Earth To Nole: It begins at the end

by Kumar Lomash

  “How can they land here without us noticing them?”, Joti asked.

  “They approached Nole from the far side, which we don’t monitor yet. We have to put these spacecraft into orbit so that we have eyes all around.”, Gollard clarified.

  “Please do everything necessary for the safety of our people.”, Joti made her priorities clear. She was now more concerned about the general safety of humans than anything else.

  Gollard left after assuring her that everything would be under control.

  Soon after this, Gollow called up Joti and apprised her of the measures being taken by him. She agreed that these measures were sufficient for now. As they were talking, Gollow saw some movement on his monitor. He immediately started describing the situation as it happened.

  “Joti, the two spacecraft are preparing for take off. We won’t be able to capture them if they leave in the next 10 minutes.”

  “Gollow, we cannot let them leave Nole.”, Joti was adamant.

  “We could launch missiles to bring them down. But…”, Gollow paused.

  “But what?”, Joti asked.

  “Kevin could be on one of them. If he is indeed with the Hums. I don’t think we should attack as yet. They have not shown any intentions of harming us.”, Gollow clarified.

  “Let’s hold off the attack until they attack us first but don’t let Kevin come in the way of your duty. We must respond appropriately if we are attacked. If he really is with the hums then God help him.”, Joti said in a cold and calm voice. A tear rolled down her cheek as she put the phone down.

  Unknown to Joti or Gollow, the LSC carrying Boris and Kevin was now far from Nole. Boris put it into cruise mode and turned to Kevin. He was ready to answer all of his questions now.

  “Yes. Ask away, my friend.”, Boris said.

  “Are humans in any sort of danger?”, Kevin asked the first question that came to his mind.

  “I am glad that you asked this question. I was afraid you would ask about Joti or Holum in particular.”, Boris explained.

  “Why is that?”, Kevin asked. “Should I be worried about them?”

  “No, there is nothing to worry. Everyone including Joti and Holum are safe and they would remain to be safe as long as you do your part on Mone”, Boris clarified. “Although, It was interesting knowing that your concerns were for the general humanity and not specific to people you are close to. This is one of the most desired traits of a leader.”, Boris smiled.

  “I am no leader.”, Kevin said.

  “But, you are. And you should prepare to act like one when you reach Mone.”, Boris said.

  “Where is Mone? I thought we were going to your planet Peele.”, Kevin was confused.

  “Mone is a natural satellite of Peele. It is also the capital city of Hums.”, Boris said.

  “Why did we leave in a hurry, Boris? If no one is in danger.”, Kevin asked.

  “The only person who was in danger was you, Kevin. Now that we have left Nole, you are safe too. Hums or roco are not authorised to shoot down spacecraft carrying natural life.”, Boris explained.

  “Why was I in danger?”, Kevin asked again.

  “Someone informed Igogo that the spacecraft carrying Ks which was earlier captured by roco was a decoy. Igogo could not risk your arrival on Mone, Kevin. He would lose everything.”, Boris clarified.

  “Now, who is this Igogo guy? It appears that I know less and less everyday.”, Kevin expressed his frustration.

  “Igogo is the single most important character in the next chapter of your life, Kevin. Let’s just say that Igogo is one of the few hums that humans really need to fear. He is the current Prime Minister of our democratically elected government.”, Boris replied. He then continued, “Igogo sent a few of the roco bots to Nole to bring you back to him. I didn’t want you to know this earlier but now I must tell you that the spacecraft carrying you back would have met with an accident enroute to Peele and Igogo would have gotten rid of the only person alive carrying the royal genetic payload. As per the information that I got, someone from the spaceship contacted Igogo as soon as the communications were up. I must praise Joti for her intelligence, shutting down the communications was a good decision after all. Anyways, Igogo ordered two roco spacecraft to come to Nole and bring you back to him. The rocos look very similar to armbots and they must have hacked into the spaceship’s security system to get inside. I got the call from one of my friends within roco who told me that you were in danger. I rushed to your cabin fearing the worst but it seems I got to you before they could.”, Boris explained.

  “How can they simply hack into the spaceship? Are we that easy for hums?”, Kevin wondered.

  “Sadly, yes. All of your technology is based on outdated hum technology. We have helped humans get upto speed with ours all along but it should not be difficult for you to understand that the technology we own currently is far more advanced than what you have. Moreover, since your technology is actually our old technology, every kid on Peele knows where the loopholes are. But Igogo had a bigger problem to solve, the roco bots are incorruptible. Igogo couldn’t simply have had them do something which is illegal. And, Kevin, hacking is a very serious offence on Peele. But he did something which I could never have imagined myself. He declared you as the royal descendant, which you certainly are, and falsely reported that you were in danger among humans. He must have told roco bots that humans are keeping you hostage to use as leverage against hums. Roco bots are programmed to guard the royal family at all cost and thus they hacked into your spaceship, which was child's play for them. I don’t really understand how he would have managed to kill you enroute to Peele. But I know for sure that he would not have risked your arrival on Peele or Mone, for that matter. The only theory that I have currently is that he would have arranged for your spacecraft to meet with an accident.”, Boris said.

  “Who told Igogo about me? Was it Holum?”, Kevin wanted to know the truth about Holum.

  “What? Absolutely not.”, Boris seemed shocked. He continued, “Holum would never put you or his people in danger. Never think of him like that. He cares too much for you, Kevin.”, he cleared the air around Holum.

  Kevin was relieved after knowing about Holum, but he had to ask, “then who?”

  “Your next president, Francis”, Boris said.

  Kevin was shocked. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “This is worse than what I expected. If Francis is Igogo’s friend then he should be stopped at once. Joti and Gollow trust him completely. This could lead to a disaster.”

  “There is nothing Joti or Gollow could have done to stop Francis, my friend.”, Boris started again. “It was mere coincidence that Joti herself offered to bring Francis into power. Call it Francis’ good luck that she made things easier for him, but I am sure he would have gotten around to it anyways. You must know that Holum and Ibu are one of the few people in the Union who want a peaceful coexistence of hums and humans. Most of the ministers in the Union are either with Francis or are too afraid of hums to trust them.”

  “What does Francis want?”, Kevin asked.

  “Francis is working for Igogo and in turn Igogo would grant him the leadership of humans. What Francis wants is a moot question. You should ask what Igogo wants. Francis is just a tool that Igogo controls.”, Boris clarified.

  Kevin and Boris looked outside the window. Nole looked perfect from a distance but they both knew there was trouble brewing down there.

  Boris realised that Kevin was worried about his people. He put his hands on Kevin’s shoulders and said in an assuring tone, “They will get all the help they need, Kevin. But all in good time. For now, they are on their own.”

  About The Author

  Kumar Lomash is a dreamer, if nothing else, who lives in India. It is difficult to pinpoint which city in India because during the course of writing this Book alone, he has moved across three cities. At the current time (when this bio was written) he lives in Hyderabad. “Earth To Nole” is not the first piece of liter
ature that he has written. He wrote a few plays and short stories back when he was in school, but that's about it. A software engineer by education, he enjoys tinkering with technology a lot. And, often dreams of being abducted by tech-savvy aliens who would throw him into their pile of scientific knowledge and technology.

  Lomash is a storyteller at heart. He enjoys “making things up” and tries to capture as much detail as possible. He loves fiction of all kinds and is a die-hard fan of the movies. A good story always manages to get his attention.