Kevin looked confused, though he knew it was something funny because Joti’s smile bursted into laughter hearing what Gollow had to say. She hugged Kevin again as Gollow went ahead and explained their elaborate act of deceiving Francis.
Keele looked at them from a distance and could not control his laughter either. He was eavesdropping on everything being said. Holum and Ibu paused and turned around to see the three friends laugh wholeheartedly. Boriri said, “All is not lost yet.”
A few hours passed by quickly. Kevin and Joti sat together on a stone while Gollow talked to Keele at a distance. Boriri, Holum and Ibu stood separately and appeared to be talking serious stuff.
Kevin held Joti’s hands in his and said, “I don’t know when I will hold them again.”
“After elections, maybe?”, Joti said hopefully. She looked more hopeful than Kevin who was sulking into guilt for leaving again.
“It’s time, I am afraid.”, Holum said, turning towards the couple.
Kevin stood up and hugged Joti one last time before leaving. He promised to return within a week. Kevin, Boriri and Keele then boarded the neurojet. The others started walking towards their spacecraft which stood at a distance.
Both the vehicles left the spot within minutes. The third one which was completely destroyed was left behind. The secret meeting was now over. While Joti’s spacecraft would take only an hour to reach its destination, Kevin’s neurojet had hours of fly time ahead. He was not going to fly it in neuro mode.
On the neurojet Boriri said apologising, “I am sorry for this mess, Kevin. You should have been on Mone right now celebrating your win.”
Kevin took Boriri’s hands in his and reassured him that it was all fine. He said, “I am thankful Boriri. I was dying to see my friends. Moreover we would be there by the time results are out. What difference does it make if we wait here for the results or on Mone, in your apartment. We are all together, that is what matters.”.
Boriri smiled. He added, “At least I am sorry for not letting you fly in neuro mode on your way back.”
“Not at all, Boriri. Keele is right. You are not fit for that kind of flying right now.”, Kevin replied.
“Let’s be careful though, roco bots might try stopping us once this jet leaves Nole’s orbit.”, Boriri cautioned Kevin.
Keele, who was keeping an eye on the monitors and sensors on the dashboard said, “I doubt they are going to do it. We are already in the orbit and they have us in their sight for at least 15 minutes now. They would have done it if they were up to it.”
“Apparently, the royals made the most powerful jet that there is and kept it for themselves. It would be futile for them to do anything but watch us leave.”, Kevin told Boriri implying that the neurojet was invincible.
“I don’t blame the royals for keeping the technology private. Hums have not been into war for hundreds of thousands of years. We had no reasons to invest into the advancement of war technology. Anything that the royals invented was completely hobbyist and was never produced at an industrial scale.”, Keele added.
Kevin turned to Keele and said, “Don’t you think it's a bit risky, letting your warrior bots become obsolete. What would you do if someone attacks you?”
Boriri interrupted, he said, “Roco and their weapons are not useless, Kevin. They are better than most of the developing civilizations around us. It is only when you compare it with advanced hum technology that it appears obsolete. Moreover, royals have always been on the forefront in defending us. Nobody else could even dream of attacking us as long as the royals are on our side.”
“I can agree to that being true for Jaks or Humans but is it true even for Forengs? They are as advanced as hums, right?”, Kevin argued.
“Yes, but compared to the royals they are not. With royals on our side, they don’t have a chance.”, Boriri replied.
“But royals are no more. What if they attack today? Would roco be able to defend us?”, Kevin asked.
“Yes, the roco bots and other technologies they own are comparable to the Foreng army. If you add to that even one neurojet then the odds would be in our favor dramatically. And don’t forget that the royals kept this technology private only because it was not needed by roco. If needed, a royal could still chose to publish all this technology to the roco and have them build their own neurojets.”, Keele replied.
Kevin was satisfied with that answer. He went back to flying the neuro jet.
Boriri said turning to Keele, “Okay then, we have a lot of time on our hands. Let’s talk about your newly found memory.”
------------*
The next morning, Tomiri rushed to Kevin’s bedroom shouting repeatedly “return of the prince, return of the prince”. Kevin was awake but too tired to get off his bed. He looked at Tomiri through the corner of his eyes and asked, “are the results out?”
“Yes, my prince. You have won by a huge margin.”, Tomiri replied.
