The Prince Of Whales (4)
From the top they could sea the entire east side of the island. It was like a golden haven on earth. They ran, walked and rolled on the glittering sand and found a freshwater lake on the top of the mound. They jumped into the pool and took bath in the lake. Then they searched for food. They found plenty of bananas, coconuts and other tropical fruits on the other side of the mound. They saw the traveler’s trees. The leaves are shaped like cups each leaf holding about one liter fresh water. They drank water until they are full. They saw a series of caves. Sam brought enough food for both of them into the cave villa. Sam opened the coconuts with a coned gold rock. He is thinking of going to the Westside where there are plenty of trees. He needs ropes, ladders and other tools to go there. They ate and started building a small portico in front of the cave villa. Sam made wonderful beds for them in side the cave. The serious academic world famous scientist and the Olympic gold medalist swimmer found no more place in them. They became little children and moved around like Adam and Eve in their colorful leafy costumes. They turned the solitary island into a pure human dwelling place. They felt as if they were the first human family on the earth. They cried aloud and then whispered, ‘is anybody there’ and yelled, ‘we know you are there’. Then they rhythmically reheard the same as their query and answer had faithfully resounded. After they played with the nature and settled down on their flowerbeds, they began to recall their family history. Their grand parents Boris and Eliza were famous marine scientists. They made lot of expeditions and saved lot of information in their dairies and minds. Now every thing is past and gone. Boris is no more. Eliza is suffering from amnesia. Both their families were still separated and lot of bitter things happened along the twenty-year trekker history in their families. Their parents waited for the time cure. Nothing happened as hoped. But now both time and tide waited for them. Adding to their split family history, now they are further separated from their families. They don’t know if they can ever get back to their families again. They don’t know if they can survive on this golden island and if so for how long. They must literally live for now and for each moment. Once they figure out their course of action, the time and tide will move again. They are stuck in the chronic time. The sea concert is becoming more and more audible than before. The celestial runner’s torch is handed over to the moon and the stars. Sam and Joan slowly went into the dreamy sleep again as the star lit heaven and earth unanimously pronounced them as man and wife under the authority naturally vested by the State of the unnamed goldhill island. The starlight is quite visible like the daylight. The moon is shining like the night sun on the holy pair. The starry Polynesian nightclub wished them good aloha night and sweet dreams. The sea breeze is singing lullaby with no interruptions. Then time and tide slowly started ticking again as Sam began to think some human voices. He thought it’s a dream. But the voices are coming towards their cave villa. Sam suddenly woke up and quietly withdrew from Joan’s cuddlesome body. He went up to the top of the mound and turned towards the west. He could not believe what he saw. He ran to the cave and grabbed Joan and carried her to the top of the mound and let her down to see what he meant her to see. Sam asked her, ‘am I seeing things or what? I sea people walking on the seawater. Tell me you also see them.’ She came to her senses and saw people walking on seawater and dreadfully said, ‘they were all dead ghosts’. Chapter seven They are no more! The Hawaiian naval patrol squad has arrested Dr. Chad and his scientist group, Captain Roger Felix and all the crewmembers along with the ninja guys. They had ceased the research vessel and the warring parties. Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix tried to explain that they are the most civilized and decent citizens of the US. But they could not explain any thing about the ninja guys. The Hawaiian police were interrogating the ninja guy who was in the whale stomach along with Dr. Joan and Sam. He told them the same story again and again and finally said, ‘the whale had swallowed three of us. I was very lucky to get out from there. The girl and the boy were dead. I want to tell you why we went there and how the whole thing had happened’. The interrogating official said, ‘so the whale swallowed the boy and the girl. They are dead. And you somehow escaped from the whale. That’s all we need to hear from you now’. He then came out of the statement room and gave his report to the concerned authorities. As per his recommendations, they sent the eyewitness ninja guy to the high security asylum. There no one was allowed to speak to him without the special permission of the top official dealing the boy-girl missing case. Sam’s parents Shea Jacobson and Feggy heard the recorded statements of the eyewitness ninja guy. They also heard the recorded pleas of Dr. Chad and captain Roger Felix. Shea Jacobson had moved the entire government to know what happened to his handicapped son Sam and his niece Joan. Dr. Joan’s mother Lillian and the stepfather Rodrigo flew to Hawaii in a special plane. They met the top police officials. The Honolulu chief of police Mr. Zuloaga walked them to the statement room. The two families met each other for the first time after twenty years. Lillian cried and hugged her brother Shea and he tried to control her. Nobody knows what happened to Dr. Joan and Sam. Some officials thought they were dead while others thought they must search for them any way. Everybody was trying very hard to find someone to blame. The mafia leaders were working quietly from their underground cells and watching every move from their perspective. Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix were released along with their crewmembers and the scientists on certain conditions. They must take the research vessel and search for Dr. Joan and Sam along with the other investigating police official. Except the one eyewitness ninja guy all the ninja guys were released on money bail. Their bosses used their influence and got all of them back without any problem. These guys knew all the ins and outs of the government mechanisms. But the ninja guys are dumb creatures. They do what they are told. They take up only one assignment at a time. They brought the CD as commissioned. They did know that Dr. Chad had copied the CD. All the other things, incidents and accidents were erased from their minds. However, their case was handed over to the higher authorities. Shea Jacobson was not satisfied by the police response in spite of all these arrangements. He had personally employed Detective Bermann a private investigator to look for Sam and Joan. Rodrigo volunteered himself to go with the search team. Lillian agreed to stay in Hawaii with her mother Eliza in the bayside guesthouse until the search team returns with the final results. The media was strictly warned not to publish news about this case. The research vessel started its newly appointed mission. For three days they searched for the bodies in the water. After three days Dr. Chad said, ‘we will continue the search because we want to show our love for Dr. Joan. But those who officially wanted to go back can do so. And who voluntarily wanted to go with us, we will take them any way’. This offer sounded reasonable to all. The police personnel officially completed their search to their utmost satisfaction and went back with the sincere results and professional reports according to which Dr. Joan and Sam were officially declared as dead. There is absolutely no possibility for them to survive in the water for almost five days. Shea and Rodrigo appreciated the police authorities for their sincere help. But Rodrigo wanted to go with the search team as long as it takes. Dr. Chad and Roger Felix appreciated his sincere decision and re-welcomed Rodrigo on board. But Bermann the private investigator wanted to get back to Shea Jacobson. Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix said goodbye to him and the other police personnel. Rodrigo called Lillian and explained the situation. She is not paying any attention to all those details. She was addicted to Rodrigo’s smell and taste. His presence is more important to her than her missing daughter and nephew. She became a new species. And for her the world means Rodrigo and him alone. She has idolized him and deified him as her Eros. And her family excommunicated her for that reason for so many years. She just said, ‘okay darling! Take care and come beck soon’. Every thing was settled and the vessel started the expedition again but with a different perspective. Others left the vessel and went back to the city with their final reports. The media was then allowed to publish the death news of Dr. Joan and Sam. The regional mafia leader called his partner and the Big Boss and explained the latest results. The Big Boss coolly said to them, ‘we are in control of the vessel and our boys are taking good care of the inside job’. The vessel was equipped with heavy artillery this time. They are capable to handle any type of unforeseen circumstances. They can face the white shark attack more efficiently than last time. They went to the whale cave area again. And they operated the talking machine that Joan had developed. They sent signals to the whales covering a vast radius circle. They had waited for the response from the whales. But there is no sign of whales. Captain Roger Felix asked the lab room attendant to arrange the CD player in Dr. Chad’s private room. They watched the copied CD and finally figured out the shortcut directions to the underwater goldhill. From Honolulu they straightaway came to the Palmyra Island and refueled the vessel there. They went into the city and bought all the needed provisions. Rodrigo was all the time wondering about the talking machine’s vague directions and the vessel’s slow course of action. When they were about to leave the Palmyra Island Rodrigo asked Dr. Chad that he wanted to go to the Kiritimati Island to get urgent treatment for his depression and other serious health problems. He explained the situation to all the vessel crewmembers and the scientists. He then called Lillian and told her that he must see her soon. Dr. Chad accepted the request and assured Rodrigo that they would let him know as soon as they could find the target. Dr. Chad also called his specialist friend in Kiritimati Island and introduced Rodrigo to him. Rodrigo took a private seaplane and went to Kiritimati Island. The vessel left for Howland Island. The lab room attendants observed encouraging signals on the screen from a huge group of whales. They were excited to notice that there seemed abnormal numbers of whales towards that direction. They deciphered the sound symbols and guessed that there might be at least thirty different whale communities along that direction. After day’s journey they stopped the engines and anchored the vessel for a night’s rest. The crewmembers started partying. They all got drunk. The study of the comprehensive human behavior is even more complicated than the study of humans themselves as it was said ‘making money is more complicated than minting it’. They were yelling, screaming and shouting while Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix were watching the secret CD equations for further directions to the goldhill. After the midnight everyone was exhausted and were in dead sleep. The vessel slowly started moving downwards to hit the seabed. There was a big jerk. And soon the vessel tilted towards its right side and slowly fell on the seafloor. Everyone was forced to resurrect from their dead sleep and was dreadfully shocked to see some of them bleeding and injured. Some were hanging in the air upside down. It took sometime for Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix to figure out that they had a night accident of some new kind. They maintained status quo till they could see the morning sun. They got out of the vessel and saw that the vessel was on the one-foot deep wet seabed. They were moving on the ocean floor as if walking on the seawater. The water further disappeared and they could see the dry seabed. After everyone got down from the tilted vessel Captain Roger Felix asked his assistant to count the number. There were thirty members all together and nobody was missing. The crewmembers slowly brought the needful items, eatables and the mobile scientific equipment from the vessel. Some of them hoped that the seawater might come back and cover them any time. They figured out that they might need the whaleboats, lifeboats and the buoys for the emergency unforeseen situations whether they stay there or make a move. Some of them suspiciously looked around and thought of carrying some weapons with them. The scientists also took the needed scientific items. The crewmembers also secured all the needful items for their struggle for survival. The most sophisticated electronic radio equipment was partly damaged. Captain Roger Felix then asked the decision of each person whether to stay until the seawater would come back or to make a move until they find the seashore. Most of them had decided to make a move to the nearby coast. Even though some of them were engaged in heated altercations they all finally saw that there was no other alternative than slowly making a move to the coast. The scientists had suggested other scientific island formation theories. According to their island birthing process theory, they are on a birthing island at present and they must wait and find out how big this newborn island would be and how far or close they would be from the newly conforming seashore. The map was showing them that they should go towards the southwest to reach the Goldhill Island. But since the map is existentially changing nobody knows the right directions anymore. Dr. Chad finally said, ‘in a maximum twelve hour period in the daytime, we should reach our destination. So think fast and make up your minds quickly before it is too late’. They journeyed towards the southwest and after four-hour trek they stopped for a moment’s rest. The head cook of the vessel prepared a quick lunch. They all sat down and started eating their lunch. They suddenly heard a thundering noise of the airplane. The crewmembers quickly switched on their radio equipment and started to communicate with the seaplane. But it seemed that the aircrew members were not receiving these signals and their messages may be because of the wave shortage problem. The seaplane was heading from Kiritimati Island towards Howland Island. Captain Roger Felix then figured out that they were about three days away from the goldhill. Everyone had relaxed in their souls. The dire facts involved in trekking for further three days with all those heavy baggage items on the seabed were an existential dagger to them. They have to walk for 2-3 days at the least rate of 25 miles per day to reach the goldhill. They had enough provisions for a whole month with them. But because they have no refrigerators around, they might have to lose some mouthwatering foodstuff. The head cook suggested that they could leave some less important items there. Everyone yelled at him saying, ‘what do you mean less important?’ After their successful lunch, they began their 3-day trek towards goldhill with a blessed hope again. Dr. Chad and Captain Roger Felix mainly headed them. Within these two catholically explicit groups there are mini-groups based on other things such as friendliness, talent, profession, experience, region, education, talent, interest, addiction and of course the super ductile and malleable gold worship. Everyone was binocularly dreaming about gold and planning their monocled family future. What else the members of such private unions can imagine? They were literally living by faith in gold. They already forgot the promised search of girl and the boy. They had auto-bio-rationally concluded that they were dead. If they die they become martyrs of the cause to be conferred a postmortem sainthood in their own religious world. If they were lucky they would see the goldhill within their lifetime. That was their newly mushroomed religion and their newly evolved island faith. They are forced to go on with their survival fitness and not to be afraid of extinction it seems. Even though there are no wild creatures around, they were carrying weapons to use the ‘just in case’ expression. Moreover everyone must intellectually suspect the other. They must constantly have their smartest second thoughts and must seek and find their individual plans. They enjoyed the fish-sleep. Thereby they had already practiced walk-sleep. They were academically well educated and equipped but existentially hardly ever literate. They have strength to consume but not to use as they wish. They are fully experiencing ‘Freewill Yes but Freedom No’ situation. They are struggling very heard to learn and realize that it was an all-human problem and not just an individual problem of certain sections of the human society. They suddenly heard another seaplane heading towards the Kiritimati Island. The aircrew started to establish communications. But the crewmembers did not bother to communicate with the aircrew. The seaplane proceeded towards its destination. Dr. Chad suddenly came to the senses and yelled at the crewmembers to operate the radio systems. But it was too late. The seaplane was soon out of radio-reach and out of binocular-sight. Dr. Chad growlingly grunted aloud cursing every crewmember in his mother mandarin tongue. The crewmembers positioned themselves for mortal combat with the scientists if needed. Captain Roger Felix came into the scene and quieted them all with his rifler machine gun. The ninja leader guy in mufti coolly said, ‘don’t think we are for peace either’.
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