Man had already begun to explore space and had already sent manned spaceships to different worlds. "One step for man, a giant leap for mankind", Armstrong had written in the annals of space history. The quest for space exploration, was it in fact an undying thirst to find whether life existed elsewhere? Maybe the human race might learn something from the extraterrestrial life forms that were yet to be found, maybe even teach them a thing or too about the universe and the true meaning of life.

"....czzzh...", the radio coughed as it came to life in the control room at NASA's mission command center in Houston. "This is Endeavour coming in. We have just completed
docking with THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION.", Emory said as he looked out of the port window at that blue green world that he had left a few days earlier. From up here, the earth looked so calm and
serene, there was no indication that Earth was in the middle of a war with ..... What were those long limbed things that had just seemed to appear out of thin air?

The year was 2010, and so far, there had been several manned exploratory journeys to neighboring worlds like the Moon, Mars, and some unmanned trips to other places, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, and Pluto, places that were yet not known to be capable of supporting human life. Images had been beamed back to Earth so that maybe, just maybe, friendly life could be found. And that was just in the solar system. Sure, a space probe had been sent outside the solar system, but as of yet there was still no signal to indicate anything.

And so ...... the search went on, people on earth peering at the skies with telescopes, day and night, exploratory labs set up in remote places so they could get a closer look at the sky, technologies such as infra-red signals and sound used to detect the faintest signals coming from the heavens to say "Yes, we are here." But none had come as of yet.

Till recently.

The weather had suddenly gotten increasingly cold, the skies persistently cloudy. Adam pulled his wool jacket even closer as if he were going to hide his head inside. "Brrrr",
he shivered as he hastened his pace toward the post office. Once he got inside the building, he rubbed his hands together vigorously to warm them up. The air smelled stale, probably because there were a lot of people inside. "Probably to get out of the cold", he thought. He waited his turn in line, and was actually pleased that it was quite long so that he wouldn't have to go back out into the cold. The days had gotten cold, noticeably, but not as freezing cold as the nights, which by now had dwindled the nightlife to almost nothing. He got to the head of the line, finished mailing off the packet he had tucked inside his jacket pocket. "You guys are quite lucky to be indoors", he joked with the post clerk," especially on a day like this". And as he walked away toward the exit, he donned his gloves again, put on his jacket, and grimaced. He hoped that this was just a cold wave, one like the others that chilled the weather every year, even though a cold wave at this time of year was quite unexpected.

In another part of town, the Roadside diner was just about to open up. Cynthia had come in early today, as today was her roommate’s birthday, and she wanted to go home early to
take her out for a surprise party. The sky had been dark when she had come to work, and so the fact that it was chilly did not concern Cynthia in the least. But here it was, almost 12 pm, and the weather was still freezing. Odd! Still, she did her job dutifully, tended to all the customers, who all ordered hot coffee.

Up there in the International Space Station, far above the blue world, the temperature of the surrounding wasn’t exactly warm, but “at least none of those damn sudden winds”, Emory thought to himself as a chill ran down his spine. He was on an important mission, to go far above the atmosphere so that he could study the atmospheric disturbances and maybe find out the reason for them. As he orbited the world in his space abode, he noted each circle in the clouds, hurricanes and tornadoes that had become so commonplace back home.
Suddenly he saw something that transfixed his gaze. “No, it can’t be”. What he saw was a gigantic whirlpool-like shape in the cloud cover. It looked like, but yet it seemed too improbable to be, a giant hurricane, almost covering the entire surface of the earth. As his face took on a perplexed look, he grabbed the transmitter. “………czzzzzh… Endeavor to Houston, Endeavor to Houston. I am seeing a big, no huge, gigantic whirlpool or something that looks like it in the clouds, over the Atlantic ocean. What are ….” Suddenly the sky became blindingly bright. Emory’s jaw dropped. There was a bright flash. And Endeavour was no more.

Back on Earth, the days had turned into night gradually as an enormous shadow cast itself all the landscape, blocking out the sun and plunging everything into a deep cold, that was getting more and more unbearable by the second.

“Brrrr”, Cynthia said to herself, as she pulled her fleece jacket tight. She had left the diner to go home at 6 pm, and now the time was barely 6:15 pm but yet it was already as dark as if it were midnight, but even darker as there was no moon in the sky. Suddenly the sky turned orangish and there was a deafening roar of what sounded like thunder. Cynthia turned her eyes skyward to see the strange colors that now were gradually fading into black. At first she didn’t think anything of it, but as she looked on, her eyes grew bigger as the blackness in the sky gave way to ……

Adam had finished his meager meal at the diner, and having sipped his last sip of coffee, he slapped down a five dollar bill on the table. He had been looking out through the diner’s window to see what was going on in the sky, and had seen the object too. It had just appeared through the clouds, and just seemed to hang there. He hastened his pace out of the diner towards home; this cold was getting too much to bear.

These objects in the sky, UFOs the news was calling them, had started to appear in various locations of the world. People had started rioting, robbing, stealing, plundering the basic necessities so they could survive. The countries of the world all decided to temporarily cease their wars as they now had to unite and drive the enemy away. Missiles were fired skyward from every military base in every country. But…. to no avail. The UFOs did not seem to get damaged at all. Yet, the struggle continued, as the war, now aimed at the UFOs, seemed to unify all humanity against THEM.

