Science fiction. A dream

 

Science fiction. A dream

She was barely 21, and she was very beautiful, and on Friday when I was enjoying my morning reverie of being engrossed in its stillness. My morning calm was disturbed by a loud and erratic knocking on the door. It was Touleif, my old friend. I could tell this when he screamed in his huffy voice, “Jamsheel open the door, it is important!”

I hurried and just managed to slip my right foot into my slipper and my left foot that was still struggling to locate the other slipper, had to adjust with the fact that it shall be ogled at by Touleif with great amusement. Anyway, there I stood at the door with a slipper in my right foot and the left foot trying to hide behind the right leg. 

Touleif looked at me, and then as he stared at my feet, I am sure he must have been reminded of a Pelican standing in water on one leg. Nevertheless, I am not concerned with what he was thinking about. Me or my feet, because he straight away came to the point and said in a surprised state, “Jamsheel, Mahreeib is missing. She has not been seen since midnight!”

“What!” was my spontaneous and only reaction.

He held me with his hands, by placing them on my shoulders and helped me to locate my chair. And made sure, I had occupied it. Then he hurried to get a glass of water for me.

It appeared as if he had practiced this at his home because he knew how I would react on hearing this news. Maybe he had, if not literally, but in his mind he surely might have practiced it several times before deciding to share this news with me, early in the morning, when my thoughts are usually vacant. Because that is how I like my mornings. A little silent, a little quiet, a little slow because then once I am dealing with the day and its demands, I tend to be very fast. So, I use my mornings as a silent meditation that prepares me for this bout with the day. But this should not be mistook as my vow to silence and inaction in the morning. I am extremely active in the morning and I do a lot of things. I can be very indulgent in the mornings too. But in the morning, I on purpose keep the pace slower than usual.

Anyway, back to where I was. I believe he had practiced it. Because he knew I loved her, and I loved her a lot. He knew it and he was right!

Mahreeib also knew it, because she was the only one before whom I liked acting a bit stupid. So, I guess she interpreted it as the stupidity of a person in love with a girl as charming as she. 

But at the moment, I felt devastated because I did not know where to find her, and more than anything else, and to be honest, I did not know who else to love except her. And Touleif knew this about me- A romantic who does not fall in love easily, but when he does, it is completely. Sort of head over heels. And when it came to Mahreeib I loved her completely. 

But right now and according to Touleif she is missing.

“Where could she be?” Was my  thought the moment I let my mind forsake its vacant mode and assume its role in reality. Where the reality was Mahreeib and the news that she is missing.

“Jamsheel, Jamsheel.” 

These were the words that echoed in my ears as worried Touleif noticed a wave of grief and pain spread over my face, and then it manifested itself via my bare body parts i.e. my hands and my feet, where one foot was completely shameless. At the moment that is.

Finally after a few moments when he had helped me drink some water and massaged my head gently. I managed to say this, “ Touleif, I want to find her. It is important you know that. You know that Touleif, don't you!”

I implored, but in a way I tried to make it sound peremptory. He perceived both intentions and styles, if I may say so. He dragged a chair from the left corner of the room and sat in front of me and tried to console me. That is all he could do, console me. 

Because he had his life and its challenges to deal with, he had his life waiting for him with its surprises; and he had to deal with them first, before he could deal with mine.

Yes, you might be thinking that this is too pragmatic. But this is the truth and one cannot deny it.

But I took his consolation as a proof that he did care about me, his friend; and right now he was thinking what he could do to help me. For now he certainly was and that is a fact.

“I heard one of the neighbours saying that for a few weeks he saw Mahreeib going to the forest at midnight. And when she went there, and when she returned from the forest, that man always saw a strange beam of light originating from the forest.

If he is right and it has anything to do with Mahreeib, then that beam of light should not reappear in the forest tonight. If it does, then it has nothing to do with Mehreeib. Ah it is confusing, let us think about it after sometime. Once we know more about her disappearance.

Are you listening Jamsheel?” Enquired, still worried Touleif.

I lifted my face a bit awkwardly because it was my chin more than my eyes that was facing him, and I nodded my head lazily. Finally as the feeling of hope cultivated by this information, settled in my mind, I moved in my chair, placed my right hand on my right thigh, and smiled. Then I replied with some excitement that was revealing itself in my face like a light bulb flickering due to fluctuation in voltage. 

