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Here is one of the most exciting contests on the Hive blockchain. It is a challenge to write about 50,000 words in a month.

You can decide what you wish to do with the 50,000 words. Do you want it to evolve into a novel or just some exciting story series or something that you like? You decide.

So, a words/day rate of 1,700 should take you over the 50,000 words mark in thirty days. There are rewards too.

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Prompt

*** Today's Maynia Prompt: hymn of sanity***

*** Today's Daily Freewrite Prompt: hand cream***

Writers can choose to use one of the prompts, both the prompts or not use the prompt at all. It is all up to you!

I wish to make this into a sci-fi novel. Let's see how it progresses! 😊

The Galactic Interceptors - Day 14

Continued from Day 13. You can read it here.

Akash's Residence, Delhi

"Why, what has changed?"

"First, I am uncertain who desynthesized Arkan," Sarvi took a sip but continued looking out of the balcony, "I thought it was Zarqui, but his questions, the other day were pertinent."

Sarvi stood up and walked to the balcony. She peeped to see below and above the balcony ledge. Akash was worried about her losing balance.

"Careful, with those shoes, you may slip and fall-off. Don't bend outwards too much," Akash said.

"How do you know so much about these shoes? You don't even wear these," Sarvi walked back into the hall.

"Neither do you," Akash took a sip, "for you, flat bottomed metallic shoes would be more like it." Akash noticed Sarvi's never-ending head and eye movement. She was just not at ease. Then it struck Akash. The last time he invited her to talk, Zarqui was lurking around. She had no reason to believe this time would be any different.

"Do these look good on me?" Sarvi's question was more of a space filler than one looking for appreciation.

"Are you joking? It is fantabulous," Akash said. He thought of getting Zarqui out of the equation for a relaxed conversation. "Do you know how we got Zarqui to meet you the last time?"

Sarvi sat upright and was staring at Akash, "How?"

"I was driving my car at 120 kmph," Akash said, "I do hope you know what kmph is?"

"Yes, I do. Olyint explained it to me," For the first time since she came in, Sarvi was all ears to Akash.

Akash nodded, "so, that's a lot of speed, and yet Zarqui whizzed past my car at a faster pace."

Sarvi smiled, "let me add this. There is not only no parallel to Zarqui's speed on our planet, but there is no constructed vehicle of yours which can go faster than him," Sarvi lighted up trashing Earth's engineering, "barring the ones that can fly."

"Oh, well, something on our planet is faster than Zarqui," Akash saw a great moment, "see, that's what spooks me. I do not know when he is lurking around. He may be keeping a watch on me every day. He could be here every day," Akash let the cat out.

"Unlikely, the elevation of your chamber disallows him from entering this place."

"How could you be so sure? He is so fast."

"He is fast, but he can't fly," Sarvi was building a case for Zarqui's absence from the place, much to Akash's liking.

"I hope you are right. So, as per Zarqui, he was not the one who killed Arkan. So, then it was Olyint because he was the one who claims to have seen Zarqui killing."

"No, Olyint doesn't claim to have seen the desynthesizing. He only found Zarqui in the vicinity," Sarvi clarified.

"Does that even throw a possibility of a third person there? And these two are just playing cat and mouse for no reason," Akash threw a new dice in the game.

"Unlikely, again. You see, Olyint can read experiences. He read the experience at the place once Zarqui fled the scene."

"Wait, so, Olyint found Zarqui in the vicinity and yet Zarqui got away," Akash asked.

"You see, when Olyint went to meet Arkan, Zarqui was fleeing from the chamber. Olyint did not realize what had happened until he entered the chamber. Once inside, he found Arkan desynthesized…"

"Ah, a classic case of misunderstanding," Akash said.

"With mind-jaggers there can't be a misunderstanding," Sarvi clarified. "Olyint then read the experience of the place for the gone-by moments and experienced a being entering Arkan's chamber at almost Zarqui's pace and leaving after he was desynthesized. That put the blame on Zarqui."

"Why?"

"Because he escaped from the chamber, didn't he?"

