Chapter 1: Discussion on discovery

“Good Morning, Today’s breaking news is about the new civilization that was discovered two weeks ago in the Middle Eastern Europe. Although it isn’t named yet and till now only the remains of the humans were discovered with metal weapons and utensils in the caves and some remains of the huts but a new discovery of the wall paintings were found and it had not only shocked the scientists at the scene but have also opened possibilities of life outside our planet. The wall paintings in the seventh cave shows that three strange-looking creatures with no face but a fish bowl head came in their ship and others can be seen dancing around them. This can be the first time when we can say aliens are real. After carbon dating, it is found that this is the oldest civilization to exist on this planet predating the oldest known civilizations like the Mesopotamian and the Indus valley civilization by fifty thousand years. One of the most astonishing things that are discovered in the grounds is the Shiva Lingam with proper praying grounds. While many people of the Indian regions were happy to see that this Shiva Lingam was discovered, many theorist who backed the Aryan Theory remerged after it was proved wrong in December last year. But with the discovery of cave paintings suggesting aliens, it is becoming even more complicated. Today a metal bangle was discovered with design on its surface…..” and the TV was switched off.

“Oh come on Aai! It was so interesting” said Parikshit in an agitated manner. “Get ready fast, we have to go to your school. Today is Parents teacher Meeting” said Surekha, his mother. Ajit was at the Office getting ready to leave for Parikshit’s school when one of the superior came to him and told him about an urgent meeting which could not wait. Surekha talked to Ajit and said “Looks like your father won’t be able to join us for the meeting. I will be only coming”. “But Baba never comes to PTM. He is always busy with his work” said Parikshit annoyingly. “You know he is working day and night on his project. He was the first man to reach Jupiter’s Moon after the lunar program. Learn something from him, he is so dedicated towards his work and you are complete opposite of him, just getting passing marks in Science” said Surekha in a sarcastic manner and they both left.

At the PTM while Surekha was talking to other teachers, Parikshit was having a deep conversation with his friends. “So what do you guys think about the new civilization that was found recently” asked Parikshit. “Sounds like we are getting a new chapter in our history books” said Jasleen; “I have heard that alien paintings were discovered, which can turn out to be false” said Mohit in a curious manner. “Maybe but if it is true, just think of the possibilities of future and how big we can grow if we have technologies like them” said Naved. “I just hope the aliens don’t start a war with us or we won’t stand a chance” said Jojo. “Why are you so scared? We have nuclear bombs on earth” said Mohit. “If the aliens can come to earth, just think of the possible weapons they could have on their side” said Jojo. While everyone was talking on this subject, the meeting for which Ajit had to leave his son’s PTM was also on the following subject. At the meeting it was discussed that while the discovery of this new civilization was one of its kinds, the paintings in the caves depicting aliens was real and there can be traces of alien life outside of our solar system or the galaxy. The problem was how to go beyond that as they had never really went beyond the second giant planet physically. But the recent discoveries at the archeological site not only found manuscripts that were difficult to decipher because they were written so many years ago but they were written in a language that is not known to modern humans. However they found some writings near the paintings of those aliens which were deciphered to astronomical coordinates. The coordinates are near Uranus but why they were left near the paintings is still unknown. Ajit was called because he was working on his astronomical drone project which he had built with his team in a time span of two years and once they found out the exact position of the coordinates they wanted to test his work.

