INTRAGALACTIC FRONTIER Chapter 7

Ancient deity Frank knew that the cave was towards the right side of the house which was a great relief as he did not want to go anywhere near Re’s place . Richard caught up with him . He was beaming at him and said , ‘your dad was so kind he was worried about you asked me where you were going ..’ Frank was alarmed He knew how his father thought and he never worried about anything least of all about his son! . so Frank gave him a curious look and asked him what he said . . Richard still feeling happy said , ‘of course I told him that we were planning to go to the places where we played as children…’ and gave a sunny smile and involuntarily Frank smiled Frank walked fast on the road that led to the right side of the mountain range. Here the mountain rose straight up without any incline ..There were many trees rather than shrubs and no ravine to separate it from the road Richard stopped and exclaimed, ' how everything seemed to have changed..' Frank was puzzled because he did not remember these tall trees or the darkness that was there As soon as they left the road ,It was dark under the trees ...In Tim's Land the nature was the priority so the noise of the birds would be there always . Everywhere many birdfeeders could be seen throughout the estate and staff would go around in an electric car to fill the feeders in the mornings and evenings.. 5 3 So it was all the more weird that there was pin drop silence.. Neither bird’s song nor insects' chirping noises could be heard . There was no path but Richard remembered a path but he had not come here for a long time. Frank kept walking in the front and he thought once they arrived at the rocky mountain , they could recall the cave.. Richard stopped suddenly as he could see a bird watching him intently . He called to Frank and pointed at the bird. He had never seen a bird like that .. it was grey with red head and beak ..it was so unlike any bird that he has seen..It had long neck and round body and longer tail ..Its eyes were like that of an owl ! The bird did not move ...Frank took a small pebble and threw at it ..but yet it looked on, rolling its eyes .. A feather from the bird fell down..Frank tried to catch it but it moved away...After few minutes he understood the feather was taking them somewhere... Richard remembered the way to the cave now he sounded excited, ‘ Frank it is somewhere very close' But Frank knew by this time that the feather was taking him to the cave..He walked fast behind the feather and it stalled for a second in mid air...He stopped behind him and Richard almost dashed against him ... There was a fallen rock and the feather settled on it slowly.. Frank looked at the rock and Richard pointed at a crack running like a lightening from top and both of them remembered! The dark cave was here as they used to explore everywhere except this place . They used to run away as soon as they came near this place as they secretly called it as devil’s 5 4 house and elders would get very annoyed if they told them they had come anywhere near here .. in fact the eastern section of the mountain was taboo for everyone.. But now they couldn’t find the cave . they searched along the mountain wall but only a solid rocky wall was there except for the fallen rock where the feather fell down. Frank picked up the feather and looked at Richard . Richard understood and both together moved the rock which was resting on the mountain .. As the rock moved to one side the opening behind it looked like a dark hole . They pushed off the rock completely from the opening as it was not heavy or big. The opening was just 3x3 feet and Frank knelt down to peep in but couldn’t see.. Richard was too curious to maintain the respectful distance and he bent ,keeping his hands on Frank’s shoulders … ‘Frank , you don’t go first ..let me go there first..’ Frank got up slowly and was touched that Richard could think of his safety first ,’Richard , I am going in , you follow me ...switch on your cell phone torch’ and he started crawling into the cave ... The torch light showed him a polished pathway ..so it was easy to crawl .. he could hear Richard behind him and moved further in side . he should have moved few feet when he came to an enormous cave. ..so he stood up to see 5 5 a vast cavern which was at least 50 metres high and but he couldn’t see how far the cavern went in .. Richard banged on him ,so he moved in so he could stand up. Richard gasped as no one would have expected to see such a big cave . he shouted and it echoed back.. Frank looked up at the ceiling and it was high above . He walked in and remembered the old man’s caution that many tragedies had happened here ..He walked further down and when he reached the end of the cave ,he pointed the torch at the wall over there to see if any other entrance was there . .but couldn’t see any other holes or tunnels and started walking near the wall of the cave . Mostly it was uneven rock formation and roots of some unseen trees were there . He kept walking, when Richard yelped...very strange strangled sound ..Frank ran to where Richard had fallen.. He knelt beside him … Richard was in total fright.. he pointed something on the wall but Frank couldn’t see anything there . ‘Tell me Richard what did you see ..?’ As he was asking him Richard eyes stared at the wall and screamed and fainted .. Frank made sure he was alive and stood up to see the wall where he pointed . but there was nothing .suddenly one side of the wall lit like a LED screen and then he saw the rock drawings .. It was amazing how few lines drawn strategically could tell so many things! The first drawing was of group of people 5 6 carrying things like some plates , pots ,bunch of bananas and things that he couldn’t interpret .. In the second one the group was kneeling …and the next one was very confusing as some were on the floor and some were holding some weapons and looking up!! Then the drawings were not very clear . .. The last one showed some people looking up at some round objects …. Frank felt something near him but couldn’t see it though … There was a buzzing noise all around him and it become louder and louder. Then abruptly it stopped and he could feel Re’s pendent vibrating and looked so bright in the dark.. Frank heard it clearly in his mind , ‘Frank, you don’t know many things about us . we are here for hundreds of years and our men take their invisible form when they go out or in the form of some birds ..we are using this place for a long time to gather things ...’ ‘ I will talk to you later..your friend is in deep sleep it will take some time for him to come out..If we give a higher dose he dies …don’t share the knowledge about us to anyone please’ Frank was shocked , ‘Re more than you, I know what would happen if our people come to know of your existence ..but don’t steal or kill anyone .. if you want something .just let me know …’ 5 7 Re replied, ‘yes Frank, and Ro may connect with you sometimes Ro trains us and keep us knowledgeable . He can answer your questions . remember in all these 1000 years or more ,you are the first person we had asked for help ..so we will listen to you ..’. Frank could see the glow of the pendant was no more .. He circled around the cave again and thinking about what Re told him .. So he guessed correctly about the bird .. the bird was directing him to this cave . another thought struck him ..so all Re’s people could connect with him and know his thoughts . It made him little uncomfortable .. Then he thought of the ways that he could keep his knowledge away from his dad and others . He could not find anything but loudly he said ‘hello birdie where are you ? to his utter surprise the bird floated above him.. It looked strange because it was flying without flapping its wings . the wings remained stretched but it just glided as an eagle .. ‘What do you want’ Frank heard it as clearly as if it spoke aloud ..he said ‘I want to know everything about you’ ‘Ro will explain’ and it flew away 5 8 Richard was coming out of his stupor as he could hear him mumbling and he waited for him .. Richard stood up so suddenly ,he fell down with the thud .. His fright was in his voice when he asked, ‘Frank.. Frank.. where are you? Only then Frank realised that he had switched off his torch after the bird flew away so he switched on his torch again and called Richard Richard came running and hugged him and said , ‘felt like floating and making merry… but it became dark..what happened’ Frank was amused , ‘you slept simply slept and waited for you to wake up.. Nothing is here ..come let us go .. They came out and stood for sometime.. behind them the rock once again closed the opening without anyone’s assistance.. Richard looked at it with fear and ran from there .. Frank walked slowly thinking about everything that happened .. * ******* 5 9