Project Solar Eclipse

Daily News, PTI

30 December There was a major accident yesterday on the INH-88 freeway.  Sources say a speeding truck crushed down 4 people who were crossing the road. The mishap happened when the truck, already over speeding, tried overtaking a four-wheeler. All four people, a lady, a young guy, an Oldman and a street vendor carrying vegetables are reported dead. One of the deceased was Dr. Stanley Johnsons, a renowned scientist known for his works in the research field. Similar reports have come in from the city, wherein 4 number of such cases have been reported. The city HQ police have already appointed a Police Officer to investigate the Case.

Onlookers saw the driver escaping through the road, taking advantage of the commotion.

 

In other news, the government is trying hard to control the rapid spread of an unknown epidemic which has started causing major deaths in the entire city. The medical facilities are yet to discover a major cure to this virus as its symptoms are constantly changing. The entire city of Cabot Cove is quarantined and all the suspects are kept in a safe zone, away from all the general public. The entire Air & Rail Traffic in & Out of the City is temporarily suspended till further notice.

 

20th January

The City National Library (CNL), Collinsport City

1730 hrs

 

"So, you have recently come here?" Elvin, the Library manager said, looking at her resume. The girl nodded.

"Your name I read was... Anna Richards..." Elvin said, flipping the pages. The girl again nodded, saying in sign language that her family has stayed back in her hometown and that she is looking out for a job change.

"Previously you state that you worked as an accountant in your town, and it was A bank. OK. I hope you know all the work an accountant does...." Elvin again explained, moving his hands in writing form, trying to explain the girl. The girl nodded, stating that she knows almost everything. Barring deaf & dumb disability, she can do everything a normal person does.

"OK. I'll speak to the trustee. I'll inform them you were in desperate need of a job. You can come to tomorrow." The girl happily smiled. Thanking him with folded hands, she indicated by moving her hand towards her wrist stating that she will reach on time the next day.

As she came out of the library, Anna texted to her friend & roommate Jennifer, saying that she has finally got the job. 

 

On the opposite street in front of the CNL, a tall man was observing Anna, with his one hand inside his handbag.

 

22nd January

Collinsport City Police HQ

1030 hrs

 

"Further investigations are on Sir," Ralph Wincent, the inspector appointed to investigate the accident on INH-88 reported to his senior inspector, Andrew 'Andy' Couch. "I have found out the identity of all the people who died in the road accident. And... there is something else I would like to show you." He then opened another file. Andy observed that it contained a list of some places and the number of people killed. 

"You may notice sir that similar accidents have happened in other parts of our city. In every accident, a number of people died, but the way in which they died was almost the same. In every case, they were either run over by a truck or by a four-wheeler. How can similar accidents happen at different places? I do think they are connected in some way. I’m checking the list of their names & their call records for further investigation.”

“Ok. Keep me posted. Also, check which profession they belonged to... maybe that’ll help. I know you just joined back after your leave.” Andy said while browsing through the news channels on the TV. All of them were showing the outbreak of the epidemic in Cabot Cove, & how the government, as well as the National Medical Institute (NMI), was unable to control the disease. Dr. Oliver Hardy, director of the NMI, was asking the people to stay calm as the institute was working hard to contain the outbreak.

The City Mayor, Harry Robins, had decided to hold a cabinet meeting to discuss the necessary steps to be taken for the containment of the virus.

 

24th January

The City National Library (CNL), Collinsport City

1130 hrs

 

Ralph stood outside the big Library Building. In his further investigations, he found out that 7 of the people who died in the 4 road accidents were scientists & medical practitioners. He could detect that from the CNL ID cards that he had found in their belongings. Continuous use of their magnetic strips suggested there frequent to this library.

However, where they worked & what research they were doing, was still a secret.

"But she is deaf and dumb sir... She can't speak...!" Elvin told Ralph.

He had spoken to Anna and showed her the photos of all the doctors, but Anna was unable to reply.

"Have you seen these people...?" Ralph asked Elvin. " These are scientists. I found the visiting cards of your library with these people. I suspect they are associated with this library."

 “Yes.” Elvin recognized them, “All of them were frequent visitors here. They used to sit & research here till late at night. I had to keep the…”

“What research were they doing? What were they working on…? Can you show me what books they were referring to?” Ralph underlined the last line as he knew researchers frequently highlighted the lines they found useful, following which he could understand their research.

"One thing I would like to add..." Elvin continued, "I had seen their books one day. It had a long list of calculations that I couldn't understand. But yes, on one of the pages 'Solar Eclipse' was scribbled." 

