Science fiction. The restorer

 

Science fiction. The restorer

She had just arrived when I heard the car honking loudly. It was early morning and except her voice everything else sounded irritating and displeasing. And right now the continuous honking was ruining my morning, and I left my bed with the resolve to silence the car and cease the restlessness of the person driving it.

I put on my robe and I dared the freezing cold, and in less than a minute I was standing in front of this person. The moment he saw me he stopped honking and bent his head, less in shame and more in an attempt to escape without being noticed by me, and my raging friend who too had joined me. The moment he saw both of us approaching his car, he acted a bit awkwardly.

I placed my hand on his steering and then with a steely gaze I looked into his eyes. He instantly stopped the engine of his car. 

Now, I was sure he would not try to run away because it was a complex crossing where 6 lanes intersected. And to get to any one of them, he would first have to make his way through the incoming traffic, then gain a thief’s speed which was most improbable. Moreover, he had jumped the traffic signal and to avoid getting stuck in the incoming traffic he had parked his car in the reserve area. Defined for vehicles that breakdown or jump the signal. And he was there waiting for the traffic light in the reserve parking area to coincide with the green light of the lane that he was supposed to enter.

But right now I did not want to chase him. Because I already had seized the steering of his car and he immediately knew something was not right.

He politely opened the door of his car and asked me to pardon him. Even though I had not accused him of anything yet. I had not even mentioned about his loud honking that had transformed the entire neighbourhood into a driving training institute where honking at will is permitted and necessary as well.  

Maybe he had lost his patience, which triggered his uncalled for honking at a place where traffic moves based on sophisticated traffic lights. And sometimes it may happen that a lane may get to witness a green light after 10 minutes. And waiting here in your super fast car for 10 minutes demands a lot of patience. 

And this person definitely had the lowest reserves of this quality.

So, before I lost mine, and it was most likely, because he had ruined my lazy affair with the morning that continues until I am not ready for office. Because once I am in that frame of mind, where office and daily tasks seek the precedence over everything else, I tend to move very fast. This is why I prefer, not per say a lazy morning. But a morning that flows at my wish, which can be faster than most of the people, but it has to be based on the willingness of my mind to adjust in the morning. And his unnecessary and loud honking had disturbed this pace of my morning and that of my friend. Who had just stepped into my room.

Now he had to deal with the fury of two irritated souls early in the morning. A bad start to our day and not at all a grand start to his day either. So, we had something in common at least. 

He seemed to know our reason to stop him and he also offered a well worded apology, that only someone well educated and with a good social background could formulate. And it was his style to express it that stood out and impressed both of us. We were about to ask him what led him to act so differently when he was honking ceaselessly. The traffic light turned green and now we were blocking his car, and it was blocking every other car behind it. And the honking began to grow louder and louder, so I slowly eased the grip of my hand on his steering and he stepped into his car, and he wished both of us “Good Day” in his polished mannerism. Then he turned his steering to the left, and as he pressed the accelerator he disappeared from our view. There were all other cars, even the one that stood right next to his, but he and his car could not be found anywhere.

My friend looked at me and I gapingly looked at her. I held her hand and we both walked towards our room. But, before we could enter our place we turned around, visually verified all six lanes and there was no clue that could suggest anything about his disappearance. His disappearance could still be justified, but the disappearance of something as solid and as big as a car with a hardtop, stood out like a question mark to which neither of us had any answer. We were still so puzzled that we were finding it difficult to come to terms with what we had just witnessed.

We sat on the steps that led to our room and watched the movement of traffic. And every car that went past us, we were trying to locate the car of the stranger and the stranger inside the car, we were still dealing with the amazement, when she held the sleeves of my shirt and asked me to get up.

With a frowning look, a lost appearance and eyes that were unwilling to rotate away from the movement of traffic at the junction of 6 crossings. I finally let the stranger and his thoughts reside at the traffic light, because I did not wish to carry him inside my room. So, I walked away with her because I wanted to be with her and her thoughts, and not with someone who had made my morning deplorable.

We entered the room, and before she could go to bed and complete her sleep, she stood beside me at the window still trying to understand how the car and the driver had vanished right before our eyes. There was no reasonable explanation for this, so we decided to sleep and not sleep over it. 

It was still too early because it was only 04:00 am, and I had an hour and half more to rest. Only rest, because sleeping was out of question. I closed my eyes, pretended to sleep, thought about nothing, while my nostrils rhythmically filled in and filled out breaths bearing traces of her scent. And with this sensation I tried to rest. 

She rolled towards me and asked me in her sleeping state, “You too should try and sleep, we have a long journey ahead of us!”

With my eyes still closed, but mind completely awake I responded by clasping my hand against hers tenderly, and I too tried to sleep.

