Gandar woke up in a forest. He was lying on a green patch of grass. His head was groggy. Where was he? It came to him - Thera. Thera? Last place he wanted to be! The Therans and the Anders, his race, did not quite see eye to eye. Had not for a few centuries. How did he get here? That answer refused to come to him.
First, he had to find out if he was really on Thera. He started walking and reflected on the history. What started the feud was now shrouded in history; something probably small and insignificant which should have been resolved in five minutes; something which had seeded a hate on both sides which continued to fester and made the two sides sit on the brink of active engagement. The Therans and the Anders detested each other and actively engaged in jingoism. Getting caught on this planet, if that is where he really was, would not do. Moreover, if he were mistaken for a spy, which was likely, the impact would be well beyond him.
He spied a settlement some distance away. It was elegantly done, but the structures were small. Typical Theran. They were proud of their artistic way of life. Shunning technology whenever they saw fit. To the naked eye, there was little difference between the two races. The Anders had a complete lack of epilation on top of their heads, but that was it. Physically, they were much superior. Their reaction times were faster and their strength was greater. It showed in sportdomes and in the battle olympics. The Therans prided themselves on their artistic ability; poor folk.
Well! It was established that he was on Thera. Without identification; without support; with no idea of what he was doing here; and no idea of how to get back. To put it mildly, Gandar was concerned. He sat down to collect his thoughts. He would first need to cover his head. Easy enough. Then he would need to find shelter. Remaining outside was not an option. He would also need to find cover. Too confused to think further, and with a throbbing head, he decided that getting that far tonight was a good enough objective.
He walked into the settlement through a bush. He took a cap off a drying line and walked on to the main street. It seemed to be late evening time and a few stragglers were strolling; heading home, he presumed. He saw a motel which was advertising vacancies. He had already checked his cash card. He had enough money on it for a while. It did not matter if he spent that in Ander Latinums or Theran Colts. He walked into the motel. There was a help wanted sign for a handyman. The job would provide good cover while he looked for a way out. Small towns would not be a hotbed in the search for a Ander spy. He got both the job and a room. Once in bed, the situation really hit him...
He had to get out of here. It would not be simple and would take time. It would need determination. That was not a problem. There was something about Anders that made them the most determined people in the galaxy. Once an Ander made up their mind, changing it was next to impossible. So, he gathered his thoughts. Despite the animosity, it was not like every single Ander hated every single Theran. There were pockets on both sides which wanted a change. Most of these people wanted to move towards normalized relationships, some openly and some underground. He would have to find one of the underground groups (explaining his presence was definitely going to be an issue!). He also had to be careful. Some of the underground groups were warmongers - not something he wanted to precipitate! He went to sleep thinking about how to gather information.
His work as handyman meant a lot of hanging about the building waiting to be asked to run errands and do things. His strength and technical prowess made it easy, but he had to be careful to show some difficulty on both fronts. This left him loads of time to do research. There was little news about Ander, but there was lots to learn about Thera. They had a presidential system of government. The planet was divided into several prelatures. The prelate was appointed by the President. The local prelate Amkem, was his son. He was an able administrator and the prelate was doing well. Crime had come down in the two years that he had been running the government. He had made it a priority and come down on it hard.
There was something strange though. He would see occasional snippets about arrests, murders or such which would then disappear. He thought there could be an issue with his equipment, but his devices were too advanced for this kind of thing. He started a trace on these stories and waited for a pattern to emerge. The origins were isolated to multiple positions within the prelate. One of them was within the settlement itself. He had now been on the planet for three months. Time to make a move. He had to escape from the planet.
With no other leads, he decided to follow up on this information. Funnily enough, the location happened to be the one where he had picked up the cap. He kept a watch. A middle aged lady lived there with her son. He saw people come in and out of the house at odd hours. Something was definitely going on. He had to find out more. He began stalking the woman, looking for a chance to make contact. He found that her name was Anna and she had been living here for the last several years. He could not find much more of use. So one day, he just walked up to the house and knocked on the door. "Do you need a handyman Ma'am", he asked Anna. She looked at him with a quizzical look in her eye.
