The Light Blue Jumper

by Sidra F. Sheikh

  “All right, I would like to interest him in an insurance policy,” Lady read out from the note I held out to him. The line abruptly disconnected.

  “Don’t worry, I was able to hack into the main system while we were speaking to that helpful gentleman. I can connect you directly to the King’s secure line now,” he said confidently.

  “Hello?” A faint voice crackled through the air from the transmitter.

  “Daddy Darling!” I said joyfully.

  “Dinaara?” he gasped. “You’re alive and well! Oh thank goodness! We have been so worried, child!”

  “You can’t tell anyone about this,” I warned.

  “I’ll make sure of it, I’ll just put in a memo to my undersecretary to keep this confidential,” he reassured me.

  “No! No! No one must know, especially him. I need you to make an excuse and come and meet me on Dephron. I have messaged the coordinates to you. Come immediately and come alone, we have no time to lose. And one more thing, is the ambassador from the IPF still at court?”

  “Yes, delightful creature, shows such a genuine interest in our affairs. He seems to get along very well with my undersecretary as well,” he said.

  “Slip out in your private shuttle and leave orders behind with Commander Wafadaar to takeover the reigns while you are away. He is the only one you can trust. Direct him to throw out the ambassador and arrest the rest of the courtiers, especially the undersecretary; IPF spies; the lot of them!” I said with disgust.

  “Sweetheart, aren’t you an IPF spy too?” he asked, sounding worried.

  “Not any more, I’ve joined the rebels! Just trust me on this, Daddy.”

  “Of course I trust you child, I supported you wholeheartedly when you chose to join the IPF Secret Service and specialise in Black Ops, even though I had my reservations. I will always support every career and lifestyle choice that you make,” he said with feeling. “I’ll be on my way then, see you soon. Just one second, your mother’s asking if you’ve eaten anything,” he said, embarrassing me for life before he signed off.

  “You can stop chortling now!” I told Lethal and Salaar as I sat down in a huff.

  102. His Royal Highness, King Daahir of Dinaar

  I carried out Dinaara’s instructions immediately – the undersecretary had been annoying me of late – and set off for Dephron, after the Queen ensured I had adequate food supplies for the entire planet with me. I landed to cheers from the rebels and a welcoming committee made up of Dinaara and all her friends from school. No wonder she had decided to change jobs! I could see Anya and Salaar smiling warmly at me. Anya looked a little different from what I remembered, perhaps she had lost weight as well as height. I was glad the Queen hadn’t come along; it would have upset her terribly to see Anya looking so pale and wan. My gaze alighted on Lethalwulf, handsome devil that he was; tales of his exploits reached my ears every now and then. I would warn Dinaara to stay away from him. I saw a light blue Zaaronian in a white rebel uniform standing next to Salaar, partially hidden from view. “Greetings,” I said, and extended my hand.

  “Welcome to Zaaron, I mean Dephron,” he mumbled shyly, putting a pebble in it.

  “Zaaronian custom?” I whispered to Dinaara.

  “No, I think he wasn’t quite sure what to do with your hand.”

  Then the funny creature suddenly reached out and tweaked my nose. “That was Zaaronian custom,” Dinaara whispered back.

  I made a short but impactful speech announcing that the Kingdom of Dinaar was joining the Rebel Movement and we would aid the rebels in setting up a permanent secret base on Dinaar. I had, after all, worn my ceremonial green brocade robes with gold edging and my crown in anticipation. But when I had picked up my sceptre, the Queen made me leave it behind, worried I might forget it somewhere.

  103. Zaaro Nian

  I walked in the direction of the stinking gas dump to make sure there were no gas leaks. I reached the edge of the large rock crater and peered in, carefully this time. The blue barrels were neatly stacked up, just as before, no leak in sight. It was a real relief, no fatal lethargy to worry about. I was about to turn back when I saw Dinaara walking towards me.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  “I came to inspect the stinking gas dump, luckily it seems to be in order,” I told her, pointing at the fully stocked pit.

