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
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