Chapter 27: Chapter 27

Arda

It looked as if the whole of Arda’s beings were there in

the city of Rich. The Aatians, the plants and few important

amphibious beings from the ocean had found themselves

in the city. They knew their King was wounded in the

battle with the creatures and the healer from his birth place

was expected!

Few of them even knew that the Cynig had gone on an

expedition and they wanted to know about him too!

So they had been waiting for the past three days even

though Ro kept on telling them some kind of running

commentary!

There was no improvement in Richard’s condition but he

was monitored closely with all kinds of gadgets from the

Aatians as well as the Reans. He was surrounded by them

at all the times.

It was more than a month and he should have showed

some kind of response but nothing. Victon saw tears

flowing from Richard’s eyes whenever Ro mentioned

Frank’s name. So he asked the Reans to talk about Frank

and about the Earth more…

The queen sent one of her branches into the room where

he was kept and was observing him at all the time!

Ro calculated the time and thought in few hours the

spacecraft would land and he calculated the old time of

fifteen days and eight hours. But even as he was thinking,

there was an ear-splitting commotion outside. They all ran

out to see the spacecraft Ave which was visible to the

naked eyes and landed exactly from where it took off!

Ro cautioned everyone that they wouldn’t come out of

their consciousness immediately and slowly they would

come out. There was an absolute silence. The winter had

already begun and snowflakes were falling gently.

The outer cover opened and then the wings raised, the

steps extended but no one came out…They waited… Ro

had some misgiving and he held his breath.

Re and Zo appeared on the steps and the crowd went wild!

It took a long time before the crowd quietened!

Victon came forward and welcomed them.

Re explained to him that the humans usually took more

time to recover and they should wait some more time and

they were all perfectly alright and in various stages of

consciousness!

Victon tentatively asked about the Cynig and Zo replied

with a huge smile on his face, ‘Your Cynig is now Robert

and he is going to have a very good time as he is staying in

Frank’s house as his friend. I am not sure he would come

back here as he was extremely happy when I left him

there’

Victon was relieved but troubled and he hoped he would

return.

Ro had disturbing news to tell them. He said, ‘Zo, I

tracked a signal and it shows that it is coming towards

Arda… You just come and see… For the past few days the

signal seemed to stop in one place…I am puzzled! Come

and see for yourself!

Both Ro and Zo left to the communication centre…Zo was

alarmed to see the stationary signal… the spacecraft must

have been kept in a stationary orbit very close to

Arda…The mother craft would be stationary and he was

sure they must have sent some smaller vehicles to Arda!

He asked Ro to send some lookout and to warn the plants.

He ran to tell the queen in front of the foyer…and she

commanded the plants to go and find anything strange

around here…

Re could see that Redim was coming out of her stupor and

he had already removed all the magnetic clamps that kept

them in one place.

Redim sat down suddenly! When she saw Re in front of

her, a huge smile broke out and she hugged him. The

crowd outside stood still to have a glimpse of the healer

and when she came out in blue jeans and tops, dark blue

jacket and her perfect beauty framed by some wisps of

hair flowing around her face, the crowd went once again

wild.

Redim waved her hand to the most peculiar crowd that

she ever seen but she was prepared well by Re and Zo…

Frank and Christina were out of the state of

unconsciousness and the noise of the crowd brought them

out... They were simply amazed to see the fairytale like

city and the snowflakes gave an ethereal look to the city…

The yellow Alpha light was so strange to their eyes!

…

Once again they were greeted loudly and the echo was

heard all around the mountains!

Re asked them to follow him and they climbed down the

steps and followed him to the palace...

Christina wanted to see Richard and she walked with

Re… They entered the foyer and walked up to the room

where Richard was kept…

The room was silent except for the noise of the gadgets

which were monitoring him!

Frank went near him and said loudly, ‘hello Richard, there

is no homework ...so what are you doing here!’

Redim could see his rapid eyes movements and she smiled

…

. It must have been just a concussion!

Redim spoke to him as if he was there standing in front of

her! , ‘Hello bro, you made me to come all this way and

now you must take me around! And don’t act …I have

brought your girlfriend… your girlfriend Christina ’

The eye movement stopped, the eyes slowly opened and

again closed!

