1

Facing the sun, 3I/ATLAS grew an anti-tail, a probable that the damn thing (now hesitatingly being called the comet) was cranking its rusty brakes. Why?

Avi Loeb, the Harvard astrophysicist, predicted that the thing, assumed as a comet, is nothing but a hypothetical possession of wonderment.

Why is there a non-comet signature as an anti-tail? What is it? a mothership in deceleration? Probably coming back to drop Elvis back home? We don’t know yet?

2

The thing is hidden behind the sun. A Trojan in the form of a comet. Maybe it will send its probes soon. Maybe it sent one already. Didn’t the Buga Sphere become excited?

3

It was the night of October 28. I was listening to YungBlud’s Zombie on Spotify, while running my manuscript in my mind, when something tapped my window. It was mild, but loud enough to make my curious eyes open in frenzy. I could see my coffee send ripples.

I went to the window and peered through the night but did not see anything. My own reflection was staring at me. I opened the window to see moist shrubbery gleaming on a full moon night. I felt I was alone and needed company.

I sat down near the door and wanted to call my wife. She must be awake.

But the phone would not start. I could see it updating. I waited for a good two minutes. That is how mobile updates demand your attention, as if you are subjected to wait in a Government Office, often waiting for a lowly official to sign your paperwork.

The mobile promptly continued showing its glowing circle.

4

I went to the bedroom and picked up the newspaper scattered on the floor. I did not read the paper, but I knew it talked about all the same stuff. I never ever found a theme good enough to be used in my stories.

I remembered Page 3 of a newspaper, which I used to read as a teenager, which always highlighted the rich and the famous, and their glittering lives. It was a fascination to read them and much more, to think about being like them.

But, growing up is never easy. With age, men realize you don’t need to be a Page 3 celebrity to have a glittery life. You will be a celebrity anyway. With your deeds and needs, you will make enough money and boast of having a financial freedom. That is what the word ‘celebrity’ means today. All through your best life, you stick your lips to the ass of other’s glittery lives and then, finally, you realize, you only need peace in life, to survive this melancholy world.

It’s a weird life you know. And to live it, you need courage.

In the midst of this human melodrama called life, they have the audacity to speak about an alien invasion. October 29 being the D-Day, when 3I/Atlas would pass our solar system.

It’s weird.

I close my eyes.

5

The next day, the newspaper wails about cases of people who had disappeared overnight.