by Anmol Batra
“This has to have a gap or a slit.” Arjun felt like not giving up on the glowing surface.
“Belief or gut feelings are like unsaid omens from God. Sometimes they can tell you more than the vision of the future.” He recalls the words of Howrang.
Arjun flies up in the cube and takes in a full view of the glass floor. He hovers over the entire floor for a few hours, hoping to see a slit or crack, but ends without any success.
Arjun hovers above the exact centre of the cube. He shrinks to a thousandth of his normal size. The small size coupled with the flying in mid-air has seemed to lend comfort to his search ever since he started his journey. Also, it made him feel like a strong superhero, using his abilities to the maximum extent possible. He quickly looks around again, but everything seems the same.
“The answer to the toughest problems are simple if we don’t complicate as we perceive.” Arjun recalls his father’s words.
Next, he restores his original size and puts his feet on the glowing floor. The cube feels much smaller now. Arjun takes in a 360 view of the floor again. Unconvinced, he looks again but this time he observes something he had failed to notice before. A streak of light from the slit in the adjoining glass cube from where he had come, partially overshadowed by his own reflection, something that he had ignored owing to his own size and perspective.
14th Day in Crystal Asylum | Cube 16216
Arjun smiles on seeing this. He quickly returns to the previous cube. An edge glows on its floor; something that Arjun had observed for a while before deciding on moving to the next cube, but he had been ignoring edges ever since his first failure.
Arjun crouches on the ground to observe the slit on the edge. A slit that would take him diagonally down in the cube, which shared a glowing glass floor with the adjoining cube.
14th Day in Crystal Asylum | Cube 16218
Arjun shrinks and glides through the slit, and a flood of light blinds him. A room with nothing but purple light and no visible glass.
He tries to keep his eyes open in an attempt to see at the centre of the cube but the light keeps him blind.
Next, a shadowy human figure eclipses his vision.
“Arjun!” says the figure.
Arjun feels relieved. Yes, it was Howrang’s voice, he recognizes it.
Next, the light shrinks to a negligible glow. Arjun looks at the shadowy figure which is facing him. He quickly circles Howrang and finds him adjusting the screws of a sundial over a glowing hourglass.
“Arjun, close your eyes and focus on the brass triangle,” instructs Howrang, keeping a finger on the tip of sundial’s brass triangle.
6th January 2013 11:30 AM | Ferozepur Road, Pakistan.
Arjun wakes up and sits upright. Howrang smiles at him. Arjun scrunches up his forehead.
“Am I dead?” Asks Arjun, looking at Howrang.
“I am neither a soul reaper, nor are you dead,” jokes Diachi as he folds the brass triangle on the sundial in his hand.
“In fact, you achieved the near impossible,” continues Diachi.
“What time and date is it?” Asks Arjun.
“6th January 2013 and the time is 11:30 AM. You have been out cold for 2 hours,” replies Howrang.
“But… I think I spent more than 10 days inside the cube…rather I think it was closer to two weeks,” contradicts Arjun.
“Time in dreams run at a variable pace to the real world. It’s nothing but your subjective experience within you. And yes, it will be changed by your mind which is drawing the dream world around you. Tell me, do you ever see clocks or rather feel a steady moment of time in your dreams?” Explains Howrang.
“How are Ankita and Swati?” Asks Arjun, ignoring Howrang’s rhetorical question.
“Oh! They are fine,” replies Howrang in a relieved voice.
“So what next?” Asks Arjun.
“Zaffar, Altaf, Omar… They are nothing against you. You have time to explore the future. So, go on my son, the world needs you,” replies Howrang.
Motivated, Arjun smiles back, over-clocks his subjective experience and flies out of the roof.
◆◆◆
Chapter 36
The Gas Cylinder Godown
6th January 2013 2:00 PM Ferozepur Road, Pakistan
In the front yard of a warehouse, a skinny teen wearing a taqiyah stands near an aluminium bucket placed under an open tap. Next, he carries the dented bucket through a strongly built shutter, painted blue. He enters a long hall with metal pillars, supporting the angles underneath a metal shed. He walks further through the corridors, between the tall arrays of red LPG cylinders and enters a room with an unconscious, bruised man on a chair and three armed men around him. He leaves the water in front of the bruised man and walks out of the room.
