Job at Flarencia

I was assigned to kill the absolutely dangerous, creepy mad scientist, Dr. Gretin. To provide context, his inventions have always been regarded with the highest praise by those who engage in horrible acts against humanity. I am the most successful member of the S-Community, which works to protect people.

Locating him was the easiest task. He was behind two vacant double-storeyed buildings at Flarencia. I generally go with my work partner to this kind of dirty work. However, since he had called in sick today, I was with a newbie, Warren. We were watching from the bridge on the first floor, between the two buildings. He was just standing beside me, listening to all the technical stuff Dr. Gretin was blabbering to his assistant. It was easy to deduce that the assistant was also having difficulty comprehending the lecture.

‘This umbrella is secure. Outside? Highly insecure. Anyone not beneath the umbrella is within my control. This prototype is for a limited radius, but imagine, if I could simply control anyone on this globe, then it would take a few minutes to finish the entire population,’ he snapped his fingers with a devilish smile. Seeing the confusing look on his assistant, he pulled his assistant under the umbrella. 

Warren looked up at me. I had my eyes closed. 

‘Something terrible is going to happen, and you are taking a peaceful nap?’ he whispered, although, under different circumstances, he would have increased his pitch. He kicked me on the back, and I just managed to avoid falling to the ground. Some waves crossed our bodies, and we felt a force dampening with time. 

‘Everything is now under my control,’ shouted Dr. Gretin.

‘Can you prove it?’ asked his assistant.

‘I specifically chose this area so that I could test the consequences of my invention easily. There was only one guard sleeping at the entrance door of this building.’

Both of them went near the guard, who was snoring. Dr. Gretin gave a tight slap to him. The placement was almost perfect. He woke up with a jump and picked up his stick.

‘Who dared?’ His tone was unclear due to two reasons: he had just woken up and was in extreme anger.

‘There was a mosquito disturbing your sleep. You smashed it; we were just passing,’ replied Dr. Gretin with an insurmountable amount of politeness. He seemed to agree, and more surprisingly, he even apologized. Steadily, both of them started walking on the stairs to the first floor. We could hear murmurs becoming louder and louder. Warren was sweating heavily. Some areas were wet, which were otherwise dry before. 

‘Washroom that way.’

‘It's just sweat,’ replied Warren, annoyed with my childish behaviour on such an important task. I let out a small laugh.

We rushed to the other side of the bridge, towards the second building, away from the sounds. But it soon became quite clear that we were already spotted, and Dr. Gretin's movements were motivated by a desire to confront us. He was spouting out some random jargon and mumbo-jumbo to his assistant beneath the umbrella but was sharp enough to locate two guys on the first floor peeking at them.

‘Let’s take the path to the left ahead, I know a secret passage to escape from this building into the forest. We can hide there and then join the highway travellers later,’ Warren insisted, seeing that Dr. Gretin was closing in on us.

‘I have to confirm something; you go out and within ten minutes, you should go at least half a kilometre away from here, you understand?’

‘I don't get what is it that you want to confirm, but given you are more experienced than me, I'll leave. Meet you at the club in the night?’

‘I hope so.’

I rushed downstairs. I watched both of them coming downstairs when I reached the guard. He was snoring, indicating Dr. Gretin had spared his life for the moment for reasons unknown, and that was a relief for me. I asked him to wake up.

‘Sir, I have been sent by your wife to ask for your immediate presence. There is some kind of urgency. You should rush now, as fast as you can.’ He grabbed his watch and started running at his top speed. I smiled when he was no longer visible.

‘I should have guessed. It was you.’ I heard the voice of Dr. Gretin behind me. He pushed me and took the gun out of my pockets. I turned back. 

‘Shoot me? Ah, you can’t!’ mocked I.

He never took the aim. He knew about me, about my capabilities and success record – if I die here, they both are effectively dead. His best chance was to stop me from getting killed. At that very moment, his assistant snatched the gun from his hand.

‘You should have run,’ said Dr. Gretin’s assistant.

‘It’s a trap!’ Dr. Gretin shouted.

His assistant ignored him and took the aim. I smiled as the bullet hit me.

I woke up. Was I asleep? I was sleeping the whole time. Dr. Gretin’s assistant had no idea that we were all in my dream right from the moment Warren woke me up. See, I have this great ability. I would not touch anyone but would be able to kill them. Yes, you can do that with a gun, knife, poisonous gas, or psychological torture. But I could take some of the immediate reality to my dream and wiggle out a way of getting killed, leaving my foes stranded there forever.

The sun was almost down, and it was a beautiful scenario. The guard was not there; Warren must have reached the highway. They were safe; they had escaped from my dream. I walked some distance and booked a taxi.

I was successful, two more down.

- Siba Smarak Panigrahi

(Remastered on 11 Aug 2024, originally published on 15 Sep 2020)