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Mishiida Alexander
Stalking Shadows



“Hope is a dream for labour to seek.”



Chapter Twenty: Coming together



Hopes and wishes are both dreams about a better future, but while the first have their roots in reality, the later originate out of imagination. When you hope for a better future, you are generally either expecting favourable results out of your present predicament, or you intend to initiate efforts that would lead towards what you desire. The fruition of hope is a child of your labour. Compare this to your dreams, where you wish for the best in terms of results, yet you are nowhere near embarking on a journey that leads to those cherished fruits. While hope is a prospect, wishes are like lotteries!

Future however is unrelated to both; rather a product of a three dimensional framework of reality, efforts and probability. If reality is bad, the efforts need to be reformatory for probability to yield a better present in future. If efforts however are expended to either camouflage the reality, or to alter the future without fixing the present, the future would only get worse. Probability does not depend upon efforts, but rather reality. Efforts are merely a filter, to check what probabilities originating out of the present, should be allowed a chance to eventuate.

The onus thus always rests on the protagonist, to make choices that would determine their own future. Wrong choices would always lead to deterioration, while right choices might demand certain sacrifices. But there is no way to avoid a future that is imminent out of your present, without fixing the present. Mr. Garcia knows this well and true, but is equally willing to put his life at stake to fix the present he has created. Without him making the choices and doing the acts that he has done thus far, the only probabilities were leading to a total destruction of humanity. No human efforts could have possibly sufficed to avoid the fate otherwise! Of course, he alone would never be the master of human fate. But that’s what situational allies are for.

However it is heartbreaking that the ally he found in his current engagement, our beloved Alex, has just taken a fall for humanity. Even though we don’t want to see his fate eventuate, we can’t help but dive down behind him, as if there is something we can do to save him.

The heavy Tyrene lands first, with a thud that would possibly echo around the other end of the globe, to the foot of the Himalayas. And if that won’t kill him, Alex lands right on top, upright on his feet, crushing the Tyrene’s chest like a watermelon under the hammer.

“Ah! My legs,” a loud painful shriek escapes out of Alex’s lips.

“Aaaaalax,” an even painful shriek let out by Mishiida almost shatters our ear drums, as the lady who just appears to have emerged out of the facility followed by the rest of the crew, rushes to the aid of her man.

But Alex, who has now fallen down on his back, is in obvious unbearable pain. Surprisingly though, he is still alive. Perhaps because the craft had barely emerged out of the facility, and where the Tyrene has left it stationary, it is barely about fifty storeys high above the ground. Still, this is nothing short of a miracle.

“Alex, are you alright?” Colonel yells as he rushes behind a shrieking Mishiida.

“This pain is killing me,” Alex wails in pain as Mishiida takes his head in her lap.

“I’ll give him morphine,” Corbett exclaims as he joins the others around him. None however cares about the Tyrene commander who lies dead right next to them.

“Where’s Garcia?” Colonel asks as he looks up towards the craft.

“He’s still there,” Alex quips as Corbett gives him a morphine injection, “Looks like I’ve broken my legs.”

“I seriously hope it’s just your legs,” Colonel quips, and then looks up again. “There he is,” he exclaims as Garcia jumps out of the craft. But what about the parachute he was talking about? We don’t see him deploying one right now. Wait! He does deploy it, but after a slight delay. Perhaps he’s eager to get down quick.

“Quick, into the bunker,” Garcia yells at the top of his lungs even before his feet touch the ground, “This thing is going to blow up in under five minutes.”

“Give me a hand in lifting Alex,” Corbett asks the others in his team to assist, and everybody follows Garcia into the bunker.

They barely make it inside safe, when the craft blows up into bits and pieces, and as we rise up in the sky to have a look around, so does every other Tyrene craft. Garcia has done his job! Let us just get back to them and have a look at Alex’s condition again though.

“You idiot, why did you jump,” Garcia exclaims as he Alex for his choice, “I have two guns on me!”

“What? Why didn’t you say so?” Alex exclaims as he realizes his folly in the face of the situation.

