Gravity Versus Gravity, page 6
Mukhiya and his family had taken shelter at the temple along with the priest.
“This is the safest place,” the priest assured them. “Kasba may get wiped out but we, who are closest to god, will remain.”
Mukhiya and his family saluted the priest and joined him in chanting hymns.
The wailing continued in several houses. There was pin drop silence in several others. The priest, Mukhiya, and his family kept chanting on the top of their voices.
When it was time for lunch, smoke did not rise from any of the houses. Nothing happened till two o’clock. The air stood still till then, the silence broken by occasional bleats of a sheep or a goat or the chirp of a bird.
“How long is this going to continue?” Jayanti’s ten-year-old daughter asked.
“Silence precedes the disaster. We’ll wait till the priest or Mukhiya tell us what to do.”
The priest and Mukhiya themselves had no idea about what to do except keep the gods happy by chanting and hoping that some god would listen to their prayers.
At ten past two, the silence was broken by a strong breeze from the west. The priest started to chant faster. Mukhiya and his family huddled closer to the idol.
“Is that the end approaching?” Mukhiya asked. The priest did not reply and continued chanting.
“This wind is coming from the direction where the sand disappeared. The devil is bringing disaster back to dump it on our head. We’ll all be buried alive,” Mukhiya’s brother said.
The wind continued to increase in speed. And then it rained. It did not rain water but sand. Small amounts of sand fell softly on Kasba. The wind stopped suddenly.
The priest and Mukhiya went to the stairs of the temple. Some of the steps were covered with a very fine layer of sand.
“This is the sand that went up. But I wonder why only a tiny amount returned.”
“Our prayers. God has listened to our prayers. The disaster has been averted,” the priest said.
Three hundred kilometers away, the district of Balmer had a surprise storm. Balmer was no stranger to sand storms. But when they came, they came from the desert. They came horizontally from all directions. They came with strong winds.
But at one o’clock in the afternoon, when most of the people were inside their houses, they heard the sound of sand on their roofs. There was no wind.
All sides were clear before the sand particles hit from the top. It rained sand in the entire district of Balmer and even in some parts of Jaisalmer. The sand was thinly spread everywhere.
Raunak was standing out on his bicycle when sand started falling from the skies. He wanted to look up to see how the sand was falling from the sky. But every time he tried to do so, sand fell on his face, and he had to look down. He put on his sunglasses and tried desperately every minute. He could see only sand.
Just as everything was starting to look boring, he saw three patches in the sky. They were traveling in slow motion downwards. They grew bigger, and Raunak could make out that they were living creatures with four legs.
When the creatures were about fifty meters above him, he could see that they were three sheep. He waited on his bicycle. He did not run away thinking that if they were to fall on him, they could fall on him anywhere.
The sheep fell atop three adjacent houses. Raunak closed his eyes.
They must be dead, he thought.
The three sheep appeared all at once on the roofs. They started to bleat. The two younger ones jumped from one roof to another and were united with the elder one.
And they say that only cats have nine lives, Raunak thought.
It was exactly a hundred and eighty-five days since Al had been thrown out of the conference.
3
Al was in his office drinking coffee. He had not forgotten that it was the hundred and eighty fifth day. His colleagues had accepted thirty days ago that the object was indeed a pair of comets. The tails were clearly visible. But no one had bought the zero-gravity theory. Al had not discussed the binary comets after the disastrous conference.
The television was on. Al was looking at some of his charts when he heard something on the television that caught his attention.
“A strange phenomenon took place in Thar Desert of India today,” said the news reader on Channel Four. “A large amount of sand got lifted into the air without a reason. There was no desert storm, and there were no winds. The sand rained in places up to a hundred kilometers from where it was lifted. Objects as heavy as sheep went up in the air and fell far away. They made soft landings and are alive. The place where the sand went up has become a huge crater. A shepherd named Bhim was the first to see the incident. It happened in front of his eyes.”
Then, Bhim came on television. “It was terrifying,” he said. “I was with my flock of sheep when I found that three of them had strayed away. When I went looking for them, I saw sand getting lifted into the air. There was no wind and no sign of any storm. It was a ghostly sight. I moved backwards.
“At one point, I felt that even the sand below me would go up in the air and so would I. But the whole phenomenon stopped less than a meter away from me. I saw a hole like I’ve never seen. Three of my sheep had also disappeared. So, had the bushes. The trees stood there, but most of the leaves were gone. Everything on the ground which was not fixed strongly to the earth was gone.”
Later there were a few witnesses from Kasba who had seen the sand going up in the air. A footage of Balmer and Jaisalmer districts was shown. Village after village were covered in sand. The footage showed the three houses on which the sheep had landed. The roofs were intact. The three sheep appeared on the screen. Bhim was hugging and kissing them. He said, “Never in my life did I imagine that I would get my sheep back. Thanks to the television crew.”
Next, the other hero of the event came on screen. “My name is Raunak,” he said. “I saw this phenomenon start and end before my eyes.”