Chapter 2: Important random events

Ajit came home with a happy face. But he saw Parikshit with a saddened face and Surekha cooking in the kitchen. He asked Surekha what happened. “He failed in one subject” said Surekha annoyingly. “Did he fail in science?” asked Ajit holding his breath. “No he failed in history” replied Surekha. “Then its ok. I thought it was science” said Ajit with a sigh of relief. Even Parikshit had a smile on his face. “How is it ok? You really are letting him loose on all things but in studies you can’t just be fine with our son failing” said Surekha. Ajit agreed with Surekha and both gave him a good lecture but after Surekha was gone, Ajit took Parikshit out for an ice cream. “I saved you this time but next time you have to save yourself” said Ajit. “I try but history is not my cup of tea” said Parikshit, “So what about Science, Mathematics and geography?” asked Ajit. “I guess I just don’t like studing” replied Parikshit. “So what do you want to do?” asked Ajit. “I want to be a cricketer” replied Parikshit, “But I thought you wanted to be a footballer last week and last month you told me that you wanted to be a street vendor” said Ajit. “That was before, now I am absolutely sure that I want to be a cricketer” said Parikshit. Ajit laughed and told him “You don’t know but when I was of your age, I wanted to be a tea seller”. Parikshit made a doubtful face. Ajit clarified “I wanted to be a tea seller because I only looked at the easy part of his life which was selling tea. Just like that, I wanted to be a circus artist, a magician, a gate keeper etc. but after seeing their struggles, I realized that even though they work hard every day, they want their children to become something big in life. Today you want to be a cricketer but are you ready to face rejections because in this game cricketers are taunted and tortured everyday but when they do something great, there will be people who will applause them but there will also be people who will doubt their potential”. Listening to his father Parikshit realized that he was not at all serious about his life or what his actual goal was. Ajit put his hands on Parikshit’s shoulder and told him that he is still young so he can dream of anything he wants but he has to make sure that his studies should not get hampered by that. Parikshit promised his father to do better next time and they both left for home.

After three days, when Ajit arrived at his office, he was called by his senior Dr. DYSS Murthi for an urgent meeting. Vivek who was working on the coordinates found a globular object near Uranus which at first they thought was a satellite but later it was confirmed to be a Worm hole. “If those creatures came through the Worm hole that means interstellar traveling is possible” said Vivek. “So is it like WARP?” asked Dr. Murthy “Yes it is like WARP but WARP is man-made and therefore our reach is only limited till Saturn, whereas this is naturally occurring and therefore through this we can travel from one point in our galaxy to the other point” said Vivek. “But where did they come from?” asked Dr. Murthi “That is a good question and I believe we can use Dr. Ajit’s help for that” said Vivek. Everyone in the room was looking at Ajit and he was surprised as he had no idea what they were talking about. “Your PYSS-01 drone Ajit! It can be a game changer if your drone passes the hole and we can go to the other side” said Dr. Punitraj (head of the aerospace division) “But sir, this is the first time a worm hole is discovered by IARU (Indian Astronomical Research Unit) this is something we should celebrate. My drone project is something that I myself isn’t sure will work on a three dimensional plane like Earth. You want it to pass through a worm hole? We don’t even know how it will work, will it survive the gravitational pull or be able to sustain in it” said Ajit. “Yes. I want you to pass it through a Worm hole. You have six months to prepare” said Dr. Punitraj and dismissed the meeting. Ajit was in a big dilemma.

Parikshit was having a great day at school when a new student was introduced in their class. Maruti Sadashivrao Patil was the new student who got introduced to the class by their class teacher. “Maruti! Nice name? So are you like the old model 800 or new one because most of Maruti have the same average” said parikshit and everyone in the class started laughing as he was comparing Maruti to the Car models. Maruti didn’t say a word because he knew it was not worth it. Sometimes actions speak louder than words and that’s what maruti did by being first in the class in the first term of the exams. Everyone who laughed that day was praising Maruti for his intelligence and asked how he studied. Parikshit and his gang were jealous but they couldn’t do anything and tried to make distance from him.

Chapter 3: Promises are made

Six months passed and the drone was ready for the first drive. The drone had to be tested through all the harsh conditions to check if it can sustain inside a worm hole. Once the drone was launched into space, IARU opened the WARP (a fully functional inter dimensional space tunnel which helps in teleporting spaceships from Earth till Saturn as the last man-made check point in space is on one of the satellites of Saturn) which helped in transporting the drone to Saturn. As the fuel consumption was reduced, the drone was able to reach Uranus in a week. Once they were near the coordinates, they saw a giant ball floating in space. Everyone was awestruck and wondered how beautiful it was. Once the drone reached near the surface, Ajit was careful with how he is going to approach the worm hole. The intense gravity pulled the drone inside while it was rotating around the worm hole and once it was inside, they could see the interior like a tunnel with lights moving forward. It travels at a very fast speed until the worm hole release the drone from itself into unknown space. There are no visuals possible but the transmitter which was attached to the drone is still active. It takes a few weeks to trace the drone and finally it is found in the Messier 81, a galaxy 12 million light years away from Milky Way. “What do we do now?” asks Dr. Punitraj “We will wait until the drone is found by some extra-terrestrial life form and we receive signals from them” said Ajit.

