Chapter 3
Chapter Two.
Arnav opens his eyes, stretches his limbs and gets off the bed. It is still night. At least an hour before dawn. And as always, he wants to stay awake and wait for it. As has been the case since his arrival via VSS Trailblazer almost a year ago.
He walks over to the window and peers into the semi darkness. He sees blurry forms of buildings in the far distance. They rise taller with every tick of the clock. Under his expert planning, supervision and command, preprogrammed construction robots work around the clock. It's been less than six months since the reconstruction project was officially launched, and already, the shell of the first planned city is edging toward fruition...toward commencement of repopulation. A warmth spread across his chest. It's like living a dream, not only his but of several generations preceding him, that he'd always hoped and prayed for but never really expected.
He glances at his wrist watch. He rejects the dates it display. Time is relative. It has no beginning and no end. It can mean different things to different people and as far as he is concerned it's neither Stardate 1538.5.10, nor April 20, 350 AE(After Exodus). It is April 20, 2700 AD. After 350 years, three and a half centuries, of refuge in a different planet, they had returned to their rightful home. It was time to reclaim their old calendar. It was time to reclaim their history.
With a sigh, he pushes open the window and takes in a lungful of pre dawn air. His fingers and toes tingle. He feels one with the reawakened spirit of the place he'd always believed to be his homeland. He feels it in the wind that rushes in, pushing past the curtains, beckoning him by a touch on his forehead. He can feel it in the scent of damp earth it brings with it. His heart constricts with a sudden elation.
He ponders on that scent and the affective response it generates for a while. It's very unlike the smell of Vulcan soil or that of any other planet he's ever visited. For a scent he'd never experienced until a few months ago, the response it generates surprises him every single time. It is purely visceral, restricted to humans, and completely unbacked by logic.
"It's almost as if our genes have been programmed to like this smell...just as they seem to be programmed for an aesthetic preference for a blue sky compared to a green one. What else would explain the joy that a deep blue sky brings to eyes long accustomed to green skies? Or a new born's preference for it's mother for that matter?
He walks over to the window and peers into the semi darkness. He sees blurry forms of buildings in the far distance. They rise taller with every tick of the clock. Under his expert planning, supervision and command, preprogrammed construction robots work around the clock. It's been less than six months since the reconstruction project was officially launched, and already, the shell of the first planned city is edging toward fruition...toward commencement of repopulation. A warmth spread across his chest. It's like living a dream, not only his but of several generations preceding him, that he'd always hoped and prayed for but never really expected.
He glances at his wrist watch. He rejects the dates it display. Time is relative. It has no beginning and no end. It can mean different things to different people and as far as he is concerned it's neither Stardate 1538.5.10, nor April 20, 350 AE(After Exodus). It is April 20, 2700 AD. After 350 years, three and a half centuries, of refuge in a different planet, they had returned to their rightful home. It was time to reclaim their old calendar. It was time to reclaim their history.
With a sigh, he pushes open the window and takes in a lungful of pre dawn air. His fingers and toes tingle. He feels one with the reawakened spirit of the place he'd always believed to be his homeland. He feels it in the wind that rushes in, pushing past the curtains, beckoning him by a touch on his forehead. He can feel it in the scent of damp earth it brings with it. His heart constricts with a sudden elation.
He ponders on that scent and the affective response it generates for a while. It's very unlike the smell of Vulcan soil or that of any other planet he's ever visited. For a scent he'd never experienced until a few months ago, the response it generates surprises him every single time. It is purely visceral, restricted to humans, and completely unbacked by logic.
"It's almost as if our genes have been programmed to like this smell...just as they seem to be programmed for an aesthetic preference for a blue sky compared to a green one. What else would explain the joy that a deep blue sky brings to eyes long accustomed to green skies? Or a new born's preference for it's mother for that matter?
"You have a tendency to ponder upon irrelevant stuff, Arnav", Khushi's calm voice reaches him from their academy days. As does the accompanying glimmer of very human humor in her eyes."What's the point in speculating over matters that can't affect our here and now or even our future for that matter?
"That's the Vulcan in you speaking", he had replied to her with a wink, "Bring your human out darling...quit holding her back all the time and you'll know what life is about".
