“It’s not just KC…, but all that he stands for,” replied Kamal. “KC… he was right there, at the top of the food chain. The Supreme Commander of the 14 sectors of the known Universe. What might, what power!”
“…And he left that. All of that. He was not even sure that he will get what he desires. If his quest will be fulfilled or not. But still he gave up everything and he dashes on regardless. He has lost the people he loves, over and over, and over again. Yet he has not given up! He has been tossed and pushed physically and emotionally to a limit where anyone, normally, would have given up long before. He has been chased by villains, criminals, outlaws, and intergalactic thugs. But he just doesn’t give in. What perseverance, WHAT CHARACTER! And I was going to retire at 40. I thought, I had enough,” said Kamal with a deep sigh.
“Isn’t that what a Commander is supposed to be like?” asked Crona.
“Every bit,” said Kamal promptly as he got up. “Every bit…but it’s almost impossible to find one like him. And … now that you and I have found one, we are not going to lose him at any cost. We have to find out where he is and how to get him back,” added Kamal.
“It will not be possible to get him back using the technology of this universe,” replied Crona. “I have deduced that what works here, the laws and physics... might or might not work there, in the parallel universe. We need their technology – like the painting which was actually a stabilizer to jump into that dimension. We have to learn the knowledge of that dimension; re-do our calculations and recaliber our devices and our weapons to suit that dimension. Then we can operate there! However, there will still be one basic problem…” explained Crona.
“And that is?” asked Kamal.
“Even if we successfully build the technology to suit that dimension… We can’t test it here. As it won’t work properly here, in this dimension.”
“Well there is no way around it then, we just got to do it. How long before we can build devices and technology to suit that dimension?” asked Kamal.
“As per my calculations, using the current resources of Earth, in this time. It would take us…” hesitated Crona.
“Well, how much time?” asked Kamal eagerly.
“It would take about 80,000 Earth years.”
“What!” exclaimed Kamal. “That would be a bit too late to save KC, don’t you think!”
“That is correct,” said Crona. “But if I help, we could finish the same in less than 15 Earth years,” stated Crona.
“Or we could just do it the - KC way,” said Kamal with a spark. “We will just get to that dimension first, then figure out how to adapt to the technology there.”
“Yes, that would take much less time,” replied Crona. “I had scanned the stabilizer when it was in KC’s hand. I can reconstruct it within 24 hours.”
“Great!” said Kamal. “Tac-3 will provide us the tactical and logistic support. They will be here soon.”
The Tac teams operated under Kamal. There were five such teams and Tac-3 was the team dealing in ‘Highly Sophisticated Equipments’. Each Tac team consisted of six commandoes and four computer and equipment analysts. These ten, also doubled as explosives and medical experts. These 10 men together had enough know-how to topple entire nations, if required. They were used in extreme covert Black-Ops only.
* * *
Six hours later, Tac-3 reached the - ‘Vital Ground, The Apartment’.
“Tac-3 for HQ, we are in location,” declared the team leader.
“Roger that Tac-3,” said Reen. “Walk in, use the stairs. Enter from the main door. Move in intervals of two-five minutes one buddy pair at a time. Weapons easy.”
“Front door?” repeated the Team leader. “Twelve years of ops. This is the first time we are going to walk up the front door, weapons easy!”
“Well, it’s this sense of humour that has kept your team alive and sane for 12 years, Team leader,” replied Reen.
“Roger HQ,” said the Team leader. “I’ll not push my luck.”
Crona sensed that the team was in location and was about to enter the apartment. She opened the communication wall for Kamal and Reen. Kamal, by now, was fast asleep and salvaging as much of rest as possible. He knew the next 72 hours were going to be crucial.
“Kamal, Tac-3 is here,” announced Crona.
Kamal got up with a jump and looked at the wall. He could see Reen behind his desk staring at him.
“Ready to rock and roll?” asked Kamal as he adjusted his shirt and wore his jacket.
