No lies

If anything that irritated Professor the most was this unpredictable rain. He was already late for his train and the downpour seemed to last forever. Nodding his head, Professor Fernandes went to his study and stared at the sticky notes clipped on his board. Mind you, those were no ordinary notes. Those were the inexplicable and deep-rooted theories. Theories about time travel. Time travel was a true thing. It was no illusion. You can travel to your past or future and change your destiny, and Professor was just one step away from proving himself. The day next could make or break him. The International Science Federation had selected his time travel theory for further analysis and Professor so badly wanted to win this year's 'Scientist of the year'. No doubt, this was the one leap Professor needed. After all the jokes and mocks and touches of sarcasm on his beliefs and research, he deserved these honey-coated moments.

"Sir!" The housekeeper came rushing in, "The rain has stopped. We can start now!"

"Excellent!" beamed Professor and took a final look at his to-dos list and picked up his bag.

Professor reached the station within an hour and found his train almost ready to leave. He made a short sprint to reach his first-class compartment and settled. He felt a jerk and felt the train already leaving the platform.

He sank back and closed his eyes. A screeching sound of the door woke him up. He saw a middle-aged man, maybe in his 40s, entered and sat opposite him. Something crossed Professor's face. It was the same man who had been following him everywhere these days. In lectures, outside his house and now, he was in the train too, in the same coach.

"Who are you? Why are you following me?" Asked Professor irritatingly.

"Relax Professor! My name is SG3." The man replied coolly.

Professor narrowed his eyes. "What type of name is that?" He snapped.

"People in our times are named like this only. No one's having that patience of giving fancy names or calling each other with those long never ending names." The man gave a mischevious smile.

"In your times? What does that mean?" Professor frowned.

The man looked at him intently. Taking a deeb breathe he replied, "I am from 2087. I am time traveling right now. I am being sent to 2021 to take your interview."

"What rubbish?" Professor snapped again. "How is it possible? And of all people, you found me to follow everywhere like a shadow and then saying you came for an interview, with this weird name! Why should I believe you?"

"But you do believe in time travel, don't you?" The man smiled. "Perhaps, other people have also started to believe in this theory or else why would the Science Federation decide to give you the honour of the.... what was it exactly?" The man pretended to remember. He knew Professor would finish where he tailed off.

And he did. "Scientist of the Year!" The Professor exclaimed. He wanted it to come true. Too badly, but how could he trust a man so blindly? It was becoming too much to handle.

Professor took a deep breathe and said nothing. He kept staring at the man. SG3. The man broke the silence, "In our times, no one lies, you know! Pretty obvious since we have invisible bugs and screens and ARs and AIs everywhere to record everything we say. Even the things we think. Trust me man, I am not lying. Neither about me coming from 2087 nor you winning this award." Saying this, the man pulled out the phone from his pocket and dialled a number. He kept the phone on speaker. It was a voice mail. "Yes yes, we are final about this. Fernandes is going to get the title this year. It's been long of him to try every year and nothing else looks that interesting."

Professor was speechless. He couldn't decide to be happy or surprised. His theory was true. Time travel is possible. This man was the ultimate proof. He found his voice and asked feebly. "What do you want from me?"

"I am here to write everything about you. You see this entire time travel thing will come into existence because of you. I am a journalist and being asked to take your interview for the people in our times to know you better. " The man replied.

Professor looked outside the window. He didn't know how much time had passed since the journey began. He was already on the seventh cloud for this undeclared achievement and scared at the chance of being in a dream. But he decided against the odds.

"Fine. What do you want to know?" Asked Professor.

"Fantastic." Replied the man with a tinch of excitement. "But there's a rule!"

"Rule?" The Professor exclaimed.

"Yes, a rule. You are not allowed to lie. Nobody lies in our times. Same will be applied to you. As I have told you, we have ears everywhere and you will be caught instantly. Reputation lies your hand."

"Okay." Professor sighed. "Fine. I won't lie. We can start."

SG3 took a deep breathe and started.

"For how many years you are in this profession?"

"30 years now I guess!"

"Were you always this nerdy, Professor?"

"Ah! I always knew I would do something with Science. But would end up with time travel thing, I myself never knew about it."

"How did you came up with this time travel thing?"