The man tied to the chair is Arjun and the three men surrounding him are Zaffar, Altaf and Omar.
Altaf dips a mug in the bucket, pulls out some cold water and splashes it on Arjun’s face. Arjun blinks and spits out water from his mouth. He squirms and scrunches up his eyes.
“Where is the carton?” Interrogates Altaf.
Arjun shivers and murmurs, moving his neck. “I told you, I burnt it.”
Zaffar walks closer to him and lands a strong punch on Arjun’s face. Blood leaks out of Arjun’s nose.
“I am impressed,” sneers Zaffar as he grabs Arjun’s face with his hand and pulls it towards him. “For the first time, I am clueless how you managed to trace Ankita… this far away… in Pakistan.”
Arjun chuckles but doesn’t utter a word.
Irate with Arjun’s response, Zaffar puts a gun to Arjun’s forehead. “You can’t be that big a fool to have burnt it. Stop giving us your shit.”
Arjun remains calm and replies softly, “You recently paid off your mortgage all in one go. You are taking vacations to London as well. Why don’t you share some of your fortune with your friends?”
“What?!” Shouts Omar.
Arjun looks sideways towards Omar and rolls his eyes. “Ask him!”
Zaffar punches Arjun again and grabs him by his collar. Omar grabs Zaffar by his shoulder.
“Zaffar!” Omar shouts and yanks at Zaffar a little bit.
Zaffar turns around and gives a sideways look to Omar. Omar returns a suspicious stare “Is it true?” Asks Omar.
Zaffar breaks his eye contact with Omar. He looks down at the ground and remains silent.
“You... How do you know all this?” Interrogates Omar, looking at Arjun.
“Do you think that India doesn’t have any intelligence wings? I don’t know who collected this information. But there is more than your surveillance cameras ever caught,” explains Arjun.
“What? What do you mean?” Asks Omar.
“Yes, we burnt the carton when we found it but the contents inside it never burnt as heroin or any other drug. It melted as if it was plain white salt,” lies Arjun.
“What games are you playing with us?” Shouts Zaffar and grabs Arjun by his collar again.
“Stop lying Zaffar. Isn’t it true that you still have a gold coin in your wallet with Hindi text written on it?” Says Arjun.
Shocked and distressed, Zaffar taps the gun against Arjun’s head. “Prepare to die.”
Altaf rushes and jumps in between them. He grabs Zaffar’s arm and thrusts it up in air. Zaffar shoots a bullet which hits a fire alarm bell hung on the wall. It breaches the disk of the alarm and the bell falls to the ground.
“Why don’t you show us your wallet?” Asks Altaf.
Zaffar wrestles his arm away and growls “Yes, I have a gold coin with Hindi on it… but I didn’t steal any drugs”
“Then where did you get that coin from?” Asks Omar.
“I found a treasure,” replies Zaffar angrily.
“A treasure! How, when, where?” Interrogates Altaf aggressively.
“I can’t explain to you how,” says Zaffar. Just get out of my way.
Altaf grabs Zaffar by his neck again and pushes him back
. Zaffar balances himself and then points the gun towards Altaf.
Altaf pulls out his own revolver and points it back at Zaffar. “You stole those drugs and traded them for gold in India. Isn’t that right? You fraud!” Shouts Altaf, believing Arjun’s words.
“I am not a fraud. I never cheated anyone. Just let me kill the three of them and end this!” Shouts Zaffar.
“Stop it you two!” Shouts Omar and steps in between them, pushing down the loaded gun barrels of both Zaffar and Altaf. He shouts at them, “This is no time for petty quarrels. We are not killing anyone as for now. We need this boy!”
Omar looks at Zaffar and bursts out, “We have incurred too many loses as for now. We can’t afford to kill those girls. Now go and arrange some good heroin from Khyber. Meanwhile, we will find out what this boy knows.”
Zaffar nods his head in obedience, but is angry and frustrated. He walks towards the exit. Just outside the door, he hears Altaf talking to Omar. “You are giving him another task. Remember, he lost drugs in 2010 as well.”
