Arith : The Undiscovered Planet
CHAPTER 18

Lincoln felt his body protesting as he attempted to move his body a little. He hadn’t opened his eyes just yet. Well it felt a strenuous job , when he tried to. If moving his body seemed impossible, he would at least shake his fingers, right? So he did just that. And you know what? He succeeded this time. I’m making progress, he thought. He could perceive the antiseptic odour that was perculiar to hospitals. That was when he realized, this was a hospital bed he was lying on.

Flashes came to him. He could remember calling on Derek to give him video clips of his adversaries. When he remembered the gun shots, he became furious and this made him forget his earlier attempts to open his eyes. If anyone had told Lincoln that he would be opening his eyes soon, it would have been passed as a joke. But he did it out of rage. Rage at his shortcomings.

When he eventually opened his eyes, a slight headache still persisted, but Lincoln had non of it and managed to call on Derek.

“Derek! Derek!” he managed to call out.

There was no answer. He breathed in because, calling on Derek had cost him some of his strength.

“I will eventually get my strength back” he said quietly.

Derek was supposed to be here on the look out, for him. But he wasn’t here. Why was he left here unprotected? Thoughts ran through Lincoln. He looked around wondering and then saw a figure dozing beside him.

“Who could this be”?

Lincoln didn’t know where the energy came from, as he roused whoever it was, from sleep.

Just a touch from Lincoln and the man sprang up. He wasn’t familiar.

The man was very surprised , staring at him that Lincoln deduced, happiness in the man’s stare.

“You’re finally awake” the man said in awe, he was a nurse in the hospital. Dante had asked him to look after Lincoln, when he was so busy with the patients. Lincoln just watched as the nurse tapped figures in his phone and called someone. He hoped it was Derek.

“Doctor, he’s awake!” the man exclaimed delightedly.

Oh , It’s not Derek, when is he coming? Lincoln thought to himself. He wanted to be discharged as fast as possible.

“I feel very okay” he said to the nurse.

The nurse didn’t appear to hear him, was waiting for the doctor’s arrival.

Hence, Lincoln had to wait for the doctor too.

***********

Eric , Derek and Jesse had gone over to Derek’s house. Since their enemy already knew about them, there was no point of hiding. Eric being a technician, swept the whole house , with indicators searching for ‘bugs’ . He found three of them and this was surprising. How had they been in here to plant these bugs. This really baffled Eric.

Kelvin and Bryan had gone with Malik to his hideout , to discuss . They had left the hotel as someone there, was an informant. They felt the informant could be anyone, from Ella to … anyone. They were no longer sure. But all the same, they waited for updates from Declan

When the bugs had been terminated, they ate some food that had been bought in the hotel. As they ate, Derek observed his son and his daughter in-law. He already knew, they were getting married to each other. Eric , his son was the type of guy, who didn’t believe in messing around. His son was serious about this Lovely lady, and it was already accepted by Derek. This was the kind of love between two people, that everyone admired and wished for.

As Derek ate, he thought about Tessy. How could he had forgotten about her? Lots of things came up. Fine, since he just thought about her, he would definitely see her, once he was done with eating. He made this known to his young couple.

“I have to see Tessy, sorry I won’t be with you guys for the time being. You can celebrate without me”.

Jesse felt they were supposed to go with Derek to see how aunt Tessy was faring. But Derek didn’t agree with her.

“No love, you just came back, we’re always here. You can see her at anytime. I don’t want to drag you to the hospital just yet” Derek said , hoping she would understand.

“Dad, dad” Eric said.

“Son, I want you to relax, you just got here. I do not think you know what I passed through , alone”.

“Okay dad” Eric said.

Jesse reluctantly accepted, because left with her, it was same thing to see Tessy. But since, she didn’t want to oppose her father in-law, she went with what he said.

Thus, Derek left them alone.

Eric’s phone rang, it was Zach.

Eric picked up.

“Hi bro” Zach greeted.

“Hi bro” Eric replied.

“Are you home right now”?

“Yes, I am”.

“I just got hold of my mum’s journal, I won’t be able to fully disclose how I got hold of it. But I believe you would be able to understand why I want you particularly, to read it. Because, its about your mum. I believe it will lead us to your mum’s kller”.

Eric, on hearing that, couldn’t wait to see Eric.

“Sure bro, I’m waiting for you. I’m right here”.

“On my way”.

***********

When Zach got to Eric and Jesse, he handed the journal to Eric and left. Zach didn’t really know what the journal was about but he had a strong conviction, that Eric would deduce something extraordinary. So he left to allow Eric read in peace.

In the journal, as Eric read, he felt this was a complete waste of time. There was nothing revealing about anything. But when he got to the part that ran: 'we loved meeting in the woods'. He paused. This was very familiar to him. All along Jesse was with him , patting his shoulders. She understood the situation.

