Chapter 14:
Andy's heart came to his mouth as he saw the professor lying in his underwears inside the lab. His shirt had his pant were used to tie his hands and legs together pretty tightly and his socks was shoved into his mouth. He looked at Andy with fear and contempt in his eyes. "Mmmmm." He muffled. Andy was dazed. Why in the world was the professor tied up and where was Prateek? Had he tied the professor up by himself? Where did he go then? The professor was wriggling as if trying to free himself. Andy hesitated. Should he free the professor or was this all a part of Prateek's plan? And freeing the professor was a mistake? Andy tried to get out of the room when the professor started muffling even more loudly stooping him in his tracks. He took a look at the old man. He was sweating. His nose was swollen and had dried blood on it. His face had numerous scratches. He also looked like he was in pain as his ties were sinking into his skin. Andy felt pity for him. If he couldn't untie the professor, at least he could get the dirty sock out of his mouth. As soon as he removed the sock from the professor's mouth, the professor started cussing him out. "I will make sure you get arrested and never ever come out!" he yelled. Andy was shocked. What had happened? "Prateek?" he yelled again. "What are you calling him for? He already escaped through the back door don't you know?" the professor now sounded surprised and confused. "Escaped? What do you mean by escaped?" Without waiting for an answer Andy ran towards the back of the house and saw that the back door was wide open. Andy was now anxious and confused.
"He is gone!" He told the professor in daze. "Why are you surprised? This was your plan all along? Will you untie me in the first please?" Andy was now even more confused but started untying the professor. The professor after being untied lied down on the ground breathlessly. "What do you mean my plan?" Asked Andy as the professor calmed down a little. "You were the one who betrayed us to the ISRO. You must have gotten millions of dollars for this right? And you have the nerve to accuse me!" The professor got up immediately and looked at him with an expression of shock. "What are you blabbering boy? Have you lost it?" asked the professor with shock.
"Yeah, Prateek told me everything!"
"Prateek? He was the one who came up to me this morning to give me a report on the Senlings and then all of a sudden, he hit me on the head with my paper weight and tied me up. He told me that you and him had already informed the ISRO and they were going to make the aliens a live specimen for their research. He even poured all the chemicals down the drain to ensure I don't escape and travel to Khuldhara to rescue the aliens. He said you were in this plan too!"
Andy's head started spinning. He remembered Prateek's phone calls in the secluded corner, he remembered Prateek being silent the whole car ride and Prateek wanting to go in and meet the professor alone. It all fell into place now. "Professor! I think…" He began.
But before Andy could finish, "He betrayed both of us! that crook!" cried the professor finishing the sentence. "I had never informed ISRO. It was Prateek who has done everything and he bought you here in the hopes that if I manage to get free, I would call the police and you would be in jail and Prateek would have gotten a lot of money from the scientists and would have fled somewhere."
Andy's blood boiled. All along pretending to be his friend, Prateek had been silently planning to back stab them all. "Oh! And he mentioned he was going to Khuldhara with a business man and a NASA scientist." Dr Puri told in a hurry. Andy's heart skipped a beat. Rani and the Senlings were now in danger! He knew that Prateek was a traitor but Rani didn't know yet. She might trust Prateek and those men and unknowingly put her's and Senling's lives in danger! He took a deep breath to calm himself down. Nothing was going to happen if he was panicking. "Professor! Get dressed. First, we need to get the chemicals ready for the fuel. Do you have a car and do you know anyone that can sell us those chemicals right now?"
The professor said yes to both. "Perfect! We don't have much time to lose many lives are at stake now. We cannot let that backstabbing cruel guy to win. Let's go!" the professor hesitated a bit but touched his face and felt the scratches that seemed to have provided him motivation. "Let's go!"
They reached the chemical store. The stores person stared at Dr. Puri. He was star stuck. "Wow! Am I dreaming? Dr. Puri himself is at my store!" Andy cut him off and asked if they had the chemicals that he wanted. The stores person nodded. "Please give me a barrel of each Guru. I need them urgently for an experiment. I will give you the papers later." The professor sounded desperate. "Oh! I thought you came to settle down my bills!" The shop keeper looked disappointed. "Bills? What bills?" asked the professor flabbergasted. Andy was dying of anxiety. They had to leave soon and the professor was playing 21 questions. "Your assistant Prateek right? He used to come and get chemicals saying that you wanted them. I have been giving you chemicals on credit for a year. You owe me at least 2 lakhs rupees sir."
