Unforgettable journey to other planets
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The men placed the stretcher next to the smoldering fire.
“Water,” the hermit said, pointing to the iron pot, “good to drink.”
Dr Capri took a small steel pot that stood on a stone near the fire. He poured water on his hand and wiped Debby’s face, touched her tangled hair, and tried to pour some water into her mouth. Debby coughed. That cough made everyone smile and relax even more. Debby began to greedily gulp down the water with her mouth. She drank as if she had taken her last sip of water at her home in Stamford. The water quickly ran out.
David stepped back tiredly and sat down, leaning against the wall near the entrance to the cave. He was tired, his legs and arms disobeying him. Yulia sat beside the stretcher, while the doctor and the Frenchman attended to Debby. They began to examine her leg again. Debby was whispering something incomprehensible and would not open her eyes. The hermit tossed some dry pieces into the fire and listened to Debby’s inarticulate words.
He looked at the girl and the doctor and Jean-Pierre, who were fiddling around her.
“Better will be,” he nodded, “rest and water needed. Tomorrow we can see.”
“Tomorrow?” Jean-Pierre was indignant. “We need to get her out of here as quickly as possible.”
“Storm just begun,” Bhrigu said, pointing to the exit.
Jean-Pierre looked at the doctor and Yulia. They looked back tiredly. Jean-Pierre got up and walked toward the exit. He needed to see for himself what was going on outside.
Now he had a backup in the form of this cave, but he needed to assess the situation for a full plan.
“Cure I will make,” said Bhrigu. “Rest you must.”
The hermit went to the semblance of a rack near one of the walls and began to look there for something. He sang softly and seemed completely convinced that Debby had a cold rather than a closed leg fracture and painful shock. He pinched off parts of some dried plants and put them on the wooden plate. Occasionally he looked at Debby and nodded, continuing to purr something.
Jean-Pierre walked to the exit of the cave. The wind increased, and the snow flew parallel to the ground. Jean-Pierre felt how difficult it was for him to walk to the stairway. Fatigue and pain throughout his body made him stop. He walked to the top of the stairs and looked up at the sky. A blizzard was howling and beating desperately against the rocks. It seemed as if the weather was only getting worse. Jean-Pierre looked at his hands, which were shaking with exhaustion and exertion. The cold wind was blowing his breath away.
In his mind, options of what might happen swirled. He realized that with every hour of delay, Debby would lose her chances of survival. Jean-Pierre looked at his watch. The hands were not moving. He put it to his ear and didn’t hear the familiar ticking. The cold was creeping under his dirty and wet from sweat and snow shirt, pushing the Frenchman back into the cave.
“We won’t find the soldiers. The helicopter won’t take off, but maybe at least we can send a signal. We’ll have to put up some kind of sign here tomorrow. Debby. What if she doesn’t make it to morning? What if there’s internal bleeding or…” Images of what might happen to Debby began to flicker in his mind. He felt a burning sensation in his chest from the fact that there was nothing he could do.
Jean-Pierre picked up a stone the size of his fist and threw it as hard as he could into the fog.
“Don’t try to not calm down before morning!” he said angrily in French, and went back to the second cave.
“Do you have a radio?” Jean-Pierre asked Dr Capri. “Communication with the military?”
“No,” replied the doctor.
“What, you don’t have any…” Jean-Pierre started to speak loudly, but he was interrupted by Yulia.
“Radios and cell phones don’t work here,” she said calmly. “We’re scientists, and that’s why we are here.”
“Why don’t they work?” Jean-Pierre asked incomprehensibly. “I’m the assistant head of the General Directorate of Foreign Security of France, tell me everything, what’s the reason you’re here?”
“Listen,” Dr Capri stood up to defend Yulia, “your friend is in a very serious condition right now. I think we need to focus on how we can help her.”
“That’s exactly what I’m talking about!” Jean-Pierre said even louder. “We can help her if we understand what’s going on.”
David opened his eyes from his slumber. The hermit took the second pot off the fire and poured the contents into a smaller steel cup, smelled the aroma, smiled, and walked over to Jean-Pierre.
“Help,” Bhrigu said, smiling, and handed the cup to Jean-Pierre, “drink.”
Jean-Pierre looked at Bhrigu and wanted to refuse, but almost without thinking, took the cup and automatically, quenching his thirst, took a few sips. Bhrigu took the cup and went to Yulia.
“Drink. It warms you.”
