Intragalactic Frontier chapters 6 to 10

6

Francis Timothy

Francis Timothy was born rich and built his business with his intelligence and aggressive attitude. He was disappointed when Frank wanted to study Aerospace Engineering and he told him that it has no future ,he could never build an empire like him or even to earn for his living .

Francis had studied Business and from his young age he knew one day he would take over his great grand parents' business as his father did.

But he was not satisfied with just export and import, extended it into real estate , Transport, entertaining, hospitality industries, Rare earth mining, alternate power production, media and anything that caught his fancy . All these various sections were compartmentalised and run by highly capable executives so that his wanderlust was satisfied…

Francis wanted something different to retain his name there in the top position not for earning more but his thirst for publicity drove him to do diverse things so that his name would be always in the news. Either he would purchase something or donate or merge...just to be in the news .

When attended the wedding ,he made sure that all the media covered him and deliberately he left early and sensationalised the small issue of his wife's head ache into a mega drama. Philomena, his wife, was embarrassed but kept quiet as it was her habit.

Francis recalled the conversation with his son.. Even though ,Frank refused to elaborate on the topic of alien , He sensed that his son was hiding something . He thought of all the media frenzy in case if it was true.

Even if it was not true, perhaps his son was doing some research on aliens and he became excited .

He knew his son well... He had never succeeded in extracting information from Frank in fact, he thought that his son was one of the most stubborn people that he had ever encountered in his life . As he thought he was sure that his son was doing some research about outer space and he discovered something but hesitating o reveal it.

Francis imagined if he leaked the news about his son and media put some pressure on him ,his son would become famous even if he refused as he knew he would

He was now in fully activated mode and promised himself that he would create such a big hype round his son that his son would become a celebrity overnight.

Even his dreams were of Frank where Frank was surrounded by media personnel and he was giving speech…Finally he slept ... ******

7

Villagers

Francis woke up with such an excitement which he had not had for some time . His habit was known to the staff as well as everyone who stayed with him even a day. He always had his coffee in bed at exactly 6.30 and would get ready after a rigorous workout...Then he would come down from his first floor master bedroom to the hall where he would glance at few newspapers and watch few news channels .The villagers would come to see him if they knew he was there to discuss about the various things . He would see them if they came before eight if not he would give them time only in the evenings .

On this particular day ,Philomena brought the coffee instead of the usual helper Mary who had been trained personally by her. Philomena was a cheerful and peace loving woman who had never argued with anyone least of all with her husband . she wanted everyone to be happy like her without any wants but of course she never lacked for anything in her life.

She was not happy as she entered her husband's room as she used the smaller adjacent room for herself . She brought the coffee thermos and a mug , kept it on the coffee table nearby and sat heavily on the settee ..

Francis was awake and waiting for his coffee but he did not expect his wife... he asked her 'what happened to Mary ?' knowing very well Philomena would go in detail about Mary and the reason for her absence . But she did not acknowledge the question instead she looked troubled .

Francis called her again for that she looked at him without telling anything. Francis was truly alarmed and asked her , ' Philomena ,what is the matter ?' he got out the bed and came and sat beside her. She said 'the villagers are waiting to see you and they are all so upset'

'But why? He asked with irritation as he wanted to do something else ..

The villagers have told her about the destruction of the previous day's cyclone . while coming from capital Chennai , she had seen the path of destruction herself and she knew it would take time ,energy and money to bring back the village to normal .

The cyclone had done such damage to the village . the cyclone's strong wind had ripped off the roofs of the houses and brought so much of flying debris and water that it would take a long time to clean up the mess. Most of the trees were uprooted and the cultivated land had been totally submerged in water .

Now she told all these to her husband who did not like to hear anything negative early in the morning . The village head Raman was waiting with men ,women and children and she asked them to stay for breakfast . The breakfast was being prepared for everyone now in the kitchen with few ladies as volunteers .

Francis was quiet for sometime as he was thinking of all the work that would be needed to get back to normal . .He started making plans ,calling the personnel who would be needed immediately . Philomena left him there feeling satisfied that now he would make magic and all these problems would go away .

Francis called finally to some people in the media and told them his son Frank Timothy would like to announce some stupendous news and told them to bring all their associates to Tim's land …

Francis did all his morning rituals before he came down . He could hear the villagers' voices and he went .directly to have his breakfast and Frank was already there . Frank greeted him and drew the chair for him to be seated . Francis gusto perked up as he saw his son was looking good .

