Saturday, September 5, 2015

The Peace Crusaders: Chapter 12

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As decided in their last meeting Amar, Victor, Adarsh, and Shakti started tackling the responsibilities they had agreed to shoulder.

Amar spoke with Adarsh using his ultramodern communication device that was in sync with Adarsh’s device, “I’m sending you an encrypted text message that you alone can decode. The message contains the medical reports of Victor, Shakti, and me. Keep the plan of physical fitness module for each of us ready based on these reports. Do it quick because my message to you will get wiped out as soon as you read it.”

Adarsh cut him in, “I will customize the training module to suit each one of you. Yet you will be able to rejuvenate yourselves in a week. Tell me when are you reaching here.”

“We are reaching Bigland tomorrow. We will arrive by different flights for obvious reasons. We don’t want to be seen together by anyone,” Amar cautioned Adarsh.

“Yes. I get it. Therefore, even after reaching here, I expect you to meet me one-on-one and not together. I will brief you on your training schedules on meeting.”

“Victor will soon get in touch with you using his device and inform you Shakti’s and his itineraries. Bye for now.”

After reaching Bigland their physical training started pronto.

Despite a very packed program they had kept one night aside for a meeting together at an absolutely safe place chosen by Adarsh.

After exchanging quick pleasantries they started talking business in all the seriousness. They delved on their future plans in detail. Then they were left with some free time. They would use it for a little tete-a-tete.

Adarsh reminded Victor, “You have yet to tell us the story of Amar’s genius.”

“Yes, let us get started. And it’s not just about Amar. I’m also an actor in the drama that will now be unfolded before you.”

“We are impatient to know,” Shakti said.

 The storytelling took them ten years in the past. The flashback scene rolled out:

 Amar and Victor were waiting in the posh lobby of Technowiz Corp. It was the most advanced tech company of the world, headquartered in Unon. Both of them were waiting for their turn for the interview with the twins Merciles and Willy. Merciles and Willy were the world famous promoters and founders of Technowiz Corp.



Amar and Victor were a bit shaky. Amar told Victor, “I am a bit nervous to face the intimidating personalities of Merciles and Willy.”



“So am I,” Victor said. “But we must get recruited by them. We must not miss this lifetime chance to work for a company like Technowiz Corp.”


Amar just nodded. Then they sat silently till Amar was called in.

Merciles quipped, “Well buddy, you are already hired. I have a complete background check on you. So we are not going to waste time. Go to HR and get your contract.”

As soon as Merciles finished, Willy asked, “Have you ever smoked pot in your life?”

“No. None,” Amar replied without understanding the context of the question.

“Then how are you going to appreciate the beauty and art?” Willy quizzed. “Here you will be required to design high tech products that will have brain as well as beauty. How will you ever integrate beauty with the high tech if you haven’t experienced beauty? Think about it.”

“The meeting is dismissed,” Merciles concluded. “You can go now.”

Victor’s interview followed the same thread.

As Amar and Victor, now overjoyed at their success, walked toward HR department to sign the contracts, Victor questioned, “Amar, do you think the twins are junkies? The eyes of both of them were bloodshot and they seemed to be in some kind of trance.”

“I suspect it too. They talked quite irrelevantly about doing pot and beauty and integrating beauty with high tech in their products. But who cares? Let us make the most of the opportunity of working in Technowiz,” Amar said philosophically.

Victor surmised, “What Willy and Merciles hinted was you can experience some kind of beauty and art when you smoke pot. Absurd, absolutely ridiculous! But as you say, who cares if we are getting a chance to carry out some great work because of resources and freedom of this company.”

Over the next two years Amar and Victor worked on an extremely high tech product. Both of them worked day and night to conceptualize, design, and develop the product that would revolutionize the world. It was possible only with the brains of the likes of Amar and Victor. Amar was a genius in electronics, computer hardware, and software. Victor was a genius in mechanical, automobile, marine, and aeronautical engineering.

Merciles and Willy always spied on their recruits particularly the ones who were capable of dishing out great products. And to invigorate their motivational levels, they used to throw some bribes from time to time.

After an year’s time Merciles invited Victor and Amar in his office and said in an appreciative tone, “We are allotting you company’s shares that would make each one of you a billionaire at today’s stock price. We are expecting you to present your work to us soon.”

