She looked at Pratap and Ishar with a hopeful look. However, they were too astonished to acknowledge it.
"A light?" he said, "Like the type of laser beams shown in sci-fi movies?"
The girl stared at him suspiciously but nodded her head eventually.
"Okay." Pratap seemed to have come out of his shock, "We will look into this. Thank you."
Both of them turned back and sat in the car.
"A laser beam?" Pratap said. "Who does she think she's fooling? Pralay-1 surely can't be a…spaceship. Can it? I mean, no country has developed that technology yet, and it's not like there are any countries out there who hate us to death and would like nothing better to wipe us off the planet-"
He abruptly shut up, acknowledging the humorous irony of his words. Yeah, there surely is no country as such. Wink, wink.
They both glanced at each other, weighing the possibility of their new theory. After all, it had no reason to be false. Pralay-1 had been acting strangely and even the scientists at ISRO and DRDO knew it. It could be a newly developed weapon device. You couldnt rule out the possibility.
"We have to tell the others. Right now." Ishar said, and they drove back to the village at a furious speed.
Pratap called Anjani and Gargi and told them to abandon whatever they were doing and come to the cottage urgently. As soon as they reached the village, they were met with the grinning face of Venkatesh.
He smiled, showing his pearly white teeth, and said, "Where are you going? Come on, I'll take you on a wonderful trip through the forest. It's a real natural beauty."
Ishar smiled back nervously and replied,
"No...sorry. My friend's stomach hurts-",
Pratap gave him an incredulous stare,
"-I don't think he can come today.".
Pratap looked at Venkatesh, then clutched his stomach and limped in a hilariously funny way back to the cottage.
"Okay." said Venkatesh, in a slightly crestfallen voice. "But you must come and sit with us tonight. It's a traditional night where all the family and friends sit together, reliving all memories and tales."
Ishar smiled. "Of course Venkatesh. It would be our pleasure."