Chapter Seventeen: I now pronounce you

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

GOD of a man

Before you read this chapter a message from the author:

Dear friends,

This is Amanpreet Singh Rai, the author of this blog.

I wish you to share a good news with you all. I have just launched my own website http://www.fatalurgecarefreekiss.com/ and this blog has been moved to the novels page of the same.

Friends, I am an upcoming producer, songwriter and to an extent (Strechable at most time) a singer. My website is basically a means to connect all my work at one place. If you can, please do visit my website and support me. All my contact information is available on the contacts page and you can definitely see who I am.

Take care,

Amanpreet Singh Rai

GOD of a man

“Aspirations can drive a man to both dizzy heights as well as degrading lows! The inconspicuous irony is each one gets a chance to choose among either!”

Chapter Seventeen: I now pronounce you

Dated: 10th November, 2425

Purists always entertained a steadfast loyalty to either of the two societal structures; Communism and Capitalism. They argued to deaths their pick was better than the other and refused to accept its’ flaws as anything more than mere aberrations they blamed on the lack of productivity on part of the individuals effected in adverse. Capitalism at it’s worst degraded to aristocracy, only in a newer avatar. The rich companies bought off their poor competitors, one after the other until they were the only ones left standing in the competition. Small businesses perished as big multi national companies took over the smallest of trades, as small as news-agencies and grocery stores. Ordinary men and women were left with no choice but to become employees of richer men and left at their mercy during the greatest economic collapses. Communism on the other hand treated everybody as equal and strove to provide equally to all, forgetting the basic truth; no two men are equal. It failed to differentiate between the one’s who were hard working, enterprising and vastly more talented than those who were just average, living through their lives with no intentions of contributing something significant to their society. Both systems had individuals who aspired to be the best but both failed to provide enough opportunities to all of them. Both the systems were bound to collapse but fortunately humans never let the matters progress to such a decisive state.

When the five souls from Hatsu Saisho, the city that represents the last few remnants of what was once a thriving population aspired to search for a better home, their travails led them to it when their need was dire.

“Look! Land!” Steve’s loud, joyous shriek woke everyone up from their sleep. Everyone except Clara and Nakata rushed to have a look. Clara was still kneeling down by the bed side of Nakata holding his hand and whispering words of encouragement, trying to cheer him up. Nakata was barely hanging on to his life.

“Do you want to go and see the land?” Nakata’s faint voice was loud enough for Clara to hear it.

“No! I don’t care! I only want you to get better,” Clara cried as she spoke.

Meanwhile everybody including Steve had rushed to the deck to have a look.

“We did it, we finally did it,” Robin said as he jumped in jubilation, “We won’t perish on sea now.”

“Robin, grab the apparatus and check the radio activity levels to see how safe it is over here,” Steve said as he rushed back to the wheel house to speed their boat up.

Andy rushed in to inform Clara and Nakata, “Hey guys! We made it! We are safe now. Clara, do you want to have a look at it? I can sit by Nakata’s side if you want me to.”

“No, I am just fine. We’ll see the land together when we will get there,” Clara said wiping her tears as Nakata had fallen unconscious once again.

Andy returned to the deck where Robin was busy setting up his apparatus to test the radioactivity levels.

“What does it say,” Daniel asked.

“Let me see,” Robin said, “Hmm, that’s interesting!”

“What happened?” Daniel asked but Robin was lost in some other chain of thoughts as he walked back to the wheel house.

“Steve, we have a bit of an issue over here,” Robin said.

“What happened? Is it bad?” Steve asked.

“I don’t know how to answer that but the situation as it stands right now is, the radioactivity levels over here are marginally higher than the initial Hatsu Saisho readings but,” Robin said as he left the sentence unfinished.

“But what,” Steve asked.

“The levels are still below the maximum survivability levels for humans,” Robin answered, reserving his smile for some other time.

“That is indeed a bit of a queer development. But I think as long as they are below the maximum survivability levels, we have a chance to prosper here. Lets’ hope the situation stays put even when we hit the land,” Steve said.

“You mean you expect the levels to be different on land?” Daniel asked.

“I am afraid to say but the answer is yes. Land is different from the sea in more than the obvious ways. Firstly it is a stagnant structure unlike sea which is ever changing in its’ composition with water from many sources mixing in it. Secondly, land has got more structures to give it a larger surface area than a plain sea level,” Steve replied.

“Does that mean good or bad for us,” Daniel asked again.

“It’s hard to say. Sea may have more radioactivity as rivers from distant places flow in to make it, the places with higher radioactive sources, but then its’ water keeps getting mixed up all the time. Land on the other hand has more objects to absorb radioactivity and they stay at the same place. It’s hard to predict,” Steve answered.

“I guess we just have to wait and check it for ourselves when we get there,” Robin said the obvious.

As they got closer and closer, the landmass started to appear bigger and bigger. There were steep cliffs lining a magnificent, sandy beach, cliffs that would have been hard to climb. They trudged along the coastline to look for the right spot where they can land and travel freely inwards. They starred hard to see if there were any signs of ruins, leave aside a surviving human.