  “Zaaro, could this gas be weaponised?”

  “Well, technically, the new missiles could deliver anything at all, even stinking gas.”

  “What would happen if a couple of gas bombs exploded on a space station?”

  “Everyone on the space station would just slip into a coma while the station itself would remain intact.”

  “Right, so no worries about the madness, no loss of infrastructure, it would be more or less an instant takeover,” she said, her face brightening.

  I was totally unprepared for what she said next. “Why don’t we use it? We could send missiles loaded with stinking gas to IPF Headquarters! Everything is controlled from there.”

  “But we don’t have missiles,” I reminded her gently.

  ”Never mind. Maybe we have something better.”

  104. Anya

  I was fiddling with Lady’s transmission device, trying to re-establish contact with Madam and The Good Doctor, when suddenly, we heard the whirring of a mighty engine and a ship burst into view. Everyone began scrambling for cover, then we noticed the silver fist emblazoned on its side.

  But the first person to walk out of the door was a black uniformed IPF officer. Had they taken over our ship? “They’ve got Madam and The Good Doctor!” I mouthed in horror.

  “Relax! He’s one of ours now!” Salaar said, “You of all people should be able to recognise him, he’s your head of security, Colonel Bob.”

  Madam and The Good Doctor followed him out. “You’re alive!” The Good Doctor kept saying while sobbing uncontrollably. Colonel Bob tried to hug me but lost his nerve when he came close, and shook my hand awkwardly instead, clapping me on the back all the while, saying, “What an absolute delight! So wonderful to see you, General!”

  We found out that the Second Light had been flying completely blind after Central Command had signed herself out, for reasons Madam refused to share. They had been flying on manual and hadn’t realised that they had completely run out of fuel. They had been lucky that they were within reach of Dephron, not that they knew which planet it was, as all information banks were inaccessible with Central Command being powered down. She had apparently sent out her resume, asking to be shifted to an IPF warship, citing previous work experience with a callous dictator. I hadn’t even realised that Central Command could choose which ship to link herself to.

  My thoughts turned to Zaaro. I hadn’t seen him in a while. I was about to hand the transmitter back to Lady and go look for him, when I heard the tell-tale hum of a large engine, again, and another ship burst into view. We froze, exposed. “Damn it! It’s still Dephron! What does one have to do around here to get to Tephron?” We heard the peeved transmission coming from the weapons carrier over the transmitter. “I’ve had enough, I’m dropping them off here. It’s practically the same thing.” The carrier hovered over us, preparing to land. We started running in different directions. “There is someone already here. They’re just running around. No I don’t know why they’re running around. Well, I can’t be sure they’re here to steal our stinking gas stores until I land and capture them, can I? Give me a minute,” he continued. “Gas them? Really? Are you sure that’s in the manual? I don’t know, it seems quite harsh. All right, if you insist, I’ll pick up the barrels and then fly back over and drop a couple on them,” was the last transmission we heard as the ship flew over us and towards the barrel dump site.

  105. Princess Dinaara

  I was planning to ease Zaaro into the idea of how we could conquer IPF Headquarters without a fight when the sound barrier cracked and we saw the IPF weapons carrier on the horizon. “It’s now or never Zaaro!
” I shouted.

  “To do what?” he asked, confused.

  “Land at Headquarters with the entire load of blue barrels and gas them!”

  “You want me to take all these barrels to IPF Headquarters and gas them?” he asked in disbelief.

  “Yes please! The gas doesn’t affect you like it does us.”

  “How will I get the barrels there?”

  “Just focus and jump with them,” I yelled over the sound of the carrier landing.

  “There are too many ifs involved in that Dinaara, and too many barrels,” he countered.