Ralph was listening, and trying to find out if this could help in any way. 

“But to find out what books they had referred, I have to search the database & the servers for that…. leave your contact here. I’ll message you once I find out…”

 

2330 hrs

Ralph laid down on his bed, still thinking about the case. His thoughts then drifted back to his past. He remembered his son, his sweet little son. How nicely he had seen him grow up. He had dreamed of a beautiful future to his son post his wife’s death during pregnancy.

And then, the virus outbreak happened.

He lost his son in this epidemic.

Not just his, many of the families had lost their loved ones in it.

According to Elvin, the scientists were working late at night, which meant they were working on an important project, perhaps, something which was strikingly important. 

Solar Eclipse - probably the name of an operation. 

Else, which person –

His thoughts broke off as he heard his cell phone ring.

He checked and saw there was a missed call & an incoming message.

It was from Anna.

 

Anna somehow hides behind the garbage container in the deserted alley.

Today evening, as she finished her work in the library while moving out, she spotted a tall man at the entry, staring directly at her. Covering her face with the mask that the Government Authorities had instructed to use to stay away from the viral outbreak, she paced her walk, only to realize that the man was following her. She further speeded up, & changed from her usual route to a deserted alley, but still, the man was behind her.

Finally, she broke into a sprint. The tall man followed her, running more faster than she was & soon caught up with her.

Suddenly, Anna halted & in a swift movement, moved her hand in a circle, turning backward. Her hand landed straight on the man's face. He tripped for a moment, but Anna caught that moment & hit him with her knee in his crotch. The man groaned in pain. Without wasting any more time, Anna ran further inside the dark alley & hide behind the garbage can. Panting profusely, she remembered the card that Ralph had given her & Elvin, which had his emergency contact details imprinted on the backside.

She tried Elvin, but he didn’t answer.

She tried Jennifer, but her roommate was asleep.

Finally, she dialed Ralph.

Halfway through the ringing, she knew she couldn’t speak. Disconnecting the call, she messaged him hastily.

 

"I hope she is fine now..." Ralph said as he was leaving Anna's house. When he got the message, he read it & came to know that Anna is in danger. As he urgently left his house, he contacted the emergency Control Tower, who gave him the location from where the message had come to his cell-phone.

"She'll be fine now..." Jennifer, her roommate said. Ralph then sat down with Anna, to enquire about the latest incident. 

"Did you know him...?" Ralph asked her. Anna nodded with a no. 

"Did you see him somewhere? Or did he come and talks to you recently...?" Ralph again asked a series of questions from an enquiry point of view. 

With sign language, Anna said that she had never seen the guy, nor has she spoken to him anytime in between. 

 

25th January

Collinsport City Police HQ

0930 hrs

 

“Elvin was headshot from a long-range, sir…!” Ralph reported to Andy. “Yesterday night, Anna who was working with Elvin, messaged me someone was following her. I tried to take a lead but got none. When I reached home, the night patrol unit called me & told about a body being found inside a car on the highway. I checked on the crime scene & it was Elvin. He was shot using a sniper rifle from a long distance, possibly from the terrace of some building.” Ralph explained the whole scenario.

“He was supposed to give you some info about those scientists…” Andy asked. Ralph knew he had again landed with a dead end.

On further inquiries, it was revealed in the CCTV footage of the neighboring buildings that a tall man was seen escaping with something that looked like a big suitcase in his hand. His description matched with what Anna had told him.

Now the tall man was a criminal & was wanted in this murder case.

 

1530 hrs

 

Anna decided to leave early since she was not feeling well. 

As she stepped down into the exit and called the cab, suddenly she saw the same tall man on the opposite road. He was wearing sunglasses & a black cap. Anna recognized him from his bag.

Panicked, she sat down in the cab & told the driver hurriedly to start the car.

The tall man smiled and put his one hand inside his bag, started approaching her. 

Anna got panicked and rapidly tapping the driver’s shoulder, signaled him to start the car at once. The driver complained that the key is jammed. He tried moving it, but the car didn't budge. 

The tall man kept approaching. 

Anna jolted the door open and ran towards the highway. Just as the signal turned green, she sprinted hard towards the divider. With the vehicles honking, she still ran with full force on the opposite end of the road. She looked behind and saw the tall man running behind her. She still ran ahead towards the other junction. The man approached.

At the turn, she saw the other signal turning green. She jumped ahead, trying to avoid the vehicles. As she crossed halfway, she heard screeching of tires and screams. She crossed the road and saw the same tall man lying flat on the road in a pool of blood, and onlookers gathering beside him. 

