Amballore House

by Thekkumthala, Jose

  The aliens themselves were sort of self-appointed brokers who engaged in assembling geniuses across the known universe. The idea of gathering of minds from across the galaxies was the brainchild of the aliens, and they tirelessly implemented this plan. The instant communication of the minds galaxies apart was a revolutionary idea, and this was hoped to generate discussions of epic proportion, generating ideas as answer to bewildering questions of life and the laws of nature. Even though the aliens were of advanced civilization, they did not have answers to all the mysteries seen around. They hoped to fill the vacuum by creating their ideal universe and letting it address the questions.

  This ET-created world was presumed to be the smartest, a big twist in the grand scheme of things, a world that was probably the envy of the Gods, a world depicted in fairy tales maybe, a world resembling heaven, a challenge to the Gods possibly, an alternate world that did not fall in line with the so-called grand scheme of things, a world where you didn’t have to take things lying down, a world where you were not bogged down with misery and damnation, and a world where you were not too busy living to live properly!

  The aliens’ mission did not outgrow from altruistic grounds meant to help different civilizations to grow into perfection, even though that was an after-effect of their plan. Interaction between civilizations differing in millions of years in advancement was dream come true for any lesser civilization, enabling them to leapfrog millions of years of evolution! Truly, a dream come true. The aliens’ mission was to take control of the known universe by tapping into the most coveted pool of knowledge ever assembled anywhere. They considered such a pool of knowledge as God’s mind.

  The collective information was hoped by aliens to throw light on the apparent randomness in nature. They were intrigued by the randomness that played key role in the evolution of the known universe. Was earth’s catclysmatic collision with the asteroid sixty-seven million years ago, that resulted in the obliteration of the dinosaurs and subsequently paved way to the birth of Homo sapiens, purely a random act of nature? This is the kind of question that intrigued the aliens, and they hoped to get an answer to this mystery. Alternatively, is there a grand scheme of things that overruled the randomness? Aliens desperately tried to know the God’s mind.

  Their pursuits were more of philosophical nature, rather than scientific. They were, of course, interested in knowing how things worked. However, they argued that it was more important to know why natural laws were the way they were, than to know what those laws were and how they worked. Their probe went to a deeper level than conventional science was comfortable with.

  They wanted to tap into humanoids’ collective wisdom, intelligence, and knowledge. They were also able to house them in a time-stagnant world, and free them from their severely limited lifespan that imposed restriction on continuity of a project. Unraveling the mysteries of life and the universe, which cry out to be solved, is impossible in conventional lifetime, because it carries the excess baggage of idiosyncrasies and tribulations, calling human’s attention to address them, leaving no time to spare for intellectual pursuits. Human beings, by the sheer fate of having limited lifespans, were forced to drop the bucket of research when they kicked the proverbial bucket. The short lifespan prohibited the earth residents from completing earth-shattering research. For example, if Einstein had lived another hundred years, more theories and discoveries of the same caliber as the general theory of relativity would have ensued. Maybe he would have given the world another gift such as quantum gravity, which marries seemingly contradictory forces, one dominant at Plank scale–like short distances and another dominant at astronomically large distances, paving the way to unify all known forces.

  The aliens wanted to assemble the smartest scientists on earth and also to engage them in long-term research in critical fields having widespread applications and appeal. Therefore, they entered into a contract with the Amballore dynasty to hunt them down and bring them to Amballore House.

  Since Vareed had the ability to bring back the dead to the living phase, the dead became qualified to be abducted, and therefore, the number of potentially smart people they were hunting increased.

  The abductees were ferried to the mansion by the Midnight Express. Once inside the estate grounds, the Midnight Express vanished. It later on surfaced at Amballore House’s underworld.

  The Amballore Investigation Bureau, the legal and spy arm of the Amballore Police Department, and members of Judas Toddy Club speculated that an abductee was taken to whole-body scan machine such as a high-resolution CT scanner. Once image acquisition was completed, the images were fed into 3-D printing machine that created 3-D replica of the visitor. The newborn robot was powered through various sources such as nuclear, geothermal, or solar.

  The aliens’ vision for creating robots was to have a backup for humans, just in case humans fell into the pit of mortality by some unexpected course of nature, such as the disappearance of the existing wormhole or the destruction of the black hole to which the alien planet was linked. This robotic world would be indestructible and could carry on indefinitely. With advances in artificial intelligence, robots could effectively replace humans and take over the world and transform it to an objective-oriented universe, replacing the currently dominating subjective-oriented universe.

  The Amballore House’s underworld was a world made of futuristic technology, a world far different from the world we know of. It was built by the Amballore dynasty and an army of robots with supervision from the aliens. It was a sprawling research and technology innovation center. Even though Amballore House was of futuristic technology from a human point of view, it was normal technology for an advanced civilization of aliens.

