Shadowland

by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

  Please, Conch, he implored. Do something to calm them down.

  Then he heard Basant’s mother give a cry. The doors of the bullet cars had swung up and prisoners were stumbling from them. They looked thin and scruffy, with long, unkempt hair, and they were handcuffed and collared, but otherwise they appeared unhurt. The magicians on the platform exclaimed as they recognized family members they had not seen in months. Many of them wept. Some tried to jump down and go to their loved ones and had to be restrained. The prisoners raised their handcuffed arms in greeting, though their collars prevented them from speaking.

  “Stay alert!” Vijay cried as more bullet cars arrived—and still more, until Anand thought every guard in Kol must be here. The guards jumped out and surrounded the prisoners. Some aimed their tubeguns at them while others kept a wary eye on the magicians. Still others watched the slum dwellers, who had retreated even farther at the sight of those deadly blue cylinders. The message was clear: The guards had come, yes, but they didn’t trust anyone. At the first sign of trouble, they would ruthlessly squash those who were responsible for it.

  I feel like I’m inside a pot that’s about to boil over, Anand told the conch.

  Focusing on the worst again, I see, the conch quipped.

  The conch was right. It was a giant step for the guards to decide to join the summit. Anand knew he should be delighted that they had been persuaded by Sumita’s message to bring the prisoners with them. The presence of the prisoners would keep the magicians calm; they would not want to do anything to jeopardize their dear ones.

  He only wished he could see Sumita. And Nisha—where was she?

  He heard an angry buzz, like the sound of a giant alarm clock, and then a booming voice rose from all around him. He had not noticed that Pods were positioned throughout the Maidan. The hologram of a sign announcing that it was noon flashed from them. The buzzing grew into a roar, and a wind swept dust into Anand’s eyes. Where could it have come from? Winds had stopped blowing in Kol a long time ago.

  Then he saw the hovercopters, dazzling white, landing in the field behind the platform. Asha had managed to convince the scientists to join the summit!

  The scientists climbed onto the platform single file, Dr. X in the lead, his head regally high, his face radiating disapproval. Anand could hear the murmurs from the crowd, part angry, part admiring. People were afraid of the scientists, yes. But they held them in great awe, too. They had grown up believing that it was the scientists’ constant, untiring work that kept their world from collapsing. Could they muster the strength to stand up against them if necessary?

  When the scientists reached their side of the platform, they each took out a small box and pressed a series of buttons. Cogs chugged. The boxes opened, metamorphosing themselves into stools on which the scientists sat, looming over the magicians. The magicians muttered at this discourtesy, but the scientists ignored them.

  Anand’s eyes caught a movement near the platform steps. It was Sumita, but instead of following the plan she had sketched out, she began running up the steps on her own. What was she thinking of, taking such a risk? Anand pushed past people as fast as he could. He was certain that any moment Sumita would be attacked—and overpowered—by guards, but to his surprise she climbed onto the platform unhindered and stood facing Dr. X. But he himself had barely set foot on the stairs when a contingent of guards who had been concealed behind an overhang rushed up and surrounded him. At least twenty blue cylinders pointed at his chest.

  The crowds around him shrank back. Though some of them looked at him pityingly, no one dared to get mixed up in guard business. Behind him, Anand heard a piercing cry. Wheeling, he saw Nisha running headlong toward him. But she didn’t get anywhere close. A new contingent of guards materialized from behind the overhang and cut her off.

  Anand called out to Sumita, but her attention was focused on Dr. X and she didn’t hear him. Or did she choose to ignore his cry for help? Had she planned this all along? Misgiving filled Anand’s mouth with bitterness as he wondered if she had merely used him and Nisha—and their connection with the objects of power—to get herself here.

