“What data? I’m surprised you need my help, Brother Sandeep,” said Shehnaaz eagerly as she seated herself before Sandeep’s computer. She opened his folder and checked the contents.
“It’s all inside that folder. There’s just too much data for my usual software to process. Help me write a simple program that will be able to quickly retrieve and analyze the data. My main beef is with the ACCESS command, it’s just too slow for my needs.” Sandeep sighed and shook his head as he pointed out what he needed on the computer screen.
Shehnaaz quickly skimmed through the data, and came up
with an estimate for the size of the file, the amount of computing required, as well as the actual processing power available, amongst other things. She had to estimate all that to determine the best approach to the problem.
“Brother Deepak is the expert. Why don’t you ask him for help?
I’m just an amateur.” Shehnaaz’s slender fingers deftly flew over the keyboard as she typed out line after line of code.
Sandeep poured himself a cup of tea, and sipped it with a satisfied smile as he relaxed on the sofa. “He’s always busy with work as soon as he’s back from a mission. I don’t want to bother him.”
He wasn’t being entirely honest. In actual fact, he had turned to Shehnaaz for help because the data he was analyzing had come from her in the first place: the numbers were from her vital signs and DNA. The data was top-secret; no one else could see the numbers, not even Deepak.
Shehnaaz, on the other hand, was different. It was her data, after all. Besides, she was, as she had admitted herself, an amateur when it came to data analysis and programming. She did not completely understand what she
was doing, which in turn meant she did not have the necessary knowledge to process what she was seeing.
Sandeep wasn’t about to risk letting Deepak anywhere near the data.
Deepak’s computer was a beast, a state-of-the-art machine. He could easily make a copy of all the data without Sandeep knowing about it. If that happened, Sandeep would be in deep trouble, and he wouldn’t even know what had hit him…
For the next minute, Operating Room B was quiet, save for the brisk tap-tapping of Shehnaaz’s fingers on the keyboard.
Sandeep was just about to shut his eyes for a short nap when a siren began to wail.
“What’s wrong? What happened?” Shehnaaz looked up from her computer screen in confusion. She froze.
She had a clear view of Rita’s operating chair.
The sleeping beauty who had been soundly asleep a moment ago had sat up, and was now watching Shehnaaz, unblinking, with her hauntingly beautiful eyes.
“B-Brother Sandeep…” Shehnaaz pointed at Rita with a trembling finger. “Didn’t you say she won’t be awake for a week?”
Sandeep had been caught off-guard by the alarm. He turned, and saw Rita sit up in her operating chair, looking lost and confused. He shouted, “Holy moly! Why is she awake? It’s only been three days!”
He shot across the room like an arrow loosed from a bow. Shehnaaz openly gaped at how swiftly he ran—who knew a
round, portly body like his could move so quickly?
Sandeep rushed to the operating chair and turned off the alarm, barely able to contain his excitement. He checked the data print-outs from the testing equipment, laughing like a madman the entire time.
Rita stopped looking at Shehnaaz, her attention now arrested by Sandeep’s maniacal dancing. She smiled and shook her head at his display of uncontrolled excitement.
Shehnaaz hastily typed out the rest of her program before walking over. “Mrs. Singhania, are you feeling better?”
Rita looked at Shehnaaz and said politely, “Hello. My husband’s surname is Shukla, actually, but you can call me Rita. Who are you?”
She silently appraised Shehnaaz: the young lady’s large, doe-like eyes were lively and enchanting, but also misty and enigmatic. Her evocative eyes seemed full of unspoken secrets and heartache; Rita could not resist feeling
protective towards her. She guessed that she was very young, probably not yet 20.
Shehnaaz was taken aback by Rita’s reply. Her large eyes widened further in surprised, but she quickly recollected herself. She said, smiling, “My name is Shehnaaz Gill. Madame, are you feeling better? Do you feel
uncomfortable?”
Rita smiled. “Are you a nurse?”
