Investigation
Frank removed his Link and kept it away. But he knew now
it was of no use and they were always spied on. Even now
he was not completely sure if the ETs were not here!
Richard wanted raise a question to Frank but Frank seemed
to be totally immersed and Redim was looking at her cell
phone .He recalled everything that happened so far. He
decided to clear all the doubts as there was no point in
going behind them without proper understanding. Re said
they lost some gadgets and he thought it must be like a
machine and certainly larger... so it couldn’t have lost but
deliberately hidden from them.
‘Frank, what is that you thinking so deeply?’ I have some
doubts’
Frank smiled,’ I remember how you made all the teachers
to run from you with your innumerable questions! Now
shoot away....’
‘Frank you said we need to help these creatures ... But we
don’t know anything about these aliens because they have
no idea. So how are we going to find more?’
Redim came over, ‘Richard no need to find more about
them. We need to find a suitable uninhabited or unoccupied
planet; the rest is up to them’
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‘No Redim, we need to know something more...The tablets
tells us a story of an UFO landing and the people who
witnessed, died except one ... the person who drew the
stone tablets .In one of the tablets , few people were
gathering something from the ground and placing them in
a box …’
Redim did not give much attention to the tablets so far...
she made up her mind to study them little closely...
Richard said, ‘in that case, why don’t we go once again to
the old man’s house and search properly! Our library has
some manuscripts that dates back to more than thousand
years...I have seen those palm leaf manuscripts in the
library. May be we can find something.’
Redim was curious about the palm leaf manuscripts.
Irrespective of her decision of not looking into the past, she
wanted to see the library. Frank and Richard both were
waiting for her response.
Redim laughed, ‘I think you know the psychology ...Yes
definitely I am interested in the old manuscripts so we will
start from here. Let us go to these places, who know we
may find all those gadgets that they are searching.’
They set of to the library immediately in Frank’s car. The
librarian was an old man who knew Richard very well. He
was happy to help them as Frank had already promised a
better infrastructure for the library.
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Redim was in awe of the collection of books. She did not
expect a small village to have such a big library...
The librarian took them to the second floor and showed
them the attic where all the very old manuscripts were kept
in secure containers... He showed a bamboo ladder that was
used to enter the attic. ‘There is no need to tell you people
all these when Richard is here... he knows this place much
better than any one... I will leave you here and when you
finished let me know’ he left them
Redim asked Frank, ‘how come this small place has such a
well stocked library’
Frank told her how their family had the habit of donating
books for generations. All these old manuscripts had been
given by their family to the library. In fact it started as a
locker for this old manuscript as people wanted to steal
them thinking that they could find the map of the
treasure...Only now the interest for the treasure has been
reduced...
Frank first climbed the bamboo ladder, when Richard
asked him to move out as they were not familiar about
these homemade ladders.
So he climbed first and lifted the attic door...which had to
be lifted slowly so that it could be kept to the other side on
the floor...
Last time when Richard came here, it was so dusty and
there were no furniture...
But now a table and four chairs at one side and few iron
boxes with bar locks were seen.
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He climbed up and asked them to climb one by one. Redim
came up next as she wanted Frank to hold the ladder.
When all the three entered the attic, Redim exclaimed about
the iron boxes.
'These boxes might fetch a huge amount for their antique
values... look at the locks... never seen one like this before’
Frank had seen them before and in their basement few
could be seen. He thought he should check the basement
properly one day...
The antique boxes were not locked though...Redim sat next
to one box and tried to open it...
She was in a comfortable jeans and a loose long top. Now
her attire helped her to sit on the ground easily...She
removed bars one by one from the slots...there were six of
them... Now she pulled the handle which was like a big
knocker on the top... but she couldn't even move it a bit... it
was so heavy... both Frank and Richard laughed heartily as
they knew she would not be able to lift it...Frank asked her
to move aside and both lifted the lid together…
The manuscripts were neatly stacked with labels... Now
Redim's curiosity got better and she sat to pick the first
bundle. It was written 2000bc.
She looked up at Frank and asked him ' do you people
know the worth of this 4000 year old manuscript in the
antique market?? How careless!!It should be handed over
the heritage department’
Richard was taken aback... He had a good collection of
them at home as he had a fondness for anything old... but
he never knew they could fetch money... so he asked, ' tell
me how much you think it might fetch?
Redim said, ‘depending on the age it could fetch anywhere
between half a million to one million USD she was
there during an auction in one of the antique house in UK
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and she was shocked to hear the price of some of the
artefacts that would be found ordinarily in any old houses
in India.
