Links to previous chapters (reading in order necessary):
Prologue: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/07/unstrange-prologue.html
Chapter 1: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/07/the-unstrange-chapter-1.html
Chapter 2: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/09/the-unstrange-chapter-2.html
The night was dark and thunderous. Every now and then the voluminous void of the darkness was broken by the blue and purple lightening and revealed a vision that made Kara feel like a speck of dust in the forest with thickest and tallest of trees. The dark clouds were like black fire, thundering with such ferocity that made Kara feel that the dark flames were going engulf the whole world. There was a bird flying through the storm where no normal bird would dare to fly, and Kara was sitting in it. Just a few minutes back the pilot had announced that they would be facing a lot of turbulence as it was the monsoon season. Mary was sitting beside Kara, her face was white and she was clutching the side rests of the seats very tightly, she didn't like thunderstorms and specially when she was in air. Kara on the other hand intended to look out through the length of the storm. She always loved watching anything nature had to offer. This was the first time she was flying through the thunderstorm. Gazing out she saw, far away in the sky, there was a small cloud which was shinning a little, or was it a cloud? She was trying to focus on the point, but it was far away and dark. Just then the sky was illuminated with lightening and she saw, to her amazement, what looked like a man. Just then Mary grabbed her arm and said,
"Will you shut that window? It's killing me!"
Kara turned back to look out, searching for the same spot, but it was gone. Nothing else was to been seen, except the dark grey clouds and shimmering lightening. She lowered the window shade. Obviously, her mind was playing tricks on her. Last two days had been full of hectic packing and running. Their camp was bundled away and sent to the US, since now they wouldn't need the equipment, while the essentials were kept. Peter had briefed her about the her next assignment and it was not much. He had told her that she had to go to India for a top secret project called Ayaan. This was the same project that her previous partner and mentor had worked on, during which he had died in an accident. He also informed her about the curious message she had received and its negative frequency. He said that they are looking up that negative frequency message is even possible or not and how only her Sat phone caught it. There was a third set of information, which Peter was in two minds to share or not, it was regarding the location of the origin of the message which was a place in North India only. He had given her the coordinates. Peter had given her a task, he wanted her to investigate about this place and also told her that it might be related to project Ayaan. He then told Kara to pack everything and send the laboratory to the USGS, as all the equipment would be provided to her by the project officials in India only. She had to take a flight next day from Melbourne, Australia to Kolkata, India.
Kara was now pretty sure that she had imagined the voice on the phone to be Matt's as she had imagined the man in the sky. Peter had sent her anyway to the source of the message because there was a requirement and it served many purposes. It was an emotional moment for Kara because now she would be working with the ghost of Matt as she would inherit all the research that Matt had done and continue on the yet unknown job. Also, her mind was on that phone call all the time. If it was not Matt then who from India knew her name, and would call for help. She had never been to India before. She longed for answers.
Mary had decided to accompany her, although, Indians didn't want her but Peter had insisted that she would be allowed to accompany Kara for the last man he sent died on the project and India doesn't have a good record for women's safety. Indians had reluctantly agreed.
They landed in Kolkata about an hour later. There was a crowd outside the airport for reception of arrivals. Kara and Mary had to wait for some time, for a fight had been started between taxi drivers which was resolved when few policemen came and diffused the situation. Then there it was, there was a man in whites, standing at the end of the row, holding a board which had Kara's name on it. "Welcome to India, madam" he said to both Kara and Mary, repeating it twice. They were escorted to a white Ambassador, which had "Government of India" written on a red plaque.
"Where will you be taking us?" Kara asked the driver.
"A short way madam, just to the nearby defense airfield." the driver answered.
"Looks like we are flying again. And I don't like it." said Mary.
The short way, took about an hour, for there was a massive traffic jam on the roads of Kolkata. "This is normal madam, it is still not the peak hour." Her driver mentioned when the guests looked irritated. Finally they reached their destination. There was a man standing near the airfield, dressed in a blue suit. His features were sharp, he sported a mustache, he must have been around 35 years old.
"Welcome to India Ms. Johnathan, Ms. Clark. I am Ravi Kumar from Ministry of Science and Technology, India. I hope your journey was pleasant. (Mary had something to mutter here). Forgive me for being rude, but we must at once go to our charted plane as it is going to rain soon." With that he turned and headed straight for the nearby hangar, there a small aircraft was waiting for them. They entered it, Kara was surprised by the richness of interiors and was quite impressed. As soon as they got seated, the plane started to move.
"Now tell me Mr. Kumar, tell me everything about the project." said Kara.
"Well your dedication is commendable Ms. Johnathan--"
"Call me Kara." interrupted Kara.
"Kara, but it is considered rude in India to discuss matters of import until and unless the guests are well fed and comfortable. You have had a long journey Ms- Kara, once we are in air and you are well fed, I will tell you the things I am sent here to tell you. For it will be good to know for you that we are going to Silchar in Assam, that is the nearest place to our work site where we can land this plane. For Now you can put your mind to rest." said Kumar, with a smile on his face. His baritone made the words look menacing.
