Gut feeling

The Astrotarium had now quietened down. The reporters were camping outside the hospital where the 'dead man' had been admitted.

The Government had released a press statement that they were looking into this matter . Mr. Paul Thelwal, Chief Director of the Astrotarium had stated  whatever happened as "astonishing" and "mysterious" and that Astrotarium will fully co-operate with the government to find out and provide answers to the incident.

Meg had been summoned to the senior management meeting right after the statement release. She was in charge of analysing the evidence . There were only 3 people. Paul, Anna and Leanne. The top-tier .

Only one known face. None of the secretaries were present. So much for confidential, Meg thought. Scary and exciting.

Mr. Paul had himself been present in the meeting. She had never seen the man so close before in her entire life. A 57 year old man,with a clean look. Not a single hair out of place. A few gray hair hear and there. Neatly shaved and always spotted in a fittingly tailored suit. A man who screamed 'Class'. He always used to attend the anniversary every year and would give a speech on how far science has advanced. How the day when humans beat the word is not far . And every year it is the same speech. But something about this man, maybe his charisma, makes people listen to him in awe. And Megan was one of them.

"Have you found something?" The voice of Anna Headley, One down to Paul Thelwal , made Meg snap out of the memories of the past anniversary speech.

"Not yet. We are still trying to make the machine work."

" So you haven't found a single thing yet?" Her immediate supervisor, Leanne Silverman asked.

"Nope, nothing noteworthy. Except for his first name derived from the data. No identification in our database and nothing has cropped up yet on the videos to identify the man."

"When will you finish? Why don't you get some more people work on this?" Anna questioned.

"The machine is old and the data can only be played on the machine itself. And it's a one person job and the others are busy managing the press release and pulling up the records upto 100 years back.It will take some time".

"How long before we can derive something?" Leanne queried.

" The tapes was also used as a love letter by the man. He is pouring out his heart on the tapes to pass time. I will have to listen to his story and see if he spills some useful information. I have been here all night but the machine heats up after every ten minutes. So it will take some time."

"What is his name?" This was the first time Paul Thelwal had opened his mouth during the meeting.

"Theo, Theodore." Meg replied.

She stared at the blank faces staring back at her. Like they would know a dead possibly 100 year old guy ,on a first name basis.

"Okay. Appreciate your hardwork Megan. Do tell us as soon as you find anything" Paul stood up. So did the other two. Paul smiled at her. Meg couldn't believe he knew her name.

She quickly pulled herself back and smiled back and requested permission to excuse herself back to work.

The three were still discussing something when she closed the door of the meeting room behind her.

Meg had a gut feeling. Something big is going to happen. Something bad. Very bad. She dismissed the thoughts and went back to work.

If only she had listened to that feeling. If only she had stopped then she wouldn't have had to..... .