A comment that had prompted her, not for the first time, to accuse him of giving in to popular stereotypes and prejudices of course, "That was unacceptable, Arnav. A life based on principles of logic, rationality, emotional restraint and pacifism is a superior way to live in my opinion, and possibly the only way to survive. We should learn from history".
He had tilted his head to look at the sky then, his eyes becoming still and quiet, his thoughts traveling across the universe to a desolate planet.
"That's the Vulcan in you speaking", he had replied to her with a wink, "Bring your human out darling...quit holding her back all the time and you'll know what life is about".
A comment that had prompted her, not for the first time, to accuse him of giving in to popular stereotypes and prejudices of course, "That was unacceptable, Arnav. A life based on principles of logic, rationality, emotional restraint and pacifism is a superior way to live in my opinion, and possibly the only way to survive. We should learn from history".
He had tilted his head to look at the sky then, his eyes becoming still and quiet, his thoughts traveling across the universe to a desolate planet.
Which is exactly why this second chance, this healing of their motherland of yore, feels so miraculous, Arnav thinks returning to present.
Arnav raises his hands above his head and stretches, his pectorals and abs ripping, his low riding sleep pants slipping down precariously as he does so.
His thoughts linger on Khushi and on that year they were together, seven human years ago. His heart fills with a familiar ache. Given that he was unceremoniously dumped by her, his heart feels surprisingly devoid of rancor or grudge. It was just this ache that her memories evoked that had persisted for so long...
He thinks about her as faint streaks of pink and orange rip through the dark horizon. His mind goes back to the academy days - specifically to one particularly memorable night.
Arnav raises his hands above his head and stretches, his pectorals and abs ripping, his low riding sleep pants slipping down precariously as he does so.
His thoughts linger on Khushi and on that year they were together, seven human years ago. His heart fills with a familiar ache. Given that he was unceremoniously dumped by her, his heart feels surprisingly devoid of rancor or grudge. It was just this ache that her memories evoked that had persisted for so long...
He thinks about her as faint streaks of pink and orange rip through the dark horizon. His mind goes back to the academy days - specifically to one particularly memorable night.
He was a senior. She was a freshman. It was the first night of the annual Trilunar Festival - a week long extravaganza of sports and music when the night skies were lit with all three moons and the long nights were brighter but cooler than days.
He was on his hovercraft-motor bike (HM) again with his body at one with the thrumming metal beast he straddled and the air whistling past past his ears like a living being.
His gloved hands tightened on the handle bars, his heart pounded with a surge of adrenaline, and his head reeled with the unmatchable high of victory.
To the accompaniment of a euphoric, wholly unnecessary, profanity he had soon propelled his bike across the florescent finishing line of the Starfleet racing circuit. Even as he slowed and lowered his bike to the ground, he could hear the sound of victory ripple across the bleachers in a smooth wave of claps, cheers and chants.
Arnav...Arnav...Arnav..
Even as his would be competitors crossed the line one by one, he was attacked by friends from all sides - a spirited group of youngsters who hauled him high up in the sky - not a mean feat considering his six feet three inches of solid muscle weight.
He grinned and fist pumped in elation, his caramel eyes sweeping across a group of cheering freshman girls.
It was uncanny the way he found her at once, his gaze resting on her face with all the instinct of a migratory bird. Khushi. The girl who'd grabbed his attention and, without a doubt, that of countless other boys, since walking into the academy a couple weeks ago. Of course he'd been attracted to other females before but the sheer intensity of this so called force of attraction was something else this time. It had all but taken over his waking thoughts, running through his blood like a mild intoxicant.
The sky lit up with pyrotechnics as their gazes fused and locked, his heart missing a beat as she unexpectedly rose from her seat to slowly walk toward him.
His friends noticed her too because they weakly lowered him back on the ground, their attention zeroing on the person who walked toward them with a group of friends.
Arnav, although too grounded for vanity, did have an intelligent insight into his own attractiveness. He leaned against the Beast, as he fondly called his hovercraft motorbike, stylishly crossing his booted ankles, allowing his eyes to crinkle in that suggestion of a smile that he'd inadvertently realized long time back unsuspecting females dug a lot.
