I'll Be There For You

AYAAN

Year: 2342

Month: September

Date: 18

Destination: Underground

Simon smiled. "Hello children. It's good to see you both again."

"But how?" Maverick sputtered.

"I believe it is a long story children."

At that, all of them sat on the ground and stared up at the man.

He laughed. "But of course."

He sat down with them as well.

His eyes wandered toward Ayaan and Isha. Ayaan grew wary.

Before the man could say something, Neha piped in, "They stay."

He smiled.

The man started speaking, "You remember Maverick about the bugs we had laid out in Zeroa? Well, that was not the complete truth. Now I need you all to believe me during this whole story. All right? No questions until after I've finished."

They all nodded.

"You all know how Zeroa came to be made. It was humans who discovered it. And its race. But they hadn't died. The early scientists hadn't died at all. Once they invented the first Zeroan, they realised that there were some malfunctions in her lifespan. She was not growing. She remained the same age. They then started giving her foreign hormonal doses. Those seemed to work to an extent. But then the problem of death arose. They realised if they didn't stop giving her the dose, she wouldn't die. So they decided to expand the race. Once more Zeroans appears with the help of Zeroa, they realised all had the same problem. The only thing which seemed fit to them was to go into hiding. The Zeroans were gaining intelligence at a fast rate. They knew they wouldn't follow humans. So they built this place. An underground shrine of sorts. And from here they controlled the Zeroans. They decided when one had to die, when one needed more doses and so on. It has been going on since the start. Every year, we recruit new members for this task. Vani's parents, Roshan's parents, his brother. They were all recruited."

They were all silent for so long. And then Ayaan spoke, "All this time, humans have been controlling us?"

Simon nodded. "I'm sorry. But it's the truth."

"How'd you manage to keep feeding us the doses."

At that, Simon smiled. "We....have our ways. And we would like to keep them discreet."

Then Mr. Agarwal spoke. "We have a good life here. Simon is a fair leader."

"Woah woah woah. Pause." Maverick said. "Simon is the leader? What about the central powers?" He looked at Simon.

Ayaan looked at Simon properly. The man was ready keel. He was barely holding it together.

"Maybe, Maverick, go a little easy on the man?", Ayaan said.

Simon looked at Ayaan with raised eyebrows.

"We're aliens sure, but aliens with feelings." Ayaan shrugged.

Simon laughed. "Maverick, I'm sorry. I really am. I know you were very dedicated to the Powers. Probably more than your own friends."

Vani laughed, "Oh yes. Definitely. He almost killed me Simon. Killed me!"

"Stop it.", Maverick mumbled.

"This place has always been my home Maverick. My money was able to get me into the ranks of the Powers. It proved to be priceless. The bugs we'd place? I could filter those freely. And you were an exceptional agent. So was Vani for a while. Well, before she went rogue. But then we realised, that was perfect. We tracked down Phoenix. We made him heard of to Vani. She always thought it was her who found him. But we carefully set her in Greenland then. And then you Isha."