“It looks so lonely out there. I can’t even see anything that looks like a plant,” Robin said.

“Plants must have been wiped out as well by now. It’s been more than four hundred years now. And besides the salt of the sea wouldn’t allow anything along the beach anyway,” Steve replied.

As they sailed around a bend Daniel noticed something, “What’s that?”

“What’s where?” Andy asked as they all craned their necks to see what Daniel was watching.

“That looks like an old building,” Robin said.

“That is indeed a building,” Steve said as they sailed closer to the shore. The shore line was more welcoming around this area as well. It wasn’t a gentle climb after hitting the shore.

“Wow, it looks like a hut and that cross atop makes it look like a king with a crown,” Daniel exclaimed, “Possibly what they used to call a Church in those days.”

“Let’s get there and see for ourselves,” Andy said excitedly, “I’ll go and tell Nakata and Clara.”

Meanwhile Clara was still sitting by Nakata’s bed side. Her head was resting right next to Nakata’s as her eyes were fixed onto something distant and a tear had just trickled down her cheek on to the bed only a few seconds ago.

“Clara, Nakata, we are almost there,” Andy said as he rushed in.

“And we can see a building as well. Daniel thinks it looks like what you were asking about the other day. Damn, the word just skipped out of mind. What do you call where the people used to talk to what’s his name, the one who lives in clouds,” he continued as he scratched his head to get the right answer.

“You mean GOD? It must be a Church,” Clara got excited.

“Yes, Church is the word I was looking for,” Andy said.

“Nakata, did you hear that? GOD has heard my prayers. We are going to his home,” Clara said as she shook Nakata trying to wake him up. But when he didn’t wake up, she broke down and put her head on his chest grabbing his hair in one hand and the arm on the other side with the other as she cried and then sobbed. Andy left her with Nakata.

They soon arrived at the beach. Steve was the first one to hop off on to the land and tie the boat to a rock with a rope. “C’mon everybody, lets’ checkout our new home,” he said.

“Yeah!” Andy, Daniel and Robin shrieked hoarse as they jumped out as well. They danced and sang on the beach for an hour doing crazy acts of gaiety as they cherished every moment of their success until they were all tired.

“What about Clara and Nakata? They are still on board. Let’s get them down as well,” Andy said.

“Not yet!” Steve said, “Lets’ first survey the area and see if that building is safe enough to house us for the night or are we digging up for a tent.”

“Steve is right. There is no point in stressing ourselves getting the two out of the boat yet,” Robin said.

“Then lets’ go and have a look at the place,” Andy was eager to make a move.

“Robin, just grab our radioactivity apparatus to take a few readings,” Steve said.

“Andy can you grab the apparatus for me?” Robin asked, “And let Clara and Nakata know where we are going or they will be worried to find us missing.”

“Sure,” Andy said as he hopped back on to the ship and brought the apparatus. They all got up and started to walk towards the last standing structure they could see.

As they approached what must have once been the compound of the building, they saw a stone with some writing inscribed on it lying on the ground. “Church of Christ, Glenelg South” it read.

The dilapidated building looked frail but it had withstood many a storms,s as was evident from the broken windows and doors of the monument. There was a thick blanket of sand everywhere. Its’ broken front door was leading straight into a large prayer room and it appeared to be having a room on either side. As they entered the hall they saw the walls all cracked up but still holding on. Remnants of wooden furniture, destroyed not by decay or rot but only by the environmental action over a long time, lay littered on the floor. There was a statue of a man hanging on to a cross with his arms and legs pined to it lying nearly sideways on a heap of wooden mess right by the wall facing the entrance from the other end.

“That must be the statue of Christ,” Steve said.

“The building looks a bit dangerous. I don’t think we should stay inside any longer. Who knows when it will collapse,” Daniel said.

“I think you are right,” Robin said, “C’mon Steve lets get out of here.”

“Ok!” Steve said as they all turned around to quickly walk out of the Church. As they got out Steve asked Robin to take a radioactivity reading of the surroundings.

“It’s the same as it was at sea,” Robin said, “It’s not too bad I would say.”

“It sure ain’t,” Steve said, “I think we should get Clara and Nakata down here as well. Perhaps land and sunshine might improve his condition.”

“I agree,” Robin said, “Andy, can you go and get Clara and Nakata down here? Call us if you need help.”

Andy ran to inform Clara and Nakata. When Andy confirmed the presence of a lone standing building and that too of a Church, it strengthened Clara up, “See, I told you there is GOD. He is helping us now. Get up Nakata! Get up now!” She grabbed Nakata’s arm and shook him wildly until Nakata moaned and opened up his eyes.

“Nakata, they found a Church! They found a Church! I told you GOD is watching over us, I told you so,” and she broke down.

“Can you take me over there?” Nakata laboured to whisper the few words.

“First have some water and take a few bites,” Clara pleaded.

