Chapter 24: Chapter 24

Important discovery

Mary was surprised to see them early for dinner... Francis

and Philomena both were not there as they had been asked

for some opening ceremony and expected only the next day

.

They had their dinner unusually quietly and Mary thought

they were upset about something and she maintained her

distance...When they had their dinner immediately they

went back to their respective rooms as if to prove her point.

Redim set the alarm for 11.40pm and slept... Richard was

too keyed up to sleep. He was thinking of his dull life and

how all these excitements came suddenly... how it gave two

genuine friends and of course the lovely little talking

animals.. He couldn’t think of them as aliens...as he had

heard them since his childhood... His thoughts about the old

man were one of regret. He never believed him but liked to

listen to his tall stories. Now he wished he had believed

him…when it was thirty minutes to midnight, he got ready.

He remembered that they have to crawl, so he padded his

knees with one of his vest and wore a loose fitting jeans

and a tee .He took his cell phone and secured it in his belt

and took the torch.

He went to Frank’s suite and knocked at the door, the door

was kept open so he entered his room. He saw Frank

waiting fully dressed.

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Richard asked if he had padded his knees and Frank smiled

and said, ‘Richard, I did not forget my experience... so

padded them with my thickest old shirts ...

Redim said, ‘me too! I had stuffed some tops into my

stockings’

‘Then what are we waiting... come let us go....’ Frank

started moving. Richard switched of the lights and followed

them...

When they came down, Richard cautioned them about the

security and Frank said, ‘mostly he will be sleeping but it is

better we go through the back door....’

So they moved through the back door and walked on the

walkway that connected the walkway that ran parallel to

the ravine… Frank wished he had been taken through this

route instead of the one Re took him...

Re and few more of their people appeared around them...

now they were all had taken the dwarf form Redim and

Richard both became their instant fans... The exquisite

beauty could be seen starkly in the torch light...

Re said, ‘it was easier to go through the tunnel walking

rather than flying... So we always take this form when we

use the tunnel... There is no need to caution you about the

secrecy as our survival depends on us being undetectable ‘

Richard said, ‘don’t be afraid... we will never betray our

friends and you have helped us few times and you have

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earned our allegiance ... You see it is kind of a human

thing....’

Frank, ‘Human thing! Yes it sounds correct ...’

They came near the ravine and the flash flood was still

gushing down in a loud clatter...Frank thought it was much

better than the first day but Redim was really scared to

think of going down and moving underwater to reach the

other side !

She asked him if it was really safe but then Re’s people

disappeared down.

Re told them, ‘sit here and find the rungs below, when you

find the rungs, you have to flip over to climb down...just

two rungs and then the tunnel would be seen .. You crawl

through....’

Redim sat and tried to find the rungs in the wall of the

ravine...She could feel it...she kept the legs on the rung and

flipped over holding the edge... slowly she felt around until

she found the next one and she could see the tunnel … she

crawled into it without difficulty.. Frank waited until she

was out of sight and then asked Richard to go... Richard

climbed down so effortlessly and then Frank went down...

They crawled through the tunnel noiselessly and when

Redim came to the junction, she stopped and Re appeared

beside her to give the direction...

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Finally Redim came out and she gasped in surprise... she

would never forget the sight as long as she lived... The

paradise must have been like this she thought...

Re and his people, as a welcome sign placed so many

floating lights all around the cavern’s interior.. The banana

plants and the corn fields were lighted with some yellowish

lights and the rest were bluish lights … it gave an

appearance of a mini globe... or an indoor stadium... the

lights were moving here and there making the place so

unreal..

The rocky columns were all lit so brightly with white lights

and it looked like lit adorned Christmas trees and standing

at the centre ,gleaming in the light was the spacecraft the

shark as Frank called it.. Redim never expected to see such

beauty and she was too stunned to move... Richard bumped

into her and whistled to show his appreciation and even

Frank did not expect it to be this beautiful because

previously only few lights were there...

