Ruka

 

23.  

"Where is he?" asked Rasheek. Nevin opened his fist and projected on the ground. As he noticed a moving dot on the map on display, Rasheek half smiled and said "we've got to get him" Nevin stopped the projection and both of them climbed down the mountain, leaping through its rocky terrain.   

     After driving away for long in rage, Shibu began to think of what next. He examined his rearview mirror and took notice of the traffic. He slowed down when he noticed a petrol pump. Just as he approached the refilling pump, he took a steep turn and stopped. "Ruka," he said and drove again, looking out for a deserted place.   

Rasheek reached the mountain's feet and stared for a while at the few vehicles that passed by. He stretched his arm out for a lift. As a biker neared, he bent his fingers in the direction of the bike and flashed a blinding beam of light that imbalanced the biker. Nevin jumped at the opportunity and pulled the biker off the bike, while Rasheek took it up. Nevin beat up the man, slammed him against a rock, and got on the bike. Rasheek accelerated asking "where is he now?"   

Shibu stopped by a dark street. He took a look around and then looking back at his bike, he said "Ruka" in a low voice. He repeated himself slightly louder but heard nothing back. "Hi Ruka," he said with a low cheer. "Hi" he heard back to his delight. "What is your name?" it continued. "My name is...Shibu" he said. "Hi Shibu," said Ruka. "Hi, how much fuel do we have? How long can we drive?" he asked. "I have 8 liters of petrol. We can go up to a thousand kilometers, including all other power sources." "I need to drive continuously for the next 110 hours," he said. "Sure, I can plan the refill alerts along the route. Let me create your profile." With this, a list of questions appeared on the screen. He filled out all his personal information while making up some of it. On hitting the 'Submit', a screen appeared, with the outline of a palm and the voice said "Place your palm here" Shibu placed his palm along the outline. "Aditya, not you, please ask Shibu to place his palm." Shibu quickly receded his hand, as if it were a hot pan.   

He disabled Aditya's fingerprint and placed his palm back. "Profile created, Welcome Shibu" came a voice as a green tick appeared, along with his picture. He looked all over the panel with surprise, on seeing his picture that he recognized was taken right then. he gave up and alerted his mind to the problem at hand. "The refills would have to be done from Aditya's payment gateways," he said. "Alright, let me link his fund accounts to yours. Aditya, here is your two-step authentication. Place your palm here." Shibu activated Aditya's fingerprint and placed his palm again on the screen. "Speak out the text here, after the beep." came the voice. He read out the sentence that he saw. "This is Shibu's voice. Aditya, please speak." He spoke nothing. After a long pause and a recall, the screen beeped and said "Authentication failed" "Aditya is unconscious right now" he said. After a few seconds of silence, the voice said "Ruka disabled" and the screen went off. Shibu's heart sank and he frantically attempted to start the bike. The accelerator just did not move. Nothing worked. "No! No! No!" he yelled.   

"He is eighty kilometers away," said Nevin. "Copy the trace to me," said Rasheek and stopped the bike. He projected on the ground. He highlighted two routes that led to the blue dot. He extended the highlights to two other routes that lead to the dot. "We've got to split." he said and continued "You take this route, I will take this one. If he moves ahead. We stitch to these two routes." "Alright, said Nevin, getting off the bike. "He isn't moving," he said, bending down to the map." Rasheek too looked carefully and chuckled. He pulled his hand back and drove again. Nevin knocked off another biker and took to the route he needed to take.   

Shibu disabled Aditya's fingerprint and held the accelerator again trying his luck with his profile that just got created. Two metal twines came out from the handle and clasped his fists to it. They tightened, as he tried to release his hands. He sweated in panic for several moments. "Aditya is in danger. He needs your help" he said. After several moments he repeated "Ruka, Aditya is in danger. He needs your help." "Who are you" came the voice back. Shibu felt a surge of hope, his heart still thumping hard. "I am Shibu," he said with an alert voice. "Why do you want to help Aditya?" questioned the voice. "Because...I am his friend." Shibu said. The screen lit up again. "Danger mode" he read out, as it appeared. "Select the type of danger." "Climate...Terrain...Attack..." he read through the entire list, touching on all items that seemed relevant to the situation. He also checked on the 'Other' option, thinking "just in case..." He hit on the 'Submit' and another display came up "Reliability indicator" he read it out. An indicator bar appeared below it, starting at zero, and went up to five percent. The voice came "Your profile information does not match with any of Aditya's friend circles, contact lists, and mailing lists. The only known instance of contact is when Aditya unlocked Ruka for you to drive. Sorry, you are unreliable. I cannot process your request." "Wait. Ruka waits" Shibu exclaimed. "I have not been in touch with Aditya, that is right, but I am truly his well-wisher and the only one who can save him right now." he pleaded, rather hopelessly, knowing that he was interacting with a program. A long pause followed, which he imagined meant the intelligence behind the voice heard him and was busy processing it. Meanwhile, he began considering abandoning Ruka and find other ways to get moving.   

Rasheek called Nevin "how far?" he said. "Twelve kilometers," said Nevin. "I am at ten. He is still there. I am marking the exact positions we must take to make sure he does not slip off." he said. "Sure, I will take on my exact position if he remains there," said Nevin. "Good. Stay on the line" said Rasheek.  

"Here is your last chance" came the voice and a text displayed on the screen. "Answer these questions to validate your reliability," it said. A series of questions related to Aditya, his personal preferences, life events, and his work appeared. At first glance, he felt completely unsure, but by the time he read all the questions, Shibu knew that he knew the answers to all of them. He smiled and thanked destiny for the research he and Saira had done about Aditya. He used his mental instructions to sift through all his research about Aditya and with confidence, answered all the questions. The reliability indicator appeared again and surged to a whopping fifty-two percent. The metal clasps unlocked, giving him a sense of victory. "Shibu, I have allocated funds into your account, and the danger readiness for the selected options is also active." came the voice. Shibu wasted no time celebrating his victory and raised the accelerator and took off, catching speed.