Yulia tried to smile and bow. She took a few sips, too, and felt the warmth and pleasant light taste spreading through her stomach. Her hands warmed and her face relaxed.
Bhrigu took the cup and returned to the fire. He poured more decoction and held it out to the doctor.
The doctor gently lifted Debby’s head and began to drink it slowly.
“Help. Help,” the hermit repeated in heavily accented French, smiling. “Help not easy if you don’t know how, but it harder if you don’t know whom.”
Jean-Pierre looked stunned at the hermit, who was already walking toward David.
“What did he say?” the doctor asked Jean-Pierre in surprise.
“That… That we still need to figure out who needs help,” Jean-Pierre answered, continuing to follow the hermit with his gaze. “Who is he?”
“How would I know?” Dr Capri shrugged his shoulders. “When you came up, I just met him. He said his name was Bhrigu, and he lived around here.”
“Is that all?” Jean-Pierre was surprised.
“Yes,” said the doctor, finishing the rest of his drink.
The hermit went to the pile of firewood and scones near the entrance, chose a smaller scone of dung and put it to David’s ear.
“This help. Keep it here,” said Bhrigu, “soon you will hear everything.”
“Thank you,” David said, smiling and embarrassed, with eyes half-closed from fatigue.
“Good,” laughed Bhrigu, “very good.”
Jean-Pierre caught the hermit’s gaze and asked in French:
“Who are you, tell me, where are we now?”
Bhrigu came almost right up to Jean-Pierre and looked at him very intently. For several seconds he looked up from below, studying and examining the Frenchman’s facial features, eyes and hair.
“I am Bhrigu. We are all here. Tomorrow will be better. Right now, you need to rest.”
Jean-Pierre was not satisfied with this answer, and he wanted to continue, but the hermit took a step back and looked at the Frenchman’s mud-gray boots in surprise. Jean-Pierre involuntarily lowered his gaze and became embarrassed, and then moved his eyes to the old man’s feet. The bare tips of his toes were sticking out from under the recluse of the hermit. Bhrigu tweaked and straightened his toes. There were no shoes on his feet. Jean-Pierre looked up and met the elder’s good-natured glance. He smiled, nodded, and walked toward the stalactites. Jean-Pierre noticed that the doctor, Debby, and Yulia were asleep, lying down by the fire. He turned around, David was also asleep, sitting against the wall near the entrance.
Jean-Pierre turned toward the stalactites, but the hermit was not there. The Frenchman took a few steps and saw that behind the stalactites there was a low passage into another hall of the cave. He went inside and began to peer into the darkness. A few torches were burning, mounted on the walls, but they did not illuminate the cave completely. He saw the light reflect off something on the floor. After a few seconds, when his eyes became accustomed, the outline of the hermit, who was sitting with his back to the shore of the underground lake, became visible. The distant sound of water reached Jean-Pierre. He looked more closely and wanted to call out to Bhrigu, but he felt the fatigue building up again. He could no longer resist: he sat down on the ground, put his back against the wall and switched off.
Part 2 – Chapter 25
Bernard Bajolet tapped his phone once more, wondering how to start the conversation. The number was already typed on the screen, but he hesitated to start the call. He pressed the button, and the call went through.
“Mademoiselle, good afternoon, my name is Bernard Bajolet, we work together with your husband,” he began.
“Yes, yes, monsieur Bonjour,” came Audrey’s voice.
“I don’t want to worry you, but I have information that the plane Jean-Pierre was on has disappeared from the radar.”
Audrey was silent. She stood at a loss in the middle of the kitchen, and her heart sank with fright and bitterness. Monsieur Bajolet was also silent for a while.
“I understand,” he began. “Please, Audrey, keep my number, I will let you know all the news. They haven’t found the plane, which means,” he hesitated, “that there is hope.”
The last words sounded unnatural and rude. He tried to correct himself, but stopped and decided not to continue to make her feel better, but to tell her the facts.
“The plane disappeared about two hours ago over the mountains in Nepal. The weather there is very bad right now, but a hiking rescue team has been sent there. They need time to get there.”
Bernard Bajolet was walking in a small circle the whole time he was talking, but suddenly he froze and, nodding, said:
“As soon as there is news, I will call you.”
“Okay,” the young woman said in a suppressed voice.
Audrey put the phone away and looked at the screen. It was counting down the time of the call. The seconds kept running: 43, 44. Suddenly, the numbers froze – Bernard Bajolet hung up.
