Chapter 0:

Prologue

Even a Black hole isn't perfectly Black



“Life seems to be just a coincidence. Think about it. Earth lies at exactly the right distance from the Sun to allow liquid water to exist on its surface…. And the Sun just happens to be the size to burn for billions of years, long enough for life to have evolved. The Solar system is littered with all the elements needed for life. These elements themselves are only possible because of older stars that have burned out. These older stars only existed because of a tiny unevenness in the early primordial gas, that was itself produced by one in a billion imbalance in the sea of particles that came from Big Bang.”

‘Click’ Don’t collapse already! We’ve just started.

(a few smiles appeared in the audience)

The recording you just heard was recorded back in the year 2010. This recording managed to inspire the men of his family to become scientists for the upcoming ‘Seventy-Eight’ generations. Well, I am that seventy-eighth generation.

My name’s Horitaka and as you may know, my family has been contributing to save the lives of the people of the Earth for over ‘Six Thousand and Fifty years ’now. I hope it will continue like this for the upcoming generations too. Actually, as we are attending this ceremony, my wife’s been admitted to the hospital.

The reason being that a while ago, I wanted to give another contribution towards you all but also wanted to spend time with my wife. And I ended up adding a new generation to our family. Me and my wife ‘Mio’ are expecting our child today.

(Soft awes and teasy whistles emerged from the audience.)

We just heard how such tiny unevenness may end up giving birth to life. Actually, if anyone says that you are not perfect you should reply them with a smile and say that life itself wouldn’t exist if everything was so perfect.

If everything was perfect, I wouldn’t be standing in front of you speaking. There would be sitting none of you to hear my speech. Perfection in universe simply does not exist.

Thinking about how far we have come excites me the same way that would have excited my forefathers on thinking what the future holds.

I know that people of those times must have wondered how the things in the future will actually look like. They must have been curious about how the future generations will utilize the information from their work. Unfortunately, they didn’t know how to peek in the future.

Even if they figured that out, they lacked in technology. But today, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to announce the future. Just behind me, these blinds are hiding behind them the most awaited invention of the mankind history. The time will be in our hands from now on. You know where I am going with this.

I present to you ‘A Time Machine’.

(People in the audience jumped from their seats. From children to the most grown-up adults, everyone was surprised. The whole crowd went so loud with excitement that for a few seconds Horitaka had to wait to continue his speech)

But what’s the hurry about. We’ve waited for over millenniums now what’s 2 hours in its comparison. In just 2 hours from now, these blinds will be removed. Till then, enjoy the party.

By saying that he walked down the stage. The audience was going crazy and it was becoming more energetic with each second passing by.

“He is so cool!” cheered a kid in the audience.

As soon as Horitaka got down from the stage, he got surrounded by robots of humanly figure. They followed Horitaka for his interview.

He couldn’t stop smiling. Even during his speech, that wide smile never left his face.

“You sure do look happy today” said a man suited in silvery outfit.

“Why shouldn’t I be?” laughed Horitaka.

(This was Horitaka’s childhood friend and lab partner ‘Jinx’.)

“Let’s celebrate!” said Horitaka

“Let’s do it! Also, I wanted to have a talk with you in person.” said Jinx.

They walked inside a fancy bar. The entry door looked like a mirror at first but as they walked inside, it acted like mercury and they passed directly through it.

All the crowd and celebration noises were inaudible inside the bar. It had a dark ambience and glittery colored clouds were floating near the ceiling. One of these clouds came down and transformed into the shape of a woman.

“What would you like to order?” she asked politely.

They ordered a drink named ‘Electra’. It was a refreshing non-alcoholic drink. The drink was blue in color and gave out small electric sparks as it was poured in. Even when they drank it, it continued luminating light through their cheeks.

“Hey, Horitaka. I want you to take a look at these readings. It looks like small trembles were found near the parallel district.” Said Jinx while displaying a graph on a screen.

Horitaka ignored.

“Well, I don’t think it is something much to be worried about.” Said Horitaka.

“Sorry for bringing this topic at such occasion.” said Jinx while smiling hesitantly “It still feels like a dream to me. Remembering all of those good days when we struggled to even think about the concept of time travel. Who knew that one day we’d be able to make such thing ourselves?”

“It’s true Jinx. I still remember how we met in high school. You were such a nerd…”

“Hey, I was the famous one!! You were the one who acted like a nerd all the time.” Said Jinx while choking on his drink.

