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
Kara's body went numb. She could not believe what she just heard. "There has to be some mistake! This is not possible." she said, her face white.
Mary on the other hand was confused. "What is it? Who's voice was that? Why do you look like that some monster lizard just bit you?", she threw questions at her boss, worried herself.
Kara was not listening. She was thinking of various possibilities that could exist. The message she received could have been old, right before Matt died. But how did it reach Australia at the same location as she was present right now? The voice on the phone could have been of someone other than Matt. After all it was only two words that came through. But Kara's heart said that they were Matt's. She needed help on this matter. The only thing she was worried about is that nobody would believe her. She needed someone she could trust. "Call Dr. Peter, Mary, quick. I will explain you all of it once I have talked with him."
He thought he had known his world very well, thought Dr. Peter Fischer, head of operations, USGS. But the last 12 hours had turned his world upside down. Several extraordinary things had happened.
"There was an incident in eastern part of India last evening sir. I am not sure how to explain it but there was an earthquake of recorded intensity of 11.8 on the Richter scale. We thought there was something wrong with our measurements, so we contacted the local authorities in India. Such and earthquake would have ripped apart half the country but, Indian Meteorological Department reported that there was no such earthquake. Considering this, the information has not been released on the website." reported Peter's secretary a few hours ago. His life had been thrown out of gear then. He knew very well what had happened but he was bound by law not to tell it to anyone except to his single confidant, who was dead now. He had kept the matter as classified and told his secretary to public that the reading was a technical glitch. This was done after he had called India and verified the information.
Peter remembered the first meeting, with the officials from both America and India, on the top secret project called Ayaan. The officials had shown interest in Dr. Mathew Harrington. They wanted to hire him for Project Ayaan, which was going to be huge scale cooperative science project between India and America. Apart from this, the officials were willing to give no information. Peter had argued, that how can he appoint his best man without knowing the details of the work that was involved. An Indian official answered, "Dr. Peter, this information is very dangerous. The repercussions of sharing any amount of information on Project Ayaan could lead to worldwide hysteria. It can generate panic as well as curiosity, which neither we desire nor can we handle". With that he handed him a paper. "This is a written order from your president." The order was clear on sharing resources with the Indian government "without objecting and questioning". Peter was not at all happy to let Matt go.
Matt on the other hand was quite positive, as he was going to work on an international project for the first time. He had an understanding with the officials that nothing will be let out. Then there was the accident. Peter was shocked beyond belief. He was angry too, firstly because after the accident, the details provided to him about the accident were very unclear and narrow. The cause of the accident and the location where it happened were not clear. Secondly, a memo came to his office to provide a replacement for Matt. He was certainly not going to put any of his employee in such danger again but he could also not say no. After much though he finally decided to put it on hold. The plan worked well, although he was reminded by the Indians once in a while to which he would respond, that the process is going on to appoint someone, and that was it. But today all hell broke loose.
On the phone call after the earthquake, it was made plainly clear to him that the replacement had to be sent now or Peter would be responsible for the huge loss that his country is going to pay because of this. Then there came a call from his favorite scientist, Kara.
"Kara, look dear, I don't want to hurt you, but I will state it plainly. Matt is dead. I know what feelings you had for him, but this is a fact. You saw his body with your own eyes. It is all in your head. Forget about it. Although I will check that message and its origin and see who is playing with you." Later Peter's secretary came with the report of the message that Kara had got on her Sat Phone. He was flummoxed by the report, the frequency of the message was negative, unlike anything he had ever heard of. Also, amazingly the origin of the message was in India at the exact same coordinates where the earthquake had been recorded. Suddenly everything became clear to him and he called Kara immediately. "Kara leave for India immediately."
While a long time back, Mathew awoke. It was a dream or it wasn't. "Am I dead?" he will go on to say and "No" will be the answer he will get.