As the emotion finally reposed in me, I found words to respond, “Yes Touleif that is a strong possibility and I agree with you. So let us go to the forest tonight and see what we are able to find. But, for my sake and for the sake of my restless heart; Touleif, let us go to the forest right now and see if we can find something. Do you mind that, Touleif?”

I had known Touleif for more than 18 years now, and he immediately realised my desperation. Because I usually do not refer to him by his actual name, but in this case I addressed him by his name more than thrice. That too just in a few sentences.

I had not realised it, until he answered, “Yes, Jamsheel we will go there whenever you want Jamsheel. And if you want to go now, Jamsheel, we will go there right now.”

He too never addressed me with my name, but in his reaction to my worries, he used my name three times and I realised something, “I was worried because Mahreeib had disappeared, and Touleif was worried too because I was worried, and he did not want me to go missing as well. ( In the philosophical sense of the word missing. Physically present but emotionally somewhere else. )

So, I got up, and as I lifted my left foot and put it forth, it rested on something that definitely was not the floor. Touleif had got my slipper and placed it next to my left foot. When I had finally managed to push my foot into it. I smiled as I walked towards the door and Touleif smiled with me. 

Since we had known each other for more than 15 years, we often did not say thankyou and sorry, because our expressions said that with much deeper feelings. Just as, at this moment, my smile was a way of saying: Thankyou Touleif. And a well timed, but not so prominent smile featuring onTouleif's face, was his very sweet way of saying: You are welcome my friend. Now hurry up and let us go before I get late for my office!

When we came out, there was a huge crowd that had gathered outside Mahreeib’s house. And few of them had just returned from the forest. But their disappointed faces confirmed that they had not been able to find anything. There was no trace of Mahreeib. She had disappeared, almost like a dream seen in the night and when you wake up, there is nothing. Just you and your winking eyes, and a feeling of wonder coupled with a strange blankness. Their faces looked the same, and Touleif and I realised, this was our chance to go to the forest and search the forest at our ease, without being disturbed.

As we walked past the bushes and crossed the dense growth of trees, where few of the trees were as old as 150 years. I wondered where Mahreeib could be. What became of her?

Jamsheel knew I was dealing with these thoughts, so he did not disturb me. Only at occasions when he felt I was too careless to notice the twigs and branches that could scratch my head or get entangled in my hair. He cautioned me, “watch out Jamm!”

He had picked up a branch and was removing its rough bark, also straightening it as we walked towards the spot specified by the neighbour who saw a strange beam of light originating from the forest. 

We must have walked for 40 minutes when we arrived at the place that matched the neighbour’s description. 

We both stood there, silent, and looked straight. At the tree that was mighty and stood in the way of our straight visual observation. Then, we both got tired of looking at it and we focused on the floor of the forest. There were bushes, grass, trees, plants, stones covered in moss, dry and fungus covered leaves, there was everything that represents a forest, but there was nothing that would hint at Mahreeib or resemble her. Nothing at all!

I felt a little disappointed and sat on a fallen tree trunk. But Touleif, scratched the floor of the forest with his stick. Almost like a hen scratching the soil with her claws to spot the bounties and feed herself and her brood of chicks. He went left, then right, but always forward.

Finally he stopped, and desperately started scratching the floor. And as if he had found some trail, he moved forward cautiously, then he stood at a point, motionless but thoughtful. And screamed, “Jamsheel, quick! Come here!”

When I reached the spot, there was a small pool of water and it was covered with algal bloom, but there was something strange. The algal bloom had turned black and there was crude oil like substance floating on it. This pool was 2 miles in diameter. And a large part of it had this black oil like stain.

“So, what do you think this is?” Asked Touleif.

I bent, and on the edge of the pool there were a few puddles of this black oil. I dipped a twig in one of them. As I withdrew it I smelled it and looked at Touleif; and said,

“It is oil. But its smell is different. And look at its viscosity, it is nothing like I have ever seen. But this certainly is some sort of fuel. Maybe there is an oil reservoir under this pool. What is your guess, Touleif?”

