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God
of a man
Infinity
Confined
“Each
choice leads to an associated set of probabilities, and one of those
probabilities becomes the source of future choice.”
Chapter
One: Fate awaits
Dated:
25th – 26th March, 2460
Nobody can ever predict
future, for future emerges out of a volatile mix of current probabilities,
where each player involved is making choices at random. One may attempt to
orchestrate synchronization amongst the major players, so as to minimize the
chances of unknown probabilities eventuating, but such an attempt is itself a
choice made out of the current available set. Such a choice would invariably
lead to a situation where there would be players, who might not be major
players, but who would eventually come to view the existing structures as a
hindrance to the natural flow of events, and thus make a choice to challenge
and disrupt the automated flow. Once again the original choice makers would
have to make another choice; to eradicate the disruptive forces. But that
choice will itself lead to another set of choices, some of which might involve
making further restrictive choices. This would lead to further challengers
raising their voice. The end result of all these choices would eventually lead
to a bigger chaos than what might have ensued if the original flow of events
had not been constricted unnaturally.
But human history is
full of stories, of empires built by mighty clans that controlled vast
territories, weeding out resistance as and when it arose. Yet none of those
empires survived the test of time, eventually falling to an ever increasing
internal disorder, and often without a decisive blow coming from any external
nemesis. It is the law of nature; new and better species will outgrow the
original flora and fauna that would have failed in the changing circumstances.
Evolution is itself a result born out of probabilities created by an existing
set of conditions. The strongest of the probabilities eventuate, and the
evolution continues.
Yes one can predict a
likely outcome from a current set of probabilities, by referring to the
behavioural patterns of a given set of protagonists. But the future is still
subject to the protagonists sticking to an expected selection pattern, without
making any random picks. If the protagonists caught in a situation make a wrong
choice, the future cannot be any closer to the prediction than Pluto is from
Sun. And then there will be a new set of probabilities to choose from.
There was water to
drown in, but not to drink. Life had played a cruel joke, and there was no one
to caress her mutilated soul. Tired, thirsty, and worst of all, lonely and
heart-broken, Jenny finally collapsed in the sands. It is hard to say after how
long, but eventually a few drops of water sprinkled on her face woke her up.
“Please wake up,
please,” a tiny little boy, barely nine or ten, crying and as lonely as Jenny,
sat next to Jenny’s sun burnt yet beautiful face.
Finally Jenny opened
her eyes, rubbing them with her hands, and then she looked at the face of the
little angel knelt by her side. “Who are you?” she asked.
“My name is Jack, and I
need your help,” the little boy stated crying, “My mother is not waking up.
Something’s happened to her.”
“Oh you poor boy,
please don’t cry,” Jenny, who couldn’t control her own tears from flowing out
like Nile, exclaimed as she put her caring hand on Jack’s face, “C’mon, take me
to her.”
And the little boy got
up and held out his hand, “She’s just over there.” With a raised hand he
pointed to the other side of the sand dune.
Jenny grabbed his hand,
got up, and rushed behind him, as fast as the boy’s tiny legs would lead them
both. The moment she reached the top of the sand dune, a surprise shook her.
There in front of her was a massive piece of mud and rock, topped by about a
hundred houses, as if someone had uprooted the entire block, and put it at a
place where it shouldn’t have been left.
“What by goodness grace
is that?” Jenny exclaimed. She then looked at the little boy and asked him,
“Where do you live?”
“Peacock on the hill,”
the boy replied, many questions of his own brimming in his eyes.
“But you were not
supposed to live there anymore,” Jenny exclaimed.
“We were living at my
friend’s place. But today everybody started crying and running around,” Jack
replied as he led her towards the massive chunk of land, “My mom said we are
going home. So we came back. And now we are here.” Just as the duo approached a
section from where you could climb up the landmass, Jack turned around and
asked Jenny, “Where are we?”
“I don’t know,” Jenny
looked at his cute little face, and replied.
They quickly climbed up
the landmass and Jenny followed the boy to his home, a few meters down the
road. The boy led her straight to their bedroom where the motionless body of
his mother lay on the bed. Jenny quickly checked her pulse, and her heart just
sunk.
“Is she alright,” Jack,
in all his innocence asked Jenny. And Jenny finally broke down into pieces.
Watching her cry made Jack cry out as well. And the two cried their hearts out.
Pain is a very
efficient teacher. It teaches that which makes one stronger, and does so much
quicker than any other incentive. Emotional pain is the best of the lot. And
the best part is; the student doesn’t even realize their graduation until the
next time a testing situation arises.
“That my dear boys is
Hat 430, a Hatsu class satellite, that you have accidently stumbled upon,”
exclaimed an exuberant Rear Admiral, as he looked on at the piece of human
engineering marvel, just as it was uplifted out of the boat and brought on
board the NSS Full Bloom.