"He could have been behind the real culprit," Akash said.

"Not possible. No one could enter Arkan's chamber at Zarqui's pace in the first place, let alone escaping from him."

"Hmm. That is correct. If he were behind someone, then he would have caught that someone," Akash joined the dots, "after all, he is the fastest."

"Zarqui is also an elder, isn't he? Akash stood up, "could he not have mind jagged as well to see the culprit?"

"Why would he mind-jag to know about his own action?"

"No, that statement assumes that Zarqui is the culprit," Akash said, "he told us that he was not the one who got into the hopper and that someone put him in there and started the hopper. Olyint, I suppose."

"That's where the scenarios are intermingling too much to make sense," Sarvi said. "I…"

There was a 'chingg' chime heard from the kitchen which broke Sarvi's gaze. "What was that?"

Akash smiled as he saw Sarvi slide her hand to her back, "Relax, cow-girl. That's called an oven, and it just completed cooking chicken breast."

"Food?"

"Yes, food," Akash placed his glass on the table and headed for the kitchen.

Sarvi once again looked around the hall, but this time she was a lot more relaxed. She picked up a compact disc and was curious about its purpose. The music system was right next to the home theatre and a huge 82-inch OLED television. "What are love songs?"

"Pardon me?" Akash was busy cutting the chicken and placing them on the plate. He enjoyed Master Chef, Australia, and had planned to make a dish worthy of the Master Chef kitchen; at least, looks-wise. He walked out of the kitchen with the knife to understand what Sarvi asked.

Sarvi immediately took two steps back, "Don't try your hand on me, Akash. Neither that weapon nor you can stop me," she warned.

"What? Akash didn't take long to figure out what Sarvi misread, "no, no, this is not a weapon. This is a kitchen tool to cut things that we eat. You know how my weapon looks. Zarqui crushed one of them, remember?"

Sarvi loosened up, "I got the impression that you were up to an unlawful act."

Akash laughed, "unlawful, heh? Anyway, what did you ask?"

"What are love songs?"

"Those are songs that were sung to celebrate the relationship between a male and female on our planet," Akash gave the most boring explanation to love which would have caused many-a-lovers, song-writers, and poets to turn in their grave.

"How can you hear the song? I don't hear it," Sarvi said.

"You need a device to play it," Akash said, pointing to his music system, "that's much like the arm console that you had to analyse your hopper's data." Akash walked to the system with the knife still in his hand and took the disk from Sarvi. He got the CD placed in the system, clicked play and walked into the kitchen.

Sarvi was unsure what she had to do. In a moment, the song started startling Sarvi. She once again reached for her back trying to figure out which other human was in the room and which direction. The voice came from everywhere. Akash came out with two plates and saw Sarvi in a battle-ready stance.

"What, what happened?" Akash found it funny to see a lady wearing a party gown in a combat stance. Anymore stretching and the knee-high slit would turn into a hip-high slit.

"There are other humans? They are watching us?" Sarvi questioned.

"No, that's the music playing. It is the voice of the singer." It was ironic that 'nothing's gonna change my love for you' was playing and Akash was explaining the singer rather than enjoying the song.

He then got plate after plate of neatly set food items and few bowls and dishes. The presentation of the chicken entrée would have made Gary, George and Matt proud. However, Akash believed that his effort would have been lost on Sarvi; at least, he could relish the dish and feel compensated for the effort.

Terrace, Akash's Residence, Delhi

The food appeared to have got a tick from Sarvi's enthusiasm in going for refills. Akash on purpose kept discussions on Olyint and Zarqui off while they ate. Some more Mazaa was the after dessert drink for Sarvi, while Akash grabbed on a Matka-kulfi.

The cloudy morning had luckily cleared by evening. The moon and the Stars were visible for Akash to bring out his telescope. He focused it on the moon and was proud to show Sarvi his budding astronomy skills. Sarvi looked through the telescope and was hardly impressed. She just nodded as Akash went on and on explaining the craters, and how the moon was believed to have been formed.

