The Scientific Indian

21:30, The Train
The train had reached an intermediate station, causing the bland projections to cease. Neek looked out, his first glimpse of the world outside for over two hours. A bunch of pilgrims, with their assortment of religious paraphernalia were disembarking. One of their holy shrines was nearby, he recalled. Neek wasn’t very religious, but had been considering his position lately. Many at his workplace were, for all appearances, quite devout. More than just spiritual succour, they seemed to derive an immense social security from the religious orders, especially given (as some churches said) the ungodly presence of the alien Azureans. Val had told him she’d been to a temple of one of the newer 20th century religions that embraced the aliens as saviors situated near her house. She said it was founded on the teachings of someone named Bobbard or Joseph, he couldn't recall the name. He must remember to ask her about it.

He looked around the booth he was sitting in. The Azure couple had left. There was just an old lady sitting there, who’d dozed off as soon as the train’s doors quietly slid shut. A pair of Azureans looked in tentatively from the passageway but didn’t enter, they were probably looking for a more Azure-filled area. Humans and Azureans weren’t at ease with each other yet. They had treaded millions of years on different evolutionary paths; commerce and technology had brought them together but otherwise they were a world apart.

He turned back to his Surround Vision, and said “fetch article; keywords ‘war declaration in 2137’” in a low, clear voice.

23:00, Wellstown
Val was at the door as the taxi pulled up outside her house. It was their mother’s house and had been left to her.
“San!” Val had a big smile for her brother as she picked up his bag.
He, in turn, had a frown.
“I still don’t believe you got it all that easily. What did he want for it?”
“Well, um, nothing yet, san. I’m sure he’ll save it up for one nice juicy favour later. Don’t bother yourself with that. Though I’m not sure we have the complete diary.”
“But you didn’t have to explain anything? Surely, he must have been puzzled by your interest in a bunch of forgotten papers? You didn’t have to mention how Mel Smythe is connected to us?”
She heaved the bag inside. “No san, I didn’t have to. An egotistic man like Tel is easy to convince provided you keep the conversation strictly about him. I did have to spend a week pandering to that massive blob of an ego, though.” A mock shiver ran through her.
“I wonder if it’s really worth all the pain.”
“Come on, not now. It’s about ma, it’s about us. We have been taught to never acknowledge the Smythe blood in us. Have you stopped wondering about that? And plus, with this diary, we do have an authentic chunk of lost history with us, don’t we?”

Neek’s worried expression fell apart with a smile. “I prefer to see it as an ugly lump!”

Thirty minutes later, they were settled in the living room, he on Val’s comfortable futon, she on the carpet with a file full of papers.

“There you are, like some medieval emperor, who’s having his jester entertain him”, she teased.

“Not what I like for a Friday evening’s entertainment, I can tell you. Now, will you begin?”

“How should we go about it? There’s quite a bunch here. Should we just jump to the entries just after the so-called “Discovery of Earth”?”

“So-called?” He was genuinely puzzled.

“I couldn’t help peeking”, she said, a little embarrassed. “Listen to this.”