Christina was so relieved to see him and she laughed with

her customary giggle and said, ‘Richii, it is me ...

Christy… You made me to search you in all the different

worlds’

Even before she finished speaking he opened his eyes and

a look of terror came into his eyes and once again they

laughed….

Where am I? On Earth! Frank how good to see you’

He then tried to sit and seeing all the gadgets attached to

him he became bewildered.

Doctor Redim took over… She told them all to go out and

she told him everything slowly so he wouldn’t get any

shock and he was still on Arda and they had come from

Earth to bring medical help for him…

Her soothing voice calmed him down and he asked

tentatively, ' but why Christy!’

Redim laughed, ‘Christina would have put us in jail if we

have not revealed your whereabouts! She hounded us for

nearly one year! She is madly in love with you … you

know!’ looking at his radiant shy face, she knew she did

not tell him something new!

Richard nodded shyly and said, ‘since her childhood…’

Redim checked him and he was perfectly alright and she

wouldn’t call it a medical miracle as people in coma

would recover as suddenly as they had lost their

consciousness! When she was totally satisfied, she invited

others to come in!

Richard’s recovery was passed across the crowd and once

again there was a deafening noise of jubilation all

around…

But happiness never last as the cycle of life brings both

happiness and sorrow one after another!

Victon received the news from the queen that the alien

creatures were sighted not far from the city!

The creatures must have been the scouts as their small

saucer like spacecraft was there with them. They were

cutting down all the plants they could see and there was a

great fear among the plants.

Victon knew about the other signal that had come

repeatedly and he guessed correctly that the main

spaceship must be somewhere orbiting and the scouts have

been sent to analyse the situation. He discussed the matter

with the Aatians and Re.

Re was very firm in not to involve all the natives as their

weapons and technical skill were not up to the

Reans…Even though the Aatians knew more about the

liquid and gaseous fuel, the Reans were experts in particle

energy which was definitely more efficient…moreover

their invisible attacks were never failed to kill or chase any

enemies so far.

So he explained that his team would go and wipe out the

scouts and would destroy the space saucer or would bring

it here.

Ro was listening to it and he said since Re and Zo had just

then arrived from a long journey, he would take his team

and Re accepted it.

So Ro had taken their emitters which was actually atomic

weapons and few spitters of the Aatians.

The creatures were not hiding but searching openly for

their counterparts and their spaceship…It was easy to find

them … The creatures were using their upper tentacles to

search just like the arms and used the lower tentacles to

move but sometimes while they were climbing they used

all the four tentacles to move.

Ro and his team went quietly among them and shot them

through their eyes even before they had realised that there

was an attack.

They all perish in no time but Ro and his team checked for

any life and when they were satisfied they went in search

of the saucer .They found it but Ro was not able to operate

it and he called Zo.

Zo too couldn’t control the speed so they left it there and

the Aatians took all the dead creatures so that no trace of

them would be found….

They all knew it was not the end of the story and anytime

the spaceship which was orbiting would land in Arda!

They returned to the city of Rich where everyone wanted

to know about the creatures. The queen was worried and

asked everyone to be alert for further attacks… As the

days passed on without any attacks or any signal from the

spaceship all became a little relieved and thought the

creatures must have left…Even the queen was relaxed.

Meanwhile Richard seemed to be the happiest of all. Frank

and Redim were like the true family that he never had.

Christina wiped away even a little bit of inferiority

complex. He felt complete as she knew everything about

him there was no need to put up a brave face. He was so

comfortable with her that he questioned himself why he

used to hide from her back on Earth! He knew on Earth

people had to think about the social norms and status

…

the unwritten rules and regulations made people to be

always to be on guard…

But those social norms were needed to keep a society

thrive and perhaps even in Arda those kinds of rules

needed to be established...

Richard took all the three of them in the orb and showed

them as much of the land. Victon invited them to the

underwater city and the palace of Cynig… They agreed to

go there and Frank was in awe of the bubble which took

them to the palace.

