EPISODE THREE:NOBEL-SCIENTIST

**1971**

The air in the vintage laboratory grew heavy with tension as Karan finished recounting his unbelievable journey. Kiran stared at his future grandson, completely mesmerized. Trembling with curiosity, Kiran reached out to touch Karan's hand, wanting to confirm that the young man sitting before him was truly flesh and blood. As Karan raised his hand to meet his grandfather's touch, a sudden, unseen force erupted between them. The unknown power violently pushed Kiran backward onto the floor. Karan gasped in shock, realizing the energy had surged directly from the movement of his own hand.

Kiran sat on the floor for a moment, completely stunned, before a look of pure academic wonder washed over his face. "Oh my God... all my research is actually coming to reality! You've acquired a superpower!"

Meanwhile, inside the cozy warmth of Kiran’s nearby house, his pregnant wife, Durga, was busy preparing lunch. Helping her around the kitchen was their young neighbor’s daughter, Vaani, who was quietly arranging the plates.

Durga looked over at the young woman with a warm, maternal smile. "Vaani, all we truly want is for you to be happy and finally get married."

Vaani’s cheeks flushed a deep crimson. She quickly looked away, a shy smile gracing her lips. "Auntie, when the time is right, the right person will come."

Durga smiled affectionately, but Vaani trailed off, her eyes drifting toward the window as she secretly imagined what her true love would look like.

Back in the laboratory, Kiran was pacing excitedly around Karan's wheelchair, his mind racing with scientific calculations.

"In physics, it’s called Temporal Manipulation," Kiran explained, his eyes wide with enthusiasm. "It's a rare phenomenon where a person acquires certain superpowers while traveling through the fabric of time. Son, I am going to help you identify the full extent of these powers, and more importantly, I will find a cure for your spinal cord injury."

Relief washed over Karan, a heavy weight lifting from his shoulders. "Thank you so much, sir."

Kiran smiled warmly, then hesitated, a spark of pride in his eyes. "What is the future like, anyway? I am a popular, celebrated scientist, right?"

Karan shifted uncomfortably in his seat, a pang of guilt hitting him as he thought of the history books branding his grandfather a traitor. Forcing a nervous smile, he lied. "Yes. You are so popular."

Kiran beamed with pure excitement. "Wonderful! But listen, don't say a single word to your grandmother about any of this. She is pregnant with your father right now, and she absolutely cannot know that you are from the future."

Karan nodded understandingly. With the ground rules set, Kiran helped him change out of his high-tech bodysuit.

Moments later, Karan was dressed in a set of Kiran's regular, era-appropriate clothes. Kiran pushed the wheelchair through the front door of the house and into the dining area. Vaani, who was still busy arranging the dining table, froze the exact moment she saw Karan.

Time seemed to slow down as Karan and Vaani locked eyes. Looking at him, Vaani’s heart skipped a beat; he looked exactly like the true love she had just been imagining in her dreams. Flustered, she quickly averted her gaze, her cheeks burning. Kiran and Karan joined Durga and Vaani at the table.

"Durga, this is my new patient from the south," Kiran announced cheerfully. "He will be staying with us for a little while."

Karan and Durga exchanged warm, polite greetings. Sensing the overwhelming tension in her own chest, Vaani nervously stood up from her chair.

"Auntie, I think I’ll be heading home now," Vaani stammered, avoiding Karan's gaze. "My mother must be waiting for me."

Kiran looked up, confused. "Since when? I thought this was your new home until eleven o'clock at night."

Vaani fidgeted nervously, casting a quick glance at Karan, who was already busily eating his lunch. Durga, noticing the young girl's sudden awkwardness, smiled knowingly.

"Give her my regards," Durga said gently to Vaani. "Go on, beta."

Vaani gave a quick, grateful smile and hurried out the door.

"What is up with her today?" Kiran muttered, shaking his head. Durga simply smiled to herself and kept eating.

The moon hung high over Mumbai. Karan sat in his wheelchair by the open guestroom window, looking out at the city as it existed in 1971. His eyes wandered across the courtyard to the opposite building, where he caught sight of Vaani through her own open bedroom window. She was listening to music, dancing joyfully, and animatedly talking to herself in the mirror.

A wide smile spread across Karan's face as he watched her. *People from the seventies are unbelievable,* he thought to himself, thoroughly amused. *What on earth is she doing?*

As if sensing his gaze, Vaani suddenly turned toward her window and realized Karan was watching her. She froze in utter surprise and embarrassment. Gasping, she quickly slammed her window shut. Karan laughed softly from his room, and behind the closed curtains, Vaani couldn't help but smile too.

While the young segment of the house was distracted, Kiran spent the entire night locked away in his laboratory. He worked tirelessly, driven by a dual obsession: unlocking the mechanics of a time machine just like Karan's futuristic wheelchair, and synthesizing a definitive cure for his grandson’s paralyzed spine.

The morning sun filtered through the curtains, but Karan was still fast asleep. Durga sent Vaani to the guestroom to wake him up for breakfast. Vaani quietly pushed the door open and walked in, but stopped dead in her tracks. Karan was sleeping shirtless.

Vaani froze, her eyes widening in pure admiration as she took in his physique. Suddenly, she noticed him stirring. Realizing he was about to wake up, she panicked and quickly spun around, her back to him, her heart hammering against her ribs.

Karan blinked his eyes open, groggily rubbing his face. "Huh?"

"Auntie said... she said I should call you for breakfast," Vaani squeaked, her voice tight with shyness. Without waiting for a response, she bolted out of the room.

Karan stared at the empty doorway, a bemused smile on his face. *Why is she so skittish?*

The thought immediately made him think of Krisha. A wave of fondness washed over him. *I can't wait to get back and tell Krisha all about this crazy adventure,* he thought, smiling warmly.

After breakfast, Kiran eagerly led Karan back into the laboratory. Karan’s jaw dropped when he saw what was sitting in the corner. Kiran had successfully built his very own version of the command wheelchair time machine.

"You are truly my grandfather," Karan said in absolute surprise, staring at the machine. "You managed to create this in just one single night? Wow."

Kiran smiled widely, bursting with pride. "It amazes me too, Karan. Even though I have no intention of using it, I just like looking at it. It’s pure art." He then turned toward a tray of medical instruments, his expression turning serious. "And more importantly, I’ve officially engineered a cure for your spinal cord injury."

Karan’s breath hitched in his throat. "How? How did you do it?"

Kiran smiled confidently, picking up a syringe filled with a strange fluid. "It was actually quite simple. I took a sample of your blood while you were asleep last night and mixed it with a controlled strain of carbon monoxide poisoning. In a normal human, it would be dangerous, but in your superpowered body, it acts as a catalyst to set your cellular structure free. With this single injection, you will walk again."

Without wasting another moment, Kiran stepped forward and administered the injection into Karan's arm.

Almost instantly, Karan's head began to spin. A wave of intense dizziness washed over him, and his eyes suddenly flared with a bright, terrifying glow. The atmospheric pressure in the room shifted violently. Within seconds, the window panes shattered into thousands of pieces, the glass raining down as Kiran watched in absolute horror.

Karan let out a deafening scream of agony and power, throwing his hands high into the air. The sheer force radiating from his body ripped the heavy ceiling fans right off their mounts, crashing them into the floor as Kiran looked on in sheer shock and terror.

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