Time is the killer

The lab looked no different from a warehouse. Papers, journals, heavy books, cables, bottles and monitors lay everywhere in the room. The digital calendar flashed the date '5 OCT 2047' in an ominous fluorescent glow. Dr.Chabra was deeply monitoring Dr. Swamy's vital signs.
This was a dangerous experiment the duo had indulged in. To conquer mortality.

Dr. Swamy started perspiring clearly out of last minute nervousness. He was to be injected with a small dose of a chemical composed just for the experiment, to simulate death. Simulating death amounted to being devoid of heart beat for a small period of 15 seconds. In those 15 seconds Dr. Chabra was to test the magic of the experimental serum that was meant to resurrect the dead man. If everything went as per the theoretical results, Dr. Swamy's heart was to start beating again between the 10th and the 13th seconds. They had tested this multiple times on small animals and reptiles. For human testing, they did not have any one but themselves, for the government did not approve of lab experiments meddling with human life. The experiment was as illegal as it was lethal.

Dr. Chabra took a deep breath and instructed Dr. Swamy to relax.
"It will take only 30 seconds for me to completely inject this as you must already know. But the most important point is- don't breathe too fast. I know you know this, but I am just reiterating. If your heart rate increases, the whole experiment would fail."
Dr. Swamy knew really well what it meant. If his heart rate increased during the process of injecting the death simulator, the difference in Oxygen intake could make fundamental changes to the chemical composition of the liquid and he could lose his life. It was inexplicably important to stay calm and breathe slow.

Dr. Chabra started the process.

10 seconds.
"Things will be OK. We have tested this multiple times", Dr. Swamy's thoughts ran.
15 seconds.
"Dont think. Dont think. Stay calm", he told himself.
20 seconds.
"I never said goodbye to my son."
At that thought his heart rate increased a tiny little bit.
"Please stay calm." warned Dr. Chabra.
25 seconds.
"This is not done. I should have bid goodbye."
26 seconds.
"This is irresponsible. I am a bad father."
27 seconds.
"I don't want to die."

Dr. Swamy's heart rate rocketed with all those stressful thoughts and Dr. Chabra went frantic trying to reverse the procedure because he knew it was all downhill from here.

Despite all attempts to stop the circulation of the deadly liquid in Dr. Swamy's blood stream, the inevitable end was looming ahead. Dr. Swamy's eyes rolled within their sockets and he seemed to be entering a trance.

The monitors showed a blank beacon indicating the horrifying truth in a matter of seconds. Dr. Swamy was no more.




Harish stared at the digital clock ahead. It had a bright ominous glow. It flashed the date '5-OCT-2067'. This lab was his home. He had heard stories about the infamous experiment of a genius duo-Dr. Swamy and Dr. Chabra. His respect for the place and the people who once occupied it had increased manifold after he had read through the details of their experiment. He felt honored and privileged to have procured the permit to acquire the lab for his own experiments.

He felt that he was no great scientist himself. But the place had made a tremendous physiological difference to the success of his experiments. His work had progressed at the speed of light from the moment he had stepped into his new lab.

People talked. There were umpteen stories about Dr. Swamy's spirit haunting the lab for the past 20 years. He did not care. For a scientific person like him, stories such as this were only mildly amusing if anything. He was a big fan of the scientist duo. To commemorate the day the duo had tried their most ambitious experiment, he had chosen the very day to venture into his own big one.

He had invented a time machine. A partial one so to speak. It could travel only into the future. The day had come to test it out.

The experiment was low key and top secret. Only his closest friends of the science fraternity knew about it. His phone rang that morning as he was fine tuning his instruments one last time before the big afternoon ahead.
"Hello Harish" his friend spoke into the camera-phone. Harish looked up at the video screen. His friend looked nervous.
"What's up Prakash?" asked Harish, looking down again continuing his touch ups.
"Why did you have to choose this date? You know what my lab mate says? That Dr. Swamy's spirit will ensure the experiment fails."
Harish felt annoyed immediately.
"Thanks for the negative energy, but tell your lab mate to mind his or her own business."
"Look, the lab is the negative energy. First you chose the sinister lab. Now you choose the very date the big disaster occurred."
"I dont believe in these things. Neither should you. You should be ashamed to call yourself a scientist." snapped Harish without looking up again.
"Well, I just wanted to persuade you one last time. Goodluck anyway...." said Prakash and hung up.

Harish's blood was boiling. He hated diversions like this on a big day.

Luckily he had found his subject for the experiment. Neeta- his girlfriend.

Like a typical scientist he wanted to keep his experiments and studies within his close circle for the fear of leaking his research ideas.

His lab door rang. He checked the digital viewfinder synched into his wrist watch to see Neeta standing  outside the door.

He pressed a button in the wrist watch to open the door and let her in. Neeta walked in looking confident. Harish beamed at her. "Good morning, sweetie! All set?" he asked, like this was nothing more than a dental visit.

"Yeah" she said casually. Harish beamed at her again. She was a scientist's daughter herself. No wonder she was used to the lab atmosphere.

"I will walk you through the equipment and concepts." said Harish and took her hand to walk her upto the main equipment.
They stood before a gigantic capsule, just large enough to hold a person. It was hardly visible due to its transparency. Inside the capsule was a standing space suit armor, white in color. There was hardly an inch between the suit and the capsule. Neeta stretched her hand to touch it, looking inquiringly at Harish for his consent.
Harish nodded with a "Go ahead" and she touched the capsule. It felt like a light fibre, like the softest, thinnest satin ever made.

Harish cleared his throat to begin the lecture. Neeta was not a scientist herself. She was an adventure traveler. Harish had to explain things in layman terms for her to understand.

