Ankohrice: The Grand Illusion

  The night air was thick with the scent of musk and Advik Kapoor was sitting on the edge of a rickety chair facing a sparse forest. It was dark and not much could be seen but clearly visible through the thin cover of tree trunks was a distant lake being illuminated by a herd of glowing deer.

  Advik could not believe his eyes. Neither could he believe the fact that he was sitting on a chair, alive and unhurt. For all he knew, this could very well be a dream... this had to be a dream... or heaven... he could be dead right now...

  What felt to him like just moments ago, the interstellar navigation system of his spaceship had gone rogue, leaving him no time to manually steer clear of the massive planet that had been there undetected even by the ship's state of the art systems. The three-member crew, gripped by pure terror, had been forced to just await the inevitable crash. Travelling at greater than seventy thousand kmph, they’d had absolutely no chance of survival. Yet, Advik remembered writhing in pain, seeing his arms and legs sticking out at awkward angles and thrashing uncontrollably on a sandy surface before passing out.

  This had to be some form of afterlife. How could he not have died in the crash? Even if he had survived, how could his body have mended itself? Where was he? How could he possibly have a chair? Was he still on Earth? Had the mission been a dream? And how the hell could deer glow? A million questions were swarming in his head. However, to even his surprise, none of them really bothered him. He was calm like the distant lake's placid surface, grateful to be alive.

  "What in the world is that?"

  Advik turned around to find Zoya coming out of the little metallic room they had all been sleeping in when he had woken up minutes ago. Unlike Advik, who was an athletic six footer, Zoya was petite. She had almond shaped eyes, luscious black hair with natural browns and something that always exuded grace.

  As she walked towards him, her eyes remained glued to the glowing herd. He grinned at her.

"I have absolutely no idea."

#

"This has to be afterlife. That's the only logical explanation there is."

  Advik looked into Zoya's eyes and then into Kavi's. None of them mirrored his conviction.

  They were back in the strange metallic room. Small, snug and empty, the room was well lit but the puzzling thing was that there were no lights. The metallic walls were coated with a thin layer of what appeared to be frosted glass.

  "Or," Began Kavi who was sitting next to Zoya on an elevated jelly-cushioned part of the floor.  "We somehow hit an uncharted wormhole and are now in some other time."

  Short and built like the hulk, Kavi looked tougher than Russian gangsters. Five minutes with him, however, were usually enough to tell people that he was as far from that as anyone could get.

  There was a long pause. Advik slowly looked around. He had to admit it: the room did look very futuristic. But in his opinion, never ever would advances in technology make deer glow.

  Just as he opened his mouth to reply, the door on his right swung open- so silently that it seemed mechanically impossible- and a stern looking man in a magnificent white suit walked in. He was bald, portly and very Chinese looking. This man was radiating a sense of power and everyone in the room could feel it.

  For a moment, nobody even moved. The air in the room grew thick as tension spiked and though his face lacked expression, the bald man’s body language was confrontational.

"Sir-" Zoya decided to break the cold silence by speaking up but was immediately cut off by the bald man.

"Do you know where you are?" His voice was deep and bold.

Kavi looked like he wasn’t ready to react.

Zoya was gaping at the man, utterly alarmed.

"No."

  Advik, who had so far been staring back, replied without breaking eye contact.

The luminosity of the room suddenly increased with the colour changing to a very light shade of green.

  The man relaxed and strangely enough, gave them a curt smile.

"Very well then...I think I have some explaining to do. Follow me."

He turned around and briskly walked out. Unsure what to do, the three followed. The sky was pitch black now and even the glowing deer had vanished.

  "I believe you are aware of the fact that you are in the Andromeda galaxy."

  Kavi shot a glance at Advik who, due to the lack of light, did not notice.

"We are not dead..." He muttered under his breath.

