Come alive, please!

Monica’s eyes were fixed at the pearl drops that were drizzling from the fogged sky. Her hands trembled as she closed the windows. “Uff, what a relief” she murmured as she swallowed a pill and put on her suit. It had been a year since she saw the outside world, the shining sun’s reflection on the crystal drops of mist on the grass, and the fresh breeze. All she could see now was the pale white wall of the man living next door through the stained-glass window of her Bedroom and some gray concrete stuff all around. Today was her day, the day for which she had been waiting since long time. Last year was terrific except for that last day when she had a close call and was bed ridden for months. Finally, when she got better, that bad news was announced. She was instructed not to step out of her house until the condition got better. She broke into a tear flood and sank into her own ocean of loneliness. She stopped talking to people. She would sometimes cry for hours without food and water. It took her ages to accept the reality that she can no longer eat, dress or travel as she liked.

 But today, she was on cloud nine. She sat looking through her stained window, imagining herself walking on the street filled with garden on both sides, taking a deep breath of fresh air that carried the fragrance of the reddest of the roses. She saw herself dressed in her favorite denim shorts that she bought in her first salary. Smile rolled over her face and her eyes shone like diamonds that were recently cut. Her mind was dancing on the green carpet of grass and she suddenly stumbled as her Alexa alerted her to pack the items for the trip. She packed all her items well in advance. She rechecked the list and ensured that everything was perfect on her big day. It was a week’s trip and so she recounted the tablets carefully in her medical box. It counted seven. She crossed out the Tablets from the list and headed towards the Refrigerator. She took out a beautiful glass bottle that had a black pellet carefully placed like the most precious diamond in a jewelry showroom. She took it out carefully and looked around in her empty house where only she accompanied her, in her highs and lows for the six months after her helper, her only support moved out once Monica got better. She took a deep breath and added that thing to her medical box. She placed the box with utmost care and closed the zipper.

She returned to her favorite spot- the window of her bedroom and started day dreaming herself sipping the freshly roasted coffee. All her dream clouds disappeared when her watch signaled an alarm. “Oh no! “she smacked her forehead and rushed to her medical box. She took out a pill strap and chewed a tablet. Her watch stopped alarming and she sighed. She would have been denied of her travel if it had alarmed a few minutes later. She would have been declared Medically unfit for the trip for which she spent all her life savings to buy a ticket. Thanks to the tablet that her Salivary glands would stop working for the next few hours. She must really be careful not to think of all this Earthly food. Here came the airbus- to take her to the space station where the Rocket to her trip- to the Earth was waiting.

She put her helmet on and turned off the oxygen supply of her home and carried a cylinder filled to the brim behind her back. Emotions that had been quite asleep for months outpoured as she walked towards the gate that had been locked since long time. She was as eager as a hosteller to visit their home as to board the bus. There was no one to wipe her tears not even her own hands as she was wearing a helmet matching her space suit. The bus departed at the International Space Station 027. There were thousands of people gathered for the trip. Usually, this population was not seen in the station 027. In fact, no people more than 5 were allowed to gather without Government’s permission. But today was a special day, not only for Monica but also for all the humans living out there in Mars.

Monica reached her seat and fastened her belt. Next to her was a family with a little girl. Monica imagined herself in that kid’s place and smiled. She got smiled back and that was one of the best things that happened in Monica’s life since she had met with that accident. She closed her eyes and now she imagined her, travelling with her parents. Her weary mind did not allow this happiness to last longer as she went to sleep soon. An hour did not pass and she was woken up by a noise. It was that same kid who smiled. She was suffocating. Monica rushed near the girl, showing her Identity card, that read Dr. Monica. Her parents informed that she already had respiratory problems. She checked the kid and found that her oxygen tank was contaminated. The oxygen tank was immediately replaced and now the kid was with a lovely smile again. The vehicle fell back into silence.

With time, Monica got close with the girl. All her worries took rest for some time while she was playing with the kid. Time flew by and the lights went dim. She chewed her supper pills and rested on the shoulder rest when that voice called her name in the sweetest tone ever.

“Aren’t you asleep yet?” she reverted.

“No… I am not sleepy… Let’s play” the kid suggested.

“Not now baby… Go, get some rest, we’ll see tomorrow” she said .

“Please…” said the child with an already filled eyes that were ready to drop the tear pearls.

Monica feared that she may cry out loud and so convinced her that she will tell a story instead.

“ Okayyy… I am ready...” she said with a bright smile in her face. 

She sat near Monica and smiled innocently as she cleared her throat to narrate a lovely story .

The story begins…

She too started the story with the cliché, Once upon a time…

There was a kingdom that was filled with trees and flowers…

“ Trees? Are they what we see in Biological parks?” the kid queried in surprise.

“Yes, but there were thousands of them… The trees and plants bore beautiful flowers and tasty fruits”

“Fruits?” the kid saw her with a confused face…

“Fruits are the food for the people in those days like the tablets that are for us now. The people of that kingdom ate the fruits and were healthy and beautiful. That's why you should take all your tablets regularly so that you too will be more beautiful and healthier.”

“Sure..” the kid giggled .