Richard described his first experience to the palace and

how pompous Robert the Cynig sounded. They saw the

farm, and the animals which they would see on land on

Earth were swimming around in the ocean …Richard

explained about the reverse evolution that from complex

to simple forms.

‘Redim you would not find any bacteria or virus here. I

have not even seen many invertebrates here!’

All were thrilled to hear as they knew the living beings

were introduced by some aliens who had brought them

from the Earth…

They had a relaxing time in the underwater palace when

the bonhomie was shattered by an alarm… a shrill alarm

kept on repeating and Aatians were seen running here and

there.

Victon came with the news, ‘we need to go to the city

immediately! The city is being attacked by thousands of

the alien creatures… come let us go…’

Victon ran ahead but the humans overtook him easily and

waited for him to catch up. He gave them the spitters and

gave a brief demonstration of how to handle it. It could be

used as the revolver, only that it had liquid bullets and

thousands of rounds.

They were left on the beach where hundreds of orbs were

waiting to escort them to the city. Victon insisted that they

stay together and all of them were in the royal orb which

was spacious…

As they were approaching the city they could hear the

commotion.

Richard told, ‘we need to destroy the spaceship first. Let

us find it and once we find it the war is almost over as the

creatures are rather primitive beings’

Victon said, ‘but first we must see our guests are safe in

the palace ... we cannot take any chances with their

safety!’

Richard was so touched, ‘Victon I am sorry ...I should

have thought of it’

Frank interrupted him, ‘come on Richard, it will be a story

to tell our grandchildren ...’

Redim, ‘I will tell my children first… No we have come to

help you and that is final Richard or I will send you back

to coma’

They all laughed and Richard knew he had no choice…

Christina was enjoying every moment of the time. She

thought it was the most glorious time of her life…being

with Richard and helping him… she thought nothing could

be better than this!

The orbs that were moving ahead stopped in midair!

Victon couldn’t believe his eyes and he pointed at the

mountains that surrounded the city…

The dark mountains were dotted with numerous

creatures… They were climbing the mountain to reach the

city so the city was found!

The creatures were climbing fast using all the four

tentacles and one of the creatures saw the orbs behind it

and gave a warning to others!

Victon took the orb up and the others followed him and

when he was close, he opened the door and started

shooting at the creatures…others too were shooting at

them and the creatures either burnt or rolled all the way

down. They had some kind of hand grenades and they

threw at the orbs. One of the orbs was hit and it went

down and shattered on the rock below but the Aatians

jumped out with a balloon around him.

Frank was surprised and looked at the safety belt that

Victon insisted they wear!

Obviously the safety belt had a duel role and it could

become a life safer!

The Aatians were hunting the creatures and it was all too

easy to shoot them as they were easily spotted and they

were not actually equipped to fight with them…

Christina pointed at the creatures that fell down... The one

that died remained motionless but the others duplicated

itself just like the cell division… They were amazed to see

them multiplying fast now another hundred were climbing

the mountain…

Redim said, ‘These creatures have the ability of vegetative

propagation and it can be killed only by shooting at its

single eye in the head! But they are rather stupid …instead

of running away from certain death they are again

climbing!’

Frank agreed and said, ‘Victon, we can go there to the

summit and we can easily kill them as they climb up and

reach the summit!’

Victon thought it was a good idea and communicated with

the other orbs to climb up and land on the summit but not

to come out and just to shoot at the creatures as they

climbed up …

But when they reached there, they could see hundreds of

invaders were already on the other side and some of them

even had reached the city!

The plants were running away from them towards the

palace… Richard could see the Aatians fighting them

valiantly and the creatures started reaching the summit and

as they climbed they were shot!

But yet few creatures escaped and picked up the orbs in

their tentacles threw them like a toy!