  “You did just jump with the entire population of a planet, Zaaro,” I reminded him tartly. “Anyway, I suppose we better deal with this then,” I said begrudgingly as we saw an IPF officer approaching. From the cluster of gold medals on his lapels, I could make out he was Captain of the ship.

  “Hello there!” he shouted jovially, “I am so glad to see you didn’t run like the others. I was beginning to think I would have to lug all these barrels back to the ship myself. I’m flying unmanned, just me and some cargo, Warrawns actually. I have to drop them off on Tephron. For some odd reason they prefer that particular barren and rocky planet to this one,” he said pleasantly. “I don’t know why. I saw the Second Light and the King of Dinaar’s shuttle on the other side of the hill and they seemed to like it just fine. In fact this planet is getting a little too crowded. If you could both lend me a hand, I can pick up this load and be on my way.”

  “The Second Light is here? And you want to take all this with you?” I ventured uncertainly.

  “Yes,” he confirmed.

  “We’ll help you load everything on to your ship,” I offered, “as long as you leave a couple of barrels for us.”

  “That works for me. I have orders to drop a couple of barrels onto your friends anyway, so minus two will make sense come inventory time.”

  “You have orders to gas our friends?” I crouched into warrior stance.

  “But I’m not going to do it,” he raised his own hands, lazily adjusted his cap and left his hands on the top of his head, to show me he was no threat.

  “Why?” I asked, still crouching.

  “I support IPF principles, but I don’t always like their methods. I don’t think there’s any harm in supporting efforts to create checks and balances on their powers,” he said. “So I’m willing to accept your terms. I don’t know why you want the vaccine, but keep in mind that it doesn’t cure the madness. It’s only preventative,” he cautioned.

  “Who are you?” I asked, straightening up. He would be a fantastic resource on the inside.

  “Captain Zedan, at your service, Princess,” he said, bowing. “Don’t worry, your secrets are safe with me.”

  “Are there more like you?”

  “Yes, there are many of us.”

  “Then I would request that you issue a warning to likeminded individuals to stay away from Headquarters for the next twenty-four hours.”

  His jaw tightened but his smile remained intact as he nodded his agreement. I rolled up my sleeves and began rolling barrels with him.

  106. Zaaro Nian

  “Why did you ask for a couple of barrels?” I asked Dinaara as soon as Captain Zedan left, and we sat on the ground picking at our fresh blisters.

  “Because that’s how many will fit into the King’s shuttle that I’m about to fly over here, Zaaro. You will go in it to Headquarters, where you will drop off a couple of pressurised stinking gas containers which will act like a bomb, knocking out all personnel at Headquarters for at least a couple of years. This will give us enough time to set up an alternative system of governance, based on mutual respect rather than fear and violence,” she said.

  “I’m willing to do it but how will I get past security?”

  “You won’t. You’ll let them fire at you. When the shuttle explodes, so will the barrels, and the gas will penetrate the atmosphere and impact everyone else in the vicinity.”

  “And me?” I gulped.

  “You’ll be fine! You’ll just jump to Headquarters when the shuttle explodes,” she said confidently, “and we will come and get you.”

  “One more question, will you keep my family safe?”

  “Yes, of course I will.”

  “One last question, where is Headquarters exactly?”

  I left quietly when she came back with the shuttle, without telling the others, since Madam was around as well. Dinaara would tell my family in confidence. They had previously put down my prolonged absence to preoccupation with a new project at work, as the shuttle collision had been hushed up by the IPF. Weapons developers were often required to stay on site for weeks, with no prior notice or warning. So my family was used to my disappearances. They were happy that I was of the ones that came back every time.

