Katherine was disturbed, mentally. Though, her first meal lay on the table in front of her, she couldn’t eat. Her routine was no different than usual. She woke up right when the sun set. She got dressed and finished her household tasks. It was not something she didn’t do usually but the person coming today was important to persuade. Her father had died fighting for the cause; she would not rest until the factor of vanity was removed from the saddest event of her life.
Samuel, her father was a revolutionist. A rebel, if the government spoke their mind about him. But they never did. Samuel was the one person on earth to have solved the energy crisis. Fifty years ago, his father and various other scientists from all across the globe were hailed by the government to solve the crisis. It had happened gradually, all resources on earth had just run out. The Government had anticipated and calculated the exact decade and they were correct. But they were also working on the problem, providing everyone with a bright mind, all the prosperity and peace of mind to work the problem. The times were too crucial when Samuel had come up with a source that would never run out and within two decades of the invention, people all across the world had found maximum uses of the source. Their world was a better world again, all because of Samuel.
That was not all. Samuel found out later in his long life that there were consequences of what he had done. Further research in his work had only made it worse but he couldn’t do anything. Knowledge and information was free and it was supposed to always be that way.
Katherine got up from the couch and picked up the coffee mug. Perhaps it would be better if she didn’t consume anything solid. It would not be a great thing if she puked on Suleiman. She drained the mug in one go and looked at the wall clock. 9:00 pm. There were three more hours to go for the meeting. She picked up a magazine from the pile on the left side of her coffee mug. She flicked through the pages for a while and set it on the right side. There was nothing that could stop her thoughts; no distractions were going to work. She turned on the T.V and was not surprised to see herself on the screen.
"Ms. Katherine, daughter of the revered scientists Mr. Samuel, is meeting with Mr. Suleiman from the east today. Mr. Suleiman, who is the current spokesperson for the Eastern Government, has already landed here in New Mexico. Mr. Suleiman, who also discovered maximum uses of The Eclipse, has been known to the world as its strong advocate. But there are certain aspects of this meeting that the layman needs to know. Ms. Katherine and Mr. Suleiman had been to the same institute for education not once but seven times in their lives. They have also confirmed their past relationship to the public. We are hoping that their past will not result into Ms. Katherine winning the argument because if it does, the consequences will be devastating. Everything we know will cease to exist." The news reader was saying, as various other images of her, Suleiman and their home planet flashed on the screen. The images were all disturbing.
Katherine turned the T.V off. This was not helping. No doubt they had been in a relationship but that was not going to convince Suleiman. He was not a person you could easily persuade into doing something you wanted. And even if she did it somehow, there was only going to be more trouble. People would need an alternate source of energy to survive the crude earth. Space exploration programs were not an option. They knew there was nothing out there to support life. Earth was the only refuge.
Katherine tried stretching on the sofa for a little while. Even though she had no sleep throughout the previous day, she couldn’t sleep. Deciding to use the rest machine, she got up. The preordained machine would allow her to slip into the magical calm for a little while. She set the timer and climbed the long and thin machine. This machine, like everything else, ran on the power of The Eclipse. She used it with discretion but to minimal level.
She didn’t know how the time passed but when she climbed down the machine it was only 10 minutes to midnight. She looked down the window. The streets had already started to buzz with people leaving for work. In a while and she would be amongst the highest ranking officials of the Eastern Government. But none of them mattered, only Suleiman.
She took the transporter located on the western side of her apartment after she had seen her reflection in the mirror. In the blink of an eye, she was in the transporter of the Government building where the meeting was held. Only few people were allowed to visit Government stations, Katherine being one of the elite few.
She saw Suleiman as soon as she stepped out. It seemed he was waiting for her. But while waiting, he was talking to a group of young female admirers. He saw her and politely dismissed the girls. Katherine walked the ten feet distance between them.
"Hi, Katherine. How are you?" Suleiman asked in his mature, sugar-coated voice.
"Hi Suleiman. I am good as usual. You?" Katherine replied. She was not falling for anything this time but she had to make sure she got what she had come for.
"Well I am great, aren't I? You already know that, don’t you?" Suleiman said.
Katherine didn’t reply. She looked at Suleiman as he stood there in his perfectly black business clothes. His heavily angled and bushy eyebrows, pointed nose and huge round eyes gave him the appearance of an eagle. And yet, he had all the love and care and humour and affection inside him.
"Aren't we late for the meeting? Where are the other delegates?" Katherine asked.
"It's only me and you Katy. Nobody else has been here for this meeting." Suleiman said.
Katherine's gaze dropped at this point. Her shoulders fell almost instantly. She had been preparing for this.
"I assure you Katy, this meeting will not disappoint you. I will not disappoint you. Come with me." Suleiman said and held Katherine's hand.
He led them to the cafeteria inside the building and took the table on the farthest corner. He ordered for the two and sat in front of Katherine.
"There is a transcriber assigned to us. But I also have a recorder. We'll do whatever is okay with you." Suleiman said.
"Recorder will do." Katherine said.
"You can start your presentation. The food will arrive shortly." Suleiman said and Katherine began.
