The message of the ominous cloud:

The words ‘preventive strike, life-extension, offset by mutual human destruction, self-destructing weapons and lab grown mini blackholes’ kept on reverberating, non-stop. Chitragupta’s solution to disperse the Ominous Cloud hanging over his residence, appeared elegant when proposed but the how and how soon to implement these countermeasures, all by himself, worried him.  Eager to contribute, each on of his head came up   with different approaches. Added to this, he himself has these doubts- after getting life-extension how these brainy people would co-operate? Just simply keep quiet and enjoy the bonus or try to make selfish gains or ply both the sides against each other to gain upper hand or become a de facto ruler!

Finally, he decided it would be better to involve Chitragupta rather than frequently looking up at the cloud and suffering neck-pain. Chitragupta promptly appeared as soon as he received the message, which made Brahma to wonder whether he has been anticipating such a call, all along! Brahma simply said,” Solve the problem as you see fit. But do it fast.”

After handing over the charge to Chitragupta, he decided to take some time off and actively searched for a geographical soft spot, on Earth. Has this choice something to do with the previous trip with Chitragupta? He did not know, why on earth he wanted to visit only the Earth and not to any other of the countless number of planets! Having decided, he wanted to make it worthwhile - he retrieved the plan to study the dynamics of existence on planet earth, which was languishing in cold-storage. 

Spending considerable time, to the point of suffering four-headed headache, he concluded that taking either Yamadharmaraj or Chitragupta or both of them along, appeared to be a bad idea. He loaded Yamadharmaraj with stacks of issues, to prevent their internecine quarrel, to allow Chitragupta to solve the issue of Ominous Cloud.

Desperate times need desperate measures. Unable to narrow down the choice of spots to be visited, Brahma decided to consider suggestions from Yamadharmaraj and Chitragupta.  to maintain a tight seal of secrecy, he withheld the real purpose. For no reason, at this point, he remembered Chitragupta’s words- “Nothing can be hidden below the deepest point in Ocean or kept above the farthest distance in space.” Though the example of space and Ocean, in the same breath, appeared little incongruent, he let it slide as it added only an element of anxiety to his plan. Really a simple ruse – to ask each one of them to name   places they would visit and not willing to visit. It set off a series of raging debate, on merits and demerits, among his heads. In the end, the splitting headache greenlighted the “Nothing can be hidden below the deepest point in Ocean or kept above the farthest distance in space.” Choice of Chitragupta. To avoid further escalation, it sweetened the choice with a tag - worth the risk.

Chitragupta could have easily got down to earth for this task but the better facilities available at home tilted the scale. Another important factor happened to be the availability of an extensive data bank and unfettered access to it; he had already managed to install a backdoor entry, during a system upgradation. He got busy to identify and bring the susceptible candidates to his residence.

In another location, Yamadharmaraj was getting ready to tackle the stack of issues, dumped in his shoulders. Seizing this opportunity, Yamadharmaraj wanted to impress, the biased Brahma, with his issue solving capability, given this chance! The stack of issues beckoned him like an exploding supernova. Going through the first issue, he discovered a connection to the second issue. Marking that spot, he perused the complicated second issue which landed him in the middle of the third issue. 

Undaunted, he travelled through the connecting issues, as pointed.  Though he had used all the page markers on hand, he found, to his utter disbelief, that he was back at marked passage of the first issue. Thinking that he might have missed a clue here and there, he started afresh, from the beginning. This time, he could not understand why the first issue forged a link with the seventh and not with the second as noted earlier. Continuing with the fresh lead, he found himself pages deep in the nth issue. 

When he thought that he had finally arrived at the destination, he was looking at the fourth issue, once again. Yet another attempt, from the beginning, ended in the same fashion but the route the hop-skip-and-jump routine took him was different.  Exasperated, he called an end to the session but the stack of issues kept moving along, wherever he went. He ascended to the surface of the ocean, all the while thinking how Chitragupta came to this knowledge and why he did not forewarn him? The lapping of waves and blowing of salt-laden moist wind did not merit a second glance. Fixing his aim at a point in the sky, he took off creating all sorts of speeds, shredding theories of Earthlings, to bits and pieces. Somewhere from his recollection informed him that the scientist of Relative reference frame would be beaming a smile!  

At the same time, in another part of the universe, precisely on Earth, Brahma prepared himself for a dive to reach the deepest trench in the ocean. Why it was called a trench and not a canal – Chitragupta did not explain, and he did not ask! Cautiously, he kept on diving deeper and deeper in to the ocean depth, which he could have done it in less than a zeptosecond (one trillionth of a billionth of a second, a decimal point followed by 20 zeros and a 1). Simply he wanted to spend quality time with the various life forms, that had emerged from his laboratory. A chance to assess in how many ways these organisms have mutated as he wished to verify Chitragupta’s statement, regarding humans in the la ominous cloud affair! He hoped, the ominous cloud would have vanished, by that time he finishes his sojourn.

Out in the depths, photosynthesis stood down in favour of chemosynthesis. The chemiluminescence slowly gave way to bioluminescence, as the depth increased. The size, shape, colour and techniques these marine creatures exhibited, though as the creator he was fully aware of, held him fascinated. At the trench, the deepest point on the ocean floor, he sat cross-legged, imbibing the serenity and play of constantly moving bio-luminescent rays of light. Then and there he decided to have such an arrangement of moving bio-luminescent rays of light installed in his abode. His heart had started to swell with pride, for having created such wonderful creatures. The sight of a fully encased indeterminate form, sitting cross-legged, on the ocean floor, drained away his euphoria giving way to indecipherable confusion.  Had he failed to see in the dim light or got distracted by the play of bioluminescence all around?

