Science fiction. The ghost in the bus

 

Science fiction. The ghost in the bus

She was not very tipsy but she was not completely in her senses either.  Her body was moving like waves in a lake where the water surface is tenderly agitated by a very pleasant breeze. And as her mind was flooded by the intoxicating effect of whatever she had consumed as a recreational drink, she no longer looked like a graceful wave in a lake. She could be compared with a dry coconut cast in the rough sea. That is how she appeared when she approached me and asked me if I could help her board the bus that would drop her at the main city centre.

I had never met her before, I had not even seen her in this market; and answering a complete stranger who was under the influence of some drink, was a struggle that my mind was grappling to deal with. And that too in a moment when the bus she was supposed to board was due in 1 minute.

I really did not know what to do and what to tell her. But I had to tell her something, even if that meant uttering the word that she was not willing to hear. 

“A resounding No!”

However, for whatever reason I agreed and said, “Of course. Please stand beside me and hold my shoulder if you do not want to fall when the bus is here.”

With her eyes closing and opening like the wipers of a car on a rainy day. Her hand reached outwards to rest on my shoulder, where she managed to land her hand a couple of times, but whenever her hand rested on my shoulder it slid down like a water drop on the lotus petal. Destined to fall eventually.

So, what can one do in such a situation where a complete stranger needs your help, and you are willing to help her? Almost nothing! Because her drunken state makes it difficult for you to help her. 

You might be thinking why? Well, here is the candid answer. No matter how hard the water drop might try, it can never stay on the surface of the lotus petals. Therefore, she either has to be something that is not a water drop, or she has to choose some different surface to rest upon. And as of now, she was failing terribly in both and I was bound by my uncertainty. Where I did not know how to rescue the coconut drifting in the rough sea. But I had already bent my shoulder and I was prepared to be of some help to her. In whichever way possible, it was only her hand that was not able to find a firm grip on my shoulder and it kept sliding away from my shoulder, no matter how hard she tried.

In the meantime the bus halted at the station. I helped her find a seat and I sat beside her because our destination stop happened to be the same. And finally in a few seconds her right cheek was resting on my left shoulder, and luckily it did not slide like a drop of water on lotus petals- It lay there peacefully and undisturbed, until the ticket collector approached her and tapped her head with his pen. But she was not at all disturbed by it and her head comfortably rested on my shoulder.

Noticing her like a water drop that had somehow managed to slide into the centre of the lotus flower where it was now residing within its cup shaped bunch of stamens. I did not want it to suffer the fate similar to its other comrades who had fallen from these slippery and buttery petals, and fused with the water surface below. Lost there somewhere, in the one huge constitution of infinite water drops.

I wanted her to rest her head on my shoulder and let it be there. Like the water drop sleeping in the middle of the lotus flower. Although I never considered myself to be the lotus flower, I wanted her to feel like the water drop that had managed to slide into the centre of the lotus flower, and was now resting there without any fear or any botheration- In complete peace, and not at all influenced by the world that existed around her.

However, the ticket collector formed one of the parts of this outside world and he was bound by his obligation towards his duty. So, he stood there next to her for a few moments, then as if he had consulted his courteousness, he held his pen in his right hand and very gently tapped it on her head. He was very respectful and very gentle when it came to upholding her feminine integrity and the respect he owed her as his passenger. He was a gentleman when it came to this. But, she was unmoved by this tender tapping of the pen on her head. 

Before the gentle ticket collector could think of something else, more courteous but at the same time a bit more agitating than the tapping of the pen; I handed him the bus fare for both of us. He chuckled and moved on to attend to other passengers in the bus.

We had a journey of 1 hour and 20 minutes ahead of us. It was dark outside and the colours of the evening were spreading everywhere. And through these evening colours our bus was cruising like a happy wasp in the summer garden. And today I happened to be one of the passengers in this bus, accompanied by someone who was unaware of her own existence at the moment. 

