by Divya Singh
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I waited eagerly for the clock to strike 2 am, come the other night. I woke up. ZA-vi was the ‘record officer’ so he deliberately fled the place on right time gesturing a thumbs-up to me. I almost ran, though I thought ZA-vi would buy me time at any cost, but the more I put the effort into it the better I get the opportunity to be able to reach the highly sought after information.
“101, 5th from the last alley”; I ran till I reached near the elevator. There I hid at the left side of the lift corridor. I waited for someone to come and open one lift.
After waiting just for 10-15 minutes I got both poles of luck. The lucky part was that two women doctors seemed to be stepping towards the elevator corridor from the other corridor, running parallel to which I lived in. the unlucky part was, that one of them was KEAH, the other being an unknown new looking apprentice whom I have never seen before.
“Arghh!” I swallowed the desperation. They are nearing my hiding position and I am fixed in the situation of whether to use this chance or chart a returning course back to the room. If the new apprentice was alone, I could have even used the force of my masculine body, to snatch the passkey, but alas! There was KEAH too. I couldn’t turn my back on this chance and put the turmoil in my mind on wait for a month or more. I was swinging between alternatives, then suddenly-
KEAH: “Sharine! I am sorry! I forgot my room keys in the surgical ward. You go ahead; I will catch up with you in your room soon. Then, she turned back.
Sharine: “OK, Don’t be late for sleep you know how tough it’s going to be tomorrow morning? See ya!” I heard the new woman saying this. I sneaked a peek, to assess my chances against her in the brawl ahead. Oh, she was a short woman making barely out of 5 feet frame, without heels. She looked feeble. She must have been just 25 feet away from my hideout. Earlier, my strategy was to employ force as the ultimate resort, but just then it occurred to me that maybe up there somewhere, somebody would be keeping an eye on the number of times the elevators go up and down so why not go with the apprentice? Plus it will buy me more time. But the new Sharine wouldn’t allow a ‘Horrible’ me to share the lift with her. Maybe she will scream and alarm everyone who will have me grounded forever. So I figured out that going back wasn’t an option at all. So I chalked out a quick plan. I will turn my face away from hers, let her call the passkey, and then I will hit her head and get in the lift with her and get off the same level she was headed to and chalk out the rest of the plan later.
She was about 6-7 steps away from left corridor; I could hear her 2” stiletto heels tap on the floor as she walked nearer. OK, here she comes, I buzzed; she stopped startled.
Sharine: “Hey? Those lifts outta order there? Can I help ya?”
I said: “Yeah let me look if this one here works, you try yours by the time, and if mine doesn’t work I will come with you.” I was pretending as if I really was an expert in lifts’ psychological responses! She is careless and musical. I perceive her tapping the floor and humming. Her elevator arrives before mine. Well, mine was never intended to. The voice prompts her to put in the Passkey.
Sharine: “SULTRYSHARINE467”
What the heck of a key to have? I whispered to self. Then I saw her entering the door. She asked, “You Coming?”
I said: “Yes, please wait!” And I turned my face towards her and ran towards her with my right fist ready to hit her head. She gasped, looking at my horrifying face, she looked terrified instantly; I took the chance to grin. She dropped down fainted before the impact of my fist could knock her out. Argh! She fell on the ground, unconscious! My beauty was instantly confirmed. The elevator’s voice thanks me!
d) LEVEL 0: The Navigation Chambers
I had learned that the elevator had picked me up from -13 and was headed for -7. When it opened there and I pushed her out and decided to go on to ‘0’. The elevator opened at 0. I was really curious about this floor because I had somehow figured it out that The Navigator must be here. I stepped into an enclosure as I closed in the translucent walls ahead, they slit opened. From a dimly lighted area, I was now stepping into a brightly lit corridor. There was light all over the place and the corridor headed towards a large glass door. I could see people around, inside the rooms with transparent walls on both the sides of the corridor. Though I had covered my face below the eyes with the mask I took from Sultry Sharine, but the forehead and ugly bald head were totally exposed. People could have easily seen me through, the only thing standing between, the transparent glass. But nobody was actually facing towards the corridor and sat far from it. I was safe, but to ward off any suspicion, I took my hands up and placed over my head. They must have covered my bald, ugly head and forehead given the oversized sleeves of the light blue patient robe I wore.
I headed straight towards the hall with big glass gates. As I neared it, I could see 4 large sized screens in the front. Above the screens were enormous sized glass panes through which I could see a calm, dark ocean, and clear skies. There was one person in the hall, at extreme left, he was seemingly working with a machine, I didn’t know of. There was no possibility that he could have spotted me. But I felt that the first real view of the era I was reborn into wasn’t all that stirring.
It was just the ocean’s view at night, the pitch black sky studded with stars. If what I think about the perception I have about the ocean and the sky in my memory of the previous life, then nothing seems to have changed. It’s all the same. Now I felt that what they said back there, that the world has changed a lot since my death, doesn’t stand much of a value to me now, at least for this moment right now.
