by Abhishek Roy
“I am afraid not, sir,” the man replied crestfallen.
“What do you mean - I am afraid not, sir - tell me properly,” demanded Baldr.
“The operation was a fiasco. The two kids seemed to outsmart us. They...... “
“They did not seem to outsmart you, you fools, they did outsmart you!” interrupted Baldr with anger and exasperation.”How could you make any mistake? You are just so careless.“
“They not only outsmarted us, my Lord, but they have also killed the 8 Jargantaan men I sent in. I could never figure out how they did it but they are all dead!”
“What? And you people let them go? Do you even have any idea what they could do if they reached our base just like that? Do not underestimate them. They are much smarter than you think. That is the reason I sent you all to get them to our base in captivity so that they are not able to do whatever they like,” said Baldr and paused, thinking with a grave face.
“Now we don’t know for sure which vehicle they are travelling by or which route they have taken,” he continued. “Therefore, even I cannot do anything. Now just let them come to us. I will see to it that they are traked down.“
“Very well sir. We will just...... ,” the man was about to say and make up for his mistakes when he was cut off by Baldr.
“Shut up! Do not speak a word! Now go to the base and sit over there quietly! You people don’t do anything but screw up,” shouted Baldr.
“Okay sir!” the man gave a salutation in military style and the hologram dematerialised.
Baldr sat on his study with his hands running over his well-combed hair making it unruly. He was extremely stressed by the recent events and struggled to think practically.
He had to take over the operation to ensure that it went smoothly from here.
Baldr got up from his chair, changed his clothes and dressed up in his usual outdoor clothes. Then he geared himself up and was all set to go. He exited his room and walked down the corridors of Valhalla towards the main door.
While he advanced towards the large oddly shaped tele porter, many thoughts circled his head. However as soon as he crossed the threshold to the tele porter he wiped his brain clean of all these thoughts and put on his game face.
Thank god, it will be Odin’s Day today in the destination region in Mandagaar. The tele porter will be functional. Thought Baldr. The lasting impression of the first family continues in Mandagaar! He knew that the operation was going to be a hard job to carry out but he had to do it in order to prove his position in Asr- Gawa.
“Hilsener, Herre Baldr,” said the gatekeeper - Heimdallr in his usual sentinel outfit, his flowing hair visible from under his headgear. Though it was a rather odd time for Baldr to travel somewhere, Heimdallr could not question him, as was written in his code of conduct. Heimdallr was the common name for the person who manned this post for millennia now. Once they were appointed to this post they had to live their life by a rigorous code of conduct and obey orders from authority without question.
Baldr nodded his head, “Hilsener, Heimdallr.”
Baldr walked to the smaller doughnut shaped structure at the bottom of the bigger one. This one was enough for a person like Baldr to fit in.
Heimdallr came up to him and asked him, “Where to sir?”
“Mandagaar, first Base,” declared Baldr and gave Heimdallr the coordinates that had been emblazoned on Baldr’s memory since he travelled there so frequently.
“Very well,” saying that, Heimdallr fitted his specially designed key into the keyhole and turned. Instantly, the machines whirred to life and the doughnut shaped structure, through which one could see the warm afternoon sky dotted with small blobs of white clouds and the beautiful dry grasslands below, was distorted totally and inconceivably until on the other side of the doughnut structure a layered and swirling, dark sphere had appeared. One couldn’t make out what was there on the other side of the sphere but could see a small dot of brilliant white light at its centre.
Baldr grasped the rod fixed above the machine and swung himself such that the feet went into the sphere or tunnel av tunneler first.
To Heimdallr, who was watching Baldr jump through the tunnel av tunneler, Baldr’s body started to move at a snail’s pace. His speed went on diminishing and after a certain point in time, he stopped moving completely. For reasons of safety, the tunnel av tunneler had to be kept open until the person travelling through it disappeared completely. Next, Baldr started turning red. With time, Baldr’s body, stuck inside the spherical distortion, started turning a deep shade of maroon until after some time, he dematerialised completely. It was then that Heimdallr deactivated the machine and the scenery beyond the machine was restored.