At 07:00 am we both were almost ready and we moved towards the garage. I entered first, and she followed me.

“No! This is impossible. It is his car and he too is there in the driver's seat. No, this cannot be.”

She was definitely shocked and her reaction made complete sense, and it was good she reacted with such a strong vocal expression. It allowed my conscious awareness to recognise the reality and not feel similarly shocked. So, I held her in my arms and comforted her. Then with fear, blended with curiosity and shock that was growing in its possession of our minds. We walked towards the driver’s door. He indeed was there and this was his car. But he was not moving at all.

I slowly held the nicely crafted silver handle of the door, and pulled it with force that does not pull or push, but allows the mechanical soul of the gadget ( in this case the handle of the door ) to dictate the flow of the force. And my hand instantly understood that the button on the handle needs to be pushed tenderly and then if I pull the door outwards, with light force, it shall open. I did exactly so and the door too did not disappoint me.

But now came the most difficult part because I was not dealing with the silver handle. I was dealing with a person who has a soul, feelings and a sense of being with a conscience. That is what I think about every human being and I thought the same about him too. So, I lifted my right hand, folded all my fingers, except my index and middle finger and I placed them on his neck below the ear lobe. There was a pulse, I could feel the palpitation and warmth as well. 

I smiled and she smiled as well, because she had already sensed what I had felt, when I had placed my fingers on his neck.

However, he was not moving. Everything appeared to be normal with him, but except his heart nothing was moving. We both were confused, and together we tried to understand how we could wake him up.

Then, her funny bone tickled a bit, and whenever that happens nothing can stop her, and it always seems to work. So, I am the last one to stop her, which has never happened so far and I had no reason to act otherwise in this moment.

She initiated the engine of the car, and began honking incessantly. And the stranger woke up with a loud reaction, “ Who is this? Please stop it, it is too loud and too damn disturbing. You woke me up from a beautiful dream.”

The stranger saw us, we smiled, he smiled, we greeted him and he greeted us, and said, “ I owed you a proper apology and a true apology is never complete unless one has understood what the other person has undergone. And on our planet, we say: the soul wanders till eternity, unless you do not feel yourself what you made someone else feel due to your actions or emotional oral expressions.

We both were listening to him like the believers in the congregation who are spell bound by the sermon of a holy man. And right now, he was the holy man and we were his congregation. Whom he further impressed with these words.

"So, we are even now! Because you too woke me up by honking and breaking my dream.”

We both had never laughed as much as we did with him, when he said these words, and he too laughed with us. We invited him for breakfast which he ate with delight and complete pleasure; and then he threw another surprise at us, “I know you are traveling to meet someone tomorrow and it is a long trip. It is not less than 700 miles. I can drop you there in one second and once you are done, I will bring you back.”

“What?” This was my reaction.

“How?” This was her reaction.

He was very clever and answered instantly, “ There is no need to answer “What” aspect. It is already understood. Understanding “How,” that is my secret. But on my planet my job is restoration- Planet restoration to be specific. And your planet is dying so we had come to check if it can be restored to normal. There is hope, if you all act now. But it will one day die, that is certain. Maybe sooner than what was meant to be. Nevertheless, restoring it now will do all humans good.

Because of my job profile, I and my machine are designed to travel very fast. So fast that when you winked your eyes at the 6 crossings junction, you thought I had disappeared. I had not. I had just traveled very fast that your naked eyes could not understand the time lapse that occurred between the winking of your eyes and my machine’s ability to gain top speed just in a fraction of nano second.

So I am not a magician and aliens are not fiendish at all. We too are human-like. May not be so in our physical appearance, but when it comes to emotions we are more sensitive. 

Anyway, have you thought about it and are you ready to experience how it feels to cover 700 miles in a second?”

We both wanted to experience it. Who would not!

We boarded his car and in a second we were where we were supposed to be. And exactly at the place where we were meant to be.

Next day we finished our meeting. And after two days he was waiting for us, and once again in a second we were in our room.

Now it was time for him to submit his report to the committee of the universe restorers. He got into his car, we said our good byes, and once again in a second he had vanished, this time in the sky somewhere. We looked at the sky for a minute. Then as we strolled back to our room, we found a note on the table.

To know more about the note, and how Universe Restorers want us to restore Earth, please check the science fiction novel, They Loved in 2075. It is a romance science fiction, inspired by my meeting with a stranger from a different planet. Who taught me how to care for our own planet. For more details explore the science fiction novel, They loved in 2075. Which defines via a brilliantly conceived story how human emotions will evolve in 2075 along with many other facts. That will leave you as amazed as I was when I saw the stranger vanish.