Jennifer, her roommate, saw her running & assisted her in getting another cab.

Ralph reached just in time to see Anna seated in her home. Jennifer was somehow consoling her. 

"She says she is shocked as the person died because of her..." Jennifer said, consoling the weeping Anna. She still looked horrified and badly shaken.

Ralph felt that the tall man wasn’t going to kill Anna, as he could have easily done it, the way Elvin was killed from a long-range. He wanted something from her.

But what was it?

 

2130 hrs

 

Back in his office, Ralph still didn't have any clue about all the killings. What exactly happened to all of them?

He picked up the daily newspaper, but his thoughts were still on road accidents. 

All the pages of the newspaper were filled with news related to the virus outbreak, & how the government was treating all the quarantined patients.

As he browsed through the pages, he suddenly stopped at one page. A medical company of investors and agents had given a half-page list of all the representatives associated with them. 

One of them was the tall man, whom Ralph had seen dead on the road, and the same guy who was following Anna. 

His name was Marco Furaha.

He served as a Banking Agent to this company.

Hurriedly, he noted down his number. Calling him won't make a point, as he was already dead. He forwarded the details to a mobile company, which gave his residential address. 

Without wasting any time, he landed straight outside Marco’s house. His house was on the second floor in a small building, inside a marketplace. Being night-time, the entire market was closed, & the whole road was deserted.

Ralph entered Marco’s house.

His house only had one room. The furniture was scattered and everything was haphazard. All the clothes were shabbily arranged on the floor as well as on the bed.

Ralph tried searching, but couldn’t find anything. As he was about to leave, he saw Marco’s working table. A bookshelf was kept next to it. Out of curiosity, Ralph went and checked the bookshelf.

He spotted a diary amongst all the books.

As he opened it, he saw all the pages were written in some African language.

However, one page caught his attention.

Eyeing closely, he saw that it was some kind of code.

 

XXX-I-SOLAR ECLIPSE

 

But what does this code mean? 

Ralph then remembered that one of the scientists had mentioned the same code in his book which Elvin had seen.

But what did Solar Eclipse mean?

 

26th January

Collinsport City Police HQ

0830 hrs 

“I searched the internet database for all the hits mentioning the word ‘Solar Eclipse’”, the software engineer said to Ralph, “I did find some personal emails mentioning it. But this word was extensively used during the start of December. I cracked the software & have got certain emails that frequently used this word. Note that every email was heavily encrypted. Since some communication was done through mobiles, I tracked down the number as well. Let’s hope this will help you…!”

Ralph observed that all the communication was done in a coded language. Moreover, for all the mobile phone conversations, a new sim card was used every time. Also, the Cell-phone tower locations were different in every conversation. The IMEI numbers of all the cell phones used were also different.

“I tried to find the source of all the emails containing this word. But there is a certain firewall that is blocking me. The software of this firewall is filled with different High-Level Security codes upgraded every day which is preventing me from bypassing it. But….let me keep trying…” the engineer replied.

Ralph then checked the mobile network locations & found out one location which was used more than 3 times. Contacting the mobile companies, he came to know of a location in the main market area. Being a market place, he knew there may be CCTVs around.

He then asked for the footages in that area on the dates when the communication had happened. As he browsed through the footages, he saw the tall man, Marco Furaha, talking to one person.

As Ralph further observed the footage, he couldn’t believe what he saw.

 

0930 hrs

 

Today, the library was closed due to a National Holiday.

However, she knew how to enter inside.

Secretly opening the doors, she went in.

She had grabbed Marco’s mobile when he had died in the Road accident. Going through his messages, she came to know that his next objective was to find the evidence hidden inside the National Library & destroy it. She knew the code.

XXX stood for 30 according to Roman Numerals. I stood for January or the first month of the year. She knew the exact path where the required thing would be kept.

Shelf no. 30. Row 1.

She removed the book. It was highlighted in many places, as all the scientists in her team used that book frequently for research. She browsed through the pages & found the required material at the desired page.

She exactly knew whom she should share all this information with.

She then created a downloadable link & shared it by creating an anonymous email.

Collinsport City Main Railway Terminal

1000 hrs

He was seated in the waiting cabin of the Railway Terminal. He had just finished a press conference, where all the reporters had almost fired the same question on him.

The virus was spreading fast. And with the winters approaching, there was a big danger that the virus will spread much faster in the cold environment.

“I have an important meeting to attend”, he had instructed at the reception. He was already late for the meet. With the Air Traffic not working, he had preferred going by train.