For Baldr however, it was totally different. As Baldr jumped into the tunnel av tunneler the view around him was greatly distorted, but he had no time to admire it because instantly, he was on his feet on a completely different land. A land on Midgard or Mandagaar where there was a beautiful conjunction of land and sea, of sand and rock, amidst a landscape which was among the oldest on the planet.
“Time to bring things under control”, Baldr rubbed his palms and advanced towards his ultra secret base.
***
In Asr-Gawa, a body suddenly rushed out of the torus and fell at the feet of Heimdallr. He hoped it to be the carcass of a man in his Mandaa sixties as he had carefully targeted but the man’s fingers twitched before he opened his eyes. The device had encountered a faulty transport. For all normal human transport across dimensions, the universe had a curious way of balancing things, and a body of equal mass normally came through. Heimdallr had practised it well to make sure only corpses came in but it was an inexact science.
Anyway, Heimdallr decided to show courtesy.
He bent down to the little man who was staring at him like he’d seen a ghost and Heimdallr said, “Greetings fellow Mandaa. Welcome to Asr-Gawa.”
The short, fat man fainted instantly.
Kapittel 13
Mathias’s story
RISHIKESH, INDIA
March 8, 2017, Wednesday, 0600 hours IST
I opened my eyes deliriously and found myself staring at the silhouette of an Indian man. The sky behind him was tranquil. Day was breaking and the sky was a subtle symphony of the morning colours of yellow, deep orange and purple. The sun was awakening and forbade me to see the man’s face clearly.
I saw that Ram had jumped down from the cargo hold with both of our bags clutched in his hands and stood next to me.
The man spoke.
“We have arrived. So you two, please pay and be on your way.”
Ram and I looked at each other. Ram took out the agreed sum of money and gave it to him. As he and his son turned to go away, I spoke, “Sir, we are from Europe. I am Mathias Thompson and this fellow beside me is Ram Shanbhag. His father, who had been missing for sixteen years after having gone on an expedition in the Himalayas, suddenly sent a message and we strongly believe that he is inside the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve. So I request you to please take us to the Reserve.”
“That is not possible, boy,” said the trucker flatly. “I made a mistake in bringing you this far to Rishikesh. However, it was night and the place is riddled with rioters and dacoits. I was left with no choice but to bring you along to Rishikesh.“
“This is Rishikesh?” asked Ram with amazement reflecting from his eyes.
“Yes it is,” replied the son of the truck driver.
Ram looked around with wondrous eyes. “It is beautiful,” whispered Ram under his breath.
I had no idea why Ram was so awe struck to see this place. It was of course scenic but I found no reason to gape at it as Ram did. Due to the intensity of the situation right now, I saved the question for another time.
The son, unlike his father, seemed to be amicable and wanting to help us out. “What now baba? We can’t just leave them here. We should maybe provide for their breakfast and then explain to them how to find their way.”
“Perhaps....
but I do not totally agree. In any case,” he paused. “We do not know the way to the Reserve.“
“That’s not correct. You know the way since your son worked there. I can help you with getting back his job if you take us there,” I blabbered out.
“What...what did you say?” the son asked me with disbelief in his eyes.
“I can help you with your job and solve the scandal as a mystery,” I said.
“That’s impossible! What do you know about that?” glowered the father.
“What? You claim that you have found out who was behind the scandal?” the son asked me, his eyes filled to the brim with disbelief.
“Yes, I have,” I replied proudly with my chest up. I looked at Ram who was standing beside me.
“Shut up boy! You have learned nothing. Do not believe him Vivek. It is nothing more than a charade,” the father said, his face contorted in revulsion.
“Show us and then we shall consider,” he challenged me.