“Sir, does this mean
any good for us,” Lieutenant Jake Reginald asked as everybody on the deck
looked on.
“It could mean a lot,
but that would depend on what it has to offer,” Rear Admiral Guruban Ahluwalia
exclaimed, “This is not just a satellite, but a complete library of entire
human knowledge that exists in the universe, at least up to the point when it
was lost by our fellow beings, much like us.”
“So can we communicate
with our folks back home using this?” another officer asked.
“That, I am afraid,
might not be possible,” Read Admiral’s reply dampened their spirits once again,
but he continued, “But it might have the answers that could lead us back to
them one day.”
“Sir, you said it is a
library, what does that mean?” Jake asked.
“Young man, ever since
our recent ancestors moved back from the Antarctica, we have been keeping and
maintaining a complete library of all human knowledge, updated every fifteen
minutes automatically, by our computer systems,” Rear Admiral’s words were
finally bringing some joy back to the soldiers, “These libraries are maintained
not just in New Saisho, but also at some other government installations across
the planet Earth, and certain classes of satellites, just in case something was
to go wrong again.”
“So does this mean it
will have a report about our going missing, as well as information about our
families?” another officer asked.
“It would have all the
information, including any new technological advances made by humanity,” Rear
Admiral explained, “So it might have some information about events that led to
our being removed out of our world.” Rear Admiral paused for a moment to have a
look at the piece of engineering, before continuing, “It looks like it is still
working. It should have all the information, including its location data, up
until the point it was lost.”
“Sir, how can we
retrieve the data?” Chief Engineer Marcus Dodd asked.
“You will have to open
it up, remove its data drives, and then use my pass key to authorize the
download and access the data,” Rear Admiral replied.
Access is a privilege,
especially when it is to your emotions. One is only as weak as their control
over their emotions, and as strong as their control over those of another.
“What happened? Where
am I?” Captain Aman Ahluwalia was finally emerging out of the drug induced
slumber.
“Will he be alright?”
Anne was immediately concerned, and Bradley, sensing trouble, immediately took
a position next to Aman.
“Jenny? Where are you?”
Aman murmured as he strained to adjust his sight to the semi dark cabin of a
spaceship flying in a pitch black space. And in a flash all his memories came
back, “Brad, you idiot, what have you done.” He didn’t just lose his cool; he
nearly jumped out of his seat, undoing his seatbelt.
Bradley immediately
grabbed him from behind and tried to push him back in the seat, “Relax brother.
Please relax and listen to me for a second.”
“Listen to you, after
what you’ve done?” Aman shouted out hoarse and resisted. “Rocker” Jean Perry, a
big man himself and a co-pilot, immediately rushed to Bradley’s aid. “Let go
off me,” Aman yelled.
“Aman, behave yourself,”
Anne intervened.
“And who are you to
tell me so,” Aman challenged her authority.
“I am the Commanding
officer of this ship,” Anne exclaimed.
“And I don’t want to be
on your ship!” Aman retorted back, “Drop me back home!”
“There is no home,”
Anne yelled back.
“Then you should have
left me there,” Aman replied.
“I so wish we had. I am
already regretting the decision to have you here,” Anne yelled back, “Can we
please drop him on some piece of rock flying by us?”
“Yeah, bravo! What a
commanding officer?” Aman chided her, “Can’t even deal with a tough situation.”
“Can you please shut
him up, put him back to sleep?” Anne almost cried out, and Bradley nodded.
While Rocker kept Aman in hold, Bradley used a sedative shot to put him back to
sleep. Anne gave the next order, “Please set him up in one of the cocoons. We’ll
deal with him at some later stage.”
Sometimes when life
gives you a choice, it really not is a choice, for an option already comes
preselected. You have an individuality that is uniquely yours, a taste and
liking, and some desires and hopes. For a given set of choices, there will only
rarely be more than one that would appeal to you on all counts. So do you
really have a choice, even when you have a choice?
The night crew were
still on in the cabin, but Anne, Chris, Bradley, Rocker and Jhiang were all up
early, for once again “Maa” was about to enter their very own solar system.
“Approaching the target
location in ten minutes,” Aslam Elahi, the man in charge of space gate mapping
and location on night shift, relayed the information.
“Prepare the
reconnaissance craft for launch, and ready the ship for re-entry,” Charles Harrison,
the second in command to Anne, was still on duty at the deck.
Margaret and Christina
Woods, the twins that fly the spaceship on night shift started preparing for
the re-entry. “Ready to launch the reconnaissance craft,” Margaret informed in
due course.
“The gate opens in
three, two, one,” Aslam started the countdown.
“Fire the craft,”
Charles ordered.
After a quick
inspection of the other side, Christina gave the all clear, and Charles gave
the go ahead. And once again “Maa” was back in the solar system, just beyond
the orbit of Mars, but everyone immediately turned to the telescopic eye, set
to spot Earth, if it was still there.
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