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Somewhere in the Sea Chapter 01
It was a normal day in the village by the sea near Gwadar. The weather was the usual sunny and windy as Allah Wasaya started his boat and headed off to the sea. The ocean showed its fierce anger as the boat powered on. Allah Wasaya threw the net and waited for the waters to do its work. He lit a cigarette and looked around. He had moved ahead of his fellows and was quite far in the deep ocean. He smiled and thought that today he might get more fish than the rest and greedily laughed. The sun was shining brightly and all he could hear was the sound of the water crashing by his boat and the flocks of seagulls moving by. Suddenly everything went quiet as if he had gone deaf. The weather changed drastically and got cloudy. The mist enveloped the boat and he could not see anything. He turned on the flashlight to check around for the other boats but he was so far away that they could not be seen. Allah Wasaya breathed deeply and thought "What is going on? There was no prediction of clouds
Somewhere in the Sea Chapter 02
The fishermen searched all around but couldn't find Allah Wasaya. There were no signs of struggle, no bite marks which suggested that he was attacked by a shark. They concluded that he was drunk and had slipped off the boat. But they still couldn't figure out where his body was. They pulled Allah Wasaya's boat along to the shore. His friend informed his family who were devastated about the loss. The village got over his loss over the few days but over the next few days, similar incidents of disappearances occurred. Fishermen going out at sea only to disappear but no evidence of struggle. This got everyone worried. The villagers sat down to discuss the current situation. Some stated that they ate some shellfish off the coast that gave them hallucinations, some said that the waves threw them off, one man said that India had sent his navy to kidnap the fishermen but none of those theories explained the situation. While they were discussing, the beggar was shouting inexpressibly outside,
Somewhere in the Sea Chapter 03
About 500 km away in the Institute of Oceanography in Karachi, a team of marine biologists were working on the case of the coral reefs growing along Astola Island. The team consisted of the research students, Zaid, Shehzad and Nadia supervised by Prof. Javed Bashir. The team was packing up to go to the island to collect samples from the reef and then going to the Pasni substation. Shehzad was looking up pictures of different types of corals on his laptop and Nadia was watching the news on the television. Professor was pacing around and checking his watch, muttering under his breath "We were supposed to leave at 9", "He never respected the importance of being on time". After quite a while, the office door opened and Zaid entered. Out of breath and disheveled as always, he stumbled in, carrying his box of equipment and his enormous bag on his back. He quietly placed his box on the table and shyly looked at the professor who gave him a disapproving look "Late again Zaid?". Zaid looked do
Somewhere in the Sea Chapter 04
After a few hours, the team returned from the exploration with boxes full of samples from the reef. Zaid looked at them with anger as they were chatting about how clear the sea was and how beautiful everything looked. "I must say, this dive went better than my expectations. The sea was clear, the corals were thriving and we managed to see new shoals of fish in the area. Shehzad, write back to the department at once and inform them about the latest development. Nadia, put the new samples in the tank. And Zaid", he said turning towards him, "I hope you learnt your lesson". "Yes", Zaid pouted. "Good! Now be a good boy and help Nadia with the samples. Nadir, set up lunch. We are starving!", the Professor called out. "Ok sir, coming right up!" Zaid helped Nadia with the new samples. The new samples looked more of less the same from the previous expedition. "Was the trip really that good?", Zain asked Nadia. "Nothing out of the ordinary though", Nadia shrugged. "The reefs looked the same a
Somewhere in the Sea Chapter 05
Deep down several meters below sea level underneath Astola Island lies a kingdom unlike no other. Tall limestone buildings mimicking the coral reefs above are scattered across the city. Sea creatures as small as the jellyfish to large shoals of fish are also seen swimming peacefully.In the center of the kingdom lies the castle of the King Fadel who lived with his wife, Queen Durre and his two daughters Marjan and Sanho. Legend has it that the Haft Talar Kingdom was formed after the tsunami wiped out their homes in Maldives. So as to prevent any further damage and exposure to the human world, the King decided to take his people and move to the nearest uninhabited sea, Pakistan, where they moved to Astola Island. They named the kingdom Haft Talar for what the locals called the island.The king was moving around nervously as if he was waiting for someone. Fear was etched upon his face as he floated from one end to the other end of the room. The Queen sat on the throne deep in her thoug
Somewhere in the Sea Chapter 06
Marjan was standing from behind the wall and couldn't believe what she had just heard.Her mind was racing with all kinds of thoughts. Princess Sanho, her older sister Sanho, killed all those humans. She wouldn't hurt a shrimp, let alone kill somebody. A kind hearted person like herself couldn't possibly do any of this. No, they're lying! King Fadel stood there unable to say anything. King Fadel, a symbol of power and courage, was now a broken man. The council looked at him for any response but there was none. Then finally, he replied in a broken voice, "If.. If this is the case and... and Princess Sanho is the reason for all these killings then, she will be dealt with accordingly. Once she is captured, she will be charged with murder and sentenced to death" and then left. At dinner, everyone was quiet. The king just sat there with his head in his hands. The queen was devastated beyond belief, muttering "That is not true" or "they are lying" every now and then. Marjan was sobbing sof
Somewhere in the Sea Chapter 07
Marjan left the castle at midnight. The queen had given her instructions on how and where to leave the castle. "Don't swim out through the windows. You'll draw too much attention. At exactly midnight, the duty of the guards at the back gate changes, so you can sneak out of there then. Swim towards the North Gate and you'll see a secret exit down at the base. Take that exit and you'll be outside the kingdom. Once out, look up for the waves moving towards the shore. Use them as a compass as the island is south of that." Marjan left the castle at exactly midnight. Following the queen's direction, she reached the North Gate, found the secret exit and escaped. This was the first time she was out of the kingdom and everything looked so scary. The moonlight illuminated the vast reef and she could see small fish moving in shoals coming out to feed, anemones moving with the water currents, corals sticking their tentacles out to feed on the micro organisms. It all looked so beautiful, thought
Somewhere in the Sea Chapter 08
It was a bright and sunny day as the team was to leave for their next exploration at the reef. Zaid was excited. He set up the alarm before going to sleep and made it to their office before anyone else. The professor was surprised to see him this early and smiled. "Early today are we, Mr Zaid?", Zaid smiled and helped him put the equipments in the car. Shehzad and Nadia came in shortly after and were also surprised to see him this early. "Where did the sun rise from this morning?", Shehzad chuckled. Soon they were off to the island. Shehzad and Nadia were constantly poking at each other on who got to the lab first. Zaid looked out the window on the coastal highway and saw the waves crashing along the shore. He smiled like a little kid who was off to the candy store to buy sweets. He was finally going back to the sea. After 3 long hours, they reached the substation where they dropped off some of the equipment in the lab and took the rest and headed towards the sea. He and Shehzad plac