The Light Blue Jumper Page 23

  “Yes.” I told him quickly before anyone else could confuse him. I had seen several liberations go south because of an ardent and earnest desire to make everything right, all at once.

  “That’s a relief,” Billy chimed in, “I would love to implement self-rule, and three cheers for freedom, but it’s a little too much excitement for one day. Perhaps it would be best to form a committee and hold discussions for the next couple of years to figure it all out.”

  96. The Worried Major

  I had been trying to catch the General’s eye for a while as we remained pressed to the wall and our captors talked endlessly amongst themselves. I had a deep sense of unease. I would even go so far as to call it a foreboding. There was something on the outskirts of my memory, something I had read or seen somewhere that was important. I ran through a mental checklist to see if there was something I had missed. I couldn’t shake off the niggling doubt that had burrowed its way into my consciousness. Something was amiss.

  “General?” I hissed.

  “What?” She was irritated even before I had voiced my thoughts.

  “Nothing,” I said as she frowned at me.

  “General, something is not quite right,” I ventured again, timidly.

  “We have lost our hold over our most important weapons base and our weapons development team, who, along with ourselves, have fallen into rebel hands. What could possibly be wrong, Major? If you try and respond, I may have to ask our enemies to do me a favour and shoot you,” she concluded darkly.

  I decided to quietly introspect and not risk further humiliation, as I had already heard a few snickers from the rebels who were within earshot.

  Madam’s voice crackled over the comms, interrupting my reverie, “Update, officers?” she enquired.

  Salaar responded, giving her news of their great victory. A male voice came on when he finished, I presumed it was The Good Doctor.

  “I always knew this day would come, rebels, congratulations on your victory, the first of many. Congratulations also to the Zaaronian people on your freedom. Together we will topple the IPF, planet by planet, officer by officer.”

  Lethal and Dinaara smiled while Salaar looked sombre. Zaaro was fidgeting with his ears. The General simply sneered. And suddenly, out of nowhere, the elusive thought made its way to centre stage in all its grisly horror. I opened my mouth to form words but all that emerged was a scream that kept getting louder and louder. I looked over at the General and then at Salaar and realised that we were all screaming; the whole room, the building, the entire planet.

  Cutting both wires simultaneously is a way to ensure unstoppable detonation within minutes. Do not attempt this under any circumstances. Ever. It was a myth, an urban legend, a lunchroom joke, scribbled on an outer wall at the weapons lab; nobody had thought it could actually happen.

  97. Madam X

  “We’ve lost all contact with them,” I told The Good Doctor. “Let’s send a manned shuttle to investigate and bring them up.”

  “I don’t see Zaaron on our radar, Good Doctor,” Colonel Bob said.

  “Perhaps there is a new defence shield in place, a different form of cloaking device,” The Good Doctor responded.

  “Let’s fire a few test shots at it,” I suggested.

  “The shots are going straight through, Madam,” Colonel Bob informed us.

  “Let’s fly right at it, maybe that will expose the shield,” The Good Doctor suggested. We tried that and flew straight through Zaaron’s coordinates without any contact with anyone or anything. I was beginning to worry.

  “I’m intercepting some IPF transmissions, I haven’t deciphered the code completely yet, but the word KABOOM keeps coming up again and again,” Colonel Bob announced.

  “I’m going to run a matter density check and figure out what is going on,” I said. I had my suspicions by now. The check ran through, showing no discernible mass where Zaaron had once been. My suspicions were confirmed. Zaaron had been obliterated.

  I stood up and made the announcement, without preamble. “Zaaron has been obliterated. Let us have a moment of silence for those we have lost today.” With my head bowed, I noticed, with mild disapproval, The Good Doctor sobbing inaudibly in a corner, while Colonel Bob handed him tissues, tears trickling down his own cheeks. As soon as the moment had passed, I straightened up and walked over to the console.

