The Growing Impatience

 "I am an alien?" Saira exclaimed and continued "Can't you see that I am human?" "You are a thing that has come from the future. I don't even know if I am even talking to a conscious being or a robot." Aditya retorted. "You are so rude!" Saira said angrily. Aditya looked away in frustration and pelted a stone, hard on the ground. Saira thought of the personality that she had imagined Aditya to be when she read his books. She could not relate this person in front of her, and to the wisdom that awed her in his books. 

       She recalled the discussions she often had with Shibu about Aditya's writings. On the day that Dr. Anant had introduced Aditya's writings to them, they had started reading his books. That evening Shibu had come to her with excitement saying "Saira, I cannot sleep before I complete reading all his books. He is just so logical, simple, and accurate. He writes in a way that everything seems obvious." "I totally agree," Saira said. "Which book are you reading?" she asked.  

"I am on 'Changing it'. In this, he talks about the mars mission, actually predicting the situation as it is today." "What did he write?" Saira asked. "Starting from the fifth chapter, he argued that while the success of the mission to Mars would be widely celebrated and would bring immense hope, its success would be owned by a few. He says that as the environmental condition on earth gets deplorable, more and more public interest would be directed to planetary migration missions, the first one being mission mars. With every successful mission, the public interest would rise, hope would rise, more and more public money would get pumped into these missions. The ability to set up life on mars would lead to complacence and negligence on the environment conservation on earth." "Ah, interesting. I also heard that in the 21st Century, there used to be international committees to save the environment. They used to influence how industries functioned." Saira replied.  

"Yes, there were" Shibu replied and continued "I had just looked up some timelines. In fact, most of these committees were set up in the 20th century. Until mid 21st century, they increased and the number of nations participating in these committees also increased. In 2165, the first successful 'Open-air Walk' happened on mars in the 'Free Zone' created by a team thee. The same year, 2 of the countries that collaborated in creating the 'Free Zone' signed themselves out of the United Nations Commission of Sustainable Development. This began a trend and these bodies gradually lost importance and clout. We now know that environment protection was a thing of the last century." 

 "We had more than a hint, to the trouble we are in today," Saira said thoughtfully. "Yes, and yet we are where we are" Shibu replied thoughtfully. "He had been a bestseller right, which means his ideas were valued, and yet how did we not do anything about it?" she asked. 

       A rattling sound broke Saira's thoughts. She saw Aditya occasionally pelting a stone or breaking a nearby twig while being lost in his own thoughts. She realized that this way, no meaningful conversation could happen between Aditya and her. She decided to keep herself composed, and began gathering her thoughts to initiate an amicable conversation with him.