CHAPTER 27
When Shekhar opened his email inbox,
there were two new emails sent by Jennifer. She had moved to a nearby hotel
after Tara had left the Dutta Mansion. He opened the first mail and found
several photo attachments in it. The photographs were the ones taken by
Jennifer while Cyrus was carrying out Tara’s awakening. The photos were
magical, Jennifer had managed to capture the transformation of Tara into
Clariota with great skill. His eyes gleamed with greed, teeming with the
possibilities that lay ahead of him and the possible commercial value of the
photos.
The second mail by Jennifer contained
a text attachment. It had a few thousand-email ids - the second phase of their
plan. Shekhar wanted to mail his revelation piece to as many people as possible
before Cyrus destroyed it. He was only a few hours away from glorious fame and recognition
throughout the world. The world would read his work with the supporting proof.
His fingers flew on the keyboard and
the story started to build on the screen of his laptop. He began with his life with
Tara and then progressed to the incidents of the past few days. He poured his
heart out into words. It was not fiction, it was not a sci-fi story and it
wasn’t even an account of an alien fanatic. It was his truth and his personal
story. He was voicing out all his frustration and ire through his words. The
content reeked of his exasperation towards the events that had taken a toll on
his life.
The whole day passed and he had not
cared enough to drink even a sip of water. His eyes were weary and burning. But
he needed to complete it and send to the world. Amidst all this, his phone had
rung thrice but he had not bothered to look at the screen to find out who was
calling. He was so immersed in his world that he had even forgotten about Roohi
and the fact that he had not picked her up from the school that day.
The world outside had become dark when
he finished writing.
Without wasting another second, he
composed a new mail and attached the story, which now contained some ten thousand
words. Once he was done, he attached a few images to support the data in the
story. After checking whether everything was fine, he added all those thousand
ids and clicked on the send button. He knew the mail was soon going to go viral
online.
He jumped high with a sinister
laughter rejoicing his achievement. He picked up his phone and dialed
Jennifer’s number. He could not wait to tell her the good news.
“Hello,” Jennifer answered.
Shekhar didn’t answer as his attention
was caught by something that had appeared on his computer screen.
The screen displayed a failure
message. The mail was not sent. It asked him to check his internet connection.
He tried refreshing the page but it resulted in the same - ‘No network.’
The next moment, a pop up window
appeared on the screen with a message in bold letters.
“I WARNED YOU TO STAY AWAY.’
Before he could even react to the
message, his laptop sparked and went dead.
“Paa….What are you doing? I would
never have expected this from you!” It was Roohi. She had arrived on her own
from school. She had even changed out of her school clothes.
“What did I do now? I was so engrossed
in my work and forgot to pick you up from school. I am sorry. You have come on
your own before also,” said Shekhar, trying hard to act normal. Every cell in
his body was screaming at the failure of his best-laid plans.
“Paa, you know I am not talking about
that. How can you do that to Mom? Don’t lie to me, I can read your thoughts,”
said Roohi, glaring at Shekahr and he stepped back in fear.
“But Roohi, how… I mean how do you
know?” asked Shekhar. Even before Roohi answered, Shekhar realized how. Roohi
was Tara’s daughter and Tara was a powerful Peacekeeper Alien. Roohi would have
inherited her powers.
“Yes, exactly. You are correct. I have
inherited my powers from my mother. More than anything she needs me now. I am
sure of that. I sense an impending doom. Cyrus and mom needs me. I need your
help to reach them. I had seen you following mom the other day. Please..please,
take me to them,” pleaded Roohi.
“NO…I have already lost my wife to
some hare-brained scheme of some weird people. I am not going to lose my
daughter now,” shouted Shekhar.
“We have no other option Shekhar.
Listen to Roohi. She is not the little girl anymore. And I have heard what
exactly is going to happen. Tara and Cyrus need our support,” said Aryan coming
into the room. His unshaved and unkempt appearance emphasized the seriousness
of the occasion.
“Yes Paa… it is for mother earth. And
this is our last chance,” said Roohi, there were tears in her eyes.
Shekhar
couldn’t protest anymore because Jennifer entered the room then in support of
Roohi. Roohi had not left any stone un-turned in her quest to help her mother.
*****
The Grand Master was moving around making the
final arrangements. Cyrus went near him and briefed him on their progress so
far. At three major points across the world, they had chosen towers to extract
the physio - electricity generated by the earth. The production of Galladium
from the gold they had accumulated with the help of various world governments
was progressing at a smooth pace. At a few places, they were also extracting it
from the ocean.
The
amount of Galladium that the Great Master had asked them to had left him
confused.
The
army of the awakened Peacekeepers was a billion in number and was positioned in
the eight cardinal points as instructed by the Great Master. They had used just
a handful of Galladium to awaken the whole army. Why did they require such vast amounts? Reading his mind, the Great Master answered.
“Do
you know what the Anunnakis did to fend off the attack of a powerful reptilian-
alien army which attacked earth during their reign here? They created a
protective shield using Galladium around the earth. Galladium shield is capable
of disrupting the control mechanisms of any spaceship. It creates havoc in
their system controls. We are going to use exactly this same technique against
the gray aliens. They would never anticipate that the earthlings are capable
for such an endeavor. Our presence is a mystery to them. They do not perceive us
as Peacekeepers. They don’t know what we are or how many of us inhabit the earth.
