Acknowledements

This book is dedicated to Krutika Kalkal a.k.a KK. The title of the book, Sit Next To Me, are the words I
wished I had said to her when we met for the first time. Regardless, we have built a wonderful
friendship.

I would like to thank KK for this beautiful cover image titles Leaky Thoughts.

I want to thank all the people who let me use their names for my characters.

I want to thank the team at Writersgram for making this book a reality.

Happy reading!
 Pithos

Do you remember Pandora’s myth? I am inclined to believe that it is not a myth. So let me tell you
how it really went down.

Once upon a time, there was a college student in the hostel named Pandora. She was chilling in
Epimetheus’s room. Epimetheus’s? Who is he right? Well, Pandora says that he is her latest friend
with benefits. Let’s believe her. Who are we to question her sexual politics?

So she was chilling in Epi’s room. He was chilling with her. Precisely, they were Netflix and chilling.
Lying in bed together, watching the latest season of Who The Olympians Fucked on the laptop
between them. Dora says, “Epi let’s watch Teen Titans. I am tired of watching Aphrodite cheating on
Hephaestus with Ares. Not to mention Zeus being lecherous .”

“Dora darling, you are high. Stop getting bored so often”

And so they bickered until Epi’s Webmail pinged. It was a mail from Zeus. Subject: Do not open
attachment. Body: Dear Epi, I have sent you an attachment please do not open. Epi said, “Meh”.
Pandora said, “Let’s open it.”

“No.”

“Don’t you want to know what is inside?”

“No.”

“Epi you suck. Stop being so normie.”

And they bickered. Then they had angry sex. Then Epi went to pee.

Dora opened his webmail. The attachment was named: Pithos. Do not open. Ever.
Dora couldn’t help herself. She downloaded the attachment. The laptop had no program to open it so
she went on the internet to find one come to think of it, Epi took too long to pee. Finally the
attachment was opened. Epi’s laptop glitched. The malware of illness, plague, pain, hatred, jealousy
and all their extended relatives messed with not only Epi’s laptop but also Dora’s smartphone. Dora
doesn’t know it but it also messed with everything else in the world. Epi came back to find Dora
aghast. Epi said, “Dora you bitch what have you done?”

“Fuck me Epi! What did I know that this would happen? It was Zeus I expected porn.”

“You even used my premium version of WinZip to open the file! Though why is there this one file still
unopened?”

Before she knew it, Dora’s hands were on the laptop and she opened the Pithos again. Elpis got
installed and Command Prompt opened. It said:

://c

I am the spirit of hope. You may have released all kinds of malware into the world, including a Trojan
horse and the Trojans are not happy about the copyright infringement. Even then, I shall never leave
mankind. I shall be the antivirus that destroys all malware.

And that is why, my friend, hope is the hardest thing to kill. And that is also why, my friend, Dora is
called an explorer.
 Soul for Sale

Hi! Welcome to The Magical Beauty Shop. Are you looking for something specific or are you going to
be doing some browsing? Forgive me for being so chatty, you see, you are the very first customer of
this store. Oh, you haven’t seen this store before today? Of course you haven’t, it just appeared
today. Oh you laugh, but I sincerely hope that no one misses the bakery this store voided out of
existence. Feel free to look around the store, I am here at the front counter, just organizing some
merchandise.

I see you are back at the counter, is there any problem? Well, of course you don’t recognize these
brands, like I said before, this store has only spawned into existence today. I am sorry I am not trying
to be funny, just truthful. What a world we live in, where nobody believes the truth! I apologize for
rambling. Yes, we do have an opening sale today. The prices aren’t listed on the products? Don’t be
silly, everything you take from here will cost you. Are you prepared to pay the price? Ah I see I have
offended you again, I am sorry of course you are well aware on the workings of stores and capitalism.
What I meant to say was, the prices here are somewhat…. Unusual. Bitcoin? I have never heard of a
Bitcoin. Is that a new spell? No, we don’t take debit or credit cards. Wallets? Why would you pay me
in pouches of leather? They aren’t very valuable and most of them are fake leather. I see I am
exasperating you. Let me explain. Here, you see this, this is the Witches’ Choice Heat Resistant
Primer. You put this on and you can stop worrying about your makeup melting from the heat of your
cauldron. It lasts for about a day. You can remove it with this Selkie's Tears Makeup Remover. This is
the best makeup remover in the existence of humanity but you have to be careful and mindful while
using it. You make accidentally remove your facial features if you are not careful. Originally the
primer was for a pound of flesh without blood and the makeup remover was for the stealth of a cat,
but because of the sale, and because you are such a charming customer I am giving them to you for
two good deeds. That is a steep price reduction isn’t it? Where are you going? Sure, you can pick up
some merchandise and bring them to me.