“Can’t wait!” replied Reen.
Tac-3 entered KC’s apartment, in 2018. It was a regular apartment, observed the team as they secured the location.
“Team leader for HQ, all OK here… what’s the lead?”
Reen looked at Kamal. “What now Sir?”
Crona opened another wall in the apartment in 2018 which made a slight flash as the team jumped for cover out of reflex. They had never seen such a thing before. Kamal could now see the apartment in 2018 and the team could see Kamal in the same apartment in 2017, and Reen could see them all.
“What is this, Sir?” asked the Team leader as he looked at Kamal.
“Hi Jonny. How are we doing?” said Kamal smiling.
“I am good Sir,” replied Jonny - the Team leader.
“OK Jonny, I am about to tell you something,” briefed Kamal as he sat on the same sofa in 2017 as Jonny was sitting on in 2018.
“You are going to find it very hard to believe! Bear with me. You know how serious I am with work. What I am going to tell you is very important and I am not going to repeat it, because we don’t have time.”
“We are all ears,” replied Jonny as Tac-3 settled down. “How weird can it get?”
“You have no idea,” replied Kamal as Reen visibly smiled. “Till the 15th century, man knew that Earth was flat. Till the 19th century, man knew that he couldn’t fly. Till the 20th century, man knew that the moon was out of reach. Till about a year back, we knew that we were alone in this universe,” said Kamal. “Then we got a lead – KC aka Kenneth Cent,” continued Kamal. “He was from the 29th century. A commander, a leader who ruled three sectors of the Universe. In that time, one sector consists of several million galaxies. For some reasons known and others unknown, Cdr KC time-jumped… Time traveled back to 2017 to clean out the tyrant ‘Garmin’ from time and history and save his love–Jenny.”
“However, time-jumping was far more complicated than perceived and every time he went back to the 29th century, he kept creating an Alternate Reality. In one of which, he ruled 14 sectors of the universe and in another one, where man still fought on Earth divided between the Armed Military Union and the International Federation. However, he could never return to his real time. Now the time and space are so distorted that it’s beyond logic and thought! But then…we have a tradition to strive on and get results even when everyone has given up! And that’s why you gentlemen are here,” explained Kamal.
“Why do I have feeling Sir, that there is more to it!” said Jonny instinctively
“Well …Just when we were making sense of events, we learnt something new,” added Kamal.
“What?” asked Jonny as he Intriguingly followed Kamal.
“From the fact that we are alone in this universe, we had graduated to the fact that the Earth in the 29th century was very advanced with superior technology. Then we learnt that in the 29th century, the knowledge of the universe extended till three sectors. Amounting to billions of galaxies. Imagine so much knowledge, so much data! Even a thousand lifetimes would be less to comprehend so much of knowledge.”
“And if that was not enough, in one of the realities the knowledge of 14 sectors of known and mapped universe including zillions of alien races existed. Now this was huge,” added Kamal.
“Oh my God, that’s incredible,” said Jonny as he looked at his team. “So m
uch of tech, so much of potential knowledge.”
“Wait, that’s not all,” interrupted Kamal. “There is more.”
“What’s more?” said Reen and Jonny in unison.
“About six hours back, we realized that apart from the extent of 14 sectors, there is a complete dimension in parallel to this time and in the future as well. Now imagine the 14 sectors of this dimension and God only knows how many of the Parallel Dimensions. This universe as we know it and the other universe, we know nothing about. That’s a lot of Space! That’s a lot of potential information, that’s a lot of Space to operate in!” concluded Kamal.
“What’s our mission?” asked Jonny bluntly.
“Our mission is to retrieve KC and Jenny from the unknown dimension,” declared Kamal. “Terms of Reference are that none of the technology from this universe gets left behind there and nothing comes from that dimension to this universe. Irrespective of whether we travel to the past, present or the future.”
