The Time Traveler

by Tej Pratap Singh

  KC went closer to the images and saw all the four men standing around him. He once again tried jogging his memory to see if he could recall anything at all but he couldn’t. His memory was as blur like the images.

  “It took us almost a year to track you down and get you here,” said Mr. Kamal. “Our interest in you is purely scientific, nothing more, nothing less. Consider me as your friend who is as interested in solving this puzzle as you are, but KC, you got to trust your friends and I’m sure that right now you don’t trust anyone and I don’t blame you for that. So take your time but please also remember that you haven’t got all the time in the world.”

  “Kamal, if I may call you by your name. Thank you for getting me out of prison and showing me these images but I need to get my hands on that one dollar note,” said KC.

  “Of course, you may. I will gladly let you have it but you got to tell me why?” said Kamal. “We need to work together here, remember.”

  “I am not in the frame of mind right now to share everything with you Kamal,” said KC.

  “I know,” said Kamal, “I’ll keep the note with me for now and when you feel like sharing, we will share... things!”

  “Glenn,” called out Kamal, as she walked in to the room, “please take Mr. KC to his room and look after him. He has had a hard day. Mr. Kenneth, I’ll see you tomorrow, hopefully.”

  That night KC felt helpless. It was a feeling he had never had before. He felt alone. His life was like a puzzle and he could only move two steps at a time. There was no point running because he never knew whether the direction he was running in was the right one or the wrong one.

  Even when he could get away from a bad situation he was in, he wasn’t able to because his next clue was likely to be in those places.

  He had a glass of water and got out of his bed. He had to get back the one-dollar note. He opened his closet. It had over a dozen suits, all shades of black, grey and white and some casual caps and jackets. He had to get to Kamal’s office. The note had to be there somewhere. He took out a black suit, he wanted to blend in, even if someone caught him he would be able to pretend to be a person who had lost directions in the embassy. The embassy worked 24/7 and it was still full of employees and delegates in transit, and KC was pretty sure that no one apart from Kamal and Glenn would recognize him, all he had to do was to watch out of these two and he would be fine. He opened his door and moved out in the lobby, there were security cameras all around the place, but he didn’t worry about them much, for the security team he was just another guy at the embassy.

  After a brief and cautious walk he reached Kamal’s office. The door was locked.

  “Dammit!” He said to himself. “I’ve got to get in somehow.”

  He looked all around. There was no way in. He went into the neighboring room, it was a huge hall, a conference hall probably, and it was open.

  Now he knew exactly what to do, he grabbed a chair out from under the table and tore its cover and stuffed it in his pockets. He opened the window and looked below, he was on the fifth floor. He carefully got out of the window and started to walk on the parapet, it was barely half a foot wide and to KC’s horror it was fairly windy outside. He was approximately 15 feet away from the window of Kamal’s office. He calmly tried to make his way there one step at a time. As luck would have it, there was a small balcony right under the window so even if he fell he would fall only as far down as the third floor but that could easily break his foot and he definitely wanted to avoid such complications. Needing only 10 feet more to cover, he was starting to feel positive again when the parapet cracked and he slipped, saved by a whisker, as he held on to the ledge with just one hand.

  “God,” cried KC in pain as he supported his entire body’s weight on his twisted arm, he tried to swing around to hold the ledge with his other hand.

  “Hey, Mister,” came an unknown voice. “What are you doing there?”

  He looked around to see a small boy standing in the balcony of the third floor just beneath him.

  “What are you doing?” asked the kid again.

  “Ah, nothing. Just hanging around,” he replied unable to think of anything else to say.

  “You are strange,” said the kid.

  “Go on in, kid. Go in,” said KC.

  “No, you go in,” said the kid.

  “I like it out here,” said KC still trying to get to the ledge. “I like the wind.”

  “I like it too,” said the kid. “Hey, Mister, are you going to fall?”

  “I will, if you don’t go in,” replied KC, finally managing to grab the ledge.

  “I want to see you fall. That would be fun,” said the kid smiling.

  “Kid, if I get down there that would be the last thing you ever see,” said KC catching his breath. “Now go on in, you don’t want me complaining to your parents, do you?”

  “No…” replied the kid promptly.

  “Good, then just go in and don’t tell anyone what you saw, and I’ll not tell your parents anything,” said KC in a convincing tone.

  “Okay, but if you fall down I’ll come out to see you,” said the kid as he walked in.

  KC pulled himself up on the ledge and took a deep breath and carefully walked the remaining distance to Kamal’s window. He took out the chair cover from his pocket tied it around his elbow and hit the window glass, it shattered in no time. He then reached in to remove the bolt of the window and slowly open the window. Finally he was in, and he hoped no one would disturb him now.

  Without wasting any more time he carefully started searching the entire office trying his best not to leave a trail. He looked everywhere checking - the walls, the floor, the roof, the furniture; it was nowhere to be found.

  Come on, he egged himself on, where would I keep it if I was Kamal.

  “Have you considered checking your room?” said Kamal turning on the lights as the security rushed in the room right behind him.