Audrey looked around the kitchen. She looked at the refrigerator, at the table. There was no way her thoughts could break the dam of shock. “I have to call Madame Julie.” She picked up the phone and began searching for the number of Jean-Pierre’s mother, but there was no way she could do it. The letters began to blur, and her breathing became labored. She felt herself being pinned to the floor. She closed her eyes and held her breath, shaking her head from side to side. Then she gathered her strength and went to the room, opened her computer, and went to a news site. “Flight 274 Paris-Tokyo has gone off the radar. Circumstances are being clarified,” read Audrey.
Her instinct and habit triggered from the awareness of the threat, the fear, and the pain. She grabbed her phone and dialed Jean-Pierre’s number – ‘out of range’.
Audrey put the phone away. Picked it up again, put it away again. She got up and sat down several times. Tried to say something, to think about what to do. She walked a few laps around the room, closed the curtains, and lay down on the couch. Tears came to her eyes, but she held them back, trying to cope. Her breathing became short and her chin shook.
“No!” she burst out.
Part 2 – Chapter 26
Jean-Pierre’s consciousness returned to his body. He felt light and refreshed when he heard familiar voices nearby. He opened his eyes and saw Debby floating in the water. The torches on the walls dimly illuminated a huge hall, most of which occupied the visible part of the underground lake. The water seemed a rich blue, and Jean-Pierre didn’t immediately realize he was awake. He got up and sat back, trying to see what was going on.
The huge hall of the cave went into darkness, hiding the calm subterranean lake. Only at the entrance to the cave was a small patch of land that disappeared into the blue water at an incline. The walls of the cave were slightly moist, the air fresh and warm. The opposite end of the lake was not visible because of the darkness and the huge stalactites and stalagmites that hung from the high vault of the cave and stuck out of the water like islands.
Debby and Yulia were swimming in the water. Debby was laughing, and Yulia was swimming beside her, holding her hands. On the shore stood Dr Capri and David. They were talking to Debby:
“Try to bend your leg at the knee,” Dr Capri said loudly.
Jean-Pierre perked up, the drowsiness abruptly gone, and he rose to his feet.
“What’s going on?” he shouted.
The doctor threw a disgruntled look at him, and David came closer and with a smile spread his hands to the sides as a sign of surprise:
“We have no idea ourselves,” he laughed. “Debby had a fever this morning. She moaned and Bhrigu suggested that we should put her in the water. After a few minutes, she came to. And look. It’s been half an hour, and she’s already swimming. I woke you up, but you slept tight.”
David led Jean-Pierre to the water’s edge. They looked in disbelief at the cheerful girls who were swimming in the water a few feet away. Debby waved to Jean-Pierre.
“Hello!” she shouted cheerfully. “Hello, my hero!”
“How are you feeling?” Jean-Pierre asked softly.
Debby looked at the smiling Yulia and said:
“I don’t know yet. Weak. But it seems to be fine.”
Jean-Pierre smiled absently and said to Dr Capri:
“That’s… That’s impossible! She had a fracture, I looked at her leg.”
The doctor shook his head and thoughtfully said:
“I know. I’m sure it was a fracture. Now we’re going to take her out of the water and try to see what’s going on. I don’t know what to say for now.”
Jean-Pierre squatted down, took water from the lake in his hands, and washed his face. He looked at the door-stretcher, which lay on the bank of the lake. Next to him, David walked knee-deep into the lake to help the girls get out.
The water was very pleasant: cool and soft.
“Debby,” said Jean-Pierre, “how is your leg?”
Debby swam closer to the shore and took hold of Yulia’s arm and put her feet on the bottom.
She looked into the clear water and let go of Yulia.
“I can stand,” Debby said, looking at the audience on the bank. “I feel a burning in my leg, where the wound was.”
“Does it hurt?” Dr Capri asked.
“No-no,” Debby said, smiling. “It’s… It’s like,” she chose her words, “the buzzing of bees.”
Jean-Pierre looked at the doctor and David.
“That’s it!” shaking the head, Jean-Pierre said. “Come back.”
He beckoned Debby with his hand. And she walked slowly toward him, expecting that now, under the growing weight of her body, the pain would return. David took a few steps to help her out. Yulia walked behind and wrung her t-shirt right off her body.
David helped Debby ashore and went to help Yulia. The bottom was pretty slippery.