“Won’t that be a great opportunity wasted Sir?” asked Jonny. “So much of knowledge and information and we retrieve nothing!”
“Believe me Jonny, KC is already paying a very heavy price for this indulgence. You don’t want a part of it!”
“WILCO (Will Comply) Sir,” came a prompt reply. “We are ready when you are.”
“Lovely,” said Kamal. “Crona, can you begin reconstruction of the stabilizer.”
“I could,” said Crona. “But I need hardware. Lots of it. In fact, I could use some hardware that is present in this apartment. But I still need a lot more of local resources.”
“What kind of hardware do you need?” asked Kamal. “We could get it.”
Crona paused for a while as everyone across two continents and two different years waited! And then the fax machine in Reen’s office started to roll. After a minute, the fax stopped and Reen pulled out the list. It was a long one indeed!
“Wow,” said Reen as he went through the list. “That is a lot of hardware. Some of it is Nuclear Grade. Luckily, Tac-3 is carrying few of the things in this list. Rest will have to be procured locally.”
“Locally!” said Kamal. “From where?”
“There is a local hardware store two blocks away,” informed Crona.
“We could procure the hardware from there.”
Kamal looked at Jonny, as Jonny looked back at Kamal and then at Reen.
“OK…I could break in and get the hardware, but we will have to wait until it gets dark!” said Jonny.
“I never said anything about stealing,” interrupted Crona. “We will need to buy the hardware.”
“Oh great,” said Jonny. “Absolutely brilliant, this tech Crona has got a conscience too! We came all the way from India to USA for shopping!”
“Get cracking team,” said Kamal as Jonny typed the coordinates of the store into his GPS and took one of his men with him.
“I am hungry,” said Kamal as he headed for the fridge. He extended his arm to hold the fridge handle and had barely held it when the fridge disappeared. Just the handle remained in his hand…
“What just happened?” questioned Kamal as he turned around.
“I needed the hardware,” replied Crona.
“Great!” said Kamal as he headed over to the center table and picked up the Air Conditioner’s remote. He pointed it towards the AC and just then the AC vanished.
“Seriously!” said Kamal irked. “You need that too…? Can I sit on this couch right now or you need this too,” asked Kamal.
“Yes, actually I need this too,” replied Crona as the couch vanished instantly. And almost concurrently the fridge, AC and the couch vanished in 2018 in the apartment as the commandos sitting on the couch fell to the floor. Reen coughed as he tried to control his sudden spurt of laughter while he watched the events of 2017 and 2018 on his office wall.
“Well, if you can just pull things in or wherever you are, why couldn’t you have just pulled these things from the store as well, why send the boys there?” asked Kamal.
“Because I didn’t want to steal,” replied Crona.
“Right. That’s fair,” said Kamal righteously. “But don’t you think Crona, that at times some flexibility is in order… especially when the balance of the whole universe is at stake!”
“I could, but I won’t,” replied Crona. “I cannot compromise on my directives.”
“Of course, you won’t,” repeated Kamal. “So, tell me something - where exactly did KC and Jenny go to. I mean, which part of the universe or alternate reality?”
“They have not gone to an alternate reality. Alternate realities or alternate futures are created within this dimension only. E.g. KC originally belonged to the universe with three known sectors. When he came back in time and altered the past, he returned to an alternate reality where the universe had 14 known sectors. When he further tried to alter time he created another alternate reality where human existence was only on the Earth divided between the AMU and the IF. Consequently, KC was tricked to come back to change the past again. He further altered the reality, and so, every time he went to another alternate reality in this same dimension,” explained Crona.
“So…this time he didn’t go to the future then?” asked Kamal.
“Indeed he did. But not to the future of this Universe or Dimension,” replied Crona as she explained everything diagrammatically on the wall. “KC and Jenny along with Garmin have gone to an alternate dimension which has no relation to this universe. That dimension is virgin and balanced. The events and space have not been altered there so far. Therefore, we should spend as little time as possible there. The events in that universe are very different from ours. The Earth still exists there. And so far, I don’t know how many sectors have been discovered in that dimension!”
