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The sun had set a while ago. The watch on the dashboard was showing 1853. As Judy came out of the gas station and put her caravan back on the highway, she felt at ease with the world. She took a bite out of the burger she has purchased at the gas station and put on the radio.

So go on..Go on..

Come on leave me breathless..

Taunt me..Tease me…

She was humming along THE COORS and was almost through with her burger when she saw some blinking lights in the distance. It was difficult to make out what it was, but given the fact that it was a highway, a faulty car was the only logical guess.

"Probably another car with a punctured tyre" she said to herself, as she slowed her caravan while approaching the scene.

A man was standing by the side of the car and was signalling her to stop. He had put on a bright green coloured shirt and blue jeans. The sleeves were folded. Judy stopped her caravan behind the car and got down. She had to stretch her back to the sides before finding full sensation in her legs. Driving for long periods of time in a caravan filled with chemicals can do strange things to the body.

“Good evening madam.” The man greeted Judy, in a rather cheerful voice. As if he was hosting a game show and welcoming guests in his show.

Judy nodded. “What’s the problem with the car?”, though looking at the tyres, the problem was clear to her.

“I don’t know madam. It was running perfectly fine then suddenly the tyres burst one by one” the man said in a sheepish tone, but he was smiling broadly. As if the bursting of tyres was a pretty amusing thing. He wiped his head with the folded sleeve of his shirt.

“I can see that. I am sure you don’t have 4 spare tyres.” Judy said while looking at the back tyre.

“Of course not madam. I am just an insurance agent not a tyre owner.  Who carries 4 spare tyres anyways madam?” the man burst out into a laugh. His laugh was weird. It was irregular and interspersed with snorts.  What was even weird was his laughter at punctured tyre.

“So, how can I help you Mr….”

“Gupta. Buddhadeb Gupta” he extended his hand with the utmost courtesy. Judy shook it.

“So Mr. Gupta, how can I help you? I have a satellite phone if you want to make a call.”

“Actually madam, I don’t have anybody whom I can call. I was hoping you can give me a lift to the nearest gas station” Mr. Gupta spoke in a very polite way but his eyes were fixed on Judy. It was unsettling for Judy and she was avoiding making eye contact with him

“If it is not too much of a trouble” he added, looking at Judy over his spectacles, sporting a big smile.

“Actually…” Judy hesitated “I am carrying chemicals in the caravan. You may find it inconvenient”

“No no madam.” Mr. Gupta said forcefully “Chemicals won’t bother me. Real inconvenience would be to spend the whole night here in the middle of nowhere hoping to get help from somebody. Please let me get my bag”.

Before Judy could protest he took out a medium sized cuboidal black leather bag from the front seat of his car and locked the car’s door.

“Shall we?” he asked with a big smile, and without waiting for Judy’s answer opened the door of the caravan and got inside.

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“Madam. Why you are so serious? I know I kind of forced you to give me lift, but I am an insurance agent you see. I make a living out of convincing people.” Mr. Gupta laughed. That weird laugh interspersed with snorts.

Judy was focussing on the road ahead. The highway spread out for miles ahead but only few metres in front of the caravan were illuminated by the headlights.

“Madam. See I am sorry. But we cannot travel like this. You will have to forgive me and say something.” Mr. Gupta looked at Judy intently.

Judy glanced at him uneasily “It is okay. I am just not feeling that well.” she replied curtly.

“Oh. Maybe we will put on some music.” Mr. Gupta put on the radio.

With your feet on the air and your head on the ground

Try this trick and spin it….yeah

“Oh ! That end credit song from Fight Club. !! I love this song…” Mr. Gupta said to himself. “Now is the best part… Where is my mind… where is my mind…whhheere is myyy mind” Mr. Gupta was enjoying himself and singing along the song.

Judy was focussing on the road and driving as fast and as carefully as possible. She wanted to get to the next gas station quickly.

The song was discontinued in between for an announcement.

Commuters of the National Highway 24 is hereby informed that in recent days a new form of robbery is taking place. Gangs are taking lifts and…..

Mr. Gupta switched off the radio. Judy glanced a look at him.

“You don’t need to hear those stories madam. You need to concentrate on the road.” Mr. Gupta said to Judy with a serious face. His smile was gone.

Judy didn’t say anything.

Suddenly he grasped Judy’s shoulder. She gasped and stopped the caravan to the side of the road.

“Madam. You will have to stop here for some time.” Mr. Gupta was looking at her with a very serious face.

“Bu..But. The gas station is still quite far away” Judy stuttered.

Mr. Gupta was looking at her intently. Suddenly he broke out into laughter. Interspersed with snorts.