  The bombs caught me fairly early on I assume, because one minute I was flying past the security checkpoint, and the next, I was wandering around inside Headquarters, completely disoriented, amidst a green haze. The stinking gas had done its job; I saw IPF personnel slumped over their desks everywhere I went. Some were even holding guns as they slumbered. I removed myself to a corner to wait. Funnily enough, I was beginning to feel a little drowsy myself, probably the effect of so much physical activity, because I knew I was impervious to the stinking gas. Secure in my belief, I had resolutely refused a mask, leaving more behind for the rescue team. I looked around a bit longer and found the perfect spot to recuperate from my exertions, a secluded little oval office with a sofa I could curl up on. I gazed up at the artwork over it, With great power comes great opportunity, elegantly calligraphed onto Zaaronian tiger skin. It must have taken a thousand of the tiny creatures to make something that big. My lids grew heavier.

  107. The Good Doctor

  We set off for Headquarters in the Second Light as soon as Dinaara told us that Zaaro had gone ahead with the makeshift bomb. We tried to make contact with him but all communication lines on the shuttle were dead, which was a likely consequence of it having blown up. Madam was moving some miscellaneous items from one storage area to another, so I took over navigation for a while. My efforts were hindered a little by not knowing exactly where Headquarters was. I wandered around for a bit, trying to look this way and that, but I couldn’t see anything even remotely resembling an IPF space station. Central Command would have been happy to help, I knew, but she had quit. I was just about to ask one of the others if they knew the coordinates when I noticed Madam enter, look at the charts, frown, and rapidly punch in coordinates. “You know where Headquarters is by heart?” I asked incredulously.

  “Just a hunch,” she said, blushing. “I may have seen them somewhere recently, I’m not sure, but the coordinates are stuck in my memory,” she said, “along with the words blue spider.”

  We reached Headquarters and disembarked wearing gas masks to protect ourselves from the stinking gas. Everyone else worked at removing IPF personnel for transfer to the kingdoms’ prisons, while I looked for Zaaro. I found him curled up on a sofa in an office of sorts. As I smiled at him through my mask, he changed into a blue spider.

  108. Zaaro Nian

  The sofa was exceedingly comfortable. IPF Headquarters spared no expense in ensuring comfort for its employees. I wondered if one had to be senior management to sit on it. I was just about to doze off when I sensed I was no longer alone. Forcing my eyelids open, I saw a frightening apparition staring down at me.

  109. The Good Doctor

  The blue spider prompted in me a sudden overwhelming urge to attack it; my hands reached for its throat but it chittered something incoherent in response and disappeared. Flabbergasted, I looked angrily at my hands and the now empty sofa. I rushed out to tell the others everything, other than the strange and inexplicable behaviour of my usually well-behaved hands and the vision of a blue spider in my mind.

  110. Zaaro Nian

  The apparition reached for me, with bared teeth and grasping hands. Maybe it was some form of ghoulish security the
IPF had kept in reserve for attacks on Headquarters. I tried to shoo it away. I had no fear of the supernatural and I knew that my friends would be along presently. Whatever I had done today had been far in excess of my job description and it made me feel strangely content, but very tired. I had to rest my weary limbs for a while; all the jumping around had taken its toll on my energy levels. I wondered if there were any refreshments in the office. I would take a look as soon as I had snoozed for a bit. I batted away the annoying hands reaching for my throat again and again, as I closed my eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep.

  111. Lieutenant Salaar

  We searched everywhere, we turned the whole station upside down, but we couldn’t find him. He had disappeared just as suddenly as he had come into our lives. The thought of Zaaro helpless and alone somewhere set my teeth on edge. I vented my anger at Dinaara for the umpteenth time. “How could you have sent him alone like that?” I raged. I forced myself to stand still as my fists clenched and unclenched, wanting to destroy things. I could aim a bomb from IPF Headquarters at the kingdoms or better still, at Madam, whose fault all this really was.

  “I’m sorry,” Dinaara kept saying. “I was trying to keep the plan a secret from Madam as long as I could, giving him time to get to Headquarters before anybody could interfere, I didn’t think it through,” she said, her voice filled with remorse.

  “He might not even be lucid; he might be lost somewhere, disoriented, and confused.”