1. The Offer
‘NEW MESSIAHS ARRIVE TODAY’. ’Can you believe today’s headlines?’ Police chief Estella Gonzac quipped. While pacing the length of her office, she tossed the newspaper on the table.
Prithvi
didn’t immediately respond. Instead, he leaned back on his chair and replied,
‘I absolutely can.’
‘I didn’t
call you to join the bandwagon,’ she said staring into his eyes. She was
pissed. Well, to be honest, she was always pissed.
He chuckled.
‘C’mon Estella. You know me for what, twenty years now? When did I last
disappoint you?’
‘Don’t call
me by my first name… at least not in my office. And no, you haven’t. And that
is the reason why I cannot trust anyone else with my doubts.’
‘Alright, ‘Chief’’
Prithvi said emphasizing the honorific. ‘What do you think Lizzies are arriving
for? Recon? Extermination? Enslavement?’
‘Hold your
sarcasm champ. You don’t know what aliens might be thinking. What you do know
is that my instincts never fail me.’
‘Well… if
you suspect them of foul play then you are looking for something that doesn’t
exist, Estella… I mean… chief. They gave us C-ships and micro-fusion technology
just after the first contact. Your buddy, President Baelikh, though I hate that
guy, did a semi-decent job of combining both the technologies. For the first
time in human history, we have infinite energy in our hands. Don’t you remember
how it was before? And now look at us. We have established colonies on Moon, Mars,
Ganymede and Europa. Baelikh planning a Titan mission too. All credit goes to the Lizzies. I mean we
were a dying civilization and they gave it all that without--’
‘Ya ya ya,’
Estella said impatiently. ‘Gosh. I had forgotten how much I hated your expositions.
Thanks for reminding me.’ Estella sniffed. ‘Whatever you said is right. But that
is exactly why it doesn’t make sense to me. It is too… too… selfless… too
methodical… too…’
‘Too unlike
humans?’
‘Exactly.’
‘Well, they
are not humans.’
‘Still… there
is no free lunch in this world.’
‘Aaand…
they don’t belong to this world. Just because we screw each other up all the
time, doesn’t mean that Lizzies do too. Maybe they are wired differently than
us.’
‘And for me
THAT is an even a bigger reason why to not trust someone who is that
different.’
Prithvi
thought for a second. ‘Fair enough. Hence, we arrive at a deadlock in our
argument. Neither of us have anything more substantial than our hunch. We can take
them to Area 51 and analyze their brains, I suppose.’
Estella
rolled her eyes, missing the sarcasm. ‘Of course, not. At least not until we
understand them better. And that’s why I called you here today.’ She pulled her
chair closer to Prithvi and leaned in till her face occupied Prithvi’s entire
vision. ‘Listen carefully. You have one of the best minds when it comes to looking
beyond the obvious. You make no assumptions and see things that others will not
give a second glance. I still haven’t forgotten your work on the Italian Syndicate.
That bust is now a case-study in the police academy. I want this big brain of
yours doing work for me.’ Her voice turned into a whisper. ‘And more
importantly, you are someone I can trust. Right?’
Prithvi
shifted uneasily in his chair. It was always tricky working with
Estella… and even trickier working for. On one hand he didn’t want to
get into this hot mess Estella was planning, it’d be an easy ‘no’ and he could
just walk out of the room. But on the other hand, secrecy about their physical
appearance and almost altruistic generosity made it difficult for his curious
mind to outrightly reject it. He needed to insure himself first, though.
‘You can
trust me Estella. But I have two conditions before I hear it. One – I get to
say ‘no’ after I hear your plan. Two – I work within my boundaries.’
‘You have
my word.’
Prithvi
sighed. ‘All right. What do you have in your mind?’
Estella
walked with a heavy gait to the table and pulled out a piece of paper from a sheaf
and extended it towards Prithvi.
‘The President
has asked me to manage their security for the time they are here. I want
you in the inner-most ring of their security detail. That way you will be close
to them. Watch their every move, listen to every word they say… do your thing…
and report it back to me.’