She looked at Sandeep in his white coat, dancing like a madman in front of the medical equipment. She turned to
Shehnaaz and asked: “…He’s a doctor? I… I…”
She was suddenly hit by a splitting headache, and could not
finish her sentence.
She felt as though someone was stabbing relentlessly into her brain with a sharp knife, chipping away at the vault that had kept her memories sealed for 16 years.
Her memories burst through the cracks, washing over her.
Her body, just recovered from the operation, could not withstand the sudden stress; she held her head and fell backwards into the operating chair, her skin clammy with cold sweat. The pain almost made her bite her tongue, but she controlled herself.
Shehnaaz saw her shiver all over. The older woman’s face was suddenly white as a sheet; even her lips had turned pale and colorless. Her eyes grew dim, and her toes curled from the pain. But Rita did not say a single word.
“If it hurts, say it.” Shehnaaz wrapped her arms around Rita, and gently rubbed her back. She turned to call for Sandeep. “Brother Sandeep, do you have painkillers? We should give her some!”
Sandeep poked his head out from behind his equipment. His eyes were glazed over—it was obvious his attention was elsewhere. “…Give her what?”
“Painkillers, duh!” Shehnaaz gave a small snort. “Focus! She just woke up, she probably isn’t feeling well. Look…”
She pointed to Rita with her mouth.
Rita was still watching Shehnaaz, however.
The older woman felt a certain kinship with Shehnaaz. She could not resist lecturing her like a friendly aunt. “…Don’t point with your mouth, that isn’t very ladylike.”
Rita’s voice was very soft. Shehnaaz only heard what she had said because the two of them were practically huddled together.
Shehnaaz: “…”
She lowered her eyes and looked at Rita, who was leaning against her shoulder. The older woman had not forgotten her ladylike manners, not even when she was in terrible pain. Shehnaaz felt ashamed of herself, and mumbled sheepishly, “…Sorry about that. I won’t do it again.”
“Good.” Rita let out a soft sigh. The throbbing pain in her head gradually receded.
She felt better already, just by resting her head against Shehnaaz’s shoulder.
There was something about the young lady that lifted Rita’s spirits.
Sandeep reluctantly left his medical instruments and handed two painkillers and a glass of water to Shehnaaz. “Here, these are for her.”
Shehnaaz put the painkillers on her open palm and held them out to Rita. “Madame, you should take these.”
“What’s the brand name for these painkillers?” Rita carefully inspected the pills. “Which factory are they from? What are the active ingredients? How long do they last? Are there any side effects?”
Shehnaaz: “…”
She suddenly felt as though she were a student who had been caught daydreaming in class, and was now being ruthlessly grilled by her professor.
Sandeep was even more nervous than Shehnaaz. He automatically responded to the grilling with a textbook reply: “This is a high-dose aspirin, 100 times more powerful than the consumer brands on the market. The main
ingredient is ultra-refined salicylic acid. There is no risk of
addiction. The effects from a single pill last for two hours. Two pills, taken together, will extend the effects to three hours. Side effects include an upset stomach, and perhaps nausea.”
Rita frowned at the white pills. “I’ve never heard of this aspirin…”
She pushed Shehnaaz’s hand away, and politely refused the medicine. “Thank you, but I’m fine. I’ll just grin and bear it. Can I have a glass of warm water, instead?”
Shehnaaz: “…”
Sandeep’s forehead had broken out in beads of sweat. He nervously pulled a handkerchief from his trouser pocket and
mopped his forehead. He said, stammering, “Madame, this… this… this aspirin has been out for four, maybe five years. You need a prescription for it, you can’t buy it over the counter. It’s aspirin, I swear!”
Rita looked up and quietly watched him for a moment. Finally, she asked, “Who are you? Where am I?”
“I’m Sandeep Agarwal, your doctor.” Sandeep breathed a sigh of relief. He pointed in the direction of the door. “This is the
official residence of the commander of the Special
Operations Forces, located with the Special Ops HQ.”
Rita looked a little lost, but she quickly concealed her confusion. She watched Sandeep attentively as she politely waited for him to finish his explanation.