Back in the room Omar tries to calm down Altaf. “Look Altaf, Zaffar is no less than my son. I trust him. I trust you too, but I don’t trust this Indian.”
“Then how come this intelligence guy is aware of so many things?” Asks Altaf.
“I don’t know,” replies Omar worriedly.
“Zaffar is no good for this job and neither is he trustworthy anymore,” spits Altaf, walking to one side.
Suddenly, a bullet strikes Altaf in the back of the head, tunnelling through and out of his temple. Altaf’s dead body tumbles forward with his face down on the ground. Zaffar keeps the gun pointed towards the dead man and then looks at Omar.
“I would rather die than cheat you. Kill me if you don’t trust me anymore,” says Zaffar calmly. Next, he offers his gun to Omar.
Shaken, Omar mourns Altaf’s death inwardly and deep inside himself, he fears Zaffar and his aggression. “Over fifty kills.” He recalls Zaffar’s proud words when asked about his assassinations. That day, he had taken pride in keeping the fearless archer next to him. But today, he wasn’t sure whether to trust Zaffar or not.
He takes the gun out of Zaffar’s hand. “I trust you son,” reassures Omar, and pats Zaffar’s shoulder. “Now calm down. You have an eight hour journey ahead. Just forget about what just happened and leave for the Torkham Border. I’ll dispose of Altaf’s body”
Zaffar leaves the room. Omar worriedly looks at Arjun, who arrogantly looks back at Omar, smiling mysteriously.
“Start counting the hours. You won’t live to see another day,” threatens Omar.
Arjun returns a smirk and questions Omar, “Have you seen the future?”
Threatened, Omar gazes at Arjun. Not sure if he is an intelligence worker or just a brother searching for his sister, he regrets kidnapping a doctor with such a fearless brother. He thinks for a moment and then dials a number from his mobile.
“Send twelve men to the warehouse,” he says.
6th January 2013 2:30 PM Gas Godown, Ferozepur Road, Pakistan
Omar leaves the warehouse to bury Altaf.
Arjun stands up while his hands remain tied to the chair, and legs tied together. He hops backwards towards an empty carton holding the broken fire alarm bell.
The bullet had left a semi-circular hole along the edge of the metal disk and had created a sharp metal spike on the rim of the disk. Arjun manages to stretch his hand over the carton and grabs the destroyed alarm disk. He grabs the disk in one hand and grinds the sharp edge with the nylon rope wrapped around his hands.
After fifteen minutes of effort, the rope breaks. With his hands free, Arjun quickly grabs the rest of the parts of fire alarm bell. He extracts three parts from the broken fire alarm bell; a spring, a copper wire and a dangling metal knocker.
Without waiting any longer, he straightens the spring and unwinds it into a long wire. He quickly twists it into the shape of a key and slides it through the room lock.
A clicking sound, and the door is unlocked.
The metal door opens with a creaking sound into a two-storey warehouse with a rack of LPG cylinders stacked everywhere from the ground to a few feet above the surface. Arjun walks to the main corridor which leads to the warehouse shutter. Bright light from the edges shines over the spiderwebs hanging from the shutter, and shines across to the adjoining wall.
Arjun runs to an adjoining room. He unwinds the spring wire and uses it as a key to open the door.
He is confronted with another room, with Ankita and Swati tied to chairs. Without wasting time, he quickly steps behind them and unties them.
“Quick! Both of you need to puncture six LPG cylinders in another twenty minutes. No more, no fewer,” whispers Arjun hurriedly.
“What? Are you mad? You are going to kill us all!” exclaims Ankita.
“Trust him. He knows what to do,” reassures Swati.
Arjun runs out and Swati and Ankita follow him.
He unlocks another room, grabs a movable ladder and places it along the rack of cylinders. He starts putting down sealed cylinders from the top, and places them on the ground.
“Swati, break the seal of all the cylinders and place them along the switch panel,” instructs Arjun, signalling with his eyes.
Swati grabs a cylinder and drags it closer to a switchboard.
“No, not this panel. Likely, it doesn’t work. Use the one next to it,” Arjun interrupts and Swati obeys him without hesitation.
“How come he knows where everything is?” Wonders Ankita.
“Ankita, grab a cylinder and place it along with the other one,” commands Arjun.
