The emerald frond was shining in the misty morning. It was the birth of new generation. A new world. The victory of amber loam over the vermillion dirt. It wasn’t just a burgeon. It was the birth of a new revolution. The newly sprouted green leaves gave Rafique a new lease of life. Lying on the ground by the seedling, he wiped the drizzles falling on his face. It was a feeling of total contentment. He knew he had achieved something very big. But he wasn’t able to understand what it was.
The whole world was talking about him. But why his mother wasn’t talking about him? Or to him?
Rafique looked up at the sky and called out, “Ammi, I grew a plant. See it.”

*****

The death counts were soaring up day by day. No one knew whether the counts were in thousands or millions. People were extremely scared. There was no way one could reach out personally for something or someone. All were locked up inside their respective houses. No one dared to go outside, for they never knew if they could return back.

Dubbed as the “solar rain”, the drizzles of which slowly started as a “phenomenal” event in some parts of central Europe, had reached an epidemic level all over the world killing thousands in just a week. Sporadically striking from nowhere, the flares stung deep into the skin, killing the body cells instantly thus rendering the masses lifeless in less than 60 seconds of coming in contact with the attack. Forest areas and agricultural lands, ignited by the flares had soon started spreading thickly making it worse for the people to control it.

The planet was burning. People needed answers from the authorities who themselves were clueless about this massive destructive flares. Even the nights weren’t safe. The flares struck just anyone at any point of time. Time was running out. Many lives had been lost and many countries had been completely wiped off. As the epidemic entered the second week, some brave astronauts, physicists, scientists and some technicians who were not even fully aware of the rocket science were up for the challenge to revive the Earth.

The combined effort of many countries had engendered a prematurely conceived, inadequately resourced, and poorly conceptualized agency called Space Research Administration to monitor and examine who or what was attacking the earth.

Things developed and soon it was found that an unknown celestial body that suddenly crashed into the moon had disturbed the earth’s atmospheric pressure causing the sun rays to turn into solar flares.

It was decided by the newly formed Space Research Administration that the agency will send three people in a mission to the space to shoot a missile on the “object” on the moon to destroy it. The result they hoped was of an immediate clearance of the clogged atmospheric pressure which would bring back the normal climate on the earth.

Dr. Yamazaki, the head of the Space Research Administration briefed the crew members just before the take-off. “Before we get into the details about this challenge we are facing currently, I would like to tell all 3 of you a little bit about our mission “Grey Gargoyle”. We suspect that the object is an alien spacecraft that is causing this extreme climatic disaster. Let me also tell you that this mission is nothing more than a suicide mission. Out of all the surviving people out there, only you brave three have volunteered to save our people and planet. Mr. Isidore Galis, Ms. Sukoon Qureshi and Mr. Lee Hyun Hae. We are very happy that you could all make it here in Siberia despite all of you being situated at different countries. Please accept our thanks and sincere apologies for this hastily drawn plan which we all know could either save our planet or we die fighting for it. Nothing is assured. We are taking a big chance here.”

“I understand doctor. I would directly like to call it as a huge risk since there is going to be only one astronaut in our group.” Said Hyun Hae, who worked as a lab technician in South Korea’s private space institute.

*****

“Duck down! Duck under the table.” When Sung Min, the security guard of the decade old space institute in Seoul ran screaming into the lab, Lee Hyun Hae was shocked. Without wasting another moment, he immediately ducked under the lab table.
“Something is killing us. Everyone out there is burning to death.” The guard ran to the next floor to alert the others.

As the staffs in the lab stopped the guard to ask the many erupting questions, Hyun Hae, the 34 year old “rookie” came out of the hiding and peeked out of the window.
The crimson skin when slowly tore open the dead flesh, the garments started melting down as if the scorching body, before burning down on its own, was taking away all its belongings with it. Hyun Hae wasn’t able to believe his eyes when he saw around a dozen people lying outside in the recreational park with their bodies burning down on the ground.

“They are burning! They are burning!!!” Hyun Hae cried calling his colleagues to the window.

*****
“Yes. You are right, Mr. Lee. Mr. Isidore Galis is the only astronaut in your group. Unfortunately he is the only one who is savvy with all the launch process, spacecraft maintenance and the one who can read our codes, copy and implement our orders, which is why it is only a cogent decision to appoint him as the captain of the ship.” Dr. Yamazaki said.

Astronaut Isidore saluted the doctor and turned to his crew members. “I consider every single person onboard as a captain since they all have left their families behind and are here in a battle where we all know no safe return is assured.”

*****

He could almost predict instantly what was causing the trouble as soon as he heard that the central Europe got hit by “solar flares” all of a sudden. For Isidore Galis, the astronaut who had returned only a month back from a space walk, anything and everything was related to cosmos. So it wasn’t much difficult for him to understand what might have caused this sudden attack.