“Which phenomenon?” the reporter asked.
“The vertical descent of sand from the skies in my village, Muali. The sand fell in slow motion from the skies. It went on and on. I tried to look up but saw nothing but sand. It was not a typical type of storm. As I said, it came from the top without any warning and without any winds.”
Raunak paused for a moment, took a deep breath and continued, “But the best part is what no one believes. I saw three patches in the sky. After a moment, I could make out that they were three sheep falling in slow motion. I was afraid that they would fall on me. Luckily, I was saved. More luckily, the sheep escaped without a scratch. They fell from the sky and were as unharmed as ever. That is the greatest miracle I’ve ever witnessed.”
The newsreader continued, “The phenomenon has baffled everyone. No such incident has ever taken place in Thar Desert. The locals believe that it’s the curse of god. But there seems to be more than that. We’ll find out the reason and solve the suspense for you. Channel Four is the number one channel in breaking spine-chilling stories. Keep watching.”
“That’s it,” Al exclaimed, raising his fist in the air. “That is the proof I was looking for.”
His first reaction was to run to Dr. Blackstone’s office and tell him about the incident. But then he remembered how skeptical Dr. Blackstone had been when he had tried to convince him one last time after the conference. Dr. Blackstone had said, “If you come back again to me with this crap, I’ll be compelled to write a very adverse assessment.”
Ellie and Rob entered the room. Al’s relationship with them had deteriorated after the conference. Al never discussed the binary comets with them, but they occasionally referred to it to embarrass Al.
“You look very excited,” Ellie said, looking at Al.
“Discovered another pair of comets?” Rob said. Ellie and Rob roared with laughter.
Al realized that it would be useless talking about it to his colleagues either. He went out and called the central office of Channel Four from the public phone. He never had a very good opinion about the media. But he had no choice. “May I speak to the news team?” he said.
“What is this regarding?”
“A news-item in the morning news today. It was about the phenomenon in Thar Desert. I’ve authentic information regarding the reason behind the phenomenon. I’m sure your Channel would like to have that information.”
“Are you a weatherman?” the person asked.
“No, I’m a space scientist. This phenomenon is not related to meteorology but to astronomy. I’m sure that those running the program would be interested in what I’ve to say.”
“You can speak to the News Coordinator. I’ll put you across to him. His name is Nick Bright.”
“Hi, this is Nick,” a voice came from the other end. “How can I help you?”
“Hi, Nick,” Al said. “My name is Albert Hennessey, and I’m a Space Scientist “D” at the Space Center. I was watching Thar Desert phenomenon. I had predicted it several months ago. My colleagues and bosses don’t believe me although I’ve all the proof to back it up.”
“Okay, Albert, if you come over to me with all the documentary proof, we can discuss. And if there is something convincing, we’ll run it in the evening news.”
Al was impressed. He had thought that the television personnel would ask several questions or make fun of him. He had tried for many days to convince his people at the Center while Nick did not show a speck of doubt.
Al ran back to his room. He took all this documents and charts. He took recordings on a pen-drive and left for the television station. He was at the gate of the television station in less than thirty minutes.
He called Nick from the gate.
“You are already here,” Nick said in surprise.
“Yes, I’ve been on this for more than six months and now is the time to show to the world that whatever I’ve been talking for so long is true.”
“Okay, Albert,” Nick said.
“You can call me Al,” Al interrupted Nick.
“Okay, Al. The best I can do is spend fifteen minutes with you. I’ve several things tied up for the day.”
“That should be enough to convince you about the authenticity of my work,” Al said.
“Come on in,” Nick replied.
As soon as Al stepped inside Nick’s office, Nick said, looking at his watch, “Your fifteen minutes begin now.”
Al took out his laptop and inserted the pen drive.
“Before I show you the slides, I want to explain about the phenomenon,” Al said.
“Your choice. But you have fifteen minutes,” Nick replied.
Al was a bit put off by Nick’s directness. In some ways, he was helping Nick. He had come over to meet him. And he was doing all this for free. Another time, Al would have just got up and left. However, he did not have a choice. This was his last chance.
Al finished off his explanation in ten minutes. He kept the details as less technical as possible. Nick was impressed. He did not interrupt Al once during the narration. When Al had finished, Nick said, “Interesting,” and leaned towards the laptop to see the slides.
Al showed him photos of the progression of the binary comets followed by the graphs. Nick had several questions. Al answered each one of them. The meeting went on for an hour. Nick’s questions were exhausted, but he had the appetite to know more.
“So, what do you think?” Al said, shutting down his laptop.
“It’s all very clear to me. We would not have to run a third round to end our story on the channel. Your explanation would say it all.”
Nick picked up his phone, called his secretary and said, “Send in the cameraman quickly.”
The cameraman was inside Nick’s office in less than a minute and had set up the camera in less than five minutes.
