The Light Blue Jumper Read online

  “You didn’t then Zaaro, but you do now,” the Lieutenant said cryptically.

  “I do what?” I asked, confused.

  “Know better.”

  “Yes, I do. It is quite commendable, emergency services at their best, I must say. It is a pity none of the survivors of the bombed buildings survived medical treatment. They were on standby to ensure all the occupants of the G–Sectors knew that they were second to none; except of course, the residents of the Free World. If the Puranas actually existed, we could count on the IPF to stand up to them,” I said confidently. “And now on a completely different note, I fear I am going off topic, but since we are having such an interesting discussion, let me ask you a question, Lieutenant,” I ventured.

  “Feel free,” he nodded.

  “Have you ever come across anyone infected with the madness?”

  “Yes, at very close quarters,” he said quietly.

  “What are the symptoms?” I was intrigued.

  He looked intently at me as though he was aiming to read both my minds. Being superior life forms, we had evolved beyond the primitive separation of heart and mind. Our brains controlled our thought processes and all bodily functions; hence the backup. Our hearts, being redundant, had become smaller and smaller and had been pushed further and further into the nether regions of our bodies, until they had disappeared altogether.

  “The overwhelming desire for homogeneity, otherwise known as tunnel vision. The sufferer only has one purpose, the destruction of all that is different, and will go to any lengths to achieve it,” he summarised for me.

  “Different? That would essentially apply to everyone who isn’t infected. So if the spread of the madness would go unchecked, it would leave the entire Universe either dead or infected!”

  “Precisely!” He seemed pleased with my analysis.

  “My goodness! Imagine if the Puranas in your story were still around and mad people fell into their hands. They would also turn them into biological weapons to be sure. Perhaps they would build a mad army! It is such a relief that the IPF is trying its best to eradicate the madness altogether.” The Lieutenant drew in a sharp breath, as if he was about to say something, and then slowly exhaled again.

  “It is an even bigger relief that the dreadful Puranas do not actually exist, otherwise we would all be doomed!” I was so glad we lived in a safe and peaceful world.

  “Right, well, I better be off. We shall meet tomorrow morning at 0800, outside your door, so that we can go to the drill stations together to commence training,” Lieutenant Salaar confirmed as he left.

  “I look forward to it Lieutenant.” I smiled. It was all very exciting. I would be training and documenting, for all posterity, the training process of the only known Jumper in the Universe.

  20. The Good Doctor

  I left Zaaro’s room with a lot to contemplate. The mention of Commander Lethalwulf had seemed quite appropriate as far as training arrangements were concerned. I could work with Lethalwulf in order to fill in the gaps in his knowledge and experience. It was certainly preferable to the alternative. Madam simply did not have the requisite combat experience to train a Jumper, and keeping in mind Lieutenant Salaar’s background, I was not quite comfortable with him guiding our war effort.

  I decided to take the initiative and contact Commander Lethalwulf myself. He had been away for some time on a covert spy mission and it was high time he returned. I picked up my comms and punched through to Central Command as soon as I reached the privacy of my quarters.

  “Please put me through to Commander Lethalwulf. It is a matter of great urgency.”

  “He is on a covert mission and cannot be contacted at the moment.”

  “I know he is on a covert mission but it is imperative that I speak to him at once.”

  There was a groan at the other end. “I’m sorry Doctor, I cannot put you through. You blew his cover the last time you insisted on speaking to him.”

  “That was an honest mistake; surely you cannot still be holding that against me?”

  “I can quite safely say that I am. It has been incorporated into the Procedural Code for Undercover Missions as Regulation 2.1.1.1.1.1: Any requests from The Good Doctor to contact agents while undercover shall not be entertained,” she quoted.

  “To be fair to me, I did not know that Commander Lethalwulf was on the verge of discovering the connection between the legendary Puranas and the IPF when I contacted him that other time,” I justified my position.

  “You addressed him by his real name on live data transmission and asked him, and I quote, Have you found the connection between the evil Puranas and the IPF as yet? In front of the entire elite IPF security team.”

  “Well if you’re going to be petty about it, let me point out that events did not transpire exactly as you have recounted. I called him by his alias several times and with several variations, I might add, but he chose not to respond.”

  “You just made up a bunch of names, Doctor! How was he supposed to respond to Commander Spymaster?” She remembered things far too clearly for anyone to have a decent conversation with her. Perhaps she needed a downgrade in her memory storage capacity.

  “Well, he could have improvised. Isn’t that what agents are supposed to do in the field? All the names were related to undercover work, he could have picked up on the common thread.”

  “He did, and so did every single one of the 300 members of the elite security team.”

  “But it worked out all right in the end, didn’t it?”

  “He was sentenced to 20 years solitary confinement in deep space, out of which he had to serve two before Lieutenant Salaar managed to rescue him at the risk of his own life. It is rumoured that he hasn’t quite been himself since,” she finished. I had glossed over that part in my personal recollection.

  “Whom do you refer to? The Commander or the Lieutenant?” I asked, curious.

  “Probably both,” she said dourly.

