by Vasu Velamur
Time's Up
A thrilling fast faced time travel adventure with many puzzles on the way
Velamur Vasu
Self Publication
Copyright © 2021 Velamur Vasu
All rights reserved
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the author.
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Cover design by: Vismitha & Vikranth
Printed in India
To my lovely wife Ramya, My two adorable kids Vikranth & Vismitha.
To all those who bought this book and
To all the remaining people in the world -
लोकः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु||
Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu
[Translated - may everyone, in the whole world, be happy]
Author's Note
This book has two authors, and by coincidence, they both are the same person. One person wrote during the night shift and the other rewrote the same during the daytime.
What got created in the night had a lot of errors. In fact only errors, it got reconstructed during the day time effort. Thanks to my kids, who woke me up every night to inform that I had slept for the last few hours, so the errors were less. To catch up with the schedule, I had to work overtime during the daytime. The magic was created after my office work hours. Thanks to COVID-19 and WFH, I could finish this project with ease.
All my life I thought Fantasy meant something out of the world. When COVID-19 hit us, I realized something. Fantasy can also be about a few things useful. It doesn’t need to be like a Hollywood movie with giant aliens and violent diseases. So I had to stitch a completely new story line. Imagine tweaking a thread that’s already hanging loose.
Another crucial factor was my wife. She always used to complain that every time I came late, I had a story with me. The story was not either 100% believable or 100% disposable. I had hit a sweet spot. She was under a constant impression since marriage that I was not making too much money via the software profession. Now this made her to convince me to use my unproductive time - watching TV for something better. Hence, the book idea.
From a young age, time travel has been one of my fascinations. No wonder this story has it as the focal point. Kids these days do not know what the outdoor world is, everything is virtual for them. To expose them to what India is, here is my earnest attempt. I wish to show them a few parts of India, its culture, its cuisine and, above all, its moral values. The storyline embeds these with a careful blend of each.
You asked for it, here it is. Also, one more thing, the night shift guy does not deserve any royalty. He does not have any idea on how to use it. So I get to keep his share too.
Velamur Vasu
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Author's Note
Chapter-1
What's In The Box?
Chapter-2
The Password Please
Chapter-3
The First Puzzle
Chapter-4
Confused At Ground Zero
Chapter-5
Story Begins, Take One, Shot one
Chapter-6
Confirm The Answer
Chapter-7
Where Are We - In Time?
Chapter-8
The Entry Ticket
Chapter-9
Make The Royals Talk
Chapter-10
A Sumptuous Banquet Served
Chapter-11
A Royale Conundrum
Chapter-12
Landed At The Scotland Of The East
Chapter-13
Holy Shrine, Here We Come
Chapter-14
The Delemma Of Sacrifice
Chapter-15
In The Land Of Sona Masoori
Chapter-16
All Roads Lead To Virupaksha Temple
Chapter-17
More Twist And Turns In The Riddle
Chapter-18
Caution: The Problem Is Muddier
Chapter-19
The Last Two Minutes
Epilogue
About The Author
Books By This Author
Acknowledgement
Answers
Chapter-1
What's In The Box?
Saturday 5:32 PM
The weather was perfect for a total relaxing time in the foothills of Munnar, a place near the TN and Kerala border. What relaxing means is a total shutdown of all your activities. The routine is very simple to eat, sleep and eat until you tire. The three friends were the only people who sweated in the entire surrounding area. Why were they sweating, intrigued by the local population, including their college group? They were on the way back to their cottage after a gruelling 4-mile trek in the spice gardens.
Spices of South India have lured in admirers from all over the world. The lush green valleys of Munnar are the best spice gardens you get to see in the South of Vindhyas. These spice gardens originated from the mountains of Kerala. Spices like pepper, cardamom, ginger, curcuma, cinnamon were the primary items cultivated here. It also known the Cardamom Hills, in ancient times as ‘world-known spice hills’. This region is the heaven of spices and will leave your senses tingling with joy. Instead of relaxing, the three adventurers were wandering and sweating their energy. No one knew why?
The sky turned dark, and the black clouds gave an ominous sign of a heavy downpour. The three friends were still dragging their feet across the long and winding path. They were almost empty of their energy level with zero food resources. Only one of them had a small amount of water left in the baggage.
“It’s almost 4 hours since we left, my legs are in pain. I don’t know when we will reach our rooms” Vindhya was whining while she emptied the last few drops of the water.
“Hey Vindhya” shouted Vashist pointing at her face, “why did you finish all the water. Don’t you see we are also thirsty here?”
“Well, you should have planned better. I saved some for the last part”.
“Guys, please stay calm, we are almost there,” said Ranga, the self-assumed leader of this pack.
