The Time Traveler

by Tej Pratap Singh

  “What’s in the chip?” asked KC.

  “That info is not relevant for the mission.”

  “I need to know,” said KC, “I have been carrying it with me for so long, I need to know what’s in it.”

  “That information could seriously jeopardise your chances of returning back to this time, I would suggest you to concentrate on the job at hand. And, don’t activate the chip before the client comes, it can only be activated once.”

  “Ending transmission.”

  “Hey, come back,” said KC irritated, picking up the time-com and shouting at it. “You haven’t answered my questions yet.”

  “Dammit…” said KC as he kept the time-com on the table and sat back on his couch. He pulled out the $1 note and tried to read it again but the writing was too small, he had to get a magnifying glass. It’s not safe to go out looking for it, he thought, maybe I should do it later. Then again, I’ve gone through a lot to get the note and would be a shame not to get to the bottom of it.

  He made up his mind. He picked up the phone and called the reception, “Hi, I’m calling from room 111. I was wondering if there was a stationery store nearby?”

  “Yes, sir, there is one just across the street,” said the receptionist.

  “Umm. The thing is that I am in dire need of a magnifying glass, the largest one possible. I had one of my own but as you know it got misplaced with my other stuff at the airport, so…”

  “No problem, sir,” interrupted the receptionist. “I’ll have one sent over to you immediately.”

  “Thank you,” he said as he hung up the phone. He had some time for himself now. The time-com had mentioned that the MegaTech clients would get there in an hour. He looked at the washroom.

  “Time for a much deserved hot bath then,” he said to himself.

  He went inside the bathroom to see a grand size bathtub. Towards the head of the tub some of the best body wash lotions were kept in order, they smelled so good. It had been some time since he had got to treat himself to such luxury. He turned on the tap to fill the tub with water. Just then the bell rang. He wondered if the staff had got the magnifying glass for him. He opened the door to see that it was indeed the staff with the magnifying glass for him.

  “Wow, that was quick!” he said taking the glass from them and closing the door.

  He kept the glass on a table and went into the bathroom, his bath was waiting, but he came out right away, he couldn’t shake the feeling that it was important to read what was on the note first. He kept the note on the table and tried to read it through the magnifying glass. Finally, he could read it, very slowly he read….

  “T..R..A……P D..E..S..T..R..O……Y C…..H..I..P

  VOICE-CODE….XER3….67YH…E4R5”

  “……………”

  What on earth does this mean, KC said to himself, never mind.

  He decided to give it another shot, carefully he read it again. Just then someone knocked on the door…

  “Who is it?”

  “MegaTech,” came the reply.

  “That was mighty quick,” he said. “Hold on,… I’m coming.”

  Quickly he tried to read again for the last time.

  “T.R.A.P D.E.S.T.R.O.Y C.H.I.P”

  CODE….XER3….67YH…E4R5. This is not the end, the beginning…”

  “Bloody crap!” his face turned pale.

  “Open the fucking door,” came the voice from across the door. “Open it now!”

  He froze. He didn’t know what to do. His ticket back home was standing right outside the door, all he had to do was to hand over the chip to them, but he was now seriously confused as the note said otherwise. Whom should he trust? Which way should he go? He then remembered what Jenny had written in the note she gave him and he got his answer.

  “Open the fucking door, or we’ll blow it open,” came a strong and desperate voice. KC’s beliefs were reinforced.

  The voice code came next, “XER3….67YH…E4R5.”

  Then there was a sudden flash of light with a huge bang. Barely able to open his eyes, KC got up and looked at the time-com, it was displaying a holographic image of planet earth and had highlighted all the areas where numerous oil wells were present which were to be discovered in the next 200 years and the information of three new elements which were yet to be discovered.

  The image suddenly imploded.

  “Self-destruct in 5 seconds,” came the voice from the time-com.

  “Bloody hell,” said KC as he got up.

  “5,4…”

  The men from MegaTech blew open the door and pointed their automatics at KC.

  “Where the fuck is the map?” they said.

  “3,2…”

  KC ran to the bathroom and jumped, never in his life had he jumped so far and so long, he barely made it to his bathtub, in he went and held his breath.

  “1…”

  The time-com exploded in the most massive blast possible; almost everything in the room had vaporized. After a few more seconds, which seemed like hours, KC gasping for oxygen desperately came out of the tub, there was hardly any oxygen left in the room. Unable to stand up straight and still gasping for air, he made his way into the living room, the room was full of fumes from the blast, he knew that a few more seconds in the room and he would conk off, he would die of breathing carbon monoxide, he had to get to the window. Crawling now and completely out of energy, he somehow managed to pull himself up to the window and opened it. He just lay there on the window on the second floor breathing hard as fresh air filled his lungs.

  “Going somewhere?” came a very unfriendly voice.

  He turned around to see three men in as bad a condition as him. The only difference was they held automatics in their hands.

  “Where is it?” asked one of the men barely able to stand straight himself.

  KC looked behind them, there was a pistol and a grenade lying on the floor, its bullets were lying all around it and the fire in the room was just inches away from it. It was just a matter of time before they were going to explode.

