Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 771: Big Space Dreams (1/2)

Takshashila Institute of Human Exploration, Yudaya Nagari, Akhand Bharatiya Empire

A carriage stopped in front of an isolated building right off the coast of the Dhamra Nala River.

Bala Gangadhar, adjusting his spectacles—which he had only recently bought with the bonus money he had earned due to the fireworks project he was participating in—walked towards the front gate of the large building.

The building looked pretty untouched, and there were not a lot of people, but Bala Gangadhar was surprised to find that the security was still very strict.

He could see a dozen or more soldiers carrying guns and walking around the campus, looking at him with scrutiny from the inside.

Bala Gangadhar quickly took out the recommendation and appointment letter he had been given after accepting His Majesty's invitation and passed it over to the soldier at the gate within the security house.

The guard first inspected the appointment letter to ensure it was authentic, after which he unfolded the recommendation letter. He was shocked to find that it was directly signed by His Majesty himself. His face became sombre, and he took on a very serious demeanour.

He looked at Bala Gangadhar in a different light as he carefully handed over the documents. "I have checked everything, sir. There is no problem, but could you please give me your identification card?"

"Oh! Right, sorry, here." Bala Gangadhar quickly fumbled for the Aadhar card he had kept somewhere on his body and awkwardly handed it over.

The guard compared the identity card with the database in his office, and after confirming the identity, he took out a tag as well as a card that said "Visitor" on it and handed it over.

"Please take this, sir. By tomorrow, we will give you your permanent identity card."

Bala Gangadhar wore the identity card, stashed the Aadhar card somewhere safe, and slowly walked into the building complex after taking the luggage from another security guard who had been checking it until now.

He quickly took out the map and went searching for the flight research firm. The Takshashila Institute of Human Exploration has five different branches under it—Gagana Aerospace being one, Bharatiya Space Research Organization being two, Bharatiya Samudra Submarine Research Institute being three, Institute of Archeology being the fourth, and Bharatiya Institute of Mana Chitra Vignana being the fifth.

Each of the departments has its own objectives. Gagana Aerospace is responsible for researching a way to make flight possible. Bharatiya Space Research Organization (BSRO) is responsible for figuring out outer space and its mysteries. Bharatiya Samudra Submarine Research Institute is an institute focusing on researching vehicles or technologies that could be used underwater. The Institute of Archeology is self-explanatory—an institute focused on unearthing the historic might and glory of the Bharatiya civilization. Finally, Bharatiya Institute of Mana Chitra Vignana is an institute focusing on studying maps as a science—be it maps for plotting the stars in the sky, maps to plot the terrain, maps to plot underwater, etc.

Bala Gangadhar had received an appointment not to the Gagana Aerospace per se but from the Flight Research Firm, which is directly under the Gagana Aerospace and Bharatiya Space Research Organization. So in the future, if he was successful in researching flight and wanted to branch out into specific fields, he could choose either of the two branches.

"Knock Knock!!!"

A group of five scientists who were quarrelling amongst one another were taken aback when they heard knocking on the door. All five of them looked at the door with surprise—honestly, it looked comical.

"Come in!!" Jagdish Chandra Bose yelled loudly while muttering, "Who could it be? Is it the cleaner? But isn't the lab already cleaned?"

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No wonder he had such an idea because apart from the five of them in the research firm, there was no one else.

The door slowly creaked open, and a young man in his early 20s awkwardly stood at the door.

Jagdish and the others immediately realized that this was not the cleaning man.

"Who are you, sir? What business do you have in this research institute? Have you lost your way? Were you supposed to go to the Department of Archeology?" Chandrakant Venkata Raman asked. More than 80% of all people on the campus were archaeologists, so his assumption was not baseless.

Bala Gangadhar stood at the door, stunned—not because of the question that was asked but because of the amazing equipment he was seeing in front of him, which was only seen in textbooks and never in real life.

The question brought him back to the present. "No, I think I'm in the right place. Flight Research Firm—this should be it."