“Can you tell me what you want to do?” Asks Ankita.
“I’ll wind a single copper wire around the valves of these cylinders and plug them into an electric circuit. When the current passes through them, it will heat the valves and start leaking LPG in a while,” explains Arjun.
“Are you crazy? And from where will you get this long copper wire?” Asks Ankita in a bit irate tone.
“I extracted it from a broken fire alarm bell,” replies Arjun as he pulls out a wire wrapped on a yellow spindle like a thread roll.
“And how do you plan to time it?” Asks Ankita
“Didi, I am not timing it specifically. It will take approximately twenty to thirty minutes for them to return. This circuit will break the valves by then,” explains Arjun.
Perplexed, Ankita recalls Arjun calling an electrician to replace a tube light at home. Yes, Arjun had always been scared of electricity. He would never touch electrical equipment himself, neither would he let Ankita repair any electric gadgets on her own. Right now though, he was thinking like a scientific genius.
This moment is even more confusing for her. An authoritative boss of his had travelled all the way from India to save her, and was obeying her brother blindly.
Confused, she agrees to do as Arjun says. The three coordinate to place the cylinders as planned and Arjun winds the wire around the gas cylinder valves.
Tired, Arjun rests his back against the wall to catch his breath, and then runs into a glass office to grab a bunch of car keys and an axe. Arjun switches on the circuit and the three walk towards the warehouse shutter.
“Wait!” whispers Ankita in a high-pitched voice.
Arjun replies. “Don’t worry. I know who is waiting for us outside.” Next, he pulls the shutter of the warehouse up. In the front yard, the skinny teen sits on a chair with drowsy eyes. Fear races through Ankita for a minute.
“Don’t worry, he is drugged and half conscious,” says Arjun. Under the peepal tree, two vehicles remain parked along the warehouse wall; one a white Toyota SUV and along with it stands the black jeep with the cannon mounted on top of it. Swati takes a minute to look at the military equipment wondering how drug peddlers manage to lay hands on such heavy artillery.
Arjun pulls out the metal knocker of the alarm bell. He presses its head against the valves of the white SUV and uniformly reduces slight ai
r pressure in all the tires. Next, he pulls down the warehouse shutter again.
Swati and Ankita curiously look at each other, wondering why Arjun did any of the things, but neither of them question him.
“Let me drive,” says Swati, beckoning to Arjun for the keys
Arjun nods his head and replies with a glint in his eyes. “It’s not over yet. Let me drive.”
The three drive out in the SUV through the narrow lane.
6th January 2013 3:00 PM Gas Godown, Ferozepur Road, Pakistan
Three black SUVs loaded with young men armed with rifles reach the warehouse. Omar steps out of the car and sees the skinny teen, drugged and half asleep.
“Omar, was there any point in leaving an intelligence guy with just a kid?!” Shouts another elderly man, as he steps out of SUV.
Omar is humiliated; the loss of Altaf had mentally affected him and he immediately regrets his mistake. Angry and restless, he slaps the drugged youth. “Go and arrange for some water and food.”
More men step out of the parked SUVs. One of the armed men smoking a cigarette, standing alongside the middle-aged man, gives Omar a piteous stare, as if looking down upon him. Omar doesn’t like his unpleasant stare as he blows out smoke rings.
“Raise the shutter,” Omar commands the smoker with authority.
The smoker walks lazily towards the shutter door.
“Quick!” Shouts Omar, as he observes the missing SUV.
The smoker rushes to pull the shutter up. A fraction of a second later, he smells the LPG. His eyes open wide but he is too late to realise his mistake.
A massive blast and a cylinder flies out with its base facing forward and fire gushing out of its valve. The smoker crouches down to save himself from the cylinder but the flame burns his body and hair.
The flying cylinder glides above him and its base hits an armed man on the face, who is standing in front of a car. The thrust of the cylinder propels him along with it as it lodges itself in a car windscreen, taking his head clean off.
More flames gush out of the shutter, with metal cylinders flying out like unbalanced rockets; tearing through the half-open shutter door and roof. The flames and the blast like thunder rise to over fifty feet, with blown-out cylinders falling as far away as Ferozepur Road.