A Meeting

Rohit was playing hide and seek with his friends on the ground near his home. It was a pleasant evening. He was eleven years old and lived with his mother in a rented house in a suburban area of the city named Indore. Now his term to hide and he ran to hide behind a small temple in a corner of the ground. Hiding behind the temple he was hoping that no one can find him. All of a sudden he saw a big airplane-like thing flying in the sky. It was going towards the hill. Just then he heard, "I find you," his friend was before him. 

Sun had set and it was growing dark. He was returning home on his bicycle. His house was situated on a corner of the area far away from the other houses. It was the last house in the area beyond which began the forest. When he was about two hundred meters away from the house he found the bright object hovering above the house. It was going late and he had a lot of homework to do so he didn't give much attention to this hovering object. 

After taking dinner he was studying in his room in the light of a table lamp. The window of the room was open. All of a sudden he heard a strange sound and his room was filled with yellow light. He looked out through the window and found a big and round thing emitting yellow light landing about two hundred meters away from his house. "What the hell is it," he said. After landing the brightness of the yellow light began to faint. Getting curious, he decided to go out to that thing and see what it was. He went to his mother's room and found her sleeping. He without making a noise opened the door and came out. When he reached near the object he got startled to see two persons in suits which covered their entire bodies and looked like space suits. He hid behind a thicket and began to look at them. They removed their suits and began to walk toward him talking to each other. When they came near to him, he saw that one of them was a woman and the other was a man. They were middle-aged and smart looking. He cringed behind the thicket. He was frightened and didn't want to be seen by them. When they were passing by him he saw their faces. The face of the man seemed familiar to him. He heard the man saying, "this is the same house where spent my childhood." The man was pointing to Rohit's house. Hearing this Rohit was surprised. Rohit began to chase them stealthily. He found that they stopped in front of his house and the man looked at the house for some moments and then they proceeded to the main street.

The next morning Rohit heard on the television news that NASA was planning to send a manned mission to planet Mars. Later the news said that scientists recently found some evidence of the presence of microorganisms on Mars. In the evening instead of playing with friends, Rohit went to the forest where he had seen that man and woman. But he found no one there. The flying vehicle also was not there. He found the ash of burnt grasses and bushes there. 

Rohit saw neither that mysterious man and woman nor their flying machine for the next two days. He thought that now they had gone somewhere else. 

The next day when Rohit was going to play badminton in recess at school, he was caught by a group of bullying students who used to bully him. He managed to get free from them and began to run with f. The bullying students were chasing him. While running he collided with someone.

"Why are you running? Why are you so afraid?" someone asked him. Rohit looked up and found that mysterious man. Rohit was so afraid that he grasped that man. The man looked around and found some bullying students standing in front of them. He said to Rohit, "go and give them a good fight. Life is the name of struggle and fight." Saying so he pushed Rohit to that bullying students. The students began to bully him. Rohit looked at that man with the hope he came to save him. But that man did not try to save him. The man was looking at him with coolness. Seeing this Rohit felt insulted and this feeling filled him with anger. He gathered all of his strength and began to kick and punch those students. Seeing him in action mode, the bullying student began to retreat. 

When the bullying student got away, Rohit asked that man, "who are you? And why didn't you come to save me?"

The man replied, "who says I don't come to save you? Today I visited you only to save you." 

Rohit looked at him with surprise and said, "you are telling a lie. You did come here to get me beaten by those boys."

The man replied, "Rohit, listen to me. I made you face those bullying boys. Learn to face the problem instead of getting away with fear."

The man paused and looked into his eyes and said, "no one will always come to help you. Life is very long and full of ups and downs. You should learn to face problems by yourself. " Rohit became calm hearing this and said, "you are right."

This was the beginning of the friendly relationship between them. Rohit asked him, "how do you know my name? I have not told you my name so far. You seemed familiar to me."

The man replied, "I know your parents' names also. I know everything about you."