“I can tell you that your son is innocent and I know the whole story behind it. If you want the proof, then you will have to help us reach the biosphere reserve.”
“You see now, son? It is all fake talk. If he knew who had actually been perfidious and framed you with the scandal, he would not have been doing this dramatic act now.”
Now even Vivek was wondering whether to believe in me. After what they had gone through, not trusting anyone was an obvious method of precaution especially against me - a complete stranger and a foreigner who one night had jumped into their truck, hitched a ride and was now telling tall tales. How was I to think that they would ever believe me? But I had to try to persuade them.
I looked at my laptop screen. However, I wondered whether or not I should tell him the name of the nefarious man who was actually behind the scandal. After a second or two of thinking, I chose to reveal the name.
“Are you acquainted with some Bajrangi Singh? He was probably in your team,” I asked him tauntingly.
Vivek turned and faced me. “How do you know of him?”
“I have my sources to find out many things and I have found out that he was, in reality, not your best friend but your worst enemy. He was the one behind the scandal. If you still do not believe me, let me tell you that your boss’s name was Pankaj Gupta. When you were a trainee, he used to be your boss at ISRO.”
“Have you taken us for fools? First thing, Bajrangi could not have done this. We have known him for more than five years and have understood him well enough to know that he could not have done such a gruesome deed. Secondly, all what you are saying is from the newspaper. They also post the news in the Internet so that people can save paper. Did you really think that we would be unaware of this?”
“No offense anybody but you guys are too stubborn. I suppose I will have to really prove that I can do this!” I took my laptop out. Ram suddenly got worried at my aggressive tone and thought that I was going to fight. He touched my arm and pulled me back a little.
“Don’t worry Ram. I am not up for a fight,” I assured him. Slowly, his grip on my arm loosened.
I set down my laptop PC heavily on the truck next to them. They simply had no idea of what I was capable o£ They indeed had a point. The names I said were the ones in the newspaper but they were so blind in friendship that they failed to see through the fog that shrouded Bajrangi.
I tried sneaking into the systems of the local cooperative Bank that was in the vicinity of the truck.
It took a good five minutes before I addressed Vivek.
“I see,” I read out to the father and the son, from my laptop cradled in my arms, “that you Vivek, have got nearly a million rupees in your bank account in the local Bank close by. I have also found out...” by now Vivek’s mouth was gaping open with wide disbelief, “your username on BigMail and your password is.... “ I paused to emphasise my point. While Vivek was awe struck with my gain of confidential knowledge, his father told me bluntly, “Why did you pause? Let us check the authenticity.“
“Alright. Vivek? May I have your permission to tell your father the password you have used?” I asked him and failed to control a sly grin. Even Ram snickered.
Vivek was shocked enough to not reply.
“I would assume that silence is a yes.”
I leaned towards them, the continuously frowning father and the amazed son and said in a hushed tone, cautious so that others could not hear what I am saying.
“I think you have a knack for logical sequences, don’t you?” I asked him. “Your password is 345681051213.” With each number I uttered the expression on Vivek’s face worsened.
“Or putting it simply, if we simply separate each number of your password, we get 3-4-5-6-8-10-5-12-13 and on considering them in groups of three, they are —”
“Pythagorean triplets.” Vivek now had his face resting on his palms, his eyes wide open in state of incredulity.
“Really? Are you telling me son, that what he said is true?” his father said, dubious.
Vivek never replied. He was still shell shocked about my hacking prowess. He had probably never heard of anyone or seen anyone perform such a feat. Even his father had accepted defeat and was reconsidering my claims.
“As you have seen Vivek, I got to know the three things which are your greatest secrets. Do not worry, however. I am not ruthless enough to extract your money and information from your Gmail account but some people are and in your case, it is Bajrangi. Though I am sure he is not as good a hacker as me but definitely knows the basic methodology. Now do I have your attention? If yes, then I shall tell you the entire story of how Bajrangi had done what he had done.” I looked at them for an affirmative response.