They had their breakfast quietly and then Francis asked Frank , Why he was not there with the villagers and suggested that he had to involve more with the local community as he seemed to like this place .

Frank did not abhor the idea ,in fact he welcomed the idea as he thought his father had forgotten his slip of words in the previous night. So happily he agreed to his father telling him he would go and talk to them and excused himself .

When Frank entered the front door he could hear them all talking in an excited manner and when he appeared in the threshold , a hush descended down in the portico. There were a hundred or more people gathered ,some of them he recognised and he could identify his childhood friend Richard whom he had not seen for some time . he singled him out and Richard became visibly happy and came closer to him with a broad smile .

Frank said, ' good morning folks .. nice to see you all after all these years'

They greeted him in turn and Richard said , ' how are you Frank ...? we have come here to discuss some strange things that was happening as well about the cyclone'

Frank was all ears and he asked, 'what kind of strange things?' .. Immediately all started talking at once and Richard called them out to be silent and he said , 'we have been losing things'

Frank asked , ' you mean theft .. did you inform the police or our security ?

Richard replied , ' we couldn't tell . because we are not losing any valuable things ..just some trinkets , kids' dresses, spoons, plates especially made of ever silver and cereals, pulses from our pantry.

Frank was getting goosebumps thinking of the possibility!

Another old man interrupted him and said , ' It was written in our old book that we should offer all these to the mountain deity every three months but in the recent times priests in church advised us not to offer anything. Now it started again .. The old book says now youngsters would die of some unknown disease and whole village had to relocate as they had done earlier'

Frank said , ' did they try offering anything to the so called mountain deity / What is the mountain deity called ? is there any temple or monument or any such old things ?'

Frank's excitement was taken for fear and Richard tried to calm him down but now Frank was not listening . He asked the old man again , 'have you seen the deity at anytime in your life time?

The old man said , no son… but I know where great grandfather used to go taking all the offerings .. I remember him taking pots of milk and food stuff…'

Frank was petrified now if he asked him here the old man might reveal some secrets but before he could caution him the old man pointed to the right of the house ,towards the mountain and said , ' you can see the mountain , there is a cave and some rock drawings .

Frank left a sigh of relief and told them , ' I will investigate it further and stop these silly thefts altogether .. do not worry ..'

My father has already asked for the construction company to repair your houses and workers are coming to remove all the debris and by evening everything will come to normal. But I personally request you all not talk about these thefts to others as they may create hype and horror stories will start …'

One man said , 'sir I am Joe and it is a horror story only.. I wanted to find what comes to take all my kids' playthings so I fixed a CCTV and I have the clippings here in this USB flash drive . you will be surprised'

Frank was curious and wanted to ask him but he did not want to create hype so he told all of them he would get back to them as soon as he would come to know of something and would stop all these nonsense and he was sure it was all some kind of pranks.

He asked them to have breakfast showed them the dining hall nearby which was built for these kind of eventualities . Villagers went there talking among themselves in a hushed tone .

Only Richard and the old man stayed back . Frank looked at the old man and immediately he came near and held his hands and said, ' please don't try anything. I will give the old book that I have . It is really serious and so many tragedies are written ..please don't take it lightly son'

Frank was very touched and he told him in a kind tone that he would be very very careful and not to worry .He thanked him for the old book and said he would return it as soon as possible..'

Richard was looking lost as he did not go with the other villagers to have breakfast . Frank told him to have breakfast and then to meet him in his room in twenty minutes …

Now he turned and ran back to his room without looking at his parents who were standing and listening ..He went in and locked his room and went to the balcony and closed the door that led to the balcony .He wanted to connect with Re to confirm his doubt.

He touched Re's pendent and closed his eyes to concentrate . He could feel it slowly vibrating and he opened his eyes to see it glowing .He simply wanted to connect with Re so he kept on telling Re come on, Re come on …Re and Re came on ..he clearly heard him calling Frank …

Frank said, ' Re I want to know something.. Do you people raid the village ? I must know because the villagers are complaining about these mysterious happenings .. Tell me ...'

There was a pause … then Re came on .. ' Frank we have been raiding for our need and also for fun.. But we were always very careful to take things of little importance ….'

Frank was disturbed thinking about the enormity of the problem.. If the world came to know these beautiful being would be treated like guinea pigs .

