6. The Virus Revealed
By the
fourth day, Prithvi couldn’t help thinking that the crisis might be over. Eris
seemed like a part of the family, Alia chortled at her sight and Rebecca even
felt comfortable enough to leave the two alone in the room at times. There was
something still gnawing in Prithvi’s mind, but this time, he was not going to
take any risks. He knew that Eris was not what she seemed, but in 24-hours it
will not be his problem. He might even get his Lunar job after the ordeal is
over.
That
evening, all of them had a nice supper like a family. Alia laughed softly from
her crib and Rebecca talked to Eris like speaking to an old friend. ‘You need
to visit Titan’s resorts before you leave. The view there is amazing. The
Saturnian rings fill the whole sky. I and Prithvi went there for our
honeymoon.’
Like an
intrigued tourist, Eris promised to visit it on their way back to her star
system.
Prithvi
controlled his impulse to ask about their civilization… he was as much afraid
of offending Eris as getting a truthful answer. He couldn’t risk knowing
anything that might put his family in harm’s way. He went to sleep with a
comforting thought. Just a few hours and they will be gone… and my family
will be left alone.
###
Prithvi
woke up with a start. What time was it? Rebecca and Alia were fast asleep next
to him. Outside the window, pitch-black darkness was only betrayed by dim moonshine
in which he noticed the silhouette he only knew too well.
The figure
loomed at the bedside. Moonlight glinted off a reflective, metal-like surface.
‘Eris, is
that you?’ he called out, nervously. His one hand slowly slid under the pillow.
Rebecca
woke up. ‘What’s in your hand, Eris?’. Eris didn’t respond.
Then,
things happened in quick succession.
The weapon
in Eris’s hand fired, Rebecca rolled over Alia offering herself instead to the
lightning bolt. Rebecca’s body fell to the ground like a ragdoll. Meanwhile,
Prithvi leaped towards Eris. Fired his energy gun… and a large bubble of pure
energy trapped Eris and himself.
‘You killed
Rebecca…’ bellowed Prithvi. ‘You monster.’
Eris calmly
looked around at the bubble that the energy gun had created. She tried to poke
her hand out, but the shimmering layer of pure energy repelled her.
‘You
weaponized our technology,’ Eris said, looking at the bubble around her. ‘And
yet we are the monsters?’
‘You killed
her,’ Prithvi repeated. ‘Why?’
‘Relax. It
was not lethal power; she will wake up in a few hours.’ Eris said, looking at
Rebecca’s unconscious body. ‘But she didn’t know that and yet she willingly
sacrificed herself to save her daughter.’
Prithvi glanced
in her direction. Rebecca seemed to be breathing.
‘But WHY?’
‘For the
same reason as you. We wanted to know more about your species… just as you were
testing us, Prithvi. No being, however sentient, can fight the impulses evolved
over millions of years. Those impulses gave Lizzies away and the same impulses
told me something invaluable… something raw… something fundamental about the
humans. Your daughter is no value to your species… and yet a functioning
individual was ready to sacrifice her life to save her. Most interesting.’
‘”Most
interesting”! Is that what you have to say for yourself?’
‘I
understand you are agitated, Prithvi. Could you please remove this bubble so
that we can talk freely?’
‘I won’t,
Eris. You are disconnected with Ares and Adonis right now and that is my only
leverage against you.’
‘Impressive.’
Eris stared at Prithvi. ‘So, you do know. ‘How did you suspect us,
Prithvi? What gave us out?’
Prithvi
steadied himself. She has done this for a reason. And now she knows that he
knows. He took a deep breath. All cards on the table then. ‘Well, at
first I didn’t suspect anything. When you first got down from your spacecraft, I
was as mesmerized by you as the rest of the world. You looked and behaved like
Gods.’
Eris nodded.
‘It is always better to don the appearance of the species we approach. It makes
our job a lot easier. Our real form is quite different. Anyway, please
continue.’
‘At first,
I had no doubts about the nature of your being. However, when I saw Adonis
stumble on the carpet in the grand ballroom, that was when the alarm bells
started ringing in my mind.’
‘You
figured it out from that? How?’
‘I didn’t
exactly figure it out then, but that was my first clue. There was something off...
something non-humanlike in how differently you and Ares’s reacted. Remember
what exactly happened there? Adonis had stumbled on the carpet and Ares impulsively
tried to help him.’
‘So?’
