“Then you must bow down before him right now,” the little man said proudly.
Jean-Pierre stepped back from Van and looked at Dr Capri with an expression of bewilderment. Even more bewildered than he had been a second ago.
“Do you know him?”
“It’s the name of god from Indian philosophy, like Ra in Egypt or Apollo in Greece. He rules over the Sun.”
“God?” David clarified, confused.
“Yes and no,” answered the doctor, trying to explain. “He is a demigod, a powerful living being who controls the most important star in the universe.”
“Yes and no?” Van squeaked grudgingly. “Vivasvan’s greatness is equal to God’s greatness.”
No one was listening to him. He kept muttering something, slowly approaching the group of people.
“Hold on!” entered Yulia. “Are we truly on the Sun?”
She began to breathe heavily, panting in a panic attack.
“The Sun?” Van snarled maliciously, mocking Yulia. “Oh, I think we’re on the Sun,” he rolled his eyes in a look of surprise. “No, no, we just accidentally, really, honestly.”
At this point, he walked over to Jean-Pierre’s foot and kicked his boot. Jean-Pierre heard the kick and put his head down:
“Hey!”
“Was I being polite?” Van began. “Did I say my name? I asked yours.” he paused. “Who-are-you?”
“Excuse me,” Dr Capri stepped in, “my name is Tulu-Manchi.”
Van smiled:
“A strong man?”
“Yes,” the doctor nodded embarrassedly. “This is Yulia, David, and Debby,” the doctor said, pointing to each of them. “And this young man’s name is…” he didn’t have time to finish.
“Women?” Van was surprised.
There was surprise and fright in his squeaky voice. He looked around and said in a loud whisper:
“You shouldn’t be here. You must leave.”
Jean-Pierre got down on his knee again and asked the little creature quietly:
“Okay. We’ll leave if you help us,” he thought and added. “What scares you so much?”
“There are no women here. No women here for a very long time,” Van continued to whisper.
Debby and Yulia looked at each other. Debby shrugged.
“Why is that?” Jean-Pierre continued, looking at the girls.
“Why?” unsatisfied with the question, Van looked at him. “Because they’re not here.”
“Okay,” Jean-Pierre said, raising both palms up. “We are leaving.”
“Wait, Jean-Pierre,” David said, holding the Frenchman back. “Are we on the Sun? On a burning ball that… I don’t understand.”