“I think it has something to do with Mahreeib’s disappearance. And it cannot be an oil reservoir, because its consistency on the water surface of the pool does not support this theory. If it were a crude oil reservoir and it was leaking from underground, there should be a place where its concentration ought to be higher. But it is not like that. And it is floating on the surface Jamsheel. Only on the surface.”

Touleif was very accurate with his observation and I nodded my head in agreement. This time not lazily.

“So what next?” was my question for Touleif.

He dipped the tip of his stick into the puddle of oil, on the edge of the pool. As he withdrew the stick carefully, he asked me to hold it. Then he took out a lighter from his pocket, as he lit it, he slowly moved it with the burning flame towards the tip of the stick. He must have been almost 8 inches away, and the tip of the stick caught fire. The flame was very blue and not at all red. Just blue and differently blue.

We both thrust the rare end of the stick into the loose soil and stamped on it with our feet.

“This fuel is different Jamsheel. It is not propellant either. I can tell this from my experience of working at the rocket manufacturing facility. Even the most advanced propellant does not catch fire so instantly and from such a distance. This is an extremely flammable and highly distilled form of fuel. Maybe it is the fuel we use here, but I am sure they have added something to it, and that is what makes it so effective. 

It is like nuclear fuel, only that this is not as dangerous and harmful. And it exists in liquid form. Maybe it is harmful, who knows. But we shall know in a day or a week. Hopefully we do not show strange symptoms. 

But I am certain it is harmless and someone has re-engineered the chemistry of this fuel by mixing it with something that makes it so combustible.

Did you notice something? The tip of the stick stayed wet, and the fire kept on burning, as if it did not want to die out. At our rocket manufacturing facility, when we use this amount of most advanced propellant, the fire will die out in a few seconds. But in this case it kept burning for more than 3 minutes. And I do not want to irritate you with my explanation. But still I want to admit that it definitely is advanced fuel, and it is either something that the government is testing in secret or it is alien fuel from an alien ship that landed here.”

“What? You mean Mahreeib was either kidnapped by the government or an alien! What are you talking about Touleif.

“I know you are tense right now Jamsheel. But let us think about every possibility and wait. Tonight we shall visit the forest once again, and position ourselves away from here and see whether or not the beam of light originates. If it does not, then we will have to investigate further and think of other plausible explanations.” This was the convincing and well reasoned response from Touleif.

And we both walked home. He left for the office.  

I applied for a leave. And with my boss I am very frank. So I specified “love sickness” as the reason for my leave, with an important specification: “Please delegate my work for the time being to Touleif. I shall return once I feel less Love sick. Thank you!”

I sat in the chair and for the entire day I thought about Mahreeib. I waited for Touleif because he would be the harbinger to signify the arrival of night, because more than him, I was waiting for midnight. Well, it is a lover’s confession here, not a friend’s. And Touleif knows it, I wonder if by now you do too!

Finally Touleif arrived, and so did midnight after sometime, and before we could venture out, I again heard a knocking on the door, and as I left my chair, I saw a beautiful girl standing right at my door, with a few flowers in her hand.

And this is what she said in her sweet voice, “Good morning Jamsheel. I thought you might like these flowers and I think we should go out together this weekend. What do you think?” 

I rubbed my eyes, then in my surprised state I looked at her. It was Mahreeib, and I exclaimed, “Oh my God. You!”

“Yes it is me. Why! Have you been dreaming or what? Anyway get ready, and let us meet at the office, Touleif will catch up with us for lunch.”

This was her bold response that finally woke me up.

So my adventure that had started in my dream, actually ended in my dream. Because I was woken up by the one, about whom I always dream; because she is my only dream. But today she was real and her flowers and her love for me seemed real too. At least that is what she hinted at. 

And as a tribute to this beautiful dream I wrote my science fiction romance novel, They Loved in 2075. Where the climax and suspense is much deeper, and the scientific innovation touches new heights, because it does not talk about alien fuel, it proposes ideas that can redefine technology in 2075. And in part 2 of this science fiction, the technological proposals are far more advanced, gripping, exciting; and the romance between two lovers in 2075 is extremely intense. Because they need to prove human romance is better than self aware and human-like humanoids. 

Welcome to the journey of love, romance, technology, ultra modern warfare and a lot more, packaged in one science fiction novel titled: They Loved in 2075!

Experience the future of human feelings and human love!