Re caught on and he said , 'Frank don't worry unnecessarily ..they can never find even a simplest clue'

The CCTV must have captured you and they gave me the clipping' he said loudly even though he knew the thoughts only were transmitted but yet he found it was easier to speak his thoughts ..

Re's voice reached him like a screech and he thought he was laughing, he heard him clearly 'no one can capture us least of all some CCTV..'

Frank was exasperated and he knew he was not able to understand…

Re told him again , ' Frank you are worried for no reason but I assure you that we would not go out for sometime if it makes you feel good .. we are indebted to you'

Frank went blank and the communication got cut and the glow went out of the pendant .

He remembered the USB flash and he took out his laptop and inserted the flash and as the video started playing, he observed it very keenly.

In one frame a small toy started floating all around a room where a small baby was on a cradle and the baby was laughing looking at the floating toy..

In another a pot rose up and tilted and milk flowed out and..disappeared.. Literally disappeared into the thin air..

In another clipping ,few spoons were floating here and there then all ...disappeared …

Frank had goosebumps …He continued to watch..

Before he could connect with Re again , there was a knock at his door ..he opened the door to see Richard standing there .

Frank called him in and asked him to sit , he hesitated for a fraction and sat on a chair.

'Make yourself comfortable Richard …' Frank said but still he looked ill at ease and said , ' Sir it is a long time..'

Frank laughed and said 'stop it Richard but you were my school classmate and a classmate forever..' Richard immediately felt good .

Frank asked if he knew the cave where in the past offering were made .. Richard said that he knew and it was to the right of their house in the mountain in fifteen minutes walk .

Frank asked him to come with him and ran down the steps in his usual manner but Richard walked slowly ,taking one step at a time ..

Francis was seated in the hall and saw his son running down before he could call him he ran away . Now Richard followed him..He called Richard and asked him, 'what is happening son ?'

'Good morning Sir ! nothing to worry sir !', he said pleased with himself .Again Francis asked why his son was running .. Richard gave a broad smile and said very innocently ,' sir he wants to see the places where we played ..I will go with him and bring him back safely .. Don't worry sir !'

He heard Frank calling him so he excused himself and left ..

Francis was very disappointed …but he gave a broad smile and made up his mind to call this imbecile again to ask him about all the things related to that day's events ..

*******

8

Ancient deity

Frank knew that the cave was towards the right side of the house which was a great relief as he did not want to go anywhere near Re's place . Richard caught up with him .

He was beaming at him and said , 'your dad was so kind he was worried about you asked me where you were going ..'

Frank was alarmed He knew how his father thought and he never worried about anything least of all about his son! . so Frank gave him a curious look and asked him what he said .. Richard still feeling happy said , 'of course I told him that we were planning to go to the places where we played as children…' and gave a sunny smile and involuntarily Frank smiled

​Frank walked fast on the road that led to the right side of the mountain range. Here the mountain rose straight up without any incline ..There were many trees rather than shrubs and no ravine to separate it from the road

Richard stopped and exclaimed, ' how everything seemed to have changed..'

Frank was puzzled because he did not remember these tall trees or the darkness that was there As soon as they left the road ,It was dark under the trees ...In Tim's Land the nature was the priority so the noise of the birds would be there always . Everywhere many birdfeeders could be seen throughout the estate and staff would go around in an electric car to fill the feeders in the mornings and evenings..

So it was all the more weird that there was pin drop silence..

Neither bird's song nor insects' chirping noises could be heard .

There was no path but Richard remembered a path but he had not come here for a long time. Frank kept walking in the front and he thought once they arrived at the rocky mountain , they could recall the cave..

Richard stopped suddenly as he could see a bird watching him intently . He called to Frank and pointed at the bird. He had never seen a bird like that .. it was grey with red head and beak ..it was so unlike any bird that he has seen..It had long neck and round body and longer tail ..Its eyes were like that of an owl !

The bird did not move ...Frank took a small pebble and threw at it ..but yet it looked on, rolling its eyes ..

A feather from the bird fell down..Frank tried to catch it but it moved away...After few minutes he understood the feather was taking them somewhere...

Richard remembered the way to the cave now he sounded excited, ' Frank it is somewhere very close'

But Frank knew by this time that the feather was taking him to the cave..He walked fast behind the feather and it stalled for a second in mid air...He stopped behind him and Richard almost dashed against him ... There was a fallen rock and the feather settled on it slowly..