The professor looked like he was about to pass out. "Listen sir, here is a deal. You give us these chemicals now, and he will settle your dues tomorrow, okay?" Said Andy hurriedly. The professor glared at him. "I am not giving any money. You should have asked me before giving the chemicals to Prateek." Said the Professor with fury.
"I have approached about it in university ten times and each time you refused to see me!" said the owner of the store in a slow tempo. Andy knew that this conversation was not going to end anytime soon if he doesn't do anything about it. "Excuse me!" he yelled and both the professor and the shop keeper quieted down. "We" he said pointing to the professor "don't have much time! So we need to go, please get the chemicals and settle his dues!" Andy commanded the professor and looking at the shop owner, "And you! Give us the chemicals!". This seemed to have worked as the shop keeper gave them the chemicals and they left the shop without a word.
"That corruptive monster!" said the professor as he was speeding towards Khuldhara. "He had got the chemicals under my name and sold them in the black market. That cunning guy. You know why his thesis is not going through? Because the quality of the thesis is pathetic! He can't research and write to save his life! He always published his girlfriend Anu's paper with his name. One day she came crying to me and I made them break up. She finished her PhD quickly after that and moved to the USA. This crook tried to follow her there to mooch off her more. But his thesis is as good as a nursery rhyme. He would have seen the aliens as a golden opportunity to settle down in USA with millions of bucks!" The more the professor talked about Prateek, the angrier he got; the angrier he got the faster the car got. Even though Andy feared for his life, he knew that they had to race against time. All Andy could do now was hope.
She didn't trust Prateek one bit. He gave off bad vibes she had felt. But Rani tried to keep her chin up for the sake of Senlings. She knew that there was a high probability of Andy being arrested. If he was going to be arrested, she would also surrender herself. It was her idea after all. It was okay if she went to jail. A tear fell on her cheek. She wiped it off. She knew she would never be able to marry Andy. But the memories she spent with him, were enough to last a life time. She didn't know why she and Andy were risking their lives so much for the Senlings but it was unexplainable feeling of being trusted that made both of them protective towards the Senlings. Rani wished that she had a working cell phone but due to the lack of electricity, Rani was not able to charge her phone hence she couldn't use it. She looked at the Senlings who were busy loading their belongings into their space craft. After they were done with their loading, Xezo came up to Rani. "Um.. Rani Is it possible that something has happened to Andy and Prateek? Aren't they supposed to come by now?" Rani nodded sadly. She didn't know what to tell them. Xezo looked at her worried. "If anything happens to Andy or Prateek, we can never forgive ourselves." Said Xezo. "Xezo don't worry. I am sure Andy is fine." Rani answered. Her voice sounded more confident than she was. Xezo called for a meeting. "My dear Senlings! It was our dream for two years that one day we would return to our beloved planet! But now it seems that the dream is going to be unfulfilled. It was because of me that our space craft had a crash landing and it was I who has put you through this situation. Now we cannot make it to our planet on time before our portal closes." Rani looked around. Everybody was listening to Xezo with rapt attention. "Now it is the time for us to make the tough decision. Are we going to hand ourselves over to the human scientists and become their live specimen or are we going to die a death of dignity? Each and every Senling has the right to choose between these two options. If you choose death, you have to eat this plant which the humans call the Desert beans which has a combination of nutrients that our system cannot handle. Thus, resulting in a painless quick death." Rani was shocked to hear this. She looked at the beans in the hands of Xezo. She had seen them. Even made a curry out of them. She had no idea that it was poison for the Senlings. Her heart was heavy. She knew that no matter how hard she tried to convince them, the Senlings would choose death rather than be a subject of study for the human scientists. "Xezo!" she said trying to sound calm, "I am not going to tell you to change your decision. All I am telling you is, to wait atleast until midnight. You still have time." Xezo sighed and nodded.
Rani knew that it was useless to hope. But somewhere in her heart she knew that Andy was alive and safe. Suddenly at a distance she saw a car approach them. Rani gave a squeal of delight and ran towards it. He was here. Her Andy was here. The car finally stopped and the doors opened. Rani stopped short as she saw Prateek accompanied by two men. There was no sign of Andy.