Re came in search of him !Richard, I have good news for
you …!’He sounded so excited and the excitement was
infectious!
Re continued, ‘Zo had reinforced the Link and he wanted
you to try it as we had no one on Earth whom we are
connected mentally! Even though Frank was very close to
me, On Earth I had to concentrate a lot to connect with
him! The Link works well if both the persons are mentally
connected… Try who knows, may be Frank is thinking of
you right now …’
ON EARTH
Meanwhile on Earth at the same time Frank was facing a
very life-size problem in the name of Christina! Christina
was a distant cousin to Richard. Everyone else accepted
the story that Richard had taken some gold from the
treasure and absconded and he had not told them where he
was going and he did not call for the past year!
Everyone except Christina - she wouldn’t accept it... Yes it
was almost a year since Richard took the sudden decision
when he jumped into the space craft of the extraterrestrials
and disappeared from Tim’s land. It was that split second
action of him that put Frank and Redim in such a tight spot
for the past year! They couldn’t tell anyone what exactly
happened to Richard but the villagers gossiped that he
stole some gold from the treasure and absconded with that!
Since then no one had seen him nor heard from him! Even
the villagers had stopped talking about him! It helped that
he lived alone and he did not have very close relatives and
even the distant ones did not live in that village!
All accepted that the sudden prosperity must have made
him forget everyone …moreover he had never been close
to anyone, least of all with his few relatives!
But Christina who was a distant cousin, refused to believe
the story! She had been a constant visitor to the village and
Tim’s land since then! She would come down to the
village, stay in Richard’s house and would go to meet
Frank…She asked the same question, ‘Where is Richard?’
She would ask him to tell what happened on the day he
disappeared! Frank had to rehearse an appropriate story
with Redim his girlfriend. Christina would question both
in different ways! She felt that they knew more than what
they were telling her!
Now Christina has been graduated as a software engineer
and stayed there permanently in Tim’s village…
On that day, Christina was walking towards Tim’s land
and to Frank’s house when she met Mary the
housekeeper... Mary was very fond of Christina as she
would not talk about anything else but only about Richard!
Moreover, Mary liked her because she thought Christina
was the most beautiful girl that she had ever seen.
Christina was not very tall, had a fair complexion, curly
hair that touched her waist, perfect features and with the
straight forward look unlike the other girls. Christina
greeted Mary and they together walked in the driveway
towards Frank’s house!
Mary was telling her about Richard and how he would
come and help her in the kitchen and he was so happy
while he was staying there with Frank. How they would be
seen together all the time and how the doctor madam
treated him like her own brother! How he liked his room
where he stayed…
She was talking on and on … A thought came to her
suddenly! Christina had not seen the room in which he
stayed ...she did not know why she never thought of going
there! She decided to go there and asked permission to
visit the room.
When they reached the house as usual only Frank was
there. His parents had settled in the city and only very
rarely they visited Tim’s land!
Frank was waiting for Redim and they had decided to get
married and settle in Tim’s Land. They would have
married much earlier but Redim was disturbed about
Richard’s betrayal and at the same time the concern for
him made her to postpone her wedding plan!
Richard’s decision affected Redim more than Frank… She
was worried about him when they couldn’t connect with
him and she lost all hope of him being alive. She felt
guilty that she should have anticipated his move as he was
very comfortable with her…treated her like a sibling
rather than some new acquaintance.
The hardest thing was that they couldn’t tell anyone as
they had to keep quiet about the extraterrestrials. It was
harder to tell lies to people who really cared for Richard
like Mary and the new entry Christina!
Frank was scared to face Christina as she had a way of
looKing straight at his eyes and he knew she sensed that
he did not tell the truth when he said he just left with
gold…!
Redim was expected at anytime and he was glad of her
presence as she was the only person whom he could be
normal!
Frank saw Mary and Christina entering the hall and he
cringed at the thought of an enquiry all over again!
But Christina walked up to him very casually, ‘Sir could I
go and see Richard’s room please? Mary said she would
show the room if you give permission!’ Frank was so
relieved that she was asking him something that would be
easy to do and immediately agreed!
Mary brought the key and she was talking nonstop about
how they had kept the room as it was thinking he would
return and how Frank was devastated when he left without
telling anyone!
