Chapter 18: Chapter 18

Re came in search of him !Richard, I have good news for

you …!’He sounded so excited and the excitement was

infectious!

Re continued, ‘Zo had reinforced the Link and he wanted

you to try it as we had no one on Earth whom we are

connected mentally! Even though Frank was very close to

me, On Earth I had to concentrate a lot to connect with

him! The Link works well if both the persons are mentally

connected… Try who knows, may be Frank is thinking of

you right now …’

ON EARTH

Meanwhile on Earth at the same time Frank was facing a

very life-size problem in the name of Christina! Christina

was a distant cousin to Richard. Everyone else accepted

the story that Richard had taken some gold from the

treasure and absconded and he had not told them where he

was going and he did not call for the past year!

Everyone except Christina - she wouldn’t accept it... Yes it

was almost a year since Richard took the sudden decision

when he jumped into the space craft of the extraterrestrials

and disappeared from Tim’s land. It was that split second

action of him that put Frank and Redim in such a tight spot

for the past year! They couldn’t tell anyone what exactly

happened to Richard but the villagers gossiped that he

stole some gold from the treasure and absconded with that!

Since then no one had seen him nor heard from him! Even

the villagers had stopped talking about him! It helped that

he lived alone and he did not have very close relatives and

even the distant ones did not live in that village!

All accepted that the sudden prosperity must have made

him forget everyone …moreover he had never been close

to anyone, least of all with his few relatives!

But Christina who was a distant cousin, refused to believe

the story! She had been a constant visitor to the village and

Tim’s land since then! She would come down to the

village, stay in Richard’s house and would go to meet

Frank…She asked the same question, ‘Where is Richard?’

She would ask him to tell what happened on the day he

disappeared! Frank had to rehearse an appropriate story

with Redim his girlfriend. Christina would question both

in different ways! She felt that they knew more than what

they were telling her!

Now Christina has been graduated as a software engineer

and stayed there permanently in Tim’s village…

On that day, Christina was walking towards Tim’s land

and to Frank’s house when she met Mary the

housekeeper... Mary was very fond of Christina as she

would not talk about anything else but only about Richard!

Moreover, Mary liked her because she thought Christina

was the most beautiful girl that she had ever seen.

Christina was not very tall, had a fair complexion, curly

hair that touched her waist, perfect features and with the

straight forward look unlike the other girls. Christina

greeted Mary and they together walked in the driveway

towards Frank’s house!

Mary was telling her about Richard and how he would

come and help her in the kitchen and he was so happy

while he was staying there with Frank. How they would be

seen together all the time and how the doctor madam

treated him like her own brother! How he liked his room

where he stayed…

She was talking on and on … A thought came to her

suddenly! Christina had not seen the room in which he

stayed ...she did not know why she never thought of going

there! She decided to go there and asked permission to

visit the room.

When they reached the house as usual only Frank was

there. His parents had settled in the city and only very

rarely they visited Tim’s land!

Frank was waiting for Redim and they had decided to get

married and settle in Tim’s Land. They would have

married much earlier but Redim was disturbed about

Richard’s betrayal and at the same time the concern for

him made her to postpone her wedding plan!

Richard’s decision affected Redim more than Frank… She

was worried about him when they couldn’t connect with

him and she lost all hope of him being alive. She felt

guilty that she should have anticipated his move as he was

very comfortable with her…treated her like a sibling

rather than some new acquaintance.

The hardest thing was that they couldn’t tell anyone as

they had to keep quiet about the extraterrestrials. It was

harder to tell lies to people who really cared for Richard

like Mary and the new entry Christina!

Frank was scared to face Christina as she had a way of

looKing straight at his eyes and he knew she sensed that

he did not tell the truth when he said he just left with

gold…!

Redim was expected at anytime and he was glad of her

presence as she was the only person whom he could be

normal!

Frank saw Mary and Christina entering the hall and he

cringed at the thought of an enquiry all over again!

But Christina walked up to him very casually, ‘Sir could I

go and see Richard’s room please? Mary said she would

show the room if you give permission!’ Frank was so

relieved that she was asking him something that would be

easy to do and immediately agreed!

