Science Reporter, JANUARY 2016 48

FIC

TIO

N

“Whoooooeeeee!!!!” Off we go!” said Jimmy excitedly to his

friends. He had been planning this trip for months but his parents were not allowing him to go, ci ng mul ple reasons. Jimmy, you need to study for your exams. Jimmy, your grandfather is not well. Jimmy, that place is too far. It was so maddening. Now that his exams were fi nally over, he was allowed to visit his grandfather’s house.

Jimmy’s grandfather Dr. James Lawrence was a renowned scien st of his me but he had a strained rela onship

with Jimmy’s father, who became a businessman much to the dismay of the old man. Ironically enough, Jimmy was named a er his grandfather and was very fond of him. He used to visit the scien st during his summer holidays. Most of the me Jimmy had spent gazing at the complex machines and the huge books in his grandfather’s laboratory.

A few years ago, Jimmy’s grandfather had re red from work and mostly used to keep to himself. The last me he talked to his family was months ago. That’s why Jimmy decided to visit the place with a few of his closest friends during his holidays.

They set out in the morning in his father’s car. The journey was uneven ul, except the occasional stopping for fuel or food. His friends Rick and Andrew pestered him with ques ons about his grandfather and he gave bored answers.

They reached the place at nigh all. Dr. James Lawrence’s house was quite unassuming. There was nothing spectacular about it, but the building beside was huge. It was the place where his grandfather had spent most of his life me.

“Guys, that’s the lab. The equipments are awesome. It’s like the Iron Man’s den!” said Jimmy excitedly.

“Cool!” said Rick. “Can we check them out?”

“Let’s go to the house fi rst. I am

famished!” said Jimmy. Andrew nodded.

The trio went to the porch and knocked. There was no answer.

“Gramps! Are you there?” S ll nothing.

The old man was a bit short of hearing and eternally busy with his work even a er re rement. He was probably in the lab. So Jimmy took out the spare key that his grandfather had given to him years ago and opened the door. It was dark and a er a few minutes, they were able to fi nd the switchboard. As soon as the lights were on, the boys sat down and took out whatever food they had brought with them.

A er they had fi nished, they decided to explore the area. As they started to get up, Jimmy heard a light foo all, as if someone was walking towards them. His friends heard it too, for they started to look around nervously.

“Gramps? Is that you?” cried out Jimmy, alarmed. “We can’t see you. Where are you?”

The footsteps stopped. They could

BEAS CHATTARAJOOONNN

OOONNN

OOONNN

SCIENCE FICTION COMPETITION-2014:

The invisible old man took a screwdriver and put it inside the big metal box. He closed the door and powered the machine. After a few minutes, he took the tool out but the boys couldn’t see a thing.

Science Reporter, JANUARY 201649

hear someone breathing. Then, out from nowhere, they heard a muffl ed voice, “Here I am! Can’t you see me?”

“Gramps!” exclaimed Jimmy, unable to see him s ll. His friends were equally perplexed and scared.

“I am standing right in front of you, Jimmy. I am afraid you won’t be able to see me,” said the voice. “You see, I was working on something and I fi nally succeeded.”

“But your voice is a bit diff erent,” said Jimmy, hesita ngly.

“Of course, boy! A side-eff ect. Well, since you all have already had your food, follow me to my lab, will ya? I have work to do.”

Excited by the prospect of exploring the lab, the boys readily agreed. As they followed the invisible scien st, Jimmy couldn’t help but feel a bit weird. His grandfather had always been eccentric and was very devoted towards his work. May be this was the thing he was so busy working on that he was out of touch with the whole world. But something was off . Something was diff erent about the scenario. Jimmy just couldn’t understand what.

The laboratory was spectacular. Both of Jimmy’s friends were equally impressed. Complex wires and machinery adorned every corner of the huge room, especially

the one at the end of the hall.

It was a metal box with lots of wires coming out of it.

“What’s that, Gramps?” asked Jimmy, poin ng at the machine.

“That, my dear boy, is what I call the Invisible Box. It is my most recent inven on. Why do you think you can’t see me? It because of this machine,” said the scien st.

“Tell us more about this, Dr. Lawrence, please,” begged Rick and Andrew.

“Okay, most colour as we know it arises from the proper es of molecules when their Carbon backbone structure has ‘conjugated dienes’. This means in lay terms that there are Carbon atoms strung together with alterna ng single and double bonds (ie. -C=C-C=C-C=C- etc.). The molecule in Rods and Cones that allows us to ‘see’ light is also a conjugated diene, called ‘cis-11-Re nal’. When a photon strikes ‘cis-11-Re nal’ it makes a conforma onal change (changes shape) into ‘trans-11-Re nal’ and essen ally opens up a gate through which a ny electrical current can now pass through and eventually reach the brain, where you perceive this signal as light.