  ***

  Why did the extraterrestrials who could have set up shop anywhere in the world, choose Amballore, a tiny town in Kerala that was in itself a small state in India? They could as well have chosen, say, Paris and any of its historic landmarks such as Notre Dame Cathedral and offered its famous inhabitant, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, eternal life. They could have settled down in the historic city of London and chosen Buckingham Palace as their headquarters. They could have tapped into a wider pool of talent, a much bigger pool than available in Amballore. They could have chosen Washington, DC, in the New World and based their operation in the White House, drawing talent from the far bigger population pool of Washington compared to that of Amballore. In the eastern hemisphere, they could have chosen landmarks such as the Taj Mahal, a romantic monument of history. Why did they pass these tantalizing attractions and settle down in a tiny, puny town probably unheard of outside its own borders?

  The answer to this question lies in modern physics.

  The advanced civilization had a thorough knowledge of wormhole physics so that they were able to build wormholes wherever they wanted to. When aliens built a wormhole to Amballore House in 1956, at the time they moved into the mansion, human beings were still amateurs in their knowledge of this marvel, and they still are.

  The physicist John Wheeler coined the term “wormhole” only in the year 1957. The knowledge of mankind, in the form of Morris-Thorne theory describes the necessity of traversable wormhole for time travel.

  In order for the wormhole to be traversable so that aliens could visit Amballoreans and vice versa, exotic matter with negative energy density had to be used to stabilize the wormhole. The concepts of traversable wormholes and exotic matter were recently proposed by Kip Thorne, the famous physicist. The word “exotic” is used to describe hypothetical matter with negative energy density. The energy density in some regions of space can be negative—that is, less than that of vacuum energy, as demonstrated by the Casimir effect. Exotic matter is a strange beast with counter-intuitive properties such as moving in the opposite direction to the applied force. Dark matter is also known as exotic matter.

  The distant civilization looked for such an exotic matter all over earth and homed in on kallu, a famous alcoholic beverage of Kerala. This alcoholic
drink, also called “toddy,” is made in Kerala from coconut palm tree. Kallu was considered by aliens as the most exotic material on earth. It was therefore a no-brainer for the aliens to choose Kerala to build the traversable wormhole.

  As for negative energy required of the exotic material in order for it to prevent the wormhole from collapsing onto itself, it was found that even though the energy levels of people consuming kallu generally increased dramatically, prompting them to do unimaginable things such as climbing the walls in total violation of gravitational force, it decreased for some people, because it drained energy from them, making them fall asleep on pothole-filled Kerala roads, increasing hurdles in already congested roads, and causing innumerable deaths.

  6ROSANNA

  One of the projects that the aliens put their mind to was neurosciences. Their embrace of 3D printing technology fell far short of understanding human brain, leave alone constructing one. The complexity of neuron connections forming the basis of memory was mindboggling, to say the least. Aliens tried to understand human brain, the most complex molecular machine. They gave instruction to Vareed to abduct prominent neuroscientists to Amballore House.

  ***

  It was while professor Rosanna in neurosciences was teaching her class at Amballore University that Eli walked into the room.

  Rosanna was a professor of Neurosciences at Amballore University. Ranked first throughout her school years and university years, she was the pride of Amballore University. Her PhD thesis was published in prominent, refereed international journals. The books she wrote in the field carried so much authority that they were chosen as textbooks in universities throughout the world.

  Her passion was research. She made news by her tireless attempts to create a model of human memory by incorporating patterns of neuron connections. She was motivated in pursuing this project, because this opened door for creating a model for human brain.

  Her second passion was teaching. She would die to hand over her knowledge to young brains that carried the promise of tomorrow. She was loved by the student community. Amballore University considered itself lucky in getting a professor of international reputation.

  Another of her research was cutting edge, dealing with neuroscience and the creation of artificial intelligence based on a non-binary computer language. She had interest in robotic technology. She believed that she could create robots with better intelligence than human beings with all the added benefits of superhuman computing power.

  The immediate future of humanity would host an age of quasi-robots resulting from replacing human organs like hearts, livers, lungs, kidneys, and the like with intelligent artificial organs coming from 3-D printing.

  This period would be followed by full-fledged robots. With no need to worry about body and its functions, these robots will be endowed with an artificial brain, with a mechanical body controlled by its brain. This robot would be far superior to human beings. “Such a robot can execute all human tasks, and it will be the future norm. There will be no need to worry about emotions and feelings,” she said.

  As usual, her class was full, and her teachings were broadcast all over the world by radio, since there was widespread interest in many countries to tune in to her teaching. She was usually mobbed by press reporters that came to interview her after her classes. On one particular Wednesday morning, she was conducting her class in the full view of press cameras, a usual scene of all her classes.

  Eli walked into the classroom while the teaching was in progress. She walked in with her invisible body and therefore escaped anyone’s notice. She, however, made herself visible to Professor Rosanna.