Mary brought the key and she was talking nonstop about

how they had kept the room as it was thinking he would

return and how Frank was devastated when he left without

telling anyone!

The room was stylishly decorated as it was one of the

guests rooms the pastel shade gave an elegance to the

room and the subdued lightings made the room to look

classic!

Christina stopped listening to Mary and concentrated on

the things… the bed was neatly made and on the nearby

table few newspapers and books were left…

He had left one of his shirts on the settee and she was

surprised Mary the meticulous left it as it was. Mary saw

her moving slowly and she lost interest, ‘Christina, once

you finish it here, lock the room and bring the key to me…

I have some work in the kitchen’

Christina nodded her head without even taking her eyes

off the shirt!

Richard could not be called as a well dressed man but

whatever he had would be good quality. The shirt was one

of his best shirts that her father gave to him in the previous

Christmas!

She looked at the news papers on the table and most of

them were more than one year old and he had circled some

news. She read the circled news and it was all about the

old man’s murder… One or two news papers were dated

on the previous day of his disappearance… The headlines

were about the treasure trove in Tim’s land…

She saw few books on the table and all of them were

about the UFO or about the aliens! She never knew that he

was interested in aliens…

She went around the bed to the other side where she

stepped on some hard object and she picked it up! It was a

small wedge shaped object that shone dully and she

immediately associated it with the treasure as all the

channels showed the enormous cache of the gold in

circular shape… It looked similar to the one she saw

except for the shape.. a part of a circle!

She thought then what Frank was telling was true! He had

left one piece by mistake! She cried thinking about

Richard! The Richard whom she knew would never do

something like it! She wiped her tears and thought that

there must be some other explanation!

She saw few handwritten papers and she read it… The

pieces had only two words written…either ‘Right’ or

‘Wrong’

She remembered the game that they would play in

childhood… They would put lots before every prank they

played.. the pranks were played if the they picked up “

Right”! Was it the conclusion then!

She was heartbroken as she walked around the room to

find some clue! Nothing else was there! She opened the

wardrobe and to her surprise all his dresses were hanging

there! She had some doubt as he would never leave all his

new shirts, obviously given to him when he went with

Frank to USA. He wouldn’t leave them… He was by

nature a very miserly person and he would never leave

them unless he had to leave abruptly or he was removed

by force or he was killed!

The last thought galvanized her into action and she ran to

Frank’s study. Frank was alarmed to see her face and he

got up in reflex!

Christina had lost all her reason and screamed at him,

‘what did you do to him? Did you kill him because he

knew too much? Do you keep him somewhere because he

would tell everyone about some secret? No sir… I will go

to the police with all the evidences that I found in his

room… don’t try to convince me. Richard would never be

attracted to gold or any riches! You tell me now or I will

call the police here… where did you bury him?’

Redim’s voice came like a whiplash!, ‘Sure call the police

now! How dare you speak like this! It is not enough of

Richard’s betrayal now you go and stab us ! We deserve it

you know… for trusting him and taken him as our friend

…

Do you know he was almost like my brother that I

never had! You are asking us if we had killed him!

Frank ! this is too much … I have had it … Tell this stupid

girl what he did.. yes everything and ask her to get lost! I

don’t have any more patience left and I am not going to

carry the burden of Richard’s stupid mistake all my life!’

Christina had never seen Redim in such anger… The

passion in her voice told her they were as sorry as she was

in losing Richard. Her anger drained completely and she

apologised profusely…

But Redim looked at only Frank, ‘are you going to tell or I

will tell her…?’

She went and sat on one of the chairs, crossed her legs

and waited! She looked regal sitting there with the

heightened colour!

Frank came and gave her a hug but she wouldn’t relent…

He turned towards Christina, ‘I will tell you everything but

if you insist on going to the police, I will use all my

connection and deny everything! Is that clear!

Christina had lost all her confidence as she knew looking

at Redim, that Richard must have done something terrible!

She recalled the scene when he dropped from school and

how stubborn he was then!

Frank told her to sit but she remained standing … too

intimidated by Redim and waiting with trepidation to

know the misdeed of Richard… Her love for him and her

knowledge about him were at logger heads!

Frank told her, ‘ It would take some time… So make

yourself comfortable! Redim would you like to freshen

up?

