Seven Scientists as Statues

The Orb of Mono's grandfather, Juan, had explained the entire history of their 5 towns. They did not have a name for their society or country as we know it, but they did refer to it as Utopia, which their ancestors wanted to build. The best minds in all fields from all over the world had come and decided to settle here 250 years ago.

He also explained that they did not want to kill or harm anyone but destroy these appalling machines which had taken the brains of their scientists in all the 5 towns. Those scientists living and working on these machines in all the 4 towns felt depressed ad they felt they would also undergo the same torture after their death, as they would end up feeding the Time machine with their brain power once amalgamated with the huge brains at each town. The orbs or the energies of the deceased scientists were the remnants of those scientists whose brain had been used or should we say tortured.

The Orbs also wanted the perpetrators of the crimes against their society to be hauled up and put behind bars. Yes, they had jails but these jails used to be empty. But 80 years ago, after the corrupted Administrator and his cronies came to power, the jails started filling up. The recent Administrator had filled them too full capacity by jailing all those who wanted reforms. The saying, that 'absolute power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely', was absolutely correct.

As far as the trekkers were concerned their presence was required, they would not need to do anything unless absolutely necessary. Mono would handle everything.

Then the issue of the 7 scientists not returning was replied to. The reply stunned Luke when he heard the Orb of Mono's grandfather saying that the 7 scientists were still outside the tunnel behaving like statues. He wanted to know whether these Orbs had the ability to turn people into statues.

He called everyone to come near and he would tell them all that was being conveyed to him telepathically. They were at present watching him interacting with the Orb, but had no idea what information was being passed.

Luke told everyone what the Orb of Juan had said.

"Can we see them?" Tina asked.

"Of course you can see them!" replied Zen. "You want permission to see them, so say 'May I see them?' add please also."

"This is not an English grammar class!" retorted Tina.

"Anyway, Juan Sir, Please may we see the scientists who have been turned into statues?" she asked.

The Orbs could understand spoken language also and she received a response that all should look at the smooth wall of the cave without anything hanging on it or written on it.

She intimated this message to all and they all looked at the wall.

It seemed as if they were watching a T.V. screen attached to a CCTV camera. It was showing the 7 scientists in a canteen. A few were in the process of finishing their lunch, others were in the process of standing up. One was in the process of taking his used plate for keeping it with the dirty utensils for washing in the dishwasher. They had practically become statues in various poses. Not only the 7 scientists had become statues but all the persons in the room were stationary like statues and that too in various poses of activity. In normal condition, these poses would be quite tiring to maintain for more than 5 minutes.

"Do you Orbs have the ability to make people into statues?" asked Zia.

"We are not sure; we became Orbs a few minutes ago, so I am not sure about what we can and cannot do," Juan replied. "But these 7 scientists have not been made into statues. They have entered into a state created by all of us. This state does have limitations."

"We are also working out the mathematical equations about how long this state will last. But hopefully, the position will be restored as soon as you leave this area of ours. That would mean by tomorrow afternoon.

"To do our work we have slowed time. The clocks of these guys have slowed. Their 1 minute is our 1 hour. So you have 15 hours at your hands i.e. 60 x 15= 900 hours."

"So we all have 900 hours i.e. approximately 900/24 comes to 37.5 days which is about 1 month and 7 and a half days. This is enough time for them to remain as statues for us all."

"We may accomplish our task much sooner, it is possible. Then you can go home earlier too."

"So the 7 scientists are not really statues?" Sherpa asked.

"No, they are not really statues, they will seem so to all of us," Juan replied.

"Mind it, their time has been slowed down and out time has been given speed. We are within the same dimension but using different speeds."

"They will not be able to see us unless we stand in front of them for a long time. Even if anyone of you stands before them, they will see you like a fast-moving image or a ghost."

"So, please do not scare our people, that is why we will be with you the whole time to ensure you guys do not leave any impressions in their minds about your presence."

"Our people would not like to know about your visits. For them, you would be ghost-like or even aliens."

"So we do not want problems hence we intend to make a white light cover around you. It can be explained later as a solar flare effect or a lightening effect. Or a scientific experiment carried out by the city above. "

The Orb then drifted to Mono and seemed to tell him something for a few minutes after it then drifted to the 74 Orbs waiting at the side.

Mono came to them and told them that the entire plan was explained to them by the Orbs.

It was time to execute the plan.

They needed to start first from the Town that was at the far end. Then work inwards. So they would start with Town I, then Town J, then they would visit Town K , after that a short visit to Town L was needed to be made to release the scientists trapped in the abandoned lab where the Time Machine was being built there. They needed to check on the jails of each town to release the freedom fighters and political prisoners.

In Town M, the Time Machine had been destroyed but the Administrator had to be taken care of. The jails had to be opened and Town L's freedom fighters and political prisoners lodged there, needed to be released. The Administrator and his cronies had to be put in jail. A written confession had to be obtained from him so that there would not be problems later to stop all his nefarious activities.