Short Stories: Mr. Caterpillar 3

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PART THREE: THE TRUTH

1.

  Niti was the first to cross the threshold. The floor beneath her rattled a bit, and she realized that she was standing on something that was made up of metal. Maybe steel, she thought.

  A white bulb went on overhead. Then the next one went on, revealing that she was standing at the head of a steel staircase that petered into darkness. Another bulb alighted itself. This one showed her that the staircase went deeper than she had thought. Four more bulbs went on. Then ten. Fifteen. Thirty. Sixty. One hundred.

  Soon Niti found herself staring at an enormous underground bunker strewn with towering shelves and many other things.

  "What is this place," Shruti said from behind, her voice strangely magnified.

  "It looks like a top secret…" Niti groped for a word, found it, "warehouse."

  Shruti brushed past her and began descending down the stairs.

  "Where are you going?" Vicky asked.

  "Down there," Shruti said, "I feel like we'll be safer down in that labyrinth than here."

  They tried to dissuade her. But, instead, she ended up persuading them to come down with her. 

  And a few minutes later Niti found herself standing at the foot of the staircase, staring at a narrow opening between two towering black shelves.

  "We can easily get lost… anybody can easily get lost here…" Niti said to no one in particular.

  Shruti went across to the nearby shelf, abruptly stopped, and said, "Hey! There are no drawers or doors."

  "What?" Vicky asked, shuffling toward her.

  "… just black polished surface," Shruti said, raised her hand and touched the surface.  The black surface disappeared as if it was made up of sand and a small compartment appeared. Shruti staggered back.

  Vicky stopped dead in his track. Niti, who was looking up at shelves, ran into him.

  "Did you… did you… see that," Shruti stammered. She peered into the compartment and frowned.

  "What's inside it?" Vicky asked.

  "A stone tablet," Shruti muttered and gingerly pawed at the tablet and brought it out.

  Some things that strangely resembled concentric circles were etched on its surface. 

  "Can you understand what's written on it?" Niti asked peering over her shoulder.

  "Hieroglyphic writing…" Shruti muttered. She ran her fingers over it and gasped. The circles had changed their orientation. She swiped again, and again the surface changed as if the particles were rearranging themselves. Niti realized that the tablet was like a   book with circles for alphabets.

  Vicky moved to his left and touched the black surface, and a new compartment appeared. This one was empty.  He touched the next one. Empty.

  Niti walked over to the opposite shelf and touched the surface--a compartment popped into existence. This one had a tattered file inside it.

  "Guys," she said and pawed out the file and studied it for a few seconds. Then she opened it and saw a laminated, half-burned piece of a newspaper.

  17th January 1951

  God in the sky

  Yesterday morning when the people of Pikuri, a small village in Uttar Pradesh looked up at the sky, their eyes grew wide with wonder, for they saw a disk floating in the sky, or claim that they saw a disk in the sky.

"I was milking my cow when I glanced up and saw it--It was not moving," said Bansi, the local milkman, "the plate seemed to be resting on some invisible pillar."

When asked--

  Rest of the article was burned to nonexistence.

  Niti frowned and gazed at the next laminated newspaper.

  3rd May 1952

  India, the best holiday destination for the UFOs.  

  The news of UFO sightings is now growing more frequent. A couple in Bombay claimed that while gazing at the Arabian Sea, they saw a green light floating in front of the Moon. 

"It hovered there for a few minutes and then, within a blink of an eye, vanished," the man said.

The woman said that she had never seen such an amazing thing in her life before.

Prime Minister Nehru, in an interview with Times of India, said that the people should not believe in such hearsays that wastes country's time and energy.

He added morosely that our country is a young country and we need to put all our focus on developing our economy, not on the trivial things like aliens and UFOs.

  She kept the file back in the compartment, and with a pop the black, polished wall rematerialized. She moved to the next shelf. 

  Randomly touching a black wall, she pulled out another file with word's etched on it in golden letters: CONFIDENTIAL. DON'T READ IF NOT AUTHORIZED.

  She shrugged and opened it. It was a report.

  26 April 1983

  Nuclear deal with Zorkgans.

India has now finally procured a peculiar deal with Zorkgans.

 Zorkgans are an intelligent alien race from a desert-plant named Konga that revolves around the star 83B in Orion’s belt. Kongans are living proof that the water is not a prerequisite for the development and harboring of life, as we had earlier thought.    

 The secret deal was signed in Kashmir. According to this deal, the people of Zorkgans (A father and his son) will stay in our country for the next hundred years. They will live a luxurious lifestyle and enjoy many rights. Zorkgans, being a hunting race, also asked permission to allow them to hunt three humans on every other night. 