‘Well, what
was off was your response to the stumble. You didn’t even look at Adonis,
not even a glance or a flinch. For a human, or a human-like species, there
should have been a certain reflex response, but there was none from you. That
was when I started thinking about it and then a possible explanation occurred
to me. I formed a hypothesis. It was a very tenuous link, but I wanted to test
it nevertheless.’
‘First, I
hired an actor to talk to all three of you… with three different identities.’
‘Ah, so
that’s what it was. I admit. It did confound us greatly.’
‘And I did
notice it on the tapes. You did try to pretend that you were meeting Anthony
Hopkins for the first time, but your face betrayed you for that one fleeting
moment. As you said, no being can fight the impulses evolved over millions of
years.’
‘And then
you knew?’
‘Well,
almost.’ Prithvi continued. ‘But I needed more direct evidence to be sure. I then
set-up an accident at the HEO facility. It was a risky move because in case I
was wrong, I was endangering an all-powerful alien guest. But I was right. When
the metal debris fell towards you, only Adonis had the direct line of sight.
And yet, you sidestepped it, just at the right second. It was too coordinated
to be a coincidence. It was much, much more than that.’
There was
an impregnated silence for a while. Prithvi looked intently at Eris expecting
her to speak, but she waited patiently. She wanted him to spell it out. Well, So
be it.
‘My
hypothesis was correct, all three of you share the same consciousness.’
A grave
smile appeared on her face. That was the acknowledgment he needed.
‘And I am
willing to bet, that by extension, your entire species shares the same
consciousness. You are either a Hive mind or have a central consciousness, a
queen bee that governs all of your actions. Whatever one of you sees, hears, or
experiences gets shared with everyone else. Once I arrived at that conclusion,
things began to make sense. When Adonis stumbled, you didn’t help him because
your central consciousness, like the human nervous system, directed Ares to
help him. Same way when a human’s two hands won’t both reach out to scratch an
itch at the same time.’
‘Very well
done, Prithvi.’ Eris finally said. ‘One forgettable stumble gave away the
biggest secret of our species. We do have a central consciousness, which you
can call the Mind. Having the Mind was necessary for our evolution. Unlike
humans, for us each action of every individual contributes to making the whole
better. All our pleasure and all our pain are shared across the entire
consciousness. In other words, entire species works as a whole… an ultimate form
of cooperative evolution if you will.’
‘At the
cost of your individuality. Tell me something Eris, are you not feeling
disoriented right now?’
‘Yes.’
‘And if I
removed the bubble, your central consciousness would find out everything that
you witnessed?’
‘Yes.’
‘And that
would be bad for humans?’
‘I can’t be
sure as this brain’s logical prowess is quite limited without the connection to
the Mind. But as far as I can tell, yes, Mind may perceive you to be a big risk.’
After a
long silence, Prithvi said tentatively. ‘I have an offer for you Eris… and I
mean Eris the individual and not the Mind.’
‘Within
this bubble, you are talking to the individual named Eris.’
‘If other
humans found out the truth about you, they will freak out. We are afraid of
what we don’t understand. And we only have one way of dealing with what we
fear. Violence -- even when it is guaranteed to fail against the advanced
Lizzies -- would be the first response. And we will use the only weapon that is
known to work against you. Imagine large energy-ships firing energy bubbles on
the Lizzy flotilla. It would be a war, humanity will assuredly lose, but a war
nonetheless.’
‘Are you
threatening us, Prithvi?’
‘No…
actually quite the opposite. Your true nature is a secret that only I am privy
to, no other human knows that. On the other hand, you, Eris, are the only individual
of your species who is aware that your secret has been discovered by humans.
Moreover, only you know that we have developed your technology that can be used
against you.’
Eris went
into a thoughtful glance. ‘You are right, Prithvi. So, what do you propose?’
‘We both
know things about each other’s species which can lead to an interstellar war. We
can avoid this future. Both of us are expendable for our species, for very
different reasons. There is only one to prevent that unnecessary bloodshed— we
would need to die together inside this energy bubble tonight.’
Eris
smiled. ‘Your species never ceases to surprise me. I know you are proposing
this to protect your family more than saving your species. From the limited
foresight, I do see how that is the only logical option. I agree to your
proposal, Prithvi, for your sake. After all, you have been a good host.’
‘How do I
know that you are not lying?’
‘You don’t…
the same way I wouldn’t know if you are honest.’