Now these priceless artefacts were laying here without any
protection...Frank understood her concern, ‘Redim, this is a
village... No outsiders can come that easily... Even if they
come, they will not be allowed to roam freely. In the night
most of the villagers will be sleeping in front of the library
or the church.
Now dad had arranged many CCTV all over these places in
the village .It is safer than any museum. But don’t worry
me will make some arrangements for these to be kept safe
in a proper manner... But now let us do what we have come
for!’
They sat around the box and checked the bundles. The
bundles were marked from 1500BC to 2000BC .they kept
them safely back and closed the box. They kept all the bars
in places but did not know how to lock it. So left it as they
found it.
One by one they checked the boxes and in one box all the
bundles of manuscripts were labelled 1000AD to 1500 AD.
They picked them and kept on the table so that they could
browse them. The manuscript was written in Tamil
language, one of the oldest living languages on earth and
all the three of them could read it easily.
Mostly it was all some old poetry or some notes on
medicines or some notifications about the donations given
by someone to someone... One of the bundles was bigger
with many leaves and the label was 1000 AD
Since the label was 1000 AD, Frank opened the last one
without much interest. The first leaf the words were written
in a bold and clear writing “We saw God today”
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Frank was excited... It was unlike the others where the
entire first page had some kind of salutations to God.
Redim and Richard dropped what they were reading and
looked at the bundle that Frank was holding.
He shifted to the second one
“The Gods came as fire from above”
They started reading quickly...there were around 30 leaves.
They read quietly all the leaves and sat up...
Richard was the first one to come out of the shock!
‘This story has been passed on one another until it was
written by someone! Now everything makes sense. There
were two spacecrafts one left back leaving one here back
on earth’
Redim was visualising the entire thing and as if in a trance
she said, ‘yes and Re couldn’t recall from where they had
come. Because they were unconscious .All the young ones
of these creatures were in one spacecraft and I think the
elders brought them here and found a safe place and hid
them.’
Frank appreciated her clarity of thoughts. The elders killed
everyone who saw them except one man .He came back to
the place next day with few more and picked up all the
evidences found on the spot and hid them. He secured it so
well that it remained hidden until the old man Oliver and
his father found them after a millennium... All those who
had seen or heard were killed mysteriously so the news
never came out.
Yes Redim, I think the other
spacecraft were here for few
days or months. ‘Here it says
that one God was angry and
left’
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So one as you said left, the other one was hidden in the
cavern....’
Richard was listening to them with complete concentration
and his imagination started working overtime and said,
‘one thousand years they have been here waiting ... How
sad! in their planet some calamity must have struck and few
elders picked up some eligible male and female kids to
safeguard the continuity of the race and left them to find a
place of their own.. ‘
Frank added to his story, ‘they gave them the entire
knowledge and memory except their origin because their
planet was no more’
Redim, ‘But why didn’t they stay? If there was a problem
in their planet, they could have stayed …’
They were silent for some time; Frank was thinking about
Re and his attitude towards the word of honour … ‘perhaps
they gave their words that they would come back... Like
dying with the sinking ship’
‘Oh yes ... sacrificing their life’ Redim’s eyes were misty
imagining about the entire sequence...
Frank said, ‘Re is telling us the truth and now all we have
to do is find a suitable planet in our galaxy .the *Proxima B
seems to be a habitable planet [*livescience.com] which is
nearest to our milky way. The recent study says its distance
from the sun is right for it have water. Frank showed them
the relevant highlighted article in his cell phone
“The major message from our simulations is that
there's a decent chance that the planet Proxima B
would be habitable," said Anthony Del Genio, a
planetary scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for
Space Studies in New York City. Del Genio is also the
lead author of a paper describing the new research,
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which was published Sept. 5 in the journal
Astrobiology.”
Redim was excited and said yes Dr. Ashwin in NASA also
said the same thing...
Richard was cautious, ‘it is not in our hand. Re and group
must be ready for travel. They have not found the important
gadgets so far... Let Redim find the coordinate or whatever
they need to travel and let us search for the gadgets’
Frank agreed to that immediately and asked, ‘Redim is it
ok with you ...how are you going to get the information?
Redim had already sent a mail to the scientist anticipating
this eventuality and she said, ‘I am in contact with the Dr
Ashwin and two of my friends are working on it ... yes I
can definitely produce what is needed ...’
Frank was impressed with her confidence Richard was
happy that he would not be asked to something that he had
no idea.