His heartbeats quickened as she came close to him. His friends, who were aware of his fascination, looked on expectantly with sly smiles. However, while her friends, both Vulcan and human, showered him with unwanted attention that differed significantly depending on origin, those hazel eyes, eyes that could easily launch a million starships, were solely focused on the machine...not the man.
She circled the Beast slowly, eyes intent, one hand tracing the contours of its metal body.
"Fascinating", she said with an enraptured expression while Arnav stared with his eyes slightly incredulous.
"I agree", was all he said however, swiftly shifting strategic mental gears as he straightened to face her.
Ignoring his friends sniggering behind his back, he asked, "Do you ride?
He finally succeeded in tearing her attention away from the Beast.
"Yes, I do", she said, her gaze steady, a small smile playing on her lips, "But I've never ridden anything as majestic as this".
Arnav surveyed her face for a bit before replying. His eyes were hazy with indecision. He knew she was half Vulcan. He also knew that for most mixed race people finding their true identity, trying to decide which tug, red or green, was stronger was a lifelong, unenviable struggle.
If he acted on this attraction...on this rare pull he felt toward her, would he not be be setting himself up for disappointments, complications, heartbreak even?
He noticed a fleeting expression in her eyes. A split second flicker before they were shuttered again. It was candid, 100% human and a beguiling mix of innocent and sexy. It told him she wasn't as unmoved by the man in front of her as she wanted him...and quite likely herself, to believe. It told him that his indecision resonated somewhere deep inside her as well.
A revered Vulcan poet of yore had once proclaimed, "Green is green; red is red and never shall the twain meet".
Not only did the lengthy poem allude to the various ways the two races differed from each other - in terms of temperament, belief, history, philosophy and culture, it also carried a subtext of perceived superiority...with the Vulcans, with their strictly adhered to philosophy of self control, sexual restraint, mind over heart and pacifism by and large considering themselves more evolved than humans. With this background scenario, interracial relationships were not only rare in general but also rarely successful. As were mixed race children.
Khushi's eyes were openly expectant as they gazed into his. The indecision in his eyes slowly morphed into a decision.
"f**k you", he told the spirit of the revered Vulcan poet silently. Paying no attention to his friends signaling him from a distance, he took a step toward her.
"Want to come for a spin around campus?, he said.
"Only if you let me drive this beauty", she said, their gazes fusing and competing with the pyrotechnics above them.
"Sure you'll be able to handle it?, he asked.
"Without a doubt", she said calmly, "You can sit behind me if you like".
"I think", he rested his hand on the hover craft to smile down at her, "I will like that a lot".
Her lips widened into a grin, a rare hesitant grin, that squeezed his breath away and before he could reclaim it, she had positioned herself on the hovercraft, impatiently urging him to take seat behind her - which he did with a twinge of nervousness.
"You sure you've done this before?, he asked, sliding forward and reaching his arms on either side to grip the handle bars over her hands.
"Too late to ask that", she grinned, starting the machine at the same time, "Capt. Gupta is already in charge of this starship".
The machine thrummed into life, it's vibrations merging with the physical awareness that quivered and trapped like a silken mesh.
The warm glow of physical awareness soon gave way to alarm as Khushi accelerated the vehicle forward with more speed than warranted, letting it lift up to the air with sharp jolts she seemed totally unconcerned about.
"Be careful", Arnav said, trying to keep his panic in check, "Easy on the accelerator".
"What the...", he shouted as the machine was made to propel forward at a reckless speed in response.
"You're crazy. Totally crazy", he shouted as the HM shot around the circuit at maximum speed.
She laughed in response, an unrestrained, jubilant sound that fluttered in the wind like a banner, announcing an eruption of repressed emotions.
"And I'm even crazier to have allowed you, a virtual stranger, to do this to me", he shouted over the wind whipping past their ears.
"Can't it go any faster?
"Sorry to disappoint you but this is a hovercraft motorbike, not a starship", he said sarcastically, relaxing a bit. It hadn't taken him long to learn just how good she was at riding hovercrafts.
