Combo is a strange world. It is free from all living organisms. An eerie silence prevails over this heavenly body for there is no air, no atmosphere, troposphere, stratosphere, et al. It is free from greenhouse gases. All life from Combo has been obliterated due to accumulation of the killer gases several million years ago.

The amount of heat it receives now from all sources during the day is released during its night. It has been possible to keep the ambient temperature constant for the last one million years.

This planetary mass object - brown dwarf (failed star) combination named Combo is situated 170 light years away from the solar system.

There is no natural life or intelligence at this place. Only one artificial life-entity survives now.  Those who once inhabited the place created it.  This single entity survived by a freak of nature.

The living inhabitants of this PMO-brown dwarf paid with their lives for securing the ultimate freedom of Combo from the pollutants and the burgeoning gas envelope that was impervious to flow of heat by radiation.

There is a long story of development of science and technology here. Though the singular entity that survives now is artificial, it retains a natural flavor in certain strands of its existence, because of which the memory of the golden period of Combo is still retained.

The singular entity of Combo is called MAC, the master access controller. It is all pervading and embraces every little bit of consciousness of this place. It is very difficult to define what MAC is. In a sense it can be termed as living because it can receive and process information like natural intelligence. It even makes mistakes.

Looking at it from another angle, one may term it as non-living because it is immortal.

That single life, MAC, is the culmination of science and technology, which could evolve as per Mayhem theory of macro cosmos. There is no theory comparable to Mayhem's that has yet been postulated on Earth.

Roughly described, Mayhem theory is a trade off between living and non-living matter.  When the living world of Combo found out that the natural intelligence was self-destructive, they decided to do away with it permanently.

That singular decision culminated in saving Combo, albeit without any life in it. Even plant life, which acted as a sink of Carbon dioxide gas couldn't survive the high temperatures there.

MAC made an important discovery recently. It discovered that the planet Earth was passing through a phase that endangered all species there. There were millions of them still surviving on Earth. MAC was very excited at the possibility of learning about the unrecorded part of its history by extrapolating the situation on Earth.

The first thing that he needed was time, which was running out fast for life on Earth. MAC calculated that if immediate steps were taken, then it might still be possible to save life on Earth. That would provide him with an opportunity to look for his roots.

MAC came to know that the previous life that inhabited Combo had its origin in planet Earth. MAC therefore made a plan and started implementing the first phase of it.

His difficulty was in locating a subject on Earth. There were so many species and the intelligence levels were at so much variance that MAC was puzzled. Ultimately it found Homo sapiens to be the most intelligent.

The next job that MAC carried out was to find out the most intelligent among them, so that it could establish a link with him.  There was a complex process of DNA mapping and other paraphernalia through which it selected Sayan, a thirteen-year-old boy, for the important mission.  


This book is available from amazon.com, ISBN: 1430323094 

Ganadevta Express leaves Howrah station at 6.05 a.m. This is Saturday morning and a large crowd waited at platform number eight from where the train would leave in a short while.

"Are all these people waiting for Ganadevta express, daddy?" Sayan, a thirteen-year-old, asked his father.

"Yes, this is a long platform and can accept a twenty-five coach train."  Shyamal replied while keeping an eye on their belongings, his wife and his father.

"I can see people everywhere. How big is this station?"

"It's the second oldest station and one of the largest in India." Shyamal said in an absent-minded manner. It seemed that he was worried.

Sayan noticed that. He knew that his father would be irritated if he asked any more questions, and so he asked his grand father, "Is it really so, dadu?"

Sayan addressed his grand father as ‘dadu', who coolly replied, "It's not only that. Howrah station's twenty-one platforms handle over three hundred trains each day, serving more than one million passengers."

"More than one million passengers per day? It's great." Sayan exclaimed.

Shyamal took out the railway ticket that he purchased a few minutes ago from his pocket. He was a railway employee, and therefore could travel free along with his family. The ticket was meant for his father. 

Shyamal tried to read that, but gave up because of poor light on the platform. He talked to his wife, Sefali, in a low voice. Sayan and his dadu couldn't hear that in the din.