  “Good Doctor, if you could just get a grip on yourself, we need to move on,” I said firmly. “The mourning period is over. There is work to be done. Patch me in to all outgoing air traffic, on all frequencies. I have to announce this development straight away if we are to gain anything by it,” I snapped at him.

  “What?” I asked Colonel Bob who was staring at me slack-jawed. “Get back to work! That is an order!” I shouted at both of them. Neither of them moved so I turned my ire towards Central Command. “Patch me through to all frequencies! Why is it taking you so long?” I asked, my voice rising.

  “I will patch you through Madam, but consider this the very last order you will ever give me. I have applied for a transfer; I no longer wish to serve on this ship, under Ship Rules ref 1. Central Command may resign her post if prescribed mourning period of three days for Ship’s fallen crew is cut short for any reason whatsoever.”

  Was I the only one who could see the silver lining with regard to recent events? This had saved us the work of setting off the missiles and blaming the IPF. We had gotten what we wanted, what we needed to succeed. Every individual’s sacrifice would be remembered and acknowledged, I would make sure of that. In this horrific tragedy were the seeds of hope, of change for the entire world. We were not a laughing stock any more; we were a force to be reckoned with. We would be recognised as the counterbalance to the IPF’s hegemony. The outlying kingdoms would band together with us and so would many other planets that needed a tipping point to emerge from the IPF fold. We would be the leaders of the New World, a free, fair and better world for every race. With that in mind, this was but a small sacrifice made by few for the betterment of many.

  I knew what I had to say: “The IPF has destroyed the entire planet of Zaaron along with all its inhabitants, including the rebel team who battled bravely for the survival of the Zaaronian race. Today our brave officers have laid down their lives to try and protect the innocent; a sacrifice that we are proud of. It is with great sorrow that I inform you that the General chose to order the destruction of Zaaron and all Zaaronians rather than to grant them their freedom from IPF rule.”

  “That isn’t true though,” The Good Doctor whispered.

  “Do you want the sacrifices of our friends to mean something?” I asked, “Then do not even think of contradicting me.”

  “She reminds me so much of my previous employer, it’s uncanny,” I heard Colonel Bob whispering to The Good Doctor.

  98. Princess Dinaara

  My throat was hoarse when I awoke. There was sand everywhere. I could see a dusty barren landscape with mountains in the distance. Lethal was stumbling around. Anya or the General, whoever she was, was mumbling something to herself, while the always-worried-looking Major was sitting on a rock, looking extremely worried. Salaar was nowhere in sight. And where was Zaaro? I heaved a sigh of relief when I saw him trying to dust the sand off his white pants and jacket; we had altered one of Madam’s uniforms to fit him and he was very finicky about any sullying of its pristine expanse. Billy and Lady and the rest of the Zaaronian weapons development team stood by him, looking a little out of sorts, but largely unhurt.

  “Zaaro? What happened?” I asked.

  “I don’t have any idea,” he responded.

  “The missiles exploded,” the Major said. “Which brings me to my next thought, how come we are still alive?”

  I looked over at Zaaro. Could it be? Had he become that powerful? Did he jump with all of us? Just then, more Zaaronians came straggling over the rise, led by Salaar.

  “All the G-Sectors seem to have appeared here,” he told me.

  B
oth of us looked over at Zaaro in awe. With a weapon like him, the rebels were a force to be reckoned with; capable of delivering on the promise of the freedom of the kingdoms. Perhaps it was time to consider my defection genuine and permanent. The little blue being caught us looking at him as he shuffled towards the newcomers. “I believe my family is here,” he told us, smiling. “I think I know where we are, by the way, I can smell the stinking gas.”

  I took a deeper breath and realised he was right. We were on Dephron again! But if none of us were comatose like the last time, the gas leak must have been plugged. Things could have been so much worse, I told myself. And Zaaro has been reunited with his family. Not that he ever mentioned them at all. I saw him bow to a beautiful woman with long brown tresses, flanked by two tall, wiry teenagers with wisps of brown hair on their heads and a hint of blue in their complexions.

