Hello Fam :)

I am sorry for not writing this but I am busy with college and not really finding time to write two books. The 'on hold' will continue to stay and I will try to update it whenever I am writing the chapter. I am sorry for keeping you hanging in here but it's too hectic and my whole day is packed. :(

Also, the picture in the media shows the size of the sun on different planets of our solar systems. It grows smaller as we go away from the sun.  

Happy Reading...

Day - 2

It was early in the morning and Manik was having difficulty sleeping. People go to a different country and complain about jet lag but while visiting a different planet, he didn't know what to complain about. Even if he did, who would actually believe him? Shaking his head at his own thought, Manik decided to find Aryaman or any other known Martian on the planet. He pecked Nandini's head, who pushed him away, yelling at him for disturbing her. Seriously, how could she sleep without any problem?

He found Aryaman covered in a hoodie. It was really cold outside.

Arya: Having trouble sleeping?

Manik: Yeah. By the time I get habituated to this place, we might return to Earth.

He chuckled when Aryaman laughed at him.

Manik: Where are you going this early?

Arya: A meeting. Two of the guys are going to explore a planet out of our solar system. We will assemble and listen to our guide's 'return or die trying' speech and return back.

Manik: Is the speech that horrifying?

Arya: Oh, Manik. Be it on Earth or Mars, guides always sound the same. Hey, why don't you accompany me?

Manik: Me? Am I allowed?

Arya: What are you talking about, Manik? You are our esteemed guests. Of course, you are allowed everywhere.

Manik: Don't let the other two listen to this. You wouldn't even know what kind of drama they might create.

They walked out of the house and met with a grinning Zain.

Manik: Don't tell me, he is a morning person? Where is he getting his energy at this time?

Zain ignored him and waved at Manik before jumping on Aryaman for a hug.

Arya: That's normal for him. He gives me a headache with his energy during the mornings.

Zain: What a pleasant morning, boys.

Manik: Technically, it's not even morning, dude. The sun isn't up yet.

Zain glared at him and for a minute Manik was afraid he had offended the new guy. But then he crossed his heart and pinched his throat.

Zain: We at Mars won't plan our mornings according to the daily timetable of the sun. We follow our own timetables. We are our own suns.

He grinned by the end of his little speech before leaving to get an Autoturisme.

Manik: Am I the only one who thinks he would get along really well with Nandini. Cabir even.

Arya patted his back in sympathy.

XXX

You are the warriors of Mars, the conquerors of space. You are the explorers of the undiscovered lands and increase the glory of the knowledge of Mars. Some lay down their lives for this cause and never had that let anyone stop on their mission. We expect the same from you. întoarce-te sau mori încercând.

Arya: The last one literally translates to return or die trying.

Manik: It was dramatic really.

The short crew was wishing the kids all the best and Aryaman had to pull Zain from scaring the kids.

Zain(pouts): I wanted to talk more.

Arya: And help them abort their mission. The chief would kill you. Let's leave. Let's show Manik our office.

They went through the next corridor and Manik tried not to gawk at the technology as Aryaman gave him a tour of the building. The office was just a simple cabin and it had samples from all the planets they have visited.

Manik: Did you visit all those planets? Did you find any life there?

Zain: Yeah. We found water monsters and a sandman, the ghost. Sometimes, they attack us and we fight for our lives. If we survive, we return home.

While Manik gaped at him, Arya shook his head.

Arya: Stop fictionalizing stuff, you idiot. Manik, the climatic conditions were harsh, of course, but that's what we were trained for. The maximum water we found is at the molecular level.

Before he could explain any further, an alarm blazed in the room and Aryaman rushed, panicked, towards it.

V-am găsit oaspeții aici vorbind un limbaj suspect. (We found your guests here speaking suspicious language. )

Arya: Sunt de pe Pământ. Desigur, nu vor vorbi limba noastră. (They are from Earth. Of course, they won't speak our language. )

Orice străin ar distruge planeta noastră. Au făcut același lucru cu Pământul. (Any outsider would only destroy our planet. They did the same with the Earth. )

Arya: Sunt invitați aici. Au permisiunea. Nu sunt aici pentru cercetare ca oamenii de știință. (They are invited here. They have permission. They aren't here for researching like their scientists. )

Nu ne pasă. Îi vrei în siguranță? Luați-le înainte să ne răzgândim. (We don't care. You want them safe? Take them before we change our minds. )

Arya: Mulțumesc. Voi ajunge acolo curand. (Thank you. I will be there soon. )

Manik: You speak well.

