"ASH!" Pranshu said out loud for the third time looking up at the white, dome-shaped ceiling while lying on the bed with Ragini on his left.

There was a spacious igloo-like structure that was built exclusively for Pranshu and Ragini. It was filled with a composition of oxygen and other essential gases. There was a single door entrance which was sealed tight using a hydraulic system to prevent any leakage of air. The floor was laid above a huge gravity generator to maintain an Earth-like physical movement inside. The furniture was minimal; a queen-sized bed, a wardrobe, a couple of racks and a lamp which was kept on the floor, next to the bed. The lamp was in the shape of a truncated cone, Two feet high with a diameter of Six inches at the top and Ten, at the bottom. The curved surface was made out of thick paper with intricate floral design of multiple colours, taped together at multiple places as if it was torn more than once and then fixed back each time. It was the only item they carried as a souvenir from Earth for it had witnessed their intimate moments while setting the mood for those moments at the same time.

Ragini's wrinkled index finger reached for the back of Pranshu's hand and began to stroke it gently while he continued to be lost in his thoughts. He was generally turned on by it and within a few seconds would begin to kiss her, but this time he didn't. With the intention of comforting him, after what had happened earlier, she decided to not wait for him.

She moved her finger away from the back of his hand and very lightly started tracing it up his arm, gliding through the thin grey hair while maintaining contact with the skin. She made a spiralling motion over his left shoulder and then started to go towards his chest. Her finger circled his left nipple from over his shirt while flicking it from time to time in a teasing fashion and once she could feel that it was hard, she slowly pulled his shirt up caressing his stomach and her hand made way up to his chest, exposing the nipple. She then brought her mouth close to his moderately haired chest, covered his hard nipple with her lips and started to swirl her tongue over it. She glanced at his face to see his response. He was still blankly staring at the dome right above him. She tightened her tongue muscle, now flicking the nipple in a fast and hard 'to and fro' movement. She looked at him again, at an unchanged vacant expression and bit him at once.

He slapped her, in an unconscious attempt to cause the same amount of hurt to her as she had inflicted on him in the previous moment. She looked at him in the eyes till a tear dropped out of her right eye and then turned around, lying down with her back towards him.

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Pranshu punched the lamp and punctured it at One of the taped parts. He then took his pillow and put it on the other side of the bed and lied down with his head next to her feet. Their backs faced each other, making their bodies form the shape of the number Ninety-Six.

That was how most of their fights had ended in their exactly Thirty years of marriage. It was their anniversary that day.

"ASH!" Pranshu blurted again in his sleep.

Ragini was still up. It seemed to her that he was still dreaming of what it must be like on Earth and that all he saw was ash and smoke. She began to imagine the same and started questioning if what she had done in that moment was right. Not the moment where she bit his nipple but the One in which she pressed the big red nipple on the detonating device.

"But there is no right and wrong. Wasn't that the whole point? There is just creation, destruction and preservation. In everlasting cycles which are and will always be beyond our understanding. This was our purpose. Our Dharma. A necessary destruction of evil, to give way for something pure to be created and preserved." she justified her actions to herself, and then started counting her breaths, a technique she followed to make herself fall asleep, but in vain.

After struggling for an hour, she got off the bed, opened the wardrobe and took out her Space suit. She put it on and tiptoed towards the door. Releasing the hydraulic pressure that kept the door closed, she quickly got out and closed the door behind her. Now that the clouds were much thinner over the land areas, she could see the redness on Earth more clearly than before. She wondered if someone had managed to survive. What their thoughts would be. How the new civilisation would be developed. If they would ever understand the reason why all this happened and how infected and poisonous the planet had become. Not just the poisonous food, water and air. But poisonous thoughts, morals and intentions.

"It was all leading towards the end anyway. We were merely an instrument. After all, this had to happen. This is how it was meant to be. This was all written. To think of ourselves as playing a significant role in making this happen, would be Being naive at best." She began to justify her actions to herself, again. She thought of that last political rally after The Last Global Election, in which Changaswami had made the speech which was the final nail in the coffin. The coffin that the planet had now become.

"Swami! Swami! Swami!" she could hear the crowd chanting, along with herself.