Cycle of Time

8.A test in action and belief

In was a new day.Uben had decided to take action. As he kept an eye on Maya, who was around a few meters ahead of him, he still felt ambivalent about the decision to follow Maya. But it was something he had thought about well. He had to know what was going on, and why Maya appeared to be playing games with him. He had decided that he would sort this out the best way he knew, he would put his detective skills to use.

His surveillance work on Maya had led him back to the previous rendezvous point, the book club.

The big roller that was the only way in to the book club remained closed most of the time. It opened only to let in the few people who had access to it. On the occasion that Maya had let him in, Uben had managed to get only a brief glimpse inside the garage. On that occasion he was distracted by his own anxieties. On that occasion he vaguely remembered open spaces for seating and the book racks. Today none of that was present. It now looked more like an office. There were people on computers and the whole place appeared to be busy.

Just as the roller door closed behind Maya, he glimpsed Anjaya walking towards her. Although he couldn't see what was going on inside himself, a throw of a dartand the tiny advanced detection camera was stuck on the window. He could now see what was going on inside through the camera. The display on his device started to show images from inside. From what he could gather,Anjaya seemed to be the leader in this setup. He appeared to be the one everyone reported to. As the device's audio could not pick up much other that the sound of the wind,Uben had to do some guess work. Maya meanwhile seemed to be the one who coordinated the team and helped everyone in the team. They seemed to consult with her before they went to Anjaya. It seemed as if Maya was the one who knew best how Anjaya would react. Uben was prepared to spend the whole day if needed, observing. He needed to know.

As the day went by, it was more of the same. Whatever it was, the work that they were doing appeared serious and secretive. It was towards evening and people were starting to leave. Uben was tempted to follow one of them, but resisted the thought. He reminded himself that Maya was the object of his observations. A time came when everyone else had left and only Anjaya and Maya remained. Maya did not seem keen to be alone with Anjaya, and seemed to avoid him. This uncomfortable situation ended, when a few moment later, Maya herself was making her way out. As she walked away, Uben started followinga gain.Uben thought it would not be prudent to catch up with her just yet. At the entrance to her apartment, Uben was able to make up his mind .Although he knew it was an emotional decision he could not resist, he had to talk to her tonight itself. Just before she could enter through the door, Uben grabbed her firmly by the hand and pulled her into a corner nearby. He could literally feel the fear in her as she fell in to his arms.

"Don't worry this is Uben,"he quickly whispered in her ear.

As he said so he could feel the tension in her arm lessen a bit.

"What the hell are you doing Uben, you nearly scared me to death". Her fear had turned into anger now.

In the dim light of the distant street lights, Uben could barely see her face, but her eyes were shining fiercely.

"Look we can't talk here, can we go inside I'll explain.

Maya nodded but did not speak, she moved to open the door and gestured for Uben to enter. Even after the door was closed behind them no words were spoken until they were seated. It was only then that Maya remarked, "This is so strange Uben what's going on?"

"That's exactly what I was going to ask you Maya. I'll tell you the truth, I've been following you the whole day. I think you owe me an explanation as to what is going on."

"I think you owe me an explanation first as to why you are following me around like this" although Maya's voice was calm, Uben could see the fiery look in her eyes. And so, a long explanation followed, of how he had come to follow her. It was only after this that Maya even considered answering Uben. "Okay I don't want to do this anymore either, but it's a dangerous game. I don't know why I am trusting you, but I am". There was pause, as they both looked at each other in silence. Sometimes it was the way you felt that mattered than the words that were said. It seemed especially true when one wanted to trust someone. Uben didn't say a thing and there was a silent understanding that it would be safe for Maya to tell her story. In that moment at least, they understood each other.

The story began when Maya was just a girl and Anjaya was her teacher. It was Anjaya who had introduced books to her. Before long, Maya had realised that this was what she wanted to do, to read other people's stories, and write stories for others.

As Anjaya introduced her to books and people who read them, Maya had immersed herself in the make believe worlds that they created. Along with the books, she had also immersed herself in the work that Anjaya did, creating the book club. She had not thought it unusual that Anjaya had never wanted to go mainstream, and popularise books again. He insisted on the niche experience of the book club as the way to popularise books. But Anjaya wasn't the monk like person that everyone thought he was. Although he advocated the reading of books Maya realised that he hardly read any himself. He was more interested in who joined the club. No one ever joined the book club by accident. Everyone in it was there by design and not default. Although Maya had like others, had believed the story that "It was to make sure that only the right people were taken into the club", before too long she relaised that this story was too tall to be true. The surveillance was so thorough that Maya could not but help think that something else was going on. The books coming in to the club was also a mystery. Nobody other than Anjaya knew from where they came. With her interest in books, Maya was keen to know from where all the books came from. She had done her own snooping around to find the mystery suppliers. It was then that she had discovered something, or so she believed.

Anjaya was not interested in any books. He was just interested in a certain type of books. All the other books, the suppliers, the book club was a way of getting to these books. The fact that the only books that really interested him were history books was highly suspicious. The supplier knew this and Maya found that they deliberately packed in these books for Anajaya in a systematic manner.

Maya worried that Anjaya's interest in history and his ideas, were all leading to some kind of revolutionary twist. She worried that things would go out of hand.