The Cost of Values - 7

 

In case you happen to just come over to this blog post 

and are wondering what this is all about, 

please do go to the earlier posts, and especially  

The Cost of Values - 1. 

The story starts there. 

You may please read the other chapters before reading this one.

 

This is the 7th Chapter in the serialized story that I am writing.

-----------------------------------------------

 CHAPTER -7

THE CONVERSATION

 

A few hours earlier

 

Akshay found himself in an unfamiliar surrounding. He thought he was in the cafe like structure one moment, and the next moment he found himself alone in a 'room'. There was light, but he couldn't place the source of the light. It was definitely not natural sunlight; though it seemed like that. He looked around and didn't find any windows or apertures through which he could look out and determine where he was. Given that he was naturally a curious person, he was not overcome with fear; though anxiety was there. Yes, certainly some anxiety.

 

Akshay checked himself and found that he was dressed in the same dress that he woke up in. He hadn't carried his mobile phone, which was under the pillow of his bed in the camp. Hopefully his friends would be taking care of it and answering any calls that his parents may make. There was a chair and he sat down. These actions and thoughts may have taken about a minute. Akshay called out to no one in particular, since he couldn't spot anyone, "Hello!"

 

"Hello!"

 

"Who is this? Where am I?"

 

"You will get an answer to these questions and anything else that you may have by and by. First tell us why did you enter that structure without any permission?"

 

"I did call out 'Hello!' when I entered through the open door. I thought it was a cafe and we could grab a cup of coffee."

 

"Do you want anything to drink or eat?"

 

"Yes, some water, a cup of coffee, and something to eat would be great". Akshay didn't in the least feel that he was in any kind of danger since the 'person' speaking to him was very polite.

 

All that Akshay asked for appeared almost instantaneously and was placed on a stool in front of him. He was taken aback by this. How did these food items suddenly appear out of nowhere? He drank the water, ate the slices of bread and sipped on the hot coffee. Are these items for real? Where did they come from? Looking around he found everything almost the same. But where was the other person who was speaking to him?

 

Suddenly he heard a voice, "We are 'beings' from very far off and visit your planet once every few years of your time. We have been visiting your planet off and on and whether you believe it or not, we have a decent knowledge of your planet."

 

"You are surely joking. What nonsense! We haven't been visited by any life form outside our planet till now."

 

"How can you say so? Aren't you surprised that we are able to converse in a language familiar to you?"

 

That is when Akshay realized that he had taken the language for granted. But still there were many possibilities that the 'beings' were from some part of our Earth. Why should Akshay believe that he was 'captured' by aliens? It could be Chinese too with some advanced technology or a secret project of the Indian government and he may have inadvertently stepped on to something that was being tested. Yes, that seemed to him to be the most plausible explanation.

"How do you know so many terms that we use conversationally like 'hunger', 'coffee', 'water', etc?"

"As I mentioned, we have been visiting often enough and have a reasonably good idea of the languages spoken by you humans. We have interacted with other life forms that live in water, on land, and in the air and have a decent understanding of their language too. We can converse with them as well, and have met them in similar surroundings over the last thousand years."

"What is the purpose of your visiting us?" Still no sign of any fear in Akshay.

"We have helped your civilization in many ways. Do you think you came about due to evolution? From apes? That was a theory that Darwin proposed, and yes, we have got that information too. Actually we helped the creation of sapiens and have watched you evolve, and nudged you biologically over time to help you reach this stage of 'intelligence'."

This continuous volley of information was too much for Akshay to process. He was not fearful of any unknown generally, and took anything that he didn't know about with a curious mindset. He also looked for logical explanations when faced with things that he didn't know about. If this was true, was he some sort of guinea pig or lab rat for them to experiment on? As if reading his thoughts, he heard the voice again.

"No. We do not experiment with any beings from your world. We nudge your brain a little; but sometimes that little nudge results in a huge breakthrough in your world. We may do that to you too so that you can benefit your people."

"Why should you do that? What do you gain by this?"

"Why do humans have pets? Why do they 'train' them?"

"We like to keep pets for our mutual benefit. Pets care for us just like we care for them. Ignoring some people who may keep wild animals as pets, generally our pets like dogs or cats are good for both of us."

"Good. Can you tell me why your scientists have experimented with plants? Why do marine biologists go under the sea to study marine life? Why do ornithologists study birds? What purpose does it serve the birds or humans?"

"We have learnt many new things from them. In fact we may also have invented some drugs to benefit us by exploiting what we study in the forests and in the oceans." Having said that Akshay now had a tinge of worry whether life forms on Earth are likely to be 'exploited' by these aliens for their purpose. He didn't voice his suspicion, but realized that his brain was being studied while they were busy keeping him talking to them. He asked, "Where are you from?"

"From a place very far off. Since you do not have any interest in astronomy, I may not be able to make you understand within the time that we have."

"What will you do next? Will I be able to return to Earth, if I am not there now?"

"Of course. As I mentioned, we don't take captives. You came to us; we didn't capture you."

"Ok. That is a relief. How much time has elapsed since I came here? I do not know how time moves in this environment relative to ours."

"Maybe about four hours. To answer your previous question regarding what we will do to you, we have already done that. As I said, a positive nudge in your area of specialization for you to achieve some breakthrough in your life and benefit humans."

"If I am asked about my experiences here, I may not be able to explain anything at all. This is just a seemingly vacant room and all I am hearing is your voice."

"Oh relax. You will not remember anything that happened here. We take care of that. We know that many of you folks are distrusting of anything you do not know and have historically tried to kill it and kill the messenger too!"

"But this is really sad. I want us to meet more often; not necessarily with me, but with many of our more intelligent and smart scientists, engineers, and technologists. They can really benefit with your interacting with them."

"Are you sure?"

That was what he heard last; though Akshay wouldn't remember these words. He now found himself at  the edge of the woods adjacent to the grassy lands near the campsite in Kanatal. He wondered how he got there. It was afternoon, though according to him it was just early morning a few minutes ago. He remembered walking with this friends towards a structure that had appeared suddenly the previous night, but now there was nothing there. When he looked towards the campsite, he could see the tents fluttering in the afternoon wind. He saw Amrutha, Ganesh, and Vikrant with some others. He started walking towards them.

_______________________________________________________________

 

Note to readers:

 

Thanks for your support and encouragement. Quite a few commented within the blog in the initial chapters, but quite a few wrote words of praise on WhatsApp. I thank them. I also thank those of you who took the time to come here and read this 'serialized story'.

 

Before beginning to write this story, I had no previous experience in this genre. I like to write and I look at this effort more like an experiment rather than an achievement (😁).