Two years had passed. Victor and Amar had just completed the finishing touches on their product. “Now we need to present our product to the twins. We cannot proceed further unless our rough cut prototype is approved by Willy and Merciles,” Amar told Victor.

So they took an appointment with Willy and Merciles. By the time the presentation by Amar and Victor wasn’t even half way through, Merciles shouted, “Stop it. Your product is all crap.”

Willy added, “I had warned you guys. You have to integrate beauty with technology. Yours is all technology and no beauty. I had told you the easy way out to find beauty. You obviously ignored my suggestion.”

Merciles complemented what Willy spoke. “Never argue with us on the artistic aspects of our company’s products. We make money because our products are sophisticatedly gorgeous. Buyers lap them up and pay through their nose.”

“But no one can beat technologically the product we just presented. The cosmetic dressing up can be done easily before we bring it on the production line,” Victor argued.

“You are arguing again. Stop it. And stop mocking the beauty by terming it as cosmetic dressing. The meeting is dismissed till you make the product a piece of art,” Willy said.

Merciles added, “You indicated in your presentation that the product you designed need to be used only for peaceful purpose since they can be quite lethal if used militarily. Then hear my decision on it right away. We are going to market it to all the arms producing companies all over the world. That’s where the money is.”

Amar objected, “No. It will be very dangerous. Already the planet is torn by the wars. Our product will make the weapons many times more capable and dangerous. Using that kind of weaponry will destroy humanity.”

Victor reemphasized Amar’s viewpoint, “Amar and I will stop developing the product if you insist on deploying it for military use. Both of us feel very strongly about it.”

“OK. I accept your warnings in good spirit,” Merciles conceded. He looked at Willy and winked. Amar and Victor noticed it but did not make much of it.

Willy confirmed what Merciles just said, “We give our word. We will use the product only for peaceful purpose. Please concentrate on the development without any apprehension.”

Amar and Victor completed the beautification part of their product within a month after which one more meeting took place among the four.

Amar made the presentation. He concluded, “Victor and I now handover the entire hardware, software, and documentation of the product to you.”

“Well gentlemen, thanks. But you guys are fired. It has been brought to our notice that you two stole the product idea from one of your colleagues. We got it verified by our security staff. We have zero tolerance in our company for this kind of plagiarism. Our company rules specify this and you have accepted the terms and conditions while signing the contract. However to display the generosity and beauty of our hearts we wouldn’t touch the shares allotted to you.

They remain with you guys,” Merciles declared. The fact was it wasn’t legally possible for Merciles, Willy, and their company Technowiz to impound the shares they had already allotted to Amar and Victor.

Then Willy asked his secretary to send in five senior security officers. They escorted Amar and Victor out of company premises.

Later their friend who worked for the same company told Amar and Victor, “The twins have applied for registration of patent of the product you two developed on their own names. They will be known as the inventors of the remarkably seminal product you actually invented. Also they have announced board’s approval to market this product to all the companies all over the world engaged in manufacturing weapons and arms of all kinds.”

Shakti and Adarsh listened to the entire story quite intently. Then Shakti opined, “That is quite a sad story. It ended in a tragedy.”

Victor said, “No. You need to hear one more story connected to this one. I had mentioned about two stories in our last meeting. You heard the first one. Now here is the second story.”

Amar took a clue from Victor and narrated the second story, the one with a happy ending.

Amar said, “The whole thing was very shocking to Victor and me. We had put our heart and soul into that product we developed. And then we saw the twins stealing it away from us right under our nose. They took its patent and branded us as thieves. No other company was willing to employ us. We were literally on the streets.”

Adarsh queried, “But you had those shares.”

Amar nodded, “Yes. That was the saving grace. Both of us were billionaires now. We could use that money to lead a comfortable life. But we were hurt deep inside. Victor and I went over the entire episode several times. We assessed that our loss was nothing as compared to what would happen to entire humanity if our products were used in the weapons. The weapons would become many times more powerful and kill the people at an unimaginably faster rate.”

Shakti asked, “Do you have any solution? The product you developed must be already in use in the wars. That’s why we see enormous casualties in the wars these days.”

Victor clarified, “No. We averted it fully. Amar, I’m sorry to have interrupted you. Please go on.”