Vashist murmured, “you’ve been saying the same for the past half an hour and I don’t see the main road yet. Also, the clouds are stacking up heavy and we do not have cover for rain"
"Hey, Vashist,” said Vindhya as she jumped over a small crater in the path, “relax and enjoy the moment. We rarely get showers in Chennai. Why are you always complaining?”
“Why not, these are new tracks and sweatshirts and I don’t want them to get drenched”
“So what, we can always clean them up once we get to the room. relax bro”
There was silence for the next 5 minutes and the reason was the same for all—When do we access food and sleep? The trek planned for 2 hours had now crossed over 4 hours. Yet their cottage was not in the line of sight. They were eager to see civilisation - what they meant was the main road. Vashist, the most logical person in the group, was looking at the sky now and then with the fear of rain.
The batteries in their phones drained to the last drop. This made Ranga hum old tunes of Illayaraja. He
thought it would keep the team’s spirits high. The humming ability of Ranga was not up to the mark but was the best available at present. This was the main reason the other two remained silent. As they were about to take a winding path down a steep slope, Ranga shouted aloud, "Guys, look up there. The orange sky must be the sun setting. Looks great, let me take a picture of the scenery". He took his iPhone X and snapped a couple of shots.
"Yeah, Lovely colour" Vindhya agreed to the statement.
"Dumb fellows, that is the east and sun will never set in that direction" corrected Vashist.
"Then what is that colouring the sky now" enquired Vindhya "tell me, Mr. Logical".
"I do not know but must be some reflections or a huge fire"
"Fire, can’t think of anything better?"
"If you are so smart then you better tell me what is it"
“Guys, stop bickering with each other for some time,"' Ranga fumed.
At that moment, they heard a big loud sound. The initial reaction surprised them and it looked like a big thunder, but then it didn’t sound like that. It was more like something had blown like a bomb. The mountain provided the much-needed acoustics and amplified the sound. Not only did it amplify but also created the echo lasting for a longer time. As a reflex action, all the three of them turned their heads towards the direction of the echo.
Ranga was the first one to spot something in the sky. He shouted in excitement, "Look guys, something black is flying up above the sky,". He then shot the scene using his phone.
"Hey, I cannot see anything" said Vindhya bewildered, and looked around in circles. "Where is it I have to look?"
"Look this way" pointed Ranga to the east.
"Yes, I also see something black and flying" said Vashist "think some jet plane is trying to take off"
They stopped where they were and looked up at the sky, waited to observe what was going to happen next. The orange colour disappeared in a tamed manner and the black colour took over the sky. The colour changed quickly and was instantaneous. Ranga spotted the change and alarmed his friends "Dude, stay back where you are and don’t move"
"Why? What’s happening, Ranga?" asked Vindhya in a frightened voice. "Is something wrong?"
"No, but looks like we are in the direct path of the action"
"What action?"
"I also don’t know but see it’s getting bigger and bigger, the black colour"
Vashist yelled in fear, "guys it's something like a turbo engine blown from the sky."
"Looks like that".
"It’s an AgustaWestland AW119 Koala model, as far as I can tell"
"How can you tell that with such certainty?"
"Because of its twin-engine propeller shaft"
"Every helicopter has that boss"
Vashist pulled his collar up like Vijay, the actor "See it’s a 4 seater private jet. That’s a trademark for an AgustaWestland product"
"Whether it is Westland or Eastland, leave it, buddies” clapped Vindhya. She continued, "I’m going to see one in close quarters today."
"You have not seen one so far?"
"No, but currently I am feeling hungry now. Ready to skip seeing it also"
The black body’s size was becoming bigger and bigger. Along with the size, there grew a hush sound in the air. A terrible event was about to happen, but the friends were still in awe of the sky. They all stood still, waiting for it to happen.
After a few paused moments, Ranga broke the silence and the awe with a panicked reaction. He pulled Vindhya back with his left hand while recording the action on the phone with his right hand. He shouted "Guys, come back"
At that same moment is when Vashist also felt something go through his mind. He also shouted, "Oh God, guys go as far back as you can". His voice changed from the base to a shrill tone.
The black body approached them and its trajectory was right to the spot where they stood. They all panicked and ran back with whatever energy that remained. Vindhya fell on her knees and could not move. Ranga stopped and went back a few steps and tried to pull Vindhya up on her feet.
By that time there was a second loud sound of some heavy metal crashing to the ground. The dried leaves and twigs gave a Dolby ATMOS sound effect. The 3 of them stopped running and were panting for their lives. They could not expect any better adventure than what they have seen.
"Hey guys, I am feeling warm in this place," said Vindhya startled "Why the sudden change?"
