Chapter 6: The New space
Miraculously, a few hours later, the Earth comes to a halt and then slowly begins to rotate just like before. Life has returned to normal. All the T.V stations and satellites begin to function as usual.
“I can sense the Earth rotating as it always did. We are safe now.” says Ami
They come inside the house. Her mum is glued to the T.V. set. The news channels are showing the most pleasant news ever – the Earth is safe now. When scientists confirm it on T.V, there is a huge sigh of relief. Everybody is thankful to the almighty. Divya and her mum hug each other with joy and congratulate each other. Her mum gladly shakes hand with Ami saying “congrats! We are safe now” but suddenly realises that he is a stranger, she is seeing him for the first time. Before she could ask him anything, Divya intervenes and introduces Ami to her as her internet friend who is in the town for some internship. She tells her mom that he wanted some accommodation for few days, until he finds a house on rent. Her mum agrees and Ami gets the guest room to stay.
Dad returns home much relived and tired. He too doesn’t mind Ami staying with them for some time; after all they all have just escaped a near death situation. The climate is now a bit extreme. It’s very hot and sunny in the daytime and chilling cold in the night. There is a star much bigger than sun around which the earth now revolves.
There are two orange moons one in the north and the other in the south.
Far away in a neighbouring planet, some aliens are watching through their telescopes. Their planet is very small as compared to earth. They are similar to humans, but are 12 feet tall. They are highly advanced as compared to the humans. There is curiosity in their Research Center as they find the Earth, an alien planet in their neighbourhood. They had initially thought of the Earth as a threat to their existence but later on decided to keep this new discovery discreet.
The satellites which appears as the two moons from Earth’s surface were earlier quickly programmed to make the earth rotate in an orbit and stay safe from the harsh Sun. So, it is only because of their generosity that earth is safe today. But here on earth, everyone feels it is some sort of miracle and there is a week long celebration on earth.
One fine morning a strange occurring takes place. There are strange figures seen outside the NASA research center. It is made up of flower bed, floating in air. No one can figure it out as what it could be. No human being could have done it. Divya and Ami too have come to see it.
“It’s a friendly message from outer space.” Ami says looking at the strange sight
“How can you say that?” questions Dr. Ahuja.
“Dad, I forgot to tell you that Ami is a student of Astroscience.” replies Divya.
“As per my research, there are some universal symbols that represent friendship, and this one is among them.” Explains Ami.
In his office, Dr Ahuja is looking with Ami’s point of view when Mr. Roy comes in and says “Sir, the report given by the symbol studying team says that these signs indicate a friendly gesture.” Dr. Ahuja replies “Yes even my quick research gives its interpretation as “asking for friendship.”
Hence, a similar signal through laser beams is flashed in the space. Dr. Roy says “It must reach them as acknowledgement of their friendship because they must be watching our planet for our reaction. Now let us wait and watch for their reply.”
The wait is not too long. Soon a flying soccer appears in the sky. It lands in an open ground. Everybody watches holding their breath. Everyone wonders as how the aliens would look like? Will they be like animal or will they have wings? Or maybe very dangerous looking with fiery eyes! The door opens and out comes five aliens. To everyone’s surprise, they are very much like us. Except that they are very tall almost like giants and bluish in colour. They have dark red curly hair. They have covered their faces with masks, maybe to be precautious in an alien atmosphere. When they remove their masks their features are same as ours. Dr Ahuja and few other scientists greet them. They introduce themselves as inhabitants of neighbouring planet ‘Gianta’.
The Aliens and the scientists have a long discussion and together they develop a common language for communication between the two planets. The language is named as ‘Bilang’.
Dr. Ahuja comes home and is very happy. He says to his family “These aliens are very helpful. They are so ahead in technology that we can greatly benefit from them. We will have a common satellite linked to the two planets. I’m among the delegates who are going to visit planet Gianta”. Divya is so proud that her dad is in the forefront of this project. She is so excited and has buckets full of queries ready to ask her dad when he returns from Gianta.