‘I have to
be. I know that with your tech, we don’t stand a chance against you. By taking
myself out of the equation, I am making sure that Lizzies don’t have to destroy
humanity. By agreeing to die with your secret, I am doing my species a favor.’
‘Logical.
Then so be it. Whatever both of know needs to die with us for the betterment of
both of our species and to avoid the war.’
Prithvi trusted
her. There was no other option, anyway. He looked over at Rebecca again, she
was still unconscious but her breathing showed a regular pattern. Alia was
still sound asleep. Prithvi gave a long affectionate look.
‘How do you
want to end it Prithvi?’ asked Eris, in a dispassionate tone. She might have
been asking for a coffee.
‘Well nothing
sanguinary,’ Prithvi said sitting down on the floor. ‘Carbon-dioxide levels
will continue to rise in the bubble. We will feel nausea and eventually we will
pass out as our blood depletes its oxygen. It will be a painless death. We may
have about an hour.’
Eris
followed the lead a sat down. ‘I may not even hold for that long without the Mind.
I trust you will hold your end of the bargain if I die before you.’
‘I will,’
Prithvi replied, truthfully. ‘We as well may hasten the process by talking. I
had a few more questions, not that it will serve any purpose more than to
satiate my curiosity.’
‘Go ahead.’
‘What was
your real purpose behind this visit?’
‘Let me
start from the top. In our tongue, our species is called Xhalgaks and our home
star-system is near the center of the Milky way. Our star revolves around the
supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*. Due to the proximity to the black-hole
and high concentration of star clusters made our evolution take a different
path than most other civilizations. In order to survive the harsh conditions on
our planets, we developed a centralized consciousness. Evolution needed species-wide
cooperation as a critical precondition for the survival of our kind. Sacrifices
of many were needed so that a few could carry our genes. This allowed for an
exponential evolution, and now, our species has expanded to hundreds of star
systems and thousands of planets in the galaxy. We will soon be intergalactic,
and our expeditions are already on their way to the Andromeda Galaxy.’
‘Then why
were you here?’
‘Well, yours
is not the first alien species we contacted. As we explored the vast expanse of
the galaxy, we started discovering more and more alien civilizations. You know,
the Galaxy is brimming with all kinds of life-forms and consciousness—from silicon-based
life that lives in the coldest of the places to fiery monsters feeding off
star’s corona. There is a whole spectrum of wildlife out there that is outside
the realms of your imagination.’
Eris paused
to inhale deeply. Reducing oxygen levels were clearly taking hold. She pressed
on. ‘However, there is very fundamental classification that defines the core
dynamic of every species. We discovered that species can either be
‘Cooperative’ or ‘Competitive’ in nature. A Cooperative civilization, much like
the Xhalgaks will make decisions basis the whole species. On the other hand, in
a competitive civilization, individuals look after themselves first.
‘We met and
analyzed hundreds of civilizations, and we figured that competitive
civilizations were selfish and self-destructive. In rare cases when they made
it to the space-age, they were a grave danger to the other peaceful cooperative
civilizations.
‘These
competitive and invariably violent civilizations needed to be culled out. Much
like you weed out unwanted growth from
the healthy crops. We keep an eye out for any species that are on the verge
of interstellar travel. We contact them,
earn their trust, and assess them for their behavior. We followed the same
protocol for you. Past few days, we were assessing humans on our scale.’
‘And…?’
‘You are
one of the most competitive and violent species that we have ever met. It is
surprising that you have made it this far, technologically speaking. You should
have gone extinct from this in-fighting long ago. Two of our species are at the
opposite spectrum of our cooperative-competitive scale. Whatever you do to each
other is absolutely revolting to Xhalgaks.
‘In other
words, Humans are an extremely dangerous virus. You destroy the planets you
live on and move onto the next, and it allowed to replicate, you’d end up
destroying not only yourself but other planets and civilizations across the
galaxy. Mind determined you to be a galactic virus and gave us our orders.’
‘Orders to
what?’
‘Annihilate
you. Our rocket contains an anti-matter bomb and we started our sequence three
days ago. Whatever I said about Xhalgaks’ custom of spending a few days with
you was true though. We record as much detail as possible about the species before
exterminating them. I planned to spend time with you, collecting the last few
bits of knowledge about human culture and family structure for the Mind
library, while Adonis and Eres triggered the bomb. Humans would have been
extinct by now, if not for a curious encounter.’
Prithvi’s
furrowed his brows as a realization dawned on him.