Nakata took a few sips but refused to eat anything. Andy meanwhile sensing it will be tough to drag Nakata down the ship and up to where the rest of the group was, ran up to the other three who were relaxing on the beach. Steve, Robin and Andy helped get Nakata on to the ground. When both Clara and Nakata insisted, they took them to the Church so that they can have a look. As soon as they reached the Church, Nakata somehow got enough strength to put his weight on his feet and take his arms off the shoulders of Steve and Robin, as he almost tumbled along with Clara to the entrance of the Church. As soon as they reached the entrance, Clara noticed the statue of Jesus looking at her from the opposite end of the room. She immediately knelt down and folded her hands close to her bosoms and Nakata too managed to land on his knees as he tilted and supported his body on Clara’s body and put his head on her shoulder.

“What are you two doing?” Steve roared.

But Nakata was too weak to answer and Clara was busy whispering something to herself.

“I said what are you doing?” Steve roared again.

“I was praying,” Clara replied as a tear rolled down her eyes.

“Praying to whom?” Steve asked.

“To GOD!” was all Clara replied.

“There is no GOD!” Steve roared again almost scaring Clara to death.

“Have you gone nuts? That book thing and your sickness have deranged you mentally,” Robin too was extremely upset now.

Clara broke down and cried before she finally managed to say, “Look you can believe in what you want to. Please let me believe what I know is right.”

“You are crazy! You seriously need some help,” Steve said.

“There is no such thing as GOD! How many times do we have to tell you it was a fluke created by intelligent men to control other men they couldn’t have with physical strength?” Robin added.

“There is GOD and I know it,” Clara was adamant. Steve and Robin gave her a lengthy verbal bashing trying to set her head straight, or rather the way they wanted it to be but Clara was beyond reproach now. The four left them at the door of the Church, disgusted at what they considered to be their infected state of mind. The two however, sat there quietly for sometime before Nakata whispered in her ear, “Clara, I don’t think I am going to survive.”

“Don’t you dare say that again,” Clara scolded him and broke down.

“Clara, I know this is not the way or time to do it and I can’t even say enough words leave alone the right words but if I am to die, would you please honour my life and be my wife for whatever breaths I am left with?” Nakata ran out of breath as he finished his words.

“I will! I will! I will live as your wife for the rest of my life. But please don’t talk about dying,” Clara sobbed and sobbed.

“Clara, can you ask Steve to marry us right now, infront of this Church if not inside, in Henry’s name if not GOD’s?” Nakata asked.

“I will right now but you just hold on,” Clara cried as she supported Nakata by the side of the Church’s door and ran towards the other four.

There was a bit of hesitation and discussion amongst everyone before it was finally agreed that if this is what the two wish then they will marry them. Steve was to solemnize the wedding while Robin was to represent the girl’s family and Andy was to represent Nakata’s family. Daniel was going to be the witness. The whole ceremony was organised quickly as they wanted to set themselves up for their first night on land.

“Do you take Clara as your lawfully wedded wife and promise to stay with her and take care of her and provide her until your last breaths on this earth?” Steve asked.

“I do!” Nakata said in his faint voice as Andy and Daniel held him up for the ceremony.

“Do you take Nakata as your husband and promise to remain loyal and steadfast to him until your last breaths?” Steve asked Clara.

“Yes!” Clara said as a tear and a smile showed up on her face at the same time.

“In the power bestowed on me by our fore-father Henry, I now pronounce you husband and wife,” Steve said as everybody clapped and cheered the couple as they embraced each other.

“Ok! Time for us to make arrangements for the night! You two can lie down over here. And Nakata eat something. It will give you strength. You have to get better,” Steve said.

Nakata however didn’t want to eat anything and even after a lot of persuasions refused to yield. The four men left the newly weds to dig and set up a penguin skin tent on the beach. As they were making arrangements for their first night at their new found home, Clara and Nakata decided to go inside the Church. Clara helped Nakata get up on his feet and walk inside the church. They sat there infront of the statue of Jesus Christ for a long time before Clara decided to check the two rooms attached to the side of the church. One of them was all littered with broken wooden almirahs and furniture and worn out books were lying scattered all around. The other room had a bit of a space in one of it’s corners to lie down. Clara took Nakata into that room.

By the time the other four finished setting up their tent and did some fishing for food, dusk was on them. Besides they were all tired, largely because of the long voyage they had just completed and also because of all the commotion of the whole day.

“Clara! Nakata! Where are you?” Steve went looking for the couple as he couldn’t see them infront of the church where they left them.

“Steve, we are here inside,” Clara came out to answer Steve’s call.

“What are you doing inside that structure? It’s not safe. It can collapse anytime?” Steve asked.

“It’s alright Steve. If it had to collapse, it would have collapsed long before we set our feet on this land,” Clara answered.

Steve tried to argue with her to leave that building but she insisted to stay there for the night with Nakata. When she didn’t agree to Steve’ requests to vacate the premises, Steve asked her to have some food. She and Nakata both refused. When nothing worked Steve was left with no choice but to leave them there while he joined the others in the tent.

Clara and Nakata meanwhile lay in the room adjoining the Church.