  “Oh… great,” cried KC as he sat on the chair nearby, holding his arm. It was still paining.

  “Seems like you are happy to see me, Mr. Kenneth.” said Kamal sarcastically.

  “Yeah, this is my happy face,” said KC.

  “Mr. Kenneth I think we are not connecting here,” said Kamal.

  “Really, you think so?” said KC suddenly getting up from his chair and moving towards Kamal. “We are not connecting. Let’s connect then.”

  Almost instantly the security raised their guns, ready to fire.

  “Stop,” said Kamal to his men, “lower your gun and move out. He is a friend, not an enemy. You may all leave now.”

  The security moved out and closed the doors as they left. KC sat on his chair, he turned around and took out the pistol from the drawer, which Kamal had shown him in the morning and before Kamal could even make a move the pistol was pointed to his head.

  “You get me here without my will, you kidnap Mike, you take what belongs to me and you have the cheek to call me a friend,” said KC pressing the pistol under Kamal’s jaw.

  “Mr. Kenneth, I know how you feel, but please understand this, right now you need me more than I need you. Let go off me, you will be doing yourself a favor.”

  “Give me one good reason why should I let you go,” said KC as he placed his finger on the trigger. “You have been following me for a year now, haven’t you? Then you must know how trigger happy I can get at times.”

  “You will not shoot me, I know this. You are not very different from me, and I know I wouldn’t shoot you. I might not be the best company right now, but I am the closest link to all your answers,” said Kamal as he started to move towards his desk.

  “Stop right now or I’ll blow your brains off,” said KC.

  Kamal stopped, turned around and sat on his grand chair with the beautiful woodwork on it.

  “You underestimate me. I am not as stupid
as you think. It breaks my heart,” said Kamal. “Firstly, the pistol you hold in your hand is loaded with blanks and secondly you were not going to shoot me anyway. You don’t need a pistol to kill me, you could have done it with your bare hands while my security was still around. Besides we have too much in common for you to shoot me.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?” said KC.

  Kamal once again took out his remote and switched on his holographic projector. It showed two images.

  “What do you make of this?” said Kamal.

  KC carefully looked at the image and said, “It’s someone’s DNA.”

  “Well, Mr. KC, that ‘someone’ is you. It’s your DNA. We got it from your hair. Glenn helped us with that of course.”

  “And your point is?” added KC.

  “Please have a look at the other image. What do you see?” added Kamal.

  “That’s another DNA, must be yours,” replied KC.

  “No it’s not mine but it’s the DNA of any Indian or any person from the sub-continent,” said Kamal as he clicked the remote again. Both the images overlapped. It was a perfect match.

  KC read the report at the bottom of the screen, it read: 95% match.

  “Congratulations, Mr. Kenneth. You are from this sub-continent at best or whatever you call this place in the future,” said Kamal smiling at KC.

  KC was speechless, he didn’t know what to say. He sat down and stared at the screen in disbelief.

  “And that’s not all, Mr. Kenneth,” said Kamal. “I had my lab run a few more tests and your DNA was found to be a bit more evolved, so obviously we got more curious and probed further till we finally came to understand that your DNA is at least seven to eight hundred years more evolved than the human DNA of today. So, Mr. KC correct me if I’m wrong, you are from the 28th or the 29th century, aren’t you?”

  KC sat down, threw the pistol on the desk and said, “Yes that would be the 29th.”

  “So let us figure this out, you are from the 29th century and you came back all the way to the 21th century, that’s a long way back. Why would you do that? Was it by accident or are you here for some work? But if you are here for some work then why don’t you remember anything? Why were you all beaten up when you reached here? What made those four men who were in the image leave you behind and go?” said Kamal, “And, if you are from this subcontinent why did you choose to be in the US, which is on the other corner of the world, when you travelled back in time? Logic says you would only come back in time if you needed to take something back or if you came here to change the course of things?”

  “Your deductions are most impressive, Kamal,” said KC. “And, yet you underestimate me. I am not as stupid as I look.”

  “What do you mean?” said a very confused Kamal.

  KC put his hand in his coat pocket and took out the dollar note,” Surprised Mr. Kamal?”

  Kamal quickly got up in shock, he put his hand in his pocket to check and he took out the dollar note from his pocket that KC had been looking for.

  “And that dollar in your hand would be mine,” declared KC. “Very slowly hand that note over to me.”

  “Wow, you tricked me. The oldest trick in the book that too, isn’t it?” smiled Kamal.

  “Yes, and amazingly it still worked,” replied KC.

  He bent over the desk and picked up the pistol and pointed it at Kamal, “And I also know that the bullets are real. And this time, I will shoot,” said KC. “This pistol is unusually heavy for one with blanks, Kamal.”

  Kamal immediately threw the dollar on the desk. KC quickly picked it up. He kept the pistol on the desk and sat down.

  “Why are you standing, Kamal, please sit down,” said KC. “Feel at home.”

  Kamal sat down as KC examined the note.

  “So what now? You got the dollar.”

  “Now, you tell me,” said KC. “What is a guy like you doing in a place like this? You don’t look like you belong here.”