"Come in and sit down", she said. "You have been following me for some time, asking questions", she said in a matter of fact tone, once we were sitting. "Why? What do you want?". "Oh nothing really! I was just interested". Then he played the trump card. "Actually, I traced some of the underground news items to this location. I was interested in what the underground looks like in these parts."
A hint of fear showed in her eyes. "What do you mean? Why would I be connected to the underground? What would I want from them?". Gandar was desperate. He knew she was connected. He had to get inside. "I know you are. My device is too technologically advanced to be fooled. But, don't worry. You see, I need your help too. I am not a Theran", he removed his cap as he talked. There was a palpable sense of shock in the room. Then all hell broke lose. Like an extremely practiced drill, Anna locked the door & windows, asked Gandar to co-operate, blindfolded him, and led him for what seemed to be a couple of hundred meters before pushing him into a chair. He was too confused and hopeful to resist. If this was the end, then so be it; it would come another way soon anyway.
He heard some hushed voices, but could not understand a word. Eventually, somebody came and roughly removed the blindfold. He was holding a laser device loosely in his hand, discouraging any physical action from the seated Ander.
"So, this is the Ander that you were talking about Anna? He doesn't even look like a good specimen. Why would we risk ourselves to help him? Why don't I just kill him and deliver the body to Amkem?"
"Stop it Manny! You know you will not deliver anything to Amkem other than his own death. Stop scaring the Ander", Anna commanded. She was standing with three other people, two women and a man who looked like the leader of the group.
Gandar decided to speak. "My name is Gandar. I have been on your planet for over four months now. How I got here, I have no idea. I don't expect you to believe me because I don't believe it myself. But, I have been trying to get off this planet since the first day I landed here. That is why I was looking for an underground group. So that I could ask for help". He paused for breath and continued "I am no danger to you. If you can't or won't help me, just let me go and I will continue my search elsewhere. I know nothing except Anna's name and that can easily be changed."
"Gandar! Don't be alarmed", the leader started walking towards him. "There is no need to fear. My name is Plem. We do not have a lot of resources, but we will look to see what we can do. We all understand what it feels like to be separated. We have no fear of you. Even if you go to the authorities, there is nothing you can do as an Ander. Go home for now. Let us meet again tomorrow. Come in the evening and knock on Anna's door".
Over the next couple of months, Gandar spent a lot of time with the group. He got to know the stories of Anna, Manny, and others. They had suffered at the hands of the government. They had all lost family members to the President's secret police. In fact, Amkem had been put in place to solve the underground problem. A significant portion of their resistance had been caught, some of them executed. This was the crime wave against which Amkem had declared war. They were all persecuted and fearful. The ease with which Gandar had found them was worrisome, but the Therans did not have the technology needed to follow suit. The only person whose story was never told was Plem's, but Gandar assumed it followed the pattern.
He also learnt that their dream was to kill Amkem. This would allow them a certain amount of revenge along with giving them an opportunity to flaunt the shortcomings of the "benevolent" government, as most people saw it. Gandar was not particularly in favor of this, but since he did not have a better solution to propose, he kept it to himself. At the same time, Plem would give him regular updates on his efforts to find a way out. He was looking for a group in contact with Ander as well as for a way out of the spaceport. Progress was slow.
As time passed, Gandar found himself changing. As more incidents came to life around the area, he began to get angry at the way Amkem and his father were able to maintain their double face. He began to wish he could do something about it. Then one day, there was news of an opportunity. Amkem would be in a certain place at a certain time. Nobody would give Gandar that information, but the activity became furious. The planning was in full swing, but seemed to go nowhere. Gandar, getting the sense of frustration, asked "can I do anything to help?"
Manny looked up in disgust. "The window we are getting is very small. With all the defenses in play, it does not seem possible for us to get a shot in. If we had your reflexes, we could have done it, but no Theran would succeed". Anna looked thoughtful. She said "Gandar! I know we have not earned the right to do this. But you seem to be our only hope in getting this done. Is there any way we can convince you? I will be willing to offer my life in return".
