Chapter Eighteen: Hoping of hope

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God Of A Man

Infinity Confined

“Everyone cherishes acknowledgment, especially of traits they never realized they had.”

Chapter Eighteen: Hoping of hope

Dated: 31st October, 2460

Acknowledgment plays an important part in human experience, even if it might not be a complete packet in itself. When someone acknowledges they were wrong, it provides a sense of fulfilment to the one wronged, even though punishment or restoration might still be needed to make good their loss. When someone’s greatness is acknowledged, it brings a relaxing calm to their persona, even though a reward commensurate with their efforts might still be needed. Acknowledgment works on feelings, while physical awards are merely a matter of social convenience, to keep pursuit of social good a worthwhile undertaking.

People often achieve mastery in fields they invest their single minded dedication to, and mastery invariably brings laurels in due course. However, the most cherished moments of such greats often include very fond memories of times when they were lauded and acknowledged for something they never invested their time or effort in. Every man or a woman, irrespective of how successful they become in a field disconnected from physical traits, cherishes most the moments when they were approved for their looks by the opposite sex. Fashion became an industry because even those who don’t have the appetite to invest efforts in looking good, have always cherished attention their style statement might generate. The show is to invite attention, even though the invitation might not be an expression of interest beyond admiration. Acknowledgment works magic when it is the least expected, and especially for what it never was imagined for, even if it might have been wished for.

But those who acknowledge also have the right to expect something in return, from insignificant to precious. Fans expect unadulterated appeasement of their insatiable desire for more work. Enemies expect an honourable deal. Lovers expect unconditional love, while, haters expect respectful release. This right to have something in return is based on the fact that acknowledgment is not a right, even though it is always desired. Acknowledgment is the extra benefit that comes at an extra cost, for it never comes alone, but always accompanied by an award or reward.

“Jack! Jack,” a concerned Jenny had been searching for the kid for almost half an hour now. The days had been consistently warming up, with no winter respite in sight, and Jenny feared the worst for their health.

“I miss you mom,” a sad Jack however, unaware of Jenny’s search that was all over the place now, had returned to their house, and was sitting by the side of his mother’s grave, “But don’t worry about me mom. Jenny loves me just like you. I love her very much.” And Jack wiped a tear of his cheek before continuing, “But she is always sad. Could you do one little thing for me, and please send Aman back to Jenny? I am too small to go out and find him. She cries every day and I don’t like it.”

Jenny, who had just returned after searching around the entire neighbourhood, overheard the little guy, and a smile grew on her lips. “Jack,” she exclaimed as she stepped forward, intent on being stern with the young boy for his misdemeanour, “How many times have I told you not to stay out late in the afternoon? Do you know how hot it is?”

“I am sorry Jenny,” Jack turned around and replied apologetically before getting up dusting his clothes, “I was just coming back when I saw two beautiful little flowers by the side of a rock.”

“Flowers?” a surprised Jenny asked.

“Yes flowers,” Jack confirmed it again for her, “And I was like; maybe I should pluck one for mother, and the other one for you.”

“So did you?” Jenny asked.

And Jack put his head down ashamed, “No, I just left them there?”

“But why didn’t you pluck them?” a curious Jenny asked.

“You always say the heat here will never let any flowers grow,” Jack reminded Jenny of her statement made on an earlier occasion, “They are beautiful, and if I had plucked them, they both would have died. But I wanted them both to live.”

“Oh that is so beautiful Jack,” Jenny exclaimed with delight, “That was so thoughtful of you, to not pluck them.”

“Jenny, will more flowers grow now?” an innocent Jack asked as he looked up to Jenny for an answer.

Life will always take its own course, for life is not just about everything you do in your world. It is also about what everybody else in your world does. The only thing in your hands is to do your best, and then hope that so would everybody else. And if that doesn’t happen, then you might as well be ready with an alternate plan.

“Gentlemen, I am pleased to announce the nomination of Chief Engineer Marcus Dodd for ‘Excellence in Service’ award, and Lieutenant Jake Reginald and his team for ‘Meritorious Service in Peace Time’ award,” Rear Admiral Gurubaan Ahluwalia was addressing his men in a modified military ceremony, “As soon as we either get back to Earth, or we get in touch with Commander-in-Chief of Humanity in turmoil, Miss Anne De Villiers, I will forward the recommendations for the official confirmation.”

Everybody greeted the announcement with claps and loud cheering, even though everyone was forced to attend the ceremony in an unconventional way, confined to their seats or cubicles. Neither the spaceship was a place that could afford the luxury of space for a gathering, nor were their jobs easy.

