Chapter 1
‘The future is of Nuclear forces,’ exclaimed the noble gases Helium and Argon.
‘Magnetic field has enveloped earth since its birth, sheathed it from sun’s storms and….’ the horse shoe magnet was cut short by the representative from the transition elements of periodic table. ‘We demand for a special treatment like lanthanoids and actnoids at the bottom of the table, we no longer accede to squeezing between metalloids and metals.
Noble gas xenon cleared his throat, everyone attentively turned to face him. ‘Hydrogen would divorce oxygen if our expectations are not met. Far too much importance is given to electricity these days. Earthmen, dumb fellows, they have still not found a way to store it; we elements on the other hand don’t have that luxury’.
‘Long live elements’ someone from the back benches shouted. It was nitrogen ‘Long live nuclear forces’ added hydrogen.
‘Aah….’ There was sudden uproar in the parliament. Elephant’s trunk Nebula, 3000 light years away from Earth has been hosting parliamentary meetings for a long time now. But today, a dying star right behind the venue was disconcerting some of the fundamental forces, not to mention space and time whose unhappy marriage (14 billion yrs ago) has been kept going by a death threat from photons. Photons presently enjoy the status of ageless, time defying immortality; their access in space is illimitable, except for the suicide stars who have sacrificed their lives for black holes. Before space was surveyed by the early explorers, great number of photons was devoured by the black holes. But, today, photons have mapped every nook and corner of space. Fresh and young blood has revitalised suicide stars and the preponderance of black holes is on the rise too, but photons have their sources. If the sources do not return at the speed of 299 792 458 m / s, they are assumed to be dead, and the direction is henceforth tagged black (meaning: there is a black hole somewhere in that direction).
‘Gravity has been neglected since the big bang. Before that, we had a better arrangement, an equal opportunity for all the forces. But now, after the big bang 19, peace treaty of Armageddon has ripped us off. Our services are free of charge to one and everyone. Its is time that the treaty is rewritten’ with the face of a black hole and voice of seething activity, representative of gravity continued ‘we will restore solar system only after our conditions are met’
Chapter 2
Lately, my laptop has been behaving strangely. The screen is all fuzzy, dimly lit and it smells of burnt rubber. It has been leaking thick black viscous fluid through the speakers; keyboard is sticky, the keys are melting and embossed company logos and stickers are afloat in the pool of molten plastic. In the middle of night, it turns on all by itself; screen is filled with numbers that beat against each other in succession before dipping into the whirlpool at the centre of the screen. At first I thought it was just random, but after a couple of nights, I figured a pattern hidden in the lofty randomness. The pattern varied from night to night. For instance, the other night, every now and then, a number that is heavy enough gets left behind, in an attempt to squeeze between the torrential lighter numbers; it splits into a product of primes. Some just stay heavy though. And, the pool’s mouth into which all the numbers escape narrows down throughout the night. With the sound of a click that follows every heavy number’s attempt to sink into the black hole and the sound of a thud at the end, this happens every night. The morning after first night, there was one number on the screen, two numbers after the second night and so on.
Pluto vanished on the night it all started, Neptune the night after, mars yesterday; today its earth’s turn. Night was on, numbers-one, two three…..I fidgeted with the keyboard, viscous plastic made it difficult to type. I had my fingers on 10 numbers; sticky keys did not bother me. I punched in numbers at regular intervals. I stayed alert throughout the night; my attempt to disturb the number model appeared to work, for I was still alive. Earth was still alive. Morning newspapers hailed a magical triumph over alien abductors. What’s more, our neighbours, mercury and Venus, were pardoned too.
Then it happened. Pure blankness, something moved inside me. Feeling of dizziness came over me, head spinning; felt as if I suspended from the roof by the heels of my shoes. Through a volley of prismatic tunnel dive, I found myself pulled. Where to?
He was wearing a helmet and peering through its eyes. It had arms that twitched and turned around the man’s neck, it assumed a posture. With every small twist of the man’s head, the helmet would shift its arms and reposition in such a way that the eyes of the helmet coincided with irises of the man. The helmet’s head, like that of a prawn was scaled; while the man peered through helmet’s lenses, head of the helmet with its neck welded to the body, was scanning his forehead for leaches. The dentist had a grin on his face; with a pair of tongs in my mouth, he yelled at his wife to come look me up while he attended to his nature’s call. His wife, a woman with sharp fingers had a way with tools; quick, shrewd, accurate and reliable. Unlike her husband, she did not wear a helmet. She was gorgeous, strikingly thin nose, dark eye lashes and blue pupils. She was small chinned, had a narrow forehead with two huge dents on her temples. Except for the temples, she was stunning.