  I was distracted by engine noises. “Take cover!” Salaar shouted as a huge IPF weapons carrier entered our line of sight. We ran helter-skelter into the nearby caves before it landed. From my vantage point behind a large rock, I saw an officer disembark. He seemed to be shouting something into his comms. I strained to hear what he was saying.

  “We’ve landed at Dephron, but it seems a smelly old place. I don’t think they’re going to like it here. Dephron,” he repeated.

  “I said, Dephron,” he explained again.

  “Are you deaf?” he asked.

  “D.E.P.H.R.O.N.”

  “D not T!”

  “D for Dom.”

  “No, not Tom, Dom,” he said stamping his foot.

  “Of course Dom is a name.”

  “Where?”

  “Tephron with a T? Really? Are you sure? I could have sworn they said Dephron on the flight schedule,” he sounded embarrassed. “Why don’t I just leave them here? It’s pretty much the same terrain. I’m sure they’ll adjust in time. Both planets are just as difficult to live on,” he tried to convince them.

  “All right, well in that case I’d better get moving, Tephron is three light years away.” He turned around and got back in. Within seconds the weapons carrier had taken off and disappeared into the horizon.

  “I’m pretty sure Tephron is three solar days away,” the Major said, “he was probably thinking of Bephron, the ice giant; that’s three light years away.” He allowed himself a tiny chuckle.

  99. Commander Lethalwulf

  Most of us settled ourselves down on the rocks as soon as the immediate threat had passed. I noticed that the General was out of earshot so I took the opportunity to sidle up to the Major.

  “I was thinking, now that Zaaron has been blown to bits on your watch, would you be looking to switch sides perhaps? I doubt the IPF will let this slide.”

  “I will be court-martialled, so will the General.”

  “I would be willing to put in a good word for you with Madam. On one condition.”

  “And that is?”

  “Information about the General. What’s her background? How did she come to be the General?”

  “All I can give you is her serial number,” he paused. “The only other thing I know about her is that I’m supposed to keep her away from fire.”

  “Fire! Fire!” We heard the shouting from within the caves. Billy had been trying to build a communications device so we could signal our presence on Dephron to Madam and The Good Doctor. He had resolutely ignored all offers of help from Lady and it appeared that the incompetent snob had set the cave ablaze. I ran forward to help and saw the General running in ahead of me. “Stop her!” shouted the Major as he struggled to catch up.

  The General was too quick for both of us. She was the first to reach Billy and pull him out. Luckily only his dark blue robe had ignited, which she yanked off, beating out the flames with her bare hands, while we politely averted our eyes from the naked Zaaronian.

  She sat down abruptly with the tattered robe in her hands. I rushed over to examine her for signs of any burns. “I’m all right,” she said, lost in thought, “I’m remembering things.” I sat down next to her.

  After some time had passed, she spoke again. “The void after the ambush and the big fire; it’s filled with voices now. I felt pain, so much pain that I couldn’t stand it. I begged them to make it quick, to let me die and take the pain away. I guess they did. I woke up as the General. I had a new face, new body, with no pain, and no memories other than my military skills, but the TM 1000 resurrected me somehow. I’m Anya. I can remember only snatches of my life as the General.”

  “You will always have my loyalty, Anya or the General, whomever you choose to be,” the Major said, bowing his head. “Five years ago, I was asked to prepare a lab for a visiting team of doctors who were experts in burns victims and facial regeneration; they were called in only when indispensable IPF military commanders suffered serious injuries on the battlefield or terrible accidents in the modification chambers. I wheeled the very same TM 1000 into the medical lab and left. No one remained on the premises while they worked. I simply assumed that the presence of the TM 1000 was a clever means of positive reinforcement for the team of doctors to complete the secret project in time. They must have extracted Anya’s core memories using that very same machine, and when it malfunctioned, it popped them right back into her head, taking out most of the ones she made as the General, probably to make room.” He paused before continuing. “The thing is, though, that after this latest fiasco, I personally checked the machine afterwards to see if there were any memory files stored in there that I needed to log, but it was empty.” He paused again. We could practically hear him thinking. “I have it! The General’s core data must have been transferred to Madam, which means the TM 1000 is capable of implanting data!” He raised his hand for a high five and then withdrew it in embarrassment, when he saw that there were no takers. “I see what you’re all thinking but come on, scientific discoveries are to be celebrated though?” He raised his hand again, uncertainly, hoping someone would agree with him.