  “We digress. Are you or are you not going to put me through to the Commander?” I asked with renewed purpose.

  “No. I will not.” Perhaps she needed a politeness chip to replace all the extra memory space she had.

  The dataline was abruptly disconnected after that. I tried to call again but try as I might I could not connect to the ship’s Central Command. Barring any further clarification, I would have to assume that my request had been denied.

  21. Commander Lethalwulf

  I stopped in to see Madam first. She was beaming from ear to ear.

  “Do you have the coordinates, Commander?” she asked, although she had received my data transmission earlier and clearly knew I did, hence the beaming.

  “I have them Madam.” With the coordinates I had stolen, we could locate the physical storage site for classified IPF documentation; the real secrets that were kept out of the digital storage files. A trail I suspected would lead us straight to the Puranas.

  It would be tricky to enter and manage the extraction from the site, given that it was rigged to explode upon removal of stored items, but I was fairly sure Salaar and I could come up with a joint strategy to get the job done.

  “I have important news for you as well Commander. There have been certain developments while you were away,” Madam said smugly.

  “I heard talk that you have picked up a native Zaaronian. Is that correct?” I had received the news with scepticism, as a native Zaaronian had not been seen off planet in centuries and no one without IPF clearance was allowed into Zaaron or the G-Sectors for security reasons.

  “You mean The Good Doctor has spoken to you already? I know where rumours originate on this ship, Commander,” Madam said with resignation.

  “Actually, no, you are my first stop. I heard news of an attack on the G-Sectors while I was undercover. IPF Headquarters was trying to locate some of the survivors who had been on a shuttle bound for the Munitions Plant, Free World, Zone I. One of them was being mentioned again and again, an advanced weapons developer by the nam
e of…”

  “Mr Zaaro Nian,” Madam filled in.

  “Yes, that’s it,” I confirmed.

  “What else did they say about him?” she asked.

  “They said that he was a weapons developer who had escaped with the executable codes for their latest weaponry and may have been picked up by an unidentified ship of which they were in hot pursuit,” I elaborated.

  “Right, well that is a relief.”

  “Having the IPF in hot pursuit is a relief? I must have been away longer than I realised.”

  “You will agree with me when you find out who he really is.” Madam was being unusually enigmatic.

  “At this point, I can safely say that he would have to be the great Princess Dinaara, converted to our cause, and on this ship, to be worth a run in with the IPF.” I gave Madam the benefit of my most annoying dreamy-eyed expression to supplement my declaration.

  Madam’s response was totally unexpected. Instead of her usual scowl, she answered my dreamy expression with one of her own, which far surpassed mine in potential for irritation. “Wait until you meet him Commander, he is totally worth it.”

  “What exactly are we talking about here? Is that a hint of a liaison? An affair of the minds? Madam let us not be coy with each other,” I said, my interest piqued.

  “He is our hero! The one that we have been waiting for! The answer to our prayers!” she gushed.

  Seeing Madam behaving in schoolgirl fashion was far from endearing. The poor dear had completely lost her marbles and apparently also her dignity while I was away. I wondered how long it would be before she also lost her position on the ship.

  “I have to admit, I’m completely confused.”

  “He fulfils the prophecy. He is the only known Jumper in the whole Universe, and he is on our side!” she declared.

  “Madam, you know my views on prophecies mirror my view on Jumpers. They do not exist. As far as Mr Nian is concerned, I will have to evaluate him myself.” A native Zaaronian being a Jumper or a hero of any sort, for that matter, would surely upset the entire balance of the Universe. Not that it was, in any way, on an even keel at the moment.

  22. Madam X

  I always had mixed feelings after a visit from Lethal. He had been recruited by the Lieutenant seven years ago, during a spy mission for the IPF which, if successful, would have meant the end of the Rebel Movement, once and for all.

  He had never given me cause for complaint, yet there was a lingering disquiet I felt whilst disclosing top secret information to him. And now he held Zaaro’s fate in his hands, and by default, that of the Movement as well. I had to share the information with him, of course, otherwise The Good Doctor would have done so himself. In excruciating detail. I would have to tell the Lieutenant to keep a close eye on him.

  He had a way with people in general and the ladies in particular. His charm knew no bounds of race, religion, or species and neither did his taste. It never ceased to amaze me what attracted them to him. He was arrogant, nonchalant, and downright dismissive at times, but they flocked to him. Perhaps it was his appearance. I had it on good authority from a number of his subspecies conquests that he was a handsome fellow. According to intergalactic standards of assessment though, he was probably just a tad more revolting than the Lieutenant in physical appearance. Blonde hair, cornflower blue eyes, broad-shouldered and slim-hipped, he was hardly a treat for the eyes. No gentle curves and pleasing roundness of form, he was all sharp angles and ruggedness.

  I wondered how he would fare with Zaaro. For the time being it was probably a good thing that he did not believe him to be who he was and also, that Zaaro was not a woman. I had no idea why that last thought had come into my head.

  23. Lieutenant Salaar

  Zaaro was ready and waiting outside his door at exactly 0800 hours. When we set out, I noticed a definite bounce in his step. He seemed excited at the prospect of beginning his training with me, which was a heartening thought.