“Clara, I don’t know how many more breaths I have but I want to give you all the love I have tonight,” Nakata laboured to whisper.

“Please don’t say that. GOD will make you perfectly alright. You please hold on,” Clara said as she kissed his forehead again and again and then embraced him.

Nakata somehow managed to get his arms around her and the two kissed each other, deep but soft. Nakata’s strength was failing but their love was getting stronger and the two embraced each other. Nakata may have been too weak to satisfy the woman in Clara that night but Clara was satisfied with the love that emanated from his every touch. The two became one for the first time and also their last.

“Nakata! Nakata! Wake up it’s morning,” Clara said as she quickly dressed herself up and put the clothes on Nakata.

“Nakata! Nakata! Please wake up!” Clara motioned him again but Nakata was still.

A shock wave stunned Clara as she tried all her strength to gulp her saliva down her dry throat and her heart nearly jumped out of her mouth. “Nakata!” she struggled to get his name out of her lips as she fumbled to check his pulse.

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

Chapter Sixteen: Look! Land!

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

GOD of a man

“It’s the worst of situations which bring the best of learning.”

Chapter Sixteen: Look! Land!

Dated: October 2425 to 10th November, 2425

Learning curve is a strange entity, the more pressure you put on it the greater it expands. The best of learning happens when the time is testing one’s mettle. Perhaps it’s the constraints of time and results which make a man tryout and discard or accept what he may have never thought of or tried under circumstances ordinaire. However, should this new learning be shared with others caught in a similar situation or not has always remained a boon of contention for most human beings. They tend to share only as much as they need to boast of their expertise and achievements. The finer details are always a well guarded secret. Fortunately the unfortunate circumstance human misadventures drove the entire, or more aptly the remainder of humanity into, dawned a newer and better sense into human psyche. Whatever knowledge could be saved was shared and spread to keep it living.

When Nakata collapsed on the floor while having dinner there might have been no doctor on the ship but just a nurse who was so much in love with him that she panicked and couldn’t make a head or tail out of the whole situation, but almost everybody else had an idea as to what the issue might be.

“Is he choking?” Andy asked Steve and Robin who fervently tried all the first aid they knew.

“He is choking but it doesn’t look like it’s a case of physical choking,” Robin said.

“What do you think Clara?” Steve asked Clara.

“I don’t know,” Clara’s speech broke as panic had gripped her completely. Her hands were shaking, her eyes were flowing, and she was trembling, “Please do something. Please save him.”

“Clare, please don’t panic, we are doing our best,” Steve said, “But can you tell us what the problem might be? You are the one who is a trained nurse amongst us.”

Clara fumbled, cried and fumbled again before she finally muscled over her emotions and said, “I think he’s suffered some kind of allergic reaction to the crabs. His food pipe might have swollen as a result constricting his wind pipe depriving him of oxygen. Please do something.”

“What can we do?” Robin asked.

“I think if we could make him throw out what he has eaten, it might help in recovery,” Steve said.

“Daniel, can you get me something that I can push down his throat to his Uvula,” Clara finally gathered herself, “Steve, Robin, can you guys please hold him in a way his head is tilted lower to his wind pipe. I don’t want anything to get logged in his windpipe and choke it.”

As Daniel brought a piece of a stick, Steve and Robin put Nakata’s body on a bed with his head hanging down. As Clara hit his Uvula, Nakata threw out all that he had eaten into a small tumbler that Andy brought from the store room. Nakata coughed but was still not completely conscious.

“Why is he not waking up?” Steve asked as Clara sat by Nakata’s side holding his hand and begging him to open his eyes once.

“I guess we have to do what we did with Clara, just wait,” Robin shrugged his shoulders.

“Perhaps you are right,” Steve said as everybody slowly moved on to what they were going to do, while Clara sat by Nakata’s bed side.

For the next three days Nakata’s condition worsened as his fever rose. The only thing that changed was that he was regaining consciousness in between, sometimes talking to Clara and others and at others a bit delirious. They tried to feed him and give him water as many times as they could, in small meals but his body became weaker and weaker, his face darkened.

“I don’t understand what is wrong with him,” Andy was as upset as anyone else. Nakata was a neutral person whom everyone liked, unlike Steve or Clara who were considered to be an opposing party by the other three, not directly but in the sinister corners of their dark hearts.

“I am scared to say,” Clara bemoaned as she broke down.

“What do you mean?” Robin asked.

“I think he was suffering from gastric ulcers and the allergen from the crabs that caused this reaction diffused into his blood stream,” Clara gathered some courage to make her diagnosis.

“So, is it very bad?” Robin asked.

“If he is allergic to something, it will affect his organs internally and possibly even destroy them,” Clara broke down.

“But we are only guessing he has ulcers, right?” Steve asked.

“I have ulcers too and I think you all might as well. Remember how we had very little to eat for more than a couple of weeks,” Clara managed to gather a sentence as she struggled to overcome her emotions.

“Yep,” Steve nodded his head.

