Land Of The Gods

by Abhishek .

  The shimmer of the wall mellowed slightly, the glow spreading out over the rectangular section more uniformly with softer textures.

  “It’s ready! Go! Go! GO!” Heimdallr yelled shortly before the projectile launched its landing mechanism. Electricity crackled from the three electrodes in its underbelly as they spewed out forks of purple lightning akin to the tesla coil I had built in 5th grade. Except that these streaks of raw electricity somehow struck the surroundings and acted as webs that slowed down the descent of the capsule, perhaps by generating electrostatic repulsion from its surroundings. As much as I wanted to observe this oddly beautiful scene, I was shoved towards the wall by Ram. “Mathias stop staring that that police pod! Do you want to get arrested or what?”

  Heimdallr was standing by the portal while the four of us approached the wall. With a moment of hesitation, Vivek quivered before touching the surface.

  “Just walk thought like there’s nothing and stop when you’re inside the wall. Move!” Heimdallr instructed.

  The next instant, Vivek disappeared into the wall. He walked right through the wall like there was nothing but thin air. Then went Ram and then Dr Shanbhag. Only Heimdallr and I were left. By now, the capsule had opened its doors with an entire squadron of seven soldiers jogging towards us. They seemed to be unarmed and I felt my chest loosen ever so slightly.

  “I won’t be able to come. The portal will not have space for me.”

  “What do you mean, Heimdallr? You have to find a way!” I yelled at him, my eyes wide with horror.

  “There is no way! Do as I say, Mathias. Go now. I don’t have the time to reboot the system and activate it again. I’ll stay and delay the soldiers while I can.”

  “But can’t you shut the portal down once we’re through?” My breathing was growing hoarse by the second.

  Heimdallr nodded grimly and perhaps, shamefully. “Go!” He pushed me right through the wall. In less than a second, I felt like I was standing in the middle of a numinous orange void with faint swirling streaks of yellow. I stood my ground, afraid to go some place I was not supposed to go. I was blind. I could not even see my body but I was sure I still had it. But what if this quantum tunnelling phenomenon malfunctioned on such macro scale? What if my whole body couldn’t make through to the other side?

  Just as horrific images of my mutilated body flooded my mind, I felt the ground below me rise like an elevator. I rose until my head broke through the surface. Then my shoulders and then my body. I was now standing on top of the boundary wall and so were the three others. I should have been flummoxed by the amazing science behind this mechanism. I had read about quantum tunnelling only in books and found that it takes place only on the atomic scale. To use this phenomenon such that we could now literally walk through walls was something I should have marvelled at. But this time was different. I was leaving a teammate behind. Inside the wall, I was worried of perhaps getting stuck. And now, I just thought about Heimdallr left behind with the whole squadron to confront him.

  * * *

  Asr-Gawa

  March 17, 2017, Friday, 1735 hours Earth EET

  As soon as Mathias plunged into the wall Heimdallr bent down one last time to initiate the shut down of the mini electron particle accelerator to stop the quantum tunnelling process. He stood up and turned, chest held high and fists clenched. A horde of eight internal security agents were headed his way. From their contorted faces, he knew that they were going to shove him aside to capture the the four. The question was, who had leaked the information of their presence and whereabouts? It could not be Nanna. Could somebody be spying on us? Or did one of the four on the other side of the dome leak the information? But Heimdallr had no time. Each Heimdallr before him had been burly, gigantic individuals, a build and countenance befitting a guardian. His frame was slightly smaller, his shoulders a little less globed, his calves a little less sinewy. But he was the guardian. And he would go against the tides of the system to protect the world he knew.

  Discreetly, he slipped his hand underneath his coat and reached into his pocket. Using his index finger, he touched the circular sensor on the top of the tiny grey cube nimbly. He raised his hands.

