Chapter - I
Kalpana was a smart woman. She always knew what to do given a tough situation. Right now she nodded at herself for concluding righteously what to do. All her teammates agreed with her. She flicked a switch on and started talking.
Chapter - II
"So what is the answer?", cried Mr. Sarathy. "What a pity... 9th standard is supposed to be the building block of your education... and here you all are without even knowing this". Apparently he had asked a question to the students and stood them up one by one for the answer and no one knew it. Fourty five sets of legs standing and fourty five sets of shameful eyes were staring down... except one. Mr. Sarathy knew very well that Bala would know the answer. He moved his eye to the only boy still sitting in the entire class.
"Answer?", he said.
"11.2 Kilometers per second.", came the reply.
"Excellent."
Chapter - III
".... you are breaking up. You see what outside your window?", came the crisp female voice over the PA.
Kalpana continued, "We have a dog. I repeat. We have a dog outside the window......"
Chapter - IV
"Man, this is crazy. My parents would be worried sick, you know that? Its already 8:30 PM." said Kannan.
"Hey, listen, this is very important to me. I need that thing for the project. I have got everything ready except this one. So tonight is the last drill. We are going to steal that and we are going to complete the project. ok? So please stay with me."
Kannan nodded but he smelt trouble. They were near an huge metal scrapyard at the edge of the city after school hours. A fourteen year old could not have smelt more trouble in his life. But he trusted Bala, his best friend since childhood. "What is that we are stealing again?".
"We are going to steal a huge spring. I would have done it myself but it was too heavy. Come lets go in, i think the guy just left.", said Bala and ambled into the shadows.
Chapter - V
"We saw it went past the window and got itself stuck in the system. We accessed the damage. It seems irrepairable.", said Kalpana.
"What! Please hold i'll get Failsafe team immediately.", said the voice. The panic in the voice was unmistakable.
Chapter - VI
Kannan and Bala walked into the night carrying the payload. Bala turned the knob and opened an old cabin which stood quite outside his home with a sign that read "Dexter's lab. Do not enter!". Kannan expected the cabin to be dingy and ran down from its looks outside. But he was in for a surprise. The cabin was nothing like he had expected. It was single room, well lit by a 100 watt Philips bulb. The shelf was covered with many books, too big and advanced for an ordinary 14 year old at least.
"Hey, i will run into the house, tell my parents that im studying here with you and come back immediately. Just give me two minutes.", said Bala to Kannnan. As an after thought he added, "...and dont touch anything".
Kannan was left alone and he felt like he shouldnt be here. Maybe thats why even though Bala was his best friend he had never shown him this place. The room gave him the creeps. It had nothing that looked normal. There was a fireplace with coal and some blacksmith's tools. There was a huge metal pipe as wide as a two feets standing in the middle of the room that seems to have grown out of the roof. Not to mention the books that had no earthly business with a 14 year old kid. At least the books didn't scare Kannan. So he walked near the shelf and skimmed through the titles. Understandable, "Smelting techniques", "Brief history of Time", "The Colt Revolver", "The Fist of God", "Elasticity", "Modern Periodic table" and such titles did not ring any bell. And then he saw it. A shining metal mould half covered with a cloth. His eyes became wide. It was so glittering that at first Kannan thought that it was silver. He moved his hands tentatively to feel it. Right then, Bala came bursting into the room and startled Kannan.
"Hey, what is this? Is this silver or something.", Kannan asked pointing at the mould.
"No, its not silver. Its an alloy. Mostly tungsten.", said Bala as a matter of fact.
"I know, the metal in the light-bulb filament. So thats why you have been asking our friends to get you that strip of thing everytime some light fused out. To make this?", enquired Kannan, showing that he also knows his physics.
Bala gave a bingo-thats-why-you-are-my-friend-smile and replied, "Yeah, exactly. And you know what Tungsten's melting point is 3410 degree Celcius?"
"No i did not know that."
A dog barked outside the cabin which made both Bala and Kannan to turn towards the door.
"Oh shoot! That must be Bluto, our neighbour's dog. They unleash it everynight and it barks the nerves out of everyone in the neighbourhood. You would never believe how much sound comes out of something that small. Or for that matter how much shit! I hate that dog."
"If it is a small dog then why are you worried. Go out and give the dog a piece of your mind.", suggested Kannan.
Bala stood up like some kind of lightning stuck him. Then he said something really weird...
"You know, that dog is so small that it would fit into that tungsten-capsule just fine."
"What?", Kannan quizzed.
"Bluto is going to Pluto at an escape velocity of 11.21 Kilometers per second."
Chapter - VII
"Go ahead Columbia. This is Mission Control." came in a male voice through the speakers.
"Houston, we have a problem...", continued Kalpana.
Author's Note: If you are one of those people who come to my site, read everything and leave without clicking on [Comments], there is an embedded virus in this that sends all your temporary internet files and images to all the girls in your address book, your HR manager and your parents. You have been warned.
Me dedicate this to my good friend Sudhakar. I know, at least one comment assured.
Labels: Short Story
11 owls