“Sir, it’s a shame we’ve built this masterpiece, and yet no one else knows about it,” Chief Flight Officer Antonio Marks quipped with a sad tinge to his comment.

“Don’t worry young man,” the Rear Admiral replied, “Grace can be delayed not denied, to the one born with passion. This masterpiece will get its share of limelight in due course of time.”

Being in the limelight is also an instance of intense vulnerability. While those outside the limelight seek to push the one inside out, those inside the limelight cannot see who in the dark is throwing the barbs at them.

“The results are pretty encouraging,” Doctor Harvey informed the Defence Core Committee, “The alien Science is completely interposable with ours. As it happens to be the case, the charge distribution across the atomic structures of this universe might be in reverse to that of ours, but the elements making up the matter are similar in nature and character to those of our universe. It is science at its’ bewildering best.”

“So we can use their design for our purposes?” Anne asked.

“Now that would take some more time to be assessed, for Mr. Jhiang and Mr. Elahi are still working on a computer model to test it,” Doctor Harvey replied, “But I am pretty sure that shouldn’t be a problem, because their spacecrafts fly well, and in fact really well in this universe. There is no reason why any craft of similar design and make constructed by us won’t fly provided we have fuel to burn inside it. The job of the fuel is to provide energy, whatever that fuel is; and a spacecraft is only designed to fly.”

“That sounds really positive going forward into our second week Doctor Harvey,” Charles quipped, but before he could say anything more, a huge shock wave rocked the ship and emergency sirens were immediately turned on.

“What the hell happened now?” Aman exclaimed, but he wasn’t left hanging in suspense for too long as Christina informed everybody on the speaker the terrifying reason.

“We’ve got company,” Christina’s shocked voice boomed on speakers.

“Damn these bastards,” a frustrated Bradley punched his fist into the table in front of him and got up to leave.

“Where are you heading to?” Aman quickly asked, but Bradley didn’t stop to reply. He just kept walking, towards the hatch; grabbed a rope and tied it around his waist, opened up the hatch and jumped out; without any helmet or space suit; intent on taking the adversary’s hits on his body but save his spaceship if he could.

When the circumstances are dire, the response cannot be any less urgent. But should you be left with no response, than your grace shouldn’t fail you in your suffering.

*************

OK, this is about 35% of the chapter. The rest of the chapter can now be purchased as a part of the complete novel from Amazon Kindle at:

http://www.amazon.com/God-Man-Infinity-Amanpreet-Rai-ebook/dp/B01EOK5O5M

Now as to why you may wish to read the rest of it; well, there’s not much left in the novel except for:

The ususal twist in the tail, which you would eventually get to know once I’ll start releasing the next book in the series.

A cameo that I will not mention in the next book, so you won’t know unless you read the chapter in full.

But, it’s really not that much, is it?

*************

Chapter Seventeen: Home is always warmer

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God Of A Man

Infinity Confined

“Love forever will be judged by the yardstick of a mother, and comfort by the yardstick of a home.”

Chapter Seventeen: Home is always warmer

Dated: 24th October, 2460

Comparisons come naturally in chronology, after the discovery and identification. When a person finds something, their first instinct is to understand what it is, and the next is to classify. But to classify, one needs to compare the unknown or the little known, with the well known. This is where subjective evaluations come into picture. Each person experiences life differently, and have different perceptions about what they already know. So there might be a tendency to misjudge the place value of the new find. A scientist knows this pitfall, and puts extra effort to ensure the objectivity of his observations and judgment is maintained. This is why the scientific method is so important.

But some experiences however are common to all mankind, even when someone might not have experienced them at all. Consider the examples of children who lost their mothers when very young, or the homeless. The two will never experience the love of the mother or the warmth of a home, respectively, all their lives, and yet they know exactly how what they have missed must feel like. This is because of the inherent instinct amongst humans, to construct emotions, feelings and experiences out of nothing, by the sheer power of imagination.

Then of course, as would happen in the due course of life, one will invariably find love, and one will invariably end up at a temporary resting place. And yet, the point of comparison for the new experience would always rest around the depth and warmth of the love of their mother, or the comfort and warmth of their home, as the case may be. These later two represent the epitome for the two classes of experience, and will remain so, until the day mothers will stop caring for their kids, and there would no longer be a place called permanent home for the people to live the major part of their lives in. The attachment points will simply no longer exist, and thus too the comparison metrics for the basic human need of security.