Prologue: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/07/unstrange-prologue.html
Chapter 1: http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/07/the-unstrange-chapter-1.html
Kara's body went numb. She could not believe what she just heard. "There has to be some mistake! This is not possible." she said, her face white.
Mary on the other hand was confused. "What is it? Who's voice was that? Why do you look like that some monster lizard just bit you?", she threw questions at her boss, worried herself.
Kara was not listening. She was thinking of various possibilities that could exist. The message she received could have been old, right before Matt died. But how did it reach Australia at the same location as she was present right now? The voice on the phone could have been of someone other than Matt. After all it was only two words that came through. But Kara's heart said that they were Matt's. She needed help on this matter. The only thing she was worried about is that nobody would believe her. She needed someone she could trust. "Call Dr. Peter, Mary, quick. I will explain you all of it once I have talked with him."
He thought he had known his world very well, thought Dr. Peter Fischer, head of operations, USGS. But the last 12 hours had turned his world upside down. Several extraordinary things had happened.
"There was an incident in eastern part of India last evening sir. I am not sure how to explain it but there was an earthquake of recorded intensity of 11.8 on the Richter scale. We thought there was something wrong with our measurements, so we contacted the local authorities in India. Such and earthquake would have ripped apart half the country but, Indian Meteorological Department reported that there was no such earthquake. Considering this, the information has not been released on the website." reported Peter's secretary a few hours ago. His life had been thrown out of gear then. He knew very well what had happened but he was bound by law not to tell it to anyone except to his single confidant, who was dead now. He had kept the matter as classified and told his secretary to public that the reading was a technical glitch. This was done after he had called India and verified the information.
Peter remembered the first meeting, with the officials from both America and India, on the top secret project called Ayaan. The officials had shown interest in Dr. Mathew Harrington. They wanted to hire him for Project Ayaan, which was going to be huge scale cooperative science project between India and America. Apart from this, the officials were willing to give no information. Peter had argued, that how can he appoint his best man without knowing the details of the work that was involved. An Indian official answered, "Dr. Peter, this information is very dangerous. The repercussions of sharing any amount of information on Project Ayaan could lead to worldwide hysteria. It can generate panic as well as curiosity, which neither we desire nor can we handle". With that he handed him a paper. "This is a written order from your president." The order was clear on sharing resources with the Indian government "without objecting and questioning". Peter was not at all happy to let Matt go.
Matt on the other hand was quite positive, as he was going to work on an international project for the first time. He had an understanding with the officials that nothing will be let out. Then there was the accident. Peter was shocked beyond belief. He was angry too, firstly because after the accident, the details provided to him about the accident were very unclear and narrow. The cause of the accident and the location where it happened were not clear. Secondly, a memo came to his office to provide a replacement for Matt. He was certainly not going to put any of his employee in such danger again but he could also not say no. After much though he finally decided to put it on hold. The plan worked well, although he was reminded by the Indians once in a while to which he would respond, that the process is going on to appoint someone, and that was it. But today all hell broke loose.
On the phone call after the earthquake, it was made plainly clear to him that the replacement had to be sent now or Peter would be responsible for the huge loss that his country is going to pay because of this. Then there came a call from his favorite scientist, Kara.
"Kara, look dear, I don't want to hurt you, but I will state it plainly. Matt is dead. I know what feelings you had for him, but this is a fact. You saw his body with your own eyes. It is all in your head. Forget about it. Although I will check that message and its origin and see who is playing with you." Later Peter's secretary came with the report of the message that Kara had got on her Sat Phone. He was flummoxed by the report, the frequency of the message was negative, unlike anything he had ever heard of. Also, amazingly the origin of the message was in India at the exact same coordinates where the earthquake had been recorded. Suddenly everything became clear to him and he called Kara immediately. "Kara leave for India immediately."
While a long time back, Mathew awoke. It was a dream or it wasn't. "Am I dead?" he will go on to say and "No" will be the answer he will get.
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