  “No, I don’t,” replied Kamal. “I work for the Government. The embassy is just a cover. My job was to get you here and extract information from you.”

  “Which you have done brilliantly,” added KC. “Kamal, I admire your skills and your power of deduction. Everything you’ve assumed about me is correct but if I stay with you I’ll be a very easy target to be hunted down. I got to melt into the crowd. You are a smart man, you will understand why. I know your interest in me is purely scientific and trust me, I will tell you if I come across anything interesting but right now I have to go.”

  “I understand,” said Kamal. “I know you are in a lot of trouble. Just to remind you, you were taken illegally out of the USA so they have probably started looking for you already and if you leave this embassy then it will be easier for them to find you. And, those guys you thrashed in the prison, their bosses are also looking for you.”

  “I’ll take my chances and I will contact you if I ever need your help,” added KC, getting up and moving towards the door.

  “One more thing, you can’t leave by the front door, everyone is watching. It has to look as if you overpowered me and escaped. Here is the pistol,” said Kamal handing over the pistol on his desk to KC. “Shoot me on my shoulder and then take the emergency escape, it will take you behind the building, a black colored Honda is parked across the street, take it and … here is my card and my keys, call me if you need any help. Best of luck. You definitely need it.”

  KC took the pistol and sensing the urgency of the situation shot Kamal in his shoulder. Kamal fell on the ground and almost instantly the security barged into the room. KC was nowhere to be seen.

  “Where did he go?” asked the security head looking at Kamal.

  Kamal looked at the window in pain as he tried to stop the blood gushing out of the shoulder, “He went out of the window.”

  KC got into Kamal’s car and drove it as fast as he could out of the embassy area. He couldn’t have driven far; he knew that the Indian intelligence would have put roadblocks at the city’s perimeters and lookouts at the airports and train stations. The best option available right now would be to stay within the city, as close to the embassy as possible, there were less chances of them looking for him there.

  He had to find a hotel for himself, but first he needed some money. He could hear police sirens all around him, getting louder and louder every second. He parked the car in a narrow street. Luckily there were a few rugs lying on the street, he covered the car and went into the bank nearby, for now that was the safest place to be at until the police cars passed. He exchanged the dollars he had for some Indian rupees.

  Fifteen minutes later, things were a lot quieter outside. Cautiously KC stepped out of the bank, a five-minute walk and he reached a decent looking hotel. This is it, he said to himself as he walked in.

  “Hi, I would like to book a room,” he said at the hotel reception.

  “For how long, sir?” asked the lady at the reception looking at KC who looked a little messy.

  “One day,” said KC.

  “All right, sir,” said the lady smiling and handing over the keys to him. “Room no 111, sir, the staff will help you with your luggage.”

  “No, that’s okay,” he said. “I don’t have any luggage.”

  “You don’t?” asked the lady suspiciously.

  “No, I do,” he quickly added. “What I meant to say was that it got misplaced at the airport, hopefully it will arrive by tomorrow.”

  “I am sorry to hear that. I am sure you will get your luggage, sir,” said the lady now smiling again. “I will send two sets of suits and evening wear for you and some extra towels. Have a pleasant stay, sir.”

  “Thank you,” said KC as he got into the lift.

  His room was on the second floor. He got in and locked the door. He checked all the windows. He was looking for a way out. There was none. He w
as on the second floor and there were no supporting structures around, except a couple of air conditioners sticking out of the rooms on the first and ground floor.

  He sat down and had a much needed glass of water. Then he finally took out the one-dollar note and looked at it. It seemed pretty ordinary. Nothing spectacular about it. He looked closely at it and found what he was looking for. There was something written across the face of the president, definitely there was something, probably a line, but, it was too small and he couldn’t make out what it said, he would require a magnifying glass to read it.

  Dammit, he said to himself, I will have to go out again.

  “Scanning. The time-com charged up. Area secure, beginning a time loop of 5 minutes.”

  Great, he thought, look who decided to show up. He kept the note in his pocket and sat back on his couch. The time-com still scanning the room gradually formed images until KC could see himself as Dr. Kenneth Cent in the year 2930 in the message, as usual sitting on his chair and scratching his forehead with his right hand. “Hello, KC, how are you?” said Dr. Kenneth through the time-com.

  “Still alive,” said KC.

  “Well, KC, you’ve done well. In fact, the time has come when you complete your mission objectives and get back home.”

  “What do I have to do?” asked KC.

  “When this transmission began an automatic beacon was activated globally.”

  “What…,” cried KC, “you want to get me killed? Everyone will find me.” He got up and went to the window.

  “Relax, KC, the beacon is encrypted. There is a multinational defense company by the name MegaTech, only it will be able to decipher the code and find your location within an hour and come to your present location.”

  “What do they want from me?” said KC.

  “There is a chip inside the time-com. To take the chip out you will have to hold it in your hands and press it four times along its axis with your index finger and the chip will come out. It is programmed to get activated only by your touch. Your objective is to give that chip to the clients from MegaTech. Once the chip is in their hands, they will arrange to transport you back to this time.”