Grey Moon, Red Mars, and Green Earth - Chapter 4

It was the day off when Ravi came to meet Meera. They left in the morning and took an early train into the center of the lunar colony. The deeper layer had offices but the first two layers were filled with commercial shopping complexes. Meera had not yet received her first salary so she purchased only basic things she needed. Ravi was in the electronics shop for a while.

They went to have brunch together. As was usual with Ravi he did not speak too much. Meera looked at the person in front of her. Ravi and Meera had been childhood friends on Earth. They had grown playing together in the scientific colony where Meera’s mother had living quarters. Ravi’s father worked as a scientist too. He had spent his childhood tinkering with electronics. He had played with ham radio before switching to building apps that his friends could use.

Meera was not fully certain what work Ravi did on the Moon. He definitely did not have usual work hours. He was paranoid of the Moon’s surveillance system. He had a violent brush with authorities on the Moon in the first few years he was here. Now, he was still wearing the standard issue single piece moon overalls you got from the hostel if you did not have anything to wear. He did not seem to spend money on anything other than on his electronics.

Since the first few violent years, he had helped the government with a few projects. Here he made friends with people in the government. This was what Meera thought of how Ravi made money to pay for rent, etc.

Ravi had a tummy. He was neither too lean nor too fat. He wasn’t what Meera would call healthy. He had glasses that had been repaired countless times. She could always see new duct tapes. He carried a notepad and a pen with him. He would stop sometimes and sketch drawings in his notebook. He had taught Meera how to sketch her surroundings - trees, buildings, etc. when they were kids. This is what had made Meera appreciate her surroundings more and that played an important role in her decision to become an architect.

“Meera,” Ravi said and used his eyes to indicate her phone.

The software notification blinked. Meera scanned her phone and then turned on the app that Ravi had made.

“There are two gentlemen on the Moon who are giving a talk at a pub. The talk is urging people to raise their voice to ask that humans be allowed to return to the Earth. Do you want to join me?”

“How far is it?”

“A level below.”

“Sure.”

Shruti walked in and joined them for brunch. Janaki had work and could not make it for brunch. She had apologized profusely. She looked at the things that Meera had bought while waiting for their orders to be served. Ravi was busy with his phone.

“Janaki will join us in the pub. I think she is in a relationship with Ramgopal.”

They walked down a level to the pub. A small crowd had gathered in the pub. Meera and Shruti took a seat along the side wall. Ravi and Janaki walked up to the front and took a front row seat. Ramgopal was setting up the presentation. Stewart would talk. Meera caught Janaki and Ramgopal exchange glances. She didn’t think it was anything more than friendship but she had not been in touch with these friends of hers for more than a decade. She did not want to jump to any conclusions either.

Stewart began the talk with an introduction to Return to the Earth.

“We started off as a Discord server as all good movements do. We started meeting in person only in the last month or so. You can join the Discord server with the link you see on the screen.”

Ramgopal was sitting next to Janaki and was changing the slides. Ravi looked bored but Meera knew that he was focussed here.

“Three reports have come out on Earth’s climate situation. The official government report says that the climate situation is under control but it is too early to let humans return to Earth. Two independent journalists had used that data and data that was available from weather balloons to show that the government had sounded the alarm earlier than needed and moved humans to the Moon and Mars much more earlier than was necessary. They said that the situation was not very dire and that humans could return to Earth safely.”

Meera knew that the government report had been her mother’s. She had not heard of the two independent journalists before so she did not know what to make of them.

“Right now we are making representations to the government on Earth to let humans return there peacefully.”

Stewart looked at Ramgopal and they both nodded to each other.

“I am told that the daughter of the person who authored the government report is here in the audience. Meera?”

Meera was surprised to be called out of the blue. Janaki turned and looked at her urging her to come forward. Shruti looked at her with worry in her eyes. She was worried like Shruti. Ravi seemed absorbed in his phone. There was stunned silence in the pub as all eyes turned towards her. They could not make her out as the pub was dimly illuminated. Meera stuck to the shadows and made her way out of the pub. Shruti was following closely behind her. Meera did not look back at the audience.

She walked to the train station and returned home. Shruti followed her till home.

“I did not expect you guys to break my trust like this.” Meera entered into the app.

“You shared this information with us, Meera. We didn’t ask you for it. We were in a small group today that would have appreciated the information.” Janaki replied on the app.

“You should have told me that you were planning this.”

“Ravi didn’t tell you?”

Meera had seen this happen several times before. They would discuss things among the three of them and then get Ravi to deliver the message. Ravi did this only 50% of the times. Despite this, the three of them did not change strategy.

“I don’t believe that you guys don’t change your strategy despite Ravi not coming through with these plans in the past.”

There was a long silence. Meera logged out of the app. She went to the bathroom and took a bath. She then went into her pod and went to sleep. She did not know what her friends expected of her. She did not know what happened at the pub.

—

A man who Meera walked past while she left the pub was about to follow Meera out of the station when Shruti pushed him and walked past him. He waited for the meeting to return to normal. Stewart repeated all the usual slides, spoke to the people in the pub who had come for the meeting and then packed up and left. He knew his task was to specifically see what Meera had to say in the meeting. He was confused as to why Meera did not speak at all and stormed out. It felt like she had not been briefed about this.

He pressed call on his phone.

“I don’t know how this bunch can lead a revolution. They can’t even get people to speak for them.”

The voice at the other end did not respond.

“They called her name and asked her to speak. She stormed out of the pub. She seemed pretty pissed. It looks like she didn’t know she would be asked to speak about this. So, wrong alarm I guess.”

The other person disconnected the call. The man paid his bill and walked out of the pub. It had been a long time since he had had drinks. He did not drink much before Meera stormed out. But, ordered a bottle after she left. He now walked out of the pub and took the train to his home.

—

Meera’s work was heavy enough that she didn’t get to go for many outings with Shruti, Janaki, or Ravi over the next six months. Rajeev was happy with her work and as usually happens tossed her more and more work. She even stopped taking lunch with Shruti after the incident at the pub.

One day Anwar walked into her office. He seemed to have regained some of his strength and looked healthier than when she had met him on her first day. He handed over a letter stating that she was getting a pay raise.

“Looks like the boss is happy with your work. And, I don’t mean just Rajeev sir.”

They spoke for a bit. She went with him to the cafeteria for a coffee.

“You work such long hours. Is it sustainable? You leave for office when I go for my morning jog in the hallway. Doctor’s orders. We are all on level 12 you know? You always seem very preoccupied.”

“Sorry, just been busy with work.”

“No worries.”

They went back to her office and he left her as he walked towards his own office. It felt good to talk to someone other than the friends in her echo chamber. He seemed saner than them who seemed to only talk via the app.

She returned at her normal time and contributed to household chores. She did not sit at the dinner table for meals and spent most of her time in her pod. She was sketching on a pad when Ravi knocked and entered the room.

“Hey Meera.”

Meera ignored him.

“I deserve this. I understand that we threw you in a dilemma. But, this is not how you respond to the situation. Aren’t we still friends?”

She considered this. She focussed on her breathing which had been ragged when he entered the room. She now consciously slowed it down. She sighed.

“Join us for dinner.”

Ravi left the room. Meera got out of the pod and slowly walked into the living room. She smiled sheepishly at Janaki and Shruti who rushed to her and hugged her.