  The commander of the squadron glided towards Heimdallr, his joints bending in an uncanny, impeccable synchronisation. His picofibre cloak hugged his thickset body smoothly with no crease appearing anywhere, an uncompromising shell of invulnerability. The lower half of his face was covered in a lightweight polymer mask made of a carbon-fiber like material. Many squadron leaders had to cover their faces with masks to avoid identification. Atrocities committed in the name of justice, coercion, and rampant abuse of power were just some of the factors that made their faces dangerous to their safety. People of influence in the government and energy sector argued that in a rapidly degenerating society on the verge of an economic stall, the stick and not the carrot would do the job of keeping Asr-Gawa from crumbling. Full autonomy of action for the squadron leaders was the key. But Heimdallr knew that once you give leeway to bullies, there was no looking back until you are consumed by the monsters you create. It was a desperate method to show the people that the council had solutions. But by now, every kid, every beggar in the street knew better. Each night they looked into the sky to see yet another star engulfed by inky darkness. They had embraced the inevitable.

  “What have you been doing Heimdallr?” He asked Heimdallr in the same way a serial killer pierces the knife slowly into his victim, savouring the feeling of drawing blood.

  “They need to meet with Odin. There is no other way.”

  “Odin?” The man guffawed raucously in sinister amusement.

  “What exactly are you trying to hide, Heimdallr? Why must you help a bunch of Mandaas get out of the dome? Tell me. What’s going on behind the scenes, O defender of the realm?” He drew slightly closer.

  Heimdallr remained silent. There was no way he could threaten them by mentioning his sister. Once they get to know of her involvement, everything would be jeopardised.

  “I’m afraid, I cannot allow you to arrest them.”

  “Are you serious? A posse of goddamn Mandaas?” He looked back at his squadron and all of them chuckled audibly. “You’re not going to open your mouth. Whatever you’re up to, I’ll get to know eventually. Right now, you’re obstructing protocol and allowing foreign bodies illegal freedom of movement in our city. Before I even arrest you for being party to this and on charges for conspiracy against the council, move aside.”

  Heimdallr stood his ground. His teeth were clenched. The muscles on his neck twitched with nervousness and he could strangely feel the warm rush of blood in his nose. His face was flushed with anger and anxiety, but he didn’t move.

  “Move. Heimdallr. Move... aside.” The leader couldn’t elicit any response. “Have it the way you want. ARREST HIM!” he shouted out.

  Two guards with their dark, shifting vambraces walked up to Heimdallr. The small grains that made the vambrace of one of the guards shifted and swirled to reveal a tiny button. Just before the guard was about to press the button and force Heimdallr’s neural lattice into immobility, Heimdallr jumped into action.

  He took one step and kicked the guard on his left, digging the boot into his gut. Instantly, he swivelled on his right leg and delivered a roundhouse kick. It connected with the guard’s headpiece and dislodged it, sending the man spinning onto the ground. Heimdallr turned and in one fluid motion, he clicked a soft button on the side of the cube in his pocket and threw it over the squadron leader, right at the police capsule around which the guards were assembled. In that fleeting instant, the leader turned to face Heimdallr, his eyes flaming with fury, his face contorted, reddening, exposing bulging veins. He pressed a tiny silver ring on right middle finger. Black grain-like sand flooded out of the ring, crafting a dark vambrace around his hand. He swung it up and before Heimdallr had the time to let the mortal fear set in, the leader fired a grey, smoking projectile like a serpent shooting venom at its prey. In a fractio
n of a second, the projectile would rip Heimdallr’s torso apart, damaging him beyond repair.

  At that moment, the cube detonated. An immensely strong vibration pervaded all matter in a 35 feet radius. As the gravity bomb came alive, the projectile slowed down. Completely petrified, Heimdallr watched as it simply stopped inches from his body, convulsing in mid-air, before it was sucked backwards by the magnificent power of the gravitational field created.