Frank looked at the rock and Richard pointed at a crack running like a lightening from top and both of them remembered!

The dark cave was here as they used to explore everywhere except this place . They used to run away as soon as they came near this place as they secretly called it as devil's house and elders would get very annoyed if they told them they had come anywhere near here .. in fact the eastern section of the mountain was taboo for everyone..

But now they couldn't find the cave . they searched along the mountain wall but only a solid rocky wall was there except for the fallen rock where the feather fell down. Frank picked up the feather and looked at Richard .

Richard understood and both together moved the rock which was resting on the mountain .. As the rock moved to one side the opening behind it looked like a dark hole . They pushed off the rock completely from the opening as it was not heavy or big. The opening was just 3x3 feet and Frank knelt down to peep in but couldn't see..

Richard was too curious to maintain the respectful distance and he bent ,keeping his hands on Frank's shoulders …

'Frank , you don't go first ..let me go there first..'

Frank got up slowly and was touched that Richard could think of his safety first ,'Richard , I am going in , you follow me ...switch on your cell phone torch' and he started crawling into the cave ...

The torch light showed him a polished pathway ..so it was easy to crawl .. he could hear Richard behind him and moved further in side . he should have moved few feet when he came to an enormous cave. ..so he stood up to see a vast cavern which was at least 50 metres high and but he couldn't see how far the cavern went in ..

Richard banged on him ,so he moved in so he could stand up.

Richard gasped as no one would have expected to see such a big cave . he shouted and it echoed back..

Frank looked up at the ceiling and it was high above . He walked in and remembered the old man's caution that many tragedies had happened here ..He walked further down and when he reached the end of the cave ,he pointed the torch at the wall over there to see if any other entrance was there ..but couldn't see any other holes or tunnels and started walking near the wall of the cave . Mostly it was uneven rock formation and roots of some unseen trees were there . He kept walking, when Richard yelped...very strange strangled sound ..Frank ran to where Richard had fallen.. He knelt beside him … Richard was in total fright.. he pointed something on the wall but Frank couldn't see anything there . 'Tell me Richard what did you see ..?'

As he was asking him Richard eyes stared at the wall and screamed and fainted .. Frank made sure he was alive and stood up to see the wall where he pointed . but there was nothing .suddenly one side of the wall lit like a LED screen and then he saw the rock drawings ..

It was amazing how few lines drawn strategically could tell so many things! The first drawing was of group of people carrying things like some plates , pots ,bunch of bananas and things that he couldn't interpret ..

In the second one the group was kneeling …and the next one was very confusing as some were on the floor and some were holding some weapons and looking up!!

Then the drawings were not very clear . .. The last one showed some people looking up at some round objects ….

Frank felt something near him but couldn't see it though …There was a buzzing noise all around him and it become louder and louder. Then abruptly it stopped and he could feel Re's pendent vibrating and looked so bright in the dark..

Frank heard it clearly in his mind , 'Frank, you don't know many things about us . we are here for hundreds of years and our men take their invisible form when they go out or in the form of some birds ..we are using this place for a long time to gather things ...'

'I will talk to you later..your friend is in deep sleep it will take some time for him to come out..If we give a higher dose he dies …don't share the knowledge about us to anyone please'

Frank was shocked , 'Re more than you, I know what would happen if our people come to know of your existence ..but don't steal or kill anyone .. if you want something .just let me know …'

Re replied, 'yes Frank, and Ro may connect with you sometimes Ro trains us and keep us knowledgeable . He can answer your questions . remember in all these 1000 years or more ,you are the first person we had asked for help ..so we will listen to you ..'.

Frank could see the glow of the pendant was no more ..

He circled around the cave again and thinking about what Re told him .. So he guessed correctly about the bird .. the bird was directing him to this cave . another thought struck him ..so all Re's people could connect with him and know his thoughts . It made him little uncomfortable ..

Then he thought of the ways that he could keep his knowledge away from his dad and others .

He could not find anything but loudly he said

'hello birdie where are you ?

to his utter surprise the bird floated above him.. It looked strange because it was flying without flapping its wings . the wings remained stretched but it just glided as an eagle ..

'What do you want' Frank heard it as clearly as if it spoke aloud ..he said 'I want to know everything about you'

'Ro will explain' and it flew away

Richard was coming out of his stupor as he could hear him mumbling and he waited for him ..

Richard stood up so suddenly ,he fell down with the thud .. His fright was in his voice when he asked, 'Frank.. Frank.. where are you?