Richard said, ‘let us go to the old man’s house once again.
We may find something there!’
Redim said that she has some work to do so she would be
here in the library’
So it was decided that they would pick her later when they
returned from the old man’s house. His house in the outer
area of the village isolated from all the others houses. The
nearest house was Richard’s house where he lived alone.
Frank drove right up to the old man’s house and parked the
car.
The police notice was still there and they both bent down to
reach the doorway. The door was locked and Richard took
the key from the small ledge at the top of the door. He
knew that the old man always left the key there and never
locked the door.
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The interior was a depressing site. The police markings
could be seen and they had searched everything and
scattered the things here and there. The villagers were
frightened of the old man and even while he was alive, no
one would come anywhere near him...
Frank looked around the place and he had no idea where to
start. There were three rooms and a hall. He just walked
around the place without disturbing anything. Richard was
in the front room looking at everything...
Frank did not see anything of interest in the hall, so he
moved into another room which was towards the back. The
corridor that led from the hall was dusty Frank thought
perhaps it was left as it was by the police because of the
dust .He slowly entered the dark room, the window was
closed with nailed bars .. He switched on his torch in the
cell phone .There was a cot at the centre without any
mattress and covered in dust. He went around the cot to see
anything was kept near the wall.
He tripped on a bundle on the floor...he just managed to
save himself without falling... he focussed the light on the
bundle and it looked like a sac tied with a rope .He kicked
at it and thought the old man must have kept rocks for some
reason. He kicked at it once again and the bundle hit the
floor with the metallic sound. Richard came there at that
time and asked Frank ‘what was that thud’
Frank showed him the bundle and Richard laughed and
said, ‘the old man had always picked up small metallic
things... now I know he had given them to Re… Let me
see’
He squatted near the bundle and untied the rope. He
couldn’t see anything inside so he just placed his hand
inside to pick something.
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He had brought out a thick round object that was shining
even in the dull light. Frank lost interest and moved away
when Richard’s came with excitement. ‘Frank point the
light here’
The light showed a yellow metal and he gave that to
Frank...
Frank was so surprised that he almost dropped it. It was
heavy and shining...unmistakably Gold! He said, ‘it is gold
.
.. not a coin too heavy ...must weigh at least half a
kilogram... is there something more? ‘
Richard said ‘another 3 more’ and brought them out with
difficulty... Frank gave the one in his hand to Richard and
laughed... ‘Richard you are the owner now, remember
what the police said ... Even they gave you the will of the
old man... he left everything to you... remember!’
Richard looked dazed and said. ‘Imagine me helping a poor
man! But why didn’t he tell me?
Frank said, ‘did you find anything? Come let us go!’
Richard kept all the gold blocks inside the sac and tied the
sac. He thought for a while and carried it with him. Frank
looked at him and said ‘please store it in a safe place’
Richard kept the bundle in the car and closed the door and
left to pick Redim from the library...
Frank could see that Richard was deep in thought... he
should have been happy instead he looked pensive. Frank
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finally couldn’t bear it anymore. He asked him, ‘come on
Richard, you should be happy! What is making you
miserable! Don’t tell me you are ok’
Richard looked as if he woke from a deep sleep. He turned
to look at Frank, ‘you see the old man used to tell me about
the vast treasure that he had seen it but I never believed
him. He had described the gold blocks that were heaped
somewhere.’
Frank was astounded, ‘but why didn’t you believe him?’
‘Because he said that he had seen thousands of gold blocks
like the one that we have in the bundle here! He was always
fond of anything that shines so I thought he was describing
his dream. But now I am not sure!’
‘Did he tell you where he had seen them’ Frank became
very curious...
Richard said, ‘now I understand everything better... he told
me he was taken by the talking animals ...he fainted and
when he woke up he was there with the gold ... The whole
area was filled with gold and again he fainted and woke up
in his house..He used to tell this to everyone who listened
to him. It became a joke after sometime. I used to divert
him from this topic as everyone would laugh...But now I
believe him...An enormous amount of gold is lying
somewhere over there and Re knows where it is’
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Frank recalled, ‘yes Richard you are correct because once
Re told me that the treasure is kept as a bargaining deal...
The police gave us the map... but the location was in the
Western Ghats – a tourist place in the mountain range some
hundred kilometres away from here ...’
But hundred kilometres! Do you think, they couldn’t have
taken the old man so far?’ Richard was uncertain...
Frank was sure, ‘I could believe anything of these extra-
terrestrials .so superior to us... Sooner we find a home for
them better for the humans’
*
******
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