After 8 months they finally got some extra-terrestrial signals from Messier 81. It was a galaxy some 12 million light years away from our earth. While they received the signals, they found out that the species was quite advanced as they were sending signals on a higher radio frequency but their language was completely different and unknown. With the tracking device still on PYSS-01, they were able to track the coordinates but now the bigger question was how humans will interact with these creatures. Ajit volunteered for interstellar travel with Dr. Nivedita Sukumaran, Dr. Suraj Kulkarni and 17 other people, 10 from the defense forces to join them. The mission was to take place in next six months and as the unknown creatures haven’t taken out the tracking device, they were able to receive signals from PYSS-01. Training for this mission was given on a high note and everyone was very confident as to what was to happen next.

One night Ajit woke up in the middle of the night and went down to have some water. He saw Parikshit standing near the window and staring at the stars and the moon. “Not able to sleep?” asked Ajit. “Well you will be gone for a while and I won’t be having anyone to tell me some cool and smart stories for motivation” said Parikshit. “You are really sad about that?” asked Ajit in a sarcastic manner and Parikshit asked “What if you got lost in that universe?” “First, you don’t have to worry about me getting lost in the universe because there is only one universe. Secondly, when I am not here, you have to take care of your mother. She will be the one needing you to support her. Promise me that you will look after her for me” said Ajit. “Let’s make promises, take this bangle and keep it with you and promise me you will not lose it and I will make a promise that I will look after Aai until you return” said Parikshit and with a slight grin on his face Ajit took the bangle on his hands and they both made a pact to follow. After sometimes when all the volunteers were ready for their missions, they met their loved ones before going on this dangerous mission. Dr. Murthy and Dr. Punitraj came to Ajit to thank him for this project “You know you don’t have to do this” said Dr. Punitraj. “But sir you were the one who helped me in my PYSS-01 drone project, you believed that it will work and at the end it did” said Ajit. “But we need minds like you Ajit, here on Earth” said Dr. Murthi. “I understand your concerns gentlemen, but now is my turn to create history” said Ajit and went to meet Surekha and Parikshit before departing. “Don’t be rude on him till I get back” said Ajit to Surekha. “Sure, you just come back soon after this one and promise me that this will be your last mission” said Surekha. Ajit had to think before answering and then said “Yes, this will be the last one”. “Oye Chhotu, help your Aai and take care of her, just like we promised” said Ajit to Parikshit. “Don’t lose my bangle” said Parikshit and they all laughed and embraced before leaving.

Chapter 4: A weird theory

Once all the members of the mission were onboard, the launch was done and everyone on earth had their hopes on these people. With WARP, they were sent towards Uranus. Once the worm hole was visible, they punched the thrusters at full force and started their revolution around the worm hole. Once the surface of the ship touched a tip of the giant, they were sucked inside and moved at a brisk pace forward. Everyone on earth was able to see what they were able to see and suddenly there was no footage. Everything turned black and there was no signal from the ship. People on Earth were trying to connect their signals but there was no response. IARU asked people not to panic but they themselves were not sure what happened. Surekha and Parikshit, who were watching this on TV, were both shocked and devastated by what happened. For nine months, the search for the missing people started but they were not traceable by any means. At the end everyone accepted their fates and tried to move on. Surekha use to cry every day at night for her husband while Parikshit believed that his father would return one day. At school, no one talked about his father, as they didn’t want to hurt Parikshit’s feelings.

One day, While Surekha was cooking in the kitchen; Parikshit turned on the TV and saw the news on artifacts which were kept at the Moinschwak Museum, recovered from Amalgam civilization. Amalgam was the same civilization which was discovered two years ago, uncovering the human evolution 100,000 years ago and became a big staple of human history. While watching the artifacts, he saw a bangle which was not very rusty and looked intact but had a similar design like the one he gave to his father. Parikshit searched on Google about the artifacts which were discovered and found the image of the bangle. It was the same bangle which he had given to his father. He called his mother and told her about it. Surekha embraced his child and told him that she believes him but deep down she knew it was not true. While Parikshit went to school and told this to his friends about the bangle and how it can link to time travel which caused his father to go back in time. Some freaked out while some completely called it nonsense and due to that a fight broke between Naved and Parikshit which led them both to the principal’s office. Surekha was called and told about the whole situation, to which she reacted violently against Parikshit and told him that his father was gone and broke down completely. The school staff and principal helped her while Parikshit ran outside not believing that his father was dead.