"Like us, are all these people bound for Tarapith, dadu?"

"If not all, most of them will go there. Many more will board this train on the way. Just wait and see the fun."

"In that case, we won't be able to get any seat."

"Don't worry, as soon as the train is placed on the platform, I will jump on to it, and keep your seats. The three of you can board the train leisurely. That is the practice here. That's what I was telling your mummy." Shyamal assured his son.

Most of the passengers were bound for Tarapith, a place of pilgrimage.  Saturday is auspicious for offering obeisance and getting a glimpse of the idol of Mother Goddess, the ruling deity of that center of pilgrimage.

"Did you visit Tara pith earlier, dadu?"

"Yes, I went there only once. You know that in spite of my age, I am not so religious minded. There are many like me in this crowd, who are going there simply to spend the weekend or to give company to their friends and families."

"How do you say that?"

"I found many of them enjoying themselves with wine and ..."

"And what?"

"I can't tell you that."

"Okay. Some of the passengers may be heading for Santiniketan, which is famous for a classical ashram-type university, established by Tagore."

"You are right." Dadu gave up because he knew that Sayan was so inquisitive that it was difficult to satisfy him. 

Meanwhile, the passengers laid a siege on the platform. The empty rake was then placed, and there was a free for all to board the train. Shyamal was no exception and therefore he could get seats in an unreserved compartment on first-come-first served basis. In the ensuing rush to enter the coach, his father drifted to another coach, which was discovered once they settled down.

"Where's my father?" Shyamal sounded worried.

"He must be somewhere nearby. Don't worry about him." Sefali assured her husband.

By this time Sayan occupied the window side seat. Shyamal was a restless chap; therefore it was quite natural for him to get worried. 

Shyamal's father appeared in a short while. He had landed in another coach with every one pushing and shoving everyone else in their eagerness to board the train. He could locate his family when things settled down.  The old man was a retired person, sickly, and very slow.

Sayan was not interested in knowing what was going on inside the coach. On the contrary, he watched movement of passengers on the platform.  As the departure-time approached, more and more people tried to board the train as if this was the last train on earth, thought Sayan.

"I am getting down now. I'll be back in a few minutes after reading the ticket. There's no light here." Shyamal told his son.

"What's there to read in that ticket, dad? I find that you are after that piece of paper right from the beginning?"

"I am not sure whether the booking clerk has issued a correct ticket. I want to find that out."

"Don't delay much. You are so forgetful that you may miss the train." Sefali told her husband jokingly.

Shyamal's father didn't pay any particular attention to the goings on. 

Sefali was now comfortably seated beside Sayan. She wanted to occupy the window side seat. That was possible only if her son   agreed to switch places with her.

It was dark even on the platform. So Shyamal moved farther into the illuminated area within the shed. Then he went on reading the ticket as if it was a vital piece of document.

Shyamal was deeply worried. It appeared that something else was razing through his mind at the moment. 

He was immersed in his mental world. The train started with a short whistle on time. Shyamal missed the train.

Sefali was now worried because she found that her husband hadn't come back.  Sayan shouted, "Look there mom. Dad is running; he is trying to board the running train."

"Can you see him?"

"You can locate him if you look from here." Sayan almost cried.

Sayan's grandfather wanted to pull the chain to stop the train. But he failed to reach that place because of so many passengers standing between him and the chain. 

A passenger advised him not to pull the chain for that would attract heavy penalty.

"Shyamal must have boarded some other compartment." Thought the old man and gave up. The train picked up speed gradually.

"Father couldn't board because the gate was crowded."  Sayan lamented.

"How could your father miss a train while remaining on the platform?" Sefali asked Sayan.

"He has boarded some other coach nearest to him and will appear later when the train stops at the next station. Since the train is connected from end to end, Shyamal can come to his coach even while the train is running." Sayan's grandpa assured his daughter-in-law.

"Tickets and money are with him. We will be in trouble if he fails to turn up." Sefali expressed her apprehension. She had a haunch that something was wrong with Shyamal. 

This book is available from amazon.com ISBN : 1430323094