  "That makes everything clear," Shruti said. She was peeking over Niti's shoulder.

  Niti kept the file back into the compartment. "Yes, it does. We are a part of a deal. We are his prey.*

  "Guys!" Vicky called. "Come here and check this out."

  "Where are you?" Niti asked, looking around the gloomy aisle.

  "Over here," his voice called back.

  Niti and Shruti looked at each other and followed his voice. After a few minutes, they found him waving madly at them. "Come here."

  Niti ran toward him, shouting, "What is wrong with…" she stopped and gazed at the huge flying saucer standing in the middle of a clearing.

  "What the hell," Shruti gasped.

  "Aliens do exist," Vicky said, his eyes filled with awe, "that thing we saw in the hall was an alien."

  "A goddamn alien," Niti muttered and told him what they had read in that top secret file.

  "Whoa," he said after she had finished, "so our government sold us to it."

  Shruti nodded. "And now it is the predator, and we are its prey."

  She was about to say something else but was cut off by a loud bang.

  And then a voice echoed down in their ears: "Where are my babies?"

2.

  That voice obliterated all the awe from their minds. It reminded them of the danger they were in.

  "Now what are we going to do?" Shruti asked Vicky with a note of hysteria in her tone.

  "We'll hunt it down," Vicky said and looked around and frowned. "Oh, no! Where is that sword?"

  "What are my babies doing in the restricted room?"  The towering shelves were obscuring their view.

  "We are doomed!" Shruti blubbered.

  "The babies are going to pay for cutting my Nathros." The source of voice seemed nearby.

  "It will kill us," Shruti sobbed.

  Niti felt sorry for her. She racked her mind to come up with some good idea. And then remembered how Mr. Mathews had recoiled when he had seen a bottle in her hand. She also remembered the dry atmosphere that was there in the mansion. "Water!" She abruptly cried. "It's afraid of water…"

  Vicky gave her an exasperated look. "What?"

  "No time to explain," Niti said, "I think we can keep it from killing us."

  "How?"

  "By spraying water on it," Niti said.

  "Will it work?" Shruti asked dubiously.

  "Yes," Niti said, "It's only our chance. But we'll need a hell lot of water."

  "I can't see any water around us," Shruti grumbled.

  "Wait," Vicky said, "this place is full of documents, right? So normally places like this have fire extinguishing systems to prevent important documents from burning."

  They all looked up.  The ceiling seemed to be miles above them. But they clearly saw little discs (smoke detectors) and gleaming pipes snaking all over the ceiling. 

  "Great," Niti said, "now all we need to do is to find a way to burn a fire."

  "I know a way," Shruti said. Her cheeks were streaked with tears, but she was now smiling. "You'll be glad that I smoke." She drew out her lighter.

  "Brilliant," Vicky said, "now we need to collect many papers. Create a heap of them and burn it to a cinder."

  The girls nodded. They quickly got to work and began pulling out files after files.

  "Why are we not lighting a fire first?" Shruti asked as she threw a huge sheaf of papers on the growing heap.

  "Because," Niti said, "it will give away our exact location. So we'll not light the fire until we are sure that it will be strong enough to create a thick smoke that will reach up to the ceiling."

  Cold laughter rented the air.

  "It's close," Niti said, her lips twitching.

  "Continue collecting papers," Vicky said, "I'll distract it and will try to buy us some time."

  "Okay," Shruti said.

  And before Niti could protest, Vicky ran into an aisle, shouting, "Hey, Mr. Caterpillar, over here. I'm ready to cut you into pieces." Seconds later he was swallowed by the shadows, his voice still echoing in their ears.

  "Hurry up," Shruti said.

  Niti bit on her lips and went back to work. It took them less than five minutes to create the heap that reached to their knees.

  "Come on, burn this thing," Niti told Shruti in a shaky voice that didn't sound like her own.

  Nodding, Shruti pulled out her lighter and trembled a bit, raised it over the pile. "Let's finish this."

  "My babies."

  Niti looked up and saw the grotesque creature sat perched on the shelf right above them. Shruti twitched the lighter alight, too late. The creature pounced on her and knocked her to the floor. The lighter flew out of her hand and slid across the black floor. It whistled past Niti's feet; she plunged at it but missed.  Niti chased it across the aisle, Shruti's shrieks reverberating in her ears.

  She wanted to help Shruti. But part of her knew that it would not be a good idea. That lighter was more important; it was their last hope.

  With her heart crammed into her throat, Niti ran into next aisle and squinted around in the gloom.  For a moment she thought she would never be able to find the thing she was looking for.  She was about to turn away when her eyes caught a glint partway down the passage.  She ran toward it and lifted it up.