“The acidity of an empty stomach of a hungry body must have ruptured his stomach lining because he was always so physical in his activities even when he was weak and on little diet,” Clara said.

“That is indeed very concerning,” Steve said.

“What can we do now?” Andy asked.

“Unfortunately nothing but wait and hope,” Steve said the dreadful words, “Lets’ hope his body recovers from the effects of the toxins.”

“The worst is we still see no signs of finding land and if the same state continues we will be left stranded on this ship forever,” Daniel said, his frustration clearly showing in his voice.

“Lets stay calm my friend. We will loose our direction and control over ourselves if we let this frustration build up and get the better of us,” Steve said.

“What else can we do? You have got us stuck in this mess,” Andy yelled, “Why the hell did you have to pick me up?”

“Look, I am as much stuck in this as much as you are. But we all were in it for the good of mankind,” Steve reasoned.

“What good of mankind, now we are all destined to die and the people in Hatsu Saisho will forget us and live at peace,” Daniel blew off the lid as well.

“They will forget us? Do you think they still remember us? Forget it buddy, they have already got on with their lives and we will be lucky to be even mentioned once a month in their conversation now,” Robin said.

“Will you guys stop it? Are you so insensitive not to realize there is a sick man lying right next to you people? Can he have some peace in his death,” and Clara’s emotions burst out as her wails reverberated across the sea on all sides of the ship. Their heads fell down at their behaviour as they walked out of the room still with a bit of distaste in their mouths.

Meanwhile in Hatsu Saisho one lady was frantically searching for her son braving the icy cold winds that were blowing.

“Ono! Ono! Where are you?” her painful voice echoed in the empty streets of Hatsu.

“Aika! What are you doing out in so cold,” a voice from behind stopped her.

“Demetria, have you seen my son Ono? He hasn’t returned for the last two days!” Aika asked Demetria, Steve’s wife.

“What? That is not good. It’s been so cold for the last two days. I will immediately ask my neighbours the Ramsay’s to send some one to go and look for him. I hope he is alright. You come inside my scube,” Demetria requested her but now even she was concerned.

“I went looking for him yesterday as well but I couldn’t find him where he generally sits, you know where we have you know what,” Aika said.

“I know and we all have told him a lot of times not to go to that place as that is evil. Seems like you haven’t told him the story of Henry yet,” Demetria asked as she escorted Aika inside her scube.

“No, I haven’t. He is too immature to understand it yet,” Aika replied.

“But we have to tell him one day,” Demetria said as she seated Aika and said, “Now you just sit and wait here while I go to the Ramsay’s and ask Vir Ramsay to go to the congress and get a search party dispatched to look for him.”

Aika broke down as Demetria left for the Ramsay’s scube and do the needful. Immediately Vir rushed to Shiva, the President who called an emergency congress and a party was dispatched to look for Ono. The party headed straight to the burial place of Father Alan and his son Joe but he was nowhere to be found there. The party divided itself into three groups of two each to search in all directions. Finally after nearly eight hours of search one team found Ono lying unconscious in snow near a cliff in completely the opposite direction of Hatsu. They picked him up and supported his body by stretching his hands around their shoulders and slowly dragged him back to the hospital for Dr Susan to have a look at him.

“He is hypothermic,” Susan said on examination, “Who knows how long he had been lying over there like that. It’s lucky he ain’t already dead.”

“What do you think doctor, will he survive? I’ve already lost my one son, I don’t want to loose the other too,” Aika started crying incessantly.

“Hold yourself Aika. None of your sons is dead. I am sure Nakata is doing fine. Steve is with him,” Demetria said as she herself started crying.

“I don’t know I have been having some real bad dreams since the last week and my right eye has been twitching continuously as well,” Aika exclaimed.

“Look, you need to be strong. I know it has been really tough on you but we cannot loose hope,” Susan said.

“I don’t know what to do. Nothing gives me any strength anymore. I don’t know whom to look for support. More than my son, it’s me who is breaking piece by piece. Someone who’s one son’s fate is balanced on a knife edge and the other is struggling to come to terms with a missing beloved brother, the whole world is a lonely place to live in,” Aika said.

“We completely understand the tough situation you are in and I must say you are a strong woman to be still doing so good. I would have broken down weeks ago if I were you. Now don’t you loose hope and let your emotions get the better of you now,” Demetria said, “Even I miss my husband sorely but I can’t let those thoughts wreck my emotional balance or otherwise I will loose my sanity. So please Aika, hold yourself together.”

“Demetria, you stay here with Aika while I make some arrangements for a few hands to rub Ono’s body to make it warm,” Susan said as she rushed out of the hospital. She gave instructions as to what needs to be done to the six men of the team that went looking for Ono. The men carried Ono to his mother’s scube which was a bit smaller and cosier unit than the hospital and they vigorously started rubbing his body without taking his clothes off so that the friction of the clothes scratching his body generates better heat and keeps it insulated as well. Demetria, Susan and Aika arrived along with them and soon Shiva and Larry, Susan’s husband arrived too.