  “NO!” The squadron leader yelled as he was helplessly pulled into the naked bomb, his blood sucked from his body, his muscles stretching until they tore, his bones bending until they snapped like twigs. All the guards were pulled into the levitating cube, torn and dismembered by the extreme tidal forces of the gravitational field. Heimdallr stood just barely outside the blast radius, watching in silent horror the polymer, metal, flesh, and blood that compressed into a grotesque ball, a tiny planet with the cube as its core. The surface swirled with rivers of glowing fluid and blood, letting out purple sparks every now and then before the ball froze. The bomb ran out of energy and the planet fell with a sickening, metallic and meaty clang.

  Heimdallr gazed fixedly at the ball. He had acted impulsively. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead. He knew there was no going back now.

  * * *

  “You realise what you’re saying? I’m anyway dealing under the table. If I do this, I’ll have no sense of ethics or integrity left.” The Distrik Poulsäja told the holographic figure of the Councilman while sitting in his plush, antiquated office in the headquarters for Internal Security. “Don’t talk to me about integrity. That virtue vanished from our world a long time back. Look around you, at the people in the streets, at your miserable wife and children, and then tell me if the system leaves any room for integrity! Our society is rotting from the core, and if we need to strike the cancerous Lok Vve, we need to do it by circumscribing the system.”

  The Poulsäja stared hard into the glowing eyes of the holographic projection. “Just cut all this crap, will you. Why do you want me to orchestrate this invasion?”

  “Alright then. Here you go. Three other Councilmen are aware about the 5,000 wish credits I paid you to prevent my son from getting arrested after he killed that family in the district you control. Stories about bribery, accusations, and rivalry in the Council are breaking out on the news. And I’m at the centre of all this.”

  “So, the offensive you’re funding is basically a way to divert their attention from corruption scandals to an armed conflict with Lok Vve,” the man laid back in his chair, sniggering with revulsion.

  He had accepted the sum then because he truly needed it. His wife was dying and they needed the credits for her treatment. As much as he detested the smell of dishonesty within the ranks, he knew he had to take the sum. If the corruption was leaked, he would inextricably be involved in it, tearing his career asunder. He shook his head, asking himself the same questions over and over again: I fell once, how far do I need to fall further to cover my tracks? How much more of this?

  “When are you beaming me the credits?” The Poulsäja’s voice was soft, fatigued. A man who had resigned to his fate.

  “I’ll beam you 900 credits by tonight. The rest I’ll send when you’ve done the deed.”

  “1100 credits.”

  “What?”

  “Not 900. I want 1100 credits.”

  “You realise you have to do this. There is no other way. And you have no bargaining power.”

  “I will take 1100 or nothing.”

  “Fine, I’ll beam a 1000. How petty of you, sir.” The man stared at the hologram with a terrible frown, his breathing deep, hard, and warm. He wanted to reach into the projector and smash the Councilman’s nose. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

  “Yeah, alright. By tonight.” And the projector died away. The man touched a large glossy white pad and a beep indicated the opening of the large doors to his offie.

  A young boy jogged in, panting and sweating like some vermin. He stopped a large distance away from the Poulsäja’s desk. “Hilsener, Herr Distrik Poulsäja. I’m a coordination facilitator.”

  The man nodded curtly. “What brings you here, boy?” “Sir, I was sent here in person to inform you of the... err... incident.”

  “What incident? What’s happened now?”

  “Sir, the squadron we had sent to apprehend the group that supposedly contained Thor’s son. It’s been neutralised by a portable gravity bomb.”

  “What? Isn’t the group a bunch of Mandaa people? How did they get hold of a gravity bomb?”

  “Sir, according to a report by one of the guards before he died, the man who threw the bomb was Heimdallr.”

  “Oh what? Boy, you better be sure about the news you’re reporting.”

  “We are certain, sir. Also, reports from the guards and the department that controls the Lightning gatweays on the periphery say that there was a breach. Most probably, Heimdallr was the one who helped the group escape outside the city by manually overriding the gateway.”

