by Abhishek Roy
Within two seconds more the light had become dazzling and shot out an expanding beam which went and hit the other men. It was unlike any beam of light I have seen or experimented with. Unlike a laser which is concentrated and thin, this was an expanding glow which enveloped all the giants at the same time. They started writhing in pain and before they could get the powder out to save themselves, the light became white and all the remaining five men were blasted to smithereens, noiselessly, their guts spilling out amidst a thick pool of maroon blood.
For a boy like me who lived in an orphanage and grew up sheltered within friends, who people called a nerd because he was always solving some equations or fixing electronic devices, it was too much to take. I scrambled away from the huge lifeless body, shocked and looked at the carcasses boggle eyed. I felt weak-kneed and collapsed to the floor.
However, somewhere in my mind, I was satisfied in avenging Mrs. Dawson.
***
Ram brought me back to reality, “Quickly! Even I am glad to see you,” said he as he read the expression my face,” But we do not have time for this. We need to reach the Highway.”
He picked up both our bags and supported me by the shoulder. Hanging on to him I started to run. As soon as we crossed the threshold of the small gate, we heard the noise of people chasing us. This was a mob which had had enough of foreigners tearing their place down.
I was having a hard time running down the road, shoving away people from my path but Ram’s shoulder was helping me a lot. For a moment, he seemed to have grown older and the look on his face was similar to the one when he sat pondering about the journey to India. He appeared to have realised the intensity of the situation and had assumed command.
Suddenly I saw one of the many white pick-up trucks that had an empty hold behind it. It was on its way on the highway going towards the same direction we wanted to go and it appeared to be the only way right now to escape. It looked like a white saviour angel in between the dense, moving cloud of dull sedans.
I looked at Ram and I knew he was thinking of the same thing. Our eyes met for an instant and we shared a mutual understanding. We tried to accelerate a little more.
We shoved away more people some who just got bewildered and some who retorted by a salvo of abuses. The truck came closer and just when we reached the edge of the road, the truck cut our way and the white chassis of the truck blocked our view ahead. However, before it could drive away I caught the ladder on its back and managed to haul myself up. I slumped on the metal floor and my body started vibrating with the floor. No sooner had I got some relief, than I saw Ram still on the road running behind the truck with all his might. He had borne both our weights till now and his face had become pretty red. He was exhaling deeply, trying to fight the burning sensation within and his face was glistening with sweat. My tension just intensified more when I saw the violent mob turn round the corner.
“Ram! Come on! For your father’s sake!” the urgency in my voice caused him to run harder. His face contorted with pain as he summoned all his strength into his legs and ran faster. Finally, after inching closer and closer to the truck, he caught hold my outstretched hand, jumped and hung from it just before the vehicle found an empty stretch of road and accelerated. Ram, then swung sideways from the ladder and fell on the metal floor beside me. I saw his exhausted and sweating face illuminated with the incandescent glow of the city lights.
The mob was unable to get to the truck and as a last try, three of them pulled out local guns from their holsters, aimed and fired at the truck. Both of us ducked behind the aluminium tailgate which did a good job in blocking the bullets. I could hear seven bullets fired at us out of which two hit the wall behind us and five struck the tailgate, forming protuberances on our side. Slowly we raised our head to see the crowd going away from us and get shrouded in a veil of darkness as the truck went farther away from the city. The cries of the townsfolk on hearing bullets being fired were still audible though faintly. We finally sat up when we were sure that we were out of danger. The world around us had grown dark. The only sources of light were the headlights of the cars passing by and the faint glimmer of Meerut that was diminishing gradually allowing the full moon to show itself to us.
“One hell of a day it was,” said Ram.
I however, had no energy to reply. I was completely and utterly spent and lay down on the floor which was continuously vibrating due to wheels and the whirring motors underneath.
Ram lay down next to me. “Mathias, how is your leg? Do you need your inhaler?” he asked.
“I could do with a small sniff but my leg is not in its best shape,” I said and felt the familiar tightening in my chest. Ram gave me my inhaler and I took in a deep breath.
“I believe you have got some more cuts and bruises too,” inquired Ram of me.
“Those are a matter of little concern, Ram. Anyway, where were you hiding all the time and how did you manage to stay unharmed for so long? The men were really hefty, fast and lethal. I don’t know why these enigmatic men tried to kidnap us though.”
“Of course,” said Ram and explained his story of how he had evaded their eyes shortly after getting into the alley.
“Wow! You must have got a short span of time when they couldn’t see you and you cleverly used it. Well, I never got such a moment. All the time they were behind me trying to catch me,” I said.
“And how did you escape?”
“Well... my story is a longer one which would have to wait, for now we have to find a way to catch our ride to Rishikesh,” I sighed. My adrenaline had started to go away and the cool wind was lulling me to sleep.
“Of course!” Ram jumped up, “Let us see where this truck is headed.“
As far as we could make out, we were near the highway but in a parallel road. I picked up an old and soiled shawl from the truck and wrapped my face thoroughly with it. That way my light hair and face was no longer that prominent. As the truck slowed down, we jumped out of it and made our way in the welcome darkness towards the place where we had met the truck in the parking area.