Wow you have really loaded your cart, haven’t you? Let’s see what you have got. Ah, a Fairy Dust
highlighter and contouring kit with special unicorn hair brushes; what a wonderful choice. Yes all the
powders look white, why would they be colored? You put them on and they mimic your skin tone or
the tone of the foundation you wear. You can even customize how it looks by just thinking about it.
Originally priced at one vital memory taken forever, I can give this to you for a funny story that is
shared. I see you have picked out The Soot Sprite Eyeliner and Mascara kit. It has been made from
the souls of authentic Japanese soot sprites. Both, the eyeliner and the mascara will give the deepest
black color and make you look and feel just as mischievous as a soot sprite! You see, it is an imported
item, so the price is one harakiri but the sale price is a gross betrayal of a close friend. You wouldn’t
pay that price? Oh come now, I can bring it down to leaking a dirty secret of an acquaintance. You still
wouldn’t take it? I guess not everyone wants to look flirty and mischievous. Let me see what else you
have chosen. Ah, the Wizard’s Cloak Eyeshadow palette, a superb choice! This palette has ten colors
and when worn can invoke a certain emotion in others, like red will invoke anger. Not only that, but if
you blend different shades and different patterns you can invoke a variety of emotions. Here let me
give you a demo. Choose two colors. Ah a deep blue and a forest green, you do have an aesthetic
eye. Come let me put it on your eye. Oh, you would rather not? Well, then I will put it on my eye. Just
give me a minute. Here see and tell me what you feel. Covetous but unworthy, you say? See isn’t this
product wonderful? Originally it would go for the price of one virgin but I can mark it down to virgin
blood for you. Oh you jest, being married has nothing to do with virginity. In the Arts, a virgin is
someone who has never participated in a ritual and virgin blood is blood that has never been used in
a ritual. Judging by your questions, I am sure that you can definitely pay for this. You don’t want to?
You seemed like a person of great taste to me. Never mind, what is the last thing in your cart? Oh!
The Lucy Full Body Kit! It has everything from soap to nail polish. You can do anything with this! It
enhances every aspect of your life and brings you untold riches and power. The makeup blends as per
your form and even your form bends as per your will. This is the best product my store has to offer.
Originally it costs your soul and six months of service but I can mark it down to your soul only. Can I
mark it down more? Of course not, my dear. This is too precious a product. Even by taking only your
soul I am giving it away below cost price.

So is there anything you want to take? No? Well I thought as much. You didn’t even appreciate the
steep cuts in prices that I made, especially for you. Do you have any feedback for me? Not to play
jokes on customers, you say? Alas, you never took me seriously did you? Let me work on your
feedback. Here, it is done. You look so cute and tiny now! Here let me conjure up a cage with a wheel
for you. Would you like that? Of course now you have no choice whatsoever. Now, don’t you wish
you had taken me up on my offers?
 The Earthquake

It is 8 o'clock in the morning. You are awake, but not because you have just woken up. You haven't
slept at all. The night has passed and now it is day but for you it is as if there is no distinction between
night and day. You sit sideways on your bed, facing the bed table on the other bed while muted
sunlight tries to filter through the barricade of thick curtains. It is a cold day. Maybe not the kind that
makes you want to slide deep between your blankets, but it is a cold day nonetheless. You switch on
your laptop. As it takes it's own sweet time booting up, you hunt around for your yarn.

There are tremors. You feel a slight shaking deep within your bones. Your hands land on the ball of
your plum colored, worsted weight yarn. It is 51% acrylic and 49% wool. You pull your number 7
needles from your knitting needles pouch. The wooden sticks rattle slightly, even when you aren't
shaking them around.

Your laptop has turned on by now. Your desktop is a mess of colossal proportions. It is strewn with
icons and documents. You ignore the obvious chaos, just like you do for everything in life, and turn on
your internet browser. YouTube is opened on two tabs. One tab is dedicated to the craft you are
going to attempt and the other is your daily numbing music. You watch the video and write the
pattern on your bed table with a white board marker. You make a loop at the end of the yarn, a slip-
knot as it is called and slip both your needles in it. Your hand quivers. So does the stationary ceiling
fan.