"Future intrigues me and past makes me homebound. There are few moments I would love to relive. And there are times I wonder if I knew what's exactly going to happen. Astrology predicts the future. Time travel won't predict. They will make you live it."

"Interesting! How do you feel about this achievement, 'Founder of time travel!"

Professor shone in pride. He continued, "No no no! I am no founder or anything like that. It has always been there. I just wanted people to be aware of it. "

"Okay, so let's talk about your personal life. Who are there in your family, Professor Fernandes?"

Professor's face turned pale at this question. It was a normal question but it brought back a box of nightmares for him.

"No, I don't have anyone with me right now. I had my wife who left me last year." Professor replied curtly.

"What had happened to her Professor?" The man asked without any expression.

"She slipped and fell off a cliff."

"Is that all?"

"None of your business!" Professor started losing his patience.

"It is! Because you are to answer every question without lying. I can even go back to the time when she had died."

"We went on a picnic that day. We never got enough time to spend with each other. It was on the other side of the hill where it gets steeper. She went too close to the cliff, she slipped and....." The professor tailed off.

The man stood up and started to leave.

"What happened? Where are you going? Why are you leaving?" Professor was taken aback at the sudden chain of actions.

"Because you are lying Professor!" Exclaimed the man. "I already told you, I know your past. I can go back to your bygone, time and again. I don't think you still believe me that I am actually here to help you with your future!"

"Alright! I am sorry. I will speak the truth!" Tears started floating in Professor's eyes.

The man sat back and Professor continued.

"My wife, Suzi, I loved her more than anything. But my science, I started loving it a little more. I never realised since when did she need external forces to define her existence. I never knew exactly when she had drifted away from me. And then one day, I found letters, hidden in the drawers of our common closet. Those were no ordinary letters. Love letters they were. I confronted her. The worst part was that she had no remorse or regret. She, instead, was too bold to ask for a separation. My ego was hurt. I was hurt. My hurted soul knew no bounds. I showed all signs of desperations, I pleaded, begged, cried, being a man. But she was stubborn and decided that she didn't want me anymore. She said, 'Your inventions, your studies, research, this is your life! I exist nowhere! I am trapped in your silver wires, please release me. You are a good man but I need more than that. I need a husband and a lover.'

Vengeance took better of me. I said I would let her go, but for the last time, I wanted to have my moments with her. She was happy. So happy. That made me burn even more. I took her to the cliff. From there, you could see the entire landscape. I hold her hands, went too close and with all my force, pushed her. She screamed, but it wasn't audible due to the noise of the stream. Police took my word when I said it was an accident. Yes I had killed her. That's the truth you wanted to know right?"

Professor didn't stop sobbing. The man offered his handkerchief. Professor accepted it and glanced outside. Suddenly, he realised that he had already reached his destination. Seven hours went just like that.

The man started to leave. Professor didn't say anything, just watched him pulling his coat and walking towards the door. Though, a second thought crossed Professor's mind, "Will you disclose this in your future land?" He asked nervously.

A half-hearted smile spreaded across the man's face. "There are bigger deals you need to be aware of. Be prepared." There was a silence all over and confusion on Professor's face.

Professor got down at the station and headed straight to the convention centre. Before he could enter, someone hold him by hand.

"Professor Fernandes, you are under arrest!" Said one of the Police men.

Professor almost lost his balance and fell. The cop pulled him up by his arm.

"What? Why?" Fumbled Professor. His fears came true but most importantly, it was happening now.

"For killing your wife, Professor!" A known voice echoed.

The man from the future was standing there, with a recorder in his hand. He played it. The entire conversation that took place in the train reverberated. People who were in the hall came outside to see what was happening. Of course, everyone was shocked by what they had heard.

"You are no future man or time travel thing. SG3 was all bullshit. Who are you?" Anguished and hurt, Professor was yet again in tears.

A similar type of pain passed the man's face. There was deep and undefined pain in his eyes. But he managed to say, "You are right. I am not from future. But I am from your wife's past! I am the one who committed the crime of falling in love with your wife. I was the one who convinced her that it was okay if she thought about herself. I was the one who made her believe that you would understand. I know I am more wrong than everyone here. My single belief costed my love's life. This was the only way to redeem myself. And, I am not SG3 now that you know, my name is James. Sorry professor."

Both stared at each other, with the same, yet different pain in their eyes. And now, both of them said their parts of truth, and there left no more lies!