No-way!

Hello. This is Jay Gupta. I spoke on the phone.

The receiver responded, “THE JAY GUPTA?” I chuckled. I confirmed his doubt.

I looked at the mirror which was hanging on the wall in front of me. Mother Nature has taken its toll on me. The once young, handsome, and healthy Jay Gupta after all these years has become an old, wrinkled, and less energetic Jay Gupta. But few things never go and stay with us permanently. For others, it might be a nice memory to keep but for me, it’s like a poison slowly spreading in me and engulfing me into it.

The receiver put the call on hold and shifted the dial to a higher authority. I heard a much heavier voice now.

“It’s been a while Mr. Chowdhary” I greeted the voice.

The person on the other side gave a fake laugh, “oh, it’s my pleasure to have you with us today. Anything special?”

“I thought you can help me”

“Anything Sir!”

“I want to tell a story. My story”

The ‘Global Times’ journalist was confused.

“Your media is famous worldwide. I hope this story of mine can reach across the world”

He agreed and was pleased too.

“But I would like to tell my story right now, on the phone, I can’t come to the studio”

I can sense the sadness of Mr. Chowdhary from the phone. He took the deal, and directly connected my phone’s dial to their channel’s radio. I switched on the television.

The anchor came forward and started to speak in her alert and monotonous voice, “Today we have with us the one and only Mr. JAY GUPTA! I am so pleased and it has always been my dream to meet or speak with him” she waited for my reply, but as a douche, as I am, I just replied, “Can we please just skip to the story, I don’t have much time”.

The anchor looked embarrassed and I could see the tint of redness appearing on her cheek. She continued, “Uh-I am sorry sir, hmm- but yeah, let’s just continue with our show, Mr. Gupta the mic is on you now”

I took a deep breath and recalled everything, it was like a movie playing in my head,

“It all started on 2nd May 2045-"

                 ~

 “Cheers!” Everyone clinked their glasses to one another. The fizz in the champagne oozing out as I focused my eyes out of the window. This was the day when my entire life’s struggle and efforts have shined, from sleepless nights to addiction to caffeine, the journey was not simple but was worth it.

A soft hand touched my shoulder, “Anything troubling you?” I looked up and there she was. Maira Dutt. The only girl in our crew, with her husband, Kunal Dutt.

“Nah- just thinking what I will do once I reach Mars!” I said with a smirk. Kunal refilled my champagne glass and cuddled with Maira.

“Well you won’t be on the mars for too long” Sam said, the oldest guy on our crew. Being the youngest, no one takes me seriously, though they all know I am much more capable than they are.

“I agree, you have to monitor the spacecraft, no loitering around, or we will be forever stuck on Mars” Sanjay said following Sam’s words.

I scoffed.

“Come on guys stop it!” Maira said, “But speaking on a serious note, what do you think we will get to see on Mars?”

“Red soil”

“Radiation”

“Lots of iron rocks”

“Martians”

Everyone looked at me, “Martians, seriously Jay?” Sam said, “I never knew young people were so delusional!” I looked out of the window once again, I don’t want to start another fight, not to mention my rude behavior, they will yeet me out of the shuttle.

“The Sparths must have checked everything, they reported there was no sign of life on Mars, it’s like a ‘Lal Registhan’” Kunal said. I was still not paying attention to them. I looked at the device in my hand, the phone given to us by Sparths, a private space government agency, well known in India. The phone detects a signal, any signal, it is used to communicate with Earthlings, just like any radio device but more advance, it can be used if we are outside the shuttle; dunno why did they give this to me, if I am not going to get out of this control room.

“Look-” Sanjay stood up with excitement, “we are here!” he flapped his hands like a five-year-old kid, anybody would. The red ball stood in front of us, but not to be fooled by its colour, it’s actually colder. Everybody started to wear their spacesuits. I looked out of the window once again, it was kind of becoming a habit.

We are here. We are really here. Mars. It stood there, left untouched by anyone, isolated by the humans. Who knows what secrets it will unveil? Or we will ourself become a secret!

