Dark Horse Arts and Sciences

September 25, 1905, Germany:

Philip Lenard wakes up early to start his long yet dangerous mission that he has been planning for all these years. After having a sandwich and coffee for breakfast, Phillip goes into his study and brings out a pen and paper to write something down.

He then starts writing a letter and folds it like a mail after getting finished. Then he leaves his house and heads for the main post office of the town. However, before entering the post office, he covers his face with a scarf or something. Then he identifies the person whom he wants to give the letter. But he can’t just give him the letter directly. So, he moves forward fast, beating the crowd and cleverly hits the man and handed him the letter and disappeared into the crowd without being recognized by his nemesis, Albert Einstein.

It’s 6pm. Albert must have left for Winden, surmises Phillip. Now is the time. The time he’s been waiting for so long. He leaves his room and heads for Albert’s room. He finally reaches Albert’s room and broke the lock smoothly. And there are. Lying on the bed waiting for him to discover are the papers that will make Phillip the genius of his era; that will make him the greatest physicist ever born. There lay in front of him the papers of Special Theory of Relativity, Photo-electric effect, Brownian Motion and the proof of energy equivalence formula.

September 26, 2019, Cuttack:

After Som’s departure, Albert is left all alone there in the lab. He’s really starving. He doesn’t have any Indian currency to go out and buy something to fulfill his hunger. As these thoughts pass his mind, he suddenly sees in the corner of that room a girl with specs eating something. He approaches her and introduces himself.

Albert-“Hey, Hi, I’m Albert.”

Girl-“Hii, I’m Doctor Rojaleen.”

Albert-“You’re a doctor?”

The girl regrets for mistakenly saying Doctor out loud. She tells herself-“Oh, Shit! I don’t want that Doctor conversation anymore.”

“Forget that doctor thing. I’m Rojaleen.”

Albert-“Ok, by the way, what are you eating?”

Rojaleen-“Oh! That’s a sandwich my mom made me this morning. You want a bite?”

Albert-“Sure, thanks.”

Rojaleen-“Feel free. I always have some backup. Take this one. It’s a cheese sandwich. It’s a bit spicy. Is that ok?”

Albert-“Ya, no problem.”

After finishing it, Albert realizes he needs to ask her for some money. He politely asks her.

Albert-“Could you lend me some money? I don’t have any change.”

Rojaleen-“Sorry, dude. I spent all on idli and sambar and dahibara on my way to college. Ask Amlan. His pocket is always full of cash.”

Albert remembers his previous conversation with Amlan but still approaches him.

Albert-“Hey Amlan!”

Amlan-“What now, fucker?”

Albert-“ Man, could you help me out this time? I won’t disturb you after that.”

Amlan-“What is it?”

Albert-“I don’t have any change, could you lend me some?”

Amlan-“Who the hell are you by the way? You don’t have money; you don’t speak Odia, your name is too weird to pronounce!”

Albert stands in utter silence and starts leaving when Amlan calls him back.

Amlan-“Hey! Are you hungry?”

Albert-“I have had a sandwich. But I’m feeling a bit dizzy. But I would love to have something solid.”

Amlan-“Dizzy?”

Albert-“Ya maybe, that sandwich wasn’t that good.”

Then Amlan and Albert went together on his bike to Debasish Dash hotel where they had their lunch.

“Thanks for the lunch, man.” Says Albert.

“It’s ok. But where will you go now?”-Amlan.

“I will probably roam around a bit till 4 pm. Then I will go to this address to meet that Som.” Replies Albert.

“Our hostel owners don’t allow outsiders, or else you could’ve come with me. Don’t worry. I’ve got a friend. I once stayed at his place. I hope he’ll give you some shelter. Let me give him a call.”, says Amlan.

Amlan brings out a gadget that exactly resembles that of Jigisha. Maybe it’s a new discovery or something, thought Albert.

Amlan-“Hey, Preyash! Could you do me a favour?”

Then Amlan described the situation to Preyash and he readily accepts the request.

“I’ll be there in 10 minutes.” Replies Preyash and hangs up his side.

Then Preyash came to pick him up and Amlan introduced both of them to each other. Albert thinks he may have seen this guy. Oh yes! he was one of those guys in that heated conversation; he reflects upon himself.

