The Girl in the Gym

Razzle-dazzle

Inaya was excited and couldn't wait to watch the movie. She had always had an inferiority complex about not having a degree or even basic school education. To compensate for her feeling of inadequacy, she read twice as much as anyone to keep herself apprised of all the developments in the world. She also loved reading about history, especially Indian and Western mythology.

After their aqua yoga and lunch, they went to their respective rooms to watch the movie and the shows. At first, Jack was a little taken aback by the amount of razzle-dazzle and long-winded dialogues. Even with the subtitles, he had a hard time concentrating. But that was in the beginning, as hours passed and the evening turned tonight, he was still hooked on to his laptop. He was transfixed. The mythologies were exploding with technological references which should not have been possible hundreds or thousands of years ago. Mystified, he paused the show to take a notepad and pen to take down some notes. Even Bud cocked an ear every time there was a loud noise in the show. Jack's heart was racing. There was a whole world of research that had escaped his notice. He opened his browser and ran a search for 'technology in Indian mythology', and numerous articles popped up. He spent the next hour perusing them carefully and jotted down points to refer to later. The wheels in his brain were turning and he could barely contain himself. He could feel the plane of his imagination tilt, and when it righted itself, ideas came flooding in.

Still, on a figurative high, he called Inaya.

"Listen, my god, this is crazy. I think I've got a new string to pull at concerning my research. Can you meet me now?" he said.

"Now? It's too late Jack, I've seen the movie. We can talk about it tomorrow," she said sleepily.

"No, it is not about the movie. I mean it is not just about the movie. Please, just come see me as soon as possible," he begged.

"Jack, we're both tired and sleepy. I'm sure your thoughts can wait another night? No? Please, I don't have the energy to come down right now," she said.

Jack felt deflated but accepted her reasoning. "Yeah, I know. I know. You're right, of course. I'll see you tomorrow first thing. There is so much I have to talk to you about."

"Yes, sure. Goodnight Jack," she said and cut the call before he could also respond in kind.

"Goodnight," he whispered into the now silent mobile phone.

Jack switched off everything and lay back on his bed to go over some theories in his head. He still remembered everything that he had studied, and If he concentrated, he could almost hear his old professors voice, talking about quantum mechanics and the many world theories. It was far-fetched, even by his standards, but still, worth a shot.

In the morning, he got ready at super-sonic speed and ran flat out to meet Inaya beneath her flat. She came down five minutes after, looking surprised to see him at that early hour.

"Hi, Jack."

"Yes, hi, listen can we go to the library for an hour. I know you do your morning workout right now, but this is really important to me. Please?" he asked.

Inaya could tell that he was on a roll, and she was also quite interested in what he had to say. IT was really early and even the librarian hadn't come in. However, since it was an open space, they let themselves in and Jack switched on his laptop. He took a deep breath as if this were a thesis presentation. Relax, it's only Inaya, he told himself. And started speaking.

"To give you a basis for what I'm about to tell you, you need to know what quantum physics is – it is the study of 'nature and behaviour of matter at an atomic or sub-atomic level. And on that level, energy and matter behave like particles or waves'. Under this premise, teleportation is theoretically possible through quantum entanglement. It is like sending information about an object to another location where that object is recreated. It won't be the original, however. Following me so far?" Jack asked.

Inaya said yes.