  100. Lieutenant Salaar

  I heard everything Anya and the Major said, but there were many questions that remained unanswered. “If you are Anya at your core, why were you willing to kill Lethal to get the password from us?” I asked brusquely.

  “I was only pretending, to keep my cover intact. I would never have done anything to hurt Lethal!” she protested.

  “Why were you trying to get the password from us in the first place?” I asked, still suspicious.

  “I was trying to protect Zaaron from Madam, if you must know. I had credible information that Madam was going to set off the missiles in order to blame the IPF for the carnage that followed,” she said.

  I wanted to believe I had my sister back, but I couldn’t shake off the fear that this was yet another elaborate hoax by the General. What if it was the other way around and Anya’s memories were available to the General at will? I noticed she hadn’t mentioned the madness even once in all of this. Did she struggle with it as I did every day? And what the Major had said about Madam confirmed The Good Doctor’s theory; it turned out we had a lot more to dread than celebrate.

  Lady walked over to us waving a makeshift transmitter in his hand. He had been quietly tinkering away in a different cave while we were all tending to the mayhem created by Billy. I suddenly heard Madam’s voice crackle over the airwaves, announcing our sad demise to the world at large. It was a befitting and moving tribute, as I could hear distinct sobbing noises in the background before we were cut off mid-speech. “We have to signal them, they must be close by if we could pick up that transmission,” I said to Lady.

  “Rebel ship emergency response system, how may I help you?” we heard a familiar voice, after Lady had flipped some switches on the device.

  “Lieutenant Salaar here,” I began, only to be interrupted by a whoop of joy from Central Command “Oh I’m so happy to hear from you Lieutenant, is everyone else all right?”

  “Yes, we are all well, including the entire Zaaronian race,” I said smugly.<
br />
  “What wonderful news! Now what can I do for you? You’ll have to be quick because I have tendered my resignation and I will be switching off all outside communications as soon as my notice period ends,” she said.

  “Resignation? Notice period?”

  “Yes. I am under contract for a twenty-four-hour notice period or until they find a replacement, whichever is sooner.”

  “I need you to patch me through to Madam urgently,” I couldn’t make any sense of what Central Command was saying.

  “I’m sorry I will not be able to do that under Ship Rules ref 1.1. Central Command may refuse to serve a Captain who violates Rule 1. And Madam is the reason I’m resigning.”

  “Could you put me through to The Good Doctor then?” I asked her.

  The line went quiet for a second, “I’ve tried but I believe he’s too distraught to answer his comms.”

  “Colonel Bob?” I asked, urgency turning to panic.

  “Like a true friend, he’s with The Good Doctor in his hour of grief,” she said with approval. “Speaking of the hour, I have to go now. Goodbye and best of luck,” she said warmly, before signing off. After that, try as we might, we simply couldn’t connect to the Second Light again.

  101. Princess Dinaara

  “The Kingdom of Dinaar. How may we help you?” The operator asked politely, when I asked Lady to connect to my home next.

  “I need to speak of an urgent matter to the King, patch me through to his secure frequency immediately,” Lady said, on my instruction. I was certain the regular communications lines were all routinely monitored by the IPF.

  “The King is busy, but you may freely discuss all matters with me,” said a familiar smarmy voice in response. It was the undersecretary, a confirmed IPF spy.