He sat on the sand dune made outside the school and looked at the wide field in front of him while thinking about his father. Maruti appeared out of the blue behind him. “Did you come here to make fun of me?” asked Parikshit. “Well, Yes…” said Maruti. Parikshit was shocked to hear this answer and turned around. “…but I heard your theory about your father travelling back in time and creating the whole amalgam civilization instead of getting crushed by the gravitational force of the warm hole, sounded quite interesting to me and I thought to ask you more” said Maruti. “Well, what do you want to ask?” asked Parikshit. “How do you know that your father travelled back in time?” asked Maruti. “I saw the artifacts on the internet which were recovered from the discovery and one of the artifacts, the bangle, looked very similar to the one I gave to my father” said Parikshit and showed him the pictures of the artifact and his bangle. “Huh! I guess your father is stuck in the past but I have a plan which can bring him and his crewmates back” said Maruti. “But why do you want to help me. I was never good to you” said Parikshit. “Well I am not a bully and I would like to meet your father as he is one of my inspirations” said Maruti. Both Shook hands and then Maruti told Parikshit to follow him.

Chapter 5: Meeting Smart people

“Where are we going, I should at least inform my mother” said Parikshit. “Don’t worry, we will be back by evening” said Maruti. Parikshit was confused as to where Maruti wanted to take him. “Tell me, do you know about the bootstrap paradox?” asked Maruti. “No, does it have something to do with boots?” asked Parikshit. “No but taking a hypothetical situation, suppose, you get a package from nowhere at your door and when you open it, you find an old book which has the blueprints to make a time machine. You ignore it at first but then try to make the machine and when you have finally made the machine, you try to test it. After multiple test failures, you are successful at last but then you go back in time to the point when you first found that package and it is you from the present who kept that package at the door for your past self to find” said Maruti. “So what?” asked parikshit. “Where was the book made or how it came into existence?” asked Maruti. Parikshit got confused. Maruti was right, the book was just passed, it was never written by anyone or if it was written, it was mystery. “How do you think time travel actually works or affects us?” asked Maruti. “As of my knowledge, which I have got from movies, there are two types of time travel – First one being about going back in time and changing the past which can change the future (or the present from where you went back) like in the movies X-Men days of future past, Back to the future or that TV show flash. Second I believe is that we create an alternate timeline where we can change anything in the past and that won’t change anything in our future because we have already created a separate timeline apart from our timeline where things still happened in the present and won’t be affected, like in the Avengers movies” said Parikshit. “Alright then, if your father went back in time and started a civilization, which would later be found by us and this will help us to go into interstellar travel to find aliens than he will go back in time to create a this civilization…” said Maruti before he was interrupted by Parikshit with a question“Then what is the “book” in this scenario?”. “The warm hole” said Maruti. Now Parikshit was a getting some ideas as to what was happening. “Then does that mean that those aliens drawn on the walls were just astronaut suits which my father and his crew must be wearing” said Parikshit. “It can be true, that’s why we are going to meet the genius to help us in this situation” said Maruti. But Parikshit was skeptical about this mysterious genius, Maruti was praising.

