# 18 - Dangers of Sound Sleeping - Another Soul-III

Rick had just lowered himself into the opening and he heard a loud howl from just under him.

‘Is that you Jupiter?’

‘Have we already reached the city?’

Hammer could hardly hear even the first question. Hammer wasn’t very far from the opening, and in a moment Rick was on top of him. Rick’s impact pushed Hammer further into the abyss, and they both started to accelerate down the chute.

The next few minutes were the scariest and the most exhilarating they had ever had.

Exhilarating because they were sliding down at an alarming speed; it was almost like a free fall. And scariest because they had no idea where they were heading to and also, it was pitch dark all through. For hammer it was only scariest though.

The chute was not a straight path down to the city. It would get straighten for some time, then curve and twist, and then again straighten and so on. After thirteen-minute of this turbulent ride through the chute, they reached the place; this place looked like a city but it didn’t sound like one. It was the most silent city they had ever been to. Absolute silence – no sound whatsoever. Rick was certain this was the final burial ground for the earthquake victims.

Hammer was equally surprised. He would give muffled barks in between just to see if anyone would come.

Rick Shaw and Hammer had entered the most silent city in this part of the universe. No one liked to speak here unless under dire emergency. And this meant only one thing; if their planet was going to collide with another planet, which fortunately hadn’t happened until then in the entire history of Ulterlok.

Ulterlokians had only one way of communicating with each other – Ulterpathy. They considered themselves expert at it. It was a process where one person tried to guess what the other person must have thought, without saying a word to each other. Eventually none of the persons thought correctly about the other person’s thoughts, and so in short it was a way of miscommunication.

Sileosus looked into the screen and saw two creatures entering the city. He knew how a human looked like but who was the other creature walking with him?

Sileosus looked at Silensus, and twitched his face as if he was asking something.

‘Do you see that man and the four-legged creature entering the city?’ Sileosus asked without uttering a word.

Silensus tried to guess Sileosus’s question.

‘Do you see those funny guys on the screen?’ thought-guessed Silensus.

‘Yeah… I am seeing them for the first time’ thought-replied Silensus.

Sileosus thought that the reply was a Yes.

‘Have you seen them before?’ continued Sileosus.

‘I think they are from Fusterlok’ understood Silensus.

‘Maybe’ thought-replied Silensus.

Sileosus thought that the reply was a No.

‘What do you think they must have come here for?’ was Sileosus’s next question.

‘Don’t you think so?’ was Silensus’s comprehension of the question.

‘Yeah… but they are not speaking that much also’ thought-replied Silensus.

‘I don’t know maybe just to explore the place’ was Sileosus’s comprehension of the reply.

‘But how did they come here?’ Sileosus was very curious.

‘I think they are not in a mood to talk much right now?’ guessed Silensus.

‘Could be…’ was Silensus’s thought-reply.

‘I don’t know maybe on a spaceship’ Sileosus’s version of the reply.

‘Did you notice any unusual movement on the planet in the last 24 hours?’ asked Sileosus.

‘Oh I see’ guessed Silensus.

‘So what should we do now?’ thought-replied Silensus.

‘No’ understood Sileosus.

‘Alright then, I want you to send some of your men to see if they can find something suspicious’ ordered Sileosus.

‘I think we should let them roam about the city and monitor their movements’ was the order received by Silensus.

‘Good idea’ replied Silensus.

‘Yes Sir’ understood Sileosus.

Sileosus was the President of Ulterlok.

Silensus was someone just-below-in-rank to the President. His designation hadn’t been thought of yet.


© 2007 Ankur Shanker
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