They woke up to the chirp of the first bird they heard and freshened up and had their breakfast early…
“What should be our plan?” Chaits asked others even as the first shades of sunlight started to peep on the horizon.
“First we have to find the equipment – without the equipment everything else will be of no use…” Chaitanya said this firmly.
“Then we locate the Prince and his soldiers and lead them to the equipment and open the warm hole – that’s the only way I think will work for the Prince is going to be pretty mad knowing that you eloped with Vishakha.” Chaits looked serious as well a bit sceptical to believe the plan.
“I wonder what would they have eaten for last 2 days – poor people must be hungry and hunger makes people short tempered and more dangerous…” Vishakha cautioned putting more fear in Chaits. For no reason he was drawn into this trouble…
If that equipment was not found – they were in serious trouble… Chaits for at least 2 days till the time he was at Spiti Valley Resort – and Chaitanya, Vishakha, Prince and his soldiers till they were apprehended by authorities and he knew nobody will believe them…
Chaits furiously rode the bike with both Chaitanya and Vishakha as pillion riders to Chandra Taal… they not only had to find the equipment but also save themselves from Prince and his burly soldiers…
“Think Chaitanya think… where did you drop that equipment?” Chaits frantically implored him to remember the location.
Chaitanya and Vishakha were both nonplussed – their memory simply refused them… as Chaits neared Chandra Taal, he slowed his bike so that they could look at the surrounding and remember the spot where they dropped the equipment…
They racked their brains and memory to identify the place where the equipment could have been dropped in their run away from the Prince and his soldiers.
“I think there was a rock protruding where I stumbled and maybe I dropped the equipment there… the rock was about 3 feet high like a ledge – a bit steep on the side of Chandra Taal and tapering toward the ground away from it… and almost 7 feet wide.” Chaitanya said still confused.
They started to look for the rock of that size as they cruised around but they couldn’t find it… they reached the base of Chandra Taal and started their trek uphill toward it… they reached the place and looked around with Chaitanya desperately looking for any clues… he finally identified the place where the warm hole had opened up… he then carefully started to walk the way which they had taken while running from the Prince and his soldiers… it was almost around afternoon when they found the rock and looked around… Chaitanya found the equipment in a crevice. He quickly initialized the equipment trying to understand that it was in working condition and was satisfied that it indeed was working – he was about to open the warm hole leading to his universe when Chaits stopped him…
“We need to send the Prince and the soldiers back to their universe too… they will face hell lot of problems if they stay here.”
“Are you crazy – they are thirsty for my blood and now yours because you look like me – they will not be able to differentiate between you and me…”
“Don’t be so selfish – as you said finally the Prince is also us – remember the theory of multiple fragments of same soul – I am you and you are him… we can’t leave one of us to suffer – as you said, the Karm will note it and then we will have to face the result of this Karm in our next life…”
Chaitanya looked at Chaits for a long uneasy moment and then nodded, “You are correct… we cannot leave him here.”
“But Chaitanya – what about us – if Prince gets to us – I will have to go back to our universe and marry him and I love you not him… I want to be with you… I don’t mind if I am not a princess anymore.” Vishakha had a different angle to the scene.
“We will figure out a way to get that done… but one thing is sure – we cannot leave Prince lurking and suffering here in this universe.” Chaits said with conviction.
“Please think of that again Chaits…” Vishakha implored.
“Well – to think of it – the story is between you, Chaitanya and the Prince – I was not involved and I could have simply washed my hands off you… it was that simple. You and your destiny… however, here I am helping you… so if this has to be done… it has to be done my way,,,” Chaits was firm in his voice and Vishakha’s heart quailed at the thought of she going back to her own universe and marrying the Prince.
