|
Ian picked up the coffee mug.
“So it happened again?” he asked.
“Again…” said Orco.
“Okay. Would you mind describing the events as they were this time around?”
“Well…”said Orco “ I was in the kitchen scrambling an egg for breakfast and…”
“What time was it?” Ian cut in, taking a sip from the mug.
“Yes…the time. Well it was around seven in the morning. No. It WAS seven in the morning. The morning “news at seven” had just started on TV.” Orco stopped and looked edgily out of the window, seemingly lost to the world around him.
“And…?” Ian prompted.
“Yes,” said Orco waking up from his reverie, “Well…there I was scrambling an egg for breakfast and the morning news was on… How much time do you think that would have taken - scrambling an egg? Ten minutes…fifteen, twenty at the most? Well when I returned to the drawing room with the egg thinking I was just in time for the business news…what do I find? The news is over and…” Orco again lapsed into a brooding silence.
“And?” Ian asked.
For the first time Orco looked Ian straight in the face “and it was eleven in the morning.” Orco broke into a fidgety laugh.
“So you had another bout of amnesia.” Ian said decisively.
Orco threw up his arms in resignation. “How many times do I tell you? It is not amnesia. Do not dismiss it like that.” By this time Orco was almost shouting.
“Relax my friend” Ian said, “I am not dismissing this incident. In fact amnesia is a pretty common problem especially for emotionally troubled individuals. And you know that after Nichol’s death you have been pretty stressed out. I can treat you… but then, you wouldn’t agree.”
“So you are saying the time that I seem to have lost was spent staring into a void…that Nichol’s death has taken a huge toll on my mental balance… you want me to believe this crap?”
“Well... The truth is staring you straight in the face. Even when you were speaking to me just now, you frequently lapsed into silence. You would agree to that at least, surely.”
“That’s a different matter altogether. That was because I am a little troubled by this current time-loss…”
“Exactly what I was saying…”
“Stop it, damn it. There’s no use talking to you. You keep harping on about…about amnesia!”
“ Fine. Okay. You've heard what I have got to say about your problem. Now you tell me your side of it.”
“There’s no use. You just wouldn’t understand.”
“Now, come on…I know you're a great theoretical physicist. But I am a psychiatrist too. I can spell alpha, beta, gamma as well as the next guy”, said Ian with a smile.
“All right. I will try to explain it as simply as possible. Now, when I will speak of time I will of course mean the space-time continuum, because time has no separate existence apart from space. I guess you know at least this…” Orco looked at Ian who simply nodded his head in agreement. “Well now, time is supposed to flow from the past to the future. Obviously, anything that flows must have a path…ummm… not in the conventional sense of the word, but I guess you get the point….” Ian again nodded his head and Orco continued “So, where there is a path there is also the possibility of a loop.”
“A loop?” asked Ian putting down the coffee mug, not quite getting the point.
“Yes… a path turning and falling back on itself. Well what if a part of the space-time continuum falls into a loop sometime, somewhere – a loop no different from that in a computer program – a loop from which it exits on some God-knows-what condition… only to find that the rest of the world has gone by on its normal course…”
“You know what”, said Ian, “ That’s a great sci-fi idea or one for your high-brow physicists’ seminars, but hardly practicable. I mean if time does have a habit of falling into a loop why does it always have to be with you, why not with other people?”
############
Ian picked up the coffee mug.
“So it happened again?” he asked.
“Again…” said Orco.
“Okay. Would you mind describing the events as they were this time around?”
“Well…”said Orco “ I was in the kitchen scrambling an egg for breakfast and…”
“What time was it?” Ian cut in, taking a sip from the mug…………………..
############
…….“You know what”, said Ian, “ That’s a great sci-fi idea or one for your high-brow physicists’ seminars, but hardly practicable. I mean if time does have a habit of falling into a loop why does it always have to be with you, why not with other people?”
“Are you sure it doesn’t happen with other people? You yourself said that amnesia was a common illness. Are you sure that the person who said ‘history repeats itself’ wasn’t speaking of this loop? I mean think of the possibilities. Maybe all of us are on a giant loop which is going to turn around and repeat itself any day soon - after all, these looping instances have recently been getting more and more frequent - at least for me!!”
“That’s just fine,” Ian said, “ You're welcome to your ideas but you won't find a convert in me. I'd still advise you to come for some sessions in my chamber. It won't take much of your time. Anyway, I must get going now. I must have spent nearly an hour here and I've got things to do back at the Clinic.”
Saying this, Ian looked at his watch. “ Damn”, he said, “ must have forgotten to wind my watch. What’s the time, Orco?”
Orco looked at his watch and replied with a triumphant smile, “It’s a quarter to midnight.”
Ian looked bewildered, “but…”
“I know what you're thinking. That you had come here at five in the evening and we couldn’t have talked for more than an hour – two at the most… and now it’s midnight. That’s what I call truth staring you straight in the face. And, worryingly, this is the first time that the space around me - including you - has Looped along with me…"
…Thus Spake the 'Randomly Chosen Loop Catalyst' for 'This Particular 12 Billion Year Old Cosmic Space-Time continuum', voice dropping to a whisper in utter dread, as he realised that he, Ian Brothay, would very soon be the unwitting agent for a 'Grand Looping' of truly Universal, Big Bang, proportions…
***************************************
BIO:
Suman Datta is 23 years of age and an electrical engineer.Writing stories had started as a pastime for him but has now become a passion. The sci-fi genre is his favourite and he aspires to follow in the path of Isaac Asimov, who he thinks is the greatest sci-fi writer ever!
All the best, Suman - just keep sending us those stories!! - Ed.
|