Only then Frank realised that he had switched off his torch after the bird flew away so he switched on his torch again and called Richard

Richard came running and hugged him and said , 'felt like floating and making merry… but it became dark..what happened'

Frank was amused , 'you slept simply slept and waited for you to wake up.. Nothing is here ..come let us go ..

They came out and stood for sometime.. behind them the rock once again closed the opening without anyone's assistance..

Richard looked at it with fear and ran from there .. Frank walked slowly thinking about everything that happened ..

********

​

9

Media frenzy

Frank and Richard reached almost to the house when Frank turned to him , 'Richard don't tell anything to anyone ..especially to my dad..'

Richard laughed , ' if your father asks I wouldn't have any chance of hiding anything ..He will extract everything from me..'

'But what would you tell him?' Frank was curious

Richard gave him a broad smile ,' I slept in the cave and Frank woke me up ..Nothing else happened I suppose '

They both were laughing as they entered the house . Francis was there in the hall and he looked at them both but did not ask them anything ..

Richard was once again felt uncomfortable in the ambience of the house and he asked if he needed him for anything ..

But before Frank could answer, there was some commotion in the front and he could see Francis and few of his executives who were with him also got up to see what was happening..

Frank and Richard were standing on the staircase and could see the front door clearly. There were many media people with camera and microphone and Francis was welcoming them as if he was waiting for them..

One of them asked , ' Sir , what is the big news you promised ? we have a slot reserved for your news in the evening prime .. we are all excited sir..'

Francis was beaming at them all and asked if they had any refreshments

Another one laughed , 'when did we go hungry when you called us' They all very dutifully laughed .

'Of course you are my guests.. but this time the news is not about me but my son Frank has something to tell you. Just give him few minutes to dress up as he came in just now from outdoor '

Frank was furious .. he knew his father so well and he was expecting something like this since the previous night when he mentioned aliens …

If he had not learnt from his father how to escape these kinds of tight situations ,he would not be his father's son.

Richard was looking at him puzzled at his anger. Frank felt he deserved an explanation 'I will let you know later.. but now I have to face the media wolves and try to escape with my skin;'

He changed his dress quickly and came down with Richard to meet the frenzied media..

As soon as he came there his father said, ' the stage is yours' and left.. Frank looked at the camera with the serene face and dropped the bombshell, ' I am engaged to be married soon'

He could feel his father stopping behind him but he went on…

'I have almost completed my post graduation in aerospace engineering and have been doing a lot of research on space travel .

One of them interrupted to ask. 'sir , you said you got engaged .. could you tell us who is that lucky lady..?

He smiled , ' of course yes.. it is not official yet . She is Dr.Redimita...actually she had been my school mate and now doing her final year double post graduation in UK. She is the daughter of Dr. Joseph Mathew Roger the dean of the Redimita Multispecialty hospital in the capital'

There was a buzz of interest as the family was well known to the media and that was the reason that Frank brought it up ...

'Friends, next week do drop in , I will introduce her personally to you …Thank you'

He turned to go and met his father's gaze . he was very pleased with himself as his father had a hint of pride in his eyes...

Frank asked his father if he had arranged for someone to look after them..and winked at him .

Francis laughed heartily as he thought round one went to his son...and he had to plan the second round.

'Richard, meet me later .. in my room' and before Richard could answer him he moved .

Frank was talking to someone in the phone and he guessed it must be the doctor so went down in search of something to eat.

Meanwhile Frank was having a difficult time explaining to Redim why he had come out in the open when she had not told her parents regarding it…

Finally Frank said he would call her parents and apologise to them and definitely she would excuse him if she knew the reason why he had to announce …

They arranged to meet in Tim's land as he had not introduced her to his parents too.

Then he called Dr. Josef Matthew and explained about his relation with his daughter and he had to announce their engagement to the media without getting his permission and apologised profusely ... Doctor asked him few questions about his parents and he sounded very satisfied at the end of the conversation ...

Now his mind was on the curious things he had noticed in the cave. Mary, the house keeper called him for lunch only then he remembered Richard and asked Mary if Richard had something and for that she laughed and said , 'he has been at it for the past hour'

They both laughed!

The day went slowly as the workers were there to rectify all the damages done by the cyclone. He didn't see his father or Richard till night .He thought of doing some research about the 1000 year old deity that took some strange offerings in the cave.******

10

Masquerade

The next morning his father looked cheerful and not his inquisitive self. Frank was relieved so much that he had a hearty breakfast and said that he wouldn't be there for lunch .