                 ~

I started wearing my own suit, just in case a miracle happens and I leave this metal monster and explore outside. But a sudden jerk shook the shuttle and shattered all my expectations.

“Are we in Mars atmosphere?” Kunal asked. I looked at the monitor. It shows we still have an hour to reach mars, then what is this jerk. Did an asteroid hit us? Did we collide with a satellite? Was there a malfunction? But the answer to my question lied just right in front of us.

A huge spirally black thing, which was swallowing everything that was coming in its way.

“Blaac..blacc..” I was not able to get my voice out of my throat.

 “What?” Sam shouted over the overheated engine’s voice. Before I could say ‘A freaking black hole’, the whole thing swallowed us in one go, compressing everything. Then everything went blank.

                 ~

Wake up. 

No, I want to sleep more. 

WAKEEEE UPPP! 

The high-pitched screech resonated in my ear. I woke up with cold sweat all over my forehead. My forehead? I could touch my forehead? Shit, where the heck is my helmet. Wait a second! I looked around. Red soil covered every inch of the terrain and heavy clouds covered the orange sky. Am I on Mars? But that black hole-

If I was sucked by the black hole, how am I even alive? If I am on Mars, how am I able to breathe? And where were the others? Are they dead? Are they still here, unconscious somewhere? Questions started to build in my head every passing second.

I was so confused that I failed to notice the Sparths phone still clenched in my left hand. My mood lightened up. I can contact others if they were here, or even Earth. I switched on the device, but it was not showing anything, not even a cosmic signal. Just blank! What the heck- there must be some signal, or there is a signal, but something must be blocking it. What am I even thinking? How can something block such a huge radiated signal, unless it’s ‘someone’-

I decided to investigate further on. I tried to get up but my legs were giving away, but I have to keep on trying, or else who knows what might happen if I just stayed like this.

Creak!

I looked back. What was that? Was someone following me?

“Who’s there?” there I go! Did one of the stupid things which happen in movies, which we all know, results in the death of the protagonist. And just like any other movie, someone really was following me. But unlike movies, it was neither a human nor an animal. It was something else.

Something much more hideous. Something much more huge than humans has ever seen. Walking on its hind limbs, its forelimbs starched wide apart in my direction. I wanted to run but my legs were not moving from the spot, maybe because they were tired or they were just terrified by the sight in front of them.

My mind started to send me signals, but unlike others, my mind used to think much more rationally and practically, and I could hear just one thought. I guess, even that creature could also hear my thoughts because I can see the slightly twitched mouth part as if it was laughing at my thought – ‘I AM GONNA DIE!’

The creature sensed my fear and started to run behind me, not to mention at Usain’s Bolt speed. If I keep running like this, it will catch up to me. I saw a couple of huge rocks ahead parallelly arranged by the nature, I guess I should thank Mars’s nature too! I ducked behind one of the rocks. It had lost me. I repeat, the creature has failed to catch me. I mentally clapped myself for this victory but my happiness didn’t last long. There, in front of me, it stood with its legs apart and growling. But how? Its nose twitching every time it came near me. The sudden thought passed my mind, was it smelling me?

I started to throw rocks at it, again the worst decision that I ever took in my life. It came right at me, triggered by my action. It pinned me to the ground and opened its mouth, the sharp teeth surrounded its jaws, and a long tongue licking my face. Ew! Once again it opened its mouth, and everything went blank!

                 ~

The humidity was starting to increase now. After I got unconscious, I was brought to a cell where the rest of the crew members were also present. They were as confused as I was. The only difference was, there was only one monster before, but now there were hundreds. I sighed. I guess I am going to die this way.

Two golden eyes met mine. The monster which was chasing me was sitting on the rock and watching me. Now that I compare it with other monsters, its skin was red rather than the blue skin the guards were having and was much smaller than them.

“It’s a female” Maira said with a squeak. Again questions started to whirl in my head. Are they going to kill us? Why have they captured us? If that ‘She’ monster captured me, why didn’t she eat me? Was she nice? Dummy! It's reality, not a dream!

