Patient Zero

2049

Saanvi walked happily, her high heels click-clacking on the road, two shopping bags hanging from each hand. As she walked, she gazed at the roadside shops selling fancy accessories, handbags, casual wear, and back cases for smartphones. Though her shopping bug prodded her to buy some accessories, she ran late. She got several calls from her home. Mom. Sister. Dad. She patiently answered each call and assured them that she’d be back home soon.

Saanvi then stopped at a sugarcane juice shop and ordered a cup for herself. Taking little sips, she revelled in its sweetness. Just as she was about to throw the disposable cup into the bin, someone patted her shoulder. She turned and came face-to-face with an old woman. The woman was dressed in a black sari; her mane was completely white. A substantial red bindi adorned her forehead. Thick black beads decorated her neck and wrists. It was evident that she was a fortune-teller, for she had a bejewelled stick in her right hand, and held a brown leather-bound diary in her left.

Saanvi did not like such people. She wasn’t superstitious, by nature inclined towards science and mathematics. Before she could speak, the woman spoke shrilly, ‘You must be Saanvi Damodharan.’

Saanvi let out a tiny gasp. ‘Excuse me?! How do you know my name?’

‘I know the names of everyone in this town,’ the woman replied, an evil smile dancing on the corner of her lips.

‘How is that possible? Poongavanam is a small town, but you cannot know the names of the thousand people here.’

‘Poongavanam is a small town, but an unintelligent one. These thousand you speak about are the ones who migrated here in 2022 because this town perished due to people’s reckless nature. They never listened to what the world said, thinking themselves to be clever. They believed that eating bats would bring them good luck. But what did it do? It created a pandemic that lasted a year and wiped out half of the world’s population-’

‘Okay, I know about that: coronavirus and all. My mother was eight months pregnant when she migrated to Poongavanam in 2022, after the pandemic had ended, and the town had been completely disinfected. But what has that got to do with me now? I am running late. I have to go home. Here, take this hundred-rupee note. I don’t want your fortune-telling or hearing about my future or anything. I am not interested.’

Saanvi thrust the note at the woman, who declined it. She said, ‘You don’t want fortune-telling. But you’d want to hear something scientific since you’re a budding scientist.’

That stopped Saanvi in her tracks. She stared at the woman, wondering how much she knew about her.

Saanvi placed the shopping bags on the floor and folded her arms across her chest, nodding at the woman to go on. Her family could wait, but this could not.

‘Here, take this diary. It is not as ordinary as you think.’

Saanvi was reluctant to take the diary. Not being superstitious did not mean that she shouldn’t be afraid of inexplicable things.

‘Go on, take it. Only you can do this. You could save the world if you prevent the zeroth patient from spreading it. This diary allows you to travel back in time. This was given to me by a higher official, who said that Saanvi Damodharan from Poongavanam can travel back in time and save the world from the Coronavirus. When I asked him why he chose you particularly, he told me that you were born with a rare time-travel gene and only needed an object to activate it. So he prepared this diary for you. The instructions are on the first page. And yes, I tried, but I couldn’t travel back in time. If you succeed, please stop those stupid people from selling bats.’

Saanvi winced as she heard the woman speak. ‘Mch! This is so ridiculous! How can I save the world? So, if I travel back in time and stop that single event from happening, the world should never have heard about the virus. But here we are, talking about it. So, my experiment was a failure. Somehow, the virus will come and wipe out a quarter of the population. I don’t want to experiment with this.’ She withdrew her hand.

The old woman heaved a sigh. ‘Saanvi, I know you will say this. But I have another explanation. This diary was created just a few days ago. So if you use it to travel back in time and save the world, it will create another timeline - where the world remains unaffected. You’ll leave the timeline that has experienced Coronavirus and create a new timeline that hasn’t experienced the virus. When you come back to your present, all the information about the virus would have vanished. Only you’d know about its existence. In that new timeline, I will not even recognize you. Understood? Please take it. You have to do this for the world.’

Though Saanvi wasn’t totally convinced, she proceeded to receive the diary from the fortune-teller. She just wanted to get away from her as soon as possible. She discerned that it was a prank and that she’d never use the diary at home. The sorceress flashed an eerie smile when Saanvi took the diary from her. At that moment, Saanvi’s mother called her phone. 'Yes, Ma! Sorry, sorry. I will book a taxi and come in a few minutes.’