“You didn’t give me a chance,” Garcia exclaims.

“But why didn’t you just use them?” Alex complains now.

“Well, you were keeping him busy and I didn’t want to waste time,” Garcia explains, “How else do you reckon I was going to deal with him alone?”

“Oh C’mon now,” Alex moans in complain, “All this pain and suffering for nothing!”

And everybody laughs as Garcia quips, “I’m glad you are alive.” He then looks up at Mishiida, and turns to Alex again, “I’m sorry for earlier.”

“Oh, that is alright,” Alex quips, “But I’m not going to forgive you for this painful pain.” And we all share another laugh with everybody else, even though it is at Alex’s expense.

Every great achievement comes at a cost, for great is never ordinary, and what is not ordinary, is not ordinarily accomplished. If a great achievement appears easy, then that’s the greatness of the individual behind it. Cost of love is labour, and cost of labour is love!

Not unexpectedly, Mr. Garcia today finds himself facing the US Congress, barely thirty six hours after the events of Bolivia. Amongst all the Congressmen, Senator Neil David is leading the charge of accusations against him. Amongst those gathered in the public gallery to witness the hearing, are the famed former acquaintances turned foes of Mr. Garcia; Sir Alfred Whittington, Sir Richard Aldridge, Mr. Humphrey Jarvis and Miss Shivoni Vienna.

“Mr. Garcia, we would come to the question of treason in a moment, but for now, would you mind explaining to the Congress, as to why you had a secret facility that you manage without our permission?” Mr. David asks him in a businesslike manner.

“I beg your pardon,” Mr. Garcia replies, “But I do not need permission from the Congress for doing business with other nations. And as far as the secretive nature of the facility is concerned, I had the necessary clearance from the concerned jurisdiction, and it was a condition of the deal that the facility be so. With all due respect to the Congress, the matter you are raising is beyond your jurisdiction.”

Mr. Garcia’s reply has definitely raised the chatter in the assembly. Hectic discussions are on everywhere, with slips flying around across benches. Finally Mr. David asks another question, “But Mr. Garcia, your business is a listed company on US stock exchange, and there are certain disclosure obligations, imposed upon it by the rules of listing. Has your company not breached those obligations? Are you not avoiding tax?”

Mr. Garcia takes a deep breath, a sip of water, and then replies, “Due to peculiar legal obligations under the agreement with Bolivian Government, my company is exempt from disclosing about the facility to any agency. As far as tax is concerned, since no income has been generated from the enterprise thus far, but rather only expenses have been incurred, no tax has been evaded. Besides, my company’s tax obligations for any income generated from this particular facility would lie purely under Bolivian jurisdiction.”

Sensing the case against Mr. Garcia fizzling out, the President himself intervenes and sends a note to Mr. Neil David. As hectic discussions flare up in the assembly, the speaker asks for silence. Once the din settles down, Mr. David asks Mr. Garcia the most pertinent question, “Mr. Garcia, is it not true that you knowingly sided with the enemy of entire human race, and almost caused our complete wipe-out? Are you not a traitor of humanity? How many lives have you cost us?”

The questions asked leave a pin-drop silence in the assembly as everyone looks on at Mr. Garcia, waiting with baited breaths as to what he has to say in his defence.

“I apologize before answering these question, but the questions needs to be rephrased,” Mr. Garcia’s first few words leave everyone stunned, “The real questions are; How many lives have I saved? What have I achieved for humanity? And did I betray humanity, or did I put everything I have at stake, including my life, to bring to the doors of humanity, an opportunity to be the real leaders of the Universe?” Mr. Garcia then pauses for a moment to gauge the impact of his words thus far, and then continues, “From sitting ducks at the mercy of an alien race, in one single shot I have brought humanity to the forefront of technical excellence.” He then gets up from his seat, raises his hands in the air and exclaims, “I give humanity the power to rule this Universe. I give humanity this Universe.”