“How’s he doing?” Shiva asked.

“He is still unconscious,” Susan replied as Demetria consoled Aika while the six men continued taking turns, rubbing Ono’s hands, feet and body. After about two hours of continuous rubbing, Ono finally started to regain consciousness.

“Ah! He’s waking up,” Susan said triumphantly as Aika immediately rushed to her son’s side.

“Mother! Mother!” was all Ono said.

“Yes Ono, I am right here with you my son,” Aika said, tears rolling down her cheeks as she stroked Ono’s hair softly.

“Mother, where is Nakata,” Ono said as he opened his eyes and then looked around at all the faces surrounding him, “What happened? Where am I? What is everybody doing here?”

“You are fine. You are at your home with your mother. Fuku! Shukufuku!” Aika said as she hugged him tightly and showered kisses on his forehead blessing him for long life and happiness.

“Mother! What is GOD?” Ono asked surprising everyone in the room.

“What? How do you know it? Who told you?” Aika was surprised as she hasn’t told him anything about GOD yet and nobody used that name in Hatsu anymore.

“I don’t know,” Ono showed ignorance, “I think someone said it to me. I think it was a dream.”

“What dream are you talking about?” Susan asked.

“I don’t know,” Ono replied and held his forehead as he stressed to remember, “I can’t remember. My head hurts.”

“That’s fine Ono, don’t stress yourself right now. We can talk about it later,” Susan said.

“Wait! I remember! I fell asleep at the place where I sit, where I saw Nakata’s ship for the last time. I saw a man, an old man in white robes. He was saying; Your brother has been chosen for a special purpose, so you need to be strong, GOD needs him. And then he vanished and I woke up and started walking towards our home,” Ono said.

“How many times have I told you not to go to that treacherous place,” Aika got angry, “See what has happened? That place is evil. It has corrupted your mind and it sent you in the wrong direction nearly taking your life.”

“That place has got nothing to do with it, I just lost my direction somehow,” Ono rebelled, “And I will go there everyday and wait for Nakata over there.”

“No you won’t. I will not let you go there,” Aika forbade him forcefully.

“That’s fine for now Aika. Just let him relax and rest right now. He must have lost his direction because the cold must have disoriented him. It can happen in extreme weathers. People can loose their tracking of place and sense of direction. But the question is, if you didn’t tell him about GOD so far, where did he get the knowledge from? Did he read it somewhere?” Susan asked.

“I don’t know!” Aika said before she remembered, “Yes, he might have read that diary Nakata found on that cursed ship. I read a few pages of it before he left. He took it with him. Oh! Now his brain will be corrupted too.”

“Relax Aika, you are forgetting he is with Steve and Robin, they will explain it to him,” Demetria said.

“I hope so. I don’t want to loose my sons or them to loose their knowledge and wisdom,” Aika sobbed.

“Don’t worry Aika, nothing like that will happen,” Susan said as Demetria grabbed her stomach and stepped back supporting herself against the wall.

“Oh! I think I am going to have it,” Demetria said.

“Don’t tell me you are having the pains, it’s only been seven months yet,” Susan said.

“I don’t know but I am having some cramps,” Demetria said.

“You sit down right now, infact lie down on the bed on the side of Ono and lets’ hope this is just a false alarm. Once you are alright we will take you back home,” Susan said.

“Oh I miss Steve,” Demetria said.

Meanwhile, in a distant place, on the seas, Steve’s loud and triumphant shriek woke everyone up on the ship, “Look! Land!”

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

Chapter Fifteen: Web of misfortune

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

GOD of a man

“Don’t give up when you think it’s time to, that’s when you start all over again.”

Chapter Fifteen: Web of misfortune

Dated: October 2425

Life can be anything but straightforward. Everybody makes plans and then the plans go haywire. The diligent ones get back to the basics, analyse what went wrong and start all over again, the meek ones quit and move on. History is an account of human struggle against adversity and only those men are remembered and respected who didn’t give up when everybody else would have. Those are the men who made that vital decision that changed the course of their life story, took a risk when no one was ready to stand by their beliefs.

A little ship with its’ little unwillingly mustered family was like a fly caught in a web that night, a web of fate. Its’ occupants were bipolarised on one hand while its’ existence was about to be questioned on the other. Robin, Andy and Daniel were finally able to force their choice that night, hoping to turn around their social fortunes along with the turning wheel of the ship. But as they say, there are many a slip between the cup and the lip. It was too early to celebrate but they thought they had won the battle.

“That was awesome guys. We did it. Now as soon as we get back to Hatsu, we need to stick together and make sure Steve is nailed for his gun-wielding misadventure and Nakata and Clara are ostracised for their illicit relationship,” Robin was whispering the details of his plans to his two associates.

“We are with you Robin. Anything you say as long as it gets us into that senate,” Daniel was perhaps already dreaming of dawning the mantle of a congressman.

“But I was wondering, you mentioned we should have landed two weeks ago then how did we miss the land?” that Andy was neither the brightest nor the least bit interested in politics, was evident from his disinterest in the current conversation.

