Chapter 4
Fiha's house is huge. It looks quite similar to a fortress. The high walls are protected with barbwire. There is a signboard about 1000 yards away from the wall, which says:
Entrance of Mentalists is not desired.
I prefer serenity
-Fiha
Only Fiha can write something like this. Mentalists often venture through this road. They see the signboard. Some of them pause for a moment. But they never ask "what the logic behind a signboard like this"? The most important quality of a mentalist is his ability to control anger. They never complain and they never show annoyance over anything. Moreover, one cannot be angry with honorable Fiha. He is beyond these puny emotions. He has no headache about other peoples love and hatred.
Fiha is a lifelong loner. He stays completely alone in this huge house. He had two pet dogs sometime ago. They were hunter dogs and he really liked them. One day, late in the night, he was thinking about time dependent Irreta function. His thoughts got disrupted by the dog's barking. He got extremely annoyed and ordered the immediate disposal of the dogs. The dogs were sent away the very next day. After that, he brought a few birds. However, at one point of time, the chirping of birds seemed unbearable to him as well. So the birds were set free—now only the empty cages are remaining as a memoir of the past.
At present, there are no human beings in the house except Fiha himself. There are three Robots. All of them are worker robots. Two of them are really low in intelligence. They don't know anything other their own work. Lim's duty is to do the housekeeping and to cook the meals. Lim only does this everyday and yet he’s not a great worker. The amount of salt in the food is almost never proper; food is either too saline or salt-less. One of the other Robots works as a security guard. He keeps on walking around the home continuously; making loud thumping noise. The 3rd robot has nothing particular to do.
This robot is of "PR" nature. His intelligence is not low like the other two robots, rather it's quite high. Fiha bought him as a helping hand. He thought the robot might be able aid him in his work. Later on he changed his mind. Now the robot's only work is to read books whilst sitting in the verandah. Fiha kind of likes this robot. He calls him "Bookworm". Sometimes he indulges in casual conversations with Bookworm, which is conflicting with his usual attitude. A big fault of these PR robots is that they cannot talk in an organized manner. They use unnecessarily long sentences. They love talking. Whenever Fiha returns home, Bookworm tries to start a lengthy conversation with him.
Today, as soon as Fiha entered through the gate, Bookworm came forward and started saying in a very monotonous tone "Sir today you have spent two hours thirty minutes and twenty seconds outside. You were out on the 9th as well. That day you were out for one hour and forty seconds. Again on the 3rd..."
"Shut Up", said Fiha.
Bookworm instantly stopped talking. However, that was only for a brief moment. He followed Fiha and said "Sir do you remember you came to the garden yesterday and told me that there were lots of stars in the sky? After listening to that, I decided to find out when more stars can be seen in the sky. To find that out, I studied a lot and I discovered some interesting facts..."
For the second time, Fiha said "Shut up".
He knows Bookworm won't shut up. But that's not a problem. He will now go inside his bedroom. Bookworm won't enter the bedroom. Bookworm doesn’t have access to his bedroom. However, the robot will wait for him in the dining table. If he finds Fiha, he will try to start another conversation. He decided not to give Bookworm this opportunity. He will not go out of his bedroom. He is in a very bad mood. He isn't feeling like eating as well. Whenever he meets and talks with a Mentalist, his mood worsens.
After sitting in a chair for a while, he decided to have his dinner. There's no point in torturing the body. He can as well have some small talk with Bookworm. The poor robot likes gossiping, but doesn't have a partner to do so.
Fiha entered the dining room. Instantly, Bookworm said "Can I talk, sir?"
"No".
Fiha started eating, and realized that the salt problem is still persisting. Not only is it less, the food is almost salt-less. Ironically, two days ago there were extra salt in each and every meal. Maybe it's time to replace Lim. In an annoyed tone, Fiha said "I am not being able to eat anything due to lack of salt. Can't you fix this salt problem, Lim?"
Lim remained silent. Apparently he doesn't have anything to say. Bookworm said "Can I share a small fact regarding salt?"
"No."
"I feel like ignoring your order and stating the fact, but I know that's not possible. I will only request you to allow me to share the fact."
"Okay, go on."
"Our robot Lim never makes a mistake regarding the amount of salt. The problem is yours".
"What do you mean it's my problem?"
"When you're in a good mood, you eat less salt. Again when you're in a bad mood, you crave for more salt. I've observed this for a long time, and reached this conclusion. I think your body needs more electrolytes when you are in an angry state. You can talk to a physicist if you want to. I have collected the addresses of four such specialists. Would you like to contact any of them?"
"No I don't want to speak to them".
"Why does your mood aggravate whenever you go out?"
Fiha did not reply. Bookworm asked "Do you think a lot about Mentalists?"
"No. You should stop talking now."
"If you do not feel like talking in this subject, we can talk on other subjects. Let us talk about the big bang".
" Bookworm!"
"Yes. Sir?"
"Do you need a partner for talking?"
Bookworm did not reply straightaway. Apparently he is immersed in thoughts. Fiha continued “I have just met a young girl named Nuhash. There is twenty percent chance that she will come to this house. If she comes, you’ll find a partner for talking
“Sir, I’m only interested in talking with you”
“Why?”
“I want to write a biography of you. I need a lot of information for this biography. But I don’t have much information. That why I keep on trying to talk with you so that I can get some information in between.”
