Ajay and The Jaipur Moon by Varsha Shah

Author:Varsha Shah
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chicken House
Published: 2023-03-24T00:00:00+00:00

29

Sabotage! The word reverberated around the room. How could anyone sabotage the Space Programme? thought Ajay. It would destroy the dreams of railway and slum kids across India! Ajay had seen charcoal rockets scrawled on paper lanterns and rocket graffiti sprayed on to the walls of the station. They were signs of hope. If humans could invent magical and mind-bending machines like rockets, they could definitely solve human-made problems like people not having enough money to live!

Saif popped out from behind his cushion, a frown on his face. He threw the cushion to the side, jumped off the sofa on to the ground and lifted his hands into fists. ‘Who is trying to destroy the Space Programme? I’ll stop them!’

Mrs Surya looked very fragile. Her eyes were wet, and her smile was sad. ‘If only I knew. At first, I thought the saboteur was a competitor trying to destroy our capabilities in space. But now I know it is much worse – the saboteur is someone working on the inside.’

Ajay drew a long breath. Treachery?

If it was someone on the inside, uncovering their identity would require a delicate touch.

Subtlety.

Finesse!

Ajay almost fell off his seat. Of course Mrs Surya had asked for his help! This was a job made for him!

He squared his shoulders, blew on his fingers, licked his pen and turned to a fresh page in Mr Gupta’s notebook. He was ready to report!

‘Evidence?’ he began, in his formal interviewing voice (much deeper than his usual voice).

Mrs Surya suddenly looked frail as she gave him a note.

‘Well?’ said Saif impatiently. ‘What does the note say?’

Ajay coughed. Then, solemnly, read it out. ‘Beware the fifteenth of March!’

‘It’s a warning,’ Mrs Surya began to explain. ‘It’s the date of the launch.’

‘It could be a hoax,’ Ajay said. Journalists should be sceptical and test evidence at all times!

Mrs Surya shook her head, passing him a map with three crosses on it – one in the area of the space centre marked ‘food laboratory’, another at the training facility for astronauts and the third in the engineering room. ‘We found this in the food laboratory where the first sabotage attempt took place.’

‘It fell from the saboteur’s pocket?’ Ajay asked. What luck!

Mrs Surya nodded. ‘It’s how we know it is an inside job, and why I need The Mumbai Sun on the case. You have a reputation for honesty. You have shown India that you can be trusted. No matter what it takes, I know that you will search until you find the truth. You see, the first sabotage attempt failed,’ said Mrs Surya. ‘But there are still two crosses left. One at the training facility. The other—’

‘In the engine room!’ Saif burst out, looking at the map. He pushed his sleeves up. ‘Never fear, Mrs Surya! If anything is wrong there, I will find it. I will not let the saboteur succeed. After all, I am the best apprentice engineer in Mumbai – and probably Jaipur too!’ he added for good measure.

A single

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.