For now she was happy being the water drop that had managed to seep into the centre of the lotus flower. And right now, her face, that was the water drop, was resting on my shoulder.

With the weight of her head my shoulder was already feeling sleepy, and I wanted her to realise it without me having to tell her or adjust her head a bit. I wanted to avoid it because a water drop that has found balance within lotus petals can lose it instantly if disturbed. Then it will get dislodged from there and disappear in the ocean of water drops waiting to receive it instantly. And right now I did not want the water drop to be lost to the ocean of water drops, I wanted it to rest there on my shoulder.

So, I let it be. I let her rest her sleepy head on my almost sleepy shoulder. Then as if the bus sensed my plight, it jerked a bit and came to a complete halt. Where the application of front brakes threw most of the passengers forward and then tossed them back into their initial posture.

And it was not any different for her either. Only that instead of her chest, she was thrown forward sideways. But as she returned to the original position, she was now upright, because she had realised it was time to wake up finally. With it the water drop had ultimately been flung somewhere into the multitude of other water drops waiting to fuse with it, and create their own ocean of new feelings and sensations.

And the first thing she did on realising what had happened and where she had been resting her head, she blushed a bit, brushed away her falling tuft of hair and tied it into a bun, with her velvet ribbon, that was purple in colour with faint golden embroidery running over light green lines.

When she was confident she had managed to restrain her hair locks, she asked me about the bus fare. And without making it sound like an obligation or a favour, I answered casually, “it has been taken care of please do not worry about it!”

She wanted to pay me the exact amount but I refused politely by saying that she can pay me back whenever we happened to travel in the same bus. Whenever that was, and if we never do, then she can think of it as a good memory of an unknown passenger.

Now, both of us wanted to know why the bus had stopped suddenly and in the middle of nowhere. Everyone was up and peeping out from the windows. But all of them appeared clueless, at least their blank expressions attested for it.

And once again, just like moments before the bus came to a complete halt, the bus shook again. And this time it began shaking like an empty tin can, that has been caught in the corner of the street between two walls, that gives rise to a cone like shape. And the heavy gusts of wind keep tossing it against this cone shaped wall.  A Bang, a thud, followed by louder bang, followed by a louder thud, and it continued like this tirelessly and endlessly as well.

Until someone screamed, “Bloody hell! Our wonderful and so well informed driver is dead, and our ticket collector is lying unconscious on the floor. For heaven’s sake can somebody explain who had been driving this bus? Because by looking at our driver it seems he has been lying in this condition for more than 2 hours and we have been in the bus for not more than 40 minutes. What is going on?”

Now everyone panicked and there was commotion in the bus. As if a swarm of locusts had descended on the bus and was treating us as its field of choice. Where they were about to enter into a devouring frenzy. And the scene inside the bus was very similar to this frenzy. Complete and total state of commotion.

The lady, sitting next to me, placed her hand on my shoulder and tried to self assure herself that it was going to be alright. Everything is going to be ok. And when her eyes questioned my own, almost perplexed eyes, we both had to be content with the same answer; which we mutually perceived via the speech of silence, “Not sure what is going on and only God knows what will happen next!”

It was a situation where both of us were scared, but both of us were trying to find out who was more scared, so that the one who was less scared could be used to seek some assuage from. But we both failed completely when it came to this, because the situational pressure was so intense, that we both felt equally scared and equally unsure about what might happen next.

But I was trying to think hard about what was going on. And I was completely failing at it.

With the driver dead, the ticket collector lying unconscious on the floor and the bus shaking continuously, perhaps it was not only I, but everyone on board the bus, was thinking about the same thing. “Who had been driving the bus if it was not our driver?”

And there was no ghost activity either. Because on our planet there is a particle that exists everywhere and it carries a charge that is highly unique. It disrupts other energy fields, and we believe ghosts too are fields of energy and due to this particle they do not exist here.

So what was going on?

We had no answers. And there was no clue at all that could lead us to an answer.

After 20 minutes a boy and a girl, aged between 22 to 29 years, stood up and explained something startling to all of us.