“However, ‘cis-11-Re nal’ is always embedded in an even larger molecule

which is called ‘Rhodopsin’. Rhodopsin is a large globular protein (globular basically means spherical) which always has the same basic structure, but there are a variety of Rhodopsin proteins which all vary slightly with the addi on of a few atoms here and a few atoms there. It’s these small varia ons that make all the diff erence to you and I when we perceive the wide variety of colours. For, only a specifi c type of Rhodopsin will allow incident (incoming) light to pass through it and strike the all-important ‘cis-11-Re nal’ whereupon the electrical signal is passed onwards up to the brain. That is why our 3-colour sensing cones, namely the L-cone (Red), M-cone (Green) and S-cone (Blue) are only good at sensing the colour of light that their specifi c ‘Rhodopsin’ protein lets through.”

The three kids were perplexed. They didn’t understand a thing. Jimmy’s grandfather laughed. He must have seen their expressions. Of course, they were just school kids. What would they know?

“Boys, it is a very complicated theory. There are a plenty of other things that you will not understand. The fact is if you line up your body with these Rhodopsin proteins all along the epidermis of your skin and you could then use these proteins to detect all the incoming light around you from all direc ons and you can regulate how others visualize you. This machine does exactly that. It embeds a substance all over you so that you will be invisible. It works for inanimate objects too. Let me show you.”

The laboratory was spectacular. Both of Jimmy’s friends were equally impressed. Complex wires and machinery adorned every corner of the huge room, especially the one at the end of the hall.

FICTION

Science Reporter, JANUARY 2016 50

should have be er le alone. If only that idiot hadn’t knocked over that container!”

Suddenly Jimmy saw a means of escape. The walls were covered with coolant pipes! A rod was lying on the ground. Jimmy picked it up and hit it hard against the pipes, breaking them open.

Water started spur ng out of the pipes fi lling the room with a haze. Jimmy could now see his assailant. Before Reginald could react, Jimmy swung the rod hard on his head. Reginald’s body hit the ground and water splashed all around him. He was either dead or unconscious. Rick was about to get down and check but the machines around them started buzzing and sparking.

“Oh God! The water!” Rick exclaimed. “We will be electrocuted!”

“Li Andrew up, fast!” said Jimmy and the two friends heaved him up. More sparks were fl ying around them. They ran out as fast as they could. Barely had they come out of the lab, it exploded, hurling them a few feet off the ground. As they looked back, the building was a raging inferno. Reginald wouldn’t survive.

Jimmy ran towards the house. He searched all rooms fi nally coming across one where his grandfather was gagged and ed in a chair. Jimmy wasted no me and

freed the scien st quickly. His grandfather looked at him in surprise.

“Oh I am so sorry, Jimmy! It’s all my fault!” Dr. James Lawrence cried.

“No, Gramps. We are sorry. Everything is gone.”

“Let them be. I don’t want them anymore. I will explain everything to you.”

Outside, the sound of sirens fi lled the air. The police must have arrived. Jimmy smiled and said to his grandfather, “Looks like you will have a lot of explaining to do.”

Ms Beas Chattaraj, C/o Mr Prabhat Chattaraj, 17/2 BDG Path, Hillview Park (North), 3rd Lane Extension, Asansol-713304, Burdwan, West Bengal; Email: pkbchattaraj@gmail.com

The invisible old man took a screwdriver and put it inside the big metal box. He closed the door and powered the machine. A er a few minutes, he took the tool out but the boys couldn’t see a thing.

“I have kept it on the table in front of you. Feel it.”

The boys went to the table one by one and u ered cries of surprise.

“Wow! I really can feel the screwdriver. But it’s completely invisible!” exclaimed Andrew, and in his excitement, knocked over a container fi lled with some kind of chemical. Blue liquid splashed on the fl oor. Jimmy could now see the footprints of his grandfather, who was walking about explaining various things that were lost to them. He immediately realized what was wrong.

“You are not my grandfather!” exclaimed Jimmy, “My grandfather had an accident a long me ago. His leg opera on le him with a limp. You are not limping at all!”

There was silence. Suddenly a cylindrical object came hurtling at them. Jimmy and Rick ducked but it hit Andrew squarely in his head.The boy collapsed, unconscious.

“Who are you? And where is my grandfather?”

“Your grandfather is safe, where I kept him. Worry about yourselves! You have no idea what I am about to do to you! I am Reginald Grey. I have worked with your grandfather for years on this project. All his fame and glory is because of me! I got no credit for anything. Hell, no one even remembers my name. I was the one who deserved all those awards and my genius has always gone unapplauded. Your grandfather got stuck at one point, while trying to build this machine. I was the one who saw the missing pieces. I solved the problem and what do I get in return? Not even a men on at the footnotes of his research? I couldn’t let that happen,could I?

“One day, James was in the house busy with his notes and I was in the lab, working on this machine and then it struck me! I could be invisible! I could be free to do anything and no one would ever see me. I would be able to get away with everything! I used that machine on myself and I locked your grandfather. I could kill the man but I didn’t. I s ll have a lot of use for him. But you three came looking for things you

ThThThThee boboboyyy cococollllllaapappseesedd,d, uuncncnconononscscsciioioioususu ..

Jimmy ran towards the house. He searched all rooms fi nally coming across one where his grandfather was gagged and tied in a chair.

Water started spurting out of the pipes fi lling the room with a haze. Jimmy could now see his assailant.

FICTION