The entire crew of the Spaceship ‘Maa’ had been eagerly awaiting the return of their own kind for two days, ever since Margaret first informed them that Bradley had been picked up. The basic details of the experience had been shared between the Defence Core Committee members, the highlights and stories however were in search of a better time.

“Brother, good to see you back,” Captain Aman Ahluwalia was the first to welcome him back with a warm hug.

“It’s good to see you again too, brother,” Bradley reciprocated. It appeared as if the presumed misgivings of the escape from Earth have finally seized to haunt the duo’s delicate relationship, or have at least for the moment.

“Captain Connors,” Anne however had much business to take care of, “Good to see you back, and it is really a shame we can’t allow you any rest. The Core Committee has got some real problems to discuss solutions of; right now!”

The power of right now is the power of urgency. It demands immediate action. The worst will not happen unless the right now has been missed.

“Sir, why can’t we just go and find our earth instead?” the co-pilot of NSSS Full Bloom, Gerry Gold, asked his commanding officer, Rear Admiral Gurubaan Ahluwalia.

“The problem is that we have nothing to offer to the world even if we find it first,” the Rear Admiral replied, “We can go looking for our earth first, but then even if we find it, we will have no solution to offer for their troubles.”

“But Sir, can’t we look for the solutions later?” Gerry asked.

“We can, but it would become all the more difficult,” Rear Admiral replied, “We are already running behind schedule of our counterparts on NSSS Maa, and the more time we will spend going back to find the remaining earth, further back we will fall, almost to the extent that we might not be able to assist our people at all. Besides, we are not even sure if the remaining earth still exists.”

“But Sir, that could be the case with our counterparts on NSSS Maa as well,” Lieutenant Jake Reginald expressed his doubts, “Who knows if they are still on course, and have not been attacked by the alien company whose activity was captured by our radar?”

“Yes, the chances of finding either our Earth, or our friends on NSSS Maa appear to be slim,” Rear Admiral weighed on the thoughts, “But the problem with going for the first one is; we would be further detached from the job we have on our hands, than going for the latter. If we go after our counterparts, we would still be looking for a new home, while if we go back for our earth, we would be wasting time in finding our earth first, and then starting the search for a new home all over again, from the scratch, but at the disadvantage of a long delay. Compare this to the situation where we find a new home first, before we find either of the two. In that situation we would have a place to settle first, and then launch rescues in either direction, perhaps even simultaneously. And in this later scenario, time will not be a restriction on us.”

Restrictions are meant not to stop the future from happening, but to try and alter it. Future will materialize in time, but restricting the present might alter its character, or so is hoped. But the problem with restrictions is; they let the ailments aggregate, so much that when the future finally arrives, whatever it brings gets undone by the rotten substrate it is left to operate upon. This is why it is so important to not restrict the flow of the present, but rather to guide it in a meaningful direction.

“Jack, wake up,” a brighter looking Jenny nudged the young one, to try and wake him up from his long deserved sleep, “Look, I’ve made a special vegetable soup for you.”

“Jenny, you are alright, yeah,” the cheerful lad’s joy knew no bounds when he found his saviour up and brimming with light and warmth.

“Yes I am, and you know what that means,” Jenny exclaimed as she gave him a warm hug, “We are continuing your studies today.”

“Oh, kill joy,” and immediately the boy’s shoulders dropped by two levels to the floor.

In spite of their appearances, need and necessity are not the same. A man’s need might extend to the whole world and beyond, depending upon his greed, but his necessity is always limited by the urgent demand of his situation.

“I wish I could have put it any differently,” Bradley exclaimed at the end of a long drawn out discussion about the future of the mission, “But unfortunately we have no choice. Our fate has exposed our vulnerability right into our faces, and howsoever we may wish to, we cannot escape the cruel reality as it stands right now.”

“But what you are suggesting Captain Connors,” Anne however counter argued once more, “Will not only hold us back on this pitch dark planet for months, if not years, but is also based on an untested hypothesis. How do we know the alien science that you have learned, the technology you have stolen, the one that belongs to a race of an entirely different Universe, can actually be extrapolated onto our scientific knowledge? How do we know we can actually build spaceships like theirs’, from the matter that exists on a planet of our universe? And we are yet to discuss how to arrange for everything that is needed to bring to life such a magnum opus, and how to build things from the scratch.”