‘Alia.’
‘Yes.’
‘What does
she have to do with all of this?’
‘Alia
proved to be the antithesis of everything we know. I just told you that we are
the most cooperative species in the Universe. Each specimen of our species
contributes to the whole and in turn, all our pleasures and pain are shared. The
Mind decides whatever helps our species as a whole even if that means
sacrificing a few. And that we thought was the most extreme form of
selflessness.’
‘Till you
met Alia.’
‘Till we
met Alia – she is of no real use for your civilization, she will never
contribute to the progress of the whole, and yet, you and Rebecca would go to
any lengths to protect her. A perfectly healthy individual was ready to
sacrifice her life for another who is completely infirm. This was a form of
selflessness that goes beyond Xhalgaks. Such a being would have been culled
immediately after hatching on our planet. But on yours, you not only let them
survive, but adopt them and take care of such beings.’
‘It was the
most irrational selfless emotion we have seen… and we least expected to see it
amongst the humans. You even have a name for it… Love.’
‘Even Mind
was caught by surprise. It changed the way we see this Universe. A large chunk
of resources is now being diverted to understand this emotion which had made
our Cooperative & Competitive scale useless. Needless to say, Mind stopped
the antimatter bomb sequence the moment I witnessed this selflessness.’
Prithvi
stood dumbfounded. The energy bubbled still shimmered around them noiselessly.
Eris was visibly gasping for breath. She stammered as she continued to speak.
‘Y… You
know, I also felt it. P… Perhaps not as strongly as you and Rebecca do but I
did feel it. When I fed Alia, she innocently hugged my hand, and I felt a
shiver run down my body. All my thoughts cleared, and I just wanted to remain
in that moment. Maybe that was my first brush with love.’
Eris smiled
while still gasping for air… and this time it was not a goddess’s smile… it was
a mother’s.
Prithvi
took out the energy gun, and pressed a button. The energy bubble disappeared
and both of them heaved for fresh air.
After
several gulps of urgent breaths, Eris spoke. However, this time the voice was
not hers. ‘You continue to surprise US, Prithvi.’
‘Am I
talking to the Mind now?’
‘You are…
through Eris. I am now connected to her and I know everything you talked about.
It is an incredible risk you are taking by letting her connect to US.’
‘A well
thought out risk, the hive-Mind. Even if Eris had died in that bubble, you
would have figured out that something was wrong. You might have gone back to
your decision of exterminating us. But now, Eris is alive, and you can now
eliminate me to preserve your secrets.’
‘What if WE
decide to exterminate your kind anyway? Did you think about that?’
‘I did. And
that is why I wanted to talk to you. Humans are aggressive and competitive –
but that only applies to some humans. You have known that each
individual human is different, but let me tell you this – Each one is capable
of love. Give us an opportunity to prove ourselves. As far as extermination
goes – you can do it any time you desire. But it will never be needed. And all
this while humanity’s affiliation will always be with you, our leaders and our
people revere you like Gods. The only exception is me. And that problem can be
solved easily.’
A laugh
emanated from Eris’s mouth. ‘You are a remarkable specimen, Prithvi. WE don’t
want to kill you, but after all that you know, WE can’t leave you either.’
‘What do
you mean?’
‘You have
to come to our star and help US. Your individual mind is of so much value to
our collective.’
It was
Prithvi’s turn to be surprised. He sat in a thoughtful silence. ‘It is better
than dying.’
‘WE will
take that as a yes. Thank you for your sacrifice, Prithvi. WE will make sure
that your species remembers you. And WE do have a small gift for you. WE are
sure you will appreciate it.’
With that
Eris’s voice became normal. She was back at her smiling self.
Rebecca was
just waking up and so was Alia. Eris walked to Alia’s bed and whispered
something in her ear. As Rebecca and Prithvi watched, Alia put her feet on the
floor and cautiously began to walk on her own.
Tears
rolled from Rebecca’s eyes and Prithvi embraced them in a tight hug.
‘Are you
ready for your voyage Prithvi? We must leave immediately,’ said Eris.
Prithvi
glimpsed a faint hint of moisture in the corner of her eyes, but it might have
been his imagination.
Prithvi
nodded. Lizzies had done so much for the humans and it was time to pay back the
debt. The galactic virus had an 80,000-light-year journey to the center of the
galaxy to teach aliens about love.
### THE END ###
JUMP TO
Part 5: An Alien Next Door
