Out - Cast

I looked up at the rocket.  

    “I don’t want to do it.”

    Mr. Swean smiled. “It’s all right! You’ve worked hard for this. It’s the final moment. Time to see whether your hardwork will bring fruit. Be a little more excited, yeah?” 

    I sighed. If only he knew. Then I frowned. Right. Maybe, if he did know, I could avoid having to go.

   I looked at him. “We need to talk.”

   He shook his head. “It’s about time. No more talking.” Fine. So he was not going to listen. Well, then, I was not going to go. Nobody was going to make me go. 

   “Washroom?” He looked exasperated. 

    “Fine. Make it quick.” 

    I ran off quickly. I sneaked to the edge of the launch – pad. There was a reporter standing there. He was covering the take -off. I asked him to drop me to the space center. He looked confused, but obliged. 

    It didn’t take me long to get a cab after I had somehow managed to sneak out to the main street. On the way home, I thought, surprised, about how easy it had been to sneak away from a rocket launch – pad. Unrealistically easy, actually. 

    Let me tell you what exactly is going on.

               ***

Every year, three of us from the space research center are sent to the moon. We are selected on the basis of how much we have contributed that year to space research. 

    My bad luck, this year, I was selected as one of the 'lucky' astronauts who would be sent to the moon. 

    I had steeled my nerves and done my training, but I was still quite unwilling to go. So, I made this master – plan. Escape from the launch – pad. Mr. Swean was extremely gullible. I had thought it would be easy to trick him, but the others would be a lot wiser. But I hadn't known that everybody was so gullible.

                 ***

So, right, I was quite surprised when I reached my house and discovered nobody was following me.

    Great. I slipped in and was about to lay back on the couch for a relaxation session, when the doorbell rang.

    “Oh, hi, Christian.” It was a colleague.

   “You come to the launch – pad at once. We’re not stupid. There was a glitch in the rocket launch, that’s why we let you go. We needed time to fix it. Now that we have, you’re coming.” Okay, so I really wasn't expecting this. They had let me stroll out of the launch - pad because they had to fix a technical glitch?

    “But I don’t want to go!” I protested, though I already knew this wasn't going to help.

    “What is this, Velox?” He sounded highly impatient. “You have trained for this, you took part in everything so enthusiastically, and now you 'don’t want to go'? You have to go.” He said, when I nodded enthusiastically at the words 'now you don’t want to go’. “You should’ve told us the very day we selected you to go that you were unwilling to do it. It's too late now.’

    So basically, an argument took please after this, in which he won. So I had to oblige and go along with him.

                ***

Back at the launch pad, everybody looked at me accusedly.

     “I can’t go,” I said raising my voice and announcing loudly.

    The head scientist, Mr. Gupta, looked at me with raised eyebrows.

    “And you tell us now? After everything has been done? After all arrangements have been made?”

    “Yes.” All of them were still staring at me. “See, it’s only the moon. You don’t need to send a whole bunch of astronauts there! One astronaut less on the mission won’t make any difference. Ahmed and Leticia are enough for the mission. Why, some astronauts go solo to the moon! And Ahmed and Leticia are more than capable of doing it. So, I am not going.”

     I looked Mr. Gupta firmly in the eyes.

     Mr. Gupta sighed. “You’ll be missing a fine and rare chance.”

    My face told him enough about exactly how 'fine and rare' I thought of this chance. He continued defensively, “We made preparations for three people.”

    “A few extra rations won’t do any harm,” I stated calmly.

    It was a hard decision to make for them. They finally arrived at a conclusion and Mr. Gupta turned back to me.

    “Fine. But we need to talk later. Report to my cabin after take - off.”

He looked at the others. “Get snappin', team.” He snapped his fingers and they made a few last arrangements before take - off.

               ***

“Reason?”

“A valid one.”

“Reason?” He looked dangerously calm.

I stayed quiet. He leaned forward, his eyes boring into mine.

"I hope you realize the enormity of what I did for you? Three astronauts were supposed to go on the mission. Two went. This is just not done. Have you ever heard of something like this before?"

I sighed. "Mr. Gupta, trust me, it's just ..." I thought quickly. "I am not feeling well. I don't know how this - this whole affair of going out to space - would have worked out for me. I ..." I trailed off. He had raised his hand.

"Tell me the truth."

"Mr. Gupta, this is the truth." He leaned back into his chair calmly.

"I can see that you are feeling insecure." He put his hands behind his face. He unhooked something.

And his face came off.

I gasped. He looked so much like ...

"Go on. Now you do it."

I obliged automatically. I unhooked the mask, and my artificial face fell off.

He smiled. "What technology we have developed. These types of high - quality masks are just ... amazing. You get to see those lame plastic ones on the Earth."

"Mr. Gupta ...?"

"Swader."

I just stared, amazed.