  The professor was standing on a raised platform with a chair placed behind her. Eli climbed up to the platform and occupied the chair. The professor was puzzled at this strange act from an unfamiliar lady. She stopped her teaching momentarily and turned toward Eli to inquire who she was and what she was doing on the stage. Eli sat there without responding. Meanwhile the class and TV crew were at a loss to see why the famous professor was talking to an empty chair. The scene was eerily reminiscent of Macbeth addressing the empty chair where Banquo’s ghost was sitting, a ghost only he could see and rest of the people in the banquet hall could not. Here was Eli, like Banquo, revealing herself only to the professor, and the professor enacting the role of Macbeth, talking to an apparently empty chair.

  Rosanna was perturbed enough to call security to the podium. The security personnel approached the professor. A quiet conversation followed between them, inaudible to the audience.

  The professor said, “Ask her what she wants.”

  “Ask who?” the officer replied.

  “Are you blind? Look closely at the woman sitting on the chair,” Rosanna said.

  He looked at the chair and confirmed that there was no one sitting on the chair.

  Eli was enjoying the attention she received—or the lack thereof.

  Understandably, the famous professor was getting agitated, and to make matters worse, the audience was watching the bizarre scene with rapt attention. This was an awkward detour from the regularly scheduled class.

  Rosanna beckoned a press reporter from the gathered press. He walked up, with his heavy, telescopic camera hanging from his shoulders.

  At this point, Eli decided to help herself to a glass of mango juice that was sitting on a tiny table by the side of the chair. The audience in the room saw the amazing act of the glass lifting itself up from the table, hanging in the air, tilting by itself, and emptying its contents. They were doubly surprised to see that the contents just disappeared, without falling to the floor!

  The professor said to a reporter, “Take a picture of the lady drinking my mango juice.”

  Reporter: Huh? Which lady?

  Prof: Don’t stand there like an idiot. Do as I say.

  The reporter obliged the professor just to be civil, even though he told himself that she was cranky and was seeing things. The picture, to the surprise of the gathered press, showed an old lady sitting on a chair and drinking mango juice! The professor was right all along! She was in full possession of her faculties, after all.

  The concerned students approached the stage to help out, if they could. The press offered to give her a break by offering cool drinks and refreshments to the audience. A call was made for a recess. However, Rosanna continued standing in the podium and talking furiously to the chair.

  More security personnel arrived on the scene, and they formed a circle around the chair to trap its occupant. Eli stood on the chair and swiped the huge camera off the reporter’s shoulder and started swinging the camera, delivering heavy blows to the security guards surrounding her. They scrambled around the stage, some with bloodied noses, and some not knowing what hit them.

  Then it happened.

  In full view of the audience, the chair in question suddenly flew in the air and landed on a press reporter, the people around him scrambling to avoid the flying object. While this little episode was going on, Rosanna was suddenly carried from the podium by someone; no one was sure who.

  Rosanna was heard screaming and then struggling with an invisible person while levitating above the stage and moving forward. She was being carried by whoever took control of her class. She was trying to ward off some person, as gathered by her actions. The army of security personnel followed the struggling professor, but they were unable to approach her. Whoever got close to her was airborne or thrown to the walls by whatever supernatural entity that possessed Rosanna’s class.

  No one could rescue the professor. She was carried uninterrupted. More security personnel were called to the scene. They were floored by a camera suspended in air and swinging at them. The spectators saw a levitating professor moving further and further away from the class, still struggling to stave off some unseen force.

  Needless to say, the disruption of the class gave way to a ruckus that left the students in shambles. They fled the class.

  Amballore Junction once more was seen hosting
a beaten-down vehicle with graffiti written all over. No one could see the driver or passengers, because the windows were made of stained glass. The Midnight Express crawled along a notorious road inhabited by apsara virgins and drug dealers. The abandoned temple was hosting a pooja in honor of its goddess, Kodungallore Bagavathy. Eli efficiently drove the bus down Hell’s Highway to Amballore House. The bus floated over the surrounding brick wall and disappeared.

  When the professor reached Amballore House underworld, Eli told her: “You will need a good rest, my dear, especially after the struggles of the day.” Eli tried to put the professor at ease, who looked dazed and scared.

  “As a woman, especially as a woman, you will appreciate being in a time-stagnant building, because your beauty will be preserved forever here in this building. As long as you do not get out of this building, which you are not going to, you are not going to age anymore, my dear. Be happy, and thank your lucky stars! No need for those age-defying creams and makeup lotions anymore. Your youth is guaranteed, and it is eternal,” Eli told the professor, who was like her own daughter to the old woman.

  Professor Rosanna, scared like a rabbit, nevertheless was fascinated to hear of the fountain of youth. She was intrigued.

  7THE MIDNIGHT EXPRESS

  The Midnight Express transported mysterious passengers to Amballore House. No one could board it except the special guests destined for Amballore House. It had its doors shut when it was at the bus station, letting no public in. Vareed and Eli made the decisions about who would be lucky enough to board the bus to become Amballore House’s esteemed guests.