  The leader of the guards prodded him with his tubegun, indicating that Anand should climb onto the stage. Nisha, too, was being pushed up the stairs. He ascended the steps reluctantly, aware of the prick of a thousand curious eyes from the crowd. Ahead, the scientists glared at him. To them he was a dangerous rogue who wanted to destroy the civilization they had built with a lifetime of effort. From the other side of the platform, the magicians’ eyes bored into him. No doubt Vijay had embellished the incident where Nisha and Anand had escaped from him with the mirror. They thought of him as a hotheaded fool who would now be forced to give up the treasure that might have saved them all. Around him stood the impassive-faced guards, who, he was sure, would like nothing better than to drag him to a rehabitational—this time for a permanent stay. He tried to catch Sumita’s eye, but she was staring at Dr. X, that telltale pulse beating once again in her neck. Anand’s heart sank. How had he ever believed that he could persuade all these people, sworn enemies each focused on their own interests, to reconcile?

  * * *

  “Ah, here you are, my dear S,” Dr. X said with an affable smile. “I’m very happy to see that you are safe!” He came forward as though to give her a hug, but Sumita stepped back, and he was left standing with arms outstretched. An expression of rage flashed over his face for a moment, and then was replaced by another smile.

  Sumita clutched the backpack holding the mirror tightly to her chest and watched him warily.

  “I take it that backpack contains the object we discussed in our most enjoyable conversation a few hours ago? I’m glad you had the intelligence to bring it with you—but then, you were always bright. This will make our job far easier.” Dr. X’s voice dropped intimately, as though he and Sumita were having a private conversation. Anand suspected that he was using Persuasion again and didn’t want the assembly—particularly the magicians—to hear him. “The best option—and the most comfortable for you—would be to hand it over to me peacefully. Such cooperation will make it clear to all that you had been Hypnospelled by the magicians. I’ll get rid of your ‘helpers’ discreetly—I guess that’s who those two Illegals standing behind you are. Once we harvest the object, I’ll promote you to second in command, changing your official designation to S-2, and we can all forget this unpleasant episode.”

  Anand could see Sumita hesitating. He clenched his fists, afraid to hear her reply. It was a perilously tempting offer on so many levels. Safety, power, riches, prestige: How could he expect her to turn them all down in favor of a precarious, seesawing future?

  “You can even focus your research on the Outer Lands, like you’ve been wanting to,” Dr. X added with a benevolent smile.

  But here he had made a crucial tactical error. Sumita’s entire body stiffened, and she held up a pendant hanging around her neck. It must have been a microphone of some kind, for when she spoke, her voice came out magnified. “The same Outer Lands to which you sent my grandmother and A’s parents and little brother, and the families of half the scientists present here today,” she asked, her voice dangerously smooth, “so that they would die there? You did it so they wouldn’t ask inconvenient questions or badger you to send us home, didn’t you? And then you tampered with our memories so we wouldn’t remember them. So you could take their place in our hearts and command our allegiance. But today you’ll have to answer to us all and confess in front of the entire assembly. Today you’re going to have to pay.”

  She turned toward the crowd, the ragged men and women who were watching them, their faces slack with shock. “You might think this doesn’t concern you, that it’s just between him and the children who were taken away, but it isn’t. Do you know what the great Dr. X, savior of Kol, is planning to do next? To raze the Terraces to the ground and relocate you to the Outer Lands! Well, now you know what that means!”

  The crowd erupted in an
gry whispers. A group of young men standing in the front raised their fists and shouted threats to which the guards responded by aiming their guns at them. The men were silenced by their friends, but outraged murmurs continued rippling through the crowd. Anand wondered how long it would take the Terrace dwellers to look around them and realize how powerful they were just by virtue of their numbers. What would they do then?

  “Did you expect the city scum to come to your rescue?” Dr. X said to Sumita, his voice as soft and polite as though he was conversing at a dinner party. “You see now how unrealistic your hopes were. In exactly five seconds, I’ll give orders to the guards to arrest you and your accomplices. And don’t think you can use those hazardous objects against me, because every jammer in the city has been trained on you.

  “Oh yes, one more thing. I should express my gratitude to you in advance because I doubt that you’ll be able to register my words by the time the guards are done with you. Thanks to you, as soon as I have the object, I can deal with our friends”—he nodded amicably at the magicians—“who doubtlessly would not have been here without your most eloquent persuasion.”