  "We sensed that your spacecraft would crash and were able to cushion down the impact. But broken arms, broken legs, cracked skulls, multiple broken ribs...you people are lucky none of your organs got smashed. Our doctors, as you can see, did an incredible job on you. You three are alive. You three are are here. And so," His voice took a mild tone of delight. " I welcome you to the mother of all planets, Ankohrice."

   Advik stopped dead in his tracks. So did Zoya and Kavi. The bald man pulled out some kind of a remote and flicked a switch on it. The whole setting seamlessly transitioned into a conference hall making the trio nearly jump as the dry soil under their feet changed to polished white marble. At the far end of the conference table, six people (two men and four women) were seated all of whom were staring intently at the Earthlings. One of the women looked somewhat British and another one, surely African. The other four, however, had features unlike anyone Advik had ever seen. They definitely looked human but in a very unconventional way.

  "Please sit down, lady & gentlemen. We would like to discuss these recent events with you and offer an explanation." The bald man said, slowly making his way to sit next to the people on the other side.

  "Excuse me..." Kavi was too overloaded and looked like he was ricocheting between multiple questions in his mind. "Why...What..." He had his eyes closed, utterly confused. "I'm sorry, are you Chinese?" He blurted out.

  The seated people couldn't resist looking at the bald man and giggling.

"Let us tell you exactly what's going on, Mr. Kavi Kumar. Have a seat."

  The woman who had spoken up was tall, thin and particularly young. She had an extremely sharp nose with wide cheekbones and almost rectangular eyes that gave her a ghastly look. The warm smile on her face, however, was making her seem quite charming at the moment.

  As the three took the seats closest to them, An old man with a squeaky voice began to speak.

  " It is unfortunate that our team could not gather the hidden intentions of your organization behind this mission. Clearly, you people weren't out to study an exo-planet on the other end of the Milky Way galaxy. However, the mind room confirmed your honesty in that you had no idea about our planet and so, I think it is safe to divulge the story that is going to numb your minds." He leaned forward, as if to add in a dramatic effect & Advik could tell that this person was more interested in the theatricality instead of the reality of the situation.

  Advik by now had deduced the fact that they were on an alien planet named Ankohrice and judging by the looks of it, it was millions of years ahead of Earth in terms of technology. The wall to his left was completely covered by sophisticated looking devices. The one to his right, he suspected, was a gigantic screen masquerading as a wall. Also, he was pretty sure that the glass of water in front of him had been empty when he had taken the seat.

  Completely ignoring the old man who had just spoken, Zoya turned her gaze to the bald man. "What is that supposed to mean? I don't think we understand...you know about Earth? You are in contact with people on Earth?"

  "We are in close contact with people on Earth. Madam Rubinska, here," He pointed to the pretty woman with alien features sitting on the extreme left "heads the Milky way section of our intelligence department and Miss Beroush" His palm now directed their attention to the thin young woman "is the one who stays in constant touch with our agents on Earth."

  "SpaceIndia happens to be the only organisation on Earth whose top ranks our agents have not been able to infiltrate. I knew something was wrong when no one from your company would open up about this mission but obviously, I never thought you would show up at Ankohrice." The young woman spoke with a grin. Evidently, she had no problem speaking up with authority in front of her bosses.

  "Ever since the privatization of space exploration, we've been having a hard time getting our people into all the new offices. Space agencies seem to be springing up everywhere on your planet. Also, I must add, Dr. Reddy has always been a conspiracy theorist and a little too secretive about his expeditions. In hindsight, it should have been obvious that sooner or later he would come up with something troublesome."

  With every word she was saying now, Advik's confusion was turning into excitement. His stomach was somersaulting and his heart, skipping beats. It was beginning to dawn on him that these people, despite their similar appearances, were aliens. With slightly widened eyes, he couldn't help smiling back as he addressed Miss Beroush in a calm fascinated tone.

  "How do you know our language?"

  Miss Beroush glanced at the Chinese man, unsure whether to answer. He, in turn had turned his head to the African woman.

