Thursday, March 18, 2021

The Virus: Part 4

 4. Failed Gambit

The next event was the inauguration of HEO, High Energy Observatory which no doubt was made possible with the Lizzy Technology. It allowed for deep space observations and communications with the Lizzies. Lasers powered by micro-fusion could emit 60-petawatt beams, pointed in the correct direction, could communicate across the cosmos.

Prithvi couldn’t care less about the observatory; he stared at the three Lizzies through his dark glasses walking alongside them to the inaugural area. While one scientist was trying really hard to impress the Lizzies, Prithvi caught Eris looking back at him. For a brief moment, it felt as if her gaze was burning him from the inside.

Does she know? The thought crossed over his mind. He as quickly shrugged it off, as the formal ceremonies took over.

After the inauguration, Marsh D’Mello, the Chief Contact Officer, played a tour guide and led the rest of the contingent. The facility was indeed impressive expanding several blocks. Moving from section to section, Marsh D’Mello animatedly described the purpose of different instrumentation to the alien guests, who, as always, made appropriate remarks at the right times.

‘On your left, you can see the tower called ‘Absolute Zero’, here we cool down the gases near absolute zero where it transforms into Bose-Einstein condensate – WATCHOUT—‘

A loose piece of metal came off and brushed Eris, it was sheer luck as the heavy block crashed the spot she stood a second ago.

The tour was cut short and several apologies followed including the one directly from the President. Soon all was forgotten, nobody suspecting any foul play. Who would deliberately try hurting the benevolent Gods?

###

The Next morning, Prithvi was woken up by a violent and screaming vid call from Estella.

‘Where the heck are you?’

‘What do you think, Chief, my duty doesn’t start until… what time is it?’

‘He doesn’t know,’ Estella said to someone off-screen. In the background, a large screen was delivering the morning news.

‘Haul your ass as fast as you can to my office, use the back door, and don’t talk to the press till you see me.’

Estella hanged the phone before he could mutter, ‘What press?’

Prithvi stood dumbfounded, holding the receiver. What had transpired in the morning? There was no time to think. He dressed as fast as he could and rushed out of the house. That’s when he understood what Estella meant. Reporters and cameras swarmed him the moment he stepped out of his apartment. Dozens of overlapping voices bombarded questions, several cameras jostled for space around him.

‘Why do you think you were chosen?’

‘What is your family’s reaction to all this?’

‘What arrangements have you made?’

His resistance didn’t deter them. He managed to wade through them to reach his car and pressed the ‘privacy’ button. The glasses turned dark and the outside noises reduced to a muffle. He took some deep breaths. They didn’t help. He could think of only one reason why he was the center of the attention -- His little side-project with Estella had gotten out in the open.

With trembling hands, he turned on the car’s vidscreen. A news feed came to life:

‘ – the unusual choice of hitherto unknown security officer Prithvi has surprised many Lizzy experts. We have with us Dr. Dave Lock from the Institute of Interplanetary Sociology, Luna, who will throw more light on this new demand from the Lizzies.’

‘Dr. Dave, what do think of this unusual request from the Lizzies and why do you think Officer Prithvi was chosen?’

Dr. Dave adjusted his glasses and spoke in a deep monotone academic voice.

“Well, thanks for having me this morning. I think this is another aspect of inter-species cultural exchange. This cross-pollination of cultural ideas is what would make two distinct life-forms understand each other better.”

“Some skeptics are comparing it to native-habitat observations that we do on animals. How do you respond to that?”

“That is completely uncalled for after what they have done for us. This is as much an opportunity for us to get to know them as for them to know us.”

“And what about this Officer Prithvi?”

“Ummm… that is a curious choice I must admit. My hypothesis is that they wanted a normal everyday family but also someone who had been around them for a while and gotten used to them.”

“And as our analysis reveals, this officer was alongside the Lizzies as part of the security--”

Prithvi closed the vidscreen, his heart pounding and his mind racing.

###

It was a matter of rare exception where the President had to wait for someone. This was one of the rarest ones. As Prithvi entered Estella’s office, President was pacing across the length of the room. The moment he saw Prithvi, he pounced on him.

‘What exactly did you do?’

‘I… just… I didn’t do anything.’

‘He knows, Prithvi.’ Estella said.

‘Damn yes, we do. But too late. Only after Eris asked to move into your house, we started going through the security footage. Whatever weird shit you were planning with Anthony Jenkins; we saw that… and I think Lizzies got a whiff of that.’

Estella jumped. ‘We weren’t planning anything, Mr. President. We just wanted to know more about them. Those were my orders, and he didn’t have any say in the matter.’

Prithvi and Estella exchanged looks. Prithvi’s silently moved his lips. ‘Thank You’.

‘Doesn’t matter,’ President flared. ‘Once this is over, you will both be tried for high treason.’

‘But for now, we don’t have any choice, we just have to follow through with what Lizzies are demanding. Adonis listened to our politics for an hour and abruptly stopped the talks. We tried to reason but to no avail, they were quite forceful. Adonis and Ares went to their spacecraft and Eris explicitly asked to move in with you for five days. They said they will take everything back if we didn’t allow them their request. I have never seen them behaving like this.’

Prithvi swallowed.

Suddenly Marsh D’Mello barged into the room. He looked like he had seen a ghost. ‘M… Mr. President… one moment please –’

President Belikh barked, ‘NOW WHAT?’

‘B… But Adonis… and Ares… the spaceship…’

‘Get your bearings, Marsh.’

He gulped down the glass of water from Estella’s desk. ‘S… Sorry M… Mr. President. We had been monitoring the spaceship since it arrived. Since today morning, it is leaking energy.’

‘Huh? What do you mean?’

‘It is just a leakage, and yet it is so massive that the technician reported it in Yottawatts. Our scientists swear that this much energy in a such a small space is impossible unless…’

‘Unless what?’

D’Mello swallowed. ‘Unless it is meant to be a bomb. A bomb that packs more energy than the friggin SUN.’

A silence erupted in the room. President turned to Estella and Prithvi. His hands shook and his tongue struggled to put the words together. His demeanor long gone.

‘I am putting this on you two,’ he blared. ‘Y…You guys pissed them off and they want to deal with you personally. For all I care, they can hang you in a public street as long as they leave Earth without annihilating us.’

‘But he didn’t—’ Estella tried to protest.

‘Shut up, Estella.’ President fumed. ‘No more tricks, no more games. Prithvi, my agents will escort you back to your home. Then you just do what Eris tells you to do. There will have an army contingent outside your house, and I will personally be monitoring the operation.’

‘And as for you Estella, you are terminated with immediate effect. We will see what to do with you later.’ President gestured and two guards grabbed Estella by the elbows.

‘God help us. We are not ready for this.’ President wiped his forehead, where an involuntary bead of sweat had gathered.

JUMP TO

Part 3: Gods(?)                                                  Part 5: An Alien Next Door

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