"What a pity. I'm dying to know what warp speed feels like", she replied, "I'm a speed junkie and I can hardly wait to be a sophomore. Freshman year is so boring".
"Just a year more, woman. Be patient and quit trapping unsuspecting strangers to get your speed-fix until then".
"Oh come on", she teased, "Don't tell me you're scared. Your fan girls will be so disappointed.
"Oooh... I'm shit-scared", he said with his eyes wicked, "In fact I'm so shit- scared I'm sure you won't mind if I hold you...", he paused and wrapped his arms around her waist, "like this".
He felt her stiffen. And with his nose almost touching her neck, he waited for her comeback that never came. With a sigh, he removed his arms.
She had reached the finishing line again and this time she slowed the HM to expertly lower it to the ground.
They faced each other after sliding off of the now silent HM. Silence filled the space between them as well while the three moons shone on steadily casting complex shadows on the ground. Music wafted in from a nearby concert that they didn't really hear.
"I have to go", she said after a while, "My friends must be waiting. Thanks for letting me ride".
She turned abruptly and in silence, Arnav gazed at her back with wistful eyes. He wondered what could possibly explain this acute sense of loss he felt. For something that had never really started...that was never even there.
"Khushi", he stopped her when she was a few foot steps away, "I'm not the scared one tonight".
She turned to face him at once.
With her forehead furrowed, she tilted her head for him to elaborate upon his accusation.
Arnav crossed his arms and met her narrowed eyes, his own eyes an intriguing display of light and shadows.
"You", he said softly in a voice that was part silk, part gravel, "Khushi Kumari Gupta, are a coward".
His words seemed to have hit a raw spot because her eyes flashed with annoyance.
"Not true", she replied with hastily summoned quiet confidence~ the pride of Vulcans~ and crossed her arms too, "I.am.never.a.coward. I wonder what makes you say that".
He took a step forward and was soon in her personal space. Khushi held his gaze and refused to back away.
"Then why are you running away?, he asked.
"Running away from what?
"From...", Arnav swallowed. His eyes blinked once or twice. "From this...".
Realizing he might be about to make a prize idiot out of himself, he gave up and stepped back, frustratedly running his fingers through his hair.
"Never mind", he said tersely, averting his gaze.
"Alright then. Goodnight", she said and turned to go, the corner of her mouth twitching ever so slightly.
Her back was unnaturally tensed as she walked away, going up the stepped aisle between rows of bleachers toward exit.
He had soon caught up with her taking two steps at a time. With his breaths ragged, he came to stand in front of her, effectively blocking her way.
Their eyes clashed again before his crinkled in a smile.
"Khushi Kumari Gupta", he said softly making every word sound like a prayer, "Would you like to come to the after-party with me?
Khushi took his hand, staring up at him with anguished eyes, the turmoil in their hazel orbs reflective of her inner conflict...
He was on his hovercraft-motor bike (HM) again with his body at one with the thrumming metal beast he straddled and the air whistling past past his ears like a living being.
His gloved hands tightened on the handle bars, his heart pounded with a surge of adrenaline, and his head reeled with the unmatchable high of victory.
To the accompaniment of a euphoric, wholly unnecessary, profanity he had soon propelled his bike across the florescent finishing line of the Starfleet racing circuit. Even as he slowed and lowered his bike to the ground, he could hear the sound of victory ripple across the bleachers in a smooth wave of claps, cheers and chants.
Arnav...Arnav...Arnav..
Even as his would be competitors crossed the line one by one, he was attacked by friends from all sides - a spirited group of youngsters who hauled him high up in the sky - not a mean feat considering his six feet three inches of solid muscle weight.
He grinned and fist pumped in elation, his caramel eyes sweeping across a group of cheering freshman girls.
It was uncanny the way he found her at once, his gaze resting on her face with all the instinct of a migratory bird. Khushi. The girl who'd grabbed his attention and, without a doubt, that of countless other boys, since walking into the academy a couple weeks ago. Of course he'd been attracted to other females before but the sheer intensity of this so called force of attraction was something else this time. It had all but taken over his waking thoughts, running through his blood like a mild intoxicant.
The sky lit up with pyrotechnics as their gazes fused and locked, his heart missing a beat as she unexpectedly rose from her seat to slowly walk toward him.