  A smile creased her face as she started back toward the pile of papers. But the smile soon disappeared as she tried to remember from which direction she had come.

  "Oh, no," she muttered. 

  A shadow glided behind her, and she whirled around and saw a pale face of Vicky. He was gasping for breath.

  "Vicky," Niti said.

  "Why didn't you light the fire?"

  She told him everything. 

  "There," Vicky said when she was finished, "I remember passing that corner."

  He led her down the aisle, their eyes moving in every direction.  A few seconds later he abruptly stopped, and Niti almost ran into him.

  "What?"

  He placed his hand over her mouth and pointed. Niti cocked her head and at the far end saw the huge creature circling the pile of papers. Shruti's body lay sprawled behind him.

  "Oh God, please let her be okay," Niti murmured.

  The creature twitched its head in the direction of her noise.

  "My babies are here," it said and howled with laughter.

  What can she do now? Clutching the lighter in her right hand, Niti stepped in the aisle.

  "Niti…" Vicky tried to seize but was belated.

  "Oh, there she is," the creature said. "And that must be him, the brat who cut--"

  "Shut up!" Niti shouted, and the creature stared at her.

  "My babies have turned brav--"

  "I said shut up,"  Niti snapped. She flicked the lighter and glared at him. "Let's finish this business. I'm too tired of running away from you."

  "Niti," Vicky whispered, "What are you doing?"

  "Is this a trap?" The creature asked, walking gingerly toward then, its hundred feet clinking on the floor.

  "No," Niti said, "It's not a trap."

  It increased its pace.

  "Niti…" Vicky whispered apprehensively.

  The creature was twenty yards away from them. But Niti stood her ground. Her heart hammered in her chest and her temples throbbed. 

  "Niti…"

  The creature was now so close that she could smell it. 

  "The hunt is over," the creature said, now looming over them.

  "Right," Niti remarked, "the hunt is over."

  She threw the lighter over its head--only did the action of throwing it. The creature fell for it and leaped in the air. Niti quickly brought the lighter down and kicked it with her right foot.

  "NO!" the creature shrieked as the lighter whisked past it, whistling along the floor, and collided with the pile of papers.

  The creature turned and ran back toward it, but the pile was already on fire. Eddies of smoke rose in the air. The fire flickered, casting long spidery shadows. 

  The creature cried in rage.  He quickly stomped off the fire and glared back at Niti.  They waited.

  "You stupid human," the creature growled, advancing on them.

  Niti and Vicky began backing away from it. Their backs soon touched the dark, cold surface of a shelf.  There plan had failed.

  “Niti,” Vicky said in a tiny voice, his eyes wide, “What happened to the smoke detectors?”

  “I don’t know,” Niti whispered back.

  “Now,” the creature snarled, “I’m going to rip off your young flesh.” 

  And, abruptly an alarm went off.  A drop of water landed on Niti's nose and then rolled down to her lips. They all looked up, and Niti realized that the artificial rain had started.  The creature cried as the water made contact with its skin. A few seconds later it was enveloped in steam, its skin melting as if the water was some kind of acid.

  Niti ran over to Shruti, who was now covered in dark blood. Hoping against all hopes, Niti knelt down beside her and checked for her breath. She heard nothing.  

  "No," Niti sobbed. "No. No. No!"

3.

  The daybreak was near.  The limousine pulled toward a dew covered curb. Vicky stepped out of it and shut the door behind him.

  He looked past Niti, who was sitting in the passenger seat, at the driver and said, "Thanks for helping us."

  The driver smiled. "No problem, mate. If whatever you said is true then my boss is already dead and that means I'm driving this beauty for the last time. " He paused. "Are you two sure you are not joking?"

  "We are not," Niti told him.

  The driver nodded. "I guess I should drive the lady back to her apartment," he said, starting the engine.

  "We'll we meet again?" Vicky asked Niti.

  "Of course," Niti said, squeezing his hand. "I wish she were alive…" tears began forming in the corner of her eyes.

  "Hey," he said, caressing her head. He looked at the driver and nodded.

  The driver nodded back and stepped on the gas.

  "I like you!" Niti called back, waving at him.

  "Me too," he said. For a moment he stood there staring at the retreating taillights. He felt funny in the pit of his stomach. It was because of the way the driver was sitting in his seat.

  All the doors in the limousine except for the rearmost door were locked.

  The limousine was very long.

  Then he remembered that Mr. Caterpillar had a son.

  The funny feeling gave way to dread. He gazed at the car which was no longer there and thought about Niti.

  He never saw her again.