How is that possible? Just a couple of minutes ago I was in my office building. What place is this? How did I end up in the rocket? Am I alone here?

The gravity was very less compared to earth. Probably a much smaller planet. I didn’t try to walk much because I constantly felt like I could easily drift off into space. The rocket seemed to stay stationary. Maybe it firmly attached itself to the surface. Wait. I touched my head and then looked at my arms. Crap! I’m not wearing a space suit!

I started breathing heavily after realizing that I was standing on another planet without a spacesuit. Am I supposed to faint? I had always wished that my death should happen on another planet. But not this way. I don’t even know how and why I am here.

But soon I realized that I didn’t have to faint. Because I could breathe. I was not being ripped apart. It seemed like the conditions on that planet were like Earth, well, except for the gravity.

A few hours passed. I had many doubts and questions. Apart from the usual ones, I doubted if I was being tested by something like NASA. After all, I had sent them multiple applications for a scientist role. But I don’t think NASA does such kinds of tests on scientists. And the rocket seemed too realistic.

Eventually, I accepted that I was on a different planet. Perhaps this was my gift from God, to explore the skies before my death. After a while, the lights from the rocket turned off and I could see the night sky clearer than I ever had on earth. Millions of stars in the pitch black sky with one particular star glowing the brightest. Most stars twinkled and some didn’t. They were probably planets. Two of those planets were very close, one was dim, red-colored and the other was bigger, and looked like Jupiter. I looked aroun-

Wait, Jupiter? I went into the rocket to see if there was a telescope. Thankfully there was a small one. When I looked at the closest planet through the telescope, I was shocked! Holy crap! that planet is Jupiter. I can see the great red spot on it! Which means the other planet is…

It was Mars. And the brightest star was the Sun. I was on something between Jupiter and Mars. I didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but I bent down and focused a torch on the ground. It was red. Then I touched it. Rough, like rust. Do you know what is red and rough like rust? Rust! Iron oxide! I was standing on Janus, the meteor!

For a few moments, I didn’t think about anything else. I just sat on the steps in front of the rocket and let everything sink in. Then something struck my mind. The gravity on Janus was less but I could still orient myself upright and walk, although uncomfortably. A 100-meter meteor can’t have even that amount of gravity. God! The scientists got the size of the meteor wrong. It is no way 100 meters across, it has to be a few kilometers wide, if not bigger!

No way earth would survive the impact of such a big meteor. Everything on earth would be destroyed. Before panicking more, I tried to calm down and think of a solution. Firstly, what was the proof that this was the same meteor, Janus? From the news I heard the previous days, this meteor was in almost the same spot where the scientists in the news told Janus was. And they didn’t mention about any other meteor being near it. This is because most meteors entering so deep into the solar system are blocked by Jupiter. Very few make it to earth and at that time, Janus was the only one that was so close. Although, I had no idea how I got there and how long it took. Another fact is that I was there, on that meteor. Probably my mission was to destroy it. Suddenly things started making sense. It was still far from Earth and even a small explosion could deviate its path. How could I create an explosion on Janus?

I pick up an iron rock from the meteor and hold it. (‘Seven’) I walk farther from the rocket, carefully as to not drift off into space. It’s been two hours since I found the ‘Initiate Self Destruct’ button (‘Six’) in the rocket. It took me two hours to decide what to do. I could wait and admire outer space for a few days, but knowing (‘Five’) the fact that I need to die soon would not leave me in peace. Who knows, I might end (‘Four’) up taking the wrong decision if I wait too long and let my fear take control of my head. Of course (‘Three’) I don’t want to die alone, but I also wanted to die on a different planet. I look at the rock in my hand. Janus is not a planet and I will (‘Two’) never know how I got here. But at least I will die saving my planet. (‘One’) …

“Raj… Raj?”, came a voice as I slowly opened my eyes. Everything looked blurry. I never wore spectacles, my eyes were perfectly fine. It took a while for my eyes to calculate the right focal length to see things clearly.

“Hey, Raj! You are finally up. How are you, my buddy?”

“Jayanth?”

There were a few other people, mostly my colleagues, behind him too, but Jayanth did most of the talking.

“What happened? Where am I?”, I struggled to speak as if I had a disease. Did I?

“You don’t remember the elevator incident? You went into a coma after you fell from four floors with the elevator”

“Elevator? Coma? Where is the rocket? Am I on earth?”

“Ha ha, calm down buddy you are safe now, we will soon be working late nights together again so save your energy for that”

“What happened to Janus?”

“Oh, that meteor? Miracle my friend. There was an explosion on one side of it three weeks ago and its path had got deviated”

“Explosion? How?”

“Nobody knows. It happened on its own. Some people are calling it God’s miracle. Some scientists say that it was due to trapped gases inside. As it came closer to the sun, the gases expanded due to the heat and exploded out of a small opening to the surface”

“Like a volcano?”, I asked

“Like a volcano”, Jayanth said

“The patient needs rest, can you all please leave for now?”, the doctor said as he entered the ICU.

“I’ll see you soon, Raj”, Jayanth said as he walked outside.

The doctor went out to speak to him. I stayed on the bed, thinking about what happened to Janus. A self explosion? Was I in a coma all this time? I was not so sure. Because beside the bed, on the table was a red irregular object. Red and rough. Small enough to fit in the palm.

It was the same piece of rock from Janus that I held before the countdown finished.
© arpan