StarGaze

Where God Lives

So remember that I survived an extinction-level event and went to Enceladus to see if it was habitable?" Raghav asked Thomas.

"Yeah, I think so," Thomas said.

"So things got a little twisted on there. I will tell you exactly what happened.

As you may know by now, I am claustrophobic. This means I have a problem with closed places. A spacesuit is exactly a place like that. A packed suit that will suffocate you if the oxygen tank runs dry, where the only things you can hear are the voice of your breath and the voice in the radio. But the feeling of being the first one to set foot on our potential home was far more powerful than that.

The pods are detached simultaneously and fly towards the north pole of the heavenly body. Jeter’s pod is in the front, followed by me and Yash. Mandeep is told to stay at the moon’s entrance, looking out for any storms and potential threats. Almost all of the area is covered with ice. A river flows in a straight line, leading to a distant mountain. The mountain is the only structure that rises above the ground. It is taller than Mount Everest, much taller. The only odd thing is that it is very thin compared to its height.

“If that mountain is made up of minerals, it’s the reason for the interference,” Jeter says over the short-range radio.

“What do we do then?” Yash asks.

“It is very thin. We can use that to our advantage. If we bomb the roots, it will break down like a piece of glass. What do you think?” Jeter asks.

“It can lead to a huge disaster,” Yash says reluctantly.

“This is hardly the time to fear what might happen. The last of the survivors are counting on us. Is it a yes or no?”

“That is the best plan under the circumstances. I think we should go for it.” Yash says in a determined voice after some time.

“What about you, Raghav?” Jeter asks me, noticing that I have been quiet for a while now.

But I’m noticing things and thinking. This is indeed an odd place. For instance, we all know that nature never makes anything perfect. Then how is the river flowing in a perfectly straight path? And why is there only one mountain in hundreds of kilometers? Also, the mountain has no glaciers or frozen water, so how can it be the source of a river. The thing that troubles me the most is that the mountain resembles the shape of a signal tower. What if Himanshu was right? what if this is indeed a jammer? Of course, we hadn’t run into any forms of life so far. But what about the dark side of the moon? Did we just walk into the wrong house? But I decide to go with the theory that if there were indeed aliens here who were intelligent enough to design jammers as big as a mountain, they would have made contact with us long ago.

“Do whatever is necessary.” I finally say.

“Okay, so one of us will take the nuclear bomb and place it at the side of the tower facing the river. Who wants to go out there?” Jeter asks. There is silence for a few seconds.

“I’ll do it,” I say, dying to solve the mystery of this strange planet.

“Roger that, good luck,” Jeter says.

After a few seconds, I’m two hundred meters above the surface and slowly descending.

“Easing the engines now. I’m about a hundred meters out now. So far so good. No sign of any living beings. Okay, I’m fifty meters out. Really slowing down now. And SSSSS touchdown. The ice didn’t break. The pod is and package is safe and sound. Analyzing the environment now.” I say.

The analytical data surprises me. The temperature is surprisingly high for a frozen place like this and the air is breathable. I send the data to Yash and Jeter and prepare to be the first one to set foot on the surface of our new home.

I open the door and take in a deep breath. Then I take a jump. I forgot that this place has much less gravity than earth. I am launched in the air, reaching a height of fifteen meters above the ground. My blood pressure goes over the ceiling and my claustrophobia kicks in.

“I can’t breathe! I CAN’T BREATHE!” I scream.

Soon after I become the first person from earth to set ahead (instead of the foot) on Enceladus. I am deeply shocked and frightened to my very core. After some time I regain my senses and get up. It is at this time that it hits me.

“What the f**k? Hello, can you hear me?” I shout in bafflement.

“Yes, this is no time to play. Place the goddamn bomb and come back.” Jeter responds angrily.

“Shut the f**k up. This place, it’s not made of ice.” I say in confusion.

“What? What are you talking about?” he says.

“This was all a hoax. This is some kind of stone, notice.”

“Go to the river immediately, confirm that it contains water.”

