Arith : The Undiscovered Planet
CHAPTER 4

Eric smiled as he looked at the pictures he took when he wasin space. Seeing the pictures, didn’t look real like he had seen them up closein space. It had been three days since he came back from his exploration. He wasin his father’s house for the time being. His dad didn’t allow him go to hisown apartment.

“I want you to get back to your normal self here. Iunderstand the effects of space travel. I remember, it took your mum about a week to recover. She wasn’t used to walking fast for sometime, having spentabout three days in space”. Derek , hisdad had said .

At this moment, his dad was making lunch for him. He hadtried dissuading his dad. But his dad couldn’t have any of it. With his usual ‘let-me-take-care-of-you’words. Eric had no other option but to accept his dad’s ’care’.

People alwaysthink space travel is a big deal, Eric thought. He shrugged and continuedlooking at the pictures of his exploit, he looked for some moments.

Then he came across a picture. A very lustrous element,siredanium. Back in space, he was just taking random pictures. If not, hewouldn’t have taken pictures of this element . He was always disinterested inthings that were outlawed to acquire.

Their instructor had told them about theelement. Being the most expensive and all. And it was a rule to never takeanything in space, except, it was goingto be used for experiments, constructions. Hence Eric felt it wasn’t relevantto know very much about this ‘siredanium’.

But the more Eric looked at this picture, the more it lookedfamiliar. Where had he seen this picture? He couldn’t remember. He triedthinking but nothing came to him. Well he would still think because he knewthat he had seen this picture somehow. Could it be in their class, or…. Where?Fine he would just relax himself and think deeply, yes deeply, after eating… definitely.

To make matters worse, his dad brought his meal to his bed. Ericfelt discomfited by this level of care. He felt so much better already, and hewas still taking care of him? Wait… didhis father think he would have died?

“Whats up with the face Eric? Can’t you allow your old mantake care of you”? His dad asked unsure.

“Dad , seriously I’m good. I should be the one taking careof you” he said.

“Fine, I know that son. But let me do this. I thought I’dlost you. You’re the only one I have”.

“Fine dad” Eric said quickly, so that his dad wouldn’t declare those uncomfortable lines again.

******

When he was done with lunch, he met Derek in the courtyardand they drank beer together. He always enjoyed this moment with his dad, whenthey would start talking about things going on.

“Oh that reminds me, I haven’t spoken to Tessy since you got back”

His dad put his hand in his pockets, looking for his phonebut he couldn’t replace it.

“Could be you left itin your room while cooking dad. Let me get it”

Eric said as he got up and headed to his dad’s room.

“I think it’s in mydrawer, just check there” his dad called out.

“Okay”

Eric entered his dad’s room and headed to the drawer. Just like his dad said, he saw the phone. Ashe was about grabbing the phone , he sawa picture under the phone. So he took out the phone and saw the pictureclearly. The picture was of siredanium , the same element he had snapped. Thiswas the same picture he had seen, the one he had thought about. Then immediately,as if his brain was waiting for this moment, he had a flashback of his mumtalking to his dad about the picture. Though he wasn’t sure, he remembered hismum telling his dad about someone stealing something, when she handed thepicture to his dad. This was two weeks before she went on the space explorationthat took her life. He was ten years old then. Hence, he wasn’t so sure…

“Are you okay inthere son”?

His dad called out. So Eric hurried to meet his dad outside.

“You took so long inthere, hope you’re okay”? His dad asked looking concerned.

“Dad I have yourphone, here it is”

Eric handed the phoneback to his dad. His dad took the phone , really looked at him and asked

“What is it son”?

He gave his dad the picture, his dad took it , looked at itand was like ‘yeah-so’? His dad kept giving him the ‘what-has-happened-to-my-sonduring-the-space-travel' look.

“Why did mum give youthis picture dad”?

“Oohh , you had me scared son. Well she said someone wasstealing the element. She called it em… sir.. something”.

“Siredanium , yes it was recently discovered. The mostexpensive element in the world. But can only be found in space. So it wasprohibited for anyone to acquire it in any form”.

“Oh interesting, so why is this special to you now son”?

“Well dad, I feel she told the wrong person about this, andI have suspicions that what happened to her wasn’t an accident, it wasdeliberate. I know mum actually saw someone trying to steal it. This 'someone’or their group, didn’t want to be exposed. So they did that to mum”.

“Well son, I hadalready thought about that. But I think I was the only one she told. Well …Idon’t know anymore”. He dad said thinking.

“You know what dad, Iwill just have to tell someone I trust so much ; aunt Tessy. So that she canmake the arrangements for both of us togo to space and check the element's area out. I just want evidence that someoneis actually stealing it”.

“You are the only one I have dear. But promise me it’s only Tessyyou will tell”.

“I promise dad, she is like a mother to me and she has theright connections. She will definitely help me out”.

“Okay son”.

********

“Eric hope you’re okay. You look anxious” His aunt said,looking at him with concern.

Eric was already tired of these looks.

“I’m very well. Just discovered something”.

“Okay”? aunt Tessy asked

“Its about the element ‘siredanium’, mum discovered people stealing it and she waskilled”

Aunt Tessy was shocked

“What ? You mean she was deliberately killed? How could people be this wicked ? I can’t believe there are killers in ourheadquarters” . Eric nodded sadly andsaid:

“So that’s why I want to go up there to be sure. Can youhelp me out aunty? Please”?

“You just came back son, isn’t it too soon to go up thereagain”?

“Like this moment aunt, I’m indifferent to any other thing.Just want to get to the bottom of this”.

“Oh no , I care , okay? Will not allow you endanger your life. You’re just recovering from yourfirst space travel. I certainly care”.

Eric knew he wasn’t going anywhere with his aunt, if hecontinued like this. So he opted for the innocent plea.

“Please aunt, please please? He gave her his most innocent look,she wouldn’t ignore. His aunt sighed and said:

“Well, let’s see dear, it could take weeks if not months toget everything ready. Let’s … ahhh … do not give me that look Eric . Of course, Iwould never tell them what we would be doing in space. Okay”?

“Oh , I’m glad to hear that. I love we’re doing this formy mum. But could you make it like in three weeks “?

“Hmmm”. Aunt Tessy was looking at him as if he was a joking.Eric gave her his serious look , his aunt didn't know what else to do.

“Well … fine. Do notworry love, we’re in this together”. She said.