After staring the banner for five minutes, Lia finally decided to enter the hall with a wide smile hung on her face.

The hall was beautifully decorated with white and orange roses. The round stage was present at the corner of the hall with round tables organised with chairs around it. Actually the stage was in the shape of a semi circle but to the audience it seemed round.

Lia moved her eyes in all directions as if searching for something, may be a comfortable seat. Everyone present there seemed to be a professional,  either a scientist or a reporter. Then her eyes rolled to a table in front of the stage where a woman in her early forties was sitting with a man of the same age , may be her husband or colleague .

The smile on the face of the woman somehow made Lia comfortable, so she decided to sit there. She went to the place where they were sitting and asked as politely as she could ,

" If you don't mind, may I sit here? "

"Sure." She replied with her cute - innocent smile.

Then the man rose from his seat, pulled the chair, and gestured her to sit.  Typical gentleman!  She thought.

She smiled back at the woman and sat on the chair.

" You look pretty young. " She said with a smile as if she was not expecting anyone young here.

" Yes. I am 16. "

" Great.  You are the second one. I don't think there will be more except two of you. Anyway I am shelly. "

" Lia " she replied with a confusing smile while thinking about the second one. Why did she told two of you?

Then a boy came from nowhere and sat on the chair in front of Lia. Her blue eyes lodged with his dark brown ones. Then a cute smile spread over both of their faces . Shelly smiled on noticing their smiling faces and introduced, " Lia, meet Ray, the...... "

She was interrupted as the host got on the stage.  Everyone became silent and turned to face the stage where the host was welcomed by a huge round of applause.

" Hello everyone! " She greeted singing " I hope you are enjoying here. We are here ...... " she paused and looked at the ground for a moment and then raised her head with a 24 carat smile and tonnes of energy "I don't need to explain this . After all , he is Dr. Kilby! Please give him a huge round of applause.  "

Then a man, in his early fifties, in his white lab coat and rounded spectacles got on the stage. His hair was coloured with white but the glow on his face was remarkable. He greeted the host and began his speech,

" I am born as the most helpless species, the human race. Animals are born with special abilities and qualities to protect themselves. But what do we have ? We have nothing.

We are helpless. We are  useless. We are scared . We are destructive.
We are born to fight. To struggle. We can do anything to get what we want. When the question is of survival, we are the cruelest. We can do anything to survive .

Whenever the question of gravity comes in our mind, we don't stress ourselves to think.  We simply come to the conclusion that if there will be no gravity,   We will not be able to survive. We think No gravity, No life. We think Gravity is the real God.

But. You. Are. Wrong. Here ! We will survive. When ice age was merging in the Earth , then also humans had lost the hope of survival. But look at us! We have survived. If our forefathers were able to sustain and protect their existence, then why can't we? "

Everyone was listening silently and when Dr. Kilby finished,  a huge round of applause  continued for more than five minutes.

Dr. Kilby got down from the stage and made his way to the exit ; Lia , absent  minded, got up from her place and rushed to him. On seeing her, he smirked and said " I don't give autographs. "

" I don't want any. " On  hearing those words, he stopped and gestured his hand to his bodyguards to make place for her. He came nearer to Lia and listened carefully with surprise and curiosity.

" Today in your speech, you have motivated us that we can survive in the absence of the gravity. Then we must prepare for it and our preparation must start from now. And the biggest question is how?  "

He was struck by hearing those words from a young girl, she is saying the same thing which had took twenty years to work for and is still without any result. She has precisely presented everything in front of him on which he has been working for twenty years. He stared her for a moment and then cleared his throat to speak,

"  I am impressed. If you know this , then you must have known about my secret project. " and gestured his bodyguards to guide them to the place where no one is eavesdropping.

They begin to walk and Lia was listening carefully with his bodyguards trailing behind them.

He resumed " My secret project is all about what you questioned out there. You have great curiosity which deserves to be answered. So if you want to know the answers , take this card and meet me tomorrow at 10. "

He took a card from his lab coat's pocket and hand it over to Lia.  She was standing there as a statue with the card in her hand.

She is not able to figure out what's happening. She is just standing there and trying to process doctor's words in her mind .

She was staring the card and was trying to find out if it's a dream or the reality.