As we came near, our heart stopped when we could not locate that truck at first in the darkness. This was disaster. That truck was our only means of escape from here and also to our destination. We were about 20 minutes late but did not expect that trucker to start off without us since we had offered some money and he had agreed. We searched high and low and finally Ram had the bright idea of going towards the highway exit.
As we neared the exit, we saw the truck parked there, with parking lights on.
“Are you sure this is the truck?” asked Ram.
“Absolutely,” I said. “I remember the number“.
“How so? Even after all these running? I cannot even remember my own phone number,” said Ram.
“The number is a famous one,” I explained. “It is 2718. The first four digits of Euler’s number. Now hurry up.” Ram rolled his eyes in mock despair at my obsession with numbers.
We hastened to meet the trucker and his son. The trucker was visibly displeased with us for making him late but gruffly asked us to make ourselves comfortable in the back. There were some rugs and we were supposed to lay down among the cargo which was largely cardboard boxes full of paper. The son was more empathetic to us and handed us a bottle of water. Looked like we were not likely to get any food for the night.
***
We tried to go to sleep but the rough road was making it difficult. I was too charged up by today’s events and though I tried to show that I was not afraid of the men, I was terrified. This prohibited me from sleeping too. I had this fear in me that they might just turn up right now and I had to be battle ready.
Ram was sitting close to the separator and was staring straight up at the sky, presumably reflecting on the day’s events and about his father. My heart went out to him. It was he who was trying to find his father but obviously these misadventures were happening because of me. Who was trying to hunt me out, an orphan from England, in this f
oreign land?
Ram was drifting off to sleep when he awoke with a start as he overheard the conversation between the son and the father. The twenty eight year old son was having a conversation with his father in hushed north Indian Hindi.
“What shall I do with my job, Baba?” the son broke the silence.
“I have no idea Vivek. I have spoken to four more agencies. They simply do not want you because you were accused of some scandal that only both of us know is wrong. Whoever did this will pay for his deed!” the father said with a vengeful attitude.
“No doubt about that, Baba. But we should not use any physically violent means against anyone whatever the stakes. For now we must look for another job.”
“Another job as good as the one you had? As a Scientist at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)? You were the youngest and the best talent they had at the Biosphere Centre and all they did is to sack you?” the father was getting agitated. “Those sanctimonious fools did not know what they are losing.“
“I know Baba, but what more can we do. We went and spoke to everyone and still nobody is ready to pick up my cause. Even Dr. Pankaj Gupta, my boss who loved me so much, is afraid to fight for me because it is a terrorism charge.”
Behind them at that moment, Ram, who was sitting in the cargo, with his ears pressed to the metal wall separating the hold from the cockpit, heard everything though some part of it was interfered by the rumbling of the engine and the hum of the tyres. He went over to me, and shook me awake.
“What?” I asked, with groggy eyes and irritated for having my little sleep disturbed.
Ram told me in English what he had heard. He also explained the Plan which was germinating in his mind. I was wide awake by this time and quickly but silently switched my laptop on and prayed that Ram’s mobile phone still had some charge left. It had, just barely, and by creating a mobile hotspot (India surely was amazing with its 3G mobile network available everywhere) I was soon researching on the net.
After typing in — ISRO Scandal —I selected an article that seemed to be the right one among the numerous other links on the list.
The link opened a page in one of the online newspapers. It was a small article written on February the previous year. At the top of the article was written in bold - ISRO’s latest and best discovery of the century said to be in foreign hands - Nuclear threat alert.
Below the header was written-
ISRO’s latest and best discovery of the century is rumoured to be a miniature fuel cell. These fuel cells could not only be used as bombs but could be able to propel terrorist missiles to far off corners of the world.
Shortly after the discovery, when the organisation was running full fledged, it was noticed that some of the fuel cells were missing from the go-down. The head of the transport feared the worst. Through the inventory software, he apparently found out that the fuel cells were ordered to be delivered to another hostile location. It was suspected that the leak was internal and that the orders had been given from a junior scientist’s computer. Immediately after this, ISRO is also rumoured to have suspended from duty some new junior scientists. The head of Research, Pankaj Gupta, was unavailable for comment.
This looks interesting. I thought expectantly. The article had finally opened my eyes to the whole thing. I did some more research and hacking and both of us were beside ourselves with glee.
Ram again went back to listening and was able to hear the father asking the son to sleep a bit before it was his turn to drive. The young man nodded in acquiescence and rested his head on the metal window frame and looked at the dark road ahead. The wind buffeted his face and he could see the black silhouette of the mountainous Himalayas ahead. He had mixed thoughts going around his head. He had a feeling that the mountainous journey ahead was going to be an interesting one this time.
Kapittel 12
Elsewhere
VALHALLA, ASR-GAWA
March 7, 2017, Tuesday, 2355 hours Earth GMT
“Oh! These people take too much time for everything, the confounded beings from Jargantaam!” Baldr muttered under his breath. He had been waiting with bated breath for the transmission from earth about the operation. Baldr, being restless, continuously fidgeted on his chair by his study as he lay in wait for the transmission.