Everyone surrounded Debby and looked at her in silence, waiting. She wrung out her shirt and twisted her hair. Jean-Pierre leaned closer to her leg to take a look. The leg was fine. Debby’s wet clothes fit her body smoothly, and there was nothing in place of yesterday’s bump on her hip. Debby was shivering from the chill and felt embarrassed that everyone was looking at her.
David picked up a towel and some of his t-shirts that were lying by the stretcher and gave them to Debby and Yulia to dry their hair and wipe off.
“Hi,” Debby decided to start, “my name is Debby Glandfield. I live in Stamford. Teach history at school,” she realized that she hadn’t succeeded, and after waiting for a while, she continued. “This is Jean-Pierre, he’s a very serious man,” she smiled.
There was another pause.
“I’m David,” said the waist-wet young man, nodding in encouragement. “I guess I’m the only one here willingly.”
Jean-Pierre looked at him with incomprehension, and then glared at him.
“I’m on vacation here,” as if apologizing, David said. “And this is Yulia, she is from Russia.”
Yulia smiled at David and nodded, picking up the phrase.
“I’m from Russia, I work in Roscosmos,” she smiled warmly at Debby and then caught two heavy looks on her face.
Dr Capri looked at her a little disappointed, and Jean-Pierre almost opened his mouth in amazement.
“Really?!” Jean-Pierre got turned on. “Roscosmos?! Tell me what’s going on here!” he looked at the doctor and seemed ready to attack him.
Dr Capri calmly looked into the Frenchman’s eyes and turned to Debby.
“My name is Dr Capri, you may call me Tulu-Manchi,” he held out his hand to Debby and shook it. “You’re feeling better now, there’s no doubt about it. And perhaps we should get to what’s going on here.”
He turned to Jean-Pierre, thought for a moment, choosing where to begin, and told him everything that had happened to him and Yulia in the last few days. He began with Kathmandu, how they had detected some incomprehensible signal, how they had figured out what the message was. He told how they had gone on a search with the military. How the meeting with David took place. The Englishman added to the doctor’s story how his cell phone went crazy and stunned him. Then Tulu-Manchi shared how they had all seen the plane crash together and how its tail section surprisingly slowly fell to the ground and the main hull disappeared in the sky. Dr Capri ended how they rushed with the military to the fallen wreckage, realizing that there might be people there.
“It all happened,” the doctor looked at Debby, “and we met you.”
“Yes,” Yulia said. “The signal we found at the observatory, David’s phone, the helicopter crash, and your plane crash,” looking at Debby, Yulia said. “It’s all the same thing. It’s all connected to a signal whose source is somewhere around here.”
David sat on the floor and shook his head, unable to understand how the signal made him come here. He thought of Yulia and the doctor trying to find the source of the anomaly, Debby and Jean-Pierre had not come here of their own free will, but he had come himself. He came here on purpose, and he didn’t understand why it was so important to him.
“Wow!” David said. “So this signal broke your helicopter, Jean-Pierre and Debby’s plane, and called me on my cell phone?” David raised his eyebrows.
“Yes,” a voice came from behind. “Better you are now. Leg will not pain.”
Debby looked through the people at the figure behind them. Bhrigu stepped closer and bowed to everyone.
“Who are you?” Debby asked in amazement.
“Your friend Bhrigu. I live here. You were very sick this morning. The lake to help you. The lake to help anyone who wants.”
He looked around at everyone with a smile.
“Ear,” looked at David, and said Bhrigu. “Fear,” he looked at Yulia. “Powerless,” he smiled at Jean-Pierre. “Your leg,” he said to Debby. “Not understanding,” Bhrigu said quietly to the doctor.
The doctor rounded his eyes and was about to say something, but Jean-Pierre beat him to it. He grabbed the hermit by the robe with a sharp movement and pulled him closer.
“You are saying that it was you who arranged all this madness.”
The hermit closed his eyes and smiled. Dr Capri rushed over to Jean-Pierre.
“Are you crazy, let him go!” shouted the doctor.
“But he…” Jean-Pierre didn’t have time to finish.
“He just wanted to say…” the doctor didn’t finish his sentence either, David interrupted him.
“But how does he know about my ear?”
Debby slowly walked over to the old man and looked at Jean-Pierre. He let go of the hermit. Everyone froze.
“Thank you, Bhrigu, for helping me. Tell me, how did the lake heal my leg?”
Bhrigu bowed again, first to Jean-Pierre and then to Debby.
“How?” he wondered. “I can show you,” he held his right hand up, as if holding an apple in it. “Strong need if exists, lake slake it,” he made a movement as if putting an object with his left hand into his right hand.