Arya rubbed his forehead.

Arya: Not now, Manik. I think they have Nandini and Cabir. We need to save them.

Manik: Who are they?

Instead of answering, Aryaman just grabbed his hand and ran out of the building. After inputting the directions, he turned to Manik, who was sweating already.

Arya: Okay, Manik, stay calm.

Manik: You said, you have to save Nandini. How do you expect me to calm down?

Arya: Listen, it's fine. I can handle this. Even if I couldn't, I would involve my chief. Actually, there's a tribe that lives here. They are known as the 'ancients' here. They are averse to technology, no one knows since when they are living here. But they save us and help us when we are clueless because they have experience. Unfortunately, they have seen Earth both flourishing and getting destroyed, so they don't trust people from your planet.

Manik: Okay? I wouldn't trust my people with my planet's safety too. But what does this have to do with Nandini?

Zain: Nandini has got herself kidnapped.

Manik: Got herself kidnapped? Stop being dramatic for one goddamn second and tell me you are exaggerating.

Manik rubs his face when Zain pouts. Seriously? Is this the time?

Arya: Manik, breathe. No one willingly enters their land and they don't speak English. We go only when we absolutely have to and they would help if the reason is genuine. Somehow Nandini and Cabir reached there but relax because they called me to pick her up. We grew up listening to stories that they would totally kill the intruders.

Manik: Is that supposed to comfort me?

Aryaman didn't have an answer to that.

XXX

When they reached there, a bunch of people with some weird-looking weapons was standing in a circle. Someone who probably was the tribal chief was standing on a throne. Someone was passionately arguing with him and pointing his finger at the gathering from time to time. In the middle of all the chaos, Cabir and Nandini were sitting on the ground and playing knots and crosses on the sand. On seeing them, they waved at their friends, grinning as if they weren't the ones who got kidnapped by some crazy technophobic tribe.

Manik was about to run towards them but Aryman stopped him. He asked Zain to hold Manik from making it even more complicated and then went to meet the chief, bowed low as a salute. Manik, on the other hand, was getting restless, his head already planning to break through the circle to reach the girl he couldn't live without. Uncharacteristically, Zain was the most serious he had ever seen him as he shot daggers at the guy who was arguing with the chief.

Man: Ar trebui să-i omorâm (We should kill them)

Arya: Nu poți ucide pe cineva pentru o greșeală. (You can't kill someone for a mistake)

Man: Ei intră. Și am mai aștepta să ne distrugă planeta înainte de a lua măsuri împotriva lor? (They are intruding. And would we wait for them to ruin our planet before taking action against them)

Arya: Și ce dacă? Mergi într-o bătaie de moarte? (So, what? Go on a killing spree?)

Man: Nu ar fi o crimă dacă ar fi singurii care vor fi uciși. Nimeni nu i-ar urma din nou pe planeta noastră. (It wouldn't be a killing spree if they are the only ones to be killed. No one would follow them again to our planet.)

Arya: Ești nebun. Șefule, sunt aici la invitație. Ei nu sunt oamenii de știință pământeni care să ne exploreze planeta sau să o distrugă. M-au adăpostit când am mers pe planeta lor pentru cercetare, chiar și după ce am știut că sunt de pe Marte. Au avut încredere în mine, chiar dacă le-am fost străin. Nu știu cum aș fi supraviețuit dacă ar fi decis să mă predea guvernului.

(You are being insane. Chief, they are here on the invitation. They aren't the Earthian scientists to explore our planet or destroy it. They have sheltered me when I went to their planet for my research even after knowing I am from Mars. They trusted me even if I was an alien to them. I don't know how I would have survived had they decided to hand me over to the government.)

After a tense pause, the Chief stood up and glanced at the duo.

Chief: Dacă ar putea să se joace fără a afecta mediul, ar putea rămâne fără a-l afecta. Asigurați-vă că nu intră din nou pe teritoriul nostru. (If they could play without harming the environment, they could stay without harming it. Make sure they don't enter our territory again.)

Beside him when Zain sighed in relief and left his hold on Manik, he guessed the scary part was over and ran towards Nandini. He pulled the girl up and wrapped his arms around her, taking her into a bear hug.