“Roger that,” I say and get up. What the f**k? Did we come all this way only to make an i***t out of us?

There was only one way to answer this question. I had learned to use controlled jumps to reduce energy and conserve time. It is surprising how humans can adapt instantaneously to strange surroundings. After a few memorable jumps, I reached the foot of the tower and almost fell into the river.

I kneeled on the shore and put my hand inside the liquid flowing in the river. It was light, clear, and transparent. It was water!

“Guys…we found water,” I said. The sound of cheer and excitement came from the other side.

But my happiness vanished when I acknowledged a strange fact. The water was not flowing away from the mountain. It was flowing towards it. I turned up and walked to the root of the tower to see something that I can’t even explain. There was no gap, no hole of any kind. But it was clear that the water was going in. I tried to make up a possible explanation but ended up in failure. And then I felt it.

I felt a strange force from the mountain. Not attractive, not repulsive. It was something strange. I couldn’t see it but I could feel it flowing through my body. That black stoned structure seemed to be calling me. it was like it was not a structure, but a person. I couldn’t resist the urge. I walked up to it. I wasn’t in control anymore. Something that was buried deep inside me had suddenly woken up, it made me take out my right hand and place it on the stone. The whole structure vibrated and some kind of ripple was formed, with its source at my hand.

After that, my ears went numb. I couldn’t hear a thing when the clouds closed the cavity and my friends screamed to call me back. I didn’t hear when lightning formed in the clouds and thundered down on their ships. I couldn’t see it when their burning ships whistled past me and crashed near me. I was intoxicated by the power, the energy flowing in my system. It was an indescribable feeling, overpowering my senses.

A sudden realization finally made me remove my hand and my attention shifted towards the crashed ships. My equipment was burnt up due to some kind of power surge. I ran towards Yash’s ship. After some searching, I found Yash on his seat, half-burnt. On hearing my voice, he opened up his burnt eyelids and screamed due to the pain. His eyelids killed his pain but he kept them open. He was staring at me with a betrayed look.

“Wh…Who the f**k are y…you?” he said, somehow opening his torched lips.

“What do you mean? I am Raghav, your friend. Don’t you remember?” I say, confused and frightened.

“This was a trap. You're one of them. You set us up. GET AWAY FROM ME.” he screams when I try to comfort him. I don’t understand a single word he is saying.

Suddenly, the radio on his pod crackles up.

“We have restored the signal but the cavity is closed. Are you guys all right?” it’s Himanshu.

I look at Yash, he is dead. I somehow take a hold of myself and pick up the radio.

“This is Raghav. What’s the status?” I ask.

“Raghav? Thank god you're alive. Mandeep, Yash, and Jeter are not responding. Are they all right?” he asks.

“I’m afraid Yash is dead, and probably the others are too.”

“But how did that…what the hell?”

“What happened? Are you all right?”

“The ship is drifting towards the surface. I can’t help it, the controls are gone. Oh no, this is it.”

“Don’t say that. Try something else. Get out in a pod. Do something for f**k’s sake.”

“No point in doing anything. It’s too late. It was an honor having a frie…”

An explosion tears up the sky and debris of Hope emerge from the clouds. The massive pieces of metal vibrate the ground when they collide with it. I try the radio at all frequencies, hoping for someone to answer. But in my heart, I know no one is hearing me.

I drop to my knees and cry for the first time in my life. I cry and cry, waiting for my turn to die. But it doesn't happen. I just wait and wait.

Finally, I decide to plant the bomb and go back to my pod to detonate it. It is the only way to end this madness once and for all. I take off my hands from my eyes and get up. But before I can see anything, a flash. And at this time, I remembered a line I read somewhere- Either we are alone in this universe or we are not, both conditions are equally terrifying.

"So what happened then?!" Thomas asked.

"Are you sure you want to know? This will change how you look at the world...and me." Raghav said reluctantly.

"Yes, I want to know," Thomas said, pressing the matter.

"Well..." Raghav said and sighed.