Chapter One
From Melanie to Max
It started out as a simple physics experiment to better understand how the mysterious mineral, illumaphane, affected the dark matter and energy grid called the Gavaskar Field. Melanie Gavaskar had been studying the focused beam that the FTL (faster than light) drive utilized to bore a hole in the field that all matter rested on allowing the Einstienan speed limit to be broken. That was when she saw something disturbing. The holes did not completely heal over. Continued use of the FTL could eventually tear the fabric of the universe apart.
When she was sure that her findings were correct she sent them to Professor Gupta’s tablet computer. She could trust him; he would confirm her findings. No one would listen to a student, no matter how high her test scores were. She grabbed her coat on the way out of her lab. She had been working very hard on this project and decided she deserved a treat. She went to the Bird in Hand, a local tavern to get a beer.
She said to the handsome young bartender, “How about a Harvest draft?”
When she had a full pint she found a table with one of her friends from school. Anne Sato wasn’t a close friend but they had shared a few beers over their school years. “Hi Anne. What’cha reading?”
Anne looked up from her tablet with a casual smile and said, “First century Harappan lit. Ugh! It’s all Marcus Johnson this, the Founder that. I am so tired of Marcus Johnson. What about you?”
Melanie took a sip of her beer leaving a thin foam mustache on her full upper lip. With a hint of a sparkle in her deep brown eyes she said, “I’ve just finished a scan of the local Gavaskar Field. I think I have a really important discovery.” She took another sip and wiped her face.
Anne said, “Look I’m a lit major, but I do get the basic of the idea of the Gavaskar Field and all. That it’s some sort of frame work that all shit is built on. But, here’s my question. Are you related to old Debendra Gavaskar?”
Melanie rolled her eyes and took a deep breath, she was asked this a lot. “No, he was born on Earth over a hundred years after my ancestors left there.” She said with rote precision.
Melanie looked up from her beer mug to see her professor standing in the doorway squinting to better see in the dark tavern. When his eyes adjusted enough to allow him to find Melanie he motioned frantically for her to leave with him.
Melanie nodded and looked to her drinking buddy Anne, “Sorry, but I have to go.”
When she reached the Professor, he grabbed her by the elbow and said. “We need to go over your findings. If this is true there are going to be a lot of very upset people over at SID. The Science and Industry Division won’t take kindly to someone ending their space program. We need to go.”
Professor Gupta and Melanie left quickly and returned to the university physics building just a block from the tavern. The two of them went over and over Melanie’s procedures and calculations.
“This is serious, Professor.” Melanie said, “We have to notify the SID right away.”
The professor ran his right hand over the curly, salt and pepper stubble on his head. His eyes were squinted, “Not so fast little Mel. I don’t disagree with you but they are not going to like this one bit. I think we should move cautiously here.”
“What do you mean, Professor?”
“What I mean, Mel, is that you are very young and naive. You trust too much. You are too young to remember when the Earthers first showed up on Harappa. We had no idea that we had come from a planet called Earth. I know you learned the history of Harvest Day in school. Many Harappans still remember that day when the Earthers killed our hero Paladin and knocked our world off its orbit. The SID knows this about us and they distrust all Harappans because of this. Harappans and Earthers will never be one people. They won’t take too kindly to a pair of Harappans trying to take away their toys.”
“I know history Professor. I don’t like the SID either but this is bigger than Harappa or Earth, or for that matter Lava and Kusha too. We have to do something. If they continue their space program, it could rip the entire Universe apart. We could have a new Big Bang. Everything, and we are talking everything in the universe here, would be wiped out.”
The old professor offered up a gentle smile, put his hand on Melanie’s arm and said, “We will do something, my dear, but you must let me contact the authorities. This must be handled delicately. I will call them today. You rest. I’ll let you know how they respond when I can.”
Melanie looked up to the kindly old man, she gave his hand a gentle squeeze and started to leave but as she approached the door the professor said, “Melanie, please be careful. Don’t mention this to anyone just yet. OK?”
“Yes, sir.” Melanie wondered why the professor would caution her but went back to her apartment and read some early Harappan lit on her tablet to get her mind off the SID.
Melanie woke up when her tablet buzzed. It was the professor calling.
“Melanie,” the professor’s image on the small tablet screen looked panicked, “come to my house quick. We need to talk right away.”
Melanie decided to stop by the lab to get her big tablet with all the technical data.
She eked out a small gasp when she opened the door to her lab and found the place wrecked. Not a single drawer, closet or file cabinet was left unmolested. Her lab tablet was gone. She ran out of the science hall and hurried to the Professor’s apartment. She rounded the corner just in time to see an SID water car screech to a stop. Four Agents got out and rushed Professor Gupta’s door. Melanie ducked back behind the corner and watched.
After several minutes of yelling and banging inside, two of the Agents came out and went to the water car, followed by Professor Gupta who was being escorted arm in arm by the other two agents. When he walked by a small rosemary hedge Melanie noticed that the professor dropped something from a fold in his caftan.
The old gray-haired gentleman was pushed into the car and the vehicle sped away. Melanie rushed to the rosemary hedge and found a small tablet. She turned it on and was relieved that her findings were intact on this little device.
Also on the tab was a note from the professor, “Dear Melanie, I am so sorry you have fallen into this. I think the SID is coming to arrest me. I may only have a few minutes. This tablet contains your data, keep it safe. You are in great danger. The SID will want to question you at the least and may want to arrest you as well. Don’t let them get ahold of you. Get in touch with Alice Toten, she can be found at the Harappan Cultural Center. She is a good pal of mine. If she asks you if you are a pal say yes. You can trust her. I suggest you get off world as soon as you can. Don’t contact your parents. They will be safer not knowing what you are up to. When it is safe I will get word to them that you are OK. Please be careful, Little Mel. Professor Francis.”
She looked around in a bit of a panic. She didn’t want to go home. The SID most likely would go there, if they had not already. Melanie was glad that both her parents were in the field in the Black Mountains. At least they’d be safe.
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