“So this solar flare...”

“This is not solar flare.” Isidore cut his wife. “The media is stupid to brand it like that.”

“Then what is it?” Mary asked tensely.

“This attack is definitely caused by the recent collision of that unknown object with the moon. It’s not even an asteroid.”

“Whatever it is, it has destroyed so many countries. Even I don’t know if we would survive the next day.” Mary wiped her tears. “Many of our relatives died in the past two days. It’s getting increasingly deadly.”

Isidore clutched his wife’s hand and said, “I will find a solution to it. Don’t worry. We will all be happy once again. Our planet soon will be alright. It won’t be fuming stenches of burned corpses. It will be breathing again. Don’t worry.”

*****

“So now I and Professor Medvedev would like to tell you briefly how our plan is going to work and how it may not.” Dr. Yamazaki focused on the lone lady sitting aloof behind the gentlemen assembled there.

“Ms. Qureshi. If you have any query, please don’t hesitate to approach. Just raise your hand.”
The curly haired woman in her early forties nodded.

*****
For Sukoon Qureshi, the world had already ended. She wanted to live no more. Life had been extremely hard on her ever since she lost her speech in an accident soon after her marriage. The wed lock which lasted only for around 5 years came to an end with a nasty divorce battle. To add to her woes, she lost the custody of her son who was a bit “different” from the others. Citing her impairment as a huge hindrance in “improving” the state of the child, the court had directed her husband to take care of the child.
Meeting with the child was granted only once a month. From the Mumbai observatory where she worked as an assistant to the observatory curator, she used to travel to Manali every month just to take a glimpse of her child. Soon it became extremely awkward to meet him as her former husband got married again. As she slowly cut off her visits to the child, life became increasingly difficult for her to live.

Now the only reason she joined this space mission was to take her chance in saving the future for her only child.

*****

“Our earth’s atmosphere has been altered by this “object’s” attack on the moon.” Russian Professor Marat Medvedev said explaining the catastrophe to his cursorily assembled crew which he was planning to send to the space.
“The surface heat of the Earth has been locked up by this sudden thick pressure in the atmosphere. It means that the normal sun rays that we are receiving day after day will be turned into a killing shot of flare as long as there is this extreme pressure in the air. You must all be knowing about the planet Venus. It is considered as the hottest planet in the solar system just because of its thick layer of atmosphere which locks down the heat that it receives from the sun. A similar situation has risen in our planet. If we delay acting now, then maybe we’ll have to bid goodbye to our planet long before we could even predict.”

Dr. Yamazaki took up from Professor Medvedev. “We have created this missile which would not only destroy that crashed object which is lying on the south pole of the moon, but will also stop its radiation affecting our atmosphere. The only thing we need to do is fire that missile somehow directly on the object.”

*****

Sukoon breathed heavily when the spacecraft lifted off. Her priorities had suddenly changed after the ship’s captain, Isidore’s uplifting speech before the takeoff.
“Guys, it’s hugely risky. But which space travel isn’t? Our mission may be a hastily planned one. But it doesn’t mean our spacecraft isn’t capable of making a safe return. We are going to be aboard a high end ship that is going to take us to the closest range to the Moon’s South pole in 1 and a half day. We will fire our missile and will soon return back.” Isidore showed them the dashboard of the craft and briefly instructed them how to use certain features.
All through the meeting, only one wild thing was riding in Sukoon’s mind. The mission was not a suicide mission anymore for her. She saw hope. And she decided to take the biggest risk of her life before taking another huge risk for the planet.

*****

Isidore was taking full control of the ship. Hyun Hae and Sukoon were just following his instructions. “In 20, we are going to release the missile.” Isidore remarked. “Sukoon, you hold on here while I check the back of the ship.”

To his astonishment, Sukoon caught his hand and shook her head, urging him not to go. “What? What’s wrong Sukoon?”

She again shook her head. Having no patience to bear with her, Isidore moved to the back of the ship.

“Sukoon! You idiot!” Isidore shouted immediately.

Hyun Hae looked at Sukoon and asked her what was wrong. Before she could make him understand, the turbulence became stronger.

“Oh no! Captain, I think we have neared the object.” Hyun Hae called out.

Isidore rushed in and took control of the ship. “No! No! We are losing control.”

Sukoon hurried to the backside of the spaceship and peeked out of the small circular window. The craggy surface of the pale yellow natural satellite was looking clearer and bigger than she had ever seen. Also she was able to see the unidentified malicious “object” that was destroying the Earth. The grey metallic body of the object was long and resembled a pendulum in shape. The area on the moon where it had crashed was dusty and had track marks on it. She was shocked to comprehend that she was able to see the minute details of the “object” more and more clearly. Even the emitting green coloured notorious gas that it was releasing. It looked exactly like an alien spacecraft as they had predicted.