  “If Heimdallr was behind this, then there could be only two things that could be going on. Either the group actually contains Thor’s son, or Heimdallr is helping Lok Vve rebels.”

  A pause ensued between both men, plunging the room into a contemplative, tense silence.

  “What should we do now, sir?”

  The man looked at the boy, pausing for a moment. It seemed like fate had heard the Councilman’s pleas for a diversion. Except now, he won’t have to hire mercenaries and carry out a farce of an invasion protect political scandal. The Poulsäja smiled inwardly at the prospects of what lay ahead of him.

  “Get me a report of all unauthorised entries into Asr-Gawa from Mandagaar for the last two days. This bunch would have come in pretty recently. Actually, keep archived records handy as well. And arrange for a media release regarding the issue. Pass it through me before official release. Get along,” the man motioned and the boy jogged out of the room.

  He sat down and contacted the Squadron Jevf. The hologram of a bald man materialised who bowed before him. “Alfein, there’s an issue that I think you’re aware of.”

  The man nodded. “Yes, Herr Poulsäja. We’re awaiting your orders on the same.”

  “Send in three of our squadrons to hunt down Heimdallr. That man is in deep trouble. And put all the exterior protector drones on high alert. Their objective should be capture and not kill. I have a feeling we have a lot to learn from that pack of Mandaas.”

  “It shall be done immediately,” the hologram vanished.

  As he stared into the darkening sky, he noticed burgeoning grey clouds swirling into formation. He squinted at the dome, trying to amusingly discern the bunch of Mandaas on the exterior. One thing kept stinging in the Poulsäja’s head. The gateway, as far as his knowledge went, could be overridden only manually and remotely. If his knowledge was sound, then there was something bigger going on with its reaches into the highest of positions in the national departments.

  Interlude

  Elsewhere

  At the same time

  It began with a rhythmic throbbing, deep inside every being in the universe. Everybody stopped translating, stationary in their tracks. This power emanated from the brainstone like every time. And like every time, the sheer magnitude of the power made it unquestionably massive and constant. But what was different this time was that they could feel all the power. Separated and yet connected through unfathomable cosmic lengths, traversing universes and dimensions, the energy of the brainstone fragments were generally dampened by spatial- temporal disturbances. But this time, it was almost as if all filters, barriers, and interferences had been lifted, letting through the surge of the awesome unadulterated power. The Socialist rushed to his office, jumping through spatial loops for faster translation. He couldn’t possibly miss this event.

  He arrived in his laboratory and approached the mouldable model of the three-dimensional sister universe. Even from afar, he could feel the palpable resona
tion of the raw power traversing space and time. He inched closer and closer to the model which showed an unprecedented bright spot. He folded the model inside out and exposed the model of the dimension that contained the amplified piece. He stared at the spot like a father looking at his newborn. He wanted to touch the spot, feel it deeper inside. The apparatus around him was shaking, twisting and contorting. All their quantum positions were at one moment existing at the same place and time, and the other all popped out of conceivable existence. All energy around him escalated not only because of the brainstone but also due to his own trepidation.

  He hesitated for a moment, but soon he gave in to the temptation. The socialist contacted the spot. What happened next was inexplicable.

  His consciousness leaped, escaping any tangible constriction. He escaped his body and any construct of his mind. For a moment, he perceived the entangled cosmos, the colliding universes, worlds forming and destroying in unperceivable spans of time. He saw the forming of the brainstone, its fragmentation, and before he could see its end, his consciousness stopped. He found himself inside the three-dimensional universe. For such a long time, they had tried so hard to enter the world and had failed miserably. As thrilled as he was about being inside the world, he knew his experience was akin to any other dream.

  At first, he saw a curved city. The gaseous fluid surrounding him seemed to be unnaturally still. On concentration, he realised the molecules were moving, albeit extremely slowly. He was present in an extremely short span of time, in a reality he hoped contained what he was looking for....