# 7 - Dangers of Sound Sleeping - Landing onto Oblivion-II

Willie Cash was tired now.

He thought that if what all Jupiter had just said was indeed true, he should better get adjusted to it now. Jupiter was his only contact on this frikkin planet. And so until he was going to find a way to sneak away back to earth, he would have to bear with this I-will-not-speak robot.

He made a resolve. He was certainly going to short-circuit this teeny-weeny crazy robot before leaving for earth.

This also reminded him that he was hungry now. After all, he had been traveling for the last forty-three nights and forty-two days.

Willie decided to explore the place.

Just when he was about to open the door he thought of Rick.

‘Jupiter, by the way, do you know anything about my friend Rick Shaw? We were sleeping in the same room’ asked Willie.

‘Yes’ replied Jupiter in his usual monologues.

Willie brightened up on hearing this. That meant he was not the only one on this godforsaken Fusterlok.

He lifted up Jupiter with his both hands and threatened him ‘Tell me where is Rick otherwise I will short-circuit you!’

Jupiter was without any reaction. He just started rolling his eyes all over in their circular little sockets, and looked like he was the most disinterested person in knowing where Rick was? He also looked like he was the most disinterested person in even telling where Rick was?

Willie was tired by now holding him for ten seconds.

‘I dropped him from the spaceship’ replied Jupiter matter of factly.

*******************************************************************

‘Willie, I am feeling very hot’ said Rick Shaw drowsily. There was no reply.

He thought Willie was still sleeping.

Rick opened his eyes. It was pitch black.

He tried to move but he could not. His body was clasped with two leather belts, one running over his chest and the other one running over just below his knees. His hands were free though.

He thought of moving his head around but abandoned the idea. As it was pitch black, he thought it would be futile to move his head around and look for something.

He thought that an earthquake had come and he was buried underground while he was fast asleep. As he hadn’t felt any tremor and was soundly asleep all the time, he thought all that must have happened really fast.

Though a tiny portion of his brain cells condemned this weird idea outright but Rick still held onto it as he really wanted a reason to explain his situation there. He thought of waiting for sometime until the rescue team arrived.

And so he just lay there very quiet for sometime.

When nothing happened for the next five minutes, he assumed he was himself supposed to do something. He tried to move his hands but they felt very stiff. After some effort he raised his right hand, and as he did so it touched the ceiling of whatever he was lying inside. Right then he heard the mechanical hum of a motor, and the top of whatever he was lying inside was slowly opening now.

The top of this whatever Rick was lying inside was touch-sensitive. His hand had simply triggered it to open itself on the outside.

It took him a full minute to adjust to the light. He unclasped the belts and stepped outside.

What he saw was beyond the craziest imagination of even his forefathers, let alone his imagination which was anyways very limited. It would probably be beyond the craziest imagination of his yet un-born grand children also.

He was standing inside a very big transparent ball. And that whatever thing from which he had just stepped outside looked like a coffin to him.

Rick started having all kinds of scary thoughts. Had he died in the earthquake? Where was the rescue team? Had he died before it could arrive? And even if he were dead where was his body? And most importantly, where was Willie? Since they were sleeping in the same room, he should have also died?

Rick was not getting anything of it all. The transparent ball had grayish-black patches all over as if something must have burnt there. His coffin was also the most bizarre piece he had ever seen in all his short life. It was shaped like a cylinder and it had little-little antennae jutting out all over. It was dark green in color with its little antennae of a still darker shade of this dark green. He reasoned that if not the earthquake then these tiny little antennae must have killed him.

He looked around from inside the transparent ball.

It was a barren and desolate landscape. Not a soul was to be seen anywhere.

Rick Shaw had decided by this time that he was dead now, and that is why he was looking for companion souls all around.

He was in a dilemma though – whether this was hell or heaven? From what he had read in books and saw in movies this place didn’t come even close to either hell or heaven. There were no demons around nor could he spot any angel.

He reasoned this was a special place meant only for earthquake victims. One question was still puzzling him – where were other victims of the earthquake?

Rick normally liked to avoid questions which particularly puzzled him. He conveniently chose to ignore this one also.

He wanted to get out now.

‘I command you to please make way for me’ gently said Rick to the ball.

He waited for sometime. When nothing happened he concluded that he was not in heaven. He then twice kicked the ball hard, and cursed it like he had never cursed before. He again waited for sometime. When again nothing happened he concluded that he was not in hell also.

Rick desperately wanted to get out now.

He frantically started to look for something unusual inside the ball.

He saw something shining on the surface of the coffin. He observed it closely. It was a bright yellow antenna, the only bright yellow antenna in a sea of antennae darker than the dark green.

At first he didn’t know what was he supposed to do with it? Should he pull it or push it?

He was spared with the dilemma when just at the touch of his finger a small door opened itself towards the outside.

He stepped outside. He saw a small placard lying just beside where the door had landed.

It read ‘ULTERLOK’ in big letters.

Beneath it was written in small letters ‘This is not a pub’.


© 2007 Ankur Shanker
Archives