“Look… Look at your face madam….” He gasped for breath amidst his laugh “You look so …so scared. That is why you should not listen to crime news madam. You start thinking everyone is a criminal. You have to stop here for some time because I gotta take a leak”.

He opened the door and got down. Judy looked at the black leather bag. Just below the handle was a white colored sticker which had the name Arihant Verma. Judy was looking at the bag when suddenly Mr. Gupta stuck out his neck from the driver’s side.

“What are you thinking madam?” he asked in the most polite voice possible.

Judy almost let out a shriek.

“I know what you are thinking. Why Mr. Gupta is carrying a bag with Mr. Verma’s sticker on it. Right? I will tell you, let me get back.” He came around the caravan from the front side and got in.

He started warmly “You see. I am not an insurance agent. I lied” he stopped to check out Judy’s reaction. She was surprised and a bit scared too.

“Actually I’m a chemist and a biologist. Mr. rather Doctor Verma is my real name. I am working on developing a drug which will enable a person to envision the future. Please drive madam.”

He picked up the bag and kept it on his lap.

“You must be thinking that I am saying rubbish. No one can see the future. But you see our brain is a wonderful machine. It can create endless scenarios in no time at all. Just think about snowy mountains and the mind will take you there. The future is a composite of past happenings and probabilities of future events. So by creating a set of future scenarios and picking the most probable scenario out of it, we can predict the future. You are getting what I am saying?” Dr. Verma wanted to make sure that Judy was following what he was saying.

“But how can we predict the future when everything is uncertain? And what does a chemist has to do with it” Judy asked while not looking at him.

“Good question madam. As a chemist I am developing a drug which will enhance the simulation capability of the brain. It is all in the synapses. You just need to charge ém up a bit. And as far as the uncertainty part goes, I am working on it.” Dr. Verma again smiled broadly.

“I see” Judy replied shortly.

“You did not ask what I am doing to account for the uncertainty, madam.” Dr. Verma said very endearingly to Judy. 

“Ok. Tell me, what are you doing?”

“We are studying the brain activity when it is undergoing shock. The way it reacts and re programs itself in response to shock, is the key to get around the uncertainties and to be able to find that scenario which is most probable. The scenario which will have the uncertainties but will still be least shocking.” Dr. Verma finished and waited for Judy’s response.

“But how are you doing it?” Judy could not curb her curiosity.

“Doing what?”

“Studying brain’s response to shock”

He smiled broadly in response and stroked his leather bag.

“I was experiments on rats. But a human’s brain is far more complex than a rat’s.” Dr. Vupta said in a calm voice.

Judy’s heart beat was increasingly getting faster. 

“I want human trials. But I won’t get permission for that. Meanwhile BATES CHEMICALS are looking for the formulae. So I am improvising and tonight I just got lucky. You will be my second human specimen”. Dr. Verma opened the bag with the soft sound of a click.

Judy was trying to look but Dr. Verma stuck a revolver at Judy’s ribs and retorted “Please concentrate on the road. If only my wife would have concentrated on the road, she and my infant son would not have died. If I could have known that her car will be hit by a truck that day, I won’t have let her go out.”

Dr. Verma was babbling and fiddling in the bag at the same time. But since his right hand was busy putting the gun to Judy’s side it was taking him longer than usual.

The satellite phone was lying by Judy’s side. She tried dialling an emergency number.

“Ok. So now I am going to give you an injection, which will put you to sleep and also speed up your brain’s activity. You may experience temporary memory loss. Your brain will reset itself to the last wake up point.  So many uncertainties have put your brain into shock but you are still driving pretty nicely for a woman, so I will be able to study your brain’s responses. Now if you co-operate I may let you go once I am done with my data acquisition. Now slow down and put the caravan to a side”.  Dr. Verma prodded Judy with his revolver.

A smile spread across Judy’s face.

Mr. Gupta was surprised but he didn’t show it “I said park the van to the side of the road”

Judy was laughing out now. “Tell me Dr. Verma, do you really think that you got lucky tonight when I gave you a lift?”

Dr. Verma could not understand anything. Judy continued, “Tell me, while bursting, your front tires went off first then the rear tyres. Isn’t it?” 

“Yes. How did you know?” He was gettgin more and more surprised now.

Judy smirked, as she felt the gun lowering from her rib cage.

“At that gas station, when you went inside the store, I taped ampules containing Hydrofluoric Acid to your tires. It ate away the rubber gradually, until they burst.” Judy laughed.

“But… But…” Dr. Verma was at a loss to say anything.

“You really thought BATES CHEMICALS will let you out of our sight? We have been following you since 7 months now. A team is on its way to meet us. If you co-operate we will take it easy. You can work for us. Otherwise, as you said, we need human specimen.” Judy laughed.

Dr. Verma was at a loss to say anything.