Nandu: Manik, yaar, I was close to winning. Let me go. Cabir would cheat otherwise.

Manik(muttered): I am not letting you go ever.

Cabir: I won.

Nandu: Manik, he cheated.

Breaking the hug, he glared at the two idiots.

Manik: Are you guys mad? How can you guys get yourself kidnapped within a few hours?

Nandu: Kidnapped? No, they were good to us.

Cabir: They even sat down when we didn't understand their language. Good hospitality.

Arya: Hospitality? They were about to kill you.

Only, when he briefly translated his conversation, how close he was to losing his girl. Looking at their shocked reactions, they were surprised too.

Manik shook his head. Only they can go to the jaws of death and not know about it.

Manik: Aryaman, thank you for saving them.

Arya: I didn't do anything. The chief somehow thinks they wouldn't harm our planet because they chose to play knots and crosses on the sand instead of something high-tech.

Manik: What?

Arya: Yeah, surprise to me too.

Nandu: It was my suggestion.

Cabir: And I am the winner.

Nandu: You cheated. Manik, he totally cheated.

Manik groaned.

Manik: You both are grounded. And Nandini, you aren't leaving my sight today.

He wrapped his hands around her again before they left to board their Autoturisme. After Arya entered their destination details, Zain bumped his shoulders with Cabir.

Zain: Not bad, Cabir. I said I would try to kill you every day so you went on a suicide mission?

XXX

Aryaman took them to somewhere quiet. Manik loved the fact that there was hardly anyone on this planet and even if there were, they didn't glance twice at anyone. Minding their own business was too much to ask from someone on Earth. It was also a good place to vent out his emotions.

Manik(screamed): How the hell did you reach there?

Nandu: You weren't there when we woke up.

Manik: So, you decided to go on a suicide mission when you don't even speak their language to save yourself?

Nandini looked at Aryaman with a pleading look.

Arya: Don't look at me. He is right. Answer him.

Nandu: I called you Bhai. You are supposed to be my protector even from Manik's anger.

Arya: I am Manik's friend too and right now he is asking something sensible.

Nandu: I hate you.

She glanced at Manik, who was still glaring at her.

Nandu: Why am I the only target of the monster's rage? Cabir was also with me. Ask him.

Cabir: Oh, hello. You are in a cheesy mushy relationship with him. Not me. Why would I be his target?

Manik: Because you always argue that you are more responsible than her and you can't keep both of yourselves alive for a few goddamn hours.

Nandu: Manik, I think you are overreacting.

Arya: No, he isn't. You could have died there, Nandini. Do you know that? What would he tell your parents if something happens to you? What would I tell them?

Manik huffed and walked away to calm himself down, trusting Aryaman to explain the situation to them. He saw the sun. It was different here. Smaller and a bit fainter than on Earth, it was almost calming him like a familiar friend in a strange land. He turned around when he felt a pair of hands around him. It broke his heart to see the tears in his girl's eyes.

Manik: Nandini.

Nandu: I am sorry. My parents wouldn't blame you and you don't have to explain yourself to them, Manik.

Manik: Was that all you got from his speech?

Nandu: Calm down, please. I can't function when you are mad at me.

Manik sighed and grabbed both her hands into his.

Manik: If something happens to you, I wouldn't be alive to answer them.

Nandini gaped at him and he saw the exact moment when she understood the gravity of the situation they had been in. Tears started flowing from her eyes.

Nandu: Nothing's happening to you. You are living a hundred years without any worry.

Manik: Only if you are safe and happy, Nandini.

He pulled her into a hug, to calm her down and in turn himself. Breaking the hug, he kissed her.

Manik: No risking your lives again, yeah? We are here on a holiday and to be free. Not to fight a bloody battle.

When Nandini nodded, he gave her another kiss before they walked towards their friends. Cabir grinned at him.

Cabir: It's okay, Manik. No need to say sorry and all. I forgive you.

Manik rolled his eyes.

Manik: I am taking this to Navya. She would deal with you.

Cabir: Not Navya, please.

They all laughed when they got the trick to shut him up. 

The last part got a bit emotional but I hope once in a while it's fine. :P

Also because Manik loses his cool when something happens to Nandini. That didn't change yet. :)

Feel free to drop in your suggestions about the story, if you want to read anything in particular or any idea or comment.