Francis did not ask him anything but gave him a curios look but his mother was upset, ' we are together like this after a long time but you want to go out for no reason and your father want to go back to the city'..

Frank was touched , ' don't worry mom .. I will be there for dinner or even before . I need to meet someone in the village library'

Francis laughed at him , ' son the whole world is in your hand in cell and you want to go to the village library ..to read hard copy book…'

Frank was forced to answer even though he did not want to talk to his dad. He knew his father could drag out information from anyone …so cautiously , ' dad sometimes it is not to get information but to help .. I want to see how I can make it a digital library.. I will see you later dad ..'

He could hear his father smacking the table and laughing ..

Frank took the smaller car that would not stick out in the village crowd and dismissed driver and he drove himself. The library was opposite to the church and the Community hall next to the library was crowded as usual.. He called Richard and asked him to be there in the library ..

He parked his car in the church parking lot and walked towards the library. The curious villagers were looking at him and few came running to him .. He stopped and greeted them cheerfully . he was searching for the old man who promised him the Old Book but no where he could be seen . , ' I came to the library . I heard the library was used by the students and I thought I can improve it.. make it more virtual than traditional ..Hope it is ok with you all!

One of the villagers was so moved he came forward and held his hands , ' your family has already given us so much ..but now without even asking , you are trying to help ..just like your father ,your grandfather and great grandfathers ..

Frank was embarrassed and not sure how to react but he made up his mind to upgrade the library.. He could see Richard walking through the crowd to reach him . He looked tensed and Frank gave a slight nod to the crowd and moved towards Richard .

They both moved out of the earshot of the crowd .. Frank was puzzled by the silence of Richard .. usually he would be always cheerful . , 'Richard , what is the matter? Something is bothering you..'

Richard said without any preamble , ' the old man is dead and his house was ransacked ..'

Frank was shocked , ' how did he die?'

Richard continued as if he didn't hear him , 'I just went to his house to get the Old Book . The door was not closed ...so walked in... What I had seen there would remain with me for a long time ...'

' Why?'

'Frank, this is a small village of happy people . I had never seen a body tortured to this extent. The old man was beaten so badly that his back was bloodied pulp.. One of his eyes was pulverized and he must have endured all these for a long time. I called the police and then came to see you'

Frank was very disturbed.. he recalled his father's laughter as he was coming out.. he turned towards Richard and looked at him keenly.. ' Did you tell anyone that the old man promised me the Old Book?.. only we both were there when he said that he would give it to me '

Richard looked at him blankly, ' Why Frank didn't your father tell you anything! He asked me to meet him in the previous evening and I met him in his office . He was interested in the cave .. He asked me repeatedly about my experience in the cave and he asked me what made us to go there .'

He stopped and looked at Frank so strangely ., 'yes I told him about the old man and the rock drawings and …yes I did tell him about the Old Book…'

'Do you think your father would have arranged this murder to get the book.. No why would he do that when he could have commanded and got it in no time .. No Frank ..'

Suddenly he slapped his face, ' Frank the old man used to tell many tales .. One such thing is about the treasure .. He told us this mountain was hiding an enormous treasure and no one could find it even with a map. If they tried they would die. But no one believed him of course'

Frank was amazed , ' Richard I wish we had searched the old man's house before calling the police '

'I did .. I searched everywhere .. I didn't know what to search.. Come inside the library I will show you ..' Richard ran inside the library ..not waiting for Frank

Frank looked back at the crowd.. they were talking about something excitedly!

They must have got the news about the old man …

He thought about the old man and the way his eyes were shining when he warned him about the tragedies..

Frank entered the library.. he had seen the library years back when used come to the village as a young boy . The library always fascinated him because for such a small village the ambience of the library was something to be proud of. It had two storeys and one attic..the tall cabinets were all around the wall .. the reading room tables and chairs were arranged neatly at the centre of the room in small squares and every square had two tables and eight chairs . .the catalogue cabinet was like a locker placed near the librarian's counter and remembered that the second floor was exactly arranged like this and he had not seen the attic …

He could see Richard sitting at the end of the room . As soon as he reached Richard showed him the things that he had taken from the old man's house.