Shehnaaz suddenly realized there was something strange about the situation. She tugged at Sandeep’s sleeve to interrupt him.
Sandeep turned to look at her. “What is it, Sana?”
Shehnaaz nodded to him, then turned to Rita. “Madame, do you remember what happened before you fainted?”
She wanted to know whether Rita had recovered.
Rita frowned as she thought about it. Her head began to hurt again. She said, lightly gasping, “…An explosion. I remember that right before I fainted, there was
a massive explosion in my laboratory…”
Shehnaaz was drifting in and out of consciousness. What is going on? Hadn’t I been on the road to the official residence before passing out? What was Rita recalling?
Shehnaaz’s eyes shimmered as she glanced at Rita’s face in confusion. “An explosion? What’s
happening?”
Sandeep’s head lurched up, his round eyes casting an incredulous look from behind the round glasses as he stared at Rita. “Mrs. Singhania, are you talking about the experiment 16 years ago?!” He was aware that Rita had become like this after the infamous failed experiment.
“16 years ago?” Rita was still disoriented, but had keenly picked up on something Sandeep said that didn’t make sense to her. “What do you mean, 16 years ago?” Her face fell, “What are you talking about?”
Shehnaaz understood now. Rita’s conscious was clear, but her memories seemed to have stopped at what happened after that massive explosion 16 years ago. Had she forgotten everything else that happened after? That made sense. Since she’d become ill, she only remembered her memories from before she turned 18 and had forgotten everything since she’d turned 18. Every day, certain cells in her body had experienced reverse growth, turning back the clock so that she would forget everything that happened the day before—making her forever 18.
“That’s to say, Mrs. Singhania has gained some memories after
waking up.” Sandeep looked down to begin recording onto her medical chart, “Mrs. Singhania is 48 years old this year, so her memories have been recovered from before she turned 18 to before she turned 32. That means it’s been recovered to 16 years before.”
Shehnaaz huddled closer to Sandeep and whispered , “Then what about the past 16 years of memories? Are they really all gone?”
“That’s hard to say.” Sandeep shook his head with a sigh.
“The injury caused by the explosion had organic influences
on her for the past 16 years. Her memory cells were unable to keep the previous day’s memories. For example, goldfish
have a seven second memory. For the past 16 years, Mrs.
Singhania has only had a 24 hour memory, which is just a bit better than that of a goldfish.”
Shehnaaz was pained. She stared at Rita in shock and thought about all that had happened in last 16 years. This was all too cruel to Rita. However, she didn’t
remember anything, and they weren’t yet sure if that’s a good or bad thing.
Rita listened to Sandeep and Shehnaaz’s exchange and felt perplexed. “What are you guys talking about? I’m 48? That’s not right? Aren’t I 32?” She looked dubiously at the rotund Sandeep, then at the slender and beautiful Shehnaaz. She felt that Shehnaaz seemed more trustworthy and stared at her as she asked, “You’re Shehnaaz Gill? Can I
call you Sana?”
“Yes, Mrs. Singhania.” Shehnaaz hastily said, “Don’t worry, tell
me slowly.”
Rita closed her eyes, her mind a mess. The longer she was conscious, the more her mind began looping the memories of that incident.
…
The earth shattering boom, the fire that blotted out the sky, and the lab leveled to the ground by the explosion. Many people were screaming and running from the fire—she thought she was done for, but someone suddenly rushed
over to violently push her and her father out of the lab. She
rolled more than a dozen times on the ground and lay behind a big boulder in front of the lab building. She realized that her father had run back… And then, nothing. She opened her eyes to see everything reduced to ashes. The aftermath of the explosion was incomparably powerful,
causing a huge shift in the magnetic field at the site. She
could still recall the shock wave that had seemed to penetrate her brain, but it didn’t seem like a shock wave that could be coming from the lab.
…
Rita opened her eyes in a daze to look at Shehnaaz, then Sandeep. “What’s going on? Tell me.”