He stood back. He did not want to be ungrateful, but sympathizing was as far as he was looking to go here. Murdering somebody without direct cause was not an option. Plem seemed to have read his mind. "I know, I know! This is not your battle. But, please hear me out. Remember, Gandar, we are getting involved in your problem. We have been trying to do this for several years now. This is probably our only chance and that is what is causing frustration. Imagine if your parents had been caught up the way our families have been. Would you not feel the same way? Please just think about it for a minute. Understand us at least, if you will not help us".
The last statements made Gandar's hair stand on end. Imagining his parents in the same situation did make him want to do the same thing. A shiver went up his spine, but it then subsided. He began thinking of how to respond to these people.
Suddenly, Plem asked everybody to leave. Approaching Gandar, he said "let's arm-wrestle".
Gandar smiled "you know I am an Ander". "Humor me!", he smiled back. Gandar put his elbow on the table and locked hands with Plem. He gave a slight push and the Theran's arm yielded. Gandar smiled again. He pushed a little more, "let's end this". But, Plem's hand refused to budge. He started pushing back and the hands came back to the center. The harder Gandar pushed, the harder was the push back; and there was a smile on Plem's face. Then it dawned on Gandar. Plem was no Theran. The confusion must have shown in his eyes, because Plem disengaged and stood up.
"We are alike Gandar. I have spent the last ten years in this hellhole; acting weak; acting simple. These people are nothing. We can swat them like a fly. But our government follows the path of appeasement. They respond to every insult with spineless dialogue", he spat. "But, in our determination lies the solution. Literally! You know why we are so determined? When we make a decision, there forms a neural pathway in our minds which does not dissolve without the sense of accomplishment. This circuit generates a high potential which is difficult to waver. Good, eh? Well, our scientists went further. They have designed a device to detect the formation of this pathway. Then it is able to re-enforce this pathway, making the potential so high that even we are unable to change our own minds."
"Did you feel the shiver going up your spine a few minutes ago?"
Then he knew. Gandar knew why he was on Thera; how he got there; why information was so easy to get; why he was able to penetrate an underground group so easily. He knew he was going to kill Amkem...
First, he had to find out if he was really on Thera. He started walking and reflected on the history. What started the feud was now shrouded in history; something probably small and insignificant which should have been resolved in five minutes; something which had seeded a hate on both sides which continued to fester and made the two sides sit on the brink of active engagement. The Therans and the Anders detested each other and actively engaged in jingoism. Getting caught on this planet, if that is where he really was, would not do. Moreover, if he were mistaken for a spy, which was likely, the impact would be well beyond him.
He spied a settlement some distance away. It was elegantly done, but the structures were small. Typical Theran. They were proud of their artistic way of life. Shunning technology whenever they saw fit. To the naked eye, there was little difference between the two races. The Anders had a complete lack of epilation on top of their heads, but that was it. Physically, they were much superior. Their reaction times were faster and their strength was greater. It showed in sportdomes and in the battle olympics. The Therans prided themselves on their artistic ability; poor folk.
Well! It was established that he was on Thera. Without identification; without support; with no idea of what he was doing here; and no idea of how to get back. To put it mildly, Gandar was concerned. He sat down to collect his thoughts. He would first need to cover his head. Easy enough. Then he would need to find shelter. Remaining outside was not an option. He would also need to find cover. Too confused to think further, and with a throbbing head, he decided that getting that far tonight was a good enough objective.
He walked into the settlement through a bush. He took a cap off a drying line and walked on to the main street. It seemed to be late evening time and a few stragglers were strolling; heading home, he presumed. He saw a motel which was advertising vacancies. He had already checked his cash card. He had enough money on it for a while. It did not matter if he spent that in Ander Latinums or Theran Colts. He walked into the motel. There was a help wanted sign for a handyman. The job would provide good cover while he looked for a way out. Small towns would not be a hotbed in the search for a Ander spy. He got both the job and a room. Once in bed, the situation really hit him...