“The children went to a common place for schooling where kids from different regions developed friendships and developed beautiful bonds.” Monica continued.

“How many friends do you have?”

The girl raised two fingers and said “ No.. three…”

“Who are they?” asked Monica.

“Mama, Papa and… Alexa”

Monica laughed and continued “There, the people wore colorful dresses and celebrated festivals in big groups.”

“ Is it not a crime to form groups?”

“ No…no… in those days, the groups were allowed. You won’t believe… In some houses even 10 people lived together.”

“ Whaat? Were they super rich? Once my mom punished me for opening the nozzle of an oxygen cylinder in my home. She said that it was too precious and costly. She said that she will not take me to this trip. Then I cried a lot”

“Then?” Monika asked.

“Then, she was ok” the kid winked.

“The people in that kingdom don’t use tanks. Oxygen was naturally present in air… I mean everywhere…”

“Did the people live in the oxygen tanks?”

“Ha ha.. Kind of… I mean... the Trees… I said earlier right? they produce the oxygen”

“Then why don’t we have them here?”

“They can’t grow here. The trees can grow only in some places like that kingdom”

“ So… the people don’t carry these heavy cylinders right… I wish I had lived in that tank like kingdom… the tank is too heavy…Where is that kingdom? ”

The words penetrated her heart like a sword. She smiled in pain and continued…

“ It WAS where we are going to… but… the kingdom is not like how it was”

“A greedy man came into the kingdom and he destroyed all the trees and…” she turned towards the kid who was already asleep…

“The Earthly human kind must have slept like this, closing their eyes, when all these destructions happened in their mother land. When they woke up, the kingdom was lost and the people were forced to move out “ she thought to herself and she switched off her headlight and her thoughts for a while.

It was 3021 and people were used to live in Mars settlements for over a century. Only a few people who saw Earth at least once in their life time lived in Mars . Monica was one of them. She was a Doctor cum biologist who was appointed by the Universal government to grow forest in that barely nutritious soil. Food sources have been completely transformed to pharmaceuticals department by then. Only her troop lived in the bio zone where they grew plants. They were the only people able to live without oxygen tanks. The other areas on the earth were over polluted and were not suited for life. Oxygen for the Mars settlements was extracted from the place where Monica and her group developed Forest areas. The biologist’s family were also allowed to live there within a certain extent. Since Monica’s mother was also a Biologist, she was born and brought up in the Earth. Last year, Monica and the group were successful in making the seed of a plant that can give 50% more oxygen than a fully grown tree. They started the cultivation and kept it highly confidential. When everything goes well, greed messes up things. One of the biologists became greedy and tried to extract greater than the maximum amount of oxygen from the plants without informing others. The forests got into fire, the machines malfunctioned and blasted. The bio zone got completely destroyed. The government wanted these Biologists brains and therefore provided the oxygen cylinders only to the doctors saving their lives but leaving out their family suffocate to death. Thereafter, the Earth was declared completely infertile and the biozone was moved to Moon. Monica was unconscious and was brought to Mars as she was unwell and she had been living there all alone since the past year. It was all new for her to get used to the normal of the Mars people and so she suffered. And now going to Earth was definitely like returning home to her. This trip to the Earth was announced as the official final trip to the Earth and it was said that the Earth was going to be completely shut. And that was why people fled to buy the tickets to see how their ancestors lived, and how they must have lived.

The Rocket reached the Earth and it was snowing there. The land looked like a frozen ice block. The guide was showing the presentations of how earth was. She smiled emptily as she herself experienced it. No one was allowed to step out of the Spaceship as the government wanted people to believe that no life can exist in Earth and wanted people to buy things from them. There were still some places that were undiscovered that may contain life. But the government did not want people to know about these things

While the presentation was being shown, the spaceship crossed the-then bio zone created by her group. She screamed to stop the ship and pleaded the officials that she would once see the zone and return. The Government officers very well knew her and her mental depression that she had been facing because of which she could not come up with newer research projects for the past year. They also knew that the zone became completely infertile and so no harm can be done to them by her by visiting that waste land. They agreed on a condition that she must head back to Moon for her newer project right after this trip. She nodded. She returned to her seat to take her bag.

 Her face was as bright as the sun. She felt like she achieved a great thing. She picked up her bag carefully, in which she kept that precious piece- the black pellet- the seed that she clinically prepared for months and months, which helped her get out of depression. The seed that could withstand extreme conditions and had the ability to self-pollinate. She did not think of planting it on the infertile ground, but on the secret garden that she developed near her home a year ago, the safe place about which which she never opened even to her closest of the closest friends- where she walked on the grass with gardens on both side- where the air carried the smell of the reddest of the roses- where the secret mini biozone that she created using all her knowledge along with her mom’s insights. If this Earth was shut down after the visit, this tree would have the freedom to grow without the human intervention. Earth will come alive once again. She prayed to God that the secret zone must still be alive. It must be a great challenge for her to distract the officials and reach her garden. She swallowed her barely secreted saliva along with her fears and doubts. She made her face look brave and calm. She headed towards the exit hoping for the best and stepped tentatively onto the frozen land.