The year was 2016. Following the triumphant project at LHC, CERN, Geneva, aliens visited our planet, rewound the clock of culture by sixty two thousand years. Same people now lived in forests; hunted with bows and arrows for daily sustenance; fraught with dangers (animals, forest fires, torrential rains), with no shelter, no communication (language was a part of culture and was lost in rewound), the people of Earth resorted to appeasement of quasi supernatural force. All was lost; there was no memory of the glorious times that they lived in. the future was both bleak and dishonest, once the Higgs’ boson particle was created in the underground tunnel following the bombardment of electrons headlong, a devise (far more sophisticated than any of us on earth had ever come across) triggered an alarm and appraised aliens merely rewound our cultural clock.
The future was bleak, dishonest, grim and scary. It will take sixty two thousand years for the planet to reach the same point in time before the alarm is triggered and the cycle repeats itself again. Natural Higgs’ boson particles that make gravity are encapsulated by an envelope of magnetic field, an ancestral field that hung loosely to gravity since it separated form the ancestral force 10^-13 seconds after big bang. But the artificial bosons created in the tunnel having no ancestral past are devoid of envelops, so they don’t create gravity. Instead they create a shearing force that drops itself into the space-time fabric like a dense metal bob distorting the local fabric. This event triggers an alarm and is unavoidable for earth men unless they retain their memories, pass it down through generations through the transformation from hunter gatherers to farmers...and fix the situation.
It has happened twenty two times before now. In the last attempt (twenty first), repressed memories plagued the people of earth. Wound and rewound, some individuals showed signs of distress. To understand humans better, aliens left one of themselves back on earth; conscience to the alien was commissioned by a technologically superior reverse umbilical technology. How do I know all of this? I am the alien.
The dentist came back brandishing a vessel in his hand. He nudged his pretty wife aside and slowly pulled at my umbilical cord holding by its nether end the tip of which rested below one of my wisdom teeth. From there, through the back of the neck, mounted on the spinal cord, the umbilical cord ran all the way till the navel’s twisted head on the inside. Once unplugged, I was no more alive.
Chapter 3
‘Kranthi is here’ noble gas xenon blew into the mike with his wide nostrils.
Sudden calmness came over the parliament. I was briefed by the doctor that operated upon me. I was their leader. The battle of fundamental forces has been there for as long as there was time and space. Electricity married magnetic forces little over 10^-26 seconds after the present big bang (cycle 19). The weak and strong nuclear forces were granted separate regions within the atom. The closeness between protons and neutrons within the nucleus was a problem area, but all the elements were at liberty to chose their spouses (conditions apply), and the issue stayed resolved since then.
But gravity, cantankerous fellow, was treated unfairly. So gravity had been claiming since the treaty was written and signed at the beginning of the big bang. All the fundamental forces (electricity, magnetism, strong nuclear, weak nuclear, gravity) chose to live separately, they operated in their own domains and areas allocated to them. But as it happens, their paths crossed in more than one occasion. So, the settlements were ought for. All but gravity had sorted their issues between themselves. But gravity was adamant, he demanded for the summoning.
‘Kranthi, gravity’s issue has opened the Pandora’s box. Now everyone, including the silent elements from the periodic table has submitted their requests’ xenon began the proceedings. The hall was scented with aluminium vapours, Helium flew in the glass pillars. Mercury settled on the roof conducting electricity thoroughly. Representatives from other solar systems and galaxies were here; metals had them sit over them while gravity ensured that they are not ousted out of their seats. Horse shoe magnet settled divinely in electricity’s lap. Roof was plastered with ornamental work done exceptionally by calcium. Chloroplasts grew beautiful flowers in the fountain, located in the middle of the round hall. Two RNAs in a dead lock embrace formed stairs to get to the hall.
