Planet XEE

(A further six months later)

Atop secret meeting was in progress in Jaipur, the capital city of Rajasthan, a state of India. A number of scientists, politicians and government officials had joined the meeting. The team of nuclear research scientists and engineers was being convinced by the government officials to redevelop and produce new weapons to attack neighbouring countries to extend the boundaries of the country.

‘We still do not even believe there is a Planet Xee anywhere in the universe. Some guy, Ziddan, visited here but it was all planned by the US and its allies to destroy the weapons of the world. The purpose of the destruction was to clear all the weapons from the world once and then to develop their own weapons secretly to conquer the whole world. I was already informed well before the story of Ziddan that our neighbour, China, had nuclear weapons stored in space. They must still have them out there, waiting for a suitable time to use them against our country. And if we’re not directly attacked by China, we are still at constant risk of attack from our eternal enemy, Pakistan… with support, guidance and help from China. If this happens, we will be overcome and lose our country and it is our belief, from our secret agencies and intelligence reports, that both of these countries are planning to attack us in the near future. We therefore have to take the initiative before our enemy can finalise their intention of attacking us. We cannot generate our weapons in space but we can still do it in our country. We have to do it. It’s a question of our survival.’

An Indian army officer, a Lieutenant General, along with government officials had long been trying to convince these scientists to produce the weapons, but the scientists were not yet ready to follow the instructions. They feared death; they remembered Ziddan’s warning and they remembered the unseen tiffinies that were watching every single person around the globe, and they knew that if they got involved in developing the weapons, they could die.

The scientists were offered high ranks in government offices, wealth and other benefits and they were also promised that they would rule the neighbouring countries after successful attacks. Eventually, they gave in and accepted the offers.

‘We have been well informed by our secret agencies that Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan have no weapons at the moment. We can easily attack and occupy these countries,’ an official stated.

‘And we are not going to stop there. After we have conquered these countries, we will move forward to the rest of the Asian countries, then to the Middle East, then Europe and finally America. It will take some time but we will make it possible. And this is the best time. All the stupid countries of the world are dreaming of flying to other planets with a ghost and a fictional man, Ziddan – the person who does not even exist! We won’t hesitate to give our lives in the name of progress. Our purpose is great and such a great purpose always demands sacrifices. Good luck, my loyal team. I want to hear good news soon.’

The meeting was over and the assigned job started forthwith.

The secret mission started with three different teams working separately at the same time, unaware of each other’s decisions, progress and presence.

Although the project managers and government officials assured their teams that Ziddan was a myth, they did not want to leave any stone unturned. The political figures, along with army officers, had a plan to keep the testing of the weapons secret from each team with the difference of a short time period. If, according to Ziddan’s threat, a scientist or even a group or whole team of scientists was killed, the second team would carry on the task without knowing the ultimate destiny of the first team. The project, they decided, would continue at any cost until their goal was achieved.

The scientists were making progress by leaps and bounds. They wanted to complete the task as soon as possible, so they worked as fast and efficiently as they could, around the clock. According to the offer made to them by their officials and politicians, some of them were dreaming of being the next king of a newly conquered country; others dreamed of being a high ranking official in the government.

The first team soon succeeded, but they could not enjoy their achievement – the leader of the team was mysteriously found dead after just half an hour of testing the weapons.

According to the plan, the group leader’s death was kept secret from the other two teams, as well as from the rest of the world.

A few days later, the second team was ready to test their weapons, but this time the whole team of scientists was found dead.

This time around, the news was broken to the country as well as to the world, but the truth remained a secret. However, days later, the post-mortem concluded that the scientists had died of unusual causes, as yet unknown to the doctors. Rumours started travelling all across the borders. The residents of Jaipur were reminded of the destruction of the whole city if their scientists made another attempt at developing the weapons. People were enjoying their lives, fulfilling the desires they had postponed for decades. They were lost in the wealth they had received when Ziddan had divided the wealth out to the whole needy world, so they did not bother to investigate; they did not even bother to pay attention.

It should have been a big concern to the rest of the world, too, but no one showed any interest in discovering the facts. Most of the countries of the world were also developing their own weapons, so they wanted India to carry on with her plans so that they could see what the outcome was.

Back in India, a further meeting was held. Top ranking officers from the army and from politics were in attendance.

‘We should postpone this plan. If this time same thing happens again, our plan could be disclosed to the world,’ said one of them.

‘We are about to achieve the goal,’ said another. ‘We should not give up for the cost of a city.’

‘We will declare an earthquake if the city is destroyed.’

Other suggestions were made about the consequences, but in the end they concluded, ‘We have to continue.’

The decision was made. The third team was working on a sizeable project day and night, unaware of the deaths of both of the other teams. Three days later, the final attempt was to be applied. If the attempt was successful, the next leader of the whole region would be the Indian Prime Minister. A congratulatory message was delivered to the PM in advance.

A time and venue were agreed for testing the weapon before it was set to multi-fire against enemies across the borders.

The time finally arrived. At seven o’clock in the morning, the weapons were taken far away from the city to minimise destruction in case of bad luck. The officials and politicians watched the developing situation live on a video link. Everything was going well.

‘We could have planned this three years ago,’ said one of them. ‘We could have conquered half of the world by now.’

‘We are still not too late,’ whispered another.

But at the last minute, an unexpected thing happened: the missile exploded on the launching pad and all members of the testing team were killed on the spot.

Minutes later, a shower of tiny red stones started falling on Jaipur. People thought it was a blessing from the skies, but it was far from it. The tiny stones grew hot enough to vaporise everything in the city: skyscrapers, concrete buildings, vehicles and trains, men and women, trees and plants, animals and birds – every single object related to the city in any way was turned into vapour which rose into the sky and vanished in the atmosphere. The town was turned into nothing but plain, bare ground on the surface of Earth.

No one was ready to believe that there had once been a city there that teemed with life: humans, animals and buildings… but now nothing had been left behind.

Soon the news spread all around the globe and although the country felt ashamed they did not accept responsibility.

‘We are extremely sad about the incident and announce a national day of mourning, but we were completely unaware of the situation,’ was the official statement made to the world.

It was a clear message to the rest of the world: either cease developing weapons or prepare for the consequences.