  “What do you want?” asked KC trading for time.

  “Don’t act smart,” said the guy. “You know exactly what we want.”

  “No I don’t,” said KC. “Listen, take whatever you want, I am telling you the truth I have nothing to hide…”

  The guy pointed his automatic at KC and shot, the bullet went through his thigh and he fell on the ground yelling in pain.

  “Now maybe that will help you remember what am talking about. Where is that fucking map?”

  “Oh God,” cried KC in pain. “Okay, I’ll give it, I’ll give it to you.” He got up slowly, looking at the grenade on the floor, any second now it was going to catch fire and explode.

  “It’s there,” said KC, “right there behind you, under the desk.”

  “Thanks a lot,” said the guy smiling, he raised his automatic and pointed towards KC’s head. “Goodbye. Any last words?”

  “Goodbye to you too,” said KC as he leapt out of the window.

  “What the fuck!” said the guys in the room. “What was that?” They turned back and saw the pistol and grenades on the floor, the fire was on to them…“Shit” they said, their last words. The rounds and the grenades exploded smashing the three on to the wall.

  KC just about got out of the window saving himself from the blast. He first crashed into an a/c unit on the first floor, it broke his fall, he then hit an open window on the ground floor and finally crashed on top of a car. The roof of the car collapsed, its windows shattered due to the momentum of his fall.

  He survived with a broken arm, a few broken ribs, and had lost a lot of blood from the wound in his leg. He lay on the roof of the car motionless. He tried to move himself but he couldn’t, he looked up. He saw the building on fire. Very fine debris were still falling out of t
he window, he could feel it as the fine debris landed on his cheek.

  “God, I am still alive,” he said to himself.

  He tried to roll himself over the top of the car but he couldn’t, it was too painful. But he had to, the mercenaries from MegaTech who came to his room, were part of a team, which meant that there were more of them, probably waiting in front of the hotel, at best he had a minute to get out of there, if he could that is.

  He preferred to bear the pain than to stay there and die so he mustered all his might and rolled himself off the roof of the car like a log of wood. He was in so much of pain that he wanted to shout his lungs out, but, he couldn’t give away his position to the mercenaries and lose the few precious seconds he had so he kept shut. He looked up and saw a car approaching, he could barely speak so he just crawled a few inches to the middle of the road. He hoped that it would stop the car, and it did.

  “Oh my God, what happened here? Are you alright?” asked the girl as she came out of the car and saw KC on the road, the crashed car on the side and the hotel flaming on top.

  “Get me out of here now,” said KC almost whispering, he barely had the energy to speak.

  “Okay…, but how, I mean isn’t there anyone with you?” she got up to take a look at the damaged car to make sure that there was no one inside. She came back to KC and kneeled down. “Don’t worry I’ll pick you up now and take you to a hospital, just hang in there.”

  KC could barely keep his eyes open now, with every second he was losing consciousness, but he had heard what the girl said, he raised his hand and grabbed the girl by her sleeve and pulled her towards him and said very slowly, “Don’t…don’t take me to a hospital…. D.O.N.T…hospital… They will… find… me… Don’t…”

  The girl with great difficulty dragged him by his shoulders to her car and somehow managed to push him in the rear seat. She got in the front seat of the car and turned back to look at him but he was not moving. “Shit,” she said as she pressed on the accelerator and sped out of the street as she saw men with automatics in her rear view mirror. She took a turn to get out of the line of fire, but a couple of bullets hit her car and a few took off her rear view mirror.

  * * *

  KC could hear someone talk, he got up with a jerk, almost shook the bed as he did so.

  Where am I? He looked around, his hand was plastered, so was his leg, he wondered how he got here.

  “Hey, you have woken up finally, tough guy?” said the girl who had saved him.

  It all came flooding back to him. He looked around and figured that he was in a hospital. “Dammit. I got to get out of here. Please help me out of here. I told you not to get me to a hospital.”

  “Relax, tough guy, this is not a hospital. This is a clinic. My clinic, actually. And I stitched you up. You are okay now, you have a broken arm, two broken ribs and a gunshot wound in your leg, mind explaining that to me?” said the girl.

  “So, you are a doctor?” said KC. “You look too young to be a doctor.”

  “Well, that doesn’t answer my question and secondly you too look too young to be an assassin yourself,” said the girl.

  “What! What did you call me?” said KC. “An assassin? Where did you get that idea, lady?”

  “You are all over the news. And my name is Jasmine, Dr. Jasmine,” she replied as she switched on the T.V. KC indeed was all over the news, his picture and his description.

  “Crap,” said KC as he fell back in his bed followed by a loud, “AAaaaooOOO.”

  “Didn’t you hear me,” said Jasmine. “You got broken ribs. Don’t move around too much just yet.”

  “Why didn’t you turn me in? Have me arrested?” question KC.

  “What?” said Jasmine.

  “I mean, you saw on T.V. that I am a murderer, then why didn’t you hand me over to the cops?” questioned KC.

  “Well, it turns out that you are not wanted in India,” replied Jasmine as she tore open a pack of juice and poured it into two glasses.

  “What do you mean I am not wanted in India?” asked KC.