Rohit looked at him with surprise. The man said, "I know even what you will do when growing old."

At this Rohit said, "no, I can't believe it. You are exaggerating."

Then the man told many things about Rohit and his family. Rohit had to believe him. Rohit asked, "I saw you that night landing behind my house. Who are you and where are you coming from?"

At this, the man said to him, "look at my face. Your and my faces look alike. I am your future form. I am a time traveller. I'm coming from the future on a mission."

Rohit has read about time travelling in stories and comics. He said, "time travelling exists only in stories." He replied, "but it is going to be a reality after some years."

"What is your mission?", Rohit asked.

The man replied, " a top-secret mission."

Before Rohit could ask any more, he said, "now I have urgent work see you later." Saying so he took leave of him. 

At night Rohit watched a television show in which a scientist claimed that there was a strong possibility of finding life on Mars and that coming in contact with these Martians would be dangerous for us.

While Rohit and his mother were going to sleep after dinner, someone knocked at the door. When they opened the door they found a police inspector. The inspector showed them a photograph of a man and asked "have you seen this man around your house?"

His mother looked at the photo and got surprised for the face of the man in the photo was like the face of Rohit. She thought for some moments and said, "no."

Rohit saw the photo and immediately recognized the man in photo. He was the same man whom he met and who claimed to be a time traveler and his future form. But Rohit remained silent. When his mother asked the inspector told them, "this man is a stranger and can commit any serious crime. Beware and If you see them, report us immediately."

The inspector looked thoughtfully at Rohit for some moments and then he took leave of them. 

John Rupert and Alison were happy and excited nowadays. They were scientists at the alien research centre. They were assigned the work of studying the microorganism brought by a spaceship from planet Mars. The government decided to grant a big amount to them to continue their work. 

"Keep all of your work a top secret. Revealing this secret will have bad consequences," the chairperson of the research center said to them when they meet him in a meeting. The chairperson ordered them to stay at the facility available in the research centre and continued their work so that secrecy and their safety could be ensured. 

That evening John and Alison went to the market in the car to purchase some medicines and some other things. When they were returning to the research center Alison noticed that a car was following them. He told this John. They speed up the car. After a minute or two, Alison found no car behind them. 

Here Rohit was motivated after that meeting at school with the Rohit of the future who was strong and full of energy and was a time traveler. The words spoken by adult Rohit were echoed in his ears. He was waiting for his next meeting with him. He was thinking about why the police inspector was searching for his future version.

John Rupert and Alison were dedicated to their work. Nobody knew about their work except the chairperson and a few other high-level scientists. They were not allowed to go out of the research centre without permission. The research centre was about ten miles away from the town in a desolate place. People did not like to come here at night. It was a suitable place for carrying out secret projects and experiments. 

They have a special chamber in their laboratory. They secured the specimen in this chamber. The Chamber had the same atmosphere as found on Mars. In this chamber, the Martian microorganisms were multiplying themselves. John and Alison were spending hours studying the physiology and genetics of these Martian. 

"I think with some genetic engineering we can make these Martian able to live in the atmosphere of Earth," John said to Alison.

Alison said with enthusiasm, "these Martian microorganisms would be useful in metallurgy."

The next day, they were before the chairperson of the research centre telling him about their findings. The chairperson was pleased with their work and was ready to give them more facilities for their work.

That day at lunchtime, they found that instead of the old one a new man came to deliver them lunch. Today they were allowed to go out to purchase necessary things. They went out with two guards. When they were returning to the research centre, they were attacked by two masked persons. Masked persons were firing gunshots at the. The guards tried to protect them and began firing at those masked people. Alison got a gunshot in this firing. Hearing the police sirens, the masked people run away from the spot. John Rupert was lucky enough to have a narrow escape in this attack. Just after two minutes after the incident, when John Rupert was going to phone the chairperson of the center to tell him about the incident, he heard the sound of an explosion. He turned and saw the rising smoke and flames in the direction where the centre was situated. Something came into his mind and he rushed to the safe place and began to call up the chairperson and other employees of the center but no one was available to receive his call. Later a policeman told him that the blast was in the research centre. 