The room was stylishly decorated as it was one of the
guests rooms the pastel shade gave an elegance to the
room and the subdued lightings made the room to look
classic!
Christina stopped listening to Mary and concentrated on
the things… the bed was neatly made and on the nearby
table few newspapers and books were left…
He had left one of his shirts on the settee and she was
surprised Mary the meticulous left it as it was. Mary saw
her moving slowly and she lost interest, ‘Christina, once
you finish it here, lock the room and bring the key to me…
I have some work in the kitchen’
Christina nodded her head without even taking her eyes
off the shirt!
Richard could not be called as a well dressed man but
whatever he had would be good quality. The shirt was one
of his best shirts that her father gave to him in the previous
Christmas!
She looked at the news papers on the table and most of
them were more than one year old and he had circled some
news. She read the circled news and it was all about the
old man’s murder… One or two news papers were dated
on the previous day of his disappearance… The headlines
were about the treasure trove in Tim’s land…
She saw few books on the table and all of them were
about the UFO or about the aliens! She never knew that he
was interested in aliens…
She went around the bed to the other side where she
stepped on some hard object and she picked it up! It was a
small wedge shaped object that shone dully and she
immediately associated it with the treasure as all the
channels showed the enormous cache of the gold in
circular shape… It looked similar to the one she saw
except for the shape.. a part of a circle!
She thought then what Frank was telling was true! He had
left one piece by mistake! She cried thinking about
Richard! The Richard whom she knew would never do
something like it! She wiped her tears and thought that
there must be some other explanation!
She saw few handwritten papers and she read it… The
pieces had only two words written…either ‘Right’ or
‘Wrong’
She remembered the game that they would play in
childhood… They would put lots before every prank they
played.. the pranks were played if the they picked up “
Right”! Was it the conclusion then!
She was heartbroken as she walked around the room to
find some clue! Nothing else was there! She opened the
wardrobe and to her surprise all his dresses were hanging
there! She had some doubt as he would never leave all his
new shirts, obviously given to him when he went with
Frank to USA. He wouldn’t leave them… He was by
nature a very miserly person and he would never leave
them unless he had to leave abruptly or he was removed
by force or he was killed!
The last thought galvanized her into action and she ran to
Frank’s study. Frank was alarmed to see her face and he
got up in reflex!
Christina had lost all her reason and screamed at him,
‘what did you do to him? Did you kill him because he
knew too much? Do you keep him somewhere because he
would tell everyone about some secret? No sir… I will go
to the police with all the evidences that I found in his
room… don’t try to convince me. Richard would never be
attracted to gold or any riches! You tell me now or I will
call the police here… where did you bury him?’
Redim’s voice came like a whiplash!, ‘Sure call the police
now! How dare you speak like this! It is not enough of
Richard’s betrayal now you go and stab us ! We deserve it
you know… for trusting him and taken him as our friend
…
Do you know he was almost like my brother that I
never had! You are asking us if we had killed him!
Frank ! this is too much … I have had it … Tell this stupid
girl what he did.. yes everything and ask her to get lost! I
don’t have any more patience left and I am not going to
carry the burden of Richard’s stupid mistake all my life!’
Christina had never seen Redim in such anger… The
passion in her voice told her they were as sorry as she was
in losing Richard. Her anger drained completely and she
apologised profusely…
But Redim looked at only Frank, ‘are you going to tell or I
will tell her…?’
She went and sat on one of the chairs, crossed her legs
and waited! She looked regal sitting there with the
heightened colour!
Frank came and gave her a hug but she wouldn’t relent…
He turned towards Christina, ‘I will tell you everything but
if you insist on going to the police, I will use all my
connection and deny everything! Is that clear!
Christina had lost all her confidence as she knew looking
at Redim, that Richard must have done something terrible!
She recalled the scene when he dropped from school and
how stubborn he was then!
Frank told her to sit but she remained standing … too
intimidated by Redim and waiting with trepidation to
know the misdeed of Richard… Her love for him and her
knowledge about him were at logger heads!
Frank told her, ‘ It would take some time… So make
yourself comfortable! Redim would you like to freshen
up?