"You know, if Olyint was here, he would have mind-jagged and told you how the moon was formed," Sarvi threw boiling water on the romance of watching the moon on a clear night.

"Yeah, I am missing him for sure," Akash allowed his sarcasm to pour out through a tiny hole in his gentlemanly container. Thankfully, it was lost on Sarvi.

"How can you miss Olyint? He is a male much like you," Sarvi's innocent comment tore through Akash's manly armour, and he was planning the next dose of sarcasm to be thrown on Sarvi. But then sanity shone through, and he realized that it was an excellent point to start focusing on Olyint and Zarqui again.

"That's a way of saying," Akash said, "Olyint must have a had an awesome dinner by now, I guess."

"I don't know," Sarvi let it be known plain and straightforward. Akash thought he would cut-short the idea of sliding into the topic and just jumped straight into it.

"If Olyint and Zarqui are elders, wouldn't they have mutual respect for each other?"

"They would. They still have," Sarvi said, "why do you ask?"

"Then how is it that they are running from each other instead of meeting and talking?"

"That's because it was Olyint's brother who was desynthesized and he would want to bring Zarqui to law," Sarvi said. "Besides, Zarqui wouldn't risk coming close to Olyint until he knows that he wouldn't be at risk of being refrained."

"I don't think anyone can catch Zarqui. Not even Olyint."

"It is only Olyint who can," Sarvi clarified.

"He can run fast too? It wasn't evident the other day when he raced with me. You were faster."

"No, remember each elder has a power?"

“Yes. Olyint can mind-jag,”

"No, mind-jag is common for all elders. Also, Zarqui can run fast while Olyint can freeze a situation."

"Freeze a situation? Then why can't he freeze Zarqui wherever he is?"

"For that, Olyint requires Zarqui to be in proximity," Sarvi said. "Remember the ABI office?"

"CBI office," Akash said.

"I stand corrected, Zarqui stood at the door for some time, remember?"

"Yes."

"He was frozen by Olyint."

"Oh, never realized that," Akash went back to that scene at Bhopal.

"Until Olyint stays focused on apprehending Zarqui, I suspect Zarqui wouldn't reduce proximity. So, they can't talk."

"Ah, interesting. And now Zarqui suspects Olyint, so, even more, the reason to maintain distance," Akash surmised while sitting on the ledge.

Sarvi turned and looked up at the moon with her back to Akash. The full moon was bright and dazzling. Akash could see her silhouette and the perfect shape of the alien.

"We've got to make Olyint and Zarqui talk," Akash least hoped to say that.

"I liked seeing the moon through that device. It is incredible. Arlenium has no such planetary body close to it in the night," Sarvi said.

"The moon has magic in it," Akash went with the flow, "it is known to stoke emotions."

"What kind of emotions?" Sarvi turned and looked at Akash.

"The one that inspires songs that we heard in the room," Akash explained.

"I liked those songs," Sarvi said as she walked towards Akash, "it makes me move."

"We can dance," Akash said as he held Sarvi's hand. She wasn't expecting the touch and moved back a step. But then she came closer.

Akash took out his mobile and searched for 'nothing's gonna change my love for you' on Saavn app. He played the music and Sarvi looked into the device.

"It sounds lesser than in the chamber."

"Yes, this device has smaller speakers." Akash placed the mobile down and pulled Sarvi towards him. "This hand goes behind you, and you put this hand on my shoulder. And then we use our free hand to hold each other's hand."

Sarvi was indeed taller. Akash was thinking of asking her to remove the shoes but then let it be. "Now we move our hips and take steps on each side." Sarvi's body was rock hard as if made up of metal. He figured that getting a kick from her without the metal boots would still do enough damage. Akash could feel a rectangular object on her lower back where his hand was resting.

Both of them realised Akash's touch, and as he was about to ask, she pressed her lips to his. Akash was startled as he wasn't expecting a kiss from an alien. His hand moved to her hips while a cloud drifted over the moon. The song continued, and they kept moving in slow steps, only they could speak nothing.

 

Image Courtesy: Pixabay