By: Parthosarothy K Mukherji

The Springbok was the national mascot of his native land, but his identity was always more tied to the eponymous musk deer—a species as alien to South Africa as was the country in which he would fulfill his destiny. The musk deer secretes from its glands a pheromone whose demand has led to its near extinction. If there was a moral to this, it would be that that which attracts others to us is the same thing that consumes us at the altar of fame—a flame hotter than that of ignominy. He often traipsed the thin line between both, also playing tic-tac-toe between genius and insanity, which are as conjoined as spacetime.

Space was his consuming obsession—the Holy Grail toward which he channeled his fierce energies and burning intellect. He created disruptive technologies and founded companies in industries that were merely stepping stones toward ascending the ultimate height of his ambitions: creating colonies on Mars and then launching mankind’s migration to galaxies far, far away—staking his imprimatur as mankind’s savior and the father of interstellar civilizations.

The helicopter landed on the White House lawn with the feather-touch precision of a butterfly alighting on a flower. He climbed down the stairway to the waiting bunch of executive assistants, special assistants, presidential advisors, the chief of staff—and toward the President himself, who, in the manner of an affectionate uncle receiving his favorite nephew back from the wars, had come out to greet him.

They went inside—two alpha males, twin titans, blonde beasts—hyper-competitive believers in free enterprise, free speech, and the freedom to do whatever the heck their minds and hearts urged.

“You eaten?” Trump asked perfunctorily, his version of a greeting away from the cameras. “Had a breakfast burrito onboard,” Musk replied, “but could do with one of your cheeseburgers.”

He knew the President would already have his favorite all-day breakfast waiting in the Oval Room. Today both would be hunkered in until a response to the latest global crisis was hashed out.

They settled into the plush leather armchairs—designed for informal but strategic tête-à- têtes—and got down to business. Musk had already been briefed on his secure UltraMax satellite phone via “Eyes Only” memos. He now merely glanced through hard-copy prints of the devastated site, having already accessed Starlink’s high-definition satellite images.

“So, not nuclear, you say?” asked Trump, cutting straight to the point.

“Nope. The post-event emission signatures, thermal degradation patterns by pyrolysis, anddebris scatter patterns rule that out.” “Then what?”

“Some kind of high-intensity, high-energy beam of super-ionized kinetic energy with

resonation capability.”

“Translate that to English, ‘Lon. You mean Death Ray jazz? Reagan’s Star Wars bull?”

Much as he admired the Late Great Republican President and icon, Trump always had a sneaky desire to outshine him, and go down in the pantheon of great Presidents as the greatest President and Republican one at that, notwithstanding Lincoln’s huge reputation towering above them all.

“Basically, yes. Whatever did this had the energy of a mid-sized nuclear reactor, with laser- grade attenuation and resonance capacity. It could read the signature frequency of nearby materials, excite them, then raise the frequency until the atomic binding strength failed— shattering them to molecules.”

“You mean like the old soldiers breaking step while marching across a bridge?” said Trump who, though no Tech Bro, did not get to be rich, famous and President twice over by sheer street smarts only. He understood technology to a degree most tech nerds would respect.

“Yup. Precisely.”

“So—who and why? It’s not a military base or research site, for Chris’ sake. Who the hell nukes a 10,000-year-old ruin in the Negev desert of some bloody ancient civilization founded by some weird  tribe of mixed Egyptian,Israeli,Phoenician,Arab and God knows what else in that mongrel mix, whose script the dirt diggers can’t decipher yet?

Dirt diggers was his term for archeologists for whom he had even less regard than he had for liberals and leftists.

The Chinese for frigging sake? What happened they got some inferiority complex in the dick measuring stake of who’s more ancient and putrid as a civilization? The Mad mullahs? Found Saddams secret weapon and wanted to do a Bamiyan Buddha number with it? Who?

“You’ll need to ask John, Tulsi, or any of the spooks. I’ve got my AI bots trawling all satellite feeds, including my own. No clues yet.”

John was CIA chief John Ratcliffe. Tulsi, of course, was NSA boss lady Tulsi Gabbard.

Trump wiped his fingers, took a gulp of Diet Coke, and gestured for Musk to finish his burger.

Musk did. They both rose in unison, like synaptic twins, and made for the Situation Room,

Also known as The War Room, where critical meetings took place. Waiting were the usual suspects, Chiefs of the afore mentioned agencies, the defense chiefs and a few other key heavy hitters including from NASA and the national scientific establishment.

The buzz stopped instantly as they entered the room and took their places, Trump at the head of the table and Musk at his right hand. The President surveyed the faces looking to him for the questions they know would come direct and fast as Yankee pitchers throws.

They were not disappointed.

“You have been briefed and I have brought Elon up to speed, it’s been 6 hours since the event and I want updates, plans of action, and who does what when.

Some eyes remained focused on Trump, a few turned towards General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, then towards Tulsi Gabbard,and then John Ratcliffe.Surprisingly it was one of the scientists who spoke first,Dr.Sen,a nuclear physicist who had worked with the legendary Manhattan project veterans long after they created history in the New Mexico desert Alamogordo. He had gone onto be colleagues with Dick Feynman and was with him at the famous demonstration where Feynman explained the why and how of the space shuttle Challengers explosion. Of Indian descent and the right academic pedigree of PhDs from Caltech, Stanford and MIT he was the go to boffin for problems that required hands on experience allied with authority level mastery of the technologies and science which were beyond the level of all but a handful of the planets master minds. He had picked up the casual style and syntax of Feynman and looked and spoke more like a Dinosaur fossil hunter than a theoretical physicist from MIT.

“ Sir, we need a team to be deployed to the site, all data we have now is second hand, post event, strangely no satellite has any recording of the event as it occurred though the site is heavily satellite surveyed being in the battle zone area for Israel and Arab forces should war occur.:

Trump turned towards one of his trusted few,”Tulsi, are the Israelis behind this? It would not be the first time they’ve held back on us”. The head of the NSA was a straight talker and straight shooter, with the aura of battle tested veteran itching and prepared to go straight back to battle if the call of duty required.No,sir,you have my word on it, I have checked with every asset of ours in the Knesset and every one of Netanyahu’s key guys and with Netanyahu himself .They are as much in the dark as us and had deployed to prelaunch status on all their nukes once they were aware of the event which was around the same time as us”

Trump nodded, he trusted her and the facts supported her assessment. He looked once more around those gathered and seeing no signs of dissent or a sign of comment to add to Dr.Sen’s earlier statement.

Standing up with an air of finality he turned to Musk and said,” That’s settled then ,you’re going in along with Tulsi and Dr.Sen, add any others to the team you want ,ask for anything you need. Your clock starts now, I want this thing figured out and acted upon before I head back to Mara largo 48 hours from now “As they walked out of the room together the buzz resumed behind them like a drug addicts brain on coke.

The President was clear: “I don’t trust any single agency to give me the full picture. You’re going in, Elon. Handpicked team. No bureaucrats. No press.”

Musk didn’t blink. “We’ll leave by sunset, Tulsi is battle ready always and Sen’s a veteran of high risk, high stakes projects, the rest we’ll pick and choose on mission need basis, I’ll go get started.ETA at site by night fall we’ll take the F-22.The Lockheed Martin F-22 raptor was the fastest stealth aircraft in the Air Force and was on stand by from the moment the crisis was official.

Wheels up from  Andrews was at dusk as Musk had estimated and as the black  beast lifted her nose and sped to cruising altitude  he once more marveled at the never  diminishing awe of the sight of the earth falling away and the darkening  evening turning to night as  they accelerated towards their unknown  rendezvous in the desert .He turned towards Tulsi seated in the modified additional copilot type pods for navigator and then glanced at The Professor as he had come to think about Sen. Both were lost in their internal reveries  and he resumed his scanning of the night sky which to him was what the ocean was to Columbus.

  The site was cordoned off by an elite multinational force of specialists trained in post nuclear, chemical and biological event containment and control procedures and technologies. Apart from the US, a few Israelis, and specialists from Japan and Russian who had worked in the post Fuckiyama and Chernobyl containment teams were present. The Black Bird landed on a prepared strip in the desert sand guided by dimmed lights set along the runway. A couple of Humvees were already waiting as were their requested crew of three specialists from Seal Team 6 who had reached the rendezvous point independently by  another  customized hypersonic  aircraft  .They  complete team drove across the still warm desert sand towards the event site perimeter. Reaching in minutes they passed through the designated entrance after completing security identification protocol. No assumptions or exemptions were going to be made as to access, even if it was for these arguably most security cleared members of the investigation task force. What Musk and the six-member elite team found at the ruins was beyond bizarre—black glass monoliths scattered like dominoes, walls etched with pulsating glyphs, and most ominously toward the central zone of the stone henge like scattered pillars was a shimmering mirage hovering just above the sand that shape shifted and changed color like some bizarre psychedelic screen saver created by a computer freak on hullucegenics.The entire site was the size of a super dome.

“It’s not a doorway,” whispered Dr. Sen, scanning the symbols inscribed on the various edifices his  skills at cryptanalysis had also morphed into deciphering linguistic symbols of all cultures including the ancient. “It’s a phase-field. A standing portal.”

Musk scanned the glyphs. They weren’t ancient. They were anticipatory.

Tulsi and the seal team 6 crew assumed classic perimeter surround and search positions and began to close in from outer periphery towards the central zone, beckoning Musk and Dr.Sen to wait their turn till signaled to follow. They reached the innermost circular field just beyond the flickering holographic laser shows area of activity and topped. Nothing happened except the continued light and magic show of the luminescent flame without heat or emission. On given the all clear Musk and Dr.Sen advanced and joined them.

Tulsi issued instructions to set up comms and establish direct contact via satellite transmission to the President; Dr.Sen supervised the Seal Team 6 specialist technicians in setting up sensors at various proximate points. Musk wandered around lost in reverie. By the time their bivouking position and its systems were set up a faint pre-dawn luminescence unique to the desert tinged the open sky above. They settled into their unfurled sleeping bags and committed themselves to the most important drill of soldiers before entering combat, to rest and recuperate for the trials and travails ahead.

Over the next two days, strange events began to unravel—temporal displacements, hallucinations, unexplained disappearances. One by one, the team was picked off. A seal team 6 member was turned to ash mid-sentence. The sensors set up and tested refused to register any signal even when subjected to strong magnetic and electromagnetic and other fields by Dr.Sen using his highly sophisticated kit of instruments. Dr. Sen.’s attempt to write down the hieroglyphics and other symbols in systematic form and their deciphered meaning kept getting thwarted by the apparent change in the symbols shape and position with different phases of the day which seemed to be linked to the suns insolation intensity but could not be clearly defined as an equation. The physicist began to lose composure and touch with reality hallucinating about being back in the Los Almos site with Oppenheim and crew and muttering the verses from the Bhagawad Gita including Openheimers famous quotation of  the lines, “I have become Death, The destroyer of worlds”.Tulsi who as a practicing Hindu had deep knowledge of Sanskrit said the other verses Sen was reciting were “ Whenever, Righteousness had been threatened by the forces of Evil, I  will again take Birth in my form of Destroyer of Evil and restore Righteousness and the Cosmic Order”

A seal team member who was combat medic was tasked with accompanying the Scientist back to the entry point and then evacuated for medical care, but no record of their exiting the other side of the single point of entry and exit for the inner perimeter were ever found. They had just vanished

Musk deciphered enough from the artifacts: the site was a hyperspace relay—a sentient gate left behind by a civilization older than Earth.He,Tulsi and the remaining Seal Team 6 Comm specialist huddled together to decide their next move. No communication links had been established to the President or anywhere. No transmission was being received from anywhere; they were quite literally in a Dead Zone with its own spectral band of force field.

The flickering flames frequency of shape shifting and pulsating color changes began to increase in time to some unseen tempo or signal from beyond. They gazed hypnotized at the luminescent yet non munificent entity, suddenly Musk felt a strange pull drawing him inward to the pulsating entity of light, the other two gazed as he approached and then stepped into the gyrating,fluctuating,whirling kaleidoscope and seem to become transformed into a Harlequin. They lost sight of him and suddenly the whole site was back to just another oasis in the desert and their comms crackled to life.

As Musk was drawn into what he had realized was the portal to the multiverse he sensed the sentient beings that had drawn him specifically into the gateway. They were in his mind and spoke directly to him through his own thoughts. The messaging was clear. They were from a civilization light years ahead of civilization as it existed currently on earth. They  were firmly of the belief that Humanity  had not yet advanced sufficiently in the superior sense of being evolved beings to be allowed contact with sentient beings and life forms elsewhere in the galaxies of the universe.Musks efforts at initiating space colonization for the human species was premature not in the technological sense but in the sense of the consequences to other species and sentient beings of their encounter with our speies.He had a choice, give up his attempts to enable interstellar colonization of humanity and become one of them, or be returned to his world ,memory and ability erased.

 “Join us. Evolve. Abandon them. You know Earth is lost. Your kind is obsolete. You may ascend.”

Musk clenched his jaw. “No. Mankind still has a shot. I won’t abandon it.” “So be it.”

There was a pulse. Not of sound, but of forgetting.

When the rescue team found him three days later, he was walking barefoot among the ruins, face blank, eyes up at the stars, whispering one word again and again:

“…home…”

He never spoke again of what he saw. But late at night, under starlight, he’d scribble spiral glyphs in the sand.

The portal did not close in anger or sorrow. It simply retracted — as if never meant for him. Or perhaps meant only for those willing to leave something behind.

Later, as Earth burned a little slower than expected, and humanity stubbornly survived in its ruins.

And sometimes, at dusk, children swore they saw a strange deer in the hills — its eyes glowing with stars.

A musk deer. Looking for something it had once secreted and forgotten.

###

“Bong” by nature was bound at some stage to write awful poetry, and argue passionately about” seenema”, enemas and Kulchurr. Decided to stop arguing and start doing. (Both “seenema and enema) Also a national award winning scientist and engineer with patents in India and the US in the green technology and clean energy domains.Writes, scripts, screen plays, songs, books because he must. Married to a lovely gynecologist who is also his psychiatrist/psychologist/best friend and collaborator on the single project done together, our happy 19 year old son Ashutosh. Has lived and worked in 11 countries and traveled to 23 but still desi as they come.