  Before Sumita could reply, Commandant Vijay was on his feet. “Don’t let him intimidate you! Come over to us, and we’ll protect you. We have powers well beyond what you’ve been led to believe. We’ll get you out of here safe, and once we have the mirror in our hands, we’ll make sure Dr. X gets punished to your satisfaction.”

  “The mirror? So! You have two objects of power with you. All the better,” Dr. X said. Then he turned to the commandant. “Fool! Didn’t you hear me say that all the jammers are turned on full blast?”

  “Ah,” said Vijay. He clapped his hands once and his companions sprang to their feet. “But we’ve become more adept at dealing with pain!” He pulled out a long, shimmering peacock feather wand from under his shawl. Similar wands appeared in the hands of his fellow magicians.

  “We’ve been practicing, you see, in our own pain chambers,” Vijay continued. “And we’re ready for you. Together, we can overpower the guards who are onstage. Long before you can get reinforcements, you’ll be dead.”

  “So will the prisoners,” Dr. X said. “Their guards have orders to kill them immediately if there’s any violence.”

  Vijay faltered for a moment, and next to him Basant’s mother drew in her breath sharply. But then he said, “We don’t care. If you remain in power, you’ll kill them anyway. At least this way we’ll do maximum damage before we die.”

  “See what you’ve done with your silly meddling?” Dr. X said to Sumita, his voice changing to that of a loving, reproachful parent. “There will probably be a huge massacre now—far worse than anything I ever contemplated—and you’ll be the cause. Do you want that on your conscience? If not, you had better hand that pack to me.”

  Sumita looked around at the thousands of people who had come to the Maidan because of her entreaties. Anand could tell that Dr. X had shaken her. The resolute set of her lips wavered, and an uncertainty came into her face. She took a small, swaying step toward Dr. X, who held out his hand as though to a prodigal daughter.

  Behind her, Vijay made a hissing noise and raised his peacock feather wand. So did his companions. The guards onstage lifted their guns. A scuffling had broken out near the bullet cars. The prisoners must have rebelled, and the guards were trying to control them. The crowd growled like a dog straining at its leash, ready to join the fray. In a moment the entire assembly would be plunged into a fierce and bloody battle.

  There was no time to think. There was no time to speak. Anand did the only thing possible. Pulling out the conch, he blew into it as hard as he could.

  14

  THE VISION

  There was silence all around Anand. Complete silence and stillness, because every person he looked at—including Sumita and Nisha—was frozen in mid-motion. It was as though he was in a museum, surrounded by wax figures. His heart pounded erratically. He knew how powerful the conch was. Had he, by blowing into it, petrified his friends and all the people of Kol? Had he, in trying to prevent one catastrophe, brought about a worse one?

  In the utter quiet, he heard the conch. There you go again, imagining doom and gloom. Go up to Nisha and shake her gently, and do the same with Sumita. Then listen carefully to what I tell you.

  Anand reached past the frozen snarl of a guard and shook Nisha’s arm. She blinked dazedly, and then slid out of the circle the guards had formed around her. Sumita, too, awoke and listened carefully as Anand relayed the conch’s instructions.

  “Are you sure?” Sumita asked, hugging the mirror protectively. When Anand nodded, she laid the mirror down in the center of the platform. Nisha fetched Dr. X, blank-faced as a sleepwalker, and made him kneel beside the mirror. Anand did the same with the commandant. When the two leaders were positioned face-to-face over the mirror, he clapped his hands thrice. The men awoke with a start, and so did the rest of the crowd. But no one could move or talk as yet.

  Anand looked into the glaring faces of Dr. X and Vijay.

  “You wanted to see the objects of power,” he said. “Well, this is your chance. Look into the mirror.”

  Dr. X’s eyes bulged as he strained to yell a curse at Anand. Vijay, red-faced with fury, made muffled sounds, trying to break free of the spell. At another time, Anand would have been afraid of their rage, but now he merely gripped the conch, drawing comfort from it.

  “You don’t have a choice,” he told them, not unsympathetically. “You were about to destroy Kol, so the objects of power took over. You must do what they want. But don’t worry, their power—unlike yours—is benevolent. Now, look into the mirror.”