There is an ample tail left for a long tailed cast on. You perform a series of somewhat complicated
motions to secure the requisite number of loops on the needles. Once you are satisfied by the
quantity and tension of the loops you slip one needle out. The loops hang shyly on the remaining
needle, as though painfully conscious of their slight degree of freedom. They shudder with the
tremors. You slip a needle into the back of the first loop. It tightens lovingly around the incoming
needle, as though welcoming a returning paramour. The yarn is wrapped around your ring finger. You
bring it above and place it on top of the loop, right between the two needles. A deft maneuver and a
little slipping is all it takes to create one stitch.

It would be a bliss to zone out and repeat the steps to create identical stitches, but alas, the pattern
demands for a change. This time the needle enters from the front and is tugged at by the yarn from
behind. With the exact inverted movements from before, you create a purl stitch. You see, the knit
and the purl stitches are analogous to each other. One is the front while the other is the back. A knit
can be a purl if seen from the other side.

You finish the first row. It looks like nothing, really. You shiver in disappointment. Or maybe, it is the
quake. You soldier on. You complete the pattern row by row. You stop after a while to admire the rise
and fall of the fabric as it lends itself to a raspberry stitch pattern.

Everything is still, perfectly still. It may have been like that for a while, but you, you never really
noticed did you? Not even when it was not still. You sat there, needles and yarn in your hand, some
insipid music in your ears. The stillness doesn't surprise you. You fall into a deep slumber.

When someone asks if you felt the earthquake that day, you say, “There was an earthquake? Oh I
didn't know! I didn't feel a thing! It must have been tiny. '' A raspberry stitch scarf rests at the foot of
the bed table, the only witness to the quake.
 Sit Next To Me

Chinmayee woke up early in the morning with an almost dangerous sense of calm filling up her soul.
She lay back on the bed, her eyes closed, her lips settling into the ghost of a smile. She loved Sundays.
Sundays were the only days she had when she could do anything she wanted. She could even lie in
bed the whole day and the sky wouldn't fall on her. Most importantly, she could spend her entire
Sunday hanging out and playing with her cat, Olga. Olga was a five-year old tuxedo and Chinmayee
had raised her since she found her abandoned as a kitten. It was hard at first, trying to raise an
animal in the limited space an urban sprawl provides, but Chinmayee persevered. Now, she and Olga
were inseparable buddies. She felt Olga jump onto her chest and silent glee pervaded her. Olga then
proceeded to caress her face with her tail. Wait, her tail? And why did her tail feel almost leathery?
Chinmayee opened her eyes and found a tiny elephant sitting on her chest, patting her face with it's
miniature trunk.

Chinmayee screamed and pushed the abomination off her chest. Her flatmate Raiesaah came running
from her bedroom. She looked worried and asked, "Chinz is everything okay? Why are you screaming
bloody murder? Do you feel well?"

Chinmayee was at a loss for words. She raised her shaking hand and pointed a trembling finger to the
freak of nature caressing itself with it's trunk at the foot of her bed. Raiesaah seemed concerned and
said, "Has something happened to Olga? I don't get it Chinz, Olga was fine yesterday and she looks
fine now too. What is the problem?"

Chinmayee found her voice and said shakily, "The problem, Rice, is that Olga is missing and a tiny
elephant is prancing around the house!"

"Chinz, this is Olga."

"No! Olga is a lovable kitty cat and this is a stupid, tiny elephant!"

Raiesaah's look of concerned morphed into one of alarm and she said, "Chinmayee are you feeling
okay? What do you mean by a kitty cat? And why do you think that Olga, I mean this elephant is
tiny?"

Chinmayee was almost babbling now. "Rice, cats, they are like 8 inches tall and cute house pets.
Elephants are huge land mammals, big, huge animals that live in forests and eat grass."
Raiesaah's face was a mask of confusion and sorrow. "I don't know what to say Chinz. I don't know
why you suddenly believe that. Cats are the biggest members of the cat family, larger than even
tigers and they are menacing prey animals. Elephants are the housepets. Of course, some elephants
are strays too. I really don't know why you have these ideas today. Only yesterday, and for the past
five years, you were happy with Olga. Now you suddenly think all this."