  “We will be going to a drill station today. I would like us to start with some simple hand-to-hand combat training first.”

  “I’m not sure how much help I can be in that area, Lieutenant. Nonetheless, I’m quite pleased at your show of confidence in my abilities.”

  “No need to worry Zaaro, I think I know enough for the both of us in that field.”

  “That’s great! So can we skip ahead to jumping then?”

  “All in good time my friend, we have to cover the basics first.”

  “But I thought you said you knew enough already.” He was quite persistent.

  “I do, but you don’t,” I tried to break it to him that he would have to be combat-ready no matter what his superpowers. “Suppose you are in a life-threatening situation, and for some reason you cannot escape, and you have no choice but to put up a fight.”

  “I genuinely appreciate your concern for my welfare but I would much rather we focused on you.”

  Such selflessness from a would-be hero, maybe Madam was right about the prophecy after all. “I’m more than ready for a fight, Zaaro.”

  “That is what you think Lieutenant, but there is a lot that we need to work through together.”

  “And we shall, now let us proceed.”

  We walked in to find Commander Lethalwulf waiting for us at Ring No. 1 of our intended destination. As expected, The Good Doctor was with him.

  Lethalwulf and I nodded at each other in greeting. I turned to introduce Zaaro and realised that he had moved discretely behind one of the pillars and was peering out nervously at the Commander. “Commander Lethalwulf, it is my great pleasure to introduce to you, Mr Zaaro Nian, who has joined us from the ranks of the IPF, quite like yourself,” I announced.

  “Greetings Commander, you are much talked about at the IPF Headquarters. Although the way they describe you is very different from who you are in reality,” Zaaro said.

  “And that is?” Lethalwulf asked.

  “What is?” Zaaro responded in confusion.

  “How do they describe me?” Lethal explained.

  “They say you are a monster of epic proportions, a serpent of great intellectual ability and weak morals. I expected a different species altogether,” Zaaro replied.

  Lethal seemed at a complete loss for words but I was not. “Could they have used the words great, big, lying, conniving, thieving snake perhaps?”

  “Yes, those very same exact words! Although why they would lie about such a thing is really quite perplexing,” Zaaro said.

  “It is quite all right Mr Nian, I am used to being called all sorts of names behind my back, usually by women though,” Lethalwulf chuckled. I was glad the Commander had polished his manners for the ladies; it would be very helpful in this instance. Scarcely had that thought occurred to me, when Lethal followed it up with a slight bow and an affable wink.

  My mouth fell open as I looked at him, shocked. I turned to clarify matters with Zaaro, but it was too late. The Good Doctor seemed like he was going to swoon. Lethal, blissfully unaware of what he had just done, was grinning at Zaaro, who had bowed in return.

  According to ancient Zaaronian custom, upheld by Space Regulation 56786, a wink was a solemn pledge, a vow of lifelong servitude and obedience to a Zaaronian family, which, once freely given, they were entitled to enforce under threat of incarceration or death. It had long since gone out of vogue and had been all but forgotten, except by those who were sticklers for tradition, into which category I was sure Zaaro would fall. Sadly, the only way to be released from the vow was such a well-kept secret that it had actually been forgotten.

  24. Zaaro Nian

  I was touched by Commander Lethalwulf’s quick decision to enlist himself as a lifelong servant of my family. Seldom had I received such an unabashed and prompt vote of confidence, other than my wife’s marriage proposal.

  I was quick to accept his offer, lest I cause offence to the valiant Commander. Lieutenant Salaar seemed torn between mirth and alarm, but then he always displayed a total ignorance of a
ppropriate facial expressions in any given situation.

  Lieutenant Salaar signalled for me to join him in Ring No. 1. I thought it would only be proper to first welcome the Commander into the Nian family fold. So I handed him my boxing kit, thoughtfully supplied by the Lieutenant, and signalled, in turn, for Lethalwulf to follow me into the ring, as the official start of his duties. He didn’t seem to understand my instructions though, and remained rooted to the spot. I turned to the Lieutenant for help in translating.

  “Zaaro would like you to carry his kit and follow him into the ring,” the Lieutenant informed the Commander.

  To which the Commander responded with unnecessary rudeness. “And why would I want to do that?” he asked the Lieutenant.

  “How can I put this delicately? As you have pledged your life to him, henceforth, your lord and master, Mr Nian, would like you to carry his kit and follow him into the ring as the first in your lifetime of pledged duties to him and his kin.” Lieutenant Salaar summed it up nicely.

  The Commander looked over in utter confusion at The Good Doctor who nodded in affirmation of what the Lieutenant had told him.

  “I have done no such thing!” he protested.

  I had to intervene, “Commander, it is only proper that you address your queries to me in this matter, as lord and master, and under no circumstances will any rudeness to my colleagues be tolerated.” It was a complete departure from protocol for one’s servant to address one’s equals directly and in that tone!

  “I’m not quite sure what just happened here, Mr Nian, but whatever you have understood is completely incorrect,” Commander Lethalwulf continued in his denial of the events that had just transpired.