*****

Saanvi placed the diary on the desk and settled into a chair beside it. She turned the first page. Though she had decided she wouldn’t use it, something gnawed at the back of her mind, and she went ahead in using it.

Handwritten letters stared back at her.

‘Hello, Saanvi. Since you have been identified as having the time-travel gene, I have chosen you for this task. In the middle pages of this diary, you will find a sheet made with handwoven paper. Write ‘Nov 11th, 2019. Poongavanam wet market’ on it. You will then be engulfed by a force that will take you back to that date and place. You cannot write any other date or place, as I have programmed this diary so that it takes you only to that date. Good luck!’

Snorting to herself, Saanvi did as instructed. A moment later, a force engulfed her. Her eyes bulged out of their sockets as her legs took off from the floor.

And then she vanished from her desk.

*****

Nov 11th, 2019

Saanvi’s feet touched the ground. A few raindrops fell on her face as she opened her eyes. She was at the edge of the Poongavanam forest, near the wet market. It was drizzling, but a few people were still about. Fortunately, no one had seen her appear out of thin air.

‘Is this Poongavanam’s wet market? Have I really travelled back in time?’ she thought, while she pinched her cheeks to convince herself that it wasn’t a dream.

She then walked briskly towards the market, clutching the diary in her hand. If the diary was truly a time portal, then she’d have to do what was instructed in it.

‘At least I’d be doing something good, like preventing the virus,’ she reassured herself.

Saanvi looked around and read the boards, which displayed the types of meat sold in the corresponding shops. But she couldn’t see any mention of a ‘bat’. Intrigued, she approached the shop that sold mutton. A butcher was cutting up pieces for a customer.

‘Excuse me. Do you know anyone who sells bat meat here?’ she asked in a hushed tone.

The butcher looked up in disgust. He spat, ‘Bat meat? Are you out of your mind?’

‘No. But listen... Someone is going to sell bat meat here. If they do that, we’re doomed. The world is doomed.’

‘Hey, madwoman, what are you saying? Get out of here!’ the man yelled.

‘What’s going on here?’ A woman came out of the storeroom at the other end of the shop.

‘I’m looking for someone who sells bat meat in this market,’ Saanvi piped in before the butcher could speak.

‘Oh, yes! Lalitha was telling me about it. She said that an astrologer told her that selling or eating bat meat will bring good luck. So she’s going to hunt for bats tonight.’

‘What the hell?!’ Saanvi swore. ‘Where is this Lalitha?’

‘Over there.’ The woman pointed to a store two shops away, which sold turkey meat.

‘Thank you.’ Saanvi broke into a run, reached the shop, and demanded to meet Lalitha immediately. A woman in her late 40s came out and looked at Saanvi rather mysteriously.

‘Ms Lalitha, you don’t know me. But I should warn you about something disturbing. I know more than the astrologer. Please listen to me. Don’t sell bat meat. You are going to unleash something that will abolish this entire town, bringing about millions of deaths!’

‘What are you saying, madam? Really? My husband and I were going to hunt bats tonight,’ she replied, not really wanting to believe Saanvi.

‘Don’t do that, Lalitha. Please.’ Saanvi begged.

‘Hmph! But I thought I’d prosper selling bat meat. Anyway, it was a secret between the astrologer and a couple of families here, like the mutton sellers. If an outsider like you knows about it, then you must be a sorceress, and you’d know more about my destiny. I will listen to you then.’

‘Well, I could put up with that sorceress comment if it makes Lalitha stop,’ thought Saanvi.

‘Thank you, Lalitha. Does anyone know about your plan other than the mutton woman?’

‘No one else knows. I was about to tell the other families after catching the bats.’

‘Okay, don’t tell anybody, and don’t sell bat meat.’

‘Sure, madam. I promise. You can rest in my guesthouse tonight and keep an eye on us, so we don’t go hunting.’

‘Very well, okay. Thank you. I’ll stay tonight and leave tomorrow.’

‘Eff! Why did I offer to stay? What if they murder me?’ Saanvi panicked. But then she looked at the diary and felt reassured that nothing unfortunate would happen to her as long as she had the diary with her.

*****

Saanvi did a mental jig, having accomplished her mission. It was 9 PM and she was taking a walk on the forest road. It was dimly lit, but she used her phone’s flashlight. Crickets were chirping, and a slight breeze was blowing. Saanvi shivered and hugged herself for warmth. Suddenly, she heard a strange sound, like a child rubbing his molars together. And the next second, without a warning, a bird flew at her. She ducked in time, but ended up with a nasty cut on her cheek; the bird’s claws had scraped her skin.