His friends noticed her too because they weakly lowered him back on the ground, their attention zeroing on the person who walked toward them with a group of friends.
Arnav, although too grounded for vanity, did have an intelligent insight into his own attractiveness. He leaned against the Beast, as he fondly called his hovercraft motorbike, stylishly crossing his booted ankles, allowing his eyes to crinkle in that suggestion of a smile that he'd inadvertently realized long time back unsuspecting females dug a lot.
His heartbeats quickened as she came close to him. His friends, who were aware of his fascination, looked on expectantly with sly smiles. However, while her friends, both Vulcan and human, showered him with unwanted attention that differed significantly depending on origin, those hazel eyes, eyes that could easily launch a million starships, were solely focused on the machine...not the man.
She circled the Beast slowly, eyes intent, one hand tracing the contours of its metal body.
"Fascinating", she said with an enraptured expression while Arnav stared with his eyes slightly incredulous.
"I agree", was all he said however, swiftly shifting strategic mental gears as he straightened to face her.
Ignoring his friends sniggering behind his back, he asked, "Do you ride?
He finally succeeded in tearing her attention away from the Beast.
"Yes, I do", she said, her gaze steady, a small smile playing on her lips, "But I've never ridden anything as majestic as this".
Arnav surveyed her face for a bit before replying. His eyes were hazy with indecision. He knew she was half Vulcan. He also knew that for most mixed race people finding their true identity, trying to decide which tug, red or green, was stronger was a lifelong, unenviable struggle.
If he acted on this attraction...on this rare pull he felt toward her, would he not be be setting himself up for disappointments, complications, heartbreak even?
He noticed a fleeting expression in her eyes. A split second flicker before they were shuttered again. It was candid, 100% human and a beguiling mix of innocent and sexy. It told him she wasn't as unmoved by the man in front of her as she wanted him...and quite likely herself, to believe. It told him that his indecision resonated somewhere deep inside her as well.
A revered Vulcan poet of yore had once proclaimed, "Green is green; red is red and never shall the twain meet".
Not only did the lengthy poem allude to the various ways the two races differed from each other - in terms of temperament, belief, history, philosophy and culture, it also carried a subtext of perceived superiority...with the Vulcans, with their strictly adhered to philosophy of self control, sexual restraint, mind over heart and pacifism by and large considering themselves more evolved than humans. With this background scenario, interracial relationships were not only rare in general but also rarely successful. As were mixed race children.
Khushi's eyes were openly expectant as they gazed into his. The indecision in his eyes slowly morphed into a decision.
"f**k you", he told the spirit of the revered Vulcan poet silently. Paying no attention to his friends signaling him from a distance, he took a step toward her.
"Want to come for a spin around campus?, he said.
"Only if you let me drive this beauty", she said, their gazes fusing and competing with the pyrotechnics above them.
"Sure you'll be able to handle it?, he asked.
"Without a doubt", she said calmly, "You can sit behind me if you like".
"I think", he rested his hand on the hover craft to smile down at her, "I will like that a lot".
Her lips widened into a grin, a rare hesitant grin, that squeezed his breath away and before he could reclaim it, she had positioned herself on the hovercraft, impatiently urging him to take seat behind her - which he did with a twinge of nervousness.
"You sure you've done this before?, he asked, sliding forward and reaching his arms on either side to grip the handle bars over her hands.
"Too late to ask that", she grinned, starting the machine at the same time, "Capt. Gupta is already in charge of this starship".
The machine thrummed into life, it's vibrations merging with the physical awareness that quivered and trapped like a silken mesh.
The warm glow of physical awareness soon gave way to alarm as Khushi accelerated the vehicle forward with more speed than warranted, letting it lift up to the air with sharp jolts she seemed totally unconcerned about.
"Be careful", Arnav said, trying to keep his panic in check, "Easy on the accelerator".
"What the...", he shouted as the machine was made to propel forward at a reckless speed in response.
"You're crazy. Totally crazy", he shouted as the HM shot around the circuit at maximum speed.
She laughed in response, an unrestrained, jubilant sound that fluttered in the wind like a banner, announcing an eruption of repressed emotions.
