Chapter-2

The INKubator

Inhaling a deep breath. ‘The smell...Ummm...I think I know it. Yes, I remember it. It reminds me of somebody,’ A voice came from the dark.

The head guard banged a steel rod on the rusted bars- feet scuttled back. The echo raced in the gloom among the cells of the prisoner before long lost. There was complete silence for a moment. Then...

‘Sometimes it’s hard to see you, Keeeev!’ the voice said and came close enough that Kevin could feel the warmth of his breath. He snapped his head in the direction of the voice. A flicking sound followed by a little light made Kevin’s face visible for a moment. They stood right next to each other; only the rusted bars of the prison cell created an obstruction.

‘The eyes...heh...the nose...hahaha- The resemblance is uncanny. But where is your charm, Kev?’ the man grinned, looking through the bars of what was known as the Unbreakable.

A cool breeze wafted in the walkway, whistled in their ears, and left complete blackness behind it. A guard again flicked the matchstick, and this time succeeded in lighting up a lantern.

‘Put all the new prisoners in the incubator,’ the head guard ordered.

Two guards stood first in the row leading the new prisoners, one held the lantern, and the other had a big strong rope to which several prisoners’ hands were tied. Kevin’s foot moved forward as the guard pulled the rope.

As the queue moved forth, the prisoner’s voice again glided through the gaps of the prison bars, ‘Oh! I cannot believe my eyes. Look! Who they’ve made a prisoner. The king of the ocean, the captain of The Unsinkable. It’s you, Sir Hiss! One day you’re a king, and the other day you’re a prisoner. That’s the beauty of life, my friend. Oh, God! I cannot be any happier than this, can I?’ he said and continued, ‘Wait! And who is that standing last in the row? I didn’t recognize you.’ The prisoner gestured towards Sze.

As the row again moved a little, Sze’s face became clear to the prisoner.

‘You again?’ said the prisoner with his nose coming out of the bars. ‘I thought you won’t ever come bac-’ before he could complete, Sze gave a massive blow on his nose and broke it. Blood dripped on the cold floor of the prison, but instead of moaning, he broke into an unstoppable laugh. His laughter hopped in the empty walkway of the prison and made some of the prisoners come out of their dreams.

‘It’s good my hands are tied, or this would have been your last day otherwise, Juju.’ Kevin said and was again pulled forward.

Their feet followed the guard. Sometimes the prisoner used to stop walking, so the guard had to give a sudden strong jerk to the rope; that made the prisoners break into a reluctant jog. While sometimes, he did for no reason. Then the time came when the endless walk came to an end. A sharp knife cut the rope, and a firm hand began pushing them into the cells one by one as they stood in the queue. Finally, they put about four men in one cell.

Within a minute, almost all the new prisoners were in the cells. Kevin and three other men were put in the cell and were locked. Then a voice echoed, ‘Sir! We’ve three prisoners left here. There’s no cell left empty. What should we do?’

It took some time for the head guard to order anything, then he said,

‘Put them in the last cell; she has been alone for a long time.’ And so the guard pushed Sir Hiss, one of his men, and Sze into the last cell and locked them. Then as the guards began returning with the lantern, the footsteps lost somewhere in the endless run of the prison; the sound of nothing deafened them, and the gloom blanketed their hopes.

***

About fifty-seven cells were there, one opposite to the other, and each of them loaded with four men. The old prisoners talked about the new ones, and Juju began telling everyone about the new prisoners.

‘Have you all heard about The Unsinkable?’ Juju cried.

‘Yeees!’ The answer came from almost every cell.

‘It’s captain is here, right with us. Isn’t it funny?’ Juju said, enjoying each of his words.

‘Is that true?’ one prisoner asked.

‘As true as our pain,’ replied Juju.

‘I’ve heard no ship has ever been built that could defeat it,’ one of the prisoners said.

At this point, Sir Hiss was smiling in pride.

‘I’ve heard the pirates of The Unsinkable are very dangerous; they eat people’s fingers and drink their blood,’ said the other.

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‘No, it’s not true,’ a voice replied in the dark.

‘How could you be so sure?’

‘Because I’m the damn captain, you fool,’ said Sir Hiss.

‘You know what, Mr. Hiss? You guys are so lucky,’ one voice said. ‘You guys get to eat well; you can go anywhere you want. You can sleep on the floor and the grass and on the sand in the warmth of the sun. You know it has been almost fourteen years since any of us has seen sunlight; we are trapped here in the complete darkness of nothingness.'

'We now even forget its heat, and we don't even remember our faces. Here it’s meaningless if your eyes are closed or open. And believe me after a few years, you won’t even realize whether they’re open or not.’ The voice came not very far from Sir Hiss’s cell.

As his words ended, all the prisoners were lost in their golden moments. Old tired eyes remembered their young friends and wondered how they looked today. They all nodded, some in grief while some in acceptance.

‘It has been ten years since I slept on the grass, and felt its warmth. I’m a captain, not a goat, you fool,’ said Sir Hiss, and for a moment, there was a smile on everyone’s face that they couldn’t see but only felt.

‘You know Mr. Hiss?’ another voice said. ‘He’s very mean to me. He tortures me the most. He even beat me when I did nothing. The world out there-they don't even know about this place and about us. They don’t value their lives. In this limited time, they run after something they can’t have, then something they can. You see, I found nothing when I looked inside me. The gift is out there; you can only enjoy it when you look out. If I die here, remember friends, my last wish was to have a nice drink.' Everyone listened to him carefully.

‘Don’t worry, Kid. When we all will be out of here, you can join my side. Then you can have as much drink as you want.’ said Sir Hiss.

