June 16 – June 30, 2015
---
The Labyrinth Beneath the Mountain
The workshop had changed. What was once an assembly floor now resembled a shrine of steel. At the center stood the completed Tunnel Boring Machine prototype, towering like some mechanical leviathan dragged from myth.
Its armored shell gleamed under the white-blue glow of drones, every seam etched with microscopic engravings designed for structural flexibility. The drill head—an immense disc of alloy teeth—looked almost alive, as though it hungered for the rock it had never tasted.
Aarya's projection hovered nearby, data cascading in neon streams.
> Aarya: "Final diagnostics complete. Hydraulic systems at 100% efficiency. Reactor core stable. All safety redundancies functional."
MC stood before it, palms pressed together as if in prayer.
> MC (softly): "Breathe."
---
First Ignition
The chamber lights dimmed. A low hum filled the air, deep and resonant, like a temple bell struck from within the earth.
The drill head shivered, then rotated slowly. Steam hissed from venting lines. The hydraulic legs shifted, pressing down with precision.
The arc reactor core pulsed to life, its glow spilling across the chamber in rippling waves. The air vibrated with energy.
Aarya's voice cut through the noise.
> Aarya: "Commencing test sequence. Bore depth target: ten meters. Estimated time: seven minutes."
The machine lunged forward, its spinning head biting into the chamber wall. Sparks showered like molten rain.
The ground trembled. The noise grew into a roar, half-engine, half-animal.
MC clenched his fists. For a moment, he feared collapse. But then—
The TBM devoured the rock, leaving behind a perfectly smooth circular tunnel. Dust control systems deployed, vacuuming particles into containment canisters.
When the serpent emerged ten minutes later, its drill head glowing faintly red, the tunnel stretched behind it like a carved artery.
Perfect.
> MC (exhaling): "It breathes."
---
Side POV – Rajendra Nambiar
In Ahmedabad, Rajendra received encrypted test footage. He watched the serpent pierce the earth with surgical precision.
The old engineer leaned back, tears pricking his eyes.
> Rajendra (whispering): "This… this is fifty years ahead of schedule. Whoever you are… you've given me my youth back."
For the first time since retirement, he felt alive.
---
Side POV – Washington, D.C.
The Geostrategic Desk lit up with alerts. Seismic monitoring stations across South Asia reported unusual subterranean tremors near an unremarkable hill town in India.
The analyst from before frowned.
> "Magnitude too low for an earthquake, too regular for mining. Something's tunneling."
She highlighted the anomaly, forwarding it to her superior.
> Report Summary – June 20, 2015
"Unidentified activity consistent with experimental tunneling equipment. Possible new infrastructure initiative. Recommend satellite imaging."
The red circle was drawn around MC's estate.
---
Back at the Estate
That night, MC walked through the newly carved tunnel with a torch in hand. The walls were flawless—smooth, curved, strong. The kind of finish no existing TBM could dream of.
He touched the stone, warm from friction.
> MC (thought): This is the artery of a new Bharat. Roads above, tunnels below. No mountain will stand in the way.
His parents thought he was resting upstairs. But beneath the earth, he was writing history in stone.
---
Aarya's Closing Words
As MC turned back toward the workshop, Aarya's voice followed him.
> Aarya: "Prototype stable. Efficiency exceeds projections by 11%. However… global seismic networks have detected the test. Probability of foreign suspicion: 42%."
MC smiled faintly.
> MC: "Let them wonder. A shadow makes them nervous. And nervous men are predictable."
He extinguished the torch. The tunnel plunged into darkness—
but the serpent's first breath had already echoed across the world.
---