No Tomorrow

"Well what would you do in my situation?"
"Hm. I guess I could do heroin, acquire a sniper rifle, climb Everest, and still be unsatisfied"
"...why?"
"Because why not?"
"What would satisfy you enough?"
"Well, I suppose if in your situation there would just be so many things that I wanted to do, it would be really hard to try them in just one day and be satisfied with the outcome. For instance, I would want to transcend space and time. Surely this wouldn't be possible in 24 hours. Unless you transcended space and time of course..."
"But science has already proven that its impossible. So its not like you're ever going to get that anyway. What else would you want to do?"
"Well, I'd want to solve the skeptic's problem. You know, the one which asks whether our world actually exists or whether we're just brains in vats in some neuroscience lab on Alpha Centauri."
"You're crazy"
"Given our situations, I'd evaluate myself to be the saner one, actually."
"You're the one who wants to smoke crack and do heroin."
"Yes, but thats less crazy than what you want to do tomorrow."
"Would you ever actually consider putting yourself in my situation?"
"Well, its conceivable. Let if possible, it be the case that I want to commit suicide tomorrow. Now, there are certain experiences that I would want to have before dying. This doesn't mean that they are all feasible, or even possible, but I would still want to try. So if I wanted to figure out the unified theory of physics before killing myself, in all probability I would die of natural causes before I did. If I wanted to be the President of a country, that endavor would take a while. If I wanted to get married, and have kids, that would take some time as well. There are so many things that I would want to do before dying that it would delay my suicidal desires till well after my actual lifespan."
"You can't just rationalize it away like that. This is real life. Its different than all...all your bullshit philosophical theories."
"But they're not theories; that is actually what I would do. There's no way of proving this to you since I'm not suicidal, so I suppose you have me there. But, hopefully you have many things that you would want to do before dying also, which would get you out of your situation."
"So wanting to kill myself is just another situation to you?"
"Isn't everything in life a situation?"
"Fine."
"From your expression I can guess that if there's one thing you want to do before dying, it is to win an argument with me."
"Who said I lost any?"
"Good. Lets say that you do kill yourself. Then you will win the argument by showing me that my theory did not apply to you. However, that will be after you die, so ... it doesn't actually serve the purpose of winning an argument with me before dying. And if you don't kill yourself because of our conversation this fine evening, then it would only prove my point."
"I hate you."
"Well, if its a choice between hating me and killing yourself, I'd much prefer the former."
"You're just going to argue like there's no tomorrow."
"Actually, that was the original situtation -- what if there was no tomorrow for you? or me?"

Shipping up to Boston Part II

The light was blinding him, and there was a sharp pain in the side of his neck. He blinked a couple of times and squinted, as his eyes adjusted to the light coming through the window. "What would you like the vegetarian or non-vegetarian option sir?" The piercing voice reminded him of why he'd woken up in the first place. "Uhh, vegetarian please", he realized how dry his mouth felt. "And what she will have the same?" the air hostess asked matter-of-factly. "Wha...who?" he mumbled, still groggy. As he saw the air hostess' eyes looking past him, he looked to his right and he felt the now-familiar jolt in his gut; Chaaya was fast asleep. So he hadn't been dreaming! "She's getting the vegetarian option." scoffed the impatient hostess, shoving a second tray into Aditya's startled hands.

Aditya stared blankly at his tray with half finished apple-cinnamon crepes. They were definitely the worst crepes he had ever tasted. He was used to shitty airline food though, so he bent down to take the next unappealing bite. He stopped halfway however, as he saw that Chaaya's tray was almost completely empty and she was sitting back in her seat, awake. "You don't like the crepes, huh." "Welluuh...n.not really." "Why are you still bending over your tray?" "Oh...uh..no reason, I was, looking past you out the window..." what the hell am I doing? "Well, thanks for getting me breakfast." "Anytime." Aditya replied instantly before he realized that it didn't sound casual at all. anytime? ANYTIME? i couldn't think of a better thing to say than "Anytime"? now she's going to think that i'm implying that i'd like to get her breakfast again. dammit.

"Do you really not mind if I take up the seats?" Chaaya asked, gesturing to the empty seat between them. "Oh of course not". "Thanks".

Aditya stared at the in-flight movie in order to avoid looking at Chaaya's feet which were now just a few inches away from him. It was some Richard Gere movie which was really long and didn't seem to have a point other than "women are attracted to Richard Gere". Aditya fell asleep within the first 30 minutes of the movie. When he woke up again with his headphones only covering one ear, his eyes immediately focused on the seat to his right; he suddenly clutched the left armrest of his seat, for Chaaya's orientation had 180'd, and her head was right next to Aditya's lap. Aditya stared at the back of the seat in front of him. He felt awkward, but he didn't want anyone to see it. He tried to go back to sleep, but he could only think of Chaaya's proximity.

Chaaya woke up just as the Richard Gere movie ended. It was as if their conversation from before had never stopped. "Do you drink?", asked Aditya. "No, my boyfriend wouldn't like that. He's Muslim." "Oh, is he really strict about indulgence?" "He's really controlling, he doesn't even like me talking to other guys." "That sucks, I hope you don't get into trouble for talking to me." "Nah its ok. What about you, you must have a girlfriend right?" "Uh...sure..." "Is she Indian?" "Nn..no, she's American." "Huh, how weird is that?" "Its a little weird, but its fine for the most part. We're both pretty relaxed and don't really take things very seriously." "Man your girlfriend is one lucky girl since you're not super-possessive. The standard of living in this country is so much better...sigh...its expensive, but everyone is still... chilling, you know?" wait, what? that doesn't make any sense "Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely."

