The Forgotten Gateway

  Bishwadeep Mukherjee

  Chapter - 1

  Pilot

  Shipra’s brother returned from the Kanchenjunga Belt and told Riyan something that turned his suspicion into belief. One evening, during a casual tea gathering, Shipra’s brother Sujan said,

  “There is always a difference between myth and truth. Even if there is some truth in a myth, it is never entirely true. The myth I heard made me curious, but I couldn’t uncover the truth behind it.”

  “What myth did you hear?” Shipra asked.

  Sujan took a sip of his tea and said,

  “What I heard was quite strange. There is a place in Kanchenjunga where gravity doesn’t function properly. It’s as if there is zero gravity there.”

  “Did you go there to check?” Riyan asked.

  “No, even though I wanted to, it wasn’t possible. To go there, one needs special permission from the Sikkim government. Tourists are not allowed.” Sujan replied.

  “I’ve read about anti-gravity before, but I didn’t know there was a place like that in India,” Shipra said, placing her cup on the table.

  “There could be many such places. There is a similar location near Nevada in U.S” Riyan added.

  “But what could be the reason behind such anti-gravity?” Shipra asked.

  “There could be several reasons, Shipra. It might be a magnetic field anomaly, or perhaps some scientific experiment was conducted there in the past, affecting the gravity in that area,” Riyan explained.

  “What kind of scientific experiment?” Shipra questioned further.

  Looking at her seriously, Riyan replied, “Maybe, at some point, an artificial wormhole was opened there.”

  ---

  Riyan and Shipra had been married for about four years. Back then, Shipra was a journalist for a news channel called “News X.” Around that time, a private space company named “Stellar Nexus” emerged in Kolkata—or rather, near Kolkata. It was established over a vast area, with accommodations for its staff and their families. The head of this space agency was Riyan Sen, though a wealthy industrialist named Ashutosh Sinha had provided significant financial support.

  On the inauguration day of Stellar Nexus, Shipra had interviewed Riyan. That interview led to their friendship, which blossomed into love, and eventually, marriage. They now had a two-year-old daughter named Nancy.

  After Sujan left, Riyan sat alone in his research chamber for a long time. The walls were lined with multiple large computer screens. A thick glass table stood in the center, embedded with a digital keyboard. Riyan was staring at one of the computer screens, which displayed a map of India. He typed something on the digital keyboard, and the map zoomed in towards Sikkim. As it zoomed further into the Himalayan range, a specific location lit up with a red marker.

  Shipra had been standing at the door of the research chamber for a while. She walked slowly toward Riyan and stood beside him, looking at the screen.

  “I’ve been researching this location for quite some time now. I was certain there was something unusual about this place. I won’t be at peace until I go there myself.” Riyan said, still looking at the screen.

  Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

  Shipra shifted her gaze from the screen to Riyan and said,

  “But you need permission from the Sikkim government. And you heard that tourists aren’t allowed there.”

  “Who said I’ll go as a tourist? I’ll go as a scientist. I’ll go as the Chief of Stellar Nexus. I am not going there for sightseeing, Shipra. I am going there for research. If necessary, I’ll even set up a research camp there.”

  Shipra’s face paled. A strange, unknown fear gripped her heart. She didn’t argue further and quietly left the research chamber.

  ---

  The Stellar Nexus main building was forty stories tall. Riyan’s office was on the twenty-sixth floor. His chamber was surrounded by glass on three sides, and one wall was equipped with an automatic projection system that could display whatever was on his computer screen.

  Along with Riyan, there was another person in the chamber—Ishika Banerjee. She was slightly younger than Riyan and had previously worked at NASA. After her father’s death, she left NASA to live with her mother in India. She worked at ISRO for some time, but due to disagreements, she eventually left. After staying unemployed for a while, she heard about Stellar Nexus and applied for a job. She got hired.

  Ishika wasn’t just a brilliant scientist—she was also an experienced astronaut. While at NASA, she had been on several Moon missions and had even been to Mars once.

  Watching Riyan for a while, Ishika said,

  “If your suspicion turns out to be true, this could be a groundbreaking discovery. Stellar Nexus will make history.”

  “That’s true, Ishika. But everything is still uncertain. Nothing is clear yet. We might solve the mystery in a day, or it might take us a month,” Riyan replied.

  “How many people are you taking with you?” Ishika asked.

  Riyan thought for a moment and said,

  “I haven’t decided yet. But not more than four or five people. I would have taken you if you didn’t have your Moon mission coming up. When is your mission again?” Riyan asked.

  “Ten days from now. Everything is almost ready. Right now, I’m just preparing for the psychological tests.” Ishika replied.

  “This is your first mission as a captain.” Riyan said, looking out of the glass window.

  “Yes, sir. You were the one who gave me this opportunity. I can’t thank you enough,” Ishika said.

  “No need for thanks. Best of luck for your mission.”

  Just then, a man in his forties entered the chamber and said,

  “Sir, everyone is waiting for you in the meeting room.”

  Riyan glanced at the clock.

  “Oh! Alright, Mr. Debnath. You go ahead, I’ll be there in a minute.”

  ---

  The meeting room was fairly large, with a big round table in the center surrounded by chairs. Six people were already seated, and one chair was empty. Riyan walked in and took that seat.

  “Gentlemen, we need to get ready for an expedition. What I had suspected for so long is slowly turning into a belief. Yes, I’m talking about Kanchenjunga. We need to go there. I don’t know how long this will take—it might require us to set up a camp there. I’ve already spoken to the Sikkim government. We should get permission within a couple of days. You all probably have an idea of what equipment we’ll need.”

  As soon as Riyan finished speaking, a middle-aged man sitting to his right said,

  “Basically, we’ll need two key pieces of equipment, sir. The first is a Gravitational Anomaly Detector, and the second is an Electromagnetic Field Analyzer. I think these two should be enough.”

  “Alright, Indrajit. Now, we just have to wait for permission. As soon as we get clearance from the Sikkim government, we’ll head out. Start gathering all necessary equipment right away. The people in this room are the ones who will go with me. If anyone doesn’t want to go, let me know now.”

  Everyone exchanged glances at Riyan’s words. No one knew how long they would have to stay in that freezing mountainous region. Leaving the comfort of their homes for such a strange mission made each of them feel a slight hesitation.

  Indrajit spoke up first—

  “I have no problem, sir. Missions like this are rare opportunities. We can’t afford to miss this.”

  Riyan looked at the others. Except for one person, everyone unanimously agreed that they wanted to go. The man who had come to call Riyan from his chamber seemed somewhat troubled.

  “What’s the matter, Mr. Debnath? Why are you silent?” Riyan asked.

  Even though the air conditioner was running in the meeting room, a faint layer of sweat appeared on Shubhankar Debnath's forehead. He took a sip from the glass of water on the table and then said,

  “Sir, it’s not that I don’t want to go. I’ve been on several missions with you before. But as you know, I’ve been suffering from a lung condition for quite some time now. I catch a cold very easily. So, going to such a high-altitude region and staying there indefinitely might be too much for my body to handle. If I fall sick there, it will only cause problems for all of you.”

  Riyan paused for a moment and then said,

  “You have a valid point. In that case, you should stay back. Instead, you can handle the Lunar Mission program. Get in touch with Mr. Bhaskar Sharma, the Project Manager of the Lunar Mission.”

  With that, Riyan stood up from his chair.

  “Alright, then. Start the preparations. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.” Riyan said.

  “No, sir. No questions,” Indrajit replied.

  To be continued…