Kevin opened his eyes completely and started staring at the roof with a faint smile on his face. He said, “Not many months ago, when I first arrived among the hums, I spent a whole night staring at a similar roof, wondering what would become of me here. Who knew I would win.”
“I knew.”, Tomiri said with excitement.
Kevin replied bluntly pulling himself up, “No, you didn’t.”. He was too tired to try and put it gently.
“I had my doubts, master. But, I have complete faith in you now. I voted for you.”, Tomiri said.
Kevin looked at him with a smirk. He knew he could trust him now.
“Shall we celebrate tonight?”, Tomiri asked. It was more of a suggestion.
“Why not? Invite everyone. It should be like the night I moved here.”, Kevin said, as he went back to lying down on the bed.
“Excellent!”, Tomiri said as he rushed out.
Tomiri went straight to the kitchen which was filled with housebots today. He lined them up and gave them instructions for the evening. He asked one of his assistants to start making calls, inviting guests and making other arrangements. Tomiri looked really happy. He liked being busy.
Back in Kevin’s bedroom, he was again awaken. This time by an incoming call. He dragged himself out of the bed and went to the screen which showed incoming call from Korara. He knew who he was, he said “Hello”.
“Good morning sir.”, Korara said from the other end. It was a video call thus both the parties could see each other.
“I am pleasantly surprised. Why is the head of roco calling me?”, Kevin asked with a pretend smile.
“To congratulate you, sir. You are our new king.”, Korara said.
“Thank you, Korara. I look forward to your support.”, Kevin tried being diplomatic.
“I am afraid that I cannot promise you that, sir. The panel no longer exists, all the appointments done by Igogo and his panel are now suspended. I am calling in to remind you, sir, that you need to appoint a roco head soon. It is obligatory to appoint one as soon as possible after the elections.”, Korara explained.
“Thank you, Korara. My prime minister would take care of that.”, Kevin replied casually.
“Oh, I didn’t know that you have decided on a candidate for that. Who is it, may I know?”, Korara asked curiously.
“Yes, it's Boriri. I hope he would have your full cooperation.”, Kevin said with a smile.
“Certainly sir.”, Korara said. Kevin knew it was going to be awkward for Korara but he enjoyed seeing the reaction on his face.
“Very well then. Please do join us in the evening, My proctor is arranging a party tonight.”, Kevin said before hanging up. He then went back to bed saying to himself, “I am going to enjoy being the king”.
Kevin spent the day in his room answering to calls congratulating him on the win. Soon it was evening and people started showing up. Tomiri came and reminded him that he should be dressed and ready to welcome his guests. Kevin took his time to get ready and finally arrived in the big hall where everyone waited for him.
The ha
ll was filled with applause as soon as he entered. He spent some time shaking hands and talking to his guests till he found Boriri who stood with Moriti and Keele in a corner. He said to Boriri, “I need you with me when I address them. I have an announcement to make.”
Moriti looked at Kevin and knew what that announcement was going to be. She had recommended Boriri’s name for the post of prime minister to Kevin and was looking forward to that announcement tonight from Kevin. Kevin winked at her discretely indicating that he was going to do it tonight.
Kevin finally took the center stage with Boriri on his side and addressed everyone in the hall. He went on to make the announcement which everyone was waiting for eagerly.
Kevin said, “...and now, my dear friends, I give you your prime minister for the next 25 years. Boriri!”. As opposed to a democratic government, the prime minister in a king’s rule simply needed to be nominated by the ruling king.
Boriri was surprised. He never expected to be the prime minister but then realised that he was indeed the best candidate for it. Also, he was the only one whom Kevin could trust completely. He readily accepted the offer and bowed to Kevin showing his respect for the king.
Kevin then invited Igogo on the stage who appeared to be as happy as anyone else in the room. Igogo congratulated both of them. He said to Boriri, “Kevin has made the right decision by appointing you his prime minister. It is only you who could really make a difference here.”
Boriri smiled. Kevin said to Igogo, “Yes, he is critical to our success.”
Igogo said, “I agree.”
And then they all left the stage to mingle with everyone else.
As the evening progressed, Boriri looked satisfied with what he had achieved. The hums were finally out of democracy and the next 25 years were going to be first king’s rule in centuries. Kevin and Boriri kept talking strategies and plans with one group after the other. Once in awhile they would look at each other and smile in recognition of the feat that they had achieved.