“Did you get anything?”
“Yes, sir”.
“What did you get?”
“Would you like to read the few pages that I’ve written?”
“No”.
“In the biography, I’ve written that you like the word No very much. Every now and then you say No. Sometimes you say it without thinking much. It’ll be nice if you can check the introductory portion of the biography. There are many interesting information in that section. As an example, there is a surprise at the very beginning chapter. Readers will get a shock after reading the first few lines…”
“What did you write in the beginning?”
“The beginning says—honorable Fiha was brought up by a mentalist family. This family adopted Fiha from an orphanage. They took good care of him, and his childhood was entangled with their love and affection. One cannot deny the role of this family in the full blooming of this extremely talented person. At the age of 12, Fiha left the mentalist family. Later on, he never tried to communicate with his mentalist foster father and mother”.
Saying this, Bookworm paused. Fiha is sitting like a statue. Bookworm said “Did I give any wrong information, honorable Fiha?”
“No, everything is okay.”
“How is the language of the biography?”
“I don’t know anything about language.”
“I wrote the biography using different language techniques. I’ve written a few things poetically as well. As an example…”
Suddenly Fiha got up. Bookworm got up as well. Fiha said “Bookworm, try to communicate with my mentalist parents. Tell them that I want to talk to them”.
“I am sorry to say this, but that’s not possible, sir. I tried before. I wanted to take an interview of them. But mentalists living underground are inaccessible; none can contact them.”
Fiha entered his bedroom. He is feeling restless, and the intensity is increasing by the second. He knows this feeling. This is a different kind of anxiety. Will he calm himself by taking sleeping pills? No, that’s not necessary. He needs to remain restless. He is on the verge of solving the time equation. He knows his brain is working subconsciously. The subconscious mind has already received the solution; the conscious mind is yet to find it. But it will get the solution soon. Now he just needs to keep himself calm. He is now standing in front of the most important scientific inventions of all time.
The solution to time equation.
What will be the result? Will mankind be benefited? Or will it be destroyed? It can’t be told right now. There are some things that cannot be forecasted or predicted. Let’s consider the mentalists.
The true reason for creating mentalists was not successful. Human beings are now divided in to two races. At one side, there are the mentalists with incredible mental powers. On the other side, there are mental powerless normal people. These normal people are being controlled by the mentalists. They control the normal people like puppets. When they ask them to laugh, they laugh. When they order them to cry, they are obliged to cry. The mentalists are forcing these actions. They have that power. They are advancing cool headedly. Their master plan is to convert the entire mankind in to mentalists. This plan cannot be well. Nature did not want mental powered humankind. This is a fake system.
Fiha touched his communicator. He is feeling like talking to someone, and that someone should be a mentalist. It can be anyone. He decided to call Marla Lee.
Marla Lee answered the call in a very surprising tone.
“What is the matter, honorable Fiha? You, calling me at such a late hour in the night”.
“Is it really late?”
“It’s quite late. It is already
“Did I wake you up?”
“Not really, but I had to get up from bed. I study in bed up to late hours in the night. I am also a night person like you. Can I know what’s going on?”
“I desire to do some reading on Mentalists”.
“Oh okay”.
“Can you help me by providing some books on this matter? You must have books regarding this”.
“Yes, we have. But honorable Fiha, these books are for us. Those who are not mentalists are prohibited from reading these books”.
“I know they are prohibited, and that is why I am asking you”.
“Your subject is physics. Isn’t it good to keep your readings limited to Physics?”
“Does that mean you cannot give me books?”
“You asked, I will definitely provide you with books”.
Fiha said “Thanks. I will now turn off the communicator. Before hanging up, I’ll ask one question. What is the weakest point of the mentalist society?”.
“We don’t have any weak points”.
“You are wrong. Your weakest point is that your society has no creative person. You don’t have any scientist, poet, author or artist among yourselves…am I right?”/
“No, you’re right. But…”
“But…?”
“Not today, we can talk about this some other time. Good night, honorable Fiha. I will send you as small book on mentalists. After reading that book, you won’t feel like reading any other book. Can I send the book tomorrow morning?”
“Can you send it tonight?”
“Of course.”
“Another thing!”, said Fiha
“What?”
“If I want to get married, do I need to take permission from you?”
“You don’t have to. Are you thinking about getting marrid?”
Fiha turned the communicator off. He is angry with himself. Talking about marriage with Marla Lee was totally unnecessary.
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Marla Lee got down from bed. He got dressed quickly. He took out a self-driven car from the garage. He will drive on his own—no robot controlled cars tonight. Late in the night, the streets are mostly empty. Driving a car in the night is fun.
Tonight the streets are emptier than usual. People in Science Villa Dhee 11 are frightened. Some random collisions between people and mentalists have taken place throughout the day and night. No one is out in the streets.
Marla Lee drove towards the highway. He saw stationary highway patrol cars every hear and there. Patrol police is in alerted state.
Suddenly Marla Lee noticed that the two red buttons on the dashboard are turning on and off continuously. This means there is an important news or gadget that he needs to hear. He was not feeling like listening to any important news, but as a regular practice, he turned on the speaker. There is a cautionary message from the Weather department about a devastating hurricane. The Hurricane might go through Dhee 11. As a cautionary step, electric supply in the physics laboratory has been ceased.
Marla Lee couldn’t help frowning.
