Arith : The Undiscovered Planet
CHAPTER 15

Back at Arith, Eric ,Kelvin, John and Bryann were conversingwith the C. S. R astronaunts. Declan was intrigued to replace much moreincriminating news about Kennedy ; he arch enemy, than the ones he already had.

“His son ; Josh betrayed my sister and I” Kelvin said. Declan was very sure that Joshhad done what his dad wanted and made it known to Kelvin.

“He didn’t want us to expose his illegal acts and I lost mysister in the process” Kelvin added , with barely controlled anger. “I’m gladwe have you; someone who can bring him down”.

“He killed my sister and attempted to set me on fire” . Thatwas a bombshell, Derek dropped. Eric and the others looked on in shock, theywere completely overcome with hate for this Kennedy of a man. Declan on seeingthe surprise on their faces, told them the incident.

After the death of his sister Laura, Declan started with thefire service . He felt helping people was the best option , having lost hisonly sibling. This was before he enrolled for astronomy. Working in the fireservice, gave him a feeling of satisfaction. But this feeling was short-lived. Declan , who wasn’t acheerful guy surprised his parents and even himself. He had lots of friends whohe believed would always be there for him.

Declan always went for hikes, with four of his closestfriends. So that fateful night, after his hiking exercise, he bade his friendsgood night and drove home. After he showered, he checked his supplies andrealized there was no milk for tea. He decided to get it from a nearby store. Thestore was just a stone throw from hishouse. As he was about moving out, his phone rang. A strange number wascalling.

If he hadn’t picked up, none of what was coming would havehappened. But being himself, thinking of helping someone in need, he picked up.It was one of his friends, Mike, who had been with him during the hike.

“Bro please, can you get over here very quickly, my kitchen is on fire” Mark hadbegged urgently.

Declan needed no other words and off he drove to Mark’shouse with his fire extinguishing apparatus. Mark’s house was about fiveminutes drive. In no due time, he got there and rushed over to the house.

“Mark! Mark!” he had called.

There was no answer and funnily enough, he had left hisphone back at home , in his haste to get to Mark. Hence, he couldn’t call him.He Did know howto get to Mike, being that the gates of Mike’s compound were locked. Declan was so frantic in his search for Mark thathe did not see the figures creeping behind him. Unexpectedly, a heavy blow was delivered, to his temple. Theimpact made him fall on his face. Declan felt himself going unconscious. Thepain had dulled all his senses. When strong hands took hold of his shouldersand turned him over, on his back, he managed to see the hazy image of Kennedysmirking down at him . He could neither move nor talk but that didn’t stop thesecond blow from coming. And this finished him.

Declan woke up in the hospital. He had burns all over hisarms and shoulders. Kennedy and the other boys had left Declan in a buildingand had set it on fire. His saviour had been Mark , who had betrayed him.According to Mark, Kennedy and the other boys had siezed and beaten him up,they had forced him to call Declan. They thought him dead and forgot about himwhen Declan arrived.

When they left Declan in the burning building, Mark came andrescued him.

“I was very angry at Mark, but on second thoughts, Ioverlooked everything, because he saved me.

At this point, Mark was sleeping. Although he wasn’t withthem in their discussion , he was among the C .S. R crew that came to Arith. Heand Declan had resolved their differences and were good presently.

“Kennedy had done so much to me and now it’s between us”said Declan as he concluded story. “Lets get ready for our travel back toEarth”.

Eric, Kelvin, John and Bryann nodded at Declan and his crew.

They were to travel to Earth the next day.

**************

Back in Earth, at the hospital, the doctor, Dante sat by Lincoln’sbed. Derek had gone home to get refreshed and supplies for Lincoln. He hadexplained everything to the doctor. Derek asked him to keep watch over Lincolnfor thirty minutes, that he would definitely be back soon. The doctor , who wasalready their friend was delighted to do that for a friend. Hence, the doctorsat waiting by Lincoln’s bed, waiting for Derek’s return and kept watch.

Ten minutes later, Derek came back.

“Oh! You’re back so soon” Dante greeted.

“I had to hurry over” Derek answered.

“What happened to your voice ? It seems cracked”

“The food I had , was so spicy. I chocked” Derek answered.

“Sorry about that, maybe I should get you water” The doctorwas sympathetic.

“It’s alright doctor, believe me I drank a lot of water, my voicewill be as good as before”.

Dante smiled and nodded at his words, he stood to leave.

“Okay then, I have to get to my duties, check on you guyslater”.

“Okay Dante stood to leave and discovered that there were bitsof wet patches on Derek’s shit , he was sweating . But his face was devoid of sweat. This is so strange, Dantethought. And why did he start calling me by my title instead of my name. Ithought we agreed on calling each other’s names, Dante thought again.

“Well that’s that” he said to himself and left.

As he left Lincoln’s room, he saw something and stood at an abrupt halt. Right there comingtowards him from the hospital's entrance was Derek! What?! He just him in Lincoln’s room! If Derek was comingtowards him, then who was that in the room with the patient?

Without wasting time, Dante veered back frantically toLincoln’s room and to his utmost dismay, the fake Derek was gone. Heimmediately removed the drips , they placed on Lincoln , because the assassinmight had injected Lincoln’s drip. Dante called on nurses and new drips werebrought. The security was alerted tostop the assassin. But whoever it was, got away quickly. After all, he was a trained assassin.

Derek came rushing after Dante, wondering what was wrong.The look the doctor gave him, before heading back to Lincoln’s room, had shaken his core. When he saw the frantic movementsof the medical personnels, his fear was already confirmed. How had the Danteallowed the situation to occur? He had told the doctor to be extra careful inwatching over Lincoln. Just thirty minutes and this happened? Derek didn’t evenstay till that time! Lincoln please be alive for me, he prayed.

“Thanks to GOD” Derek said , when the doctor told him thatthey had succeeded in extracting the injected poison in time.

“I’m never leaving your side again Lincoln” Derek saidquietly but with conviction. And… something occurred to him . The killer wasamong them, if not, there was just no way they would had known of his leave.

All these while, Lincoln just slept on , oblivious of theworry for him and his near death.

**********

The fake Derek walked briskly towards a dark opening. It wasthe executioner. The mask bearing Derek’s face had been buried. All thanks tothe informant, who made Derek’s leave known. Derek ruined their near successplan. This made the executioner depressed, in passing the terrible news to theboss. Mr Kennedy had to know about this! The executioner decided to call theboss. Kennedy picked up on the fourth ring.

“I’ve heard of your failure” he greeted.

This shook the executioner to the core and didn’t want to beon the blackbook of Mr Kennedy.

“I will go again sir. I swear to you”.

“You’re no longer eligible for this, someone else has toreplace you, another assignment has to be given you”.

The executioner knew better than to argue with the boss. Theonly option was silence and listening to the boss.

“Your wish sir, is my command”.

“Very well then, and make sure you are close for updates”

“Okay sir, thank you for giving me the opportunity to provemyself to you sir. I am forever grateful for everything have done for me ; whenI was living in the streets , without purpose”.

“Yeah. Your assignment remains the same , keep up with thepretense”.

“Copy that sir”.

The executioner smiled at that and remembered the first day they met the boss, when all hope was lost. How Mr Kennedy took them in.