Meanwhile here in the school, during recess, Rohit showed his courage when bullying boys tried to bully him and fought them off. He was happy at this. He decided that he would never fear in his life. When he reached home he found that the mother had come from the office. The mother was worried. When he asked about she told him about the incidents of shooting and bomb blasts in the city. She was watching the news on television. A photo of a man was being shown on the TV. Seeing the photo Rohit got shocked. It was the photo of the future version of him. The mother was surprised to see the photo. She said to Rohit, "this man looks like you." Rohit remained silent. 

 Sleep was far away from his eyes. He was thinking about Why he would do so in the future and that after time travelling. Before going to bed he looked at the sky through the window and found that flying object again coming down into the jungle behind his house. He went out to the jungle to meet his future form.

He reached the spot and standing before the flying machine he waved his hands. After some moments the door of the machine opened and the future form of Rohit came out and came to him. 

Rohit asked him, "where were you? " He replied, "I was on the mission." Rohit asked, "what is your mission? Why are the police in search of you?"

The future form of Rohit remained silent for a little while thinking something and then replied, "I hope you can understand what I am going to tell you." Saying this he proceeded to the abandoned hut located near to them. Sitting on the old chair in the hut, the future version of Rohit began his story, "as you already knew that I have come from the future time on a mission. At present nobody knows what was going on at the alien research center destroyed by me some kilometers away from here. I came here to stop what was going on at that alien research center."

Rohit asked, "what did you want to stop from happening?"

The future version of Rohit replied, "first promise me not to tell anybody what I am telling you." Rohit said, " I promise."

The future version of Rohit said, "good. Listen, in that research centre, two scientists were studying the microorganisms that had been brought to Earth by a spacecraft from Mars. The government kept this a secret. After studying it was found that with some genetic engineering these microorganisms could be useful in some fields of human life. Over years they got success in mixing the genetic materials of these Martian microorganisms with these of Earth and creating a new strain of microorganisms that were capable of surviving on Earth. But unfortunately, a mishap happened in the laboratory and this microorganism came out of the lab. These genetically engineered microorganisms spread at a very fast rate and caused disease in humans. Soon the disease became a pandemic and killed millions of people and there was no cure for this disease. Soon the danger of extinction began to hover. Fortunately, some scientist got successful in building a time machine. This time machine brought a ray of hope.

 After successful testing of this time machine, it was decided that by using the time machine someone goes back to the past and stops that project and destroys these microorganisms. I was selected for this mission and I travelled to the past and managed to kill one of those scientists and destroyed the lab."

"Wow! What a story to tell children," saying someone entered the hut with a revolver pointed at them. This was the police inspector who was in search of the future version of Rohit. He was listening to their conversation. "This is not a story. This is reality. Saying so future version of Rohit tried to show him some documents but the inspector was not ready to see anything. He insisted on arresting him. At last future version of Rohit said to him, " I am ready to surrender but first I would like to give you a free trip to your future. This trip will be proof that I am not telling a lie. "

The inspector thought for a little while and said, "ok, I am ready."

Within a few minutes, they were in the future time where the inspector was living his retired life in his paternal town along with his grandchildren. It was sufficient for the inspector. After returning from the trip the inspector left Rohit and his future version free. 

"Now it is time to take leave," the future version said to Rohit. 

Rohit said, "where will you go?"

The future version smiled and said, "to my present." He entered the machine and within a few seconds, the machine begin to vibrate, and then with a yellow bright glow, it began to go up in the sky. Rohit was looking and waving his hand towards it. Within a few minutes, it disappeared into the sky. The sun was about to rise and Rohit who knew what was his destiny was going to his home.