As he continued watching, a hoard of light emitting creatures surrounded the fully encased indeterminate form. In quick time the points of light arranged themselves to display a message. It simply said “How do you like this place? Soon you may have to sit beside me” Brahma understood that the first part of Chitragupta’s statement that nothing can be hidden below the deepest point in Ocean, has come true! Having come so far, he decided to test the second part of that statement.

He mentally plotted the course to navigate, by giving a wide berth to blue super giant stars- fortunately not many in a nebula-, transiting by the darker fringes of nebulae. He knew all, but why give a chance to some rogue star, hellbent on a collision course. He regretted the omission of a super shield, in his kit bag. For most of the travel, he felt as if stuck stationary in a spot, but knew it to be an illusion created by the vastness of space.

For most of the travel, he felt as if staying stationary, but knew it to be an illusion created by the vastness of space. He chuckled to himself and admired the Astronomers who have intuitively understood the vastness and emptiness of space. 

He knew, Chitragupta had made a small unforced error. Actually, he should have said, nothing can hide beyond the limit of space instead nothing can hide above the space. Pardonable confusion and failure to distinguish between space and beyond the limit of space. After hearing Chitragupta's words, he did not want to stop with a surface visit to Earth and modified the itinerary to serve a cosmic purpose.

He knew what awaited him at the end of this journey. Not the one to alter course midway, he continued onwards. Finally, he saw a huge nebulous object, spanning billions of light years, bathed in soft glow and hanging at a distance. The beauty was beyond compare even for him. A strange sense of serenity permeated all around. As expected, the cloud split and displayed the cryptic message, " You have some more cosmic time; your successor in the making."

Brahma got his confirmation on the original edict of the cosmic order. With epochs to go, he resigned himself to suffer, his current duties.

Chitragupta was impressed by the luminaries who had responded to the call. He had compiled vivid holograms to drive home the point, instead of a lengthy audio version. He had spent considerable time sequencing the holograms to maximise the impact. At the end, if clarifications were sought, he was ready with convincing arguments.

The first projection showed a typical, multi-level R & D facility in action. Here, he had played a hi-tech trick - each one of the gathered luminaries would see his / her image doing the work they did in that environment. He had included a heavenly background score to sharpen their attention to details. 

The second projection showed them jumping up in joy and excitedly patting colleagues' backs, after sharing a breakthrough. The heavenly music gave way to a heart-throbbing beat. The faces in the audience broke into broad smiles, re-living the glorious moment. 

The third projection took everyone to a mass production facility, ending with the product getting packed for delivery. Here, Chitragupta had cleverly used sounds of machineries and human voices to add depth to the content. Each and every one of the invitees got tele-ported and looked transfixed at the activities, depicted in front of them.

The fourth projection was horror personified. Chitragupta hoped to let loose a tsunami of guilt, sorrow and despondency and to reduce them to mere human wrecks. Large-scale devastation, loss of life, a sea of refugees in view, with each one of the responsible inventors/manufacturers finding himself/herself standing amidst the ruin. As expected, this really shook the very foundation of their collective conscience with guilt and repulsion. When the projection ended, sobs, cries and wailing sound punctured the silence. Chitragupta allowed time for this agony of awakening to seep, pool and overflow.

Having completed a blitzkrieg, he dangled the life-extension lure and demanded them to change focus to produce self-annihilating armaments. He gave them a mandate that such cutting-edge technologies also should expire as soon after the first batch reached a war zone. Chitragupta did not anticipate what followed next. Instead of standing ovation, the entire assembly, unable to speak, stood up with bowed heads, sobbing and nodding acceptance.

Yamadharmaraj’s struggles with the stack of issues did not lead to any solution. On the other hand, a mound of pending issues of departed souls made him antsy. At one point in time, he wanted to seek Chitragupta’s help, to deal with one stack or the other. He dismissed the thought when it struck him that as Brahma’s preferred go-to entity, Chitragupta cannot be drafted to assist.

Chitragupta had a leisurely walk, after dismissing the assembled luminaries and packing them off to earth. A rare interlude of serenity devoid of pressing issues. He eagerly awaited Bramha’s arrival at his abode. He had good news and in turn would like to hear his travelogue.

Back home, by force of habit, Brahma looked at the space above his abode. He was surprised, out of his skin, to see Chitragupta, ambling along without a care in the universe, and noted the magical disappearance of the ominous cloud. He could guess the tangential answer Chitragupta would give, “What appears, shall disappear.”

He called both Yamadharmaraj and Chitragupta to let them know, that the ominous cloud had a message for him and that was why he suddenly felt like going away for some time. In addition, he wanted them to know that only to divert their attention elsewhere, he gave them some work. He said, “Yamadharmaraj, the stack of issues you were left with have no solution. So don’t think that you have failed!” 

He looked at Chitragupta and said, “You did what you had to do. Remember, the war fronts, we visited. If your solution works out, more time would be spent in innovating than destruction!”

He continued, “Chitragupta, your ‘Nothing can be hidden below the deepest point in Ocean or kept above the farthest distance in space’ is incorrect. I met my predecessor in the depth of the ocean and looked at my successor taking shape, in a different moulid, in the deep space. A New Avatar to oversee the changing order in the cosmos!