A stream of light could be seen coming from far away. Gradually it diverged into two. It went on and off once.

“They are here”. Judy mumbled she signalled back. “Aren’t you gonna be a good boy Dr. Verma? Put away that toy gun” Judy mocked him.

He was sitting with his head bowed. He threw the fake gun out the window.

The stream of lights were getting closer.

“You guys could have taken me out at the gas station. Why didn’t you?” he asked slowly.

“We has to be sure that you were carrying this bag” Judy pointed to the black cuboidal bag kept on his lap.

Suddenly Dr. Verma lunged at Judy with the injection. Judy stopped him with her left hand while trying to control the caravan with her right hand, at the same time she applied the brakes at full force. The tires screeched.

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The team from BATES CHEMICALS saw Judy’s truck wobbling, then suddenly it swerved and toppled. Then it rolled like a cylinder and skidded to a halt on the highway.

They sped up and rescued Judy. An injection was sticking out her neck.  Dr. Verma’s body was crushed beyond recognition or saving. They took a comatose Judy and the black cuboidal box. Got into their van and sped away.

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BATES CHEMICALS…A laughter interspersed with snorts…envisioning future… Injection… Temporary memory loss….Madam…Reset to conscious location… SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEECHHHHHHHH….

Judy woke up with a start. She had fallen asleep in her caravan and had a very weird dream about the target she was following.

Must not fall asleep while following a high priority target. Judy scolded herself. Just then she saw Dr. Verma’s car getting in the gas station. She waited till he got into the store and took out HF ampules. Her mission statement was clear.

After about 15 minutes Dr. Verma left the gas station in his car. As per Judy’s calculation it will take at least 15-20 minutes for the ampules to break and eat away the rubber. She went had time.

She went inside to get a burger.

The sun had set a while ago. The watch on the dashboard was showing 1853. As Judy came out of the gas station and put her caravan back on the highway, she felt at ease with the world. She took and bite out of the burger and put on the radio.

So go on..Go on..

Come on leave me breathless..

Taunt me..Tease me…

She was humming along THE COORS and was almost through with her burger when she saw some blinking lights in the distance. A smile spread across her face.

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When I finished the story and looked at my little cousin he looked totally confused.

“So what the hell happened?” he was exasperated.

“Hey watch your language. What do you mean what the hell happened. Isn’t it clear?” I sort of teased him.

“I didn’t understand. It was non-linear and after the toppling of truck I just lost it.” he was frustrated. It was kind of funny for me. I want him to exercise his mind.

“Okay, so let me simplify. Dr. Verma is making a drug which can enable a person to see the future. BATES CHEMICALS are after the formulae. They have put Judy on Dr. Verma’s tail. Clear till now?”

“Yes”.

“So Judy, in conjunction with BATES CHEMICALS have planned to abduct Dr. Verma, so she puts HF acid ampules on his tyres. Dr. Verma is stranded when he sees Judy approaching in her caravan. He is jubilant because he thinks he got another human specimen for his experimentation. But then Judy reveals that she is from BATES CHEMICALS and a team is coming to get them. Now Dr. Verma will be held captive. Ok till now?”

“Yes. Yes. Don’t treat me like one of your students.” He was getting irritated.

I laughed.

“So in anger Dr. verma tries to stab Judy with the injection. In the fight the caravan topples and Dr. Verma is dead. But he stuck the injection to Judy. You got it till here right?”

“Yeah.”

“Now remember what Dr. Verma said about the injection. It induces temporary memory loss and the brain resets itself to the last wake up point. For Judy that was when she got up from sleep at the gas station. Due to the injection she has envisioned the future in her dream and will now live it again without having any memory of it. Temporary memory loss.”

“You mean she is in kind of a loop now.”?” He asked thoughtfully.

“Exactly. A time loop. But in her head. You see in reality Judy is in coma after the truck has toppled so this whole story is happening inside her head and will continue till she wakes up from coma.” I concluded hoping he got it.

“But, this story. Was it the first iteration or one of the loops?” He was still not satisfied.

“That, brother mine, is a good question. I leave it to you” I said with a smile. All such stories had an element which remains open for the readers to interpret. I was glad that he finally realised it.

“It is kind of complicated. Why couldn’t you tell me simpler stories on dog” he teased me.

“You grow up first. I have so many movies to show you. Triangle, Time Crimes, Predestination, Coherence, Looper, Identity, Existenz, The Butterfly Effect…”

“Why can’t you show them to me now?”

“Because they are not for 5^th graders who needs to be told a story before he can sleep. And when you can’t understand a simple story like this one, you sure won’t be able to understand the story of Time Crimes, Predestination, Existenz etc..”

“Maybe they are made by better story tellers than you?” he said matter-of-factly.

“Why aren’t you asleep yet?”