                 ~

It’s been a week since we have been brought to the prison. Surprisingly they were taking good care of us. I never knew the planet which was 50 million miles away from the sun, could successfully grow dandelions, garlic, lettuce, spinach, onions, and much more. The food wasn’t much to my liking, but obviously, being an Indian I really do miss spices in them, but who am I to complain about it now? The fact I can’t deny was that they too were having a civilization, modern tech, a governor, scientists, farmers, and even facial emotions. But comparing this monster to humans is like comparing a lion to a deer and in the end, we all know who devours whom.

A giant blue guard came forward and unlocked the cell’s door. Seeing this we were having mixed emotions, were they releasing us so we could be set free, or were they releasing us so we could be killed?

Sanjay being an idiot as he was, tried to get away from the guards and started to run, the guards screeched something in their languages. And there it was, the last breath of Sanjay, spent on running like a duck. Blood splattered everywhere as the monsters dragged Sanjay’s body to the center and started to devour it!

Maira screamed, one of the guards looked at her, Kunal spontaneously clasped her mouth tight, Sam was left aghast as well, looks like he lost his best friend, whereas I, I was laughing madly, everyone started to stare at me, my laugh was turning into clear sobs as I cried my heart out. This can’t be happening.

We were put to jail at once. “Look!” Sam gestured, the monsters took out some device and started to fiddle with it. What was it? I pierced my eyes, it was like a radio! But it wasn’t ours.

Suddenly the female monster came in front of me and started to screech or rather I should say, speak in her language, “Zakara istra milat umb!” Everyone looked at her confusingly, but I couldn’t fail to notice the sad and worried look on her face. The guards upon hearing this took her away at once.

                ~

“What’s happening?” the chief commander asked.

“Sir, we are no able to receive any signal” one of the scientists said. 

Everybody was confused. This was happening since last month.

“Is it because of those humans?” the commander asked. Everybody looked at each other. Some said yes, some said no, but they knew it was not the humans deep down inside. Humans were not yet capable to master the technology, and blocking a huge broadband signal is the least which they can do. So it was something else!

“Bring those humans here!” the commander ordered. The soldiers dashed away.

                 ~

A huge crowd of monsters was standing outside our cage. One of them suddenly opened the cage but we didn’t dare move because we know what happened with Sanjay. They talked among themselves.

Kunal grabbed my hand. I could see his pale face lightening by the orange light of the sky, it was terrific! I myself was scared. They took us one by one separately. Our hands entangled with that of monsters. They literally dragged us. But I could see they were a bit smooth with Maira, were they able to tell she was female? Were their minds so developed? I don’t know, but it seemed they were much more advanced than we were.

We entered a huge dome-like structure, which was covered by a glass-like thing. The temperature inside the dome was quite cooler than outside, I looked around, oh, so they have discovered an air conditioner.

I felt a poke at my back and there she was, the same female monster. I was much more relaxed about facing monsters, because, one, maybe she was not going to harm me and was trying to become my friend, second, I was just going to die. Both the thought calmed me down. I saw on the right side, it was our rocket, they fixed it!

I was in awe. To fix a rocket that was shattered to pieces, in a week is something even we can’t do. We were taken into some control room, I can see few monsters looking at the screen and busy typing something. I looked around, there must be a communication screen. And there it was, the huge screen, the screen which enabled every control room to communicate with themselves and the outside world. But- it was blank, there was no signal, are you kidding me?

“Sho yuh saw its!” a giant monster came forth us, it seems to walked more slowly and had a bit of faded colour, this made me think he was old and also a superior person, though his English was not as good.

“te Sighnale!” he continued, speaking directly to me. Was he talking about the signal?

“What do you want?” Sam said bravely. I internally slapped myself. He was totally going to die now.

