The Brother

Chapter Five

“Mister Cooper! Mister Cooper!”

Jace slowly opened his eyes to find Jayram looking down at him from up close. He sat up lazily and said, “Call me Jace. No need for the formality.”

“Well, I don’t think hat would be necessary anymore. Your ride has arrived.”

“Oh, great.” Jace said a little sleepily and headed to the front door of the house. He took some time to adjust to the bright sunlight and headed out.

There was a black car, or what was left of it. What stood in front of him was the body of a car in pristine form. There was no roof. It was glistening under the sunlight and Jace could not spot even a single scratch on it.But there were no wheels. No space to even attach the wheels.

“How does it go?” Jace asked, unable to figure out.

“Well, there’s a button for ignition.” said a voice which Jace immediately identified to be that of Alby. He was standing right next to him. ”So when the engine is running, all you have to do is pull the lever, and hit the accelerator.”

Alby appeared to be almost as tall as Jace. He was a dark man, with a bald head. But the thick moustache and the stubble on his face, suggested that his hair was once black. He could have been of any age. Jace couldn’t guess.

Jace didn’t want to look stupid in front of Alby and Jayram and said, “When do we leave?”

“Right now” said Alby and hopped into the car.

Jace heard the engine start, producing a low growl, and saw the car slowly lift itself about a foot off the ground. He couldn’t control his amazement. “This thing flies?”

“Well, yeah. But that’s the highest it can go off the ground. That’s why we’ve got roads.” said Jayram over the purr of the engine.

“How are you not surprised at my lack of knowledge of this place?” Jace asked.

“Well, you aren’t the only person to have taken my help after appearing out of nowhere.” he said with a wink and then turned to Alby who was waiting in the car. “It’s getting late.”

“Hop on!” said to Alby and in less than a second, Jace was in the seat next to Alby. He couldn’t help but grin sheepishly at the idea of travelling in a flying car. He felt like a kid who was riding the bicycle for the first time.

“You ready?” Alby asked and looking at Jace nod, he moved the vehicle forward. Slowly accelerating toward the city.

It took about ten minutes for Jace to realize that riding in a flying car wasn’t too different from riding a car with wheels. The only notable difference he found was the smoothness to the ride. Fighting the urge to sleep, he asked,” So how long is the journey going to take?”

“About an hour to reach the gates.Ten minutes after that” said Alby who looked bored.

“I heard that there is a war going on. What is it about?”

The question seemed to have caught Alby off-guard as he said,”You really don’t know?”

Well, I wouldn’t be asking the question if I knew, would I? Jace wanted to ask but held himself back. He looked at Alby, who seemed to have been gathering his thoughts.

“Alright. My history isn’t great. And I’m not the best of storytellers, but I’ll put in some effort” said Alby. “About two hundred years ago, there was a good man named Wesley. He was the ideal man to be around…”

“Alright, I’ll just have the summary please.” said Jace.

“Sure. About two hundred years ago, there was a war between two countries. I don’t remember their names. I remember my Mama telling me that the war lasted over ten years. Too many people were killed with deadly weapons, the thing had a name…” said Alby and began to think. “It started with new…”

“Nuclear?” suggested Jace.

“Ah…exactly. Nuclear weapons. Well, the intensity of the war only increased over the ten years and we don’t know what happened afterwards.”

“And where does the war that is currently going on in Prayot come in?”

“I’ll get to that. You see during the war which I was talking about, some of the people, who did not want to be involved in the war and feared for their lives, headed to an uninhabited island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. During the ten years of the war, about twelve thousand people immigrated to the island from all parts of the globe.”

“That’s a small number.” said Jace. “ Was the rest of humanity busy with the war?”

“Actually, it is said that around two billion people had set out in search of the island which we now call as Prayot. But the sea had other ideas.”

“Okay so there was a war going on in the rest of the world while you were peaceful here. What happened next?”

“Well, we had plenty of smart people make it across the sea. So, the technological advancement is said to have been brilliant. I wish I had paid more attention in the history class. I could have given you more details.”

“Doesn’t matter. Go on” said Jace, a little annoyed that his question was still unanswered.

“Right. About twelve years ago, two scientists, Wesley and Stryke, were trying to find a fluid that could slow the dying process of a human being. But they ended up inventing a fluid which when used on a person, would make him lose his life. But not die.  ”

“I’m sorry, what?” said Jace, unable to hide the disbelief in his voice. “How is that even possible?”

“How would I know? I’m not a scientist. Anyway, the fluid…”

“Serum. Say serum instead of fluid.” said Jace.

“Alright. The serum was to be used on a person who was on the verge of dying. So when injected with the serum, the person would lose his capability to think, and would be under the command of whoever gave him the serum. Wesley wanted to find a cure, but realized that if a cure were to be created, it would kill the person instantly.”

Jace nodded his head and gestured Alby to continue.

“Stryke wanted to use the serum to create his own army, to help him rule Prayot as the undisputed king. But Wesley was against it. He reported the incident to the then Chief of Council, Thibaut, who banished Stryke to the f*******n lands of the north.”

“Why is it f*******n?” asked Jace.

“Well, it wasn’t f*******n back then. It was just a desert at that time. Now it’s f*******n because Stryke managed to create an empire with his army of the almost-dead.”

“So he managed to succeed. But where did he get people on the verge of dying?”said Jace. It was all too much to take in, a scientist gone rogue, an army of the undead, the idea of being attacked by one of them sent shivers down his spine.

“I’m not sure what he did back then. But now, he has built a dock at the northernmost point and every once in a while, a ship arrives with people from the other regions of the world who are barely alive.” replied Alby.

“How did the rest of the world not discover this island?” said Jace. “Surely there must be at least one satellite that has taken the image of this island.”

“Well, the thing is, the war is said to have put the civilization in the countries about five hundred years back. They will need some time to figure out that there are people who are better than them.”

said Alby,” Where was I? Ah… After building an empire, Stryke has been constantly in war with the army of the Council. This war has been going on for around eight years. And it looks like Stryke is about to win, because we can’t produce three hundred people per day to fight him.”

“And where does my brother fit in this story?” asked Jace purely out of curiosity.

“That’s a little tough to explain. Seven years ago, he appeared out of nowhere, and in just two years, he rose above the ranks, winning people’s trust in the process, and became the Chief of Council after a landslide victory against Thibaut.”

My brother is a politician with a degree in computer science. Java is a truly career defining language.

“So when’s the next election? Five years as the Head of Council seems pretty long.”

“Chief. Chief of Council” said Alby. “The Council will decide the next election date. It’s more of a vote of trust.”

“So, no time soon?” said Jace.

“No. Everyone is happy with the way he’s helped us. Some people even call him the Messiah. To be honest, they’ve got a point. He’s given all of us homes, food, clothing, jobs and our kids get education free of cost. All that Thibaut did was get himself and the Council members free food and clothing. With your brother as the Chief, we finally believe that there is a slight chance of us winning this war.”

Jace tried to look around him and clear his head. Usually he would have laughed at the story narrated by this man. But the recent events in his life made him believe almost every word he said.

He saw a field full of crops. It stretched about a couple of hundreds of meters on either side and was bordered by tall trees.

“Where’s the sea?” asked Jace.”I haven’t seen the sea yet.”

“We’re about seventy kilometers from the nearest coast and its in that direction.” said Alby pointing to what Jace assumed to be west. “Prayot is pretty big. I don’t know the length. But it’s pretty big. I have a list of the places I want to visit at least once in my lifetime and the list is pretty big. Ah… we’re almost at the gates.”