“No, it was you”

“Shut up and tell me already what were you trying to say before?” said Jinx

“It’s just that you’ve been by my side always. I never could have achieved this without you Jinx. I’m grateful that I have you in my life.”

“Likewise!” replied Jinx.

They both gazed at those floating clouds on the ceiling for a while and then decided to head back to the ceremony.

“If you were a woman, I’d marry you Jinx.”

“Oh, come on! Isn’t Mio enough for you?”

“I’m not joking Jinx. You’d really be a good mom”

“Shut up!”

<ONE HOUR LEFT>

Horitaka had reached the ceremony and started greeting  many other scientists.

He received a message.

“It’s Mio, I am going in the OT. Don’t worry about me. Focus on your ceremony.”

Horitaka smiled.

<30 MINUTES LEFT>

Horitaka goes near stage and attended a few interviews he skipped earlier.

<15 minutes left>

Horitaka calms himself down. By taking a deep breathe he walks on the stage. The audience was being loud and cheering.

*Dhudhum* a loud thump was heard of something big falling.

The ground started shaking. A building crashed through the ceiling of the ceremony hall, scattering debris all over the place. Horitaka watched as people in front of his eyes got crushed to a pulp as they got buried beneath the debris. He gulped as he slowly took in what he just saw. 

All the sounds, cheers and claps were lost. Horitaka was left speechless. He was still standing on the stage, alone. A stream of blood of people crushed beneath it flowed towards the stage. Horitaka stared at it. He was sweating and his face was twitching.

Jinx climbed up the stage unnoticed by Horitaka. He pulled the curtains down exposing the time machine.

“It’s amazing Hori. It’s beautiful.” Said Jinx looking at the time machine. His voice sounded very hoarse and shaky. 

Horitaka’s eyes were all teary but he smiled.

“Oh Jinx, you are my best friend.” Horitaka opened his arms wanting to hug Jinx.

Jinx turns towards Horitaka.

Horitaka’s eyes opened wide. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

The internals of Jinx were absent. His ribs were piercing through his chest. The silvery clothes that he was wearing earlier were now soaked in his blood. It looked like a part of the debris landed on Jinx and tore through his abdomen .

“We worked on this together Hori. I thought I should let you know…”

Jinx fell on the floor with his face hitting first and he died on the spot.

“Jinx!” Horitaka ran towards Jinx body but stopped and started crying.”

<5 MINUTES LEFT>

Mio was already on her way to the ceremony.

She had already given birth to her baby. As she opened her eyes, she saw everyone in the hospital panicking. She looked at her baby and smiled. It was a baby boy. She kissed her son’s forehead. “You look just like your father.”

She tried to get up. She was still feeling a little pain but she managed. She walked in the hallway with her baby. Mio saw a crazy man running in the hallway and heard him shouting about the incident that happened in ceremony and also that the whole city was destroyed. She tried to contact Horitaka but wasn’t able to. So, she decided to go there herself.

Mio had no idea if anyone will survive so she just wanted Horitaka to at least look at their son once.

She was walking through the debris. She saw many dead bodies on her way. All of this made her worried. She kept searching for Horitaka. She saw him standing on the stage facing his back towards her.

She went near. As she got close, she noticed that Horitaka was staring at a body. It didn’t take her a second to recognize whose body it was.

She calls for Horitaka loudly “Hori!”

“Mio?” said Horitaka and turned back.

He noticed Mio holding the child in her hand.

“Don’t worry, I’ll save you” cried Horitaka.

*Rumble* *crack* The ground beneath Mio ripped apart.

Everything slowed down for Horitaka. A chill went down his spine. His eyes petrified as he saw his wife and son being swallowed by the ground.

<TEN SECONDS LEFT>

He receded away a few steps, tripped on Jinx’s body and fell inside the time machine. As he fell, he accidently slapped on some of the virtual keys inside the time machine and mistakenly set the date to some random year. He tried to get out but the glass door shut itself.

<FIVE SECONDS LEFT>

<FOUR SECONDS LEFT>

<THREE SECONDS LEFT>

<TWO SECONDS LEFT>

<ONE SECOND LEFT>

*Waarfff* The machine started to spin at extreme speeds.

Horitaka’s body started to twist. It bent, deformed and reshaped itself back to normal.

He could feel the pressure on his chest and was unable to breathe. This continued until he blacked-out.

Many hours had passed away. Horitaka opened his eyes slowly. He was still semiconscious.

“W-where am I?”

He looked at the screen, “Year- 4234..4230..4215..4199..” The number kept on decreasing. Horitaka was travelling back in time.

He faints again.