The Unstrange - Chapter 3

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.

Fall from the Zenith: Episode 2 - The Mystery

Few Weeks Ago


Ishi Dior was the most popular and much loved music sensation these days. Her recent albums like Craters in My Heart and Jump to Fall were instant blockbusters. Recently, she had announced a world tour, a mega concert that had already sold about 2 million tickets worldwide. One fine morning, her security guard told her that she had a visitor that wanted to discuss the security details of her concert. Assuming that the person was from organizing company, she let him in.

"Hello ma'am. I am Jonas Victor from Rellac Enterprises." introduced the visitor himself. "I am here to discuss with you the security arrangements for your world tour."

"Please have a seat Mr. Victor." said Ishi, accepting the greetings. "I thought that Incom International was organizing my event. What business do you have here?" she asked.

"Actually ma'am, I am here to tell you that Incom Int. is no longer handling your security. They don't need to do so." said Jonas.

"What do you mean by this?" said Ishi, slightly perturbed.

"Now Miss Dior, if you would listen to me carefully, without making any noise, this would be easy." said Jonas and took out his gun from his coat. "No no, don't even try to call your security".

"What do you want?" said Ishi, totally frightened.

"Ms Dior, we have your family on our watch 24x7 and if you try to do anything stupid..." said Jonas.

"Please don't hurt my family. I will do anything for you. Please." cried Ishi.

"Alright then. Now, you have to do only a small favor for us. Just hand over the security to us and rest we will take care ourselves. But if you try to tell this to anybody, even when your concert is over, your family would have to pay the price." said Jonas in a sinister way that would make any man or woman shiver.

Ishi agreed.

*******

In the event of death of the Prime Minister in mysterious circumstances, Indian investigation agencies were put on fast track. Although, the situation in every country was similar, the Indian investigation was important as you will see. The CBI was put on as the principal investigator while other agencies like NIA, military, police etc. were kept on the hook.

The CBI had made a peculiar discovery. The weapon that killed the PM was recovered. This weapon was a bullet but none like ever seen. This bullet was made of a wax like substance and contained a nanotechnology based circuit in it. While the forensics were still working on the operation of that circuit, the initial review of the bullet relieved a strange detail. There was a mark on the bullet, not of its made or something commonly found on a bullet but, a symbol.

 

You might not be familiar with this symbol, neither was the CBI officer until he was told by a sub-inspector that it was the not so normal form of writing OM, the ancient hindu symbol. How was this symbol related to the conspiracy? This question rang in the mind of Suresh Mehta, the CBI officer who was the incharge of operation. He immediately ordered inclusion of Dr. Dev Shashtri, head of dept of hindu mythology in Delhi University into the team to assist in mythological side of this event.

Shashtri listened to the circumstances and made a theory straight on-site. He mentioned that somebody is trying to give them signals. He correlated the symbol to Lord Shiva, the god of destruction and the date 21st Dec 2012. He said that somebody is trying to say that the end of the world has arrived and that somebody has the plans to execute it and that this might not be over yet.

Fall from the Zenith : Episode1 - The Breakdown

"These days, the news is so unimportant. Specially the news which makes the headlines. "Oil spill, Environment in danger", "Nuclear peace deal reached between two countries", "Man robbed a bank, Caught". This is all so boring." said Robert while taking his usual morning walk with his best friend.

"Yes, i agree with you, man. There is not much thrill these days, like it used to be in the good old days. With technology coming in, there is no suspense left. The criminal gets caught within a week or a month at the most. I must say that the quality of crimes and criminals is getting lower day by day. I think this world expects a better quality of criminals." said Jonas, with fun on his face.

Laughing, Robert said, "I tell you Jonas, if our plans go right, this world will see terror, it has never seen before".

Laughing and discussing their plan, the two walked away. Occasionally meeting fellow morning joggers, who greeted them. The other morning wanderers didn't know that the two people they met everyday were about to commit something that would shake the very foundations of the known modern world.

******

Four Months Later

It was morning of 21st December 2012, President of USA woke up early. He thought he had heard some clicking noise. On looking around, he found nothing out of ordinary. He had an uneasy sleep. As it was holiday season, the workload was less. Yesterday he had met the leader of Mayan society, who had assured him that there would be no mass suicides in his country and that his country has moved on from the myth surrounding the date. He was very relieved of that meeting.

He looked around his room. The renovation had gone pretty well, he thought. There was it again, the clicking noise. Before he could turn around to see what it was, his world went blank. The revolutionary leader was down on the floor, dead. His last expression was still pasted on his face, of confusion.

******

CNN BREAKING NEWS: The President of United States of America is dead. He died this morning at 4:30 AM under superbly mysterious circumstances. The initial reports have suggested murder but, under such heavy security, it is currently not possible to determine how such an event could take place. We are getting reports that head of states of more than 60 countries have died overnight. Emergency protocols have been imposed in all these countries have been imposed to preserve law and order situation. These countries includes Russia, England, China, Asian Sub-Continent, European Countries, Australia, Middle-East. These events occur on much awaited and popular day of 21st December 2012. The question is, is the end of the world as we know it? It certainly looks like it. The authorities have requested people to remain calm and avoid any travel. It is ensured by them that they are in full control and the investigation is going on....

******

Chief of FBI Special Agent Larry Cox was on his way to FBI headquarters. His world has turned upside down when he got a call from headquarters about death of the president. "How on earth was that possible!", he thought. "Certainly an inside hand". But he knew, that even with an inside hand, it was near to impossible to kill the president.

On reaching FBI HQ, the second-in-command Agent Resse Walker briefed him about the turn of events.

"Sir the room has been wiped clean. There is no evidence of forced entry, neither any sign or any marks on president's body. Perhaps, it seems that he just died of shock. Medical team says that his brain just stopped working leading to heart failure. However, a slight melt of the floor marble." said Agent Walker.

"Melt on the floor? What do you mean? It could have been there before also.", remarked Cox.

"No Sir, forensics have determined that it is fresh and could have been made when president died. And sir, some additional details just coming in, head of states of about every country in the world is dead.", said Walker.

"I know Agent Walker but, our only priority now is POTUS. Others will have to deal with there country alone. Any possible leads on who the killer might be, or who might be involved?", asked Cox.

"Sir, the only lead is the head of Mayan Society. That too because of the date.", answered Walker.

"Then take him into custody and get him here. I want to interrogate him myself.", ordered Cox.

"But sir, the evidence against him is totally circumstantial and...", said Walker

"You listen to me Agent Walker," said Cox with stern look on his face, "the president of your country has been killed by some lunatic and this country when it wakes up will be in panic. To prevent that we have a limited time frame to catch the organization behind this. And nothing, I repeat, nothing leaves this. Is that all clear to you?".

"Yes sir".

"I want tag teams ready to strike, with all the senators and VVIP personnel. Lets go to the White House, I need to have a first hand look at the evidence. When the Mayan leader arrives, inform me. Lets go." said Special Agent Cox, ruthlessness on his face. He with his team left for White House.

Back in India, fear was crippling.

To be continued....