She said, "Alright. As we know Mr. Samuel, my father, came up with a successful replacement during the energy crisis. The power source he created was totally legal and endless. But what he didn’t think at that moment and realized only later that we were creating and recreating universes."
"The eclipse, as we all know, is the mix of overactive imagination and my father's formula. At the time my father had used his formula to amplify the abilities of every cell inside the human body. He used to on his friend Mr. Diego, the greatest astronauts of all time. Mr. Diego not only became a part of the experiment but also donated his brain for the cause. My father proved it towards the end of his life that we are not only creating energy but we are creating everything that's inside of that brain. We have seen what Mr. Diego's brain has seen and what it imagines. My point is that we are not Gods. We cannot simply create life and take no responsibility for it."
"It is so my intention to stop the use of my father's formula for creation of energy and look for something else."
Suleiman listened to every single word Katherine said. For a while he did not say anything. He hit the pause button on the recorder and looked at Katherine once again. The food arrived.
"What is this? We are two people Suleiman. Why have you ordered so much?" Katherine said looking at the food.
"You don’t look like you ate your first meal." Suleiman said. Once again Katherine didn’t reply.
They started eating. Katherine ate with content. The food was delicious. Halfway through, Suleiman started to talk without turning on the recorder.
"People are already looking for other ways to fulfill our energy requirements. The government started making efforts the day your father declared the negative aspects of The Eclipse. Katy, The Government knows it's not good what we are doing and I know that too. I have seen that brain myself right when the process was going on. Have you seen it?"
"No." Katherine said.
"Do you want to know what happens?"
Katherine didn’t reply. Suleiman took it as affirmation.
"The brain is alive as you already know it. They were all too creative when they were asked to keep that brain alive after extraction. When the formula is injected, every single neuron explodes. Everything inside that brain explodes and implodes at least ten times. The containment room gets filled up with mesmerizingly beautiful tiny lights and colours. It looks as if we are looking at a miniature model of our universe. It is art, Katy. It is literal art."
"But the universe you people create also has life."
"I know that Katy. It has life and to tell you something, we have now control over what he thinks. Do you know how many times we have to run this process in order to fulfill our requirements?"
"I don’t know."
"Well, with the last bit of modifications, we don’t have to run it more than once a decade."
"But, we used to do that at least ten times a year." Katy said.
"Exactly, we are now able to store more energy than we need just by running it once every ten years."
"What did you do?"
"Well it was my idea. You already know how energy generates in The Eclipse. The life that is born inside it thinks. Then there are other sources, the nebulae and really huge stars and everything. We made a little change. We isolated life. The universe that is born as a result of the process has only one planet that supports life. Nobody else to fight with and waste their energies. Besides, I personally planted some psychoactive drugs in their nature. They think more and worry less. We get abundant energy to last a decade. They are not troubled Katy. Those people are having a good life. The people we create, the universe we create is peaceful and as a result our earth is habitable. You think the sun is going to cool down. It is already impossible to go out during the day time. Imagine, we don’t have this energy. Our nights will die out too. Can you sacrifice the lives of 15 billion people in order to save the miniature life your father created?"
Katherine could only listen to every single word of what Suleiman was saying. Her spoon had stooped midway.
"Eat." Suleiman said and Katherine resumed eating.
When the food was over, Suleiman started again.
"If you want, I can start the recorder and say everything again. And if you want, I can destroy what's already recorded and we can start again." He said softly.
"We? What do you mean?" Katherine said. Though, she was in a position to say this a bit rudely, she couldn’t.
"We can start again. We had split up for this Katy. We split up because you wanted to reverse your father's mistake in which I didn’t support you. I am not happy for that. I worked all my life in order to correct that mistake. We are in full responsibility of the life we create. Can we not start again?"
Katherine didn’t reply. Suleiman was the one person who could understand what she wanted. He was the only human to whom she had felt connected. Splitting up with him was not something she had done with all her heart.
"You know what, that machine, The Eclipse is scheduled to start day after tomorrow. You can come with me if you want. I can definitely persuade my boss to let you enter the facility."
"You are not kidding, are you? I will get to see what my father did?"
"Do I ever joke with you?" Suleiman teased.
"You don’t remember the waterfall incident, do you? Who joked then?"
"Alright, my bad. I promise, I will do something to make them let you see it. I can record that on the recorder if you want." Suleiman said.
"Stop it, Sam. You are an idiot. I will come with you." Katherine agreed.
Finished with the food, Katherine got up and out of the cafeteria while Suleiman paid the bill. He came out with two large candies in his hands.
"Grow up Sam. We are not kids anymore." Katherine said eyeing the candies.
"Oh come on. You like it." Suleiman handed one to Katherine.
"Where are you staying?" Katherine asked walking towards the transporter.
"Well, they booked a room in Four Seasons. The swimming-pool is great." Suleiman said.
Katherine stopped and looked at Suleiman.
"Innuendo, wasn’t it? You never liked swimming." She said smiling, "You can come and stay with me till you are here. We can leave together day after tomorrow."
Suleiman didn’t say anything. He looked at Katherine without a word. She held his hand and together they started walking towards the transporter.