“Amlan is a very nice guy, but he doesn’t appear that way. That’s really opposite of people in my circle. They appear like they care a lot. But they don’t care shit about me.” Thinks Albert.

Preyash shows Albert his library and requests him to stay there as long as he wants.

Albert-“Thanks man. You’ve got a great collection of ancient books.”

Preyash-“Ya I love reading old and ancient stuff. Especially the old vedic sciences. There’re things in there you can’t imagine. Ancient Indians had vast knowledge in science and astronomy. Today’s society doesn’t give that much credit to ancient Indians for their contributions.”

Albert knows what Preyash was talking about. He himself has been a big fan of ancient Indian sciences, especially their contributions to astronomy by Pathani Samanta, Aryabhata, Lagadha, Brahmagupta and many more. He loves their works on the motion of planets, stars and our own galaxy.

Out of nowhere, Albert asks Preyash-“Do you believe in time travel?”

Preyash wonders why he is asking about time travel. Is he the…? No no, he erases that thought out of his mind. That’s not possible. It can’t happen now, thinks Preyash in a doubious manner.

“I can’t talk anymore now. I have tuitions, so I have to go.”-Preyash.

Albert felt like Preyash wanted to say something, but he somehow stopped expressing due to some reason. “He also looked uncomfortable when I brought the time travel topic”, reflected Albert.

Preyash left the room. Albert started looking through the books on the shelves. Then suddenly his eyes fell on this book called Modern Physics. He flipped through the pages and chapters. And what he saw startled him. He was taken aback with what he saw. His momentary happiness just some time ago vanished into thin air as darkness engulfed his mind. It was written in the book-

“Special Theory of Relativity was proposed by Phillip Lenard on September 26, 1905. Then he published his breakthrough papers on Photoelectric effect for which Lenard won a nobel prize. He flipped through the pages and E=mc2 is Lenard’s mass-energy equivalence principle.”

Now, like a thunder bolt, it struck to him that now it was all falling into the right pieces of the same puzzle.

That Phillip Fucking Lenard deceived him. It was him all along. Phillip, his long time competitor. He knew Phillip was envious of him, but he never imagined he would go this far to prove his point; if there is any.

He concluded finally that it was Phillip who had handed him that letter. Phillip made him come here into the future, so that he would be stuck here and he’d take all his research papers and publish them, taking all the credit, Albert fell into deep sadness and frustration. “And who the fuck is that Som Abhisek? I think he knows about this situation, but he’s only biding time. Ok, but before he comes, I have to leave this place. I can’t stay here. I have to go back through that time machine.” Thinks Albert.

He goes to the door. “But what is this? The door’s locked from the outside. What the fuck? That Preyash! He locked me. Oh! He’s in the game too.”

“Aahhhhhhh” he cries out loud in utter anger and disappointment.

“They are all mixed up. This is a fucking trap. Why I came here in the first place? Damn it!” he starts crying with desperation.

Then he sits back until someone comes. There’s no other way. He just has to wait now. “These fuckers have tricked me. Let them come.”

Then suddenly there was this loud thud sound on the door and some three people broke into the room. Albert couldn’t comprehend what the hell was going on. Suddenly, one of the intruders hit him hard on the head with a cricket bat. And that sent some chills along his head and he fell down upon the floor. Just as he was going to get unconscious he tried to have a look at the intruders. At least for his own sake, he would know, who those fuckers were who tricked him into all this. Just before losing consciousness, he saw the figures approaching. Oh Jesus, he did recognize one of them. He could know by just having a look at her shadow; she was that sandwich girl.

“Oh Jesus, I ate sandwich from my own enemy! What a dumb I was!”

Then he saw the guy in the middle. He had a book with a Penrose triangle on its cover. That must be Noah.

Now he’s almost losing it. But there he saw it. The third guy. Not his face though. But his hair. It was spiky and he had put glasses on.

And then darkness extended its wings everywhere like a butterfly over his consciousness.

Nothingness arrives.

And then a complete blank.

To be continued……

By Som Abhisek.

Disclaimer: The characters are fictionalized and made for entertainment purposes only. There is no truth to any of this. If it hurts anyone’s sentiments and emotions, well, I can do nothing about that.