Redim, ‘I don’t want this girl coming here questioning us
like a criminal! Tell her now!’
Frank nodded her head, ‘Come to my room both of you’
He left before they could react and Christina was too
frightened to move but Redim saw her shivering and pitied
her!
She just gestured her to follow her and climbed the steps
briskly. Christina followed her quietly...
Frank had brought out the stone tablets which had the
evidences of the aliens. He assembled them in the order of
the events as the numbers were given for each tablet…
Frank just gestured to Christina to see them.. She was
bewildered but she looked at the tablets keenly!
She could see it was some ancient marking on the stone
tablets, looked like a relief work!
Frank , ‘well, do you infer anything?’
She said, ‘obviously very old… the people have registered
some unnatural happenings that they have seen on the sky!
May be a shooting star or some asteroid crashing… all
those who had seen it died except for one!
I don’t understand them well!’
Redim appreciated her, ‘no you have actually decipher the
meaning pretty well! But it is not a shooting star but
aliens!
Christina had goosebumps as she had seen few books on
aliens in Richard’s room…
She waited… no one spoke for some time.
Frank finally broke the silence, ‘It was a long story! These
aliens landed here and lived among us for nearly a
thousand years.’‘Thousand years!’ Christina felt giddy…
Frank went on, ‘they came and asked our help for
something and Richard was already familiar with them
even though he did not know at the beginning they were
aliens!
He had taken his responsibilities little too high. So when
they had decided to find a suitable place to settle, without
any ones knowledge, even without the knowledge of the
aliens, he jumped into the space craft when it was about to
take off!
That loveable fool thought he could help them …who
were highly superior to us! We were left with taking the
burden of facing people like you!’
Christina sat on the settee heavily and she broke down
crying... Redim looked at her for sometime but her grief
tugged at her so went to her and hugged her without telling
anything!
Frank continued, ‘one piece of good news for you
Christina!’She looked up with tears in her eyes …
‘The aliens gave us a Link and if we concentrate, we could
connect with them! When they reached their new home the
exoplanet Proxima Earth, the leader Re connected with me
and said Richard survived! Yes the fool survived! ’
Christina jumped to her feet, ‘What you can connect with
him?!..’
He showed her the Link that he was wearing, ‘Yes, that
was the theory but unfortunately I was not able to connect
with them! In fact, Redim spends at least two hours every
day to reach them and I do try but not sure why it was not
working any more’
Frank removed his link and gave it to her… ‘why don’t
you try?!’
She took the link in trembling hands and inspected it
closely. She held it tightly in her palm and sat down to
concentrate. She sat like that for a long time and both left
her . Redim freshened up and came back but still she sat in
the same position!
Frank joined Redim and he felt very sorry for Christina!
‘Christina, it is ok… he will contact us shortly!’
She opened her eyes slowly as if she was in a trance…‘I
think it works… I feel him but he is not talking to me! But
his presence is felt surely! very weird experience!’
Frank was very excited as he took the Link from her. He
wore it around his neck and he kept his hand over it so that
it could touch his skin!
He went and sat on his bed, closed his eyes and
concentrated!
Redim asked Christina to sit and both waited!
It was almost an hour before they could see a change in
Frank! They could see his whole body shivering and his
hands shaking… He did not open his eyes!
‘Richard, is that Richard?’
But why Richard? why ? how are you?
They communicated for some more time…‘ Richard I
have a bigger problem in the name of Christina! Do you
remember her!…..Frank laughed as he must have said
something funny!‘ Oh yes . that is correct .. just like a
police dog! Yes exactly!…..‘ oh you miss her!...‘ What!
you are the King Richard now! ….‘Redim is here and she
may kill you if you see you…’Ok connect with her and I
will give the link to Christina too!
Redim concentrated as she had worn her link ever since he
left!
They communicated for some time and she asked
Christina to concentrate.She sat absolutely still and
concentrated … tears were flowing … ‘Richard how could
you do it! How could you leave me like this?’…What
rubbish, I am a software engineer! Yes so what... stupid
Richard as usual ! Now how you went there… same way
you come back… ‘Really … who cares ….…’
It was funny to hear the one sided communication and
both left silently leaving her to talk to her beloved Richard
*
*****