"And I'm even crazier to have allowed you, a virtual stranger, to do this to me", he shouted over the wind whipping past their ears.
"Can't it go any faster?
"Sorry to disappoint you but this is a hovercraft motorbike, not a starship", he said sarcastically, relaxing a bit. It hadn't taken him long to learn just how good she was at riding hovercrafts.
"What a pity. I'm dying to know what warp speed feels like", she replied, "I'm a speed junkie and I can hardly wait to be a sophomore. Freshman year is so boring".
"Just a year more, woman. Be patient and quit trapping unsuspecting strangers to get your speed-fix until then".
"Oh come on", she teased, "Don't tell me you're scared. Your fan girls will be so disappointed.
"Oooh... I'm shit-scared", he said with his eyes wicked, "In fact I'm so shit- scared I'm sure you won't mind if I hold you...", he paused and wrapped his arms around her waist, "like this".
He felt her stiffen. And with his nose almost touching her neck, he waited for her comeback that never came. With a sigh, he removed his arms.
She had reached the finishing line again and this time she slowed the HM to expertly lower it to the ground.
They faced each other after sliding off of the now silent HM. Silence filled the space between them as well while the three moons shone on steadily casting complex shadows on the ground. Music wafted in from a nearby concert that they didn't really hear.
"I have to go", she said after a while, "My friends must be waiting. Thanks for letting me ride".
She turned abruptly and in silence, Arnav gazed at her back with wistful eyes. He wondered what could possibly explain this acute sense of loss he felt. For something that had never really started...that was never even there.
"Khushi", he stopped her when she was a few foot steps away, "I'm not the scared one tonight".
She turned to face him at once.
With her forehead furrowed, she tilted her head for him to elaborate upon his accusation.
Arnav crossed his arms and met her narrowed eyes, his own eyes an intriguing display of light and shadows.
"You", he said softly in a voice that was part silk, part gravel, "Khushi Kumari Gupta, are a coward".
His words seemed to have hit a raw spot because her eyes flashed with annoyance.
"Not true", she replied with hastily summoned quiet confidence~ the pride of Vulcans~ and crossed her arms too, "I.am.never.a.coward. I wonder what makes you say that".
He took a step forward and was soon in her personal space. Khushi held his gaze and refused to back away.
"Then why are you running away?, he asked.
"Running away from what?
"From...", Arnav swallowed. His eyes blinked once or twice. "From this...".
Realizing he might be about to make a prize idiot out of himself, he gave up and stepped back, frustratedly running his fingers through his hair.
"Never mind", he said tersely, averting his gaze.
"Alright then. Goodnight", she said and turned to go, the corner of her mouth twitching ever so slightly.
Her back was unnaturally tensed as she walked away, going up the stepped aisle between rows of bleachers toward exit.
He had soon caught up with her taking two steps at a time. With his breaths ragged, he came to stand in front of her, effectively blocking her way.
Their eyes clashed again before his crinkled in a smile.
"Khushi Kumari Gupta", he said softly making every word sound like a prayer, "Would you like to come to the after-party with me?
Khushi took his hand, staring up at him with anguished eyes, the turmoil in their hazel orbs reflective of her inner conflict...
Arnav's eyes blink as he comes back to the present. Memories leave behind wistfulness and a trace of smile. It only succeeds in making his heart twinge with the pain of longing. He is about to turn when he catches sight of a familiar figure running along the tract encircling their make-shift township.
.
.
.
.
Khushi runs fast and steady along the circular tract. Pale morning light splashes over her. It reveals partially the disquietude in her eyes. She appears immune to the early morning charms of a reawakened earth. She shuts her senses against the scents, the sights, the sensations.
Her father's inebriated voice, her parents' arguments continue to follow her though and no matter how fast she runs, she can't seem to leave them behind.
"Our homeland is waking up, Khushi. I can feel it. I can feel it in my blood. I can hear her cries".
She slows down and shuts her eyes. She doesn't notice Arnav's HM coming toward her, swallowing the intervening distance in a matter of seconds.