"Do you use facebook?" asked Chaaya. "I'm on it." "We should look each other up on facebook!" "Absolutely..." "Actually, facebook is annoying, why don't you take down my phone number, if you're ever near the Boston Commons, give me a call and we can get coffee or something." Aditya whipped out his pocketbook and pen with Olympic speed.

The PA system chirped. "We will be landing in Boston, MA shortly. The local time is 10:15am and the local temperature is 28 degrees Farenheit. Have a good day, and we hope that you will fly with us again."

The Society

The cold bit into Umar's cheeks as he walked along the empty street. The steam rising from the manhole covers reminded him of Gotham. As he turned the corner, he started to second guess his decision to accept the invitation. He knew it was supposed to be an honor, he was told it was for the greater good, but a couple of years ago he could never have imagined himself in this situation. Turning an openly jihadist organization into a millitant arm of the government, controlled by a shadowy group of people? Who could possibly be responsible...no they couldn't have come up with this. Umar knew that he must keep an open mind in the new world, but this was a stretch, even for him. He had heard stories of these people which he used to think only happened in fiction.

Worst case, Umar thought, he could walk out at any moment if he thought that things were getting out of hand. They wouldn't harm him, he had an insurance policy against that. He stopped abruptly, and looked at the small piece of paper in his hand. He looked up to see a giant metal sculpture giving way to two parallel buildings. To the average person, these looked like fodder for the city demolition squad, but Umar knew that they were untouchable because the reality that lay inside. His trained eyes spotted the electronic security, the patrol pretending to be asleep at the front desk, and the thin sliver of light coming through the window on one of the upper floors. Taking a deep breath, he took out of his pocket the small access card given to him and tapped it twice.

Could this really be where it all happened? He thought to himself. "Four up and to the left" he repeated under his breath as he followed the precise directions that were whispered to him the previous night. Suddenly, Umar was standing in front of a wall of smoke. He glanced over his shoulder. The clear hallway behind him vanished as the door clicked shut. Out of the smoky depths a familiar voice spoke, "Welcome, to the Society."

Shipping up to Boston

"I hope no one comes between us", she said to him, in her slightly accented English which betrayed her Indian origins. She was quite fair for an Indian girl, which suggested that she was from the north.

Chaaya, of course, was referring to the empty seat between them on the commerical airliner en route Boston. There was a sudden jolt in Aditya's gut, but he couldn't tell whether it was her words or just the sudden acceleration of the aircraft taking off the ground.

Surprisingly, the plane had quite a few empty seats, although it was right after Christmas break. "Man, I wish I was one of the lucky people to get 3 seats to themselves", she remarked, "so that I could sleep". "Well sorry for intruding on your sleeptime", Aditya ventured, "but at least you have me." "I'm going to inspect the rest of the cabin to see if there are any empty seats in a row" she announced, stepping over Aditya's feet without waiting for a response. "...sure...uh..." he mumbled, failing completely to be nonchalant as he gaped after her.

Aditya was secretly happy when she came back with a disgruntled look and plopped back down on her seat. He tried really hard not to let it show. "You can certainly have the seat between us and lie down if you like..." he said, in a sad attempt at chivalry. "Aww its alright, I just popped a couple of sleeping pills, they work like a charm. Want one?" "N...no thanks, I uh" "Whats wrong with sleeping pills?" "N..nothing I just don't take drugs...I mean...shit...medicational things"

Medicational? Thats not even a word! Aditya thought helplessly. "So does that mean you take other drugs?" "I uh...don't really care about those." care about those? you meant care FOR those you dumb schmuck. "So you do drugs?" "n..no I just don't mind other people doing them..." what the hell am i saying? Aditya felt retarded.

The last flight that Aditya was on involved an overweight man in his sixties splashing his drink on the passengers around him and rolling onto Aditya's shoulder in his sleep. Compared to that, this was certainly a step up as far as random passengers went.

"By the way, my name is Aditya." he got a sudden surge of courage. "Chaaya." she said shaking his hand. He was so taken aback by this unexpected contact that the airline safety video was like a buzz in the background.

The two proceeded to have some of the standard conversations that any college aged Indians living in the United States generally have - Bollywood movies, how the American winter sucks balls, how visiting home for two weeks is too short but for four weeks is too long...

Aditya was staring blankly at the only-too-familiar safety video. "I think that airplanes must have at least one...no, two lavatories designated as smoking lavatories. Otherwise how could people addicted to cigarettes sit through long flights? My dad can't tolerate long flights because of that!" Aditya was surprised at the sudden outburst, but nevertheless chimed in "I totally agree...its an injustice to smokers everywhere..."

Chaaya was getting groggy. "Are you going to sleep on the flight at all?" "Depends, neend aayi toh" (if sleep finds me). "I don't know why you don't use sleeping pills. I pop pills for everything, even for a slight headache." "The sky looks beautiful." said Aditya, although he was looking straight at her. But she was already asleep.

Fiction

This is just a general disclaimer stating that most of the stories that might be written here are fiction, although they may or may not be based on real life experiences. Some stories may be based on other people's experiences so apologies to them in advance.

Any similarity between characters in the stories to people in real life is coincidental.