from him. He’s not just my best friend but a good one too.

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CHAPTER FOUR

Before you start reading the next chapter, take a break first. Finish what you’re supposed to do. Done? Carry on!

I t’s an ordinary Monday today, the first day of the week. Norman and I walked to school together. Our school’s not so far from our blocks. It’s a neighborhood school. Every neighborhood has one school. Each neighborhood has four estates and each estate has four blocks. Not so rich people like me will go to this school. Whereas most rich people, they sent their kids to the national school located in the city central. I’ve actually never been to Warhem’s central. Furthermore I could only dream of going to Ava. Like I said, rich people or anyone living near the government are safe from many ridiculous laws. They are safer from death. Literally.

Our school’s not so big. An average neighborhood school is smaller than the size of a small stadium. From what I heard, national schools are bigger than the national stadium, and I can’t imagine how big a university would be.

Today’s subject was interesting. We don’t study the usual in Modern History; blah blah, all the boring stuff about how we move on to the next stage of life and all the details of starting life on other planets. Today, Miss Janet talked about history of Dustromedian. And wow, I was intrigued. Because I don’t think that’s in the syllabus.

‘Let me share something out of topic’ said Miss Janet during lesson.

The main reason I was attracted was because I’ve never heard the story Miss Janet shared to us. She mentioned that there used to be a lot of the diamonds that scientists collected to create the sphere of Dustromedian.