“How do we find the Prince?” Chaitanya asked to which Chaitanya simply started walking back toward the bike and they followed him. They reached the bike with Chaits still thinking and then he smiled…
“We will not hide our faces… we will ride the bike around and let Prince or his soldiers see us… I am sure they will follow us… since we are on a bike and they are on foot… it will give us some lead time to reach the rock where we found the equipment. Then we will see how to manage the transition of warm hole…”
Chaitanya and Vishakha looked tensely at each other and said nothing they jumped as pillion riders behind Chaits on his bike and off they rode… they knew that the Prince would be in close vicinity of the area of the resort – maybe in a radius of about 10 kilometres…
First they drove into the small town where they filled petrol in the bike so that they were not of petrol when it mattered and then started to slowly cruise around in the 10 kilometre perimeter from the resort hoping that they see the Prince or one of the soldiers saw them cruising along…
It was almost evening time and the sun was about to set in about an hour or so… Chaits took a short cut from where they were to the Chandra Taal when suddenly there was a shout… all the three on the bike looked in that direction… about a furlong away the Prince and his soldiers were resting when they had suddenly seen these three riding a motorbike… the Prince blinked once or twice and rubbed his eye in disbelief – he was now looking at not one but two Chaitanyas… both looking like him and then he saw Vishakha wearing an odd dress sitting behind them… his rage knew no bounds… they started running towards the bike…
Chaits had rode on this way before everything began and knew that this road would only lead to Chandra Taal where he wanted to take these outside universe visitors… he revved the bike and started to speed up his way to Chandra Taal. Soon they reached Chandra Taal and the basically the rock where Chaits had planned their getaway…
“Now what do we do?” Chaitanya looked at Chaits who was watching the rock which gradually rose to 3 feet from the point they were standing… he moved sideways and took a good look at the rock which had almost a sharp edge and 3 feet jagged fall below on the other side…
“Chaitanya – at what distance from the equipment does the warm-hole open up?”
“Say about 3-4 feet away…” was his reply still not understanding what Chaits was planning…
Chaits put the equipment about a foot behind the edge of the rock hiding it a bit from the sight and calculated the distance… he was satisfied at his calculation and smiled…
“Okay – Chaitanya, Vishakha – here is the plan… we should sight them in about 15 minutes or so running toward us from that road… what I want you to do is… stand about 10 feet away from the rock… let the warm hole open up… I believe it throws up a brilliant light… when they see you run for it toward the rock and jump – not into the warm hole – jump into the pit before the warm hole… Not entering it and crawl to the side without being seen. Prince and his soldiers won’t easily understand what happened and they will think you both jumped into the warm hole and will follow you… and Chaitanya, please calibrate the equipment to send the Prince and his soldiers back to their own universe – not somewhere else…”
“Brilliant idea… I hope it works…” Chaitanya was sceptical but thought that this would work. He started to calibrate the equipment so that the warm hole for the universe in which Prince was supposed to be was set… “It has been set for the same universe of the Prince – what next?”
“Now you and Vishakha stand there…” Chaits pointed to a spot which was about 10 feet away from the rock and stay put till you see the Prince and his soldiers… once you see them and they see you… make a run as we decided.”
“The warm hole opens for only 5 minutes… what if they take more than 5 minutes to reach here?” Vishakha nervously asked.
“That is why I said let them see you first then we open the warm hole and disappear behind the rock.” Chaits said and moved to the edge of the rock and stood there.
Sure enough in about 10 minutes even if it was getting dark now they saw the party of Prince and his burly soldiers at a distance which if they run would be covered in 3 minutes…
“Now Chaitanya – now… open the warm hole and take your position and make a run…” Chaits almost screamed in heat of the action to follow.
Chaitanya opened the warm hole and took the position… the warm hole opened with a brilliant light around and Chaitanya ran to where Vishakha was standing… the Prince and his party saw the brilliant light from far and started to run toward it knowing that Chaitanya was trying to escape into another universe… they saw Chaitanya and Vishakha run toward the warm hole and from a distance they could see both climb the rock and jump – seemingly into the warm hole… they followed and made it within the time… the warm hole was still open and they jumped from the rock into the warm hole and disappeared into the universe they had come from…
In a couple of minutes, the warm hole closed and all the three of them sighed a breath of relief… at least now they were out of danger from the Prince and his soldiers. Chaitanya started to calibrate the equipment so that he could return to his own universe along with Vishakha…
Vishakha approached Chaits and pecked him on his cheek, “Thank you for all the help.” She smiled at him and looked impatiently at Chaitanya who was still calibrating the equipment. Once done with calibration, he turned to Chaits…
“Should I be saying Thank You to myself?” he asked with a smile and hugged Chaits, “Now we will be leaving for our own universe and not be a trouble to you unless any other experiment leads me to you…”
“Don’t ever try and experiment this way – I may not be able to help you next time…” Chaits smiled at both even as the warm hole opened again… Chaitanya and Vishakha, both walked to the edge of the open warm hole and turned back to wave a bye at Chaits and entered the warm hole and disappeared behind it with Chaitanya carrying the equipment in his hand and one hand holding Vishakha…
Chaits waived bye to them and kept looking at the warm hole till it closed – the brilliant light around the warm hole disappearing and it was all dark around… he simply shook his head and turned back to where the bike was parked. He rode back with no thoughts in his mind and hoped that the only day remaining of his holiday would now be peaceful – the peace and tranquillity he had desired…
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