Chinmayee retorted angrily, "Rice, what are you saying? The internet is full of cute cat videos! Cats
running around the house, playing with yarn the whole shebang! Let me show you."

She pulled out her phone and opened the YouTube app. A dreadful numbness pervaded her as she
saw the homepage. Elephants, elephants everywhere! Raiesaah could have been mistaken but the
internet wouldn't be lying. Funny, how she could blindly trust the internet but hold her dear friend to
high standards of suspicion.

Raiesaah sighed. "Chinz, I don't know what is happening to you right now. I am going to give you
some time to process this. If you need me, I am going to be in my room."

Chinmayee watched her leave and sunk back into bed. She pulled her blanket over head and tried to
force herself back to sleep. Maybe she was going through one of those lucid dreams that people
always spoke about. Of course, that's what this was! Soon she would really wake up and life would be
the way she knew it.

She woke up to a leathery trunk caressing her face. This time, her scream did not bring Raiesaah to
the room. Chinmayee was running out of theories for this absurd situation. She decided to take a
walk in the park to clear her head. On getting there, she realised the enormity of her mistake. There
were elephants everywhere. They walked around in small packs, munching leaves and being generally
placid. There were some solitary elephants too. Chinmayee heaved a dejected sigh and ambled back
home, her gait mirroring the elephant's walk.

Back at home she sat on the couch. She was in a crisis. The world had changed, but somehow she
hadn't. She still possessed the knowledge that cats and elephants had somehow taken each others'
place. She missed Olga, her Olga. If Olga were here, she would be climbing on her cat tree. If Olga was
resting somewhere close by, Chinmayee would pat the place next to her and say, "Sit next to me."
That never failed and Olga would then come up and cuddle next to her. Fake Olga was currently
munching leaves off the small tree that stood in place of the cat tree in Chinmayee's old life. She
came and started patting Chinmayee's legs with her trunk. Chinmayee couldn't find it in herself to get
angry at Fake Olga. The elephant was the biggest victim in the situation. Stripped off her size, she was
reduced to being an animal that could be picked up and pet. It was a mercy, though, that the
elephant would never know this. Chinmayee found her dejection melting away. She murmured to the
elephant, "You are a sweet little thing, aren't you? I suppose I could get used to this. I can't keep
calling you Olga, though. I think, you are Nastya."

Nastya looked up at her, her tiny elephant eyes filled with adoration. She seemed to approve of her
name. Chinmayee patted the seat next to her.

"Sit next to me."

 And So, Ruby Died

Sayantan woke up when he felt the harsh sun burn the soles of his bare feet. He slid out from the car
that he had slept under the night before. The eerie silence that pierced his ears confirmed his worst
fear. He was all alone.

The world used to be rather noisy place. There were cars and buses and trains that creaked and
groaned and moaned as they fulfilled their duty of getting humanity from one place to another. There
was a constant buzz from electric lines, bees having become extinct a year ago. Animals roamed the
world, or rather the world as limited by humans. There were so many sounds, it was hard to identify
where they were coming from. Of course, Sayantan had never really noticed them then. Now that
they were gone, he missed them almost as dearly as he missed Ruby.

He wandered through the empty streets of what used to be Mumbai. He was the only soul there,
though not the only body. Corpses were strewn haphazardly on the roads, as if Picasso had taken it
upon himself to design a graveyard. They lay in different stages of decomposition. If Sayantan had to,
he could have guessed at the times of deaths but he really didn't have to, did he? He ambled along,
wincing at the jolts of pain that ran up his legs as his burnt and bleeding feet stepped on the asphalt.
He had left his shoes far behind, when he had ran out of Ruby's apartment two days ago. He wished
that he could leave his memories behind as well.

He didn't know why he walking anyway. He had nowhere to go. Maybe, he was looking for the
perfect place to die. The Harper-Goldstein disease would kill him too. It had showed no mercy to
anything that could have been considered alive. Humans, cats, dogs, hyenas, kangaroos, platypuses,
politicians, no one was spared. Even the plants were wilting and rotting, albeit slowly. Sayantan found
a shady expanse in the shadow of an apartment building and lay down there. He waited to die.

Before everything went kaput, everyone was arguing about when the world had started to end.
Conservatives rubbished the claim. Liberals blamed climate change. Absurdists asserted that the
world had been ending since its very conception. Pragmatists became believers when the people
around them started dropping off like flies and flies started dropping off like Harper-Goldstein
victims. For Sayantan, the world ended three days ago, when Ruby succumbed to the disease.

