The Passage Prelude and Chapter 1

Prelude

The earths heat seemed negligible to the cooling air above. It was an amazing place. Deeper than any human could have thought of, but he was there.
He checked his altitude meter. 3.5 miles below the earth's surface. Impossible. Yes by human standards he thought. Extraordinary he thought.
And he was just an ordinary man. An ordinary man on an extraordinary journey of passages. Just a month before he would have only dreamt of such an adventure, but now he was living it. He touched the walls of the cave. He wondered how someone could have built it.

But this was not built by humans, Mother Nature took care of it and a man who was a king of kings once built a passage to the embrace of mother earth. It was ingenious he thought. Being a geologist himself he never thought it possible. But this broke all the rules. And then he noticed a small crack at the cave. Something was wrong. How could the cave break now. Not broken for over a century. How could this happen now?
And then something else struck him. He was below one of the biggest sea in the world.
He turned to look back. She had also noticed.
The crack was becoming wider. They had done something wrong he thought.
And then all of a sudden, the walls collapsed and the sea came rushing through like hungry lions seeing a prey.
And all he thought of was her.

Part -I

Annoyed and irritated, he kicked the dustbin. He looked frustrated. His colleagues understood. He had just been called on by his manager. And he got even more work. Not that he would shrink work, but Saurabh had already been working fifteen hours a day for over two months now. He had asked for a break and all he had got was more work. He slumped in his chair and called his wife to tell her he would be late, yet again!. He wondered how the hell had life turned out to be so bad.

Saurabh worked as a geologist in GeoInc, a world renowned company which controlled most of the excavations, architectural trips, research and even most of the weather forecast in the world. Saurabh had joined as a fresher after his graduation in Geology at Boston University. He wanted to relocate to India and he was transferred there to work on a project that could determine the structure of a particular area well below 100 meters from the Earth's surface. It was a tough and tedious job and having an irritating manager did not help. He had been the lead geologist architect for and now was the researcher himself. The project was originally supposed to span out for 6 months but had now been dragging for over a year and was too complicated for anyone else to handle except him, which meant that no matter what his manager would not release him from this project. Worse was the fact that the job market did not look too bright for a geologist. He was in a Catch-22 situation. He was glad that his wife was in a better job. Ahhh, Ruby was so lucky, he thought.

Ruby hung up her cell and cursed her husband for being such a workaholic. Recently it had become too much. He would work for eighteen hours some days and he would not even have the mood to talk to her. She was a manager at a small outsourcing firm and though the job was tough she always managed to be at home by seven or eight. Why could he not do that? Then she thought of another question which had been nagging her for some days. Why the hell did I marry him? He is more in love with his job than with me. Tomorrow was Saturday. She decided she would give him the ultimatum tomorrow itself. Either her or his job. After having so many years of experience, could he not be in a position where he could have some time for his family? she thought. She remembered the first time she had seen him. He looked so care free then. Now his face was full of tension. He would drink often these days, to ease away work pressure. She understood that. But she also needed love. Suddenly her phone rang. She thought it would be Saurabh but it was a client. She would take care of Saurabh tomorrow, she thought, and continued her work.

Saturday morning came. Saurabh was getting dressed as she woke up.
"What time did you come" she asked in a curt voice.
"Around three. Got lucky. Told him I would do the rest tomorrow."
"Coming at three is not lucky!!! It's dumb." She said rudely
"Oh come on Ruby.. It's just a matter of three to four more months.. Let the job situation improve.." she broke him in mid sentence.
"Saurabh you know something, when was the last time you took me out for dinner? When was the last time you ever even held or kissed me? Can you even remember!!!!" She sounded hysterical, much to her own surprise.

Saurabh stood stunned for a minute and came around his wife.
"Come on Ruby, you know it's tough. I need you to be there at this time"
"What is tough? Is bloody maintaining a wife so tough for you??"
"Honey I love you.. why are you saying such things..."
"No Saurabh.. Today has to be it!!! I am sick and tired of your bloody office and everything. When did you become like this???"
He kept dressing and this infuriated her even more.
"Are you even bloody listening to me???"
"Honey, I am going through a tough phase in my job right now, and you have to understand.."

She broke him again in mid sentence.
"No Mr. Saurabh, you understand! If today you leave this home for your work, everything we have worked for is over between us! I bloody mean it!!!!" she was screaming now.
"Darling.. Come on.. What's wrong with you today.. I need you with me at this time!!
"Even I need you" she said sobbing.
"Honey... we will talk about this in the evening when I come back, ok? Please?"
She turned away and tried sleeping.
He gave a long sigh and got ready for the day. How he wished the day would end.
He did not know what this day would bring for him, but fates had something in store for him, this day would turn his world upside down. As they say, a day is enough to change one's life.
Today was that day. And Saurabh had no clue whatsoever about it.