The heritage of Kaipeng

‘You don’t mind, do you?’ he said pointing his empty glass.

At once I ordered another drink and he resumed his narration.

‘He sat in that chamber while I was there in the next room. He instructed me to put on a few switches and I did as was told. After a few seconds, I heard a huge sound. I went and saw that the chamber was gone. I also saw that the platform was completely broken and the entire room looked like a war zone. This was when I panicked. Had I lost my friend to insanity? Should I have made him see sense?’

‘But before long, I heard a knock in my door. I answered it. It was a white young kid who asked for me. I was bewildered, who in the hell would ask for me in Jack’s house? He gave me a very old letter and told me that his great grandfather, in his will, had requested that this letter be delivered to me at this precise time. The boy was bewildered as to how it was possible for his great grandfather to know me by name. But since I was not forthcoming in my explanation, he must have assumed that I too did not know the reason.’

‘Do you have it with you now?’ I asked rather excited.

‘No. I burnt them. If I had that letter with me, I would have wanted to tell about this to everyone and would be called a loony. So I swore not to tell this to anybody and I burnt my bridge (burnt my letter, I should rather say). But don’t worry. I remember it perfectly well. It had only three words, “I made it.” And at that second I knew that I had witnessed the world’s first time travel.’

‘I was not going to tell this to anybody. But I could not stand it. You may think that I am a loony. But the hell do I care about that.’

written by admin \\ tags: casual talk, story, stranger

‘Yes. Then you must know that motion is relative and not absolute. And according to Jack, all we needed to do was to find a frame of reference from which the speed of light is attainable. So if we find a moving frame of reference, the velocity would add up and it would be easier to attain light speed. Do you get what I am trying to say?’

‘I am afraid not,’ I said.

‘Right. Think of it this way. You remain stationary and a train approaches you. You feel that you are stationary and the train is moving because the platform is the frame of reference. But say the platform is moving at half the speed of the train, what will you feel then? You will find that the train is only travelling at half its velocity, is it not?’

‘Yes, I think I get your point. Pray go ahead,’ I said. I seemed to get what he was trying to say and it seemed quite possible.

‘So Jack had built a rotating frame of reference traveling at half the speed of light and a rotating chamber that rotated in the opposite direction at half the speed of light.’

‘But even half the speed of light is not possible,’ I pointed out the only flaw I could see.

‘Jack was a genius. He was able to reach that speed with a combination of atomic fission and fusion. It was like using a nuclear bomb, but only that this was quite safe.’

‘But if he had managed such a great thing, it would have been a discovery in itself. Why has it not been known to all of us?’ I asked. It was my last defense.

‘Well de never did have a chance to tell the world, did he? I will tell you about that presently. He told me that I was invited to witness the first man to travel time. But I was worried stiff about the safety of that thing, you know. But once he assured me that none of my words would stop him from making that journey, then I knew had no choice.’

written by admin \\ tags: arguement, story, stranger, talk

Looks like i am in a good flow and the gift of the gab.. is awesome.

‘I am not supposed to talk about this to anyone but if I don’t tell this to someone, I might burst or something.’

I assured him that he need not tell me anything if he did not want to. These words often loosened people’s mouths and it worked like magic with Mr. Robert Fitzgerald.

‘It is all right. I have to tell it to someone. All this is very strange, I am afraid. I doubt if you will even take me seriously. But I could not care less about what you or anyone would think about me. Not after what has just happened.’

‘I went to see my friend Jack today. He is a scientist, you know. Really crazy and all that, but a very nice chap. He invited me to see his new creation. Mind you, he did not tell me what it was at that time, but just invited me to his home to see his new invention. Well, I went there expectin’ a new radiator or something, but what I found there was unbelievable. You don’t go to someone’s house expecting a bloody time machine, do you?’

‘And if you don’t mind, could you just get me another drink. It has been a terrible shock, you know.’

I ordered a stiff scotch for him; his story was getting more and more interesting.

‘As I was telling you, it was a bloody time machine. I hope you know that this thing is theoretically possible, don’t you?’

‘Yes’, I said. ‘I know it is theoretically possible. But you need to move at light speed or greater if you want to do it.’

‘This is what I told Jack. I told him that it is impossible to go at light speed, at least with the current technology. But he told me that “for a mind that thinks, nothing is impossible”. Yeah, Jack was like that: always telling some strange quotes; most probably made it up himself. He told me that when we think of moving at light speed, we always consider our own frame of reference and that is why we never thought it was possible. By the way, you know what is frame of reference, don’t you?’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I have read Einstein’s theory, thank you.’

written by admin \\ tags: eistein, pub, story, stranger, talk

The Blue dolphin Pub in south of London is frequented by all kinds of strange people. At the expense of just a couple of glasses of whiskey, one can hear all kinds of strange stories from them. Stories about being the boyfriend of one of the most famous pop star and stories about alien sightings are the most common ones. But some of them are simply brilliant. I sometimes genuinely wonder if some of the more brilliant ones are real – yes they are that good. The best I can remember was a story recounted by one Mr. Robert Fitzgerald.

It was often quite easy to catch a potential storyteller. If someone takes a very long time to finish their glass, it means that they don’t have money for more. And with years of experience, I know from the face if that person has something he wants to tell someone. I often get that person drinks like a Good Samaritan and get his story in return. Of course, there was no profit motive in that. It was purely for my amusement and entertainment. The success rate of this was very low and I sometimes had to wait for a very long time (sometimes months) before I get a good story. But the second I met Mr. Robert Fitzgerald, I knew that I had hit gold.

When I offered him whiskey, he looked at me in a mildly offended way. But before I could apologize and move away from him, he said rather regretfully that he was actually very grateful for the offer. ‘On normal occasions, I would have never accepted a drink from a stranger, but today I shall accept your offer. I thank you for it.’

I indicated my requirement to the barman and at once the whiskey came to us and Mr. Robert Fitzgerald started talking.

written by admin \\ tags: london, story, stranger