THE STERADIAN TRAIL: BOOK #0 OF THE INFINITY CYCLE by M.N. KRISH Page B

Trichy. He began visiting the country more often from the Eighties, on consulting assignments or for the odd academic conference. With the advent of the IT boom in the Nineties, Indian software firms started picking his brain to speed up their snailish crawl up the value chain and his trips to India grew even more frequent. He was on one such assignment this time after taking a six-week leave of absence from MIT. It was his longest sojourn in the county so far and as much as he enjoyed it, he was hankering to go back home. He would have been back in Boston by now if he hadn’t decided to take a detour to meet up with Lakshman. Wondering whether he had done the right thing making a pit stop in Madras, he wandered down to the lobby to look for Durai in case he was still there.
    But Durai had gone home after a long day and so Joshua did the next best thing: he made a booking for a car for the whole day tomorrow. He insisted on having Durai as his driver and asked the front desk to send the fellow to his suite when he clocked in in the morning.
    By the time Joshua returned to his suite, a frantic message was waiting for him from Becky. He called back and had a long chat with her to calm her down and discuss their plan of action. He managed to smooth her feathers and soothe her nerves with assuring words but his own were ruffled and frazzled under strain. He kept tossing in bed for a long time and it was close to daybreak before he could shake his mind free of thought and fall sleep.
    He woke up with a start wondering if the muffled ring he seemed to have heard was coming from the telephone or the doorbell. Actually, he was in such a funk he wasn’t even sure if it was something from his dreams or for real. Dragging himself up a little, he propped himself against the headboard and looked bleary-eyed at the telephone.
    The little red light flashing, the phone sprang to life.
    He picked up the receiver and helloed.
    ‘Hello sir, good morning. This is driver Durai, sir.’
    ‘Yeah?’ Joshua slurred uncharacteristically. Deprived of his full forty winks, he was still in a daze.
    ‘The manager said you have asked me to come at ten o’clock, sir.’
    ‘Oh hi. Yeah, I did ask them to send you. Is it ten o’clock already? . . . Gosh.’ He looked at the clock, but he couldn’t read the time. The red digital display looked blurred, like a traffic light on a foggy day. He fumbled for his glasses on the bedside table.
    ‘The time is 10:15, sir,’ Durai said. He had prudently decided to give Joshua a ring before knocking on the door. ‘If you’re still resting I can call you after one hour, sir.’
    ‘No, can’t wait till then,’ Joshua said, buzzing back to life, remembering that one hour in India often stretched much beyond sixty minutes. ‘Could you see me in my suite in half hour?’
    ‘Yes sir.’
    With a sudden onrush of energy, Joshua bounced off the bed and made for the bathroom.
    By the time Durai rang the doorbell, Joshua had not only brushed and shaved and showered, he’d also made himself a cup of coffee, the mere aroma of which was enough to boost his low spirits. He was sipping his coffee and brooding over his next move when Durai buzzed in.
    ‘Good morning, sir,’ said Durai, smiling pleasantly as Joshua opened the door.
    ‘Good morning. Come on in,’ Joshua said.
    Durai let the door close behind him and stood by it.
    ‘Come on in,’ Joshua said again, inviting him into the suite.
    Hesitantly, Durai stepped forward.
    ‘Would you like to have some coffee?’ Joshua asked.
    Durai looked somewhat taken aback. Clearly he wasn’t used to being offered coffee by a guest. ‘No sir. Thank you,’ Durai said. ‘I just had it with my morningtiffin.’
    ‘Tiffin, it’s such a quaint word,’ Joshua said and sank into a chair.
    Durai looked on, puzzled.
    ‘The reason I sent for you is . . . I needed to ask you a favour,’ Joshua said and eyed Durai for his reaction.
    Durai did not reckon until that moment