Merjella

Copyright © 2014 by Yuvaraja Dhayanithi.

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-4828-4331-6

                Softcover        978-1-4828-4330-9

                eBook             978-1-4828-4329-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Partridge India

000 800 10062 62

www.partridgepublishing.com/india

CONTENTS

1 Journey to Zypher

2 The Funnel of God

3 Zypher

4 A Long Wait

5 Merjella

6 Merjella to the Land

7 Ryan’s Garage

8 Rosy Parker

9 Qwerty and the Ring

10 Mayor’s Party

11 Deimos Betrayed

12 Fabricator at Work

13 Terror Strike

14 Training Fishes

15 Seasorg

16 Marina and Deimos

17 Mimico Killed

18 The Boss

19 Final Fight at Seasquare

20 Eyecandy Attacked

21 Days of Love

22 Breaking into Eyecandy

23 Merjella versus the Boss

Gift Me

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I have the immense pleasure in gifting this book, Merjella, authored by Yuvaraja Dhayanithi, to my dear _____________________________ for the occasion _______________________________.

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My sincere thanks to all the souls that smile on seeing this book!

PREFACE

The story was created under various circumstances. This is my debut novel, and it took me years to complete this work. All those years, lots of things changed. The names changed, the characters changed, the plot changed, but the focus of the story remained the same. The focus is to help today’s kids and teens to evolve their thought processes above certain constraints, so they could bud into wonderful creationists and great inventors, who will carry human lives into further sophistication and glory.

As a small step forward, I suggest that you write short stories or even ideas using the characters from this novel and send your creations to us. We shall publish them as separate volumes and spread them to the world. Kindly send your photograph and biodata along with your ideas or stories to [email protected].

Follow us on www.facebook.com/merjellathebook

Let’s think beyond what is thinkable!

With love,

Yuvaraja Dhayanithi

1

JOURNEY TO ZYPHER

‘D o you have to fight, Mi mico?’

‘What if you lose? What would happen to us? Where would we go?’

‘You said they are evil and dishonest. If it’s not a fair fight, can you still beat them?’

The wise old Mimico was bombarded with all those questions by his little companions.

The little ones included Jella, a dark-brownish and not-so-appealing octopus. She was very composed and slow-moving. Being brought up under the watchful eyes of Mimico, she was allowed to mingle with very few. Qwerty and Bingo were her only friends in that vast sea. For them, Jella was their only friend, and that made them a family.

The small Qwerty was a bright-yellow fish with a vibrant long purple tail and long ribbon-like fins. She was orphaned as a result of an ongoing family feud with the orange-tailed species. She was bubbly and tended to be garrulous, constantly disturbing Jella with her silly talks and frequent pecks.

Bingo, the glowing green starfish, had fled his home at a very young age in order to avoid the uninspiring daily chores and pressures to bring home his share of food. He was a deep thinker, keen observer, and known to apply logic to all his actions. However, it was always difficult for his friends to get him to talk. Unfortunately, when he chose to unzip his mouth, they always found it far more difficult to have shut him up.

Mimico was a brown-and-white-striped octopus with the ability to imitate other sea creatures. Through their long journey, he had impersonated a lionfish to avoid being spotted by his predators and also by the dangerous Zyphereans.

On that cold, dark night, Mimico was performing his self-assigned duty of guiding the little ones to Zypher.

‘You always taught us to avoid fighting at all costs, but now you are taking us miles simply to fight the powerful malojels!’ Bingo posed the question to Mimico.

The ever-effervescent Qwerty smirked as she knew it would be tough for Mimico to keep calm after Bingo had opened up.

‘Zypher, as we all are aware of, is not a dark empire,’ claimed Mimico in a steady voice.

For a moment, Qwerty stood silently as she thought Mimico was going to reveal something important. She silenced herself and showed a certain amount of character by following Mimico’s speech.

‘Zypher was conceived as a vision—a vision to protect all! A vision to empower all! A vision to enlightenment! A vision that was expected to put a smile to all faces! A vision to bring prosperity and integrity! A vision which not even someone with the wildest of imaginations could claim has any limitations! A vision that could only be rightly called an empire!’

Jella moved close to Mimico so she could listen to him better. Qwerty, on the other hand, felt that Mimico’s brief utterance were only his rumblings, and she had already moved a few feet ahead of the group. She then turned back to look at her companions. Her ever-wandering mind was looking for an aperture to amusement. She quickly swam back to join the group.

She then kissed Jella a couple of times and beamed at her. Qwerty’s act not only disturbed Mimico’s flow of words but also managed to nettle Jella. Jella pushed Qwerty aside and moved closer to Mimico. Not giving up, the playful Qwerty pushed Jella back violently. In the process, Jella hit the nearby rock, and her skin got bruised. Her facetious act invited fury from Mimico.

‘Leave her alone, Qwerty!’ boomed Mimico rather sternly. This surprised everyone as Mimico was otherwise known to be very much avuncular to Jella’s only friends—Bingo and Qwerty.

Mimico’s outburst led to a deafening silence. Everyone in the little company knew in their heart of hearts that the journey could not be pursued if Mimico continued to be bad-tempered. They also knew that something would dispel the heavy atmosphere sooner or later.