Collinsport City Police HQ

1015 hrs

 

Ralph hurriedly sat down in the Patrol car. He immediately gave the directions to the driver & instructed him to drive as fast as he can.

The person he had seen in the CCTV footage was quite well known. He knew who he was.

Right now, his main aim was to question that person.

Further to that, the software engineer was still trying to decrypt the emails . But the highest piece of information he had received was the download link from an anonymous email. The software engineer had downloaded it.

When Ralph saw the contents, that’s when he got the most shocking news.

Collinsport City Main Railway Terminal

1030 hrs

As he heard the arrival of his train, he lifted up his suitcase. He knew this meeting was important, after all, that had happened in the past few weeks. He had never imagined that these would be the consequences, but now, somehow he had to tackle them & create a solution for the hazardous natural problems the city was facing.

Ralph knew he couldn’t reach the desired place on time, so he informed the District Police HQ to assist him. The location he wanted to reach was still far off. He then instructed the District Police to catch hold of the person who was right now trying to escape via the Railway Terminal.

The District Police stormed inside the Terminal. With the help of LIVE CCTV footages, they located the person on the large number of platforms. Since the Air traffic was closed due to the virus outbreak, trains were crowded with thousands of people trying to move in & out of the city.

The District Police crossed the platforms through the bridges & saw the person on one of the platforms, trying to board the train.

Within seconds, they caught hold of him. His identity was confirmed with the help of documents & cards that he was carrying. The person was immediately arrested & was taken into the police custody.

Half an hour later, his arrest became a major news on all the TV channels.

3 days later

29th January

Collinsport National Highway No. 70

1030 hrs 

She sat on the interstate bus stop waiting for the bus.

As she waited for the bus to come, she listened to the Breaking News that was displayed on all the TV channels;

“While the city is still tackling the growth of the Virus, the Police Authorities have arrested Dr. Oliver Hardy, director of the National Medical Institute (NMI) while trying to board a train to the neighboring city. In further questionings, he has revealed that he had appointed a team of 7 doctors to work on developing a certain bacterial compound which will enhance the growth of all the natural trees, thereby helping them in producing more volume of oxygen. This was named as Project Solar Eclipse. This team was only aware of this fact & they developed a similar compound. However, Dr. Oliver later modified the ingredients of the biological compound transforming it into a deadly virus. This is the result the virus has spread creating an epidemic.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Dr. Oliver, along with the city Mayor Harry Robins, were developing this epidemic creator. The entire state of Cabot Cove was infected. The idea behind this was to possibly create the disease & spread it to neighboring countries. And then give out a vaccine for the same at the right time. This also meant, that their idea was to help the nation come out of the current crises & while the surrounding countries go down economically, our country will emerge as a new powerful country. However, this decision was backfired at them as the disease spread quite rapidly, killing more people than anticipated. 

With its ever-changing behaviour, the medical authorities couldn’t stop the growth. Later on, the committee of 7 doctors found out about this & they threatened Dr. Oliver of police arrest. Fearing all of this, the evil doctor then appointed an assassin named Marco working as an agent in an insurance company to finish all the 7 of them.” The channels then flashed a photo of the African Marco, with his ID card as an insurance agent.

“This guy Marco then killed all the 7 of them in different Road accidents across the city. However, due to clever investigation by Police officer Ralph Wincent, this entire phenomenon was scrutinized & brought to the notice of all the people. Dr. Oliver & Marco have been immediately arrested. This phenomenon has certainly caused a lot for our country. All the shares have been collapsed with comparison to the international markets. Further investigations are on & Dr. Oliver has suggested certain methods to stop the spread of the virus in the city…”

As she heard the bus arrive, she lifted her bag.

Dr. Jennifer Johnsons.

She and her husband, Dr. Stanley Johnsons, were amongst the group of 7 doctors who were working on Project Solar Eclipse. Post developing the bacteria, the team came to know about the evil idea of Dr. Oliver.

She got miraculously saved in the accidents. After spending some days in the hospital, she took a fake identity & escaped from the hospital. With the help of her disabled friend Anna, who joined the library where they did most their research, she found out the book, where her husband had secretly placed the DVDs of their research, which was kept hidden from all the public & Government authorities. These DVDs contained their entire data & the research formats. Most importantly, it also contained information on how Dr. Oliver manipulated their research & created the virus. She had uploaded all the data & mailed the link to Inspector Ralph.

As the bus left the terminal, the news channels displayed that Dr. Oliver had suggested a new vaccine for controlling the epidemic.