  “The news that you saw is on the international news channels only. You are wanted in the US basically, but for some reason the Indian Government claims that you don’t even exist,” said Jasmine handing over the glass of juice to him.

  “I don’t feel like having juice,” said KC.

  “Nobody is asking you,” added Jasmine. “Just have it, if you want to walk out of here in a couple of weeks.”

  “Okay, I will but just this once,” said KC sipping his juice. “And I’m not staying here for a week, I’ll be out of here in a day or two.”

  “We will see about that,” said Jasmine with a sarcastic smile.

  “Ah, Jasmine, one more thing, thanks for saving me. I owe you one,” he said.

  “Well, you can begin by telling me what’s going on. The guys shooting at you they were from the US Government?” asked Jasmine sitting on his bed, focused and waiting for his reply with great interest.

  “No, actually they were mercenaries from MegaTech, they were sent to kill me,” he replied.

  “MegaTech?” said Jasmine. “The defense tools production giants. They want you dead?”

  “So, the US Government is not looking for you, MegaTech is?” she continued.

  “No... no, both of them are looking for me, but, in the hotel, it was the guys from MegaTech who shot at me,” clarified KC.

  “Look, tough guy, you decide, who is trying to kill you and who is trying to shoot you. I will see you tomorrow morning,” said Jasmine. “And yes, try not to get up, this is for your own good, trust me.”

  “Okay,” said KC as Jasmine walked out of the room. “Thanks, doc. I’ll see you tomorrow, and please don’t talk about me to anybody. All my ‘friends’ will be monitoring all mobile communication as well so please leave my phone turned off.”

  “Will do,” replied Jasmine as she stepped out.

  * * *

  Two weeks later.

  “How are you doing, tough guy?” asked Jasmine as she came for one of her regular rounds.

  “Never felt better,” replied KC. “The best two weeks of my life so far.”

  “Really?” wondered Jasmine. “Nothing much happened, except you lying here, drinking juice, sleeping and doing absolutely nothing.”

  “Yup…,” replied KC. “That’s exactly what I am taking about, best week ever, no one trying to kill me, no one following me, I never knew that doing nothing could be so much fun!”

  “What ever happened to ‘getting to the bottom of everything,’ huh?” asked Jasmine as she threw an apple towards KC suddenly and very swiftly.

  KC right away caught it.

  “Hmm… you are a lefty,” remarked Jasmine. “And one with quick reflexes too. You are healing fast, aren’t you?”

  “What did you say?” said KC.

  “That you are healing fast.”

  “No, right before that,” said KC.

  “That you’re a left-handed with quick…”

  “Yes, yes, that!” he interrupted her.

  “What about it?” said Jasmine. “There is nothing wrong with being a left-handed, lefties are actually very fast and…”

  “But, if I am left-handed then even he should be left-handed,” said KC trying to get up.

  “Get back in your bed, this instant,” ordered Jasmine. “Whom are you talking about?”

  “Jasmine, he is me, and if he is me then why does he always scratch his forehead with his right hand during the time-com display. That was a sign dammit, a message within the message, that something was wrong, that it was a setup.”

  “Slow down, tough guy,” said Jasmine. “I think I will have to increase your medicine dosage. Come on back in your bed, you need to rest.”

  “Okay… okay… just get me some water,” said KC starting to calm d
own.

  Jasmine quickly poured him a glass of water and sat beside him placing her hand on his forehead.

  “Relax now, what was that all about?” asked Jasmine.

  “Jasmine, you know what, we should make a deal, ‘I’ll not tell you anything and you will not ask me anything. It’s safer for you that way, trust me,” said KC.

  “But, you’ve been recovering so well and have not behaved in an unbalanced way all this while and now suddenly you are talking about some guy scratching his forehead. Come on, I deserve an explanation.”

  “I’ll tell you when the time comes,” he said as he lay back on his bed and pretended to sleep.

  “Alright, sleep tight,” said Jasmine as she got up to leave. “But this discussion is not over.”

  KC thought hard. What was I trying to tell myself? It was a definite sign. Was it not me in the message or was it me trying to say that I was under pressure to say what I was saying? The time-com message almost got me killed, maybe that’s what I was trying to tell myself?

  * * *

  Another uneventful week passed by. He was recovering well, but he still needed at least one more week’s rest. His body was resting but his mind was working non-stop. He kept thinking all the time of all the possible scenarios, trying to predict logically what was going to happen next.

  “Hey, you look bright today,” said Jasmine as she walked into KC’s room. “The third week is getting over and you are looking better already, another week or two and you will be good to move around.”

  “I can still move around, if you let me,” he replied getting up from his bed and moving around.

  “Yes, I can see that,” replied Jasmine. “I know you have been in this room for almost a month now and you need to get out for a bit.”

  “You think?” said KC sarcastically.

  “Oh, all right, here is what we will do. We will go out, buy some juice and yogurt for you from the store behind my clinic and come back. It’s a 10-minute walk. And you will rest then,” said Jasmine smiling.

  “I am ready to go,” said KC, “but tell me something, does the street outside or does the store have any surveillance cameras, because if they do, rest assured, they are watching.”