Lost in Space

The year was 2200 and the world was a different place. Earth had achieved some wonderful things. Space travel for recreational purposes. Self-driving cars that decreased the number of accidents drastically. Robots were highly efficient and intelligent. The healthcare system found cures for almost everything imaginable. But at a cost to the planet. There were so many people that the government had to institute a very strict population control measure. Citizens had to apply to become parents. Only those of top physical and mental health were allowed to raise a child. And even then, only one per family.

The earth sent ships into outer space to orbit the earth a year at a time. This allowed for more room on the planet. There were dozens of them. Kunti lived aboard the Durvasas station. She was the young and beautiful wife of the commander, Pandu. They had applied for parenthood and were granted permission to carry a child. Kunti couldn’t be happier! After months of trying, she could not get pregnant. She didn’t understand.

One day, Kunti was sitting in front of a large window looking down at the earth she loved so much and sorrow filled her. She wanted a baby more than anything. A stranger approached her and tried to comfort her. He could see the despair in her eyes. Kunti recognized him immediately as a visiting dignitary from another ship. She wiped her eyes and tried to smile. This was no way to welcome guests. She showed him to her suit where they had a feast to celebrate his arrival. This gentleman was a charmer!

Several weeks after the unusual visitor had left, Kunti felt her stomach begin to grow. She was finally going to be a mother. The next nine months were the happiest of Kunti’s life. She prepared a room for the child and gathered every blanket, toy and decoration she could get her hands on.

When the time came to give birth, Kunti experienced a shocking surprise. She was carrying twin boys! What was she going to do? The government would only allow her to keep one. And who knows what would happen to the second. And how could she choose? She pleaded with the nurse to help her hide her secret. The two had become good friends during her pregnancy and she obliged Kunti’s pleas. Once the babies had been born, Kunti snuck the second one back to her chambers. She wrapped him in blankets and hid him. What was she to do? How could she be caught with a second child? Her husband would surely lose his position as commander and they would risk loosing all their children and going to prison.

Kunti devised a plan to put the child in a pod and release him into space. She prayed to all the gods of the past and the future that the child would be safe. She hoped that someone without a child would find him and take him in as their own.

It was late at night and all the inhabitants of the station had been long asleep. With tears in her eyes, she snuck down to the transportation room with the baby in her arms. She kissed him on the forehead and sent him out. Her heart broke as he drifted off.

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The day was blistering hot and Radha was out foraging for food. The people of this planet were of simpler means than earth. They were at the end of the galaxy beyond where humans believed life to exist. It was quiet and peaceful. Birds still chirped and if you listened carefully, you could hear the water rushing in the street over rocks and tree branches. The air was crisp and smelled of freshly cut grass.

Radha was a plain for a woman of the Anga species. She was slender and had thin hair. She was not loud about her dress or appearance. She enjoyed working with her hands and tending to others. She and her husband, Adhiratha, had been praying to the gods for children for ages. She had resigned herself to being motherless for all her days.

On this particular day, she was in the forest collecting berries when she came upon an odd rock. It was clear on one side and shone bright when the rays of the sun looked upon it. The closer she got, she realized it was not in fact a rock; it was glass. And something stirred inside! She cautiously moved closed to get a better look. What she saw would change her life forever. There was a tiny human baby inside this rock. She rushed to open it and swept the baby up in her arms. She looked around quickly to make sure there were not more. Or that it wasn’t a trap. Alone they sat in the middle of the of the forest stream. This was the answer to all her prayers.

She brought the baby home and nursed him back to health. The poor babe had been hungry and filthy. Some warm milk and a bath was enough to quiet him back to sleep. Radha’s husband returned home after a long day of work and inquired about where the child had come from. When Radha explained how she had found him, her husband rejoiced.

The couple took the boy in as their own and raised him as their family. They lived many years in their quiet town, tending to their herd, baking berry pies on Sundays and enjoying the simple pleasures that life had to offer.

Author’s Note: This story was based off the reading of Kunti and Her Son from the Mahabharata Part A. The original story was of Kunti, wife of Pandu. She had a child that was not her husband's and was shamed to have it. She put it in a basket and placed it in the river. Radha found the child floating in the river and kept it as her own.

Although some of the characters' names are the same and the plot is basically the same, I changed the setting of the story to make it more modern. The original story reminded me a lot of the movie The Prince of Egypt as well where Moses was set in a basket and floated down the river and the Pharaoh’s wife found him and raised him as their own. All three are different takes on the events but have similar back bones.

Bibliography: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie