Apocalypse Read online

  Andrea took the gavel and struck it on the sound block made of hardwood to indicate the start of the meeting.

  She then continued, “This is a closed-door meeting. The agenda for today is to discuss a grave threat facing humanity and look at ways and means to address the same. The agenda is hereby adopted.”

  She struck the gavel again and continued, “Secretary-General of the UN Security Council Antonio Vito, fellow leaders, permanent members of the security council and specially invited guests, it is with a heavy heart that I break this devastating news to you.

  “I have been made aware of a black hole that is hurling towards Earth at a fast pace. It will completely consume the Earth on the 21st of December this year. The complete technical details of this object, along with the IP address of a live tracking video feed from NASA is provided in the docket that’s placed in front of you. I’m given to understand that there is nothing we can do to prevent this disaster.

  “I have asked the Administrator of NASA, Hannah Jordan, to put together a task force to look at our options at saving the human species from doom. I ask each member present here to provide all the support you can to this effort.

  “We also have to consider the decision on letting the whole world know about it. My personal opinion is that we should give all human beings the choice to spend the last few days as they like with their loved ones. However, we should give ourselves six months time to prepare for the unrest that will follow after making this news public.”

  There was a heavy murmur in the hall with members talking to each other. Most of the members started opening the docket and going through the materials.

  Sergei Ivanov, the President of Russia, spoke in Russian with a heavily accented voice which was translated real-time to others in their respective languages, “Madam President, I was made aware of this news by our scientists on my flight to JFK. I have already asked our scientists at Roscomos to look at our options.

  “I propose that we put together an international task force under the supervision of the United Nations to look for a solution. This way, we can ensure this is a truly global effort that takes into account the interest of all member countries.

  “As with regards to taking this news public, I agree with you that giving ourselves six months will help with the preparations to maintain law and order. We don’t want the people to burn down the world before that damn thing hits us.”

  French President Vincent Cartier, known for his soft nature, said, “What makes you think you can hide such a fact from the public for six months? One amateur scientist in any corner of the world is all it would take to break the news to the public.”

  Sergei chuckled with sarcasm and replied, “We had hidden many things from the public before when it was deemed necessary. Let’s pass a resolution asking all member countries to refrain from officially disclosing or acknowledging any reports that appear in this regard. Let the news reports that appear from leaked sources be simply termed as rumors. This will give the general public time for mentally preparing themselves for such a possibility. Everyone on this Earth today goes about their lives, thinking they are immortal.”

  Antonio Vito, the Secretary-General of the UN Security Council, knew that it was time for him to jump in before too many members take sides, and said, “The US has the most experience, in my opinion, given their track record in sending successful unmanned missions to Mars. I propose that we appoint Hannah Jordan, the Administrator of NASA, as the head of the UN Task Force. Those in favor, please raise your hands.”

  Nine of the fifteen members raised their hands, two were against it, and four abstained from voting. The resolution was passed, appointing Hannah as the head of the task force. Doing away with the veto power for permanent members made it easier to pass resolutions at the UN. Andrea was not surprised by the decision. She had made some calls the previous night to ensure it got passed. One of the valuable lessons she learned during her run-up to the presidency was that a little personal nudge goes a long way in moving decisions in the right direction.

  Andrea responded by saying, “I would like to thank the Secretary-General for his trust in NASA to lead this important mission. It is highly unfortunate that our human race has to abruptly end in this manner. In spite of all the technological advancements, we have failed as a human race to prepare for such a catastrophe. It is such a shame that we have built sophisticated weapons to kill each other but never thought about a threat to the whole of humanity coming from outer space.”

  She then threw the challenge to all the members present in the hall. “Can we all come together and put up a concerted effort to build a spaceship within the next year which can transport human beings to a nearby habitable planet?"

  Harsh replied, saying, “India will provide all necessary support towards this mission.”

  Andrea and Harsh always shared a warm relationship since the time they first met during her swearing-in ceremony.

  Sergei said, “The nearest exoplanet to Earth is the Proxima Centauri B, which orbits the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri. It is a little over four light-years away from our solar system. That’s approximately twenty-four trillion miles. At the speed with which our current spaceships travel, we’re looking at a journey of over twelve hundred years to get there, which is impossible. The probability of success, according to me, is close to zero. The only option I see is to send people to Mars, but we still haven’t cracked the code on terraforming. Hence their survival beyond six months is highly unlikely.”

  Though Sergei sounded negative, Andrea knew that there was truth in what he spoke.

  Andrea noticed that her teacup started shaking vigorously all of a sudden. The tables and chairs in the room began shaking as well; everyone started to panic, thinking it was an earthquake. Suddenly two men appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the room.

  Andrea was shocked at the sight of these men. She took a close look at them. She could see that the person in the front was dressed like a king, wearing a crown made of gold that was studded with lots of precious gemstones. He was over six feet in height but stood tall and upright, making him look taller.

  He had a battlefield chiseled body with an armor made of metal having intricate designs all over it, a leaping tiger carved on it above the left side of his chest. The armlets on both his biceps were studded with two rubies on either side and a diamond in the middle.

  A sword that was five feet in length hung from the left side of his hip at an angle sloping backward. It was perfectly balanced in its center of gravity that it effortlessly swayed in spite of its length and weight.

  The image of a roaring tiger was intricately carved on the handle of the sword. Two ruby stones were studded in the eyes of the tiger, making it look ferocious.

  At the edge of the handle, images of two Simha yalis were carved intricately with a warrior riding on each of the yalis with swords drawn in their right hands. The yali had wide eyes popping out with layered eyebrows, its mouth wide open, and five teeth protruding on either side of the mouth.

  Andrea moved her eyes to the person standing slightly behind him, to his right. He looked like a sage. He was shorter in height with a long black beard, long hair that was neatly tied above his head, three parallel lines that were drawn using ashes running horizontally across his forehead, a red-colored dot half-inch in diameter drawn slightly above the middle of his eyebrows.

  He wore chains made of rudraksha beads tied across both his biceps and wrists, three chains made of rudraksha worn as a necklace, each of increasing lengths, carrying a copper pot in his left hand and a wooden armrest in his right hand. He wore a white fabric wrapped around below his waist and a saffron-colored cloth wrapped around the upper part of his body from the left shoulder down to the right side of his waist. There was a radiant glow in his face with bright shining eyes.

  Everyone in the room was stunned to see these two men. Andrea could not utter a word due to the shock. Curiosity got the better of her. She wanted to know everythi
ng about them.

  The person standing in the front stepped forward towards Andrea and said, “Dear Madam President, Secretary-General and other dignitaries present here; good Morning. Kindly allow us to introduce ourselves. My name is Arulmozhi Varman, son of Sundara Cholan. My people address me by the title Rajaraja Cholan. I ruled the great Chola empire with Tanjore as its capital from 985 AD to 1014 AD.”

  He bowed before the person standing slightly behind him to the right and said, “This is my respected guru Agasthiyar. What I’m about to tell you now may be hard to believe, but I request you to hear me out.

  “I was given a prophecy on the day of my coronation that foretold the arrival of a black hole that would consume the entire Earth. I took it upon myself to save the human race from extinction, crowned my son Rajendra Cholan as the king of the Chola empire, and went on a thousand-year exile with hundreds of my most trusted men and women. We have built a spaceship called Kumari, deep below the Indian ocean, that can carry three-hundred million people and transport them to a nearby star system.

  “Before I give you any further details, I would like to invite all of you to Kumari tomorrow. You will be able to relate better when you see with your own eyes. We will be back again at 11 a.m. tomorrow to take you.”

  Before Rajaraja could finish his sentence and say his goodbye, Mohamed Suleiman, the President of Egypt who just got back from the shock and not knowing how to react, said, “I don’t trust anything that you just said. The guy beside you looks funny to me, you seem to call him your guru.”

  Agasthiyar had a short temper when it came to people mocking him. It is a myth that sages are soft-natured people. They are kind and loving to the core but can be extremely unforgiving at times. Agasthiyar was particularly not fond of people who wielded power yet did not know how to behave properly with elders. His eyes became red, and he looked ferociously at Mohamed.

  Moving two steps closer to Mohamed, he said, “Mr. Mohamed, you lead a historic nation and yet do not know how to use your tongue. Your tongue will not utter another word till the next full moon.”

  Agasthiyar took a few drops of holy water from his copper pot and sprinkled it on Mohamed, adding him into the list of people he cursed. Mohamed tried to respond, but his tongue was literally tied, and he could not utter any words from his mouth. Everyone in the room was shocked at what just happened.

  Rajaraja knew that there was no way he could convince Agasthiyar to take the curse back, so he didn’t even try. He looked at Mohamed and said, “Its an opportunity for you to introspect until the next full moon, everything will be all right.”

  Special Agent Tom Hardy was standing outside the room, just behind the door. Hearing the commotion, he ran inside the room. Seeing Rajaraja, with a sword near Andrea, his natural instinct took over. He pulled out his handgun and took a shot at Rajaraja’s head.

  Sparks flew from Rajaraja’s sword, as he swiftly pulled it out from its sheath and cut the bullet in two.

  Tom looked at the pieces of the bullet on the floor; it was cut in perfect halves, like two pieces of an apple sliced in the middle.

  Rajaraja looked at Andrea and said, “We are not here to hurt you. We’re here to help all of you, see you at 11 a.m. tomorrow.”

  As soon as he finished speaking, both of them vanished into thin air.

  No one could believe what they just witnessed, all of them had their mouth wide open, looking at each other in disbelief.

  Andrea exclaimed, “What the hell was that? Where did they come from, and where did they go?”

  She asked Tom to check if there was any breach in the perimeter security around the White House. Tom checked with the control room and replied that everything was clear. Tom was her most trusted agent. He had taken bullets three times earlier, protecting Andrea from assassination attempts.

  Andrea then called the house doctor and asked him to check Mohamed. The doctor checked Mohamed’s throat and neck and said that there was no issue with him. Yet Mohamed could not utter a word. Everyone understood that Agasthiyar was a true sage.

  Andrea said, “Tom, you may leave the room now, thanks.”

  She turned towards Antonio and said, “I’m not able to make sense of what just happened, but I can tell you this. I have a strong feeling that whatever this man just spoke is true, I see a sense of dedication and purpose in his eyes. I don’t think there is any harm in checking out his story given the fact that we have only nine months more to live.”

  No one had anything to say. Andrea looked around and said, “We will reconvene at 11 a.m. tomorrow and go with Rajaraja to Kumari. Thank you all for joining us today. This meeting is adjourned,” and struck the gavel.

  Andrea was impressed at the way Rajaraja moved his sword. She had not seen anyone move that fast in her life. She kept thinking about the way Rajaraja looked and moved.

  She immediately took her phone and messaged Charles, “Get all the background details on Rajaraja and Agasthiyar and reconvene with the rest of the team in the Oval Office at 4 p.m.”

  Charles, James, Neil, and Jack showed up outside the Oval Office at 3:55 p.m. Andrea was having a one-on-one meeting with Sergei that was scheduled to end at 4 p.m. It overran by five minutes, and Sergei walked out of the Oval Office at 4:05 p.m. He looked at Charles as he walked out and nodded his head, Charles looked at Sergei and nodded back.

  Once Sergei left, Charles and the other three of them walked in and greeted Andrea.

  “I’m sorry to have made you wait,” said Andrea and then asked Charles to get started with sharing the details he had acquired about Rajaraja and Agasthiyar.

  Charles got up from his chair, and walked over to the projector, took the clicker from the table, and started the presentation.

  He said, “Let me say this at the very outset. We’re dealing with a superhero here. I met with professor Arun Jagadeesan from Princeton University, who heads the history department. He is an expert in Tamil history and culture. Here’s what I got from him.

  “Rajaraja is one of the greatest emperors who has ever walked this Earth. The Chola empire flourished under his rule. He was an able administrator, a just ruler, and a mighty warrior. He had measured the land to the accuracy of 1/500th of an inch for survey and assessment, that is not matched anywhere in the world even today.

  “The Rajarajesvaram temple that he built in his capital city of Tanjore in the year 1010 AD was one of the world’s tallest man-made structures of its time. It still stands tall in all its beauty and glory, it is also a UNESCO world heritage site. Under the rule of Rajaraja Cholan, his empire extended throughout all of south India and parts of North India on the east coast to the Indian state of Orissa and the top two-thirds of Sri Lanka. Water management was top notch during his reign; he built multiple dams and large lakes to store water, one thousand years ago.

  “All forms of art, particularly music and dance, flourished during his time. He introduced democracy in electing village leaders using a method called Kudavolai, where villagers wrote the name of their preferred leader on a palm-leaf and dropped it into a pot, similar to votes.

  “The Chola Navy had no equal during his day, he went to the Maldives and conquered it using his Navy. He had extensive trade ties with the Egyptians, Romans, and Chinese.

  “The interesting thing to note here is that there is no inscription anywhere about the time, place, or nature of Rajaraja’s death.”

  Andrea was impressed with the number of details Charles was able to collect in such a short time frame. She sometimes thought Charles would make an excellent President.

  “What do you have on his guru?” Andrea asked, wanting to know more about them.

  Charles replied, “Now, talking about Agasthiyar, he seems to be even more interesting than Rajaraja. He is a well-known sage all across India and a few east Asian countries. His name finds mention in a significant number of religious texts, including the Vedas, Puranas, the Indian Epics Ramayana, and Mahabharata, and Buddhist texts.

  “He is al
so mentioned in several Tamil and Javanese manuscripts. A person of Tamil origin, he wrote the first-ever book of grammar for the Tamil language titled Agattiyam. He is regarded as the forefather of traditional martial art forms like silambam and varmam and the Siddha form of medicine. The interesting thing about Agasthiyar is that his name is recorded among these texts written in various timelines spanning thousands of years, yet there is no record of his death anywhere.”

  “Thank you, Charles,” said Andrea, feeling elated like a kid who just heard a good story.

  “Can I talk to you for a second?” Charles asked Andrea as the others started leaving the room.

  “Sure, Charles,” Andrea replied with a surprised look on her face.

  Charles said, “I believe in whatever Rajaraja told us. I can see the day coming when you will have to take a call, whether to be the ideal captain and stay with the sinking ship or be an ideal mother and go with Rajaraja, taking your daughter with you. I also know the decision that you will make.

  “However, I want you to go with Rajaraja because of my selfish reason. I was born the same day John F. Kennedy was assassinated, the 22nd of November, but a year earlier. Every year, when I saw the news on the day of my birthday, I used to hear inspiring stories from the life of John F. Kennedy. When I was nine years old, I made up my mind to become the President of the United States before I die. This desire has grown inside of me every year.

  “I have worked very hard throughout my life to get here as the Vice President, and with cancer eating away my liver, I’m not sure how much longer I will live.

  “I wish to become the President for at least one day before I die, that’s all I want in life. I hope you will keep this in mind when the time comes,” and he left the room.

  Andrea did not see that one coming but was glad that Charles did not wait for an answer, she did not have one.

  Andrea saw a shimmer of hope in Rajaraja. She started longing for the time Rajaraja would show up again the next day.

  Chapter 3