26 The Queen of the Hearth Part 26

As Kamal and Jassi had planned beforehand, Jassi went out on the pretext of finding a job for herself so that she can move out. Since Sukkhi already expected her to do so, she allowed her readily. Jassi would go to Kamal's college and wait for him until he can join him. Kamal had told Jassi how she could reach the college through public transport and also that she should take about 1 hour 15 minutes to reach the college. Kamal left the house two hours later at his normal time. Since he would be driving to college, it should take him about 30 to 45 minutes to reach the college depending on the traffic on the way.

When Jassi came out on the road, she wondered whether she could still run all the way to college. After all, she had ran across several cities (including Delhi) when she escaped Rajeshwar's hell. She opened Google Maps on her phone and searched for the directions for the 'walker'. She studied the map carefully for two minutes and then, started running. Jassi found that running exhilarating. It was as if she was in her element. She also found that she was much faster now.

Everything around her was a blur. It was if she was playing a high-speed car racing game in a virtual world. Still, she could make out the lights and major signs and where and when to turn left or right. Luckily, she could also figure out if a man or a car or a truck was in her way and she could meander through the traffic without reducing her speed. She saw everyone and everything on the way but her mind hardly had time to register their faces or expressions or dresses or shapes or colors before she was a kilometer or two away from an individual already. Her mind refused to keep up with her speed but her intuition and subconscious were guiding her perfectly.

It took her just 13 seconds to reach the college. Jassi was surprised. She started running and zip! She was at her destination. She had run at the speed of 1000 m/s even though she had not been training for last several months!

It is November 2018. The completion of the pet project of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi – running the Bullet Train in India – is still a few years away. Even when it will get completed, the maximum speed of bullet train was expected to be 320 km/h or 88.89 m/s. It was quite confusing. How is this possible? How and why is she so fast? She had not even broken into sweat yet and she was not a tad tired.

Jassi had a lot of time at our hands. Kamal must have not left his home yet. She quickly checked the speed of a jet plane. It was 885 km/h or 245.88 m/s. She was more than 4 times faster than a jet plane. Why? She remembered that she was never this fast. She managed alright in the compulsory races but she was never an athlete or never got selected for the track games. She was known for her sharp mind and not her fit body. Why and how is she acquiring superpowers? Is her origin somehow related to Maa's demon and angel story?

Speed. She has to find the limits of her speed and her stamina – and whether she has some other superpowers too. It should give her an edge over the 48-year old angel-demon girl touched by human and yes, over Renny and Rajeshwar too. She has to know more about herself.

Speed again. Now, Jassi wanted to find what her speed was equivalent to. Speed of sound in air is 343 m/s. She was better than that. She had a supersonic speed! Speed of supersonic aircraft is 343.33 m/s. What about hypersonic aircrafts that have speeds far greater than sound? She found that Boeing was developing a Mach 5 aircraft which travelled at five times the speed of sound. Ummm, she was only a little over four times faster than sound which means that she was slower than this new hypersonic aircraft which was still a concept.

Jassi was a bit disappointed. She was not a superheroine without limits. The world is already catching up to her. She read the name of the college where she was standing. It was named 'Hansraj College' which would translate in English as the College of the King of Swans. Jassi smiled warily. There was greenery in the college's campus but there were no swans to be seen.

Jassi had been to Hansraj College two or three times before – with her friends when she was studying in college herself. She had never connected this college with her uncle or even her father (who was Kamal's colleague). She never knew as a baby she had lived here. She had forgotten her parents' names and faces, her home, her life as a child. She was five years old! She should have remembered anything.

No, she could not let herself go that way. There is no time to get depressed. She has much to do right now. There was no one there in the college yet. Jassi knew she could run to Preet Vihar and back a few hundred times but she was not sure of her stamina. She decided to make a few rounds of the college and check her stamina.

She began running and soon achieved her hypersonic speed where everything was a blur to her. She was in her hundredth round when someone's hand suddenly shot out and grabbed her hand. She was running so speedily that the man stumbled with her for a few steps before he could stop her with his super-strength.

Jassi weight 45 kg. Her speed was 1000 m/s. It must have needed a lot of force to stop her.

Jassi remembered the formula or Force was:

F=MA,

Where:

F was Force

M was Mass

A was Acceleration

In her case, she decelerated to a halt almost instantaneously but if the same formula worked, she must have exerted the force of:

45 X 1000 = 45,000 N (Newton).

If she remembered correctly, Newton was the measure of force.

What does that mean? Well, she would figure it out later. First, she had to deal with this man.

The man was old and looked like a beggar.

"Who are you?", Jassi barked. Her hand was hurting. She was not sure if she was hurt or not. But before she could get angry, her eyes widened.

"Were you the man who tried to contact Maa?"

The man nodded but also signed her to keep quiet and go somewhere with him.

Jassi was not sure if she could trust him but what options did she have? If she missed this opportunity, where would he find him? She looked at the watch and nodded her agreement. The man took her hand and said, "Run with me."

It was a risk Jassi had to take. She still had two hours. May be she could come back here before Kamal. She sincerely hopes so.