“The bus took a detour to shorten the travel time. It travelled on the stretch of road that had been declared unfit for travel by the concerned department a couple of decades ago.

Although we are not sure this is the same region, based on the sequence of events it appears to be the same region.

This area has a very high magnetic field. Since the bus was in motion, and as it entered the low intensity magnetic field, we felt the initial resistance when the metal body was attracted by this magnetic field. Then as it moved deeper into the field, its engines used maximum horsepower to fight against the resistance offered by the magnetic field that was now getting stronger. And at that moment the bus shook heavily from all sides.

Then as its engine gave up, it reached an area where magnetic forces on left and right vary drastically. And this is what is making the bus rock like a swing.

Now what happened to the driver?

He has a metallic plate inserted in his head to seal his fractured skull. As he entered the super strong magnetic field, his plate got compressed leading to his neural death.

And the ticket collector, who on noticing this appears to have jumped to rescue the driver. And in doing so, he hit the floor of the bus and became unconscious. So, we are caught in the magnetic field; and it is not a ghost who is making it shake.

Now this is very important.

We all will have to get down, one by one. As long as you do not have any metallic implants or you are not wearing metals that get attracted by magnetic fields, there should not be anything to worry about. However, We will be passing through a strong magnetic zone and it can damage neural functions because of the low intensity electromagnetic field our brains are capable of generating. 

But so far none of us appears to have suffered any such damage, So, we shall be safe. But for precaution, we recommend that you please peel off the leather covers from the seats and wear them around your head.

As for the iron in our blood, I think that should not be a major cause of worry, but in severe cases it can lead to some medical conditions as well.

So, please walk with precaution, and if you are carrying any metallic object in your purse, or wallets, or pockets; please keep them somewhere intact. We do not want them getting fired at us like metallic torpedoes when the strong magnetic field attracts them.

Men please be careful with the metallic buckles of your belts, and women please ensure your safety pins are unpinned and discarded, by wrapping them in leather rolls.

Let us proceed then!”

Wow, that was quite revealing. We all began walking out of the bus in one straight line holding one another's hands. And in some distance, we could see trees that were growing normally. But in the area where we were currently trees were dwarfed and growing crookedly. And these must have been old trees, there was almost negligible new growth of trees here. The stretch of normally growing trees offered us hope, it was like our lighthouse.

After walking carefully for 1 hour we reached there, and when one of us held a coin in her palm it stayed there, undisturbed and unmoved.

Almost like a water drop resting in the centre of a lotus flower. And we knew we had managed to walk out from the magnetic field.

From there we all dispersed in different directions and tried to reach our destinations somehow.

But I am still walking with the lady, and to know where I have reached, and where she is now? Please read the science fiction novel, They Loved in 2075. It is a romance science fiction novel, where I fall in love with a beautiful woman, who has walked far into the future i.e. 2075. And in 2075, technology is so advanced that there are self aware machines everywhere, and her continuous interactions with  these self aware machines has erased a layer of her organic feelings; and due to the development of this synthetic layer of emotions, she is unable to emote like a human being. 

And I am in complete love with her and I want her to feel the way she felt in the bus at that moment when she rested her head peacefully over my shoulder, with a strong self assurance that there was nothing to worry about. 

Although my shoulder was slightly sleepy, it was not tired. At least it will never get tired when it comes to her!

To know if she regains her human-like emotions or the self aware machines woo her, and never let her feel human again. Accompany me on this epic romance journey called: They Loved in 2075.

Sometimes when you are all dressed up, all of a sudden you realise there is nowhere to go and nobody to go with. Maybe the girl sometimes feels so, or maybe without her I too feel so, although there is everywhere to go. All it takes is a decision. To know what she decides eventually, you must not miss reading the scifi novel titled: They Loved in 2075. 

You will find it to be the perfect scifi temptation that you cannot resist. Because we both are dressed to venture into the world of realities that would exist in 2075. And we shall be waiting for you!