‘Gentlemen, and the jury, if I may, Kranthi’s nether umbilical has been disconnected. It is an importunate request to all of you, to avoid personal questions’
With an abruptness that surprised everyone, shouted electricity ‘so, Kranthi does not remember his days or his guise on earth?’
‘No. but he has been briefed’ clarified Xenon.
‘Kranthi, before I speak, I want you and the folks up here to know that I am in possession of 5 planets of the solar system where you were vacationing under the guise of inhabitants’ clearing a photon’s gaze on his forehead, continued ‘ you had better begin the proceedings’
Photons were enraged with this ‘we have been respecting the treaty of big bang 19 since time began’
‘And so have I’ with his lips puckered devilishly, gravity continued ‘photons are digressing from the issue at hands’
‘No. I am not. While I stuck to the speed of 299 792 458 m / s throughout space, you chose to play around with the treaty. Your influence on Jupiter, Saturn, earth…. all are very different’
Space spreading her inviolate skin on the sofa by the fountain gestured to Kranthi. Beating her eye lashes furtively, she pulled time into her loving embrace in an attempt to communicate without gravity noticing them. Kranthi stood up, grabbed the lead hammer rested on golden table and with one fling of his arm, threw it in the direction of Titan who was peeping from behind the massive pillar by the exit door.
‘Ooh! Gentleman of the jury, I hereby present an intruder. Largest moon of Saturn, Titan; Welcome sir’ noble gas Xenon was all attentive, his eyes following Titan’s movements as he limped across the hallway to reach the podium.
‘Why is he left in the open with no Saturn to rotate about’ with his arm raised, Nitrogen inquired. ‘I am the atmosphere of this moon here. I demand an explanation’
Gravity fidgeted, mumbled something under his breath. Kranthi realising that he had gravity under control, proceeded to explicate the big bang 19 treaty to him. Permission to drill black holes in space was renewed after the last big bang. Prior to that, the periods between big bang 16 and 19, gravity was strictly forbidden from drilling black holes.
Kranthi, pointing to his right temple with the index finger, noted ‘the secret liaison with stars has come to my notice. You have interjected time in prompting stars to donate their bodies for your black holes. This is unpardonable’
‘You have churned and created molecular instability in the Andromeda galaxy last night.’ Xenon stated as a matter of fact.
‘Super nova explosion’ titan reaffirmed.
Supernova explosions, result of exploding star’s material, often give birth to new stars. The treaty was clear on the number of additions per year. Gravity was clearly not following the routine.
‘What has this got to do with me? Ask space and time’ with contempt, gravity wrinkled his forehead.
‘The stars were gravitationally bound together. It was not a nova, a supernova. You cannot fool me’ photon sneered.
Kranthi rose up from his chair, walked over to xenon. This followed by the two conversing in hush-hush tones while the rest remained seated, some clutching the arms of chairs with their fists tightly; others tapping their feet on the floor incessantly; still others biting their nails nervously; mercury paused in its flow; chloroplasts were no longer breathing; and, RNAs released themselves from the spiral lock. Kranthi snatched a paper that was lying on Xenon’s table, took his time to read through and finally surveyed the crowd before reading it out loud.
‘Gravity will be granted the dust cloud of Andromeda galaxy that was a result of twin stars exploding into supernova. Other fundamental forces and photons will assist gravity in its endeavours’ this was followed by groaning and objection form photons. Kranthi continued ‘gravity is free to create stars, planets and solar systems. Space will be finite, frontiers of which will be duly communicated. However, time does not fall under the agreement and hence cannot be tinkered with.’ This was greeted with affirmation form few sections in the audience.
‘Until such time as gravity sees fit, his favourite moon ‘Titan’ would be kept hostage, hidden and camouflaged on earth.’ Kranthi pointed to a yellow file on the desk and Xenon nodded his head with comprehension.
Time ran its tentacles all over titan, projected it into the future, and shrunk it to the size of a sphere 1 metre in diameter. And, so it happened. Titan was tucked away in the Fertile Crescent around Greece for a long time; was shifted to England during the last 3 centuries. Recently, very briefly, it has been hidden in America. Throughout this period, Titan has been hidden away. But presently, it stands in the middle of a fountain in the false disguise of a globe, in a remote place, in India
Progress gravitated towards Titan in the past, and will continue to, in the present.
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