Frank couldn't believe his eyes when he saw things on the table ..there was the pendant without chain ..it looked exactly like the pendant given to him by Re ..His reaction must have been visible , Richard ,' why ..anything wrong'..he was agitated …Frank moved away from his quizzing look.

Frank brought himself under control with an effort .. , ' so many things ?' He appreciated Richard for his quick thinking and he swelled with pride .

Now he looked at the other trinkets on the table..a small saucer, a diary, one pen drive, a small silver colour electronic gadget which looked like a compact powder box and what looked like a key.

He picked up the diary and immediately he could see it was not maintained properly only some notes here and there was written but otherwise it was blank,,

Then he picked up the silver box.., the top glowed like a cell phone screen and few strange shapes appeared for few seconds and went blank .The size was very small ..smaller than a cell phone..

He took the pen drive and it was like any other pen drive …

Richard was observing quietly and asked him , ' any clue to tell us why he was murdered ?'

Frank did not answer him for some time .. then he picked up the diary once again and he checked if the strange shapes he had seen in the silver gadget was there anywhere in the diary.. But there was nothing like that .. Only few numbers were there in the first page , then in another page the world map was highlighted , in the next page there was a diagram of ..what looked like a book ..in the last page another diagram or a stencil of the key.. the key that was there on the table ..

'Richard ..these are not giving us any clue but all these are very important and if the police come to know we will be in trouble..How did you inform the police ? did you give your details to them.? Frank wanted to know ..

Richard smiled , ' I used the old man's cell phone and wiped it clean and I did not give my name when I called the police.. Villagers watch movies you know.. Keep all these with you Frank because in my house it would not be safe'

. Frank was relieved and picked all of them and placed them in his jacket pocket when there was a commotion outside the library so they went to see...

The body of the old man was placed in the ambulance and many curious on lookers were there talking loudly . The village head was telling the police that they must find the murderer ...

Frank did not want to be seen so he stood inside the library but Richard went near the police and asked if anything was found.

The police was a young man and he was as excited as anyone to see a dead murdered body ..he said,' the investigators are on the spot .. it does not help that his house was isolated ..Many outsiders were there because they had come to clean up the cyclone mess. Many media people were there because of the sensational news that FTs heir is getting engaged... well nothing helps ...'

Richard sighed along with him and asked him what kind of weapon could make these wounds...as he went near to look at the old man ...

The police became alert and said ,' I can't give you confidential information.. I am told to wait for the local media as well as the media people who were the guests of FT … there they are here'

He started chasing the on lookers and waited for the media.

Frank had to move before the media spotted him here .. Richard was very interested in all the events that were unfolding to look for Frank so he closed the library door and moved in .Then he thought of the villagers entering the library and decided to move to the second floor . He found the staircase and climbed slowly thinking about Re .When he reached the landing he heard something falling heavily and the books started flying here and there .. he bent down so that he would not be hit.. He couldn't see anyone though. He realised that his pendant was vibrating and he could see it glowing..Re Re where are you?

Re replied to him .., ' Frank Ro wants to talk to you ... He can answer all your questions..?'

'Re wait.. did you murder the old man?'

'No we don't murder people now .. Ro will tell you ..'

Now the books were not floating..he moved further in ..it was dark as the entire place was filled with cabinets ..He looked around and felt something above his head . There, flying around his head was a raven and another strange looking bird that he had seen near the cave !!

He slowly moved back to the landing pulled a chair and sat down and waited ..

The grey bird flew down and perched in front of him on the table and said in a clear metallic voice , 'Frank we met earlier.. I am Zo the media for you! News monger'

Frank was too surprised to answer it.. then he realised that it was waiting for his response.

' Hello Zo so you are the media.. I have an aversion towards media' he said it with the smile to remove the sting out..

Zo moved its head up and down and said , ' we were lucky there .. if you had to have any liking for the media , today we would have been an exhibit for you all'

It was sultry and very uncomfortable there in the library's least used place ..Ro sensing his discomfort asked, 'would you like to go somewhere, because it may take some time'

Frank wished he could go to his room but he said, 'there is a crowd near the doorway including the media ..so I can't come out now'

Ro flew near him and stretched one of its wings ..the raven's eyes met his eyes and he understood that it wants him to hold the wing . He tentatively held few feathers which felt silky and ….then he went into a spin..

Frank came out of the sensation like as if he was in a rollercoaster and to his surprise he found himself in his second floor suite...on the floor sitting beside him was Zo the grey and the raven flew in…

******