“Who cares? Steve can think I messed up but between the three of us, I deliberately changed the course of the ship by a few degrees two weeks back one night,” Robin explained with a wicked smile.

“Wait a minute! Are you crazy? You’ve ruined our only chance of finding a better land,” Andy got a bit upset.

“Relax you idiot and think carefully. If I hadn’t changed the course of the ship and we had made it to another land what would have we achieved? Everything must be in ruins by now, there is no way to transport everyone over from Hatsu, and had we kept on sailing we might have run low on fuel ourselves and been stuck in wilderness. Its’ better we never made it to the new world,” Robin explained.

“Perhaps you are right,” now Andy saw logic in Robin’s decision and as the three continued, lost in their deceitful worlds, the rumble of the storm surrounding the ship grew louder and louder.

“Looks like its’ going to be a tough night on us,” Steve said as he manned the wheel, “Nakata, take the other guys with you and pull the sails down before we get caught in the storm.”

Nakata immediately went to the sleeping room and gathered the other three to fold the sails. As the four of them struggled on the deck getting the modified sails down, the first gust of strong wind hit them. Nakata who had climbed up the pole to untie a rope nearly fell off except for the strong hold of his legs on the pole.

“Careful Nakata,” Clara screamed as her heart nearly jumped out of her mouth.

“Don’t worry love,” Nakata replied with a wink as he gathered himself again and made a second attempt at untying the rope, “One down, three more to go.”

The other three were holding the ropes that tied the sails to the deck, waiting for Nakata to untie the ropes holding the sails to the main shaft, so that they can fold them quickly. But perhaps, they had lost vital time discussing the direction of their journey and subsequently their backbiting bickering.

The winds became stronger and more forceful. Nakata could barely hang on to the pole any longer now. The sea started to roar and rise. Three ropes still needed to be untied and then the shaft itself needed to be dismantled, but the time was not there anymore.

“Get down Nakata,” Clara broke down as she yelled at the top of her voice.

“I can’t sweetheart, I need to get the sails down or we might loose them altogether,” Nakata said as he struggled as hard as he could to climb up the pole to untie the next rope, but the strength of the wind was not only trying to force him off the pole but the sails were fluttering violently enough to tear on their own and wipe everyone off the ship into the sea. The waves had started to rise above the ship and ship was now rocking sideways.

“Come down Nakata, for GOD’s sake please come down,” Clara cried out as she nearly lost her balance as the ship twisted to a side and she barely clung on to the wall of the wheel house. The others held on to the sail ropes, not for the sails but for their lives.

Nakata still continued to struggle up the pole and grabbed the second rope, and as soon as he grabbed the second rope the next gust of wind once again almost toppled him off the sail and the critical angle the ship was to sea level thanks to the violently rising and falling waves, nearly off the ship.

“Nakata, come down this instant,” Clara yelled out hoarse and started crying.

“He can’t. He needs to untie the ropes,” Daniel said.

“I don’t care. Nakata get down this instant,” Clara was adamant.

As the seas rocked the ship and winds blew harder and harder Nakata gathered himself again to untie the second rope.

“Nakata please,” Clara pleaded.

“Let him do his job girl,” Robin asked as he himself slowly made his way around the edge of the deck holding the metal bars, towards the wheel house entrance, just like the rest who had left the sails on their own now and were inching their way towards the wheel house.

As Nakata untied the second rope, the first of the two sails was completely free but there was no one to fold it. It flew across the deck and nearly wiped Clara off the boat and hung to a side held only by the rope tying it to the deck, partially submerged in water.

“What the hell are you guys doing? Will anyone fold the sail?” Nakata yelled as he tried to climb up to the next rope.

“Nakata, come down, please. No one is here to take care of your sails, please come down,” Clara wailed.

“Come down this instant Nakata,” Steve had to rush out of the wheel house leaving the wheel momentarily in lock even though it was one rowdy storm the ship had been caught in.

“But the sails,” Nakata asked.

“Leave the sails. First thing important is to survive. Lets’ hope the sails will be alright on their own,” Steve said, his inexperience as a sailor showing as he didn’t realize how deadly a fluttering sail in a storm can be for a ship. But Nakata’s life was what he was more concerned about right now. He ordered Nakata to come down and as Nakata slid down the pole they all made their way back to the wheel house. The storm intensified.

The wind kept on picking velocity and the waves became more and more ferocious. Steve asked everyone to move into the sleeping room and sit tightly in corners while Robin was instructed to stay with him in the wheel house. The ship rocked and the wind, as it hit the lone fluttering sail with the ferocity of a lion, rocked the ship to its side and made it hit the sea surface. All on board were tossed around as Steve lost his grip on the wheel and thrown at the wall infront of him. Waves of water entered their small world. The ship was tossed a couple of times again when the pole finally gave way and was lost to the sea along with the sail as only a few bits of the sail were left attached to the two ropes tied to the deck. Thunder and lightning kept on scaring them all night as the ship became a roller coaster ride gone awry. They were scared, they were holding on to each other, looking at each other for moral support. Only Clara was praying. She knew her GOD. And only she was calm, now that her Nakata was safe and by her side. The night was long, very long, but it did finally pass.