Redim, ‘I don’t want this girl coming here questioning us

like a criminal! Tell her now!’

Frank nodded her head, ‘Come to my room both of you’

He left before they could react and Christina was too

frightened to move but Redim saw her shivering and pitied

her!

She just gestured her to follow her and climbed the steps

briskly. Christina followed her quietly...

Frank had brought out the stone tablets which had the

evidences of the aliens. He assembled them in the order of

the events as the numbers were given for each tablet…

Frank just gestured to Christina to see them.. She was

bewildered but she looked at the tablets keenly!

She could see it was some ancient marking on the stone

tablets, looked like a relief work!

Frank , ‘well, do you infer anything?’

She said, ‘obviously very old… the people have registered

some unnatural happenings that they have seen on the sky!

May be a shooting star or some asteroid crashing… all

those who had seen it died except for one!

I don’t understand them well!’

Redim appreciated her, ‘no you have actually decipher the

meaning pretty well! But it is not a shooting star but

aliens!

Christina had goosebumps as she had seen few books on

aliens in Richard’s room…

She waited… no one spoke for some time.

Frank finally broke the silence, ‘It was a long story! These

aliens landed here and lived among us for nearly a

thousand years.’‘Thousand years!’ Christina felt giddy…

Frank went on, ‘they came and asked our help for

something and Richard was already familiar with them

even though he did not know at the beginning they were

aliens!

He had taken his responsibilities little too high. So when

they had decided to find a suitable place to settle, without

any ones knowledge, even without the knowledge of the

aliens, he jumped into the space craft when it was about to

take off!

That loveable fool thought he could help them …who

were highly superior to us! We were left with taking the

burden of facing people like you!’

Christina sat on the settee heavily and she broke down

crying... Redim looked at her for sometime but her grief

tugged at her so went to her and hugged her without telling

anything!

Frank continued, ‘one piece of good news for you

Christina!’She looked up with tears in her eyes …

‘The aliens gave us a Link and if we concentrate, we could

connect with them! When they reached their new home the

exoplanet Proxima Earth, the leader Re connected with me

and said Richard survived! Yes the fool survived! ’

Christina jumped to her feet, ‘What you can connect with

him?!..’

He showed her the Link that he was wearing, ‘Yes, that

was the theory but unfortunately I was not able to connect

with them! In fact, Redim spends at least two hours every

day to reach them and I do try but not sure why it was not

working any more’

Frank removed his link and gave it to her… ‘why don’t

you try?!’

She took the link in trembling hands and inspected it

closely. She held it tightly in her palm and sat down to

concentrate. She sat like that for a long time and both left

her . Redim freshened up and came back but still she sat in

the same position!

Frank joined Redim and he felt very sorry for Christina!

‘Christina, it is ok… he will contact us shortly!’

She opened her eyes slowly as if she was in a trance…‘I

think it works… I feel him but he is not talking to me! But

his presence is felt surely! very weird experience!’

Frank was very excited as he took the Link from her. He

wore it around his neck and he kept his hand over it so that

it could touch his skin!

He went and sat on his bed, closed his eyes and

concentrated!

Redim asked Christina to sit and both waited!

It was almost an hour before they could see a change in

Frank! They could see his whole body shivering and his

hands shaking… He did not open his eyes!

‘Richard, is that Richard?’

But why Richard? why ? how are you?

They communicated for some more time…‘ Richard I

have a bigger problem in the name of Christina! Do you

remember her!…..Frank laughed as he must have said

something funny!‘ Oh yes . that is correct .. just like a

police dog! Yes exactly!…..‘ oh you miss her!...‘ What!

you are the King Richard now! ….‘Redim is here and she

may kill you if you see you…’Ok connect with her and I

will give the link to Christina too!

Redim concentrated as she had worn her link ever since he

left!

They communicated for some time and she asked

Christina to concentrate.She sat absolutely still and

concentrated … tears were flowing … ‘Richard how could

you do it! How could you leave me like this?’…What

rubbish, I am a software engineer! Yes so what... stupid

Richard as usual ! Now how you went there… same way

you come back… ‘Really … who cares ….…’

It was funny to hear the one sided communication and

both left silently leaving her to talk to her beloved Richard

*

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