“If you could have pulled such a feat, then others are capable too. What you say seems possible,” replied the trucker.
“You did acquire my password. But how did you get to know that the numbers are the elements of a sequence so fast?” Vivek asked me, still in his trance of incredulity.
“I too have a knack for numbers and analytical stuff.” I gave him a wry smile. I had completely forgotten that I was hurt yesterday and the wounds still had to be tended to. As a result of the intense exertion yesterday I was now feeling pretty drained out.
“I need to speak with you, father,” said Vivek.
“Why?”
The son gave us a look and turned his gaze back to his father. “I just need to speak to you.”
“Fine.” The trucker and the son walked a few metres away and spoke in hushed tones that were impossible to make out from afar.
***
“It is just impossible to impress upon that man our actual predicament, Ram,” I was getting irritated now.
“Look around you Mathias,” said Ram, his face lit with joy. “The sun is coming up and the dawn is the most beautiful here that you can see anywhere!“
“Why are you behaving in such a way? Alright, the place is utterly beautiful but it is not heaven that you need to be so taken aback by the scenic beauty. There are many places like this on Earth and one can often observe such dawns in New Zealand or some other place too,” I told Ram brusquely who was still staring at the rising sun, wide-eyed.
“But you would never get to see such a dawn in some other place. Rishikesh is one of the most beautiful places in the world, revered by every Indian for its scenic beauty. Why do you compare New Zealand with India, Mathias?” asked Ram whose attention I had finally acquired, “Just look at the sunrise Mathias, and tell me what you see.“
I obeyed and looked at the sun, “Though it is not good to look at the sun directly, I will look at it for some time for your sake.”
“Please do,” said Ram.
I looked at the sun. Its intensity at that time was such that it didn’t hurt my eyes. The atmosphere was brightening and morning was taking shape. Over the small buildings loomed the mountains from which emerged the sun, bathing them in a golden glow. However, apart from those, I could see much more which mesmerised me in a different way
.
“Well, I see the sun which is pretty good looking. It has really accentuated the grandeur of the mountains.”
“Yes, and.... “ offered Ram, expecting some more.
“But I can also see,” I continued, “the millions of solar particles bombarding the atmosphere. I can feel the magnetic field of the Earth deflecting these particles away and protecting us from these radiations like a mother’s shelter. At sunrise, the sunrays have to travel a great distance through the atmosphere. Due to this, all the seven lights composing white light get scattered, save red light that is the least scattered. I can imagine the red light wave with a large wavelength, travelling through the atmosphere, leaving behind its six siblings and entering our eyes. That is the reason why sun appears red you know. It is beautiful, but the physics behind this is relatively more beautiful a thing to observe.“
Ram looked at me with an amused expression.
“You are incorrigible, aren’t you Mathias?”
***
I was about to reply but the trucker and his son barged in.
“Alright. Tell us how you can help us.”
“That you need not worry about. Just tell us the whole story,” I assured him.
“OK. I will tell you everything. I do not know why, but I trust you. However, not here but over a cup of tea. Baba over here is in desperate need of some morning tea.”
“Let us proceed,” added Ram.
We followed the son and his father to the small teashop nestled in the buildings around. It was a five to ten minutes’ walk and during that time I got to see some of the town of Rishikesh. It was, absolutely, a quiet and beautiful town. The air around was chilly and I felt an increasing tendency to pull the jacket and cover as much of my torso as I could. The town was small and yet had a certain charm to it. The buildings were bijou and showed the austere way of living of the people. In the distance we could see a small gathering of people doing yoga on the bank of the river of Ganga. The faces of the people, even from a distance, seemed to be tranquil and as placid as the Ganga in the morning that flowed beside them languorously. There were a few temples here and there and about two hundred metres away, I could see a suspension bridge that was juxtaposed with the mountainous wilderness and it introduced a modern and contemporary element into the town.
