Who Knows?
Chapter 1
The lights were on, the shutters were up and as he gazed out of the window, all he could see was a dark swarm of nothing and a few faint stars in the distance.
His eyes scanned the horizon for even the faintest light to appear, indicating that his wait had ended.
Soon, he was going to have to face his biggest worry, which would be the delicate negotiation that had been in the making for over seven weeks now.
Its fate hung in the balance as neither party could accept what was being offered, nor offer more.
But before his mind could wander any further, it was quite abruptly interrupted by a booming voice.
Invariably belonging to the Captain.
The Captain’s voice seemed so foreign a concept that upon hearing it, Prashant’s head involuntarily turned in the direction of the overhead speaker.
Shattering any hope of him recollecting his train of thought.
Before he could begin reminiscing about his effervescent inner monologue, the captain proceeded towards the reason behind his sudden vocal appearance.
There had been an earthquake in Delhi ( long overdue he thought) and the runway -just like the other parts of the town- had taken a major hit.
All flights had been diverted, leading Prashant’s to be diverted to Gwalior .
‘Oh noooo!’ he cried. As if his soul half crawled out of the back of his neck.
‘If I am not at that meeting in the next two hours then God only knows how many months it’ll be before one could even think about collaborating with me again…’
His mind was going around this whirlpool of dread as the captain roared on with information about the new city and how the airline would provide safe means towards their destinations. And basically, everything else that was required to be addressed in order to protect the airline from any liability, in the eventuality of a lawsuit.
Prashant knew exactly how many lawsuits were currently filed against the airline in whose plane he was flying.
He approved the proactive approach, even though it was one indicating stubbornness on the airline’s part to change their ways, or maybe it was just a precautionary move.
And either way, who cares?
Prashant, for one, did not.
At this point, any other thought would comfort Prashant, any thought that could help in keeping his focus away from that looming mountain of questions was a welcome respite.
For there were no answers to be found at 37,000 feet.
He stared calmly out of the window, waiting for this house of cards to fall.
The only thing betraying a sense of angst and frustration was his right leg. Consistently jittering since the announcement had ended, he wondered, ‘what’s next?’.
He switched on his phone after touching land again and it seemed like the phone had been possessed.
It would attempt to buzz a notification, but before it could get even a quarter of the way through, another notification popped up, which met the same fate, as did the next 723 in line.
His face wore a puzzled look.
At any given point, he never received more than two or three texts a day.
So who exactly had decided to replace him with 911?
Turns out, it was not one person. But in fact, seventy people had been attempting to get a hold of him, of which 56 stated that they’d call to check if he’d been affected by the quake. Kind souls.
Of the remaining fourteen, there were many names that he did recognise but never had he imagined that he’d have to interact with them so soon.
The fact that bothered him even more was that there were two names that he just couldn’t place and a third was just a number with no caller ID.
So what exactly had happened?
How bad was the quake?
Google answered that instantly as if reading his mind.
8.1 magnitude.
The greatest Delhi has ever faced.
Everyone knew Delhi fell in the seismic zone but no one ever expected a seismic occurrence to take place.
Or let’s say, no one in the government did.
Prashant was yet to come across the worst of it. As his eyes began scanning the article from one corner to the other, his jaw dropped in utter horror. Paralyzed for a few moments, he couldn’t believe anything.
He was unable to fathom that his entire life’s purpose had decimated with one fell swoop. All the time he’d spent. Oh, the agony.
Every effort he had made to ensure that all follow his cue was flushed down the drain as the entire parliament had collapsed with a record ninety eight percent attendance.
What good is a leader of opposition if there’s no one to lead nor anyone to oppose.
The Indian government would have lost just one pillar with the legislature gone had there not been an event being planned right across the street where the bureaucracy was housed.
With all major politicians and bureaucrats in their graves, there was hardly any one who remained.
Law and order was in chaos. Many were out on the streets. Not all were out to help. Crisis does give rise to opportunity but it also gives rise to opportunists.
They varied from those burgling supermarkets to those who channel the emotions (generated by trauma which one undergoes while facing a life or death scenario) of people in a manner of their choosing. Then there were those who used the distraction to rid themselves of the skeletons that had been buried long ago but now the cemetery was unguarded.
Various server stations situated in the city housed information sourced from a variety of financial, social and cultural transactions. While this data was accrued from various sources, digitally or otherwise, it was housed systematically across a bunch of sites spread randomly across the globe or seemingly so. This made the search relatively easier for someone who was looking for something specific.
With so much of that happening, it was hard to keep an eye on the future. Let alone plan ahead and be twenty steps down the line.
But there was a man who thought that way and he was not in Delhi on that fateful eve, nor was he the only one who thought that way.
The vultures that had awoken and would soon begin encircling the city. Just as his plane had circled around the runway before hurtling away from the only city where Prashant would give anything to be right now.
Nervous and worried, Prashant now awaited for what would lie ahead in this chaotic game of chess.
And who exactly, would make the first move?