This particular part made Eric recall the smell of flowers he had perceived, before. Woods! He thought. What was it about this word that made him pause. Well he didn’t recall, so he moved on to the next sentence that ran: 'our bracelets and her necklace…’

That was when he remembered… yeah he remembered , who had been wearing the bracelet. The very one he saw in space ,when he was exploring siredanium. The bracelet which held many secrets. The very bracelet that had belonged to Olivia, Zach’s mum!

Jesse, looking at Eric , saw when it dawned on Eric, the evil perpetrator. Eric knew his main enemy was this person. It all made sense now! Everything came as a flash! How could he be so blind? He decided to act … yes … but first of, to tell his dad about his discovery.

That’s exactly what he did!

***********

Kelvin, Bryan and Malik were conversing on how they would attack Kennedy and his team.

“Zach is on his way here” Malik informed them.

Kelvin and Bryan nodded and waited for Zach. There were lots of things they wanted asking Zach. But since, he was on his way, they waited.

“There’s a secret tunnel to Kennedy’s armory . His room is just to the left of it” Malik said, showing them the map.

“This map is not an easy one to study” Kelvin said .

“Its not” Bryan agreed.

“Yes, but that’s the only option, there’s no other way. We are waiting for Declan and his crew, remember we are in this. Kennedy must be brought down”.

“Okay boss” Kelvin said shrugging.

When Zach came in, questions were thrown at him. So Zach told them the story.

***********

“I started noticing Eric’s strange behaviour towards me. Even when he tried to act that we were friendly, I still knew something was off about him. Sometimes, I pretended not to notice him , giving me looks that said 'suspicion' . I ignored it. It wasn’t just from him, but also his dad and aunt. What’s wrong? I kept asking myself, but nothing came up”.

“That was until, my best friend went for exploration and didn’t come back, just like his mum. Eric already told me about her discovery of the theft that occurred in space. I felt it wasn’t accidental. So Eric disappeared. What baffled me was that Kennedy wasn’t as sad as he should have been, knowing he lost his best student. So I did a very reckless thing that would have cost me, my life. I followed his son, Josh wherever he went. That was how I got to know of their dealings”.

“I could only eavesdrop on them twice. The second time, Malik saved me when I mistakenly stepped on a switch, with which they used to detect spys. That was the first time I met Malik, we had similar interests and goals. Hence we became a team and stopped eavesdropping on them. I contacted Mr Declan because I felt he was the only one who would help Malik and I bring down our adversary”.

“Please , do not ask me how I knew that he and Kennedy had a ‘history’. So after I contacted Declan and shared the message, we agreed to see. I think had some business to deal with first ; their space exploration. Malik and I were delighted to get that far … well that was until a hit was called on Malik. Since then, we paused all our activities”.

“There’s a spy in C.S.R. This person always updates Kennedy on the events on ground” The others nodded at this, they’d already seen what this person could do.

“So guys that’s my story”.

“How did you get Declan’s number”? Bryan asked Zach.

“Mere looking at me you wouldn’t know. But whatever I need, I get it. So I got his number because, I could”. Zach answered confidently.

Declan chose this moment to call Malik and they discussed briefly. After their talk, Malik looked at the others, who were staring at him apprehensively . He smiled to reassure them. And shared what was discussed with Declan.

They were ready to fight their adversaries!

**********

Derek who had been with Tessy , felt the place looked different, it had been five days, he had last seen her. When he came earlier, her bandages we’re changed. He felt Tessy looked so small as compared to how large she’d always looked before the incident. Now , Eric is back to my life and she is still like this? Derek thought.

The doctor had said that she would be transferred to another hospital if her condition didn’t get better. Had the doctor given up hope already? Derek remembered that it was this same man who had told him, she would definitely be fine and discharged soon. So what was this saying now? Derek felt used. He knew all these along and decided to fool him? All thanks to Tessy’s rich account. There was just no way he would have paid for ventilators for close to three months. All the expenses were on Tessy. After all these, the evil doctor was telling him what at this time?

Derek had given him a piece of his mind, to whip the doctor had stared hard at him and just left Tessy’s room. He just noticed the doctor’s demeanor towards him had changed. What was wrong? Well, he would really watch the doctor. Derek just sat by Tessy , caressing her hand. It was always warm. Just then, he had a call. It was Eric when he checked.

Derek smirked to himself. I thought I left him and his fiancee , guess he really wanted me with them. So he answered.

“Hi, sweet son”

“Where are you now dad”? Eric’s voice sounded different, even though he tried to be nice control. What had happened to his son?

Derek told him and what his son said next; that he should leave the hospital quickly, had him feeling nauseous. Eric had not sounded like that in a long time. A noise made him glance at the door and saw the doctor coming. Everything happened so fast. At one point, the doctor was giving him a strange look and then he saw it! A hand threw away his phone so, it smashed and a heavy blow was delivered to his temple . Another followed. As he went unconscious, his last thought was , he had been fooled!

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