She returned to Lalitha’s guesthouse, where the woman tended to the wound. After a sumptuous dinner of chicken biryani, Lalitha and her family went to sleep, while Saanvi watched over them, simultaneously using her futuristic smartphone to play some games on it.

The next morning, Saanvi was ready to depart. She bid farewell to Lalitha and her husband. Then she went to a nearby temple to ponder the way to return to her present. She opened the diary to see if there were any instructions. Well, the words had magically appeared on the second page. She found a secluded place in the temple, followed the instructions, and gently drifted to 2049.

*****

2049

A sob filled the entire room. Saanvi was sitting on her bed, surrounded by newspapers with articles about the Coronavirus. She was still in Poongavanam. Coronavirus had won, even though she had found patient zero. The articles still pointed to Poongavanam’s wet market as the origin, though Lalitha was not mentioned. Saanvi tried to go back once again, but the diary did not help. All the instructions had magically disappeared, and it looked like a normal diary. Apparently, it was just for one-time use.

‘I failed in a mission I never wanted to undertake. And that still hurts.’ She spoke to herself in the mirror, passing her fingers over the scar on her cheek.

Saanvi then locked herself in her room, wanting to be left alone. For two days, she feasted on the biscuits and chips that she had stocked up on. On the third day, something happened to her. She found it difficult to breathe. All her joints ached. Before she could even process what was happening to her, she collapsed on the floor.

*****

‘How is it possible? How was she affected by the virus after three decades?’ Saanvi’s mother asked the doctor a week after Saanvi’s death.

‘It’s so strange. Your family of seven has tested negative. We traced her contacts over the past two weeks. The sugarcane juice vendor, a fortune-teller who was seen speaking to her on the road, her friends... they all were tested and found negative. But the potency of the virus inside her was such that she couldn’t even experience gradual symptoms. It led straight to her death. It was like she had come in contact with the original virulent strain of the virus.’

Saanvi’s mother broke down. Her daughter’s death in 2049 due to Coronavirus would remain a mystery forever.

*****

‘How could you do this? She was a poor girl. She would have been a gift to the scientific world if you hadn’t messed with her life,’ the fortune-teller yelled.

‘Some things are destined. We cannot change them. This pandemic had to happen. Earth had to heal. Saanvi had to start it,’ the man replied in his baritone voice, his face bearing a nonchalant expression.

A wave of shock caught the woman. ‘What are you saying? Saanvi was patient zero?’

‘Yes, she requested Lalitha not to sell bat meat, but she went on to become the zeroth patient. On the night of Nov 11th, 2019, Saanvi was taking a walk on the forest road. An insane bat with this new virus clawed at her cheek. Then she came in contact with a lot of people that night and the next morning. She touched so many places with her bare hands and-’

‘The rest is history,’ the sad fortune-teller nodded. But she had to pose another nagging question.

‘Why Saanvi? If she had refused to travel back in time, the bat would have still clawed at someone else. Why did you choose her specifically?’

‘It’s too complicated to explain, but I will do it anyway. In the soul realm, Saanvi - or Falia, as she is called in that realm – is a healer of the numerous worlds that exist in the nothingness out there. She cleanses all the worlds by unleashing pandemics. Her human incarnations on the different worlds are amnesiacs who don’t remember their true purpose of being reborn. So, I have to come up with various techniques to make her do her job. In 2019, Falia was a 22-year-old student named Meera in Poongavanam. On the night of November 11th, Meera was supposed to walk on that street and be clawed by the infected bat. But she died in a freak accident that afternoon, something that even I couldn’t puppeteer with my power. It was THE moment that proved that even I could fail. So, I had to choose an alternative.’

‘I accessed the future and got to know that Falia was reborn as Saanvi in 2022, probably to unleash a pandemic much later in the 21st century. But I had to make coronavirus happen, or else Falia’s higher self, which always resides in the soul realm, would be disappointed with herself and the state of the world. So, I somehow made Saanvi travel back in time. I know she’d accept. There doesn’t exist a timeline where she didn’t choose to travel back. Everything unravelled smoothly…’ The man sighed at the end of his speech.

The fortune-teller was dumbfounded by the overload of information. All she could do was nod gently.

The man nodded too, a wild sense of satisfaction climbing over his face. Then he wrapped his fingers around his pendant, on which his name was inscribed – Absolute.