“We are finally here” said Maruti. Both the boys looked at the board which read – “Professor Ingle’s coaching”. “Who is this guy?” asked parikshit. “You want to know, how I am so smart in my studies?” asked Maruti. Parikshit was pointed at the Board and Maruti said “No, not him. I study every day. But this guy here is genius and we had a lot of misadventures together, so I think he can help us with your problem”. Parikshit made a mean face and followed Maruti Inside the house. “Professor, where are you? I brought someone” said Maruti. Professor Ingle who was in his kitchen came out to see Maruti. “Ha! Maruti my boy. Looks like you brought someone new for my coaching. Did you tell him that the classes will be from Monday and every alternate day? Also if exams are near, no holiday will acceptable until there is a genuine reason. Also pay 500 Rs. as advance before joining, because I don’t teach trail classes” said Professor Ingle. Parikshit was confused and baffled by the professor. He thought to himself that Maruti exaggerated the word “genius” way too much for this man. “Professor, he is not a customer. He is Dr. Ajit Kangurde’s son, Parikshit” said Maruti. Professor Ingle was embarrassed and shook Parikshit’s hand and said “I had known about your father from Newspaper. He was a brilliant scientist. Sorry for your loss kid”. “Well, he believes that you don’t have to be sorry because his father is not dead” said Maruti. “He is not? Then where is he?” asked Professor. They showed him the evidences which they found. “I have a theory he is in the Amalgam civilization or most probably, he started the Amalgam civilization and to find him we need your help” said Parikshit. “But what can I do?” asked Professor. “Professor, I think we should tell him about the Patil Point and how we went to the future in the 25th century” said Maruti. “WHAT??” was the reaction of Parikshit. “No, no, that never happened, it was all in your mind Maruti” said Professor. “I knew it. You just wanted to make fun of me and my theory that’s why you brought me to this fake teacher whom you called genius” said Parikshit angrily. “What did you just call me? A Fake! Hold your breath kid” said the Professor and grabbed his hand. He took out a globular thing from his pocket and pressed the upper layer which transferred them to the prehistoric Jurassic era. Parikshit was shocked to see everything and had a difficulty standing up as the atmospheric air was different at that time. He saw a Velociraptor running towards them. He was terrified at the sight of the animal and professor grabbed him by his collar and switched on his device to jump back to their present time. “Did you like the dinosaurs?” asked Maruti to Parikshit jokingly. “What was that, what happened, where you took me?” asked Parikshit to Professor. “Don’t worry kid, that won’t happen again, just don’t say anything stupid about me” said Professor.

“So now you believe that we can bring your father back?” asked Maruti and parikshit agreed. Professor asked “So at what time we are going, because I have classes at 6:30 PM” “Don’t worry professor, we will be back before 5 in the evening” said Maruti. “Maruti did you tell him about the bootstrap paradox?” asked professor and Maruti said that he did tell Parikshit about it and the theory they came up with. “Tell me Parikshit when in time do you want to go?” asked Professor. “When my father was leaving for the mission” said Parikshit. “Then you want to create a grandfather paradox, I believe” said Professor. “What’s that professor?” asked Maruti. “Suppose you go back in time to kill your grandfather when he was a child, that means your father will never be born, that means you will never be born and then you won’t be able to kill your grandfather and therefore he lives and so does your father and you and that means you can travel back….” said Professor before he was interrupted by Parikshit. “Hang on, that means what? I am getting confused” said Parikshit “That means that your father never went in the past and created a civilization and because of that people never discovered the warm hole, that means the human civilization never went forward as it should which means you never stopped your father from going on that mission” said Maruti. “Exactly” said the Professor. “Than what should we do?” asked Parikshit. “We can go back in time to the amalgam civilization era when it was about to die, because in the face of destruction, a little disruption in time will not affect the whole timeline, I believe” said Professor. “You sure?” asked Maruti. “No, do you know the exact date of going back?” asked Professor to Parikshit. “Yeah it’s available on Google” said parikshit. “Wow, nowadays everything is available on Google” said Professor with an un-amused face. Professor Ingle took the dates and input them in his machine to travel. “So how does this machine works? And how did you guys get it?” asked Parikshit. “That’s actually a good story but for another time” said Maruti and they all braced Professor for the jump. “Alright kids, we will be jumping 100,000 years into the past. The conditions will be quite weird but I believe we will survive” said Professor. Both of them looked at the professor and said all the best to each other and jumped.

