TUNING WITH TIME

Branch 2- science fiction

Time is an illusion. The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once. - Albert Einstein. 

Back times, Ancient Egypt- The cure for the virus.

Queen Berenice was enthroned. She sat elegantly on the throne, her crown looked wonderful with all pearls and glittering jewels, and she rested the hilt of the Khopesh sword on the ground. But deep inside she was distressed. The battle for this throne had sacrificed her dear friend Nefret, as the evil Amon had brutally injured her. Nefret fought with her nemesis ‘Amon’ like an angel warrior. When Amon was about to stab Queen Berenice with the sword, Nefret pushed Berenice and suffered the sword attack. This created an outrage in Nefret’s army and soon the evil Amon was ambushed by them. Nefret’s commander-in-chief beheaded Amon and that was the end of the evil, but Amon’s last words still haunted Queen Berenice.

“Sister, I will die but Nefret will die too. You will never get the missing link for the antidote,” said Amon before his death.

“Nefret’s blood is an elixir for the virus, if her blood freezes everything will be ruined,” thought Queen Berenice. Suddenly the luxuriant soft throne started pricking her with thorns of apprehension. She immediately ordered the guards to take her to the recovery chamber where Nefret was battling for life. The first thing that struck Queen Berenice was Nefret’s pale color of skin when she saw Nefret resting on the bed. She looked exhausted from the sudden loss of blood. Nefret appeared in her stupor but the agony of her abdominal wound made her moan in pain. The wound was cleaned and bandaged but the pain was unbearable.

“I felt myself grow weak and I guess I fainted when Amon wounded me with the sword. I am sorry Berenice,” Nefret said while her vacant eyes exhibited her defeat.

“You brave Nefret, don’t give me this hollow stare. Amon is killed and I am crowned as the Queen. Get well soon and everything will be fine”, said Queen Berenice.

“Nothing can go right. Berenice, my blood is freezing and it’s poisoned with that rustic Khopesh sword. I know you need my blood for a noble cause. My curse will distress the future and you want to save the world. My blood is the missing link of the antidote but now it’s useless,” said Nefret.

“That’s ok,” said Queen Berenice.

“That can be ok for you, but not when you time travel as Charu. For Charu, the antidote is the mission of her life and I can’t afford to fail Charu. You are Charu, my beloved Queen Berenice, I can’t upset you,” said Nefret.

“How can you help me?” Asked Berenice.

“Well, I am a warrior woman but sadly not from a moral family. The origin of my family is unknown and quite distasteful. It’s said that I have a half-brother. Only priest Anibus knew about him. Somehow priest Anibus came to know that Amon was after my half-brother’s life, and so when priest Anibus time travelled as ‘Yuvaan’ he took my half-brother along with him. My half-brother has time travelled and entered the time of the pandemic. I am unaware of what he has altered into, but surely, he is existing in the pandemic period. His DNA will match mine and his blood can be used as the missing link. As Amon is dead now use the valiant Khopesh sword for a good cause. Enter the pandemic time and find my half-brother. Go, Berenice, transmute as Charu and find the antidote, and let me die peacefully. “

“I love you Nefret,” Berenice said and kissed her hands. 

“Berenice, this tattoo of a hooded cobra on my left arm is our ancestry birthmark. The one inscribed with this symbol will be my half-brother,” Nefret said as she showed her forearm where the imprints of green ink curved in the shape of a hooded cobra. Berenice had never seen such an impactful symbol, and her eyes stayed glued on Nefret’s tattoo. It was a small miniature of Egyptian cobra but it had an aura of divine providence. The stylized motifs coiled on the hood represented protection. The symbol had a positive energetic emanation which Queen Berenice absorbed in her and pushed herself in the wormhole to become Charu.

Present time, Fort Kochi: death of the deadly pandemic

“With just one identification, I have to find a person without knowing his whereabouts. Where shall I find him?” The question troubled Charu. She glanced at the Khopesh sword lying beside her and a sudden feeling to bury the sword emerged in her mind.