Miraculously, minutes after the human war against the UFOs started, the alien ships started to retreat worldwide, as if all were guided by a common source. The vigil still continued, as humanity waited to see if the UFOs would come back. Six months later, THEY had still not come back. The skies had remained clear of any unidentified objects, and by now the weather had returned to normal. The temperature had also gone back to what it was before THEY came. All the same, NASA and space exploratory agencies of India, Japan, China, Russia collaborated and decided to send out more ships on an urgent mission, a mission to go as far out into space as necessary to find an inhabitable place, suitable for human life to exist. The plan was simple, in case the world came to the brink of destruction, there would be a place for humanity to transplant itself, a place to colonize. But destruction from what?

The wars on the earth had resumed, now that there was seemingly no threat from THEM. It seemed as though THEY had been taught a lesson. Perhaps THEY had, for THEY had begun their retreat and were no traveling back into outer space, away from the earth, away from the place they had come to …..

As Commander Raj from India and his crew looked out of their craft DivyaShakti, their gazes fixed on the now distant Earth, there was only one prayer on their minds “Please God, if there is a place out there, lead us to it, and soon”. They had all seen the giant objects, THEM, from up close as DivyaShakti whizzed past them into the blackness of space. THEY seemed to be moving rather slowly, but yet, THEY were moving away from Earth. Raj gave a sigh of relief as he spoke into the microphone “DivyaShakti calling. We see the objects, they are moving away from Earth. Repeat, they are moving away from Earth”. This was a good sign; at least Earth wasn’t being attacked by THEM anymore. But for how long? Commander Raj had no answer, all he could do was pray. As they went past the orbit of Saturn, the radio had suddenly stopped receiving signals. Raj had tried to call home repeatedly to inform them of the progress of the mission, but there was no reply anymore. He finally gave up, with the explanation that the radio had either frozen in the cold temperature of space or they were too far away.

Sunita and her two kids, Rahul and Sonia, had just woken up. It was time for a quick breakfast before school and work. Sunita quickly whipped up some eggs and toast along with some orange juice. By the time the kids finished brushing their teeth and showering, the food was already on the table. “Good morning, kids, didja sleep well?”, Sunita asked. She knew the answer already, but it was force of habit that made her ask the question. First, it was the constant wars on Earth and the crime reports in the papers that used to keep her up several nights. Then it was THEM. And now….

Sunita had been seeing Raj for about 5 years when they decided to get married. She had just finished studying law at Yale University. He had completed his first year at NASA, after having graduated magna cum laude in medicine from Stanford University. She introduced him to her parents as “this charming doctor from Stanford”. Her parents had taken an immediate liking to him, and a month later, Sunita and Raj were married. Rahul was born within a year and Sonia ten months later. Married life felt wonderful, yet a persistent fear had started nagging Sunita lately. She knew when she married Raj that someday he would be called upon to go into space. But so soon? It had just been two years three months to their marriage. What made her even more was the fact that this mission which Raj had gone on would mean that she might never see him again. How far would Raj have to go into space to find another place that would support human life? Would they even find such a place? She had cried herself to sleep many nights and had constantly called her parents for support. “Get remarried”, her Dad had said.

Commander Raj, aboard DiviaShakti, had lost track of what year it was. Looking at the electronic calendar in his room, he was shocked to find that it was now 2143, almost 133 years after he had left Earth. He gazed at his reflection in the mirror; his appearance hadn’t changed too much, a little gray hair was the only difference. He wondered though, would Sunita be alive? Would the kids be okay? He didn’t have to guess, but yet his heart had hope.

The good news was that just outside the Solar System, he and his crew had encountered a planet that was hospitable to human life. The planet was suitable, except for the fact that it was so far away from the Sun that something like a giant dome would have to be built on the surface to trap heat. He and his crew had conducted several scientific tests to prove again and again to themselves that this world could be a second home. “Wow”, thought Raj, excited at the fact that he would be beginning his long journey back to Earth.

DiviaShakti had just entered the orbit of Mars. Raj stared pensively out of the round window on the side of ship. He had not seen those alien ships yet, THEM as they were called back home. But after passing the Martian orbit, there they were, traveling slowly towards Mars, and “…probably going back home”, Raj muttered under his breath. THEY had been defeated. Yessssss!!!!!

Compared to the amount of time Raj had spent in his space journey, the trip from Mars to Earth’s location would be relatively short. “DiviaShakti here. Come in”, said Raj. There was no answer. “DiviaShakti here. Come in”, Raj repeated. No answer. He tried again and again, but finally satisfied himself with the thought that the radio had broken earlier when they were leaving the orbit of Saturn. Suddenly a buzzer went off in the cabin to signify that DiviaShakti would be entering Earth’s atmosphere. All the crew started strapping themselves in their seats, Raj at the command position.

He couldn’t believe his eyes as he looked outside. There was debris strewn all across the place where Earth should have been. But where was Earth? Had THEY decided to return to Earth and destroy it? That didn’t seem plausible, because if it were, THEY would have destroyed everything else also on their way to Earth. Then it finally dawned on him. THEY had left Earth alone. THEY had not come to colonize Earth because if that were true, THEY wouldn’t have retreated from the surface when Earth had started to fight back. THEY had probably come to Earth in search of new life, to collaborate with the people on Earth. The wars on Earth had indeed taken their final toll on the planet. It was said that there would be a World War III that would destroy the Earth because of nuclear arsenals. That day of doom had come … and gone !!!!