"Huh?" Jagdish Chandra Bose and Chandra Shekhar Venkatraman, along with the other scientists, looked at each other in confusion.

"What's your name, Mr.?" Homi Jehangir Bhabha asked.

"It's Bala Gangadhar."

'Bala Gangadhar,' Homi kept muttering as he rubbed his forehead. It seemed like he had recently heard this name somewhere.

The other researchers felt the same—they felt like they had only recently heard this name mentioned to them.

However, Bala Gangadhar directly pointed his finger at the firework model in the corner of the room, which was undoubtedly his design, and stated, "I designed that firework."

"Ohh, that Bala Gangadhar!" Vikram Ambalal Surabai slapped his knee in realization.

"Come, come! Why are you still standing at the door? Come in, welcome, welcome!"

The five scientists quickly got up on their feet and dragged Bala Gangadhar to sit on the chair.

"My name is Jagadish Chandra Bose. You can just call me Jagadish."

"My name is Chandrashekar Venkata Raman. You can call me Chandra, Venkat, or Raman—whichever works for you."

"My name is Vikram Ambalal Surabai. You can call me Vikram or Surabai."

"My name is Meghnad Saha. You can call me Saha."

"Forget about these irrelevant things—just tell me!"

Chandra Shekhar Venkatraman excitedly pulled out a bunch of papers and almost pasted them to Bala Gangadhar's face.

"How did you design the offset nozzles?"

The others joined in as well.

"Why did you choose six fins for aerodynamics? Were there any practical considerations?"

"The locations of the fins—how did you find out the perfect location for them?"

"How did you calculate the thrust?"

"What about the exhaust velocity? How did you calculate that?"

"Hey, Bala Gangadhar, could you explain how you calculated the specific impulse?"

"Do you think you can make a larger firework?"

Bala Gangadhar didn't even have a chance to speak, but he had a smile on his face. He felt like he would fit in very well in this environment. He inherently did not fit in with research institutes and environments where it had become too formal. He liked the relaxed atmosphere; that is why, with his meagre earnings, he had started Yayu Technologies. At first, he was worried that the Flight Research Firm would be too formal, which he did not like, but he still had to give it a try since the conditions put forward by His Majesty were too tempting. But now, it looked like he wouldn't have to quit the research institute after a few years.

Bala Gangadhar patiently explained and answered one question after another. Jagdish Chandra Bose and the other scientists listened to the answers patiently, and from time to time, they had various expressions on their faces ranging from thoughtful to enlightened, sometimes even frustrated, as if they were angry that they couldn't figure out such a simple truth.

"As for how I was able to pinpoint the location of the fins, I actually ran practical tests to see how air flowed on the surface of the firework, after which I was able to figure out the unstable positions of the firework and install the fins to stabilize it."

"Oh wow!!"

"That should have cost you a lot of money—so much trial and error."

Bala Gangadhar shook his head. "I did not test it in real-life flights, but I simulated it in the lab."

"Huh!~"

"How!!"

Bala Gangadhar hesitated, but he decided to show them.

He went over to the Pooja area, took out all the Sambrani in stock, and went to the place where his firework was displayed.

He opened the cabinet door and positioned the firework at an absolute 180 degrees, making it lie parallel to the ground.

"Can I remove these two boards?" he asked.

The scientists quickly understood that he was giving them a demonstration, so as soon as he asked, before he could take action, they jumped into the task, quickly took out screwdrivers, and removed the boards exactly in front of the firework and behind it.

"Do you need anything else?"

'Ideally, I would have preferred for the firework to be suspended with some elastic object so that we can see where it is unstable, but for demonstration purposes, this should do for now,' he muttered, looking at the firework placed on top of a metal platform.

"I need a small hand-operated fan."

"Hey, Venkat, go get it quickly—it's on my desk," Jagadish Chandra Bose quickly nudged.

In the meantime, Bala Gangadhar cut out strips of paper and attached each one of them at certain points on the firework.

Finally, everything was in place.

To be continued...