The sword was an opening for the so-called ‘theoretical wormhole’ which connected different space-time. Many of Charu’s fellow scientists postulated that wormholes were merely projections. But the Khopesh sword had proved them wrong, as Charu had succeeded in using the theory of relativity much practically. It was Charu’s sensational invention, which she wished to keep a secret till she found the antidote. She had applied the theory pragmatically and time-traveled to find the antidote, and now the purpose of the sword was satisfied. She didn’t want it to be used for any evil purpose. She knew that her research laboratory was a vulnerable place to hide the sword.

‘And what better location than the UG4 parking of the Citimall,’ Charu thought. It had been Charu’s favorite hideout. The parking was an unruffled place, a complete uninterrupted territory. Charu quickly headed towards the Citimall.

Abhay’s home

Abhay opened the ‘Peep in thoughts’ app and tried to locate Vincent, but in vain.

‘What could have happened to the man who had the magical sword to end the pandemic’, thought Abhay. His Amma’s nagging nature was nerve-wracking for him and Abhay desperately wished to end the pandemic.

‘As per Vincent’s thought the sword is buried in the UG-4 parking of Citimall’, Abhay murmured and without wasting a single moment rushed towards the parking lot of Citimall.

Surprisingly, Charu and Abhay reached UG-4 parking of Citimall at the same time.

Charu’s eyebrows arched in surprise as she saw Abhay. She instantly noticed the hooded cobra perfectly engraved on his forearm.

“That’s it! This boy is Nefret’s half-brother,” she screamed from inside.

“What are you looking for, boy? Asked Charu, her eyes goggling out from the rims of her spectacle.

Abhay stood spellbound for a few seconds and he secretly activated his ‘Peep in thoughts’ app to study the thoughts of a young woman standing in front of him. Charu’s thoughts flashed on his mobile.

Charu’s thoughts:

‘I need a few droplets of his blood. Come on give me your blood and I will give you the antidote. Come on boy give me your blood, without questioning anything.’

‘My Goodness! She needs my blood. Seriously, my blood can save this world, Wow Abhay! You have become powerful than Sylvester Stallone’, Abhay chuckled at his thought.

“What do you want?” Abhay asked her straight away.

“I need your blood and this virus will end,” Charu said and she forwarded a small test tube and a thick needle to Abhay.

“No questions to be asked”, Charu continued.

“Well, if my blood can help you end the virus, then here it goes,” Abhay said and pricked his finger with the needle and his blood dribbled in the test tube. Instantly, Charu snatched the test tube and rushed out of the Citimall.

Abhay was trembling, still fascinated with the thought that it was his blood that the young lady needed. ‘Why?’ would be a question he would wonder for the rest of his life.

A few weeks later, Abhay saw Charu on television. She was all over with her historic discovery.

Abhay surfed the channel and heard the reporter saying:

‘Breaking news, a young scientist, a wonder virologist, Fort Kochi’s Lady Einstein ‘Ms. Charu’ gives the world the most awaited antidote.

Abhay surfed the next channel: ‘Ms. Charu, an eccentric scientist with her miracle antidote.’

Abhay’s Amma came in his room and said, “So Abhay kutty she is the one who gave us the elixir of life.”

“Yes, Amma. She is the one,” Abhay said and continued watching Charu, his eyes openly staring at her.

Charu sat in her research laboratory with her arms crossed as she watched the news. Her face radiated and she took some deep breaths savoring the moment.

‘The whole journey was so overwhelming,’ Charu thought and closed her eyes. For a second, she supposed her mind was about to time travel in the future. Sub-consciously, her mind actually time travelled.

Future time: the aftermath of apocalypse pandemic – the dystopian community 

It was a dystopian community where humans had forgotten to breathe naturally. The atmospheric oxygen was considered infected and mankind got inured to inhale distilled oxygen. They constantly feared asphyxiation. Purified oxygen cylinder had become a daily need of every household, which was distributed along with milk and newspaper. There were few yogi people left in the Himalayas who knew the inhalation and exhalation process, and such yogis were shunned from the community.

Charu opened her eyes. She had seen the future. Charu’s antidote destroyed the virus, but it failed to annihilate its fear. She knew the evolution of such a dystopian community was because of the fear of virus which had penetrated deeply into every human mind.

‘It is the haunting fear which can terrorize the future humankind,’ Charu thought and thus Charu was on a mission again, this time to find an antidote to destroy the fear of the virus.

~~~~~