“Mrs. Singhania, how about I call Boss over? It’s better if he talks
to you.” Sandeep thought about how the experiment Rita had participated in had been a top level classified military experiment. For the past 16 years, the experiment was still classified at the highest level and no other experiment had surpassed its significance. No one else had been able to replicate the experiment either. Kirat had
spent 16 years trying to replicate the experiment but had made little progress. Now that Rita was awake and seemed to have her memories from 16 years ago, this was the best news the military had received in the last decade
and a half. However, this news had to be handled by Sidharth and couldn’t be altered by anyone else. Sandeep tugged on Shehnaaz’s sleeve as he gave her a look. “Go get the Boss.”
Shehnaaz agreed, then smiled at Rita. “Mrs. Singhania, please wait for a bit. I’ll go get Sidharth and all your questions will be answered.”
“Sidharth?” Rita frowned. “Do you mean Anand? Where is he?”
Shehnaaz was bewildered by her questions. No way? She still can’t remember that she had a son?! Shehnaaz grit her teeth and said, “Mrs. Singhania, Sidharth is your son. Your blood and flesh son, Sidharth Shukla. Did you forget?”
Sandeep couldn’t stop her in time and was so furious he dragged Shehnaaz to the side and whispered angrily to her, “Why are you telling her now?! Mrs. Singhania just woke up. You can’t shock her like that!”
“But she does have a son!” Shehnaaz felt wronged. “It’s fine that she forgot the past, but she remembers her husband now. Why is it that she can’t remember having a son?” She felt the injustice this meant for Sidharth; it would be terrible if Rita’s illness had made her forget him, and then that she still couldn’t remember him after recovering.
Sandeep couldn’t even shoot her another glare before Rita softly spoke from behind them, “Sidharth? He’s just 12. Why would we need to call him?”
The pair exchange a glance before turning around to say to
Rita, “Mrs. Singhania, you’ve misremembered. Sidharth is 28 now.” Sandeep spoke as he pushed Shehnaaz out and said,
“Hurry up and get the Boss here!”
Shehnaaz couldn’t delay it any longer and quickly ran out of Operating Room B. She arrived at the living room and saw
Sidharth come downstairs from the second floor. He was wearing a white dress shirt with the buttons neatly done up. The first button was undone to reveal a peek of his collarbone. His sleeves were rolled up to show off his muscular forearms and his hands were in his finely pressed military trouser pockets. He walked down slowly, scrolling through the military issued iPad for the latest reports and updates.
Shehnaaz bolted up the stairs to grab his arm and cried, “Sidharth! Great news! Hurry up and come with me!”
“Yeah yeah,” Sidharth answered dryly and pried his arm out of Shehnaaz’s grip. “Walk properly.”
Shehnaaz blinked. She didn’t care about his remark and so she happily walked alongside Sidharth. She whispered, “Sidharth, hurry to Operating Room B. There’s an important surprise!”
Sidharth froze mid step and glanced at Shehnaaz “What is it?” He knew that Rita needed at least seven days to regain consciousness, but it was only the
third day. Could it be that something was wrong with her?
Shehnaaz acted coy, “You’ll find out once you go and see for yourself.”
Sidharth followed her to Operating Room B to see
Sandeep opening the door and walking out. “Boss, you’re finally here. Hurry up and go in! Oh my God! I can’t take it anymore! Your mother is too amazing, she was
truly a genius! I think she’s still a super genius now who surpasses most geniuses by a long shot! How did I not know that the human body has meridians that can reveal actual pathways?! Boss, isn’t your mother a High Energy Physicist?! How does she have medical knowledge too?”
Sandeep the medical genius seemed to have come across his first opponent in over a decade. He had apparently been
interrogated so extensively that he’d ended up sweating like a dog and had been made to run away.
Sidharth stopped before the door to Operating Room B, his heart thumping hard but his face carefully composed. “What are you talking about? My mother is awake? It’s only been three days, yet didn’t you say it’d take at least seven?”
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I hope you enjoy reading it.
Love you all ❤️.