“I have force entered into rooms, into situations, into criminal cartels. But this is a whole new level. We are going to force enter into a whole new dimension!” said Kamal.
“That is correct,” said Crona. “The stabilizer is almost ready. I am getting readings from the alternate dimension… it’s stable. But I know nothing about the situation prevalent. I will open the window for 1/10,000th of a second and we will enter that dimension,” explained Crona.
Meanwhile, Jonny collected all the remaining items on the list along with some ready-to-eat food and placed it on the counter for billing. The lady at the counter gave Jonny the look.
“You planning to buy all this,” she asked him surprised as Jonny stacked up the stuff one on top of the other; his bulging, tattoo covered biceps straining his T-shirt.
“What are you planning to do, rob a bank?” she added sarcastically.
“If I am…you’ll hear about it first thing in the morning,” replied Jonny in the same tone.
The lady gave him the look again and started to bill the items one by one.
Patiently, Jonny and his buddy waited sipping on some packed protein milk as the lady billed sparingly taking her sweet time.
“Cash or card?” asked the lady after she had billed the mountain of a stack.
“Card,” replied Jonny handing it over to the lady.
“…It’s been declined,” replied the lady almost immediately as she swiped it into the machine.
“Sir, what’s going on?” whispered Jonny pressing his hand against his mouth and speaking into his comn unit discreetly. Reen was on listening.
“Wait one,” replied Reen clicking a few keys on his keyboard. “All systems online. Tell the lady to swipe again.”
“Ma’am, please check again,” said Jonny loading all the stuff into a roller basket. Sure enough, it worked this time round as the lady handed over the bill to him. Jonny quickly dumped the bill into the basket and off they rolled out of the store and moved towards their car. Jonny looked back to confirm no one was following them. He looked ahead… and his buddy was gone
. Jonny looked around quickly and there was no one. Jonny looked ahead and this time… his basket was gone.
“What the hell,” said Jonny slipping out two automatics from under his cut sleeve jacket. Jonny turned around… and his whole team was behind him. He turned in front and the basket was there too. He looked down and up confused. He was in KC’s apartment.
“What the hell is going on!” cried Jonny disoriented.
“Well, you just location-jumped,” said Kamal seeing him appear in the apartment. “You are going to do a lot of it now though this one was a mighty small one. Get used to it.”
“I have all I need now,” said Crona as the hardware and everything useful that the Tac-3 were carrying disappeared from 2018 and appeared in 2017 in the apartment.
“Kamal, move to one side,” cautioned Crona. “I am going to move Tac-3 to 2017. This will help the team to get used to location jumping and I’ll test the stabilizer as well.”
“You are going to test it on us?” said Jonny as he stared into the wall.
“Jonny, get your team on to the floor,” cautioned Kamal. “You are going to feel pretty sick when you get here. I am not very fond of what follows next!”
The Tac-3 dived for the floor as both the walls in Reen’s office gave out a massive light surge. Barely able to keep his eyes open, Reen watched as Tac-3 disappeared from 2018 and appeared in 2017. The wall showing 2018 closed in Reen’s office and in the apartment in 2017 in front of Kamal.
“Are you allright?” asked Kamal as he stared down at Tac-3, all on the floor.
“Aahhh…” cried Jonny. “I can’t move. What just happened?”
“Well, you time-traveled one year back,” said Kamal. “On your feet boys, get up, get up. Get used to it. We got lots of work to do.”
Knocking and tripping around, Tac-3 managed to get up somehow and stand up straight… Somewhat.
“Gentlemen, I have locked on to our destination,” declared Crona. “Earth coordinates - 333.84.1984.253. The readings of that time are balanced, but…but the local readings of the area where we are jumping to seem to be very distorted, almost as if a war is going on there,” clarified Crona.
Genesis Page 14