Amar continued, “We decided that we would not spend our billions for our own comforts. We decided to put them to some better use for the entire humanity. We decided to stop the wars. It was an almost impossible mission and we needed lots of money to see it completed. Luckily we had that kind of money with us.”

“What was you next step then?” Adarsh asked.

Amar said, “Within a week of us getting fired we kidnapped the twins. By that time no harm was done. The product and its details were kept safely in Willy’s office. We took them in our custody. The twins were crazy guys. In addition to being junkies they loved to ride fast and powerful bikes. They also possessed those ultramodern communication devices. We took hold of the two bikes and the two communication devices. Now you know how we got hold of those two wonderful bikes and the communication devices.”

“Where are the twins? Hope you didn’t murder them?” Shakti laughed jokingly.

“No. They are still in our captivity at a place that no one on the planet can locate. In fact a hectic and longish search followed the twin’s disappearance. After all they were rich and famous. But time is a big healer. Over a period people forgot about them completely. Life and time don’t stop because of presence or absence of anyone. None is indispensible. No one is great to be remembered for ever.”

“I’m curious to know how you guys captured the twins.” Amar gestured at Victor to proceed with the rest of the story.

Victor said, “Amar hacked their high tech communication devices. He is the greatest hacker on the planet. We knew from our observations that the twins would accept the telephonic calls only on their impregnable communication machines. If someone could make through the twin’s machines it was concluded that the caller was an important person. As you are aware by now only 98 persons owned these sophisticated devices. Only these 98 devices could talk to each other and no one else was admitted in this circuit.”

“Did you threaten the twins?”

“No, quite the opposite. We befriended them. The twins are junkies of the worst order. They are always looking out for opportunities to get the drugs from some source or the other. So, I introduced myself as a high-class drug dealer and offered them the latest and the most potent new types of psychedelic drugs.”

“Were they hooked?”

“They were hooked lock, stock, and barrel. They invited us at their vacation villa. They used to have their drug sessions in its serene surroundings. They also used to meet the potential drug peddlers at this isolated place.”

“You must have gone there, drugged them, and then captured them?”

“No. We did not carry any drugs with us. We had no idea how to procure drugs. All we knew was that the villa was absolutely unguarded by any security men. The twins didn’t want anyone around when they did the pot. The villa was guarded by a highly sophisticated electronic security system. Amar could have easily broken it. He is the genius. But we had an appointment already fixed and the twins disarmed the security. The twins welcomed us. They were already in their deep trance. They had drugged themselves heavily.”

Victor took a pause, took a drink of water, and continued telling his story.

He said, “Before they could say another word we pounced on them and covered them with blankets. We tied them up nicely. Got hold of their two motorbikes and the communication devices. We had chartered a small but a long-haul private airplane. We dumped the twins, bikes, and communication machines in its hold and flew all the way to a highly secure and highly unapproachable hiding place in our country Desh. Amar and I had once seen this place in our college days and always wondered about its inaccessibility.”

“So the twins are still there? When are you taking us to this hiding place of yours? In our mission we have talked about a hiding place. Do you think this one will do?” Adarsh was looking out for serious answers from Victor and Amar.

Victor replied, “We will take you guys there when we meet for the final meeting of our phase one plan in Desh. In the mean time we will look around for better hideouts if any. Can all of us make it to Desh on April 27 for our final meeting? Our planned D-day for phase one operation of the mission is May 1. While we would have exchanged all our notes and finalized most of the plans, a final meeting in Desh couple of days before May 1 will be in order.”

Amar said, “Victor and I will be in Desh from April 27 till May 1.”

Shakti replied, “No problem for me too. I will meet you guys in Desh on April 27 as suggested by Victor. My institute is closed for a week then.”

Amar spoke on behalf of Adarsh, “I know for sure that Adarsh should not have any problem on April 27 because his boss is planning a holiday in Desh with prime minister Lobhilal then. Lobhilal has arranged the highest level of Desh’s security for Gushnell and his wife Helen. And so because of these arrangements despite being Gushnell’s personal bodyguard Adarsh can afford to be away for some time under the pretext of meeting his folks in his hometown in Desh. Thus he will be able to attend the meeting with us on April 27. Am I right Adarsh?”

“Yes, definitely. I can do it during the daytime on April 27. On the other days I will have to be in the attendance of my boss,” Adarsh
confirmed.

The four of them shook hands and went out in different directions.

They would meet in Desh on April 27.
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