All was not well though. Keele looked really concerned and waited impatiently for Kevin and Boriri to break away from their discussions. He was certainly privy to some new information which needed their attention at the earliest. He finally got a chance to pull Kevin out of the discussion.
“We need to talk.”, Keele said to Kevin.
“What is it?”, Kevin asked.
“Igogo is happy. He is genuinely happy.”, Keele replied. He looked really concerned.
“He is a politician. You have said it yourself the last time he was here. He was happy during the gala too.”, Kevin said. He clearly didn’t understand what was new.
“It is different now, Kevin. During the gala, he was the prime minister so I could not analyse his facial expressions, his heartbeat, etc. Boriri wanted me to, but it was illegal for me to do it. But now I can. And I know that he is not pretending, he is really, really happy. His heart rate is elevated, as if he is excited about this evening.”, Keele explained.
Kevin tried understanding what he heard. Meanwhile, Boriri joined them. He asked, “What is it?”
“He is genuinely happy.”, Keele replied.
“I knew it!”, Boriri almost shouted with anger. The smile on his face had now disappeared.
Keele suggested that they go to another room to discuss this. They all walked up to Kevin’s bed room and continued talking.
Boriri said, “I knew this was too easy.”
Kevin was still not completely sure if this was a bad news, he asked, “He is happy, so what?”
Boriri replied, “Don’t you see Kevin. If he is happy then this is what he wanted all along. This means we have not defeated him. It was part of his plan.”
“Do you have a theory?”, Keele asked Boriri.
“I think Cabori and Igogo were a team. They…”, Boriri started but Kevin interrupted him.
“That is obvious isn’t it? Cabori did what Igogo asked him to do. Keele has already discovered that in his memory”, Kevin said.
“No, no, no, Kevin. Don’t be naive. It is the other way around. Igogo reported to Cabori. She is the one calling the shots.”, Boriri explained.
“What?”, Keele was shocked now too.
“Yes, Cabori was a Foreng, one of their elites. She had no reasons to act according to Igogo’s will. If they are on the same team then I would put her above Igogo. Igogo was answering to Cabori, not the other way around.”
Kevin understood now, he asked, “But Boriri, Igogo has been ruling here for centuries now. Why would he be reporting to Cabori. Wouldn’t she be the prime minister if she was the leader between the two?”
“You could be right Kevin. Maybe this doesn’t make sense, but she reporting to him also doesn’t make any sense. This leads to the only other possibility.”, Boriri said with fear in his eyes.
“That they both answer to someone else.”, Kevin completed Boriri’s sentence.
“Soboro fell in love with Cabori around the same time when Igogo came to Mone to study. They were both sent by someone else. Someone with an agenda against hums. Oh how foolish of me, how could I miss this.”, Boriri was disappointed.
“Are you sure?”, Keele asked.
“They are both part of the same master plan. Cabori was sent to infiltrate the royal family while Igogo was sent to control the democracy. They were each other’s failsafes. This conspiracy is much bigger than what I imagined.”, Boriri said as he sat down on a nearby chair. He appeared defeated.
------------*
On the other side of the palace, Igogo stood in a dark corner and appeared to be talking to someone on his mobile device.
Igogo: Congratulations to you too.
Female voice on the other end: How long before we make the next move?
Igogo: Soon, let them enjoy for a while now.
Voice: This would be your second attempt.
Igogo: I would have succeeded the last time if I wanted to.
Voice: Do we really need this?
Igogo: I don’t like killing unnecessarily but we really need this. This death is inevitable.
-End of Volume 2-
About The Author
Lomash is a dreamer who lives in Hyderabad, India. “Earth To Nole” is not the first piece of literature that he has written. He wrote a few plays and short stories back when he was in school, but that's about it. A software engineer by education, he enjoys tinkering with technology a lot. And, often dreams of being abducted by tech-savvy aliens who would throw him into their pile of scientific knowledge and technology.
Lomash is a storyteller at heart. He enjoys “making things up” and tries to capture as much detail as possible. He loves fiction of all kinds and is a die-hard fan of the movies. A good story always manages to get his attention.
The author can be reached at: [email protected]
Other books in the series
Earth To Nole: It begins at the end September’15
Earth To Nole: Return of the prince April’16
Earth To Nole: The inevitable death To be announced
Earth To Nole: Return of the Prince Page 14