I wanted to see what data the screens showed, but it was a little too far off for me to be legible other than some diagrams and charts and the technical stuff, which wasn’t my thing. I thought; let’s just see what machines they have got these days. I went up a few steps to the right to get a closer look at the structures and fixtures placed on my right, away from the person working inside. Except what seemed to me like the computer screens and electronic information projected on glass panels, none of them were recognizable to me; seemed like there were numerous boxes of different light colors and shapes and sizes, some slender robotic arms, few levers up and down all moving. I wondered, “Is this how we navigate these days?”
Then, suddenly, the guy at left turned towards the second left screen prompted by a beep or alarm. I thought that I should better leave this place before he sees me and causes trouble. I was about to turn back, but stopped because I heard footsteps at my back. They halted for a couple of seconds, but then resumed towards the right side alley in the split of a second. Maybe people of my kind kept frequenting this place a lot so that the sense of familiarity won over curiosity. It could be that I must have looked ‘Acceptable’ to the person on my back. Maybe my back looked more human than my front.
Anyway, the guy in the big glass chamber stepped towards the screen towards the right; he had turned to look at earlier. It was about 5 feet away from him, so I thought it was the appropriate time for me to go.
I turned back with an aroused sense of caution, placed my arms properly above my head and passed through the corridor with light footsteps.
b) 8Th floor: Agricultural research facility
When I reached the elevator, I chose the same elevator; I got off from, assuming that it was the one Sharine or people of her class or cadre used. The lift voice asks me for the key.
I said, “SULTRYSHARINE467” and it thanked me again. So now for some time, I was officially sultry Sharine on the elevators till I got to be the real me.
I chose the highest floor, this time, it was number 8. I hope not to be interrupted this time by overcrowded rooms and alleys so the highest floor was the best option. As the door opened I looked out in excitement. Most of the lifts didn’t come this far up, so seemingly there are 3 elevators used for coming up to this floor. The first on my left and the next to me on my right were the o
nly others.
It opened in a big room with various cabins. There were shelves full of digital books. I reached out to one shelf, picked up a book whose title read as ‘Revival of extinct plant species’. So what, they are doing something with plant life now?
Why would they have to bring a plant/tree digital book on a ship? I picked up another which read, ‘Flora’, the other again about maximizing the crop productivity, growing miniature trees with minimum resources, plants that could be grown just on water and synthetic minerals, plants and trees compatible with saline water……….so on.
Enough with the books, I moved out of this library place and entered a laboratory on the right side. Many beakers were filled up with mud and dirt. Many drums and tanks were kept locked. I slammed my foot against them all and felt that they all were full, up to the brim.
I thought, “Are they transporting something to somewhere?” I murmured in dissatisfaction. “Is it mud or dirt?”
All this time I had thought that I lived in a special ship. I would have given it credit for being different, but the tasks like transportation of books on plants and trees and dirt are not something worth giving credit unless the destination to which they are shipped values them.
I ventured into another room. It contained little sprouts and saplings in different kinds of breathable jars; there was one very big light which also produced heat. In the adjoining room, I saw a little machine, which probably did something about making ‘soil’. It had a funnel through which medium sized rocks went in for getting crushed and minerals were getting mixed in them. Then I heard footsteps and I silently returned to the direction which I used to enter in here. I reached the elevator, called the passkey in a low tone and chose to go to the last stop this time.
c) Last floor: -18
I supposed now that the last floor would certainly be uncrowded so I pressed the -18, the last floor that was listed in the set of keys. I wasn’t hoping to see many important things here. Generally, from my memory, such last floors are unimportant like being used for parking etc., so my suspicion was that I won’t find a thing here. When the door opened I have had a feeling of having reached some cold storage. It was really cold here on this floor; they must have preserved something here that is what I first presumed and as I headed ahead it was growing stronger. It was freezing as I proceeded. The lights were feeble and through the glass, I could see that there were 100s of thousands of storage tanks here, about 3 feet high.
All rooms were filled to the rooftops with these tanks; room after room looking like a mirror. Then I reached the darker set of rooms turning to the left. These all rooms were lit up in red light. It was hard for my vision to understand what was inside, but as my eyes adjusted to the darker rooms, there seemed to be placed some boxes, looking almost like coffins, standing straight up, as if piled up to save some space.
It was very dark further ahead; my vision would never adjust to such dark. So I decided to return to my room, after all, I must have used up a lot of time, and the conclusion was that without a normal and acceptable face and proper authorization to do what I was doing, I could actually not interact as much as was needed to gain necessary information I sought.
I went up to the elevator and selected 4th from the left which Sharine used to go up to level ‘-13’. I sneaked into my room as quickly as could be. I saw ZA-vi sleeping seated, resting his head against the wall. Seated on a small cushion, adjacent to the front wall, everything, from my coming back to the room to tucking myself under the covers did not wake him.
It looked like he must have switched himself off. I got off the bed, went up to him and slapped his left cheek. “ZA-vi!” I whispered into his ears. He didn’t wake up. Then I shook his shoulders, but he still didn’t wake up. I then searched his back and neck, head and heart if I could find a switch and bring him back to his ‘senses’.
But alas! I called him several times before I got disheartened and decided to leave him there to himself. I just went off to my bed after throwing a look at the clock which showed 3:30 am and concluded that, ZA-vi might also have some kind of ‘sleeping or rejuvenating’ period. I didn’t know when I drifted into a deep slumber because I was really so exhausted.
Chapter 7: ZA-vi got ‘repaired’