“We have two weeks, as you’ve already mentioned, of hanging around the periphery of this planet, trying to fix our broken ship,” Bradley replied to her queries, “This should be enough for our scientific team to figure out whether what I have to share can be extrapolated onto our scientific knowledge. And in the meantime, while we would be circling around this planet, we can scan it’s subsurface for valuable information about metal contents it holds, and where to find them. From there on, it would just be a matter of getting down there and building the new spaceships, the ones that would carry humanity forward safely and fast across the space.”

“The problem is not that we can’t figure out what you are suggesting, in the time that we have been forced to hibernate for,” Anne however persisted in her reluctance to the proposal, “The problem is that at the end of our forced hibernation, we will have no time to waste but head for the next space tear straight away. If we were to continue on the plan that you are suggesting, we would miss not just that one, but potentially the next ones too. And the worst part is; there is no way of predicting today if what you are proposing would actually provide us a ship that is as capable as what you want us to hope it would be.”

“There is no reason why our scientific team will not be able to assess the merits of the proposed model before we embark on such an expansive plan,” Bradley however countered her argument again, “And besides the point is; we don’t need to build new ships because they would be faster or deadlier. Rather we need to build new ships because they would be safer. These aliens are the second people we have already encountered on our journey, whose technology is far more superior to ours. This time we have managed to survive, but only so far. Next time we may not be so lucky.”

“But why should we only expect hostility?” Charles Harrison asked him this time.

“Because we are not yet out of the hostile space in the first place,” Bradley replied, “And secondly, the possibility of future hostility is as much alive as much the probability of that not being the case. The choice rather is; are we going to be the sitting ducks again, can we afford to, or are we going to give us the edge that we need for even peaceful negotiations.”

“I don’t think we have much choice in this matter,” Chris Davis finally decided to add his weight behind Bradley’s proposal, “We need the upgrade, and right now we are in a position where we have possible resources at our disposal. Tomorrow we might not have such a largesse, should we find ourselves in a similar situation.”

“What do you suggest Captain Ahluwalia?” Anne asked Aman for his opinion on the matter.

“It is true we are supposed to make a decision based on probabilities,” Aman started his reply on a reflective note, “But the factors that probably weigh in the favour of the proposal are, as mentioned by Chief Flight Officer, the current availability of resources. We can deal with any situation provided we are ready and able to deal with any situation. Without this level of preparedness, I think it would be foolhardy to embark on a mission. Captain Connors’ suggestions are worth taking a note off. Besides, we are not supposed to make a decision until our scientific staff have really had an opportunity to critically evaluate the knowledge Captain Connors brings to us.”

“But what makes you two think that the aliens won’t come looking for us right now and destroy us while we have still not repaired our ship?” Anne asked the most obvious question.

“There is a very small chance of that happening,” Bradley replied, an uneasy confirmation of her worst fears, “And if that happens we are doomed. But something tells me that won’t be the case.”

“And what makes you so sure?” Anne however was immediately curious about the faint light of hope Bradley had to offer.

“These people are already in the middle of a major Universal conflict,” Bradley replied, “A reason their mighty forces are not already looking for our backs is that most of their manpower has been dispatched to the frontlines. They only have basic defences in place, and the kind of damage this little incident between us has caused them, I am sure they would be reluctant to embark on such an adventure anytime soon.”

“Wait; did you say a Universal conflict?” Aman was immediately interested in knowing a bit more about the aliens’ current engagement.

“Trust me, we are not the first ones who have stolen their technology,” Bradley replied, “Apparently some very inferior race that they tried to use to their ends, stole their technology and has now developed into the newest most powerful race of their Universe, decisively tilting the balance of power in favour of their adversaries. And now these guys are at the receiving end of the war that they were originally winning comfortably.”

“Who are these guys?” Aman asked out of curiosity.

“They call themselves Tyrenes,” Bradley nonchalantly replied, “But that’s not the most interesting aspect about their story. Guess what the race that stole their technology is called?”

*************

Chapter Sixteen: Made of light

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God Of A Man

Infinity Confined

"A man or a woman made of light, make people around them glow."

Chapter Sixteen: Made of light

Dated: 22nd October, 2460

A star radiates light, but it feels hot, for it burns itself up making that light. A star’s light falls on a planet and makes it glow, but its’ light is cold for it only distributes what doesn’t belong to it. Same is true about individuals born with a passion, or inside whom passion rises. They radiate energy through their actions and words. Their passion attracts people towards them, and the admiration that arises in those lovers; make the lovers glow when they are around the passionate. But passion doesn’t necessarily have to be rebellious. It could be a simple passion for life, like in those who live life with a light or adventurous heart, and make lives of those around them, worth living by the sheer stamp of their ingenuity.