David stepped closer to the hermit and asked quietly:
“Are you talking about wish fulfillment?” he was breathing heavily with excitement.
Bhrigu smiled and looked at David with a smile, the way fathers look at their sons.
“Hey, damn you all! What’s going on here? What wishes, what lakes, what signals from Voyagers?” shaking his head, Jean-Pierre said loudly. “Have you all lost your minds? We need to get out of here immediately and look for heli.”
Jean-Pierre walked briskly toward the exit, David was still staring at Bhrigu expectantly.
“Jean-Pierre!” Debby shouted in his wake. But he didn’t answer.
Everyone looked at Bhrigu. And he smiled calmly and looked back at everyone.
Jean-Pierre entered the other hall of the cave and clenched his fists with tension and incomprehension.
“That’s it, I’ve had enough,” he said quietly to himself in French, “we have to get out of here. What are they up to?!”
He stared at the smoldering fire, exhaled loudly, and began to move toward the bundle of wood lying near the wall. He wanted to see what the weather conditions were now, and if they could find the remains of an airplane fuselage or maybe a military helicopter, but…
“What?” Jean-Pierre whispered, and his eyes darted around.
Part 2 – Chapter 27
“How’s that?” looking around, Jean-Pierre whispered near the blank wall of the cave. “Where is the exit?”
He looked around, but found no other passage than the one that led to the hall with the lake. He took a step back from the wall, then walked toward it again and began to move parallel to the wall by touch. He touched it with his hand to make sure of what he saw. The space was quite dim. He took a few more steps and went back to the logs. He picked up some dry twigs and threw them into the fire in the center of the hall. The fire quickly grew brighter. All the walls became clearly visible. Jean-Pierre looked them over carefully once more. The confusion was quickly replaced by anger. He walked in a circle, tapping his hand on the wall. When he reached the makeshift shelves, he kicked them off. The solid monolithic rock was all over the place.
“How could it be?” mimicking a grimace of incomprehension, Jean-Pierre thought.
“How could it be?” he said quietly, remembering the circumstances of last night.
“How could it be?” he shouted, rushing toward the lake.
He ran into the hall in a rage and wanted to do something terrible to the hermit, but the doctor stepped forward quickly and diverted his attention to himself.
“What happened, Jean-Pierre?” Dr Capri said loudly.
“Where is the exit? I’m asking you, Aborigine!” Jean-Pierre kept shouting behind the doctor’s back.
“What are you talking about?” David asked incomprehensibly.
Jean-Pierre turned away from all the people and exhaled. He pressed his lips together and inhaled through his nose with such an effort that his chest almost doubled in size.
“I want to ask our new and caring friend where the exit from the cave is.”
“It…,” David wanted to answer, but Jean-Pierre’s own answer overtook him.
“It was near the pile of firewood, but it’s not there now. Not!” repeated Jean-Pierre louder and extended his hand toward the other room, inviting everyone to check his observations.
Everyone moved into the other room. Only Jean-Pierre, Bhrigu, and Debby remained in their places, motionless.
Debby lowered her eyes to the floor, standing next to Bhrigu. And he just stared at Jean-Pierre’s emotions, which were very simple – resentment.
“What have you done to us?” Jean-Pierre asked quietly and angrily in French.
Tulu-Manchi, Yulia, and David entered the hall in quick strides and looked alarmed.
“Bhrigu!” Dr Capri began to speak in a loud and anxious voice. “Bhrigu,” he switched to Nepali. “Please tell us what is happening. We cannot find the exit from the cave.”
The hermit hesitated and said:
“Interesting. Very interesting,” Bhrigu replied in English. “Place this is not usual. Sacred place. To understand its motion very difficult. But I can help to understand you. Seems to me, you are connected and have to find important something.”
“Where… is… the… exit?” Jean-Pierre repeated, pausing between words.
“Exit?” the hermit thought again. “You need exit?”
“Yes,” the Frenchman answered, looking at him sternly.
“I show you the exit. It is on the other side,” and Bhrigu pointed to the dark part of the hall on the other side of the lake.
“What?” blurted out Jean-Pierre and all the others.
“But that’s impossible,” David concluded.
“Yes?” answered Bhrigu with a smile.
Jean-Pierre turned to Debby and said to himself:
“How do we get there?” he shook his head. “What am I talking about? The gateway is gone. We went in there yesterday. How is that possible?”