After that Kumar asked them about their journey, for which an exciting description was given by Mary, who obviously didn't seem to be afraid now for she told everything about the thunderstorm. After that, when they were in air, they were served with food which was good.
"Now that you have eaten, we must discuss some things Kara. As you know, you will be working on project Ayaan. Now, as stated in your agreement it is a top secret project, you cannot disclose any information to anyone outside your team, not even to your family. So I must warn you, that any disclosure will lead to your termination for this project and as well as your agency and you will be blacklisted. Is this clear?" inquired Kumar, with a stern expression.
"Pretty much" answered Kara back, as all these things were clarified to her by Peter earlier.
"Very well. Now, 25 years ago, we located a place called Jatinga which is located in Assam. A peculiar thing happened there, every monsoon, a lot of birds would die. There were some explanations given by scientists over a possible cause for this, but nothing was concrete. Then three years ago, an even peculiar thing happened. A small area of the forest just lit up, in the middle of the night. It was day on a 2 square kilometers area and pitch dark in the rest of the forest."
Kara and Mary were blown away by this. There were a several questions asked by them about the possibility of such and event, but Kumar won't tell then anything.
"I am not the right person to tell you all about this Ms. Clark, but I appreciate your curiosity. This is just an initial brief, you would come to know the details at the site itself, where we are heading right now. Now, this event has happened 3 times after that. So, your task would be to assist the team led by Dr. Vinay Malhotra in uncovering the truth about this "Death Zone", as we call it. All your questions will be answered by Dr. Malhotra himself." said Kumar, finishing his brief. It was also implied that he would say no more and his part, for now, was complete.
They landed in Silchar 15 minutes later. It was pouring. They were shifted to mini jeep which was covered. It was an hour's drive from Silchar and the scenery was amazing. The fields were full of greenery and the small mountains were covered with layers of green. After all it was the evergreen part of India. The forest was full of trees which were lined along the road. The road turned to a muddy one 40 minutes into the journey. Now the forest was even more prominent and felt untouched, except for the muddy road. The rain had stopped. The arrival included issuing of a pass to both Kara and Mary so that they were authorized to perform their duties without any restrictions. Then they saw the most amazing thing, there was a very high glass wall erected around a huge area of about 2 sq. kms. in shape of a cylinder. Dr. Vinay Malhotra was there to receive them. "Welcome to the Death Zone" he said smiling, ironically.
Prologue: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/07/unstrange-prologue.html
Chapter 1: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/07/the-unstrange-chapter-1.html
Chapter 2: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/09/the-unstrange-chapter-2.html
The night was dark and thunderous. Every now and then the voluminous void of the darkness was broken by the blue and purple lightening and revealed a vision that made Kara feel like a speck of dust in the forest with thickest and tallest of trees. The dark clouds were like black fire, thundering with such ferocity that made Kara feel that the dark flames were going engulf the whole world. There was a bird flying through the storm where no normal bird would dare to fly, and Kara was sitting in it. Just a few minutes back the pilot had announced that they would be facing a lot of turbulence as it was the monsoon season. Mary was sitting beside Kara, her face was white and she was clutching the side rests of the seats very tightly, she didn't like thunderstorms and specially when she was in air. Kara on the other hand intended to look out through the length of the storm. She always loved watching anything nature had to offer. This was the first time she was flying through the thunderstorm. Gazing out she saw, far away in the sky, there was a small cloud which was shinning a little, or was it a cloud? She was trying to focus on the point, but it was far away and dark. Just then the sky was illuminated with lightening and she saw, to her amazement, what looked like a man. Just then Mary grabbed her arm and said,
"Will you shut that window? It's killing me!"
Kara turned back to look out, searching for the same spot, but it was gone. Nothing else was to been seen, except the dark grey clouds and shimmering lightening. She lowered the window shade. Obviously, her mind was playing tricks on her. Last two days had been full of hectic packing and running. Their camp was bundled away and sent to the US, since now they wouldn't need the equipment, while the essentials were kept. Peter had briefed her about the her next assignment and it was not much. He had told her that she had to go to India for a top secret project called Ayaan. This was the same project that her previous partner and mentor had worked on, during which he had died in an accident. He also informed her about the curious message she had received and its negative frequency. He said that they are looking up that negative frequency message is even possible or not and how only her Sat phone caught it. There was a third set of information, which Peter was in two minds to share or not, it was regarding the location of the origin of the message which was a place in North India only. He had given her the coordinates. Peter had given her a task, he wanted her to investigate about this place and also told her that it might be related to project Ayaan. He then told Kara to pack everything and send the laboratory to the USGS, as all the equipment would be provided to her by the project officials in India only. She had to take a flight next day from Melbourne, Australia to Kolkata, India.