"Many decades ago, a hypothetical particle called the Tachyon was theorized. It can travel faster than light. A decade ago, it was successfully generated in lab. This gave time machine scientists a new direction."

Neeta looked on with utmost concentration.
"A Tachyon can travel faster than light. So technically it can reach a point in space before light could reach it. Now when you look at a building across the street, what you are seeing is light rays that were reflected from the building. If a Tachyon particle reached the building before light reached it, then the particle is actually in the future."

Neeta nodded partly understanding what he meant.

"Now, this capsule I created can hold Tachyons. I will charge it up with Tachyon particles using my generator here. The moment it is all charged up, I will select the time I want it traveling for. If the Tachyons travel for say 6 minutes, then you would have reached upto an hour into the future. So, If I want you traveling 1 day into the future, I would keep the Tachyons traveling for 144 minutes or close to 2.5 hours. Got it?"

"Yes" said Neeta looking a little nervous for the first time.
"Any questions?" asked Harish.
"Yes, would it hurt coz I'd be traveling real fast?"
"No, thats what the suit is for. It would protect you against forces from inertia and pressure changes. It also has a built in oxygen cylinder in case you have difficulty breathing"
"What if I have to contact you?"
"There's a built in satellite phone. You can call me. There is also a GPS tracker so we know where you are after you reach."
"Where are you sending me?"
"I won't be sending you very far. The direction and time settings should take you to an abandoned air field in Sri Lanka."
"I hope I won't be tresspassing." quipped Neeta
"Dont worry about it, it's not a military base or anything" smiled Harish.

Neeta smiled for the first time. For some reason her instinct was warning her about something she could not understand. Her gut feeling told her to back out. But she did not.
"Did you hear about the ghost stories?" she asked, opening her mind for once.
"Atleast you dont believe in them."snapped Harish.

"Alright, get in." continued Harish sensing her troubled mind.
"But its only noon. We scheduled it for 2.30" said Neeta nervous again.
"It doesnt make a difference."said Harish casually shepherding her into the capsule before she changed her mind.

Neeta got in and stood clumsily in the tiny suit. Harish pressed a button on one of the panels and the suit started locking itself in place. An earphone set over Neeta's ears and she could see a blank screen in front of her eyes that just flashed the current time and showed her current location on the globe.

Neeta jumped when Harish's voice boomed in through the earphones.
"I will be talking to you as and when needed. The screen in front of you will flash messages necessary for you to understand and follow."

Neeta nodded.

Harish pointed at a pouch in front of the suit.
"This has the satellite phone and GPS tracker device"
"OK"mouthed Neeta.
Harish hit another button on the console and the capsule and suit started moving across the room. A door was sliding open at the far end. It was then that Neeta realized that the capsule was meant to be in the open before it launched.
A huge balcony loomed into view. A long track projected from it and the capsule rode and stopped at the end of it. Neeta looked around. It felt like hanging in mid-air.

"Ready to launch?"came Harish's voice.
Neeta shuddered. She was doing this all for the adventure freak in her. She did not quite understand how she had become ready to enter this dangerous agreement. But there was no turning back now. Harish had started the countdown.


10 - 9 - 8 - 7 - 6 - 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 ....

Neeta closed her eyes.

She felt a jerk before she passed out.

She opened her eyes after an indefinite time. She looked around breathing in from the oxygen cylinder.
She could not recognize where she was and how long had it been.The screen in front of her showed a random time-11.30 p.m. The entire globe was gone from the view.  '10-OCT-2067' flashed at one end. It looked like the experiment had succeeded. She had come 5 days into the future. But she had no clue as to where she was. The land and terrain looked different from her home country. This must be Sri Lanka, she thought. There were just rocks around and the horizon could be seen all around her.

The capsule was completely missing. She was just in the suit and sprawled on the ground. She got up and took a step, fishing out her phone as she tried walking. She completely lost her balance. That's when she realized she was perched atop a steep slope. Before she knew it her cell phone went rolling by and she gasped. She tried running after it and rolled and slid behind coming to a halt on a huge rock.

She took the phone and grasped it in her hand. She looked into it and her heart froze. There was no signal whatsoever. The GPS tracker wasn't working either. Hitting "Track Me" was doing nothing. She tried again and again, fighting tears.

Finally she gave up. It was dark by then. Night sky loomed over her. She sat under the rock crying her eyes out. She slightly lifted her digital screen and looked up at the sky. She stilled, gripped with panic. All hopes of ever surviving were lost. She knew she was dying soon.

The unmistakeable view in the sky told her where she was. The earth was shining above the horizon. A beautiful clear view of blue and white. She had left her home planet completely. Her eyes hovered over the bottom right of her digital view. The oxygen cylinder was almost exhausted, 5% remaining. She closed her eyes ready to bid goodbye to her life, counting her minutes.

The oxygen kept reducing. At 1% she opened her eyes to see a message flash before her.
"Neeta, this is how Dr. Swamy felt. Goodbye, Neeta Chabra..."

Neeta closed her eyes knowing why she had to face this. This was Dr. Swamy's revenge on her for her father Dr. Chabra's mistake. Although Dr. Chabra had not intended the fiasco, he had been selfish and not opted to be the subject of the experiment. She actually felt better knowing why she was dying. And she felt strange thinking the ghost stories had been true.

Her oxygen was down to 0% now. She remembered her father. She breathed her last.

Back in the lab Harish held a photograph in his hand. His eyes were still wet from crying.
"This was for you Dad. Your son Harish Swamy succeeded in his experiment. And his revenge."