Redim turned to look at Frank and said, ‘thank you Frank...

I will cherish this memory till my last breath’

Re told her, ‘Redim, you must thank us not Frank’

They all laughed... All Re’s people were there all around

them…Richard picked one female to look closely and she

said, ‘hello Richard ...Remember me ... I used to sit on

your window .the green parrot ...’

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Richard remembered... The parrot was a regular visitor

when he was young... When his parents died, one of the

reasons that he had not wanted to go and live anywhere

because of the parrot!

The female continued, ‘I am Gee and I had seen you crying

alone most of the nights’

There was an absolute silence... Richard was so

embarrassed and he gently kept Ge on the ground...Frank

could see he was emotionally moved so he went near him

and gave him a hug... Redim gave him a slap and said

‘lucky guy’ and laughed. Richard pulled himself with

difficulty and laughed with them.

He said, ‘I was lonely child but got over it long time ago.

Ge agreed, ‘I stopped coming to see you’

Richard looked at Ge for sometime as he recalled the

parrot..There, Re called them over to show the spacecraft

and everything went out of their mind .

The first thing that struck Redim was, it’s size and the

colour. It was really small and she had never seen that

peculiar shining pinkish colour... Richard was so attracted

to it... he went around it touching it here and there. It was

very hard to touch unlike any metal he had seen... Frank

peeped inside the spacecraft...everything was as he had

seen it... Redim wanted to see the interior properly and she

asked Re and crawled in... She could see so many

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equipments all along the ceiling and in the nose area...To

her amazement, all of them were ticking away and the

monitor showed some weird markings...she slowly crawled

between the aisles to see how the seats were arranged …. It

was all so neat and compact... Frank called her out and

slowly she came out.

Richard went in and took a long time coming out... He

looked dazed...and asked Re ‘all the monitors are working

and you said you have some problems!’

Ro came forward and said, ‘we lost the starter key,

superluminal particles emitter and the location fixer... either

we have lost it or misplaced ... we have been searching for

it’

Richard was very pensive, he thought he had seen the

peculiar shade of The LED light somewhere .He asked

Frank, ‘we have seen this kind of a display somewhere in a

cell phone’

Frank thought for a while and remembered what he brought

from the old man’s house.., ‘Richard you remember, and

you brought a square cell phone from the old man’s house!

Do you think it could be the one?’

Redim said, remember I too showed you something like

this which I found in the cave ‘

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Frank squatted beside Re, ‘Re the gadgets you lost... what

is the size of them... is it small like this’ he showed his cell

.

..the whole group became silent ...

Re said ‘yes but not rectangle but a perfect square! But why

Frank... don’t tell me you found them’

‘Not I, Richard found it in the old man’s house and the rest

Redim found them in the cave’

No one spoke for sometime... Ro said, ‘impossible, we

have checked everyplace in your house ‘

Frank said, ‘I will tell you where it is ...go and fetch

them... I want know if all the gadgets that you need are

there or not’

He told Ro where he keeps the key to the bed drawer and

asked him to open the drawer in the right side below the

mattress. Take one more person with you ‘

Ro was so ashamed that he didn’t check his bed, he

apologised profusely to Re but Re was in euphoria... he

wanted him to go and get it…

Ro and few more disappeared … few brought the some

kind of baked corns and gave it to them but they were too

excited to taste... they all waited... Only Richard was going

around the spacecraft and observing it keenly and many

little ones were following him.

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Richard was familiar to them as they had been seeing him

since his childhood. So they wanted to be with

him...looking at him and talking among themselves

They have to wait only few minutes before Ro and group

appeared. All of them came running and surrounded them...

A cheer went off... they found all the essential gadgets they

needed!

Redim said,’ we have to find you an Exoplanet as your

destination... Be cheerful...we will find you that

too…’Frank said that they were leaving and a visibly happy

Re accompanied them...

*

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