Estella
paused and stared at Prithvi.
Prithvi
looked between her and the security memo. ‘There is something else you want me
to do. Only this can’t be it.’
Estella’s
eyes widened and a smile stretched on her face. ‘How did you figure that?’
Prthivi
handed back the memo. ‘Well, I just connected the dots.’
‘Humor me
here then. How do you know there is more to the ask?’
‘Well it
was not one single thing but a combination of multiple observations. First, you
insisted on a private meeting. You must have deemed a vidcall sufficient risk
to haul my ass all the way from New New York. I had my flags up at that time. Second,
just now you emphasized on trust you have on me. I know you and you wouldn’t play
that card in usual circumstances. It has to be more than a plain eavesdropping
mission.’
‘Wait a
sec. This one involved eavesdropping on an alien species. I could be genuinely
asking for a trusting partner for Lizzies’ security.’
‘True. And
I did initially attribute that to the situation. But recall what you exactly
asked in the way you asked it. You had whispered, ‘You are someone I can
trust.’ You were evoking trust at the personal level. As if I would be privy to
something incriminating, and I would keep my mouth shut if things go south.’
‘I see.’
‘The third factor
was pretty easy to see in retrospect. You closed the door shut and switched on
a scrambler before this conversation began. That seemed a little awkward to me
at first but makes sense with my hypothesis of an illegality in your request.
You wouldn’t have done that if the task entailed merely being your eyes and
ears.’
Estella
laughed loudly. ‘Brilliant.’
Then, she walked
to the corner of the room, pressed an invisible speck on the wall, after a
quick iris scan, faux wall slid revealing a small rack. She picked up what
looked like a weapon.
‘This,’
Estella held a surprisingly ordinary looking gun in her left hand, ‘is where I
need you.’
‘What is
it?’
‘It’s an
energy-gun. It creates a bubble of pure energy around the body it is fired at.
Once it is activated nothing can enter or leave that bubble. Not even pure energy.
I need you to keep it on you whenever you are around the Lizzies. And if
needed… use it. Don’t worry, it can’t kill.’
Prithvi’s
eyes widened. ‘You weaponized their micro-fusion technology?’
‘Of course,
we did. Did you think that the guy like Baelikh wouldn’t use micro-fusion
beyond clean energy? Anyway, Pentagon is almost confident that this will
work against the Lizzies.’
Prithvi
took the gun in his hand. It didn’t feel much different from his service pistol
except the nozzle that was closed and rounded at the end. In fact, it was
lighter. Thanks to a fusion device, Prithvi noted with discomfort. I possess
a mini sun in my hands.
‘Here is
the real catch, Prithvi, this mission is ‘off-the-books’. Pentagon can’t risk
an interstellar war in case you did something stupid. Hopefully, it will not
come to that.’
Prithvi sat
there trying to understand the full extent of what Estella was proposing. He
envisioned all best-case and worst-case scenarios and everything in between. He
was supposed to spy on friendly alien beings who are arriving in peace. He will
be completely alone and completely expendable. If anyone found him with that gun,
let alone while firing it, there will be no hearing. Inter-species relationship
won’t be risked for one man.
He was
clearly expendable in this scenario. In other circumstances, he might have
accepted it, but with the family and responsibility of his daughter… he
couldn’t risk their future on Estella’s hypothesis.
‘I am
sorry, chief. This is getting too dangerous. It is one thing to penetrate the
Italian syndicate but whole another thing to go for ‘off-the-books’ mission
involving freaking aliens. My answer is a no.’
Prithvi
stood up, kept the gun back on the table and turned to the door.
‘How is
Alia doing? She must be five now, isn’t it?’
‘She is...’
Prithvi paused in his tracks. ‘same. Doctors are asking us to evaluate… you
know… our final options.’
‘I feel sorry
for her, Prithvi.’ Estella paused. ‘You know, we need someone to head security for
the new Lunar base. And the moon’s low gravity might help her condition --’
‘I’ll do
it.’
###
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