“Yugh Captayn?” he asked Sam. Sam nodded proudly. The commander signalled to others and they took Sam away. Baka Sam. Everyone remained still, no one spoke a word. Sam’s scream echoed all around the room, we didn’t bat our eyes.

The commander looked at me once again, “te Sighnale?!” he shrieked louder now.

“I don’t know!” I squeaked, “Even we are not able to get any signal” he took a step back.

The murmur started again between them and then they looked at us with a grim face and screeched again, “Zakara istra milat umb!”

                 ~

Boom! Crash! 

There was a commotion outside. Everyone started to panic. I saw Sam running in the rocket’s direction, looks like he breached the security and escaped from them. For the first time, I felt a bit proud of him. I looked around the security guards which were holding us, now scrambled towards Sam. Maybe this is our final chance.

“RUNNNN!” I shouted. I ran as fast as I can, making sure Kunal and Maira were following me. We saw ahead, Sam was able to open the rocket’s door, but alas, the monsters caught him and shredded his body into two halves. I went in another direction where there was a spare door.

“Ah!” Kunal stumbled and fell, Maira went to get him up. “Come on guys! We don’t have time”, they both looked back and saw the monsters coming close. They smiled at me and faced them together just how every couple faces the problem. Together.

This was not supposed to happen. Why? Why? Whhyyyy? I cried but I can’t look back, I have to survive this. Yes, I have to. I reached the door and closed it behind me. I went to the control room and switched on the engine, it vroomed, which made my heart happy. I looked outside the window and there I saw her. My favourite monster, not participating in any fight but just stood there. All of a sudden, she waved at me, I waved back at her, it was as if she was smiling and crying at the same it.

“Thank you and take care!” I lip-synched. She lip-synched back the same sentence, which I am hearing them saying for quite some time, “Zakara istra milat umb!”

I was far away before I can even react. I sat on the chair just to feel the aircraft shaking and then everything going blank.

                 ~

“-And after that, I opened my eyes just to see I was in the hospital and have gotten quite famous” I said slowly. The anchor on the verge of crying spoke in her shrill voice, “I am so sorry for your friends Mr. Gupta, I hope-”

I cut her in between, “but that’s not why I am here, just to tell the story, I am here to say something more important”

The anchor became alert.

“I could have told this story way back but I didn’t because I was researching something, something which always bugged me”

“What is that sir?” the anchor said more carefully

I took a deep breath and said, “The Earth’s in danger!” 

The anchor not believing me, “you mean the marshlings? Those scary monsters, omg! So as you all can hear, it’s them-”

“NO!” I shouted, she became silent, “It’s not them, it’s-it’s something else!”

She was confused, “What makes you say so, sir? You told us about those monsters but you never told us about them?”

“It’s because I too never saw them” she was more confused than before and I guess the people watching right now must be too!

“They always tried to warn me but I never took it seriously. They were never our threat but It was someone else, they already found out about it, but right now we are their target, so we should-”

The anchor interrupted, “are you sure sir, this would mean a serious uptake, but if the news is false-if you have any proof-”

I could feel a sudden pang in my heart, I clenched my heart, but before I could die, I said with my last breath “Zakara istra milat umb!”

And then total blackout.

                  ~

Wake up, Jay. Wake up. It was the same voice I heard on Mars, when I met that female monster, was she here? Wakkkee uppp!

I opened my eyes at once and looked around. The same blackboard was facing me with a fan right over my head. I looked at my bench mates, Maira, Kunal, Sam, and Sandip laughing hysterically as if some joke happened.

“Jay! Get up at once” the teacher shouted at the top of her lungs. I still couldn’t believe it. It was all just a dream. I felt relief and sad at the same time. I faced her, “yes mam!”

“Idiot! Who sleeps in the first period itself!” everybody started laughing, “SILENCE!” she shouted once again.

“Now tell me where would you want to go in next summer vacation?”

I smirked. I knew the answer. Hell, even you all must be knowing the answer.

“To Mars!” I said proudly. There was a silence for a moment which urged everyone, even the teacher, to laugh.

“Get out of the class now, Jay!”