A budding writer with a bunch of ingenious rebels risk their lives to try and overthrow an oppressive government to earn back their liberty of expression. They need to unify and put aside their differences, interests and pasts, and race against time...
"We, on earth, had carried out our own researches and we had a crude transporter in hand. When the transmission signals started showing static, I panicked and in a foolhardy attempt, without any training, I tried to teleport myself. I almost got lost in the grid, but when I reached you..." Aileana paused her hand on Alizeh's face. Her fingers were trembling slightly.
Alizeh simply looked down at the white sheets covering her torso.
"Forty per cent burns, you idiot. All because you're so forgetful. We thought, I thought..." Aileana's voice broke into a sob as tears ran down her face, "I couldn't lose you. Seeing you unconscious and on fire, in the midst of that burning inferno, is an image that I won't forget in my entire existence.
"So, that means, I'm fully burned from the neck down," Alizeh's voice broke.
"Not fully, but in patches. We thought you wouldn't make it," another soft voice whispered at the doorway somewhere.
"Maa?" Alizeh couldn't help the tears anymore. Hearing her mother's voice was the last straw.
Nothing seemed to matter anymore, the fear, the pain, the uncertainty and death was all lost on her as her mother moved towards her. The soft sound of her anklets filled the room. Her mother might have travelled to the moon and back, but when it came to dressing up, she would always be seen in her traditional saree and her characteristic silver jewellery.
Her mother kissed her forehead repeatedly as her tears fell on Alizeh's own eyes and flowed in one stream down from the corner of her eyes.
"You people are not allowed to come here. There is a high chance of infection," a shrill voice rang from the door as a doctor in a white coat approached them. He glared at her mom and Aileana who slunk away without another word. Lean had managed to wink at her before leaving.
"Now let's see the damage done, shall we?" the doctor flipped on the bright lights, throwing off the cover. She was naked all right, but her nakedness was the last thing on her mind just then. She closed her eyes in fright.
"Can I look?" her voice shook.
"I wouldn't advise it right now. You can however stay assured that you're in good hands. We were the best plastic surgeons of our day before the Audra government left us behind on the earth."
"I'm on earth?" she asked bewildered.
"You are. Lean didn't know where else to go."
"Oh!" she mumbled, "Could you allow Lean back in? I need some company."
"Please," Aileana's voice pleaded at the doorway.
"It's rude to eavesdrop, miss," the doctor announced glumly, "but this procedure could be painful and I need you to distract her."
Aileana tiptoed in silently.
"Jurian," Alizeh asked a single word.
"He's okay. I had called him to know that you're safe. He had left his friends and gone off on his own. Poor guy. He was hysterical," Aileana reassured, "You gave everyone the scare of their lives."
An all-consuming pain burned through her body at the unknown procedure the doctor was doing. She cried out and bit her lips.
"Hold still for a moment. The debriding needs to be done to help heal your wounds faster," the doctor didn't look up from his work, as he continued slicing into her burnt flesh.
"Cloud One, Cyanide," she asked again, swimming through the blinding pain.
"She had taken on two of them single-handedly. She's back on base as far as I heard," Aileana moved closer again, despite the doctor's sharp warning. "They're all worried about you and can't even come and see you. You know how much chaotic situations are now with the new government forming and people shifting out of the cloud and it's all a mayhem," she added for emphasis.
"Seems like I have lots of stories to hear," Alizeh joked, even as the immeasurable pain was breaking her apart.
"You've been sedated for five days, so yep," Aileana agreed.
"So where do we start?" Alizeh gave a pained smile.
"How about me finding a girlfriend?" Aileana winked at a gaping Alizeh.
Then she went on to tell her how she had met Miyoko and how they escaped together to the earth. She told about how they had developed feelings for each other and now they couldn't ask for anything more than to be with each other.
Alizeh listened to each word, hanging on to details about their first kiss, the first blossoming feelings, marvelling at how finding love was same yet different for the both of them.
ओह! यह छवि हमारे सामग्री दिशानिर्देशों का पालन नहीं करती है। प्रकाशन जारी रखने के लिए, कृपया इसे हटा दें या कोई भिन्न छवि अपलोड करें।
ओह! यह छवि हमारे सामग्री दिशानिर्देशों का पालन नहीं करती है। प्रकाशन जारी रखने के लिए, कृपया इसे हटा दें या कोई भिन्न छवि अपलोड करें।