“Ok, Al,” Nick said. “Whatever you have told me in the last one hour, you have to now squeeze it in three minutes. We don’t want to do any editing. Our next news round is after about half an hour, and we want to put your interview there.”
There were two rehearsals before Al got it correct. The recording was done in ten minutes. Five minutes after the cameraman had left, Catherine Myers, the News Editor came running in.
“I saw the clip,” she said. “We cannot have just that. I would like you to speak live on the television. This is going to be our greatest news of the week. This three-minute clip isn’t enough. If we don’t make it big, we’ll get drowned when other channels pick it up and run this news non-stop.”
“So, who is preventing you from doing so?” Nick asked.
“I would like Al to come live after the clip. The interview would be for about ten minutes.”
“But I’m not prepared,” Al said.
“You know everything. The questions would be simple, and you would be able to answer without any problems.”
Catherine looked at Nick and continued, “If Al wants us to make him an offer, I’m sure you would not have any issues with that. Am I correct, Nick?”
“Yes, of course. We can agree on a sum that could make both of us happy.”
“No, no,” Al protested. “It’s not about that. I’m not looking for any monetary gains.”
“Don’t worry about it, Al. This is nothing to be ashamed about. You help us, and we take care of you. After all, we are not a charitable organization. We make profits and are always glad to give people their fair share.”
“I don’t want that. I’ll let you know if I do need any help in future in return,” Al said, thinking of this as the best way to change the topic.
“Is there something that you have not said in the clip?” Catherine asked.
“Yes, plenty,” Al replied.
“Some exciting and important stuff?”
“Yes,” Al said.
“Great!” Catherine said. “I’ll go and tell our newsreader, Anna about it. Someone will come to take you to the studio for the interview.”
As soon as Catherine went out, a team of three people came in. One stood with five jackets. Al had to choose one. Another person dabbed some powder on Al’s face. And the third person worked on Al’s hair.
When Al entered the news studio, Anna came up to him and said, “Nice to meet you, Al. You are the best-looking scientist that we have had in our studio. And with the sensational revelation that we are going to make, you would soon be the talk of the town.”
Al smiled in return. He took his seat and waited for the news to begin. The three-minute clip was first played on the Channel’s evening news. Then, Anna spoke, “You could not have imagined a more interesting reason for the event in Thar Desert. We have more for you. Al is with us, and he will make revelations, which are nothing less than sensational. But they are all true, and Al has proof of it. In the clip, he has explained the reason behind the phenomenon. He will now tell more about it. So here we go.”
Anna turned towards Al and said, “Al, let’s start from the very beginning so that our viewers are able to understand this phenomenon better. We’re not talking about a comet but a pair of comets. No one has ever seen or even heard about this before, including people in the scientific community. Can you explain us about it?”
“You are right,” Al said confidently. “Before I had discovered the binary comets, even I had never ever imagined that such a thing could exist. And that is also the reason it took me so much time to discover them.”
“And did your research work show that there would be a zero-gravity event?”
“Yes. I spoke about it in the clip that you showed. The graphs showing the gravitational pull of the comets versus that of the earth clearly demonstrate the possibility of a zero-gravity event. And this, not something that I’ve printed a day ago. The graphs are more than five months old.”
“Were you aware that the zero-gravity event would take place in Thar Desert?”
“I had not done detailed calculations on the location. My studies showed that the probability was more than ninety five percent. I knew that the location would be somewhere in northern India but was not sure if it would be Thar Desert.”
“What more can you tell about the phenomenon?”
“The binary comets would have plunged into the sun if they were at a considerable distance from each other. But the comet, which is not visible and is behind the first comet, is influencing the trajectory. The comets will go behind the sun and return to pass near the earth once again.”
“Are you sure about it?” Anna asked.
“Yes, I am. I would have had doubts if the Thar Desert phenomenon had not taken place. But now I’m sure about it.”
“How far would the comets be when they are nearest from the earth again?”
“A little less distance from the first time. But we should remember that even a few meters less means a greater zero-gravity event.”
“You mean that another zero-gravity event is going to occur on earth?”
“Yes.”
“When will this happen?”
“Seventy-eight days from today. The comets have picked up speed. They’ll be behind the sun in a few weeks. However, when they turn around, they’ll once again slow down.”
“And do you have any idea about which place could be the next for the zero-gravity incident?”
“Yes, I’ve a better idea about it since on the return journey, the comets would be much closer, and the zero-gravity event would be stronger.”
“Where would the second event take place?”
“I’m not very sure about it. I haven’t really worked much on that. I would be able to tell the exact location some thirty days before the comets reach the nearest point.”
“What is your best guess now?”
“As of now, it seems to me that the next location would be in or around London.”
“London? The capital of the UK?”
“Yes,” Al replied.
4
Al returned to the Center to put back the charts, papers, the pen-drive and everything else that he had taken from his office. Rob was working on his computer. The television was switched off. Rob looked up as Al settled down on his chair. Al could make out from the expression on Rob’s face that he was not aware that Al had been on the television.