  "Would you like to enlighten the Earthlings, Madam Adisa?" The old man squeaked and put on a silly smile as he too turned to the African woman.

  At this point, Advik felt a stabbing desire to jump onto the table and ping a round kick across this superficial man's face but saner thoughts prevailed.

  Looking at no one in particular, Madam Adisa took her time and then began.

  "You will have to know a lot to understand that. Let me ask you...do you believe in god?"

  Madam Adisa's brown eyes were big and deeper than the Pacific ocean. Her aura was mystical but something told Advik that a lot of thinking was going on behind those eyes.

  Kavi immediately nodded. Zoya and Advik shook their heads.

  "Well, then you can say that you are at God's home." She looked at Kavi with her piercing eyes before speaking to all the three again.

  "Ankohrs are your Gods. We are the Hindu Gods. We are the Islamic God. We are the Christian God. We are the Greek Gods. We are every God that you ever heard of."

  Never in his wildest dreams could Advik have imagined what was happening but what surprised him even more was that, as outrageous as it sounded, he completely believed the woman. The fact that he had always been agnostic probably played a huge role here because Kavi clearly wasn't feeling the same way. His nostrils had flared up with fury; Religion was not something he took lightly.

  "Listen, I am a funny guy but isn't this a bad time for bad jokes? What is going on? Would you mind being more direct?" It was obvious that Kavi was using every ounce of control at his disposal to maintain a polite tone and had it not been for the unusual series of events that had taken place, he would have readily descended into a heated argument.

  "Half a million years ago, that would be around 200,000 Earth years, Ankohrs discovered Earth. Oxygen, water, plant life and the right kind of air...what more could we have needed. Obviously, being astronauts, you know how desperate people always are to colonize other planets. Your guy, Elon Musk even tried to turn Mars into a society in 2054, right?" She paused for a second. "Well, we colonized Earth."

  "So they are true...those conspiracy theories about Gods being just aliens?" Zoya's left leg was trembling. Her feelings of mingled excitement and nervousness were apparent.

  "We try to keep it hushed but leaks happen and sadly, some conspiracy theorists aren't as stupid as we would have liked them to be." Miss Beroush interjected.

  "It took Ankohrice the equivalent of two billion Earth years to develop a proper language, Miss Zoya. That should tell you language was not really developed on Earth. It was just spread there." Madam Adissa continued in her slow mystic tone, all the while, gazing at Zoya.

  "I also happen to know that you are well read in Evolution and Paleontology." She gave a faint smile. "Its a hoax. We planted it because we did not want people to conclude that the only logical origin of life was extraterrestrial in nature. You see, Earth is not the only planet we spread out to. And experience has taught us that everyone is better off when the truth remains concealed. I am sure you can relate. The concept of countries on your planet hasn't exactly led to a peaceful existence, has it?"

  Advik couldn't deny that he was enjoying this. Pieces were fitting together in his head now and it felt like some undreamt dream was coming true. This was, for the lack of a better word, krrazy!

  Zoya looked at Advik. Through her gleaming eyes, he could see she was just as overwhelmed as he was. They were scientists and never had a question intrigued them more than the one that had just been answered.

  On the other side of Zoya, Kavi had been shocked into silence. It was apparent that he was, not in the least, excited about what he had just heard. He was a devout and his faith in religion and god had always been unshakable. But apparently, right now, he was unable to come up with any argument.

"What were those things near that lake?" Zoya enquired.

"Bioluminescent musk deer...similar to the glowing life forms found deep in the oceans of Earth. They look gorgeous, don't they?"

"umm...how..." An amazed Advik turned to the so-called aliens and chuckled "I guess I need some time to process..."

  "Of course, its a lot of information. But I hope you got that I don't look Chinese. The Chinese look like me." The bald man beamed back.

