The Creators

12

Jasper swerved in the darkness at the rim of outer space and stationed himself at a corner of the earth, which twinkled below him like a unique gem. All the buildings in his dimension had become pinpricks till they became altogether invisible. He could see the extra terrestrial movie station and anti-gravity disco at a distance. He knew that here he was safe as the mind police did not have the technology to chase him beyond the clouds. It was only the technological dimension that had successfully started using the space for living, placing stations and entertainment parks near the earth. They were also terraforming Mars.

Jasper hovered and waited trying to think of a way out. He replayed the events that forced him to zoom out of the planet in his mind.

That morning as the roof of the dome of Jasper’s hideout opened and the red saucer like car flew out, Jasper had planned a short trip. He was planning to try and connect with Jasmine’s thought waves, communicate with her and return home to his family. The car, as it flew out and ascended the sky, looked like a dot in the dawning sky as it flew higher and higher in an attempt to distance itself both from his family and the mind police. The surface below was covered with snow. The reflected morning sun made the whole planet look pristine.

The mind police had become even more vigilant. They had lost Jasmine twice in twenty-four hours and Jasper too had disappeared. They were monitoring the universal mind stream even more closely. Suddenly, one of them said, “I can sense the boy. He is in the sky trying to connect with Jasmine. Jasmine, I cannot sense.”

“Let us close in on him physically,” said the commander. “Let us get at least one. Then the other one will definitely try to rescue him.”

Jasper had been desperately trying to contact Jasmine as he hovered among the clouds. Suddenly, he felt a jolt. The mind police had landed at a nearby cloud and were trying to shoot him. But Jasper had had the foresight to have the protective shield cover on. So, the shot did not affect him. He made a full one eighty degree circle and saw the mind police on a cloud. They had pinged next to him. They were firing shot after shot at his vehicle.

Jasper acted quickly. He abandoned his attempt to contact Jasmine and jammed the outer space button. He swerved at a very high speed and rose higher. Almost every vehicle in the technological dimension was equipped to ascend above the atmosphere and explore space with its various attractions at the different space bars. Jasper used it now. As he rose higher and then zoomed out of vision, the mind police again lost him. They did not have the technology to go above the clouds, so again they were fobbed!

“We need one of their cars to chase him!” shouted the team lead.

Two of the guards remained on the cloud to try and trace him and the rest went off with the lead to try and get a space car.

“Could he connect through mind waves to Jasmine from here in outer space? The mind police surely could not reach him there,” he thought.

Jasmine, Jacaranda and Gorge woke up in the cave, after a long night’s sleep. Jacaranda had again whipped them up a breakfast of sorts.

They had their meal by the stream near the cave. They spoke in low voices for the fear of being overheard.

“What should we do next?” asked Gorge.

“It is imperative we get in touch with Jasper,” said Jasmine. “The mind police is everywhere. They want to finish us up. What should we do?”

“Fly to the moon!” said Jacaranda.

“What?! I am serious,” said Jasmine.

“I am serious too,” said Jacaranda.

“You mean you can fly to the moon?” said Gorge.

“Yes. In the magical dimension we can,” said Jacaranda.

“Wow! In our dimension we have not even thought of trying,” said Gorge.

“And how?” asked Jasmine.

“We will visit Daedalus here. He did do it for our former prince, you know the one who is the dragon now. Maybe if we tell him our problem, he can help us.”

“Why not return to the cave of the dragon prince then?” asked Gorge.

“Because we risk getting caught big time. Remember the combined forces of the mind police and Dr Doom. We cannot pinge or magic ourselves into the den from outside unless the dragon wills it?” said Jacaranda.

“Can we not get in touch with him?” asked Gorge.

“And how without having ourselves exposed to the mind police who are constantly monitoring the thought stream?” said Jasmine. “Come let us then look for Daedalus. We could again use the invisibility pulls, if necessary.”

Jacaranda, who had been feeling inside her bag for sometime, pulled out a little pouch and said, “ Ah here it is… the cold fire powder. We can go to Daedalus using the cold fire network. I do not think that is as yet monitored by Dr. Doom or the mind police. That will take us to him quicker.”

“All right,” said the other two.

“Come close two of you,” said Jacaranda.

She poured some powder from the pouch in her hand. She closed the pouch carefully and put it back in her bag. Mumbling an enchantment, she started sprinkling the powder around them. A cold sensation came over the three. They felt themselves sucked into a vortex of icy cold silver flames and then they were thrown out again, near a little hut near between the hills and stream in a pleasantly wooded spot.

As the three of them emerged out of the cold fire, they saw two old men sitting at a table. One was in a Greek tunic with sandals on his feet. The other greybeard was in long flowing robes. The one in the Greek outfit said, “Ah! Jacaranda. Good to see you. Haven’t seen you around for a few months. And who might your friends be? Students again?”

The other man got up and said, “Daedalus, we will continue our discussion another day since you have guests.”

“Oh Robi! Stay…these are young people from the mainland…”

“We will meet later. I am expecting Khayyam over soon. See you around,” said the other man decisively and walked away towards the beach.

“Oh mighty Daedalus… you need to help us. We are in great trouble. Only you can save us,” said Jacaranda softly.

Daedalus looked around and said, “ Come into my new labyrinth that I designed within the hill and tell me your story.”

Jacaranda and the other two followed him into a dark tunnel inside the hill. They followed him for almost a quarter kilometer, then they turned right and there was a strange door with a picture of a pair of wings. “The wings that ended Icarus’s life!” said Daedalus. “But I have found him here again, beyond the hills living with another legend, Garuda.”

“Daedalus, I hate to interrupt but we really need to talk to you secretly. No one knows we are here and we do not want them to know,” said Jacaranda.

“Okay! We will talk in my office,” said Daedalus pushing open the door that had the picture of wings.

Meanwhile, the mind police had pinged back to the office and turned the temperature knob to warm. As the ice began to thaw after a few hours, the snow melted and people started coming out of their homes. One of the first people to drive in to the weather bureau car park was Jasper’s assistant. He had rushed out to see what had gone wrong with the machine … why was it swinging from one to anther extreme and also to figure out where his boss had disappeared.

The mind police, who had been waiting at the car park of the office , used a mind trick on him. The lead told the assistant, “You just left your keys inside the car and someone drove off with it. Now, leave your keys.” They used a memory eraser and modified his memory as he walked away, leaving the keys inside. The mind police slipped into the car and said, “Do we know how to operate it?”

“It is largely robotized and the car has a voice manual, so it can guide us,”said the police who had been examining the car. “Looks like they can go to outer space in this. There is a button that says so.”

“Great! Let’s go for a ride,” said the commander. Four of them got in and zoomed off into the sky. They headed for the cloud where two of the mind police awaited further instructions.

“I can sense Jasper in the mind stream again,” said one of the guards sitting at the back.

“Can you locate him?” Asked the commander.

“He seems to be way off all our earth coordinates,” said the mind policeman.

“Okay let’s wait and just read his mind waves. Let him think we have not spotted him. Let us see what happens then,” said the commander.