"Didn’t you see what happened?" replied Vashist. "A twin-propeller engine missed us by a whisker and it is now burning in flames."
Ranga wanted to take control of the events and clarified, "nothing to panic guys. Will have a look at the crash site and then leave".
He ambled to the bushes, where they heard the noise. The other two were scared and stood still and motionless. Tiredness was one reason, but fear was the main reason for their decision not to move.
"Guys, come on here" called Ranga as he paced fast towards the thick bushes. He bent down to pick a thick long stick and reached the end of the path. He poked the stick into the bush to make some eye contact with what had fallen from the sky. No sooner had he pushed the bushes aside than he jerked back in instinct, making a loud noise "Ah". He was quick to close his face with his hands. He fell on his back at the same instance.
"What’s there, Ranga" asked Vindhya in total fear and not moving from her safe place. Then she looked at Vashist "Can we go there and see what it is?"
"Yes, sure" Vashist moved with care.
They both moved closer towards the direction where Ranga was on the ground. As they neared him, they also could feel a massive amount of heat blow towards them. A huge fire was burning hot. The smoke had gone into Ranga’s nose and throat without warning, making him fall back. He got up and coughed a few times.
"Guys, we cannot go any closer to it, but I saw something glittering there. It might tell us something about what took place" said Ranga.
"Ranga, let’s not play with fire. Let us leave and return to the cottage. Then inform the locals" suggested Vashist.
"Hey Vashy, Don’t be a chicken. Give me 5 minutes. If I cannot then we can leave"
"OK, give you only 5, that too, according to my watch. Your time starts now."
Ranga got his stick back and made gestures to the others to stay where they were. He moved closer to the bush to get a better look at the site. This time with care and slow pace, he navigated the stick across the bushes to survey the place. As he observed the bushes for some time, another massive thunder followed by a few drops of water came down. Mother nature revealed to them to get back to their places before it pours.
Vashist looked at his watch and counted down "Only 4 minutes more. Make it quick"
Ranga went a little deep into the bush and tried to reach his right hand inside to grab the item and could not reach it. Then he looked back at his friends and called for help. "Guys, can one of you come here and help me?"
Vindhya charged, knowing that Vashist would do nothing risky. "I’m coming, Ranga," she said, dashing forward. She caught hold of Ranga’s waist and clinched it so that he could fall forward and reach for the item. He could not reach even with this effort, and he growled, "Hey Vashy, come and help me here. Catch me so that I can go a little deeper, then I can get this thing out."
Vashist was not too excited but strolled up to Vindhya to help. They both held a leg each and lowered him into the bush. They both watched in anticipation of what that object would be. Vashist, even while he held the leg, monitored the count-down timer. He pointed out that only 2 minutes remained.
Ranga leaned to the best extent and looked like a snake posturing for a kill. He let his fingers inside the bush as deep as possible and tried to get hold of the object. He was very adept at this since he had played a lot of street cricket in the past. The ball usually went deep into the bushes. They well trained him to get the ball back into play, even during the late hours of the evening. Now that training was valuable to him.
> Finally Ranga cried "Yes, Yes I got it." He retracted his hands quickly from the bush. A bright red electronic device came out. It was sparkling bright, and as soon as they got it out, Ranga withdrew his hands. The device was warm because of the fire from the burnt engine. They stood in silence for a few moments because of exhaustion and wished to get out of this place quickly.
Vashist, the official timekeeper of the group, announced in satisfaction, "Time’s up, guy. Pick up that device and let’s head back soon." He raced down the slope.
Vindhya picked up the device and threw it down immediately and blew her hands. The device was still hot. Ranga used Vindhya’s hanky to pick up the device, wrap it, and put it in his pocket. Then he dusted his T-shirt and pants and followed Vashist.
On the way back, none of them even tried to remark anything. They all were so fatigued that the trek back to the cottage was less dramatic and was devoid of any action. It was total silence and an occasional grunt from Vindhya because of tiredness. Adding to this, the clouds burst open and poured. Luckily, they had almost reached the entrance of the cottage when it poured. They got drenched at the last moment. After a brief burst of a dash, they made their entry into the reception area with minor damage.
∞∞∞
Chapter-2
The Password Please
Saturday 7:22 PM
After a brief break, they all met at the reception again to review what to do with the device. They wanted to regroup and assemble in a common area before leaving for dinner.
Each one of them could not resist speculating about the device. The device was not a thing that they had ever seen, it wasn’t like an Apple iPad nor a Samsung Tab, or any Chinese set. The device had no logo of the manufacturer and no visible marks on the body. Vashist demanded to have a go at the device. That was how attractive the device was.