“Okay Baldr.... you need to calm down,” said Baldr to himself and took a deep breath in order to calm his senses. He opened his eyes and stared at the cylindrical projector kept on his table. Right now, it was a dead black cylindrical block. Or perhaps that depends on one’s point of view. To someone from Mandagaar, it would be far from dead when it was running a transmission.
The projector was made of a synthetic element prepared by the technicians. It was light, tough and was an insulator. It was also a little brittle for which, its structural uses were limited.
It was painted dark and had a matte finish but it would appear to be alive when it was initiated because of the strips around its circumference. They were four in number. The first strip was in the top portion of the projector and the fourth was in the mid portion. Right now, they were indistinguishable from the body of the cylinder but when the cylinder was activated, the topmost one and the third strip would glow a candescent golden and the second and the fourth one, blue. The part of the cylinder below the fourth band had a number of buttons and plug in ports. The receptacle of the cylinder was the one that provided it with energy. One could not use the projector from anywhere. It would shut down in seconds due to the vast amounts of energy it consumes.
At this moment, Baldr’s eyes were fixed on the dark, dull bands. He stared at them fixedly for a moment, waiting for them to light up but eventually his concentration broke again,.“Aah! It is just so annoying!” he cried out.
“What is the matter?” said his wife Nanna, disturbed to see her husband in such a restless state since morning.
“Oh, it’s nothing...just waiting for the transmission,” replied Baldr. He usually confided in her his secrets. Nanna was a loyal wife and seemed to understand Baldr and his cause deeply, for which she never disclosed his secrets or plans to anyone else.
“Are you sure it’s okay? Do you need my help?” asked Nanna.
“No,” sighed Baldr. “You can carry on with your work. I will be fine.” He gave her a wry smile.
“Are you sure?” Nanna asked, her green eyes quizzical in a little anxiety.
“Yes. Do not worry. I will be fine,” assured Baldr.
“Alright then.”
With that she walked out of their plush and well organised room. Nanna was involved in the Security services of Asr-Gawa and was an important member of the Executive Committee, just below the Elder’s Council.
Baldr waited till his wife walked outside the door and as soon as the door shut, he got up from his chair and started pacing the room. He was trying his best to remain sane. The operation was an ambitious one and he was really excited about it. If he could accomplish his mission then he would hit jackpot and strengthen his position within Asr- Gawa Elders’ firmly.
Whilst he paced the floor he gave a cursory glance to his room. The spacious bed was well made and the beige satin bed sheet and quilt were embroidered in gold. Above the bed were shelves containing several ancient Flasks as decorative pieces. The inner layers of the shelves were lit such that the back of the shelves had a yellow glow. The two floor to ceiling closets, one for Baldr and the other for his wife, were big enough to house five average sized Asurians. These closets were made up of fine oak wood and just like almost everything in the room, were decorated in chestnut and gold.
On the left side of the bed was Baldr’s gadgetry. That was the only place in the entire room that was littered. It was however littered with instruments beyond the scope of understanding of normal people, be of Asr-Gawa or Earth. There were five elastic bands with small gauges and buttons on them, there was Baldr’s headgear, his complicated belt and many more such things which only Baldr could understand and use efficiently and no one
else. Rumours abound that Baldr possessed many such inter-dimensional gadgets made by the enemies of Asr-Gawa but nobody voiced their opinion keeping in mind the closeness of Baldr to Odin.
On the right side of the bed was Baldr’s study on which lay the cylindrical projector and adjacent to the study was another table, lined up with monitors and keypads.
As Baldr paced the room, he felt a wee bit better. Suddenly, after rigorously pacing his room for fifteen minutes, his eyes fell on the projector. This time, he was delighted to see the four bands of blue and gold start pulsating with a bright glow. Instantaneously, he hurried to his chair, sat and looked at the projector with glee. Slowly, his face got lit up in the light emitted by the projector. A ball of white light appeared on the mouth of the cylinder that grew and grew until abruptly, it collapsed into the shape of a big and pale man. The new generation projector had the feature of showing everything in real-colour and not in a monochromatic yellow as the earlier projectors did.
The holographic image of the man was nearly a foot tall. He was white as chalk, of strong build and seemed to be very tall in real life.
“Hilsener min Herre, Baldr. We thought that it would be very late to call you by the time we reached the base. Hence, we set up the transmission at a great distance from any civilisation just to make sure that we weren’t being watched,” said the hologram in Asr-Gawan.
“Hilsener. That doesn’t matter as long as you carried out your duties well,” replied Baldr suddenly forgetting about his anger for the delay.
“So, what about the operation? I am sure it was a success, wasn’t it?” continued Baldr, his visage beaming with hope. “Do you have the boy?“
The holographic man however, stood with a sullen face and did not reply. Baldr did not like the implications of such an expression and asked again, this time with a graver tone.
“Tell me, the operation was a success, wasn’t it?”