Then there are people who glow with contentment, for their life has been made easy by the impact of those who touch their lives. Their glow is the borrowed glow that they carry away from their interactions with others. They may be easy to be around with, but lack the warmth and passion that would make those around them take a bit of that glow along.

Then there are those who carry the burden of life, for someone has to carry it and none else can, for it is their own life. Try living around such people, and you might start admiring privacy with vengeance.

Jenny was a fighter, and even though she might have been beaten black and blue by her fate, she held on to the fragile thread of life. Little Jack had been by her side all the time while she had been falling in and out of sleep.

“Please don’t leave me Jenny,” little Jack cried as he caressed her arm with his tiny hands, as if pleading with her to wake up, and his head bent over as he tried to stop his tears with all the might of his eyelids. But one treacherous tear betrayed him and fell onto Jenny’s soft skin.

“No, I will never leave you,” a weak Jenny almost whispered, as she used all her strength to lift her arm and place her hand over Jack’s head, “I promise!”

Promises are accepted with a hope of fulfilment. If it wasn’t for the readiness of those who accept the gift of promise and agree to wait for it, promises would lose their utility in entirety.

“It’s been eight hours since Captain Connors left,” Charles reminded Margaret, who had been left behind in a small emergency craft, to wait for Captain Bradley Connors. “But we’ve been informed that Captain Connors possibly doesn’t need oxygen,” he continued, “But we have also decided not to force our decision on you, and rather leave the choice with you as to what you want to do.”

“I have food supplies for two days, and water for a few more,” Margaret replied without even pausing to give it a thought, “If we are not leaving on our journey anytime soon, I’ll start my return when I’ll hit the last couple of litres.”

Good people don’t need to be reminded of what they need to do. They might however need to be advised about what they don’t know, or what might have skipped their attention. Otherwise, they won’t be good anyway.

The rock might have been ground to dust, but Bradley stood up like a rock, surprising his enemy. More shots were fired at him, but this time Bradley dug in his feet, and his body didn’t move an inch. However, an enemy craft emerged from behind the huge structures where Bradley had been provided with an audience earlier. The craft swung around the corner and headed straight to a startled Bradley. The shot was quick, and the laser strength huge.

As soon as the laser beam hit where Bradley was, an energy explosion resulted, with light and sound emanating out in all directions, blinding and deafening everyone who witnessed it. But faster than the energy exploding out of the site where Bradley stood, it was sucked back into Bradley; an implosion that made Bradley glow like a torch made of laser light.

An enraged Bradley gave out a mighty war cry and pumped a fist towards the craft in a gut reaction, but what happened next surprised everybody, including himself. A laser beam emerged out of his fist and shattered the craft into pieces. Bradley might have lost a bit of his glow in the aftermath of the shot, but the aliens had lost much more; their confidence. Those present at the site looked at Bradley, who looked at his fist, albeit blankly. Finally Bradley gave the attention to his company, and just out of another gut reaction, thrust his hand towards the enemy combatants, with his finger stretched out and pointing to them. Five smaller laser beams shot off, taking two enemy combatants out in an instant, while two others barely survived with their desperate evasive dives. The fifth one was just a directionless shot that took out an insignificant structure in the background. But what the five shots had taken out in an instant was much more; the enemy’s appetite to chase on foot.

Bradley, for the first time, felt power like he had never felt before, the power that he had never had before. But there was no time to be wasted. More crafts were rising around the horizon, heading towards him. He might not have been destructible so far, but he was still vulnerable to capture. Run he had to! And that’s what he did. He knew exactly where he had to go, but no one else did. The biggest surprise however was; he ran not like a sprinter. He literally flew like a laser beam, nearly at the speed of light, until his glow faded out.

A fade out is inevitable if active rejuvenation is not undertaken. Deterioration is inherent in nature; it is called ageing. But ageing wine is always the exception; and knowledge is a wine that gives a heady feeling of its own.

“Sir, don’t you think we should start looking for a habitable planet in this universe, rather than following the space tear route,” an inquisitive Lieutenant Jake Reginald asked.

“Not necessarily,” Rear Admiral replied after a brief thought, “Firstly, we need to get in touch with our people that we know are still alive, for that would give us someone other than us to bond with. Then we need to figure out which universe would be better, for if our Chief Engineer is correct, then we might need to develop a model to figure out how the two universes would end up after their rendezvous. And only then can we decide where to find a new abode for humanity, and then much later, start a search for the remainder that is currently lost.”