He was with Ruby when the news reported that the second breakout of Harper-Goldstein had been
quelled in the city of Ranchi. Named after the two researchers who isolated the virus after the first
breakout was reported in San Diego, this virus has upped its game quite a bit. Originally, it spread
through an exchange or exposure to bodily fluids and the very first casualties were the children of
anti-vaxxers. A cure was found, a vaccine was made and the anti-vaccine movement ended for good.
The second breakout in Ranchi was spine chilling. It meant that the virus had discovered the joys of
air travel and that no one was safe. Panic, while slow to spread, did find its way into the public
consciousness. The scientists who had their names attached to this brand new killer came up with a
cure for this new strain. It was in the third breakout that everyone became fervently religious. The
virus spread fast and killed even faster. It spared no one. "Then why", thought Sayantan, "am I still
alive?"

A few fitful naps later, he decided to enter the apartment building. He was not blind to the potential
of his current situation. People had died and left behind their things, a silly consolation for Sayantan.
He would never have to worry about owning anything. Everything in the world was his for the picking.
Of course, it was all temporary as Sayantan was well aware. Things, they would break or wear out.
How much would he jump from possession to possession, knowing that no one was there to see his
unimpeded rise? Materialism only made sense when there was a possibility of deprivation. It
wouldn't have been so bad had Ruby been there with him. He knew he could have been happy with
her, wherever they were. Without her, even the shiniest diamond now was worthless.

He made his way up the stairs. The electricity in the building was long gone. He would have to
scrounge for candles. Luckily, if he found a religious household's apartment he would find them
easily. Religion had always given solutions for life after death. It turned out to be true for Sayantan of
all people, an atheist of the strongest kind. He chuckled at the irony of this macabre thought. Maybe
he should do away with the concept of macabre things, after all none of it scared him and who was
left to be scared anyway?

He felt like the last human being in the world. Perhaps, because he was. He clearly was the last on in
the city. All of humanity's beautiful ways of knowing what everyone was up to had collapsed in the
pressure of no maintenance. Dying and rotting trees swayed and felled electric wires. The plumbing
system has started to fail too, with no one left to operate the machines. Sayantan sighed with
consternation. For all intents and purposes, he was the last man on Earth. He pondered on his
mortality. He would either die of the virus, which had somehow refused to infect him till now, or he
would die of old age as the world around him slowly crumbled until it turned into a barren wasteland.
Yes, he would die but it had ceased to matter how. The dead, they were only important because of
the living. And the living, they only drew their strength and drive from the fear of death. With no one
to succeed him he saw no point in life. He reached an apartment that seemed comfortable. He found
a bed without corpses. He lay on it and closed his eyes. He suspended his disbelief and prayed to the
lost gods for a well deserved death.
 The Past Calls And The Future Beckons

We are going live in 3 2 1

Elsa: Good morning San Francisco! This is your host Elsa Fitzpatrick and you are watching My
Saturday Bulletin. We have a very important guest with us today. He revolutionized the world as we
knew it ten years ago but with something he did yesterday! Yes, please welcome none other than the
CEO and founder of HailMe, Amit Ranjan!

Yes, pan the camera to his face, catch his wave properly.

Amit: Thank you for your kind words Ms Fitzpatrick I am honored to be here today.

Elsa: So let's get right down to it, Mr Ranjan you discovered the Ranjan hypothesis ten years ago and
finally proved it yesterday! Tell us something about how you felt when you got that message from
your future self all those years back.

Amit: That was a turbulent time in my life. I had just finished my bachelor's in mathematics and
computing and had come to the Bay Area for my Masters. I was working on my thesis one night and I
was dissatisfied with it. I had given up for the night when I saw an email in my inbox. The rest, as
everyone knows, is history. I used the information in the email to create the HailMe platform and
spent the last ten years strengthening and proving it's theoretical base.

Elsa: There have been divided opinions about the email that you received. How did you know that it
was from your future self?

Amit: If I were to be really honest about it, I wasn't too sure either, at that time. It felt like a hoax to
me but the partial lines of code that I deciphered intrigued me so that's when I started working on
them. As for who wrote the email? I wrote it yesterday and sent it using the new and upgraded
HailMe platform, making it the first ever message sent to the past.

Elsa: So the world had to wait ten years for proof and we finally have it now! Tell us more about the
upgraded HailMe platform.