‘Be aware of drinks, I know someone whose life changed because of a single drink, not in a good way,' said Sze.

Everyone was happy for a moment. But the heartless walls of the prison couldn’t let happiness be there for very long. Their chats were interrupted by heavy treads. Second-by-second the footsteps grew louder and louder. And then there was a moment when everyone could see the light growing brighter and hurting their eyes. Whichever cells the feet crossed fell in mourning.

The steps stopped in front of Kevin’s cell.

‘Kevin, you made a request to see me. Why?’

‘Why? I am asking you, Big B, why am I here with these ugly insects?’

‘If my memory serves me right, you all were the ones who betrayed me last time, took all of my money, and ran to the Indian Ocean. Thank me that I didn’t behead you the moment I saw your disgusting face,’ replied Big B.

‘Where is the address?’ asked a voice behind Big B and continued, ‘You’d promised me you would provide me her address once I’ll bring them to you.’

‘Address, heh? I ain’t going to give you any address. And you’re not going anywhere, you stupid, Sze,’ said Big B laughing.

‘I bought two of your biggest enemies, and this is my reward?’

For a second, Kevin fell into deep thought and then said, ‘Tell me, Sir Hiss, when did you see Malise? Who told you about her returning?’ asked Kevin.

‘I didn’t see, Malise. Why would I even want to? And no one told me about her,’ replied Sir Hiss.

‘Then how did you come up with the idea that she is back, you goose?’ said Kevin in frustration.

‘Don’t talk to me like that. I’ve got a secret letter saying Malise is back and I should return to the land as soon as possible. I was so terrified that I had to search you, and then I found you and here we are,’

‘Who had sent you the letter? Was it a white paper? What was written on the paper, any name?’ asked Kevin.

‘Yes, it was white paper from someone named SZE. Why? How do you know about that?’ asked Sir Hiss.

‘Oh, my God!’

Juju was hearing all these and broke into a big laugh.

‘Hahahaha...hahah...Sorry I couldn’t stop myself. Hahahaha...The man who had sent you the letter, and the man who is in the cell with you asking for an address are the same, Sir Hiss.’ Juju kept laughing.

‘But you all are calling him, Z. How could SZE be Z. It doesn’t make any sense, does it?’ asked Sir Hiss.

‘Actually, sometimes it does.’ replied Kevin.

Sir Hiss looked towards Sze, who couldn’t control a smile creeping on his face.

‘You little piece of pumpkin, I’m gonna kill you,’ Sir Hiss stepped towards Sze.

‘Enough!’ cried Big B. ‘I don’t care who did what to whom. You all are not going anywhere. End of the meeting.’ As the Big B, along with his men, began returning, just then Juju called him out.

‘Big B! You’ve to release us, or we’re gonna take this prison down.’

‘You know that’s impossible. It’s Unbreakable.’ replied Big B and began moving.

‘Stop! Big B. We need justice. We’re done being tortured. We want to be free. Release us. You cannot control us anymore.’ one of the prisoners said.

And then there was a chain reaction. All the prisoners began chanting the same thing over and over again.

‘Quiet!’ shouted Big B, and everybody stopped.

Big Bad Bear took a moment before saying, ‘Okay! I am going to give you all a chance to be free. This man right here.’ He pointed towards Juju. ‘He has started all this. Now all of your freedom depends upon him. I will ask him one single question, and if he answers that correctly, you all shall be free or otherwise,’

‘What is the question?’ asked Juju.

Big B took the lantern and blew it. Now there was complete darkness.

‘The question is very simple,’ said Big B.

Everybody shut their eyes to listen carefully. No one made any movement.

‘The question, what is the Unbreakable also known as?’

Before Big B could finish, everyone began laughing, including Juju. They all knew the answer.

‘Quiet!’ Everyone stopped, ‘The next time you disrespect me by interrupting me in the middle, and all of your graves will be dug here. Okay, again, I’m repeating the question for the final time. Juju, what is the Unbreakable, also known as, and...and. The question isn’t finished; here comes the most crucial part. And spell it loud and clear. If you think there is an uppercase in the spelling, you’ve to mention it. Are you ready, Juju? Once you say, “I’m done.” nothing shall be changed.’

‘Okay, I’m ready.’ said Juju with full confidence.

‘Then shoot it!’

‘Capital T...Capital H...Capita…’

‘Stop!’ cried Big B, ‘What is this Capital...Capital? If you want to mention an uppercase just spell that out louder. We’ll understand. Now begins.’

‘Okay, T-H-E.’ He didn’t complete, and everyone began cheering.

‘That is correct,’ said one prisoner.

‘Yes, that is a good start,’ said the other.

‘Enough! I don’t want to hear anybody’s voice but Juju’s. If anyone interrupts this time, then the offer would be long gone. Now start again from the beginning.’

Everyone held their breath, stopped every movement of their body, and again shut their eyes.

‘Okay, one final time. T-h-e...I-L-C-O...No! No! I will start again.’

‘This is the last time, if you missed this time, the offer will never come back.’

All the prisoners released their breath and again took a deep one. Their hearts pounded against their chest.

‘Okay, final time. God help me. T-h-e...I-N-K-u-b-a-t-o-r. I’m done!’

‘Noooooooo!’ one of the prisoners cried.

‘You stupid piece of pumpkin soaked in gutter. You spelled out that wrong. You even missed the uppercase.’

‘Big B, open the doors of my cell, and I’ll kill this piece of pumpkin right here.’ one of the prisoners said.

‘It’s not my fault. I never went to school. And if you knew better than me, why didn’t you try?’ said Juju.

‘Because the offer was only for you.’

If their eyes were open, they couldn’t have seen anything, but Big B’s devil smile was all apparent with their eyes shut.