The sea at night was very vibrant. Though they were travelling at the deepest layer of the photic zone, it was almost totally dark as it was a day before the new-moon day. They enjoyed the sight of those few creatures that lit themselves beautifully in that darkness.

Qwerty was held spellbound as she gazed upon a bluish-green sea anemone. Its beauty seemed to call out to her. With a toss of her head, she raced towards the flower-like creature. She was joined by a playful little lanternfish in her strange pursuit. Just as she was about to enter the hollow white central region of the sea anemone, racing ahead of the lanternfish, she found herself being rudely pulled aside. As she turned angrily to look at her attacker, she saw Mimico watching something else. She turned back to follow his line of vision and saw the beautiful sea anemone having a meal of the hapless lanternfish.

A chill ran down her spine, and she shuddered. Mimico had just saved her from falling prey to the carnivorous plant.

‘The world outside is always full of surprises—good as well as bad!’

‘I just saw it, Mimico,’ Qwerty replied acidly.

‘Expressing anger is an art, Qwerty. The more grace you apply to it, the more effective it shall be,’ insisted Mimico.

‘I am not angry, Mimico. I feel so lost,’ said Qwerty as tears welled in her eyes. ‘One moment, all my friends love me and want me around, and the next moment, the same buddies appear to hate me.’ As she was saying that, her tear gates broke open, and tears flooded the sea.

‘Nobody hates you here!’ intruded Jella.

‘Nobody likes me!’ Qwerty started whimpering, and the little group gathered around her in order to calm her down. Soon Qwerty was back to her usual self, and the group continued with their journey.

As they were nearing Zypher, Mimico spied the first streaks of sunlight filtering through the dark-blue water. A new day was being ushered. As he looked up, he sighted a few diurnals. He also saw stern-looking tiger fish patrolling at a distance. Mimico and his little buddies decided that it was time for them to settle in a hideout.

They found a hole between the rocks on the sea floor with a few fissures. The gruelling journey had tired out the little ones, and they soon settled into a deep slumber while Mimico stayed awake to guard his loved ones.

2

THE FUNNEL OF GOD

T he little group was rudely jolted out of their sleep by a sudden smacking noise. But their fatigue made them ignore the sound, and they continued to sleep. Within a few seconds, there was a pleasant fragrance filling the water there. They could not resist their curiosity further, and they peeped out cautiously to investigate. Their eyes beheld a strange and wondrous sight. They saw a machine that seemed to be producing the whizzing sound. But what was stranger was the sight that followed. Several groups of fishes, old and young, rushed towards the machine with inexplicable urg ency.

The machine, with a wide funnel-shaped opening at the bottom, rested there with three adjustable legs like a tripod to balance and enable the whole machine to stand straight. There was just enough space for little shoals of fishes to gather underneath. The giant machine started sucking up the fishes in bunches, and yet the whole place appeared to have an atmosphere akin to a place of worship.

While they were watching from behind the hole, a young and rather handsome fish caught their attention. His face radiated an expression of utter peace and joy as he waited for his turn to enter the lane between the tripod legs of the machine.

‘Dear son, God will definitely accept you! Offer your prayers sincerely!’ His proud father beamed from a distance. As he turned back to look, the father waved his only fin. His left fin was missing.

‘Goodbye, Daddy! I have never sinned. At God’s court, I will plead for you! I shall always make you proud, Dad!’ The son waved back his fins and moved towards the funnel-shaped machine and was absorbed.

‘I should have listened to my daddy. He insisted me not to stray with my friends, but I never listened. I couldn’t save myself unscathed when the shark attacked us that night, and this broken fin invited anger from God. That’s why he rejected me,’ recalled the father for the thousandth time, talking to his wife.

‘We have raised our son disciplined, and he will make us proud, dear,’ consoled the mother even as tears welled in her eyes.

‘What is that, Mimico?’ asked the awestruck Jella, pointing towards the giant funnel-shaped object.

‘Well, it is called the funnel of God! It is the way the Almighty takes back the lives of those fishes that are pure of heart and untouched by sin. It is believed that the good Lord summons them and allows them the privilege of living in his kingdom, where there is only peace, love, and joy.’

It was then that they heard a sound that seemed like distant wailing. A few fishes were sobbing plaintively as they fell back into the water from the funnel of God.

‘How have I sinned, Mummy? Why did God reject me?’ questioned a crestfallen little fish as she continued to weep. Her mother looked helpless as she tried to console the little fish.

‘In the distant past, it is said that God simply dropped a small string which bore a hook. All fishes would fight to get to the hook. Only a few ever managed to get to the hook, but those who did never returned. God accepted everyone in those days. The old-timers say it was quite painful to undertake a journey through God’s hook. But as the old adage goes, No pain, no gain,’ reflected Mimico.

‘Do you know why God rejected her, Mimico?’ asked Bingo.

‘Going by the features of the folks that have been sent back, it can be assumed that in order to enter the kingdom of God, one needs to stay in shape and protect one’s body against any injury or disease. In short, God accepts those who have sincerely sheltered their body and soul as presented by him.’