Victon stood in the doorway of the royal orb and was

shooting at the creatures and all of a sudden a tentacle shot

out and pulled him off… Even before anyone could react,

Christina jumped outside and ran near the creature, which

was about to throw him …

Christina shot at the tentacle as she was running and

Victon was dropped… The creature turned towards

Christina with one tentacle dangling useless, it picked up

Christina in the other tentacle! Christina stared at its eye

which was gleaming malevolence in the yellow Alpha

light and she shot its head from close range….It fell down

and Christina jumped away to avoid being smothered by

the dead body and ran towards the orb … Victon was not

able to believe his eyes and he was in utter shock…

Richard was down and he picked her up threw her inside

the orb! He could see a creature was running towards

Victon and he ran and picked him up and threw him inside

the orb. Frank shot the creature that was about to pull

Richard and it fell down dead.

Now all were safe inside the orb and Richard was furious

with Christina for doing something so foolhardy but she

laughed heartily and said, ‘Victon wouldn’t think so’

Victon thanked her so profusely all had to laugh… Redim

was very impressed with Christina.

Few more creatures were seen running back from the city.

They looked terrified as most of them fell down as they

were shot by some unseen attackers!

Frank said, ‘the best weapon is their invisibility no enemy

could escape from the Reans’

The Aatians finished of the few who escaped the Reans’

attack. The grenades that the creatures were throwing were

of no use as most of them did not blast …perhaps because

of the snow!

Few creatures were seen running to save their lives in the

city’s circular roads but the plants chased them and the

branches picked them and dashed them against the

ground… they were thrown so high up and they fell down.

It was dreadful to watch the peace loving plants turning

into demons!

The beings of Arda had an upper hand from the beginning.

The entire clan of the creatures were wiped out in no time.

The orbs went in search of any escaped creatures and they

were hunted by the natives and killed…

Zo had found the spaceship and he said he would be

bringing it to the city.

Ro had already worked on the space saucer in which the

first scouts were arrived. He had used the MagLev and

fixed the speed problem and brought it into the city. It

slowly and majestically flew above the summit where the

humans were standing!

The golden light made all the houses and palaces to shine

as they had used some reflectors as the final coat! The

numerous plants, the orbs that were still flying to monitor

the roads, the Aatians and the ocean beings gave such an

improbable scene that the humans were simply speechless!

Richard felt so thankful that the casualties were very

few… Victon had already given instructions to gather all

the Aatians who were dead or wounded. They were taken

to the underwater palace…

The trees picked up all the dead plants and broken

branches and took them outside the city through the pass...

The humans were brought down to the palace and they

were talking about the future course of action.

Frank and Redim were thinking of returning but Richard

wanted them to stay for few more days.

Redim asked, ‘Why Richard, don’t you want to come back

to the Earth? You can easily come with us as the frontier is

crossed and city is established. So what is your

plan?’Frank said, ‘you must come back at least for the

sake of Christina!’

Christina looked at them strangely and said, ‘I am not very

particular that Richard must return… These beings look up

at him and address him as their King… It would not be

correct to abandon them at this point of time… Perhaps in

the future he can think about it!’

Richard felt awful as he thought Christina did not want

him to go back with her.

Even Frank and Redim were taken aback…

Christina continued, ‘but I would like you both Frank and

Redim to do something for me’

Frank said, ‘I have never seen you hesitating for anything

especially when you hounded me asking about Richard!

So why you sound this humble!’

Christina laughed and said, ‘The groom has not proposed

to me still but I want you to tie this man with me in

marriage… if I had to wait for him to propose, I had to

wait all my life! Frank and Redim would you get us

married here and we will stay here’

Richard jumped up with tears in his eyes…

He knelt in front of Christina, ‘will you marry me

Christina?’ He had one of the strange multicoloured gem

that was given to him by the Cynig and he offered it to

her!

It was the most beautiful memory that Frank and Redim

would hold it lifelong. They all had moist eyes…The

scene was disturbed by Re who appeared in front of

them…Redim was quite annoyed that he was there with

them all along without their knowledge!

So she picked him up and asked him, ‘were you

eavesdropping’

Re laughed and said, ‘at your service madam! So we have

both the King and the queen... We are the happiest today!

Most of the Reans were there and they all were very

pleased about the turn of events!

Victon shyly came and congratulated both.

Re said, ‘We will make all the arrangement for the

wedding of the millennium and we will make merry’

The news spread like a wildfire and there was jubilation

all around!

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