Medona

Chapter 18-Find A Way To The Palace II

I knew I had no other choice. Deep inside I liked the idea of getting out of that small, suffocating cabin and interacting with pastees. I wanted to know them more and this was my chance to find my answers myself, the reason of signing in for all this.
One thing was clear enough that they did have mysteries about their civilization. I wanted to know why on earth their history had been removed. Seetamnari had said that they had mind controlling powers, I wanted to know if he was right and how.

We spent the night in the cabin. The command chairs were convertible into beds. I laid on it the whole night staring at the stars through the glass roof. Night was indeed night, no street lights, no fancy cars with loud music on, no drone cameras wandering across the state and no teams of scientists gathering for night experiments. Silence wrapped the city up which was pierced by hoots of the owls and stridulations of grasshoppers which were less noisy but more cozy.
I couldn't sleep. Partially because of the after effects of anesthetic long sleep and partially because of the qualms for the morning mission. I don't know why but I was continuously thinking about my savior. I felt like I was going to meet him again.

The sky started to turn dark bluish black and this was the time I felt asleep. The golden sun rays entering through the glass walls of the portal slowly took me out from the briefest period of sleep. I blinked twice and seeing the birds to fly in open sky with joy and passion boosted my morning cortisol and I sat up in the command chair. Just a few minutes of sleep washed my tiredness enough that I could get up and start the day enthusiastically. I looked at the others and saw Divesh already awakened, also looking at the delightful view of birds upon us.
He looked back at me, passed me a smile and continued checking out the birds dance at their own chirps in the sky.
Charles and Richard were still sleeping.
I stood up and walked outside, Divesh didn't interupt me.

I took deep breathes in the cool morning breeze. The wind cooled my still wakening flesh with a shiver of goose bumps all over my skin and the slight warmth of the sun reminded me the days of summer vacations with my grandparents in sparse areas of Kashmir in my childhood.
I saw a lady outside a house dusting off a piece of fabric. Two men walking by the street talking in their language that I couldn't make out.
Suddenly, the memory of the man from yesturday hit my brain again. This was too much for someone you met only once and in such a slightest of time.

I sighed and entered back into the portal and as I hoped Charles and Richard were up too. Charles was sitting by his glass desk checking his scanners and Richard was doing a morning meditation on his command chair.

After having breakfast that our beloved insects had stolen for us which was cooked thick whole wheat bread and hand made fruit jam, Richard started to intsruct me for the further mission that I was going to lead.
Richard didn't get to the palace because no men except for the royal and the army were allowed to. They knew their men by names and checked them everytime when they entered the giant door. So, indulging into the army as one of them was in vain.

Now my job was to somehow interact with local citizens and collect information about the palace. I didn't know if I could do that. The trust Sandra and Richard had in me was questionable but motivated me enough to take decisions on my own. I wore the ear plugs, having the language of the place which Divesh had retrieved using his devices during the time I was still in anesthesia. I was provided with a watch which was like an old times bracelet by its design so that no one could determine it uniquity of containing alot of digital capabilities. It had the map of the entire city as scanned earlier and a tracker to find my own position in the map. I was traced red. It was also connected with the ear plugs and I could control them from there. It had a speaker and a Mike through which I could talk to the headquarters. Divesh created a strong wireless Bluetooth system on the day we arrived. This was the source of communication.
As dressed properly I walked outside in the street to find a suitable person to interact with and find answers.
Alot of men were checking me out. Even they turned back to look at me everytime they walked past me. It irritated me and distracted me alot. After a while of wandering stupidly, happiness ran down my soul when my eyes caught an old lady by a fruit shop. She was running the shop, although she was in the age she should've been resting. Her head and hands kept trembling in synch. Her face was full of wrinkles and her white hair which had tiny bunches of black mixed in the sides tied in a bun.
I observed her for a while and then I got my perfect situation to barge in. She wove her hand above the basket of apples to get rid of the flies upon it but unfortunately dropped the basket due to her shivering hands. All the apples rolled over to the street side and she walked towards them. Her knees wobbled as she panicked to run faster and collect them.
I took the basket and started collecting the apples from the dust into it for her. At first she got scared as she thought I might steal them but I quickly passed a smile to her to reassure her that I wasnot. She stood there waiting while I did the favor for her and put her basket on the shelf it was present before.

She thanked me in her language which I could make out through my earphones. I nodded and pretended like I was mute. She offered me an apple from her basket as a thank you but I signaled with my hands in refusal.

"What can I do for you pretty lady?" She spoke as I heard it through my earphones.

I signaled my hands to show her I wanted to get to the palace.
"Do you want a house?"
"No!!" I signaled again.
I tried out different ways to make her understand.
"Are you looking for someone?"
"Noo!!"
Again I tried but this was frustrating me.
"Ohh! the palace?" She uttered the word palace in low volume as she thought she might be wrong again.
I nodded widely and she smiled at her victory.
I signaled again that I wanted to get in there.
She stared at me for a while and I thought I must change my way again to clear myself.
"No one is allowed to get into the palace dear" she spoke while moving her shivering head from side to side.
I bowed at her in disappointment and as I turned she called for me, "Wait"
I looked back at her. She took a pause and then smiled at me, "actually you can. You're a beautiful woman"