Chapter 6: A Civilization runs by giants

When Parikshit opened his eyes, he saw himself falling from the sky at great speed. He started shouting and then saw Professor and Maruti falling too but they were not terrified at all. He got confused and shouted “what happened?” “We have been falling for 40 minutes now and we are still in the air” said Maruti. “Wow, I guess who ever thought we won’t get that this is a simulation thought we will pass out again but they don’t understand that it won’t work on people like us” said Professor. “How do we get out of here?” asked Parikshit. Professor closed his eyes and suddenly disappeared both Maruti and Parikshit were shocked. Than Maruti also disappeared and Parikshit got terrified that he was alone and then started hearing voices of both Professor and Maruti and suddenly he opened his eyes and saw both professor and Maruti standing in front of him. “Don’t worry, we took care of the guards” said Maruti. “Where are we?” asked Parikshit. “We were in a simulation chamber and our consciousness was transferred but now we are back but we don’t know what this place is” said Professor. They all went out of the room and ran for a passage outside. But saw that the place was a spaceship and they were taken somewhere. “I believe you people are from the past” said a man in dark clothes. “Who are you and why are you looking so sinister?” asked Professor. “You know I have to change my translator to human language after a very long time and I believe we can all sit down and talk” said the Man. It was the only option they had and therefore they went after the man. They all sat around a table while the ship was going towards a certain destination. “What year is it?” asked Professor to break the silence. “The year you should not know about travelers” said the Man. “I know it is the future, just looks a lot different than the last time we visited a future scenario” said Maruti. “So you have time travelled before?” asked the Man. “Why don’t you tell us your name and we will all be straight forward about our introduction” said Parikshit. Professor and Maruti looked at him as he was becoming more like them. “My name is Kalzar and I am from Planet Xaxlo. I believe that much introduction would be enough for me” said Kalzar. “Fine, My name is Professor Chandrasekhar Ingle and these are my students Maruti Patil and Parikshit Kangurde. We are from the 21st century and would like to know where you are taking us” said Professor. “I am taking you all to the Patil point. There your fates will be decided” said Kalzar. “What do you mean our fates?” asked Parikshit but didn’t get a reply. Professor and Maruti were a little concerned as they have visited the Patil point before. “What is at the Patil point?” asked Parikshit. “It’s a council of Judges who decide if you should temper with timelines or not. Not a good place to be.” said Maruti. “We escaped it last time but I don’t think we will be able to escape now” said Professor.

Once they reached the Patil point, they all came out of the ship with soldiers but the place was a lot different than the one Maruti and Professor visited before. Parikshit was amazed by the vibrant look of the place. He saw the sky was filled with stars and spaceships landing and departing with aliens and of different shapes and sizes interacting. While walking Parikshit collided with a blue colored alien with tentacles but the alien helped him and said something in his own language which Parikshit didn’t understand. “He said, you walk properly next time. You don’t have the universal translator like us, therefore it is difficult for you to understand their language” said Kalzar. The trio was taken to the main headquarters where queen Bhanushree was waiting for them. “Who is she?” asked Parikshit. “We don’t know. She wasn’t here when we visited last time” said Maruti. “Maruti Patil and Professor Chandrasekhar Ingle, I have heard a lot stories about your misadventures before I was made the queen of the council. It is an honor to meet you both but who is this little friend of yours?” asked Bhanushree. “I hope we can have a seat and discuss about this situation is detail” said Professor. “Off course, please have a seat at the table” said Bhanushree. “This place seems to have changed a lot since we last visited” said the professor while everyone had sat down. “Oh, I believe this is not the place you visited last time professor, because this is not that same point in time when you last visited the Patil point. I believe you visited that place of the 25th century. Currently you are in the year 113,425 AD” said Bhanushree. Both Maruti and Professor were shocked while Parikshit didn’t get what was going on as usual.