Amit: Till yesterday, HailMe could only be used for receiving messages from your future self. In fact,
even if you didn't have HailMe, if your future self had HailMe, you would get a message. Now there is
a send option that will allow you to send a message to your past self.

Elsa: So can you control when the message will reach and what the message says?

Amit: This is an interesting question Ms Fitzpatrick. I will have to expand a little on my theory to
answer it if that's fine with you.

Elsa: Sure Mr Ranjan, go ahead.

Amit: So imagine the space-time continuum as a sheet of cloth. It has tiny bumps on it as it's not
stretched out tight. A straight line could therefore intersect the sheet at two or more different points,
depending on factors like origin of the line and the path that the surface of space time takes. So while
you can control the content of the message you can't control when you send it or when it reaches.

Elsa: So if I pressed the send button now, it wouldn't work?

Amit: No, the message will be saved until it is ready to go.

Elsa: This brings us to a very important question that has emerged over the last decade, namely, does
HailMe prove the existence of fate?

Amit (forced chuckle): I don't delve into theological matters Ms Fitzpatrick. Who is to say that fate as
ordained by any religion is real? At most, I would say, that the universe is deterministic as opposed to
probabilistic. We need to conduct more research in this field to further understand the phenomenon
that is HailMe.

Elsa: In the last decade, there has been a rise in the number of suicides as well as a surge of the
religious population. Is HailMe responsible for this?

Amit: Ms Fitzpatrick, these are the unintended consequences of humanity coming face to face with a
fundamental truth, that the universe is deterministic. HailMe, if anything, is just a catalyst at best and
an instrument of usherance at worst. It is unfair to blame the platform for the predetermined action
of individuals. What is the point of causality if everything is set in stone?

Elsa: This has been your line of defense for HailMe in the various lawsuits that have come up against
it.

Amit: Ms Fitzpatrick, people will bring up frivolous lawsuits when they can! Of course, all of them
were thrown out by the courts, as they should have been.

Elsa: So what does the future of HailMe hold?

Amit: My team and I will be working tirelessly to improve the interface. We are currently working on
adding a video option but that is a real uphill task.

Elsa: So why should people use HailMe if they can receive messages regardless?

Amit: To be able to send messages, of course! All the people who have received messages must know
by now that it is inevitable that they use the platform to send themselves the same messages that
they received. So I suggest that people start using the platform as soon as they can.

Elsa: Our media team has been looking at Twitter the whole morning and there have been some
interesting developments. Some people claim that the platform downloaded itself onto their devices.
Is this a new feature of HailMe?

Amit: It is certainly not something we anticipated or programmed but it is definitely happening

because messages will have to be sent sometime in the future.

Elsa: There is also blog post written by a Mr Jishant Singh about a message that he sent to his future
self, rather than his past one. Is this a feature or a worrying development?

Amit: Assuming that determinism is the way to go, it is completely plausible that Mr Singh could have
sent a message to his future self.

Elsa: So Mr Ranjan, you have helped usher a new dawn for humanity. Do you have any last words for
our captivated audience?
Amit: Thank you for your kind words Ms Fitzpatrick. To the people watching I would like to say, don't
worry, things will be the way they are supposed to be.

Elsa: Thank you Mr Ranjan. Goodbye San Francisco! See you next week!

Cut the camera.

 Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others

The Traveler bore into the Vehicle's flesh with relish, searching for an optimal place to hook its
dendrites. After traveling along the length of a series of hard, stacked sections, it found a nerve
centre and plugged into the Vehicle. The Traveller was paralyzed for a moment as it assessed the
incoming flow of knowledge from the Vehicle. It learned of the various senses and languages. After a
few minutes the Traveler opened the Vehicle's eyes and looked down at the Vehicle's hands.

"Stunning specimen, isn't she?"

A baritone voice startled the Traveller and it raised the Vehicle's eyes. It saw a man- no, a Symbiote,
the perfect meld of a Traveler and a Vehicle.

"I am a 'she' then?",it asked the Symbiote.

"A better word would be 'female'. Your pronoun, of course, must have been 'she' but it's up to you to
choose another one if you want. Welcome Traveler Deep Blue. It is an honor to have you here on the
planet Earth. I am Traveler Red Glow, but you can call me Mark."

"Pleased to meet you, Mark."

