I'll Be There For You

NAINA

Year: 2342

Month: September

Date: 18

Destination: Beta Boundary - Zeroa

"What do you mean there are humans down there? That's not possible." Maverick demanded.

Vani gripped his shoulder and pulled him back. "Easy. Let her explain."

She nodded at Naina. Naina felt a little bad now. For the way she acted toward Vani.

"Naina. Is it true?" Roshan asked, his voice patient.

She thought back to two days ago. When he'd overheard her and Phoenix talking. Naina had never felt fear as she had that day. She had run out to catch up to Roshan. To explain.

It was horrible. He hadn't spoken to her for a whole day. Finally, when she'd worn him out, he'd talked to her.

After telling him the whole story, all he said was, "I'm gonna be honest, I'm relieved this was why I kept getting rejected."

She had wept like a baby.

"Naina." Ankit pressed, bringing her back to the present.

"Right. I'm serious. My hands, they felt the blood flow of hundreds of humans. If I had to guess, about 300. They're down there. Alive. I don't know if they're being kept comatose by the Zeroans or not, but they're there."

All of them turned to look at Ayaan and Isha. She realised with a start, she was like them. An alien among these humans.

No. That's not true. Sure, in the true sense, she wasn't a human. But in every other way that it mattered, she was one of them.

"No. I have no idea. But I wouldn't put it past the Zeroans to do this." Isha said bitterly.

Woah. She did not like them one bit. Well, the feeling was mutual.

Suddenly, Ayaan gasped. "Remember that footage we saw? Of the Cabinet's meeting? Them reporting to them?"

Naina saw Neha and Isha's eyes widen. "You could be right." Neha said.

"Neha? A little more explanation please?" Naina said.

"We saw this CCTV footage of the Zeroan government. They were talking about reporting their results to somebody. We didn't know who they were talking about. This could be it."

"There's only one thing we can do. We gotta go down there." Vani said.

Naina sighed. She was afraid this would be there only option.

"But how do we do it?" Roshan asked.

Phoenix knelt to touch the ground. "The surface is cold and slick. It's definitely not iron. Nor is it any other metal I've ever read about." He said.

"How about we just kick it." Clive offered.

"Clive, we don't have superhuman legs." Maverick chided.

"No. But she does." Phoenix pointed at Naina.

Yep. She was afraid alright.