He stops in front of her, his feet firmly fixed on the ground, his hands still gripping the handlebars. His eyes are transfixed by the picture she presents. Her eyes are shut and her fists clenched. Her lips move soundlessly. He knows she is striving to take control of her inner universe again.
After a while, she takes a deep breath and opens her eyes.
Before she can say a word, Arnav raises a hand in the traditional Vulcan greeting and says somberly, "Long live and prosper".
Khushi's eyes are suspicious as she returns his greeting, surveying his eyes for a telltale glint she can't seem to find.
"Capt. Gupta", he says seriously, "Since you're up early too, how about I take you for a tour of my city and show you the work we've done this past year".
"Thank you for the offer, Arnav", she replies, "But I'd like to do that with my team".
Their gazes gel for a second longer than necessary before the hazel is ruthlessly wrenched away.
"See you around", she says and walks past him.
She is a few footsteps away before she exhales out the air that was burning her chest.
"You're still a coward", his voice hits her back like a physical force.
She turns around slowly. Her eyes are dark green and smoky with pain and suppressed anger. Wind whips her long chestnut hair wildly as she glares at him.
"You don't want to come with me", he says slowly leaning against his motorbike, "because you're afraid...no, you're terrified...of falling in love with me all over again".
TBC...
.
.
.
.
Khushi runs fast and steady along the circular tract. Pale morning light splashes over her. It reveals partially the disquietude in her eyes. She appears immune to the early morning charms of a reawakened earth. She shuts her senses against the scents, the sights, the sensations.
Her father's inebriated voice, her parents' arguments continue to follow her though and no matter how fast she runs, she can't seem to leave them behind.
"Our homeland is waking up, Khushi. I can feel it. I can feel it in my blood. I can hear her cries".
She slows down and shuts her eyes. She doesn't notice Arnav's HM coming toward her, swallowing the intervening distance in a matter of seconds.
He stops in front of her, his feet firmly fixed on the ground, his hands still gripping the handlebars. His eyes are transfixed by the picture she presents. Her eyes are shut and her fists clenched. Her lips move soundlessly. He knows she is striving to take control of her inner universe again.
After a while, she takes a deep breath and opens her eyes.
Before she can say a word, Arnav raises a hand in the traditional Vulcan greeting and says somberly, "Long live and prosper".
Khushi's eyes are suspicious as she returns his greeting, surveying his eyes for a telltale glint she can't seem to find.
"Capt. Gupta", he says seriously, "Since you're up early too, how about I take you for a tour of my city and show you the work we've done this past year".
"Thank you for the offer, Arnav", she replies, "But I'd like to do that with my team".
Their gazes gel for a second longer than necessary before the hazel is ruthlessly wrenched away.
"See you around", she says and walks past him.
She is a few footsteps away before she exhales out the air that was burning her chest.
"You're still a coward", his voice hits her back like a physical force.
She turns around slowly. Her eyes are dark green and smoky with pain and suppressed anger. Wind whips her long chestnut hair wildly as she glares at him.
"You don't want to come with me", he says slowly leaning against his motorbike, "because you're afraid...no, you're terrified...of falling in love with me all over again".
TBC...
Dear readers,
Thank you so much for your readership and for every kind word of encouragement.
I realize a lot of you are not trekkies and unfamiliar with the Star Trek world...and now that my AD has let up a bit, I would love to answer any questions you might have about this story. Just leave your question with your comment and I will scrap you a reply in the next few days :)
Hope you're enjoying this story...I tried to make a few things clear and self- explanatory within the story itself...hope that helped :)
Looking forward to your feedback...it always means a lot to me.
Lots of love,
Jenny.
Thank you so much for your readership and for every kind word of encouragement.
I realize a lot of you are not trekkies and unfamiliar with the Star Trek world...and now that my AD has let up a bit, I would love to answer any questions you might have about this story. Just leave your question with your comment and I will scrap you a reply in the next few days :)
Hope you're enjoying this story...I tried to make a few things clear and self- explanatory within the story itself...hope that helped :)
Looking forward to your feedback...it always means a lot to me.
Lots of love,
Jenny.
PS : IMP: There was an error in Ch. 1 which I just corrected. It has been 350 human years since the Apocalypse not 3500 :)
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