And now it is all Mr. Garcia’s show. It is not difficult to understand the logic behind his truck with Tyrenes, given the fact that they would have got their purpose served by another race on another planet and still destroyed earth. Thus the limited loss that has eventuated is actually only a calculated sacrifice for the greater good of humanity. And the shrewd businessman that he is, Mr. Garcia closes his presentation with a video display of the crafts, guns, armament and other military and space use equipment that he is reading for humanity. Not unexpectedly, everyone leaves the assembly sold.

Shadows can sometimes be confusing, because they lack the clarity of the defining features that make the real object. Clarity is achieved when one changes the viewing angle, from the one in contravention to the one in tandem with the source of light. Clarity is achieved when one views the real object in the real light.

As soon as Mr. Garcia steps out of the assembly, the first person he bumps into is Sir Richard Aldridge.

“I am really happy for you today,” Sir Aldridge commends Mr. Garcia as he approaches him and puts a hand on the side of his arm. He then continues with his venomous talk, “Can we talk sometime?”

“About why you killed my friend,” Mr. Garcia however bluntly cuts him off, as he removes his hand from his arm, “Or do you want to know how I survived that attack which took away Talia?”

“Listen! You are mistaken about us, especially me,” Sir Aldridge however continues with his smooth talk, “I would never do a lowly thing like that.”

“I don’t care,” Mr. Garcia however, is not the one to be convinced so easily, “I don’t need you.” His reply leaves Sir Aldridge dumbfounded. Mr. Garcia takes a step away before turning around to say, “No matter who did it, I will make each one of you pay for it.”

Situations can often motivate actions that a person would normally consider outrageous or outlandish. It could be the rush of adrenaline, the push of necessity or the pull of greed, or simply an involuntary act. But valuable lessons are often invariably learned in the aftermath. Blessed are those who could turn a loss or a suffering into an advantage post factum.

“How are you doing now?” Colonel asks Alex, as he arrives in the hospital, with Surpavitar by his side.

“Actually, not too bad,” Alex quips as soon as he gulps down the cereal spoon fed into his mouth by Mishiida.

“Bad!” Corbett, present there alongside Sandeep and Monty, however has a thing or two to say perhaps, “He’s doing great, turning his misery into a lottery; the wily fox!”

“What do you mean?” Colonel asks perplexed.

“Distraction Osteogenesis, Guichet method,” Surpavitar informs the Colonel about his ward’s ingenuity, “He’s decided to use the opportunity to add a couple of inches to his height.”

“He’s done what?” and Colonel’s jaw drops down to the floor.

“I guess we all know why,” Surpavitar quips as everybody including Mishiida, have a hearty laugh.

“Where does he get his ideas from,” Colonel quips shaking his head, “How’s it going to affect his training?”

“What does he need training for now?” Sandeep asks.

“A warrior should never rest on past laurels, but train for the challenge that is yet to reveal itself,” Surpavitar adds some wise words, “Besides he’s barely midway through the basics so far.”

“Midway through the basics only!” this time Corbett’s jaw drops down to the floor. He gets up shaking his head and quips, “I need a drink.” And he walks out as everybody laughs again.

“I’ll come with you,” says Sandeep.

“Wait for me,” Monty joins them too.

Once the trio has left, Colonel asks Surpavitar, “Would you like to give him the good news, or should I do the honours?”

“He’s as much your ward as much mine,” Surpavitar quips in response, as we look on surprised.

“What good news?” Alex asks as he pulls himself further upright on his bed.

“You are to be honoured with highest civilian gallantry award at the upcoming Australia day,” Colonel gives him the news that would bring big proud smiles on his parents’ faces.

“Really,” and Alex is as elated as us, “Wow!”

Amazing are the ways of the world. It cherishes moments yet values possessions. But who are we to complain!

“I can’t believe we will be finally getting married,” Hayley exclaims with a relieved sigh, as she rests her head on Corbett’s shoulder, watching the sun set beyond the horizon, cool sea breeze tossing her tresses around and all over their faces.

“I can’t wait,” Corbett quips as he puts a small peck on her head. The duo embraces and shares a soft passionate moment. And as the duo walk away hand in hand, it is time for us to rise up in the skies again, to witness a new story.

However, their story continues!

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




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