  There were a few gummy smiles across the table. Then everyone fell quiet. Advik, Zoya and Kavi were absorbing all the information that had been thrown at them and the others, watching them do so.

   A few moments of silence had passed when the frail British looking woman who had been quiet throughout decided that she had something to add.

  " You three have learnt what we do not want people on Earth to. I hope you realize you cannot go back home now." in a meek voice, she declared.

  In a second, excitement was grabbed by the feet and turned upside down into fear and alarm.

#

  A week had passed since their meeting with the council of Intergalactic affairs. It was nearly dawn and Advik was standing next to the transparent wall of his hotel room; Ankohrice had replaced the concept of windows with remote controlled chameleon walls which came with a window mode.

  The planet orbited a dual star system and so the sunrise here had a different colour and duration everyday. One of its suns was a red giant and the other one was blue in colour. A couple of days ago, Holly Beroush had told him that twice every year, both the suns came up on the same side, making the sky look like a gigantic colour palette.

  The muscles of his lower back were still sore, something the doctors said would stay for a while, and ached as he put his t-shirt back on. Gravity on Ankohrice was stronger than that on Earth. For a day or two, just standing up had felt like work but now that he had gotten used to it, he kinda liked the fact that his legs felt stronger.

  The bell buzzed. Advik wondered if it was Zoya again as he sauntered to the door to open it. She'd been having a particularly bad time accepting that they weren't going to see Earth again. Her life on Earth had been as close to perfect as it ever gets. Her parents had always been amazing. She'd been doing what she loved to for a living. Her love life had been perfect. Even her dog had been perfect. The thought of how life could turn around on its heels in the blink of an eye was staggering.

  He opened the door and indeed, it was Zoya. Her eyes were still moist and upset and her hair had been messed up by the restless night she'd probably had. But this morning, unlike the previous ones, she was calm. There was no yelling, no crying, no frustration on her face.

"Hey."

  Advik looked into her eyes. She just looked back at him for a couple of seconds and then a little smile slowly came across her face.

"At least the three of us are in this together." She said as she leaned in to hug him tightly.

#

   Kavi had spent over forty five of the last forty eight hours lying on the bed. That meant it had been nearly five Ankohr days since he had stepped out of his room.

   After a couple of days of protesting, convincing and even some baseless blackmailing, it had become crystal clear that under no circumstances were these people going to let them go back home. He understood their reasons perfectly for they had even shown them glimpses of the destruction that had been caused by inter-planetary wars in their past.

  It felt like somewhere in his brain, an abyss of despair had been created. An abyss that was sucking in all his happy Earth memories and turning them into pathways to sorrow and helplessness. God and his religion had always helped him get through difficult times. But the faith that had always calmed the storms of his mind had now been stomped into powerlessness.

  Although Kavi’s relationship with his parents had not been without its own ups and downs, they were all he had ever had. It had been decades since he had told his father that he loved him; months since he had hugged his mother tightly. They were never going to know he was alive. Never ever were they going to know where he was. He missed them. He loved them. And now, all he could do was wish for a chance to be able to tell them that.

  Trying to mentally run away from his thoughts was not working for Kavi. Neither was hiding under the blanket. He swung his legs off the edge of the bed and sat up, tight-lipped and unblinking. Anxiety was building up in his chest as his eyes rolled on to the sacred books kept on the table in front of him. A teardrop trickled down the right side of his nose. Quickly, he moved his gaze to his fibre boxes that lay on the floor, open. Perched on top of his stuff was a photo they had clicked on the spaceship and decided to print out. He was on the left, playfully cranking Advik's neck to his side while Advik blew a kiss to the camera. Just before the click, Kavi had cracked a nasty joke about their director which had struck Zoya out of her pose and the camera had caught her laughing hysterically. The picture looked bright and radiant. Everyone looked remarkably happy.

