A Cursor Story

Chapter 10: Journey to Place of No Direction

Megan was driving on rugged terrain on a 4-wheel drive Land Rover. This time she had disconnected from the google maps and was driving on her own. Ice was littered on the almost nonexistent road. The dark black road was cutting across the land like a stitch on a clean cloth with the ice-lings like patches of bad areas. There was no visible human settlement on the plain flat land on either side of the road. Land Rover moved ahead leaving its marks on the road like a moving iron on an unpressed shirt. Land Rover had only three passengers, the other two apart from Megan were instruments measuring electrical activity in the upper atmosphere and the other, an instrument to inject a known signal into the upper atmosphere by altering electrical activity going on there by a small fraction.

Megan had been driving till 2 o'clock at night but no electrical activity could be detected by her instrument. Megan stopped the vehicle and thought when the instruments would catch any activity. If they do not detect anything whether I should wait or go back. Is it the right way to search for unusual activity going on in the upper atmosphere? Couldn't we become a little bit more intelligent and observe the obvious rather than waiting for the unusual activity to happen why should not we create it.

There was a shadow on the icy ground in front of her. She turned back.

'You are right, you have just got the point we are going to create it rather than waiting for it to happen on this chilly night.' This was none but Awasthy.

'Mr. Awasthy, you are here? Well I could not believe it. You told back then that you are busy with an important engagement.'

'What could be more important than knowing the truth of nature. This has been the passion of my life for decades. I did not tell you that I am coming because then only you could reach that point of understanding in your research where you are able to draw the correct conclusions. Now since you have reached that point of understanding .. I am here.'

'But Mr. Awasthi even if we could influence the atmosphere by altering the electrical activity in the upper atmosphere, what could we prove by doing this.'

'It would prove that altering the electrical activity in the upper atmosphere and thereby manipulating Aurora is actually possible. It will be a proof of concept. Thereafter we would install our equipment at the right place and wait for some unusual activity to take place.'

'Later I can do the rest of the monitoring from my home, I have got your plans, Mr. Awasthy.'

'Yes, we have had enough explanations, let's move ahead.'

Mr. Awasthy boarded the Land Rover and Megan accelerated it as if she was going to race against the light. After driving for about an hour she was at the end of the road. Thereafter were boulders arranged in a criss-cross pattern which gave a sense of direction. The dim light of the stars gazed at the dark earth. The sky was clear of clouds. Bright stars dotted it by moving from east to west. There was one especially bright star which was rising above the head as she stood. All the stars were revolving around this star. The flat land all around seemed endless. All seemingly endless things must be some kind of loop, like a circle, or sphere. It would take nature an infinite amount of energy and therefore infinite amount of time to make it. Nature does not like infinity. Megan could not help but capture the picturesque scenery expanding from one side of the horizon to the other.

'Mr. Awasthy have you been here before?' asked Megan.

'No, I never had the opportunity to have such an efficient Land Rover, very soon we shall be reaching our destination. We just have to walk.'

'Place of no direction, isn't it? Mr. Awasthy'

'He .. he.. he.'

As the bright special star was just a few degrees away from the top of the head the sky started getting covered with a green cloud. It was thin and dynamic. The shape of the green cloud changed shape within minutes.