He had to get out of here. It would not be simple and would take time. It would need determination. That was not a problem. There was something about Anders that made them the most determined people in the galaxy. Once an Ander made up their mind, changing it was next to impossible. So, he gathered his thoughts. Despite the animosity, it was not like every single Ander hated every single Theran. There were pockets on both sides which wanted a change. Most of these people wanted to move towards normalized relationships, some openly and some underground. He would have to find one of the underground groups (explaining his presence was definitely going to be an issue!). He also had to be careful. Some of the underground groups were warmongers - not something he wanted to precipitate! He went to sleep thinking about how to gather information.
His work as handyman meant a lot of hanging about the building waiting to be asked to run errands and do things. His strength and technical prowess made it easy, but he had to be careful to show some difficulty on both fronts. This left him loads of time to do research. There was little news about Ander, but there was lots to learn about Thera. They had a presidential system of government. The planet was divided into several prelatures. The prelate was appointed by the President. The local prelate Amkem, was his son. He was an able administrator and the prelate was doing well. Crime had come down in the two years that he had been running the government. He had made it a priority and come down on it hard.
There was something strange though. He would see occasional snippets about arrests, murders or such which would then disappear. He thought there could be an issue with his equipment, but his devices were too advanced for this kind of thing. He started a trace on these stories and waited for a pattern to emerge. The origins were isolated to multiple positions within the prelate. One of them was within the settlement itself. He had now been on the planet for three months. Time to make a move. He had to escape from the planet.
With no other leads, he decided to follow up on this information. Funnily enough, the location happened to be the one where he had picked up the cap. He kept a watch. A middle aged lady lived there with her son. He saw people come in and out of the house at odd hours. Something was definitely going on. He had to find out more. He began stalking the woman, looking for a chance to make contact. He found that her name was Anna and she had been living here for the last several years. He could not find much more of use. So one day, he just walked up to the house and knocked on the door. "Do you need a handyman Ma'am", he asked Anna. She looked at him with a quizzical look in her eye.
"Come in and sit down", she said. "You have been following me for some time, asking questions", she said in a matter of fact tone, once we were sitting. "Why? What do you want?". "Oh nothing really! I was just interested". Then he played the trump card. "Actually, I traced some of the underground news items to this location. I was interested in what the underground looks like in these parts."
A hint of fear showed in her eyes. "What do you mean? Why would I be connected to the underground? What would I want from them?". Gandar was desperate. He knew she was connected. He had to get inside. "I know you are. My device is too technologically advanced to be fooled. But, don't worry. You see, I need your help too. I am not a Theran", he removed his cap as he talked. There was a palpable sense of shock in the room. Then all hell broke lose. Like an extremely practiced drill, Anna locked the door & windows, asked Gandar to co-operate, blindfolded him, and led him for what seemed to be a couple of hundred meters before pushing him into a chair. He was too confused and hopeful to resist. If this was the end, then so be it; it would come another way soon anyway.
He heard some hushed voices, but could not understand a word. Eventually, somebody came and roughly removed the blindfold. He was holding a laser device loosely in his hand, discouraging any physical action from the seated Ander.
"So, this is the Ander that you were talking about Anna? He doesn't even look like a good specimen. Why would we risk ourselves to help him? Why don't I just kill him and deliver the body to Amkem?"
"Stop it Manny! You know you will not deliver anything to Amkem other than his own death. Stop scaring the Ander", Anna commanded. She was standing with three other people, two women and a man who looked like the leader of the group.
Gandar decided to speak. "My name is Gandar. I have been on your planet for over four months now. How I got here, I have no idea. I don't expect you to believe me because I don't believe it myself. But, I have been trying to get off this planet since the first day I landed here. That is why I was looking for an underground group. So that I could ask for help". He paused for breath and continued "I am no danger to you. If you can't or won't help me, just let me go and I will continue my search elsewhere. I know nothing except Anna's name and that can easily be changed."
"Gandar! Don't be alarmed", the leader started walking towards him. "There is no need to fear. My name is Plem. We do not have a lot of resources, but we will look to see what we can do. We all understand what it feels like to be separated. We have no fear of you. Even if you go to the authorities, there is nothing you can do as an Ander. Go home for now. Let us meet again tomorrow. Come in the evening and knock on Anna's door".