“We jumped way too far in the future. I am surprised how the human civilization is still alive even after the last time we…. I mean the accident nearly wiped out the universe” said Professor. “We have seen our fair share of wars in the past professor. Things changed after many galactic wars but now we are in harmony. The battle of the resources was the major event after which we were able to survive. We were able to build cities in planets which were light years away and were able to sustain this civilization for many hundred years” said Bhanushree. “How? The last thing I remember natural resources were gone from our planet and stellar engines were running the stars dry. How did the people survive?” asked Professor. “We found a source of power which we could cultivate. If you want you can look outside the window and it will be visible from the naked eye” said Bhanushree and opened the automatic windows. The trio was in shock as they saw a supermassive black hole in front of them and around it was a Halo ring type structure. “You are cultivating the energy from a black hole. But how?” asked Professor. “You see, the accretion disk of the black hole helps a lot. When matter is falling into the event horizon, it doesn’t directly falls in that but rather forms are spiral form due to the intense gravitational field. These particles convert their potential energy into kinetic energy which radiates out into space and helps us. You see the matter to energy efficiency of these giants is 6% if they are non-rotating and 32% if active” said Bhanushree. “This is far powerful than nuclear fission I believe” said Professor. “But what is that ring like structure” asked Maruti “That is the device we use to collect the kinetic energy from the accretion disk. We have used mirror like panels collect the transmitted energy. It’s called the Ingle’s ring” said Bhanushree. “Named after me?” asked professor. “No, it is named after one of your decedents” said Bhanushree. “It has a similar working like that of a Dyson sphere” said Maruti. “Yes, but the plasma jets which some from the poles of the black hole can destroy the globular structure of the Dyson sphere therefore a ring is used. You are quite smart for a boy of your age” said Bhanushree while also complimenting Maruti.

“Sorry to interrupt your science geek fest but I believe we did the time jump to save my father and I don’t see that happening anytime soon” said Parikshit. All the three people looked at Parikshit as if he committed a crime. Professor told her the whole story and about Parikshit’s theories. Parikshit was scared and confused as to what mess he got himself into. “I know you people time jumped to save Dr. Ajit from the past and I can confirm he was the founding father of the Amalgam civilization” said Bhanushree. Everyone was happy that Parikshit’s theory was correct “But let me tell you one thing Parikshit, I have seen the alternate timeline which will be created if you bring him back. Your father won’t be the same man you knew once. He will just become a test subject for the government and maybe never come back. The peace and harmony we have now after so many years of struggles will be gone my child” said Bhanushree. “What about the Bootstrap paradox and the grandfather paradox? As per those theories reality will not be hampered” said Parikshit with a firm belief in himself. “If we follow that paradox, do you really think time travel was possible?” asked Bhanushree. “But I have to try” said Parikshit almost filled with sorrow. Bhanushree sat beside him and told “Your father was not just a genius but he kept the stepping stones for the foundation we are standing on today. His sacrifice for humanity made us realize there was more to the human story than just a blue dot in the Milky Way galaxy. I have seen your life and you made a promise to take care of your mother just like he promised to take care of that bangle which brought you close to him once more. Sometimes you have to let go of the things you want the most for people who love and care for you. I will let you decide”. Everyone in the room was looking at Parikshit who was confused what to do. It was a tough choice, to go and bring back his father which could annihilate the future or to go back to his regular life. After much thinking, he decided not to go back in time and save his father but he asked her to at least let him see his father and Bhanushree brought a wide mirror like object in which he saw his father (with long hair and beard) farming in the fields while wearing the bangle which he gave him and looking the sky. He cried while Bhanushree embraced him to calm him down.

“So I believe, our work is done here and we can go back” said Maruti. “I don’t have the Gumbad with me Maruti” said Professor. “I will send you all back to your original timeline but your memories will be wiped out” said Bhanushree. “What?” everyone shouted shockingly “Well, you all cannot be allowed to do time travel. Your memories of visiting this place will only be removed. I am keeping the Gumbad to not let incidents happen like the one happened in 25th century” said Bhanushree while looking at Maruti and Professor who lowered their head in embarrassment. “Thank you” said Parikshit for showing him his father one last time and Bhanushree nodded in agreement and the trio was sent back to their respective timelines.

Epilogue

Parikshit and the others came back to their timeline and Parikshit had no memory of what happened. He freaked out as to why he was with Maruti and some old man in a small house. He ran towards his house to reunite with his mother who was searching for him since afternoon. He asked her for forgiveness and told that he will never run away. He also reconciled with Naved over the fight they had and everything gets back to normal.

“He doesn’t remember we tried to help him, does he?” asked Professor. “No, he doesn’t. Let it be, professor. We have bigger fish to fry” said Maruti. They went to professor’s store room and switched on the lights. 20 Gumbads were kept in the rack. Professor took one of the Gumbads from the rack while Maruti looked for the Plasma gun. They both grabbed the guns and professor dialed the Gumbad to Amalgam civilization, so they can destroy it.

.    .    .