Kara was now pretty sure that she had imagined the voice on the phone to be Matt's as she had imagined the man in the sky. Peter had sent her anyway to the source of the message because there was a requirement and it served many purposes. It was an emotional moment for Kara because now she would be working with the ghost of Matt as she would inherit all the research that Matt had done and continue on the yet unknown job. Also, her mind was on that phone call all the time. If it was not Matt then who from India knew her name, and would call for help. She had never been to India before. She longed for answers.
Mary had decided to accompany her, although, Indians didn't want her but Peter had insisted that she would be allowed to accompany Kara for the last man he sent died on the project and India doesn't have a good record for women's safety. Indians had reluctantly agreed.
They landed in Kolkata about an hour later. There was a crowd outside the airport for reception of arrivals. Kara and Mary had to wait for some time, for a fight had been started between taxi drivers which was resolved when few policemen came and diffused the situation. Then there it was, there was a man in whites, standing at the end of the row, holding a board which had Kara's name on it. "Welcome to India, madam" he said to both Kara and Mary, repeating it twice. They were escorted to a white Ambassador, which had "Government of India" written on a red plaque.
"Where will you be taking us?" Kara asked the driver.
"A short way madam, just to the nearby defense airfield." the driver answered.
"Looks like we are flying again. And I don't like it." said Mary.
The short way, took about an hour, for there was a massive traffic jam on the roads of Kolkata. "This is normal madam, it is still not the peak hour." Her driver mentioned when the guests looked irritated. Finally they reached their destination. There was a man standing near the airfield, dressed in a blue suit. His features were sharp, he sported a mustache, he must have been around 35 years old.
"Welcome to India Ms. Johnathan, Ms. Clark. I am Ravi Kumar from Ministry of Science and Technology, India. I hope your journey was pleasant. (Mary had something to mutter here). Forgive me for being rude, but we must at once go to our charted plane as it is going to rain soon." With that he turned and headed straight for the nearby hangar, there a small aircraft was waiting for them. They entered it, Kara was surprised by the richness of interiors and was quite impressed. As soon as they got seated, the plane started to move.
"Now tell me Mr. Kumar, tell me everything about the project." said Kara.
"Well your dedication is commendable Ms. Johnathan--"
"Call me Kara." interrupted Kara.
"Kara, but it is considered rude in India to discuss matters of import until and unless the guests are well fed and comfortable. You have had a long journey Ms- Kara, once we are in air and you are well fed, I will tell you the things I am sent here to tell you. For it will be good to know for you that we are going to Silchar in Assam, that is the nearest place to our work site where we can land this plane. For Now you can put your mind to rest." said Kumar, with a smile on his face. His baritone made the words look menacing.
After that Kumar asked them about their journey, for which an exciting description was given by Mary, who obviously didn't seem to be afraid now for she told everything about the thunderstorm. After that, when they were in air, they were served with food which was good.
"Now that you have eaten, we must discuss some things Kara. As you know, you will be working on project Ayaan. Now, as stated in your agreement it is a top secret project, you cannot disclose any information to anyone outside your team, not even to your family. So I must warn you, that any disclosure will lead to your termination for this project and as well as your agency and you will be blacklisted. Is this clear?" inquired Kumar, with a stern expression.
"Pretty much" answered Kara back, as all these things were clarified to her by Peter earlier.
"Very well. Now, 25 years ago, we located a place called Jatinga which is located in Assam. A peculiar thing happened there, every monsoon, a lot of birds would die. There were some explanations given by scientists over a possible cause for this, but nothing was concrete. Then three years ago, an even peculiar thing happened. A small area of the forest just lit up, in the middle of the night. It was day on a 2 square kilometers area and pitch dark in the rest of the forest."
Kara and Mary were blown away by this. There were a several questions asked by them about the possibility of such and event, but Kumar won't tell then anything.
"I am not the right person to tell you all about this Ms. Clark, but I appreciate your curiosity. This is just an initial brief, you would come to know the details at the site itself, where we are heading right now. Now, this event has happened 3 times after that. So, your task would be to assist the team led by Dr. Vinay Malhotra in uncovering the truth about this "Death Zone", as we call it. All your questions will be answered by Dr. Malhotra himself." said Kumar, finishing his brief. It was also implied that he would say no more and his part, for now, was complete.
They landed in Silchar 15 minutes later. It was pouring. They were shifted to mini jeep which was covered. It was an hour's drive from Silchar and the scenery was amazing. The fields were full of greenery and the small mountains were covered with layers of green. After all it was the evergreen part of India. The forest was full of trees which were lined along the road. The road turned to a muddy one 40 minutes into the journey. Now the forest was even more prominent and felt untouched, except for the muddy road. The rain had stopped. The arrival included issuing of a pass to both Kara and Mary so that they were authorized to perform their duties without any restrictions. Then they saw the most amazing thing, there was a very high glass wall erected around a huge area of about 2 sq. kms. in shape of a cylinder. Dr. Vinay Malhotra was there to receive them. "Welcome to the Death Zone" he said smiling, ironically.