The morning was still dark and covered but the worst had been over and along with it everything else was nearly over as well.

“Damn! We lost the sails,” Andy’s shoulders dropped as he came out on the deck and realized there was neither the pole nor their sails anymore to bank upon.

“We are stuck! We will never make it back to Hatsu now,” Nakata exclaimed as his face showed signs of terror as horrifying thoughts crossed his mind one after the other.

“Why do you say that?” Daniel got scarred as well.

“Because we can’t travel far without sails, we just don’t have enough fuel. We were able to make it this far because the sails did most of the work relaxing the engines and hence reducing the fuel consumption. But now without any sails we won’t be able to make it back even if we had thrice the amount of fuel than what we started with,” Nakata explained.

“We can always use our small motor boat to travel,” Robin quipped.

“No, we can’t. We cannot carry the requisite amount of fuel in that one. We are a stuck at sea now,” Nakata’s words were more horrifying than the thunder and storm they sailed through a few hours back. Everybody got terrified and panicked. Even Steve was perturbed for a few seconds before he realized they still have one last chance.

“We still have one chance," Steve exclaimed as everybody looked at him with anticipation.

 
 
 
 
 
 
"And what's that?" Andy inquired.







" If we changed our course back towards the land we were looking for, we just might make it safely to land,” Steve said.







"That's ridiculous, we will be stuck there forever," Robin exclaimed.







"Perhaps we might be or we might be lucky enough to find a better home and at the same time some resources to travel back. Otherwise if you insist we can always stay on current course and perish at sea," Steve's cold blooded straightforwardness sounded better words than any of them had ever heard before.

“Perhaps we can but how? We don’t even know what our course is now, and we don’t know what course to take from here,” Robin asked.

“Lets’ just stop the engines, sit here and wait until the clouds clear up and we are able to see the stars,” Steve replied, “Then we can calculate our position and direction from the Southern Cross and the two pointing stars vis a vis South pole.”

“How is that going to give us the direction for the land we are looking for?” Daniel asked.

“From that information we will know whether we are facing south, north, east or west at the moment and then we can turn our ship at an acute or obtuse angle accordingly to make our way to the closest land mass,” Robin knew what Steve was thinking about, “Hopefully it won’t be too far off.”

They all calmed down a bit, went inside and huddled together in a couple of blankets in their small bedroom and waited for the cloud cover to clear. A week’s time was good enough to test their already waning patience for its breaking point will not be an understatement. Food was in scarce supply and so was their luck. Finally, the clouds gave way to clear skies and they were able to figure out their direction of travel and once again they set sail, only this time, it was towards what they had originally set to find. The good thing for them was the radioactivity levels were still hovering below the original Hatsu Saisho mark.

As they sailed closer towards the land they were expecting to find soon, or rather hoped to find soon, the food quantity improved and the variety increased. One day they caught a surprise for themselves.

“Wow! What is that?” Andy asked as he pulled out a strange looking organism with his hook.

“That looks like a crab,” Robin said.

“Yes, it is a crab,” Clara added her confirmation as they all looked at the catch. And that wasn’t the only catch, they had a few of them that day, and infact only them that day. It looked like they had run into an army of crabs travelling the oceans in search of newer habitat just like themselves.

“But don’t these things live near the shore?” Nakata asked.

“Depends on the species, some live in fresh water, some near the shores, some on land and some in deep seas. Besides who knows what kind of evolution has these organisms gone through thanks to radioactivity,” Clara replied.

“Wow, it will be good to have a change of taste today,” Nakata’s eyes lit up at the thought of trying something different than mundane.

“It will be nice for a change but there’s a hiccup,” Steve said.

“And just what is that hiccup?” Andy asked.

“We don’t know what parts of it are edible and what parts are not,” Steve replied.

“Relax Steve, we will remove its’ intestine for you,” Daniel laughed.

“I somehow feel, we are still better of catching fish for food,” Steve insisted.

“Oh C’mon Steve, lets’ just do it for a change today. Besides it is late in the evening and we all are hungry. We will catch some fish tomorrow if possible. Right now I am afraid we might have to do with just crabs for dinner,” Robin exclaimed.

“Yeah Steve, stop worrying too much,” Andy said.

“I don’t know guys but something doesn’t feel right about all this,” Steve said as he reluctantly agreed to a feast of crabs.

They all retired to the wheel house and prepared their dinner by chopping whatever they felt was irrelevant or in-addible. They all enjoyed the change of taste, shared jokes and enjoyed a hearty meal in a long time until Nakata froze, his face turned red as his voice chocked and he collapsed on the ground grasping for breath.

“Nakata,” Clara cried out, “What happened?”

“Did he choke?” Andy asked as Steve and Robin lifted Nakata up and tried to make sure he wasn’t choking by giving him the requisite first aid. But it wasn’t a case of choking, it was something else.

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