They have come to know of Haides and through him, you. The rest of us are
hidden from their perception. We have a huge advantage over them.”
“But
Great Master, how can we accomplish creating such a shield?” asked Cyrus.
“We
will use the power of sound to levitate the Galladium in the exact same way
that the Anunnakis did during their times. Our scientists have given us
detailed sketches of how to use the universal sound of OM to levitate it
towards the outer space, by deciphering the Sumerian Texts. The armies of
peacekeepers have to use the special prayer stones and cone shaped tools we
have gathered from across the world, together with their powerful chants, to
keep the Galladium rising up. The formation of the shield has to be
accomplished by us four – Haides, Clariota, You and Me. Our mind power
projected onto it will ensure that the shield is strong enough to stand for
centuries to come,” said the Great Master.
“But
Great Master, how much time will it take? We have hardly twenty four hours left
before the first batch of gray aliens would arrive at their base point on the
moon,” said Cyrus.
“The
Anunnakis had created the shield within a month. They had done it quadrant by
quadrant of the earth. We do not have the
luxury of time. All we have are four powerful peacekeepers and a million newbie
peacekeepers. But we have the advantage of Galladium which will continue to
keep our energy strong,” said the Great Master.
After
bowing low to the Great Master, Cyrus left. The Great Master sighed. He hadn’t
revealed the complication in the plan to Cyrus.
After
all, it affected just him. Hadn’t he lived long? He had come to live on earth
only a few thousand years after his home planet had disintegrated into pieces.
But he loved Earth almost as much as he had loved Phaester Osiris. Compared
to Cyrus and Tara, he was a veteran. He was more than seven thousand years old.
But he was still in his prime because Peacekeepers had a normal lifespan of
10,000 plus earth years.
The
formation of the shield was going to require him, the central key to the
process, to be connected with its energy shell. The formation of the energy
shell of Galladium was going to weaken him over time. He knew the weakening could
become fatal. Cyrus, Haides and Tara had to contribute just one fourth of the
binding energy together. He had created
the algorithm that way to keep them safe from the energy leaching that would
occur during the strengthening of the shield in the last stage.
Outside,
Cyrus hurried to be near Clariota who was instructing the peacekeepers gathered
outside their camp. Her eyes had regained its sapphire blue colour, his
favorite colour in the whole world. He could read her thoughts now. And he
remembered the good times and the bad times they had together faced.
He
had tried to hide from everyone how much he loved Clariota. Only the Great
Master knew. He had hurt her when he had proclaimed that Clariota was just one
of his students. No, she had never been that. He had loved her from the moment he
had first seen her. He had fallen in love with her laughter, her eyes and her
courage. When she had bared her feelings to him, he had hurt her feelings and
insulted her. Just to keep her safe- her safety had always been his first
priority. Being the Master of the Peacekeepers, he lived on the edge of peril.
Saddened
because of her unrequited love, Clariota had decided to take on the earth
mission. Once on earth she had gone missing. She had created a shield to forget
all memories of her life as a peacekeeper to come in to terms with her
unrequited love. And then in her earthly avatar as Tara, she had fallen in love
with Shekhar. It had taken him five long years to trace Clariota after she had
transformed herself into Tara.
A
few feet ahead of him, Clariota stilled, hearing Omega aka Cyrus’s thoughts.
After her re-awakening, her powers had become stronger and she could read
Omega’s mind clearly. A familiar warmth spread through her and her heart
thudded fiercely. What she had felt for Omega was almost a thousand times more
than what she had ever felt for Shekhar. And those memories of her love for
Omega had returned with full force. Her earth memories had suddenly become
dull.
She
turned back and faced Omega. Her eyes twinkled. Omega aka Cyrus recognized that
the twinkle did not belong to Tara. The woman standing before him was entirely
Clariota- his Clariota!
“No matter how far you have gone on a wrong
road, turn back. I knew always that you were trying to protect me. My
instincts were never wrong,” said Clariota, her face lit up with a lovely
smile.
“I
am happy you could read my thoughts. I feel guilt free at last. Yes, Clariota-
every single thought you read were true. I always loved you. But we are still
not free, we are still bound by chains. We have our mission, which requires our
full effort. And of course, your earthly connections still hold you in chains,”
said Omega.
Clariota,
nodded. Holding Omega’s hands, she walked away from the throng of peacekeepers.
They talked for hours via thoughts even as they continued instructing the
peacekeepers in the preparation of the creation of the shield. At the end of
those long and happy hours, perhaps the last carefree hours that they might
ever have, they had ceased to become Cyrus and Tara. They were now Omega and
Clariota- A pair of lovers whose heart beat like a single unit, their mission
was common, their goal the same. With every passing second, they fell a little
more in love.
When
moon rays caressed Clariota’s cheeks, Omega pulled her into his arms. Clariota
smiled, her most cherished dream had come true.
“I may not have gone where I intended to go,
but I think I have ended up where I needed to be. To sink and die in your
arms is my only wish,” said Clariota and Omega gathered her in a tight hug.
Far
away in the horizon, the moon was shining bright. An unusual red spot was
visible right near the centre of the largest crater on the moon. The first
batch of the suicide gang of Gray aliens had arrived at their moon station.
Read the final Chapter 28 HERE
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