Origin of Life

Little Timmy (we don’t know the real name of the boy, so we call him Timmy) did not know why everyone was in such a hurry. His family, his friends, even Old Uncle who rarely moved out of his house, was packing.

He had heard people talking about ‘the Migration’, about some journey somewhere. At first he thought his father was taking him to a trekking vacation that they had been planning since long. When he asked his father about the trip, his father laughed and said they were going somewhere far away for a long vacation and everyone was coming with them. Timmy thought everyone meant his family and Old Uncle, but now it seems all his friends are also coming. This is going to be the best vacation ever.

Timmy was happy. First the school closes 2 months before the vacations and now this. It was not even summer yet and people were talking of vacations. Timmy was hoping that this could happen every year. When he told this to his father, he got angry and shouted at him. Timmy ran to his mother and fell asleep in her lap.

It was still dark when he woke up. The kitchen light was on and his parents were talking.

“Are there enough ships for everyone?” his mother was asking.

His father replied, “Not really.” His father was a man of few words; he rarely said anything more than barely necessary.

Mother said, “What will happen to those who are left behind?”

“There is still some water left. It will last a few months, a year maybe. Then…” his father’s voice trailed off.

“All these years, the government has been cheating us. I am sure they knew that this was going to happen, since long and now they tell us. It is a massacre that’s what it is. I am sure all the government people have got their ships and are ready to go, leaving the common people to die in this forsaken land.”

Timmy never knew that his mother could be angry about any thing. Perhaps living with father was taking its toll on her, he thought.

His father replied, “At least you can thank the government for giving us a ship.”

“That’s no reason to thank the government. You are important to them; they need your knowledge to survive out there. So they give you a ship. But my brother, because he is an ordinary clerk, he does not get a ship. They are a selfish lot; these government folks. I hope they all die in the journey.” His mother was almost shouting now, wonder what the neighbours would be saying.

His father was calm. He said, almost philosophically, “Many will die in the journey. These ships have not been tested properly. All this happened too fast, we did not have enough time.”

“I hear that only 2 out of every 10 ships will complete the journey.” his mother interrupted.

“It’s only an approximation. Maybe more people will survive, maybe less.” Timmy’s father had this ability to be casual about almost anything.

This irritated his mother a bit. She asked, “You know about these ships. You will be able to take us safely, right?”

“I will try my best. These ships are not safe. There are a million things that could go wrong. Just hope that nothing does.”

They were silent now. Timmy went into the kitchen.

“I am sorry, we have woken you up.” his mother said.

Timmy asked, “Why are we leaving?”

“We cannot live here anymore, son. There is no water left here. It is all gone.” His mother said.

“We can ask Mr. Faro for water.” Timmy innocently replied.

“No, no it is not like that. Even he does not have any water, no one here has water. So we are going to a new place, where there is water, lots of water.”

“Where is that?” asked Timmy.

Before his mother could reply, his father took him out into the courtyard and pointing to the sky, he said, “Son, you see the bright star in the middle of the sky. It is a planet, like our planet. It is the third planet in our solar system, and our neighbour. We are going to live there.”

“Father, what is it called?” asked Timmy.

“They are going to call it Earth. I must say, it does sound better than the name of our planet, Mars.” replied his father.

Timmy did not care about what it was called. He was just happy to know that there were no schools on Earth, not yet at least. He went back to sleep, dreaming of the vacation ahead.