He smiled. "Allow me to narrate your story for you."

***

“It was a few years ago. The time when you joined our Space Center. You had been sent here by our kind because of too much 'love for humans'”. He made double quotes in the air.

    “The humans were about to send the three astronauts of that year. 2025, I guess. We Spatium Alienigenis were thriving well then." He smiled, as if he could visualize those old days on the Earth's only natural satellite.

"And we were wary. Wary of the humans. We had heard that whatever the humans touched, wherever they settled, they destroyed the beauty is that place - that thing. We had a living example from the Earth. The way it is now to the way it was before, when the humans were Neanderthals –“ He shook my head. “Pathetic. Anyone would expect that with better technology, the humans would be able to improve the condition of their planet, the place where they lived. We were surprised to see that the state of the planet just deteriorated as they developed. They used their technology to make 4D movies, virtual reality games, useless robots that were hard to decompose in nature – naïve stuff. Nothing useful.”

    “So, we got scared. We didn’t want the humans to come. So, we started planning an attack. There are a bunch of ways to kill these sensitive humans. Hoards of them when they're in space. So that was that. Everything was decided. We would, from then on, kill any humans that visited. After a few years, if humans had any sense, they'd stop sending people to the moon.

     And our plan would’ve been successful, too, had you not interfered." I smiled. He did the same. "You tried to change our mind. You tried to make us believe that humans could be good. They just needed a little help to see the right way. Maybe they wouldn’t agree with our points of views at first, maybe they wouldn't even accept our existence as an intelligent species - especially one even more intelligent than them - but they’re good at heart. They would understand later.” An involuntary sigh escaped from my mouth.

   He continued, “Sadly, our minds are not like those of humans. Our opinions are hard to change, and we never accept that we’re wrong. Or very rarely we do. It is not as easy as giving a few speeches and fake promises before the elections and winning the people. Our kind are clever. We're intelligent. A bit more than required, frankly. Nice, but arrogant. You couldn’t change our minds. I don’t know what came over you. You were so totally bent upon protecting the humans. You believed in giving them a chance. Us - not so much.”

    He looked a bit ashamed. “When you couldn't convince us at all, as the last straw, you announced that if we didn’t drop our plan, you’d come to Earth, and somehow convince the humans that there was danger. Tell them about us and our plans.

That was that. We were angry. Our arrogant nature started acted up. They didn’t want to listen. So, we made me you out – cast. We asked you to leave the moon, and go to Earth, if you loved the humans so much. Your pride was hurt. You, too, were one of us. You, too, had an ego of your own. You chose to leave. And that’s why you don’t want to go back. Ever again. You think that they won't accept you, anyway, even if you did try to go back."

    “And we couldn’t continue with our plan, even after you were gone, because you had fractured our system too much. You had already succeeded in converting the opinions of a few people. We couldn’t continue with our plan. We are cautious people, don't want to risk letting the humans know of out existence.”

      He smiled. “ But we have changed, Velox. We can see that humans are trying to improve. Trying to use renewable energy, trying to control their population, trying to improve their condition - the condition of their planet, their home."

He put a hand on my shoulder, smiling. "You made a lasting impact on our minds. We realize now that maybe all humans need are leaders to lead them onto the right path. Maybe they're not all that bad at heart. So, we made a decision." He smiled sophisticatedly. "You are no longer an out – cast. You are allowed to be with us once again. Also, the rocket is bringing back more Spatium Alienigenis from the moon. They will manipulate the memories of the people related to this mission who knew exactly how many people were sent there. People will remember that four astronauts were sent to the moon. Then, your old besties, Davis and Laetus, will get into politics. We’re hoping that, if they’re successful, we’ll bring in more people from Moon. We want to change this world, you know." He smiled. 

    “Do you approve?”

    “Verily.”

                ***

Diary Entry

14 August, 2035

9:00 p.m.

Dear Diary,

I’m glad! It has been declared that CO2 levels in the atmosphere have drastically decreased, and that the world is using only renewable energy sources nowadays. I remember a few years ago, when my mates Davis and Laetus first arrived from our old home. They are great political leaders now, you know.

   Mr. Gupta and me have just brought in a few more of our people. We still work in our old space center. It is the best space center in the world today, you know? Now that the humans know of us, we can bring more of our kind into Earth freely! We are not scared anymore, and humans, too, are settling in the moon. Yes, we’ve developed that technology too, which will let them survive in the moon! Oh, I’m so happy that finally our efforts have brought fruit! 

    I adore humans, really. I never doubted that they are that one species that always changes for the better. They adapt and they improve. They take time to realize their mistakes, but once they do - nobody can stop them from improving. Awesome. Never seen anybody like that back at Moon. It would’ve been better if they’d avoided the mess they’d made of their planet wholly – but still - all's well that ends well.

   Velox.