  Slowly, reluctantly, the two men bowed their heads. As their eyes met in the mirror, the Pods in the Maidan turned themselves on and gigantic holograms began to form against the brown air. Every face in the crowd stared at them, rapt.

  “In exactly five seconds, I’ll give orders to the guards to arrest you,” boomed Dr. X’s hologram, his eyes narrowed to vicious slits. “And don’t think you can use those hazardous objects against me, because every jammer in the city is trained on you.”

  “Come over to us!” Vijay’s hologram commanded. “Once we have the mirror, we’ll make sure Dr. X gets punished to your satisfaction.”

  The holograms blurred. Then a new hologram of Dr. X said, with a winning smile, “Hand it over to me peacefully, and I’ll promote you to second in command.”

  It disappeared, and a hologram of Vijay looked around suspiciously. “Almost noon!” it said. “Where are those vermin? Where are the prisoners? This is a trap.”

  The objects of power were taking the two leaders into the past, one vignette at a time, tracing the course the scientists and magicians had taken to bring their world to this disastrous pass. And it was sharing these with all the inhabitants of Kol so there would be no more lies.

  “What do you think will happen after we’ve seen all of them?” Nisha whispered in Anand’s ear.

  “I don’t know,” Anand whispered back. “The magical objects create situations and opportunities, but ultimately humans must make their own choices.” He wanted to add that no matter what happened, he would be able to face it because Nisha was with him. But he felt tongue-tied. Perhaps Nisha sensed his feelings, though, for she moved closer, leaning a little against his shoulder. They watched as time rolled backward in a fascinating panorama, revealing answers to the questions that had nagged at them ever since they had arrived in Shadowland.

  * * *

  Of the numerous scenes that flashed past his eyes, later Anand would most remember these:

  In the lab, the X-Finder begins to drone, a sound that grows increasingly high-pitched until Sumita and her assistants are forced to clip shields over their ears.

  “Look,” she says excitedly, speaking into a magnifier so they can hear above the machine’s deafening whine. She points to a screen with flashing red dots. “The Finder’s search rays have broken the barrier and gone into a
different world. I didn’t think it could do it! It’s found something! I think it’s powerful! More powerful than we had hoped for. Look at the needle on the energy gauge—it’s all the way over to the right! Someone go and fetch Dr. X—”

  The hologram wavers. Suddenly it is night—a simulated moonless darkness. The black hulk of the lab looms ahead. A line of men creeps toward the entrance. “When I raise my hand,” the leader whispers, “focus your mental powers on the door locks, all at once. It’ll hurt terribly because of the jammers, but you can do it! Once we’re inside, place the Detonatrixes on as many machines as you can. We’ll meet out here as soon as you’re done. In case you get caught, I want you to know how proud I am of you!” He puts his hand on the shoulder of one of the boys—for there are children in the group. The boy turns his face, his smile swaying between fear and courage. It is Basant.

  Here is a new scene, inside a classroom. Boys and girls in the white bodysuits marked with a logo that identifies them as apprentice scientists are listening to Dr. X lecture. He is younger, with a full head of black hair and a spring to his step. He strides to the wall screen, points to a problem that flashes there, and asks a question. Two girls raise their hands. Dr. X nods at one, who answers. The answer must be an excellent one, for Dr. X walks over to the student and pats her shoulder. There is genuine affection in his gesture. The other students stare jealously. The commended one bows, then turns to flash her classmates a triumphant grin. Anand sees that it is Sumita, younger, prettier, with a mop of curly hair framing her face. Her forehead is innocent of frown lines. When she looks at Dr. X, her eyes shine with adoration.

  Anand can’t help glancing from the hologram to the real Sumita standing on the platform. Her face is very pale, and she surreptitiously brushes teardrops from her lashes. He understands that a part of her still loves Dr. X, who was the closest she had had to a father.

  Now they are in front of a row of shabby buildings, and with a start Anand recognizes them as the Terraces. A group of children are saying good-bye to their families. A large hover bus, impressively new, waits nearby. The families appear both proud and worried.