But why was she getting a clearer view of the scene every passing second? Wasn’t the spacecraft supposed to stop at a safe distance as instructed By Dr. Yamazaki?
She moved back to the dashboard. She patted on the shoulder of the captain. She got no response. Shocked beyond wits, she moved ahead and looked at both her team members. Both lied in their seats lifeless. She was devastated. What had caused the sudden deaths? Only a few minutes back her Captain was scolding her for bringing one stowaway aboard the ship. Now he was dead?

She looked ahead and saw a big ball of fire swimming away from their ship. It was a firestorm! She now understood everything. The men had died because of the deep space radiation. She looked at both the men who were in their simple overalls and not in their spacesuit. She remembered her captain mocking her for wearing the spacesuit just before the takeoff.

“We aren’t going for a spacewalk. No need to overstuff yourself.”
She thanked God that she chose spacesuit. Scared, Sukoon pressed the button on her helmet which was a communication device that connected the crew to the Earth. The transmission line buzzed. She waited with bated breath.

The firestorm killed the lights and knocked the ship deep into space. Somehow, the instruments were still alive, but there was no crew to read them. Far below a red crescent, the edge of the burning planet silhouetted by the curve of a wing shone brightly. It would be a lonely trip. She gazed through the porthole at the wavering stars.
She realized she was inching closer to the moon more than she was instructed to. The transmission line soon went dead. Suddenly, she heard a thud in the backside. Immediately she rushed there and saw her 12 year old boy, Rafique banging the glass door from inside of the sleeping compartment. She quickly opened it and made him wear a spacesuit. Then she took him to the wireless device in the dashboard with which the Captain used to communicate.
She motioned him to speak.

He smiled at her and took the mouthpiece. “Hello...”

“Hello... who is it?” It was Professor Medvedev.

Sukoon urged Rafique to take out her name.

“Sukoon. I am Rafique.”

“Oh God! Okay, please release the missile and quickly turn over the spaceship. It’s in automatic mode. Guys, calm down. The ship is still under control. Just press the Red missile button on the left side of the board. Then immediately the Blue on right side of the board. Remember, within 3 seconds your spaceship should turn back. Otherwise it will blast in the space.”

Rafique looked at Sukoon and clapped his hands happily. Sukoon smiled back and took his hand to the red button. She gestured him to press it. As soon as he pressed it, she moved to the right side and pressed the blue button.

The craft started moving violently. “Ammi, what’s happening?”

She strapped her son tightly to her seat and closed his eyes. The two dead bodies were floating in front of her. She looked at the side window and saw a huge blast down on the South Pole of the Moon. The missile had struck the grey object!

She didn’t know whether it would help the Earth in any way. She didn’t know whether she had turned her ship back to the Earth correctly. She had lost the communication. The ship was speeding beyond controllable measures. She was pushed up to the ceiling of the ship. Clutching a handle, she looked down at her son who was laughing uncontrollably “enjoying” the extreme turbulence.

“You shall survive, Rafique.” She prayed under her breath.

*****

That day the dawn on the Earth brought in the air not of the redolent smell of the decaying burnt fleshes of living being, but of the sweet fresh smell of the petrichor as it started drizzling. Munaf was watching the news that was showing a detailed report of the success story of the “Mission Grey Gargoyle”. It was three days since the spacecraft made a safe return back to the Earth. Dr. Yamazaki and Professor Medvedev were all over the news channels describing how the crew lost control of the ship and how one “miraculous” stowaway saved the ship by correctly executing their orders.

“Rafique... they are talking about you.” Munaf called out.

“Is Ammi there?”

“No.” Munaf said.

“Abba, I am watching my plant grow. Can’t come now.” Rafique called out from the garden.

Munaf looked at his wife and said, “Poor boy. It will take some time for him to understand that his mother is no more.”

She nodded and looked at the TV that showed the three dead brave souls pictures who had died saving the planet.

“The climate today is normal. It’s three days on after the Grey Gargoyle mission was successfully carried out. There are no more solar flares. No more streets full of dead bodies of people. No more burning trees. But we lost three brave people. All three people involved in this mission have died inside the spaceship but because of a little stowaway who also happened to be one of the Astronaut’s son, the ship returned safely back and crash landed on the Pacific coast. This child is actually a "special child" while his mother was mute...”

Both the husband and wife exchanged tearful glances. “Sukoon has saved us all.” Munaf said brushing off a tiny globule of tear that rolled down his cheek.

The End