The Earthen nicety rolled glibly off her tongue, as Deep Blue searched the mind of her Vehicle for a
name.

"You can call me Maria."

"Ah yes Maria, what a lovely name. I am sure you must be itching to start your work, but there is a
three day recovery period ahead of you. You chose a rather unusual site of boring and now it will
have to be healed. In the meanwhile, my assistant Juanita will take care of you and answer any of
your questions."

Mark pressed a button on a device and a small, brown-skinned lady entered the room. Maria felt an
unprecedented shiver down her back as she looked at the lady, who was presumably Juanita. Juanita
had noticed Maria's odd reaction and was dejected for a moment until she composed her face into a
sea of calm.

Mark made the requisite introductions and left them alone. There was an awkward tension in the air.
This sensation was new to Maria and it drove home the purpose of her visit to the planet Earth.

Juanita broke the tension by smiling at Maria.

"Welcome to Earth",she said.

"Thank you, Juanita. Mark said I could ask you for anything if I needed it."

"Yes I am here to help you. Just tell me what you need and I will try my best to procure it for you."

"I need to read some documents from the Archives, specifically numbers 476 and 8325."

"Oh yes these are public access documents I can get them for you in a second or two. You are here on
official business then?"
"Yes, I am a part of the Resettlement Committee. I am the Designated Impartial Observer."

"It is an honor to meet you! Is it true then, that you were never exposed to the Earth even back on
the Homeland?"

"Yes, it is true. I did not expect to be sent here this early, though. It has only been twenty years since
the settlement begun."

"That is true. I have come here recently as well, just three years back. I was Glinting Ice on Homeland.
I will leave you to rest then. If you need me just press the button by your bed."

After Juanita left, Maria began perusing the documents on a hand held device by her bed. She had
been sent to Earth for a peculiar problem indeed. By nature, the Travelers are egalitarian creatures
who believe in experiencing the Vehicle's life in totality. At Homeland, the Vehicles were separated
only by their biomes, but Earth was full of variety. From the species to the cultures, there was a
plethora of experiences to go through. The homo sapiens were chosen as appropriate Vehicles and
settlement began two decades ago. The first wave of settlement was extremely dangerous as the
Travelers had to deal with the poisonous effects of the oxygen gas. Many brave lives were lost. Soon,
though, the whole planet was settled, with the collective homo sapiens consciousness dying out in
one, fragile, last breath.

If Maria was fascinated with the historical account of the settlement, she was highly disturbed by the
reports of various incidents that followed. The problem, it seemed, was that the sapiens were so
different from each other. Sure, the Travelers banded together in the early years and destroyed the
concept of money as well as eradicated poverty, homelessness and hunger but there were some
things they couldn't uproot. For starters, a large number of Travelers started following the antiquated
institution of religion. It didn't matter which one they followed, for some became fanatics and ended
up wasting the lives of their fellow Travelers. Many began discriminating on the lines of reproductive
organs, especially after the first wave of Travelers started Vehicle reproduction to make room for
their compatriots coming over. Others simply began looking at the physical features of the Vehicle's
bodies in a regressive display of what was called racism. What a ridiculous notion! They were the
same species after all! That would explain Maria's reaction to seeing Juanita. Her Vehicle must have
been an ardent practitioner of racism. Maria felt deeply ashamed at her involuntary reactions. She
couldn't wait to get out of the healing facility and see the Traveler life for what it was.

A month after being released Maria was more than ready to write her report. She had expected that
the Travelers would live like they did back on Homeland. She was sorely mistaken. On the surface, it
seemed almost as if the homo sapiens had never left. There was a host of negative emotions that
dominated the general behavior. There were factions and groupings of Travelers, each clawing at the
other for their own interests. Travelers began preferring male and Caucasoid Vehicles, causing the
loss of many other viable Vehicles. This kind of behavior was wasteful and quite unlike the Traveler's
egalitarian nature on Homeland.
Maria wrote in her report:

It is easy to be egalitarian when there are no discernible differences. The real challenge lies in looking
beyond these differences and establishing equality and equity. It was a grave mistake on our part to
believe that the sapiens had no power to infect us. We may have conquered them but they seem to
have won. I recommend to the Committee to write off this planet as a failure and stop further
resettlements. I also recommend that in the case of grave departure of behavior, the planet and the
inhabitants must be destroyed for the Travelers who came here are lost to us now.

Maria couldn't wait to go back home and live peacefully among her people.