Over the next couple of months, Gandar spent a lot of time with the group. He got to know the stories of Anna, Manny, and others. They had suffered at the hands of the government. They had all lost family members to the President's secret police. In fact, Amkem had been put in place to solve the underground problem. A significant portion of their resistance had been caught, some of them executed. This was the crime wave against which Amkem had declared war. They were all persecuted and fearful. The ease with which Gandar had found them was worrisome, but the Therans did not have the technology needed to follow suit. The only person whose story was never told was Plem's, but Gandar assumed it followed the pattern.
He also learnt that their dream was to kill Amkem. This would allow them a certain amount of revenge along with giving them an opportunity to flaunt the shortcomings of the "benevolent" government, as most people saw it. Gandar was not particularly in favor of this, but since he did not have a better solution to propose, he kept it to himself. At the same time, Plem would give him regular updates on his efforts to find a way out. He was looking for a group in contact with Ander as well as for a way out of the spaceport. Progress was slow.
As time passed, Gandar found himself changing. As more incidents came to life around the area, he began to get angry at the way Amkem and his father were able to maintain their double face. He began to wish he could do something about it. Then one day, there was news of an opportunity. Amkem would be in a certain place at a certain time. Nobody would give Gandar that information, but the activity became furious. The planning was in full swing, but seemed to go nowhere. Gandar, getting the sense of frustration, asked "can I do anything to help?"
Manny looked up in disgust. "The window we are getting is very small. With all the defenses in play, it does not seem possible for us to get a shot in. If we had your reflexes, we could have done it, but no Theran would succeed". Anna looked thoughtful. She said "Gandar! I know we have not earned the right to do this. But you seem to be our only hope in getting this done. Is there any way we can convince you? I will be willing to offer my life in return".
He stood back. He did not want to be ungrateful, but sympathizing was as far as he was looking to go here. Murdering somebody without direct cause was not an option. Plem seemed to have read his mind. "I know, I know! This is not your battle. But, please hear me out. Remember, Gandar, we are getting involved in your problem. We have been trying to do this for several years now. This is probably our only chance and that is what is causing frustration. Imagine if your parents had been caught up the way our families have been. Would you not feel the same way? Please just think about it for a minute. Understand us at least, if you will not help us".
The last statements made Gandar's hair stand on end. Imagining his parents in the same situation did make him want to do the same thing. A shiver went up his spine, but it then subsided. He began thinking of how to respond to these people.
Suddenly, Plem asked everybody to leave. Approaching Gandar, he said "let's arm-wrestle".
Gandar smiled "you know I am an Ander". "Humor me!", he smiled back. Gandar put his elbow on the table and locked hands with Plem. He gave a slight push and the Theran's arm yielded. Gandar smiled again. He pushed a little more, "let's end this". But, Plem's hand refused to budge. He started pushing back and the hands came back to the center. The harder Gandar pushed, the harder was the push back; and there was a smile on Plem's face. Then it dawned on Gandar. Plem was no Theran. The confusion must have shown in his eyes, because Plem disengaged and stood up.
"We are alike Gandar. I have spent the last ten years in this hellhole; acting weak; acting simple. These people are nothing. We can swat them like a fly. But our government follows the path of appeasement. They respond to every insult with spineless dialogue", he spat. "But, in our determination lies the solution. Literally! You know why we are so determined? When we make a decision, there forms a neural pathway in our minds which does not dissolve without the sense of accomplishment. This circuit generates a high potential which is difficult to waver. Good, eh? Well, our scientists went further. They have designed a device to detect the formation of this pathway. Then it is able to re-enforce this pathway, making the potential so high that even we are unable to change our own minds."
"Did you feel the shiver going up your spine a few minutes ago?"
Then he knew. Gandar knew why he was on Thera; how he got there; why information was so easy to get; why he was able to penetrate an underground group so easily. He knew he was going to kill Amkem...
2 comments:
This reminds me of Jaadu from Koi Mil Gaya. Though Sandeep says it is more like Avatar. I must see Avatar now.
Have not seen Koi Mil Gaya, but not sure I see the connection with Avatar - will ask Sandeep to enlighten. Thanks.
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