  Kavi sighed. There were apologies he needed to make. All that he had said to Advik the other day had been uncalled for. He had abused him in a hundred ways. He had told him that he wouldn't know what it’s like to miss family because he didn’t have any. He did not even remember all the stuff he had said. Stuff he had said just because Advik hadn't broken down like him and Zoya had. They had taken big swings at each other before being separated by Holly Beroush, who had been coming to see them almost every day.

  With eyes tightly shut, Kavi just sat there for a while and calmed himself down. He had acted like a complete fool. If this was it, this was it. If God didn't exist, God didn't exist. He had always associated his sense of identity with his devotion to god. That had to change now. He wasn't going to let the reality ruin him, his life or the only two friends he had now. Enough was enough.

#

  "He finally came out today. Apologized...and we made it up."

 Advik was sitting on the edge of a cliff with Holly. In the past week, they had become really close friends. She had been the only one who had seen through the lack of over-reactions in his struggle to accept the change. He had been solid as a rock not because going back was unimportant to him but because he had been through multiple life-shattering moments in the past which had calloused his psyche. Thanks to being abandoned out of nowhere by loving parents as a twelve year old, having to figure out life in a rough neighbourhood and multiple betrayals in life and love, being hurt and continuing his thought process with composure was familiar to him.

"Took five days..."

  Both had their eyes fixed on the vast horizon where the sky, with its purple hue, was gently grazing the greenish water of the sea ahead.

  "How are they doing?" Holly asked in her calm singsong voice.

  "I can't say they are fine but they've accepted it now. Getting outta their heads a few bits at a time. Zoya went out today and started exploring the places around. Kavi is making little jokes again." Advik replied, turning to her. "He even made one about you."

She grinned. "Oh my my...what did he say?"

"Umm...When I told them I was going to see you, he kinda started implying that I was dating an alien."

Her grin turned into laughter when she looked at Advik who was beaming back at her.

"We are dating, ha?"

"We could be. I like the idea of having an extraterrestrial date!"

  She looked deep into his eyes and her laughter dialed itself back into a smile.

"What did you decide, Advik?"

  Advik's eyes flinched. The question felt uncomfortable to him for he knew exactly what she meant.

"I don't know...Can't I do it with them?"

"I've already told you, Advik. The mind room tells us a lot about personalities and the job is no walk in the park. They don’t have it in them."

  The sound of waves crashing against the foot of the rocky cliff was soothing. He looked at the horizon again.

"I just tell everyone on Earth they died, and I couldn't even bring their bodies back?"

"We'll have everything set up."

"You know what both of them said to me?" He paused "They said that we'll be okay as long as we have each other." Advik’s eyes moistened.

"We need an insider at SpaceIndia, Advik, and Dr. Reddy isn't letting that happen any other way. We've seen what humans can turn into when conflicts occur. It cannot happen. No Island of life should ever encounter another. And that's also your only hope to go back again."

  Advik had a lot of things going on for him on Earth. His career had been thriving but that didn’t seem like a good enough reason to walk out on Kavi and Zoya. The past week had, in a weird way, tied the three of them together with rock strong cables. But Holly was right. If he was going to do this, it would be for a purpose greater than their lives.

  Advik had always been a big supporter of Dr. Reddy’s maverick ways. Reddy wasn’t the type of man who would feel sorry for himself if this spacecraft stopped sending signals back. He was one stubborn pitbull of a person. If that were to happen, he would know the last location of their spacecraft and wouldn’t give up on it.

  Emotions began bubbling up furiously as Advik realized how powerful spirits of friendship and camaraderie were in front of reason. The thought of leaving Zoya and Kavi just like his parents had left him felt like a dagger running through his heart.

  Advik turned once again to Holly who was looking expectantly at him and spoke with an overwhelming lump forming in his throat.

  "Let’s get to work then. What’s the hold up?"

He could not hold it in any longer. Tears burst out of his eyes like a waterfall as his heart sank.

Maybe, just maybe, they’d had a reason greater than themselves too. He thought.