To find new ways one has to either get lost first, or lose something first. Desire and need can be very powerful drivers of destiny. Curiosity and greed however could lead to similar discoveries too, but often much more, for in these cases the search is not bound by a pre-determined aim. The height of efficiency is however reached when need and greed come together in an unstoppable combination.

If anyone thought that the first reaction of Bradley would be to find an escape from the planet, they wouldn’t have been any further apart from reality. Bradley instead ended up right at the gates of the biggest alien research and development facility. Yes there were guards and there were gates. But no one had yet warned them!

That Bradley wasn’t welcome on that planet was not something he didn’t already know. That he didn’t care for what stood in his way was more out of his need than foolhardiness, or indulgence in new found power. He quickly neutralized the guards at the gate, and passwords would no longer stop him anyway. The sirens were on everywhere, yet Bradley knew where exactly he needed to go, and how to get there.

The two alien scientists were taken by surprise, but their weapons wouldn’t kill Bradley and he didn’t leave them on his unwilling hosts for long. But scared wouldn’t be the word that would describe the emotions his hosts experienced. Disarmed yet proud they stood, ready to die but not to divulge anything Bradley might have had to ask of them. Surprisingly for them however, Bradley didn’t ask anything. He just pointed the weapons relieved of their hands, back to their heads, and pretended to shoot. But even more surprisingly, Bradley smiled and handed the weapons back to them. He waved them a goodbye, and escaped out of their room, leaving them flummoxed. He had four more rooms to visit in the facility, which he duly did, yet no one understood what he was doing. Within a matter of minutes Bradley had done what he had intended to do.

But if he thought it would be an easy escape, then that was not going to be the scenario. An entire company of enemy had laid seize to the facility, and this time they had clear instructions; not to fire directly on Bradley, but all around him, to bamboozle him. The plan was to capture him alive, and cages and traps had all been readied. Unfortunately for the aliens though, Bradley had already figured out the secret escape route designed for the benefit of the best of the alien brains, should the facility ever comes under a hostile attack. And Bradley didn’t need an invitation to use what he knew.

Before the aliens figured out what had happened, Bradley had already escaped miles behind their backs, on an escape all terrain shuttle designed for use by their own kind. This time however, he headed straight to where everyone might have expected him to head to in the first place; the alien military space-port. The surprise was on his side, and the small escape shuttle had enough power to engage the clueless defenders of the facility. Unwittingly they handed Bradley the power that he needed, and Bradley made full use of it. Within minutes he was on the tarmac, having neutralized nearly ninety percent of the port’s defences, and he headed straight for their deadliest craft to date.

The backup was on the way, but Bradley was up in air before anyone could have stopped him. And once in the air, the naughty army man wouldn’t escape without destroying the first alien fleet that was flying in to stop his mayhem. This he needed to do, to give him a head-start in his escape. Chase was imminent, but it was in his interests to put it behind by as many minutes as he could.

Minutes can however be long or short, depending upon which way the urgency is inclined. If someone is waiting urgently, they are long, and when someone is engaged urgently, they are short.

The day had been long for Margaret, who had been sitting in a craft whose engines were running, but it was going nowhere. For the first time in her life she realized what every tree and plant must have experienced their entire lives; time never ends.

“Oh Bradley,” she exclaimed out of frustration for the first time, for so far she had only called out the name in hope and desperation.

But desperate is not the one who has run out of resources, dejected that person might be. Desperate is the one who is instead looking for them.

Bradley had lost his wireless handset along with his attire, when he was stripped to his skin by his then holders, and put into the new attire that ended up in tatters when he escaped. He did manage to get hold of a new set of clothes, but there was no way to contact his people for either assistance or rescue. He was flying fast towards an unknown future, but certain that someone would be waiting for him somewhere.

While he set the radar on his machine to detect a blimp of familiar, he set out onto another system trying to calculate something.

“One hundred and ten miles it would have to be,” he exclaimed once his calculation were over, although his statement would have made no sense to whoever wasn’t inside his brain reading his thoughts.

He immediately set onto another set of tasks, setting the craft up in some way, while he kept looking at the radar screen at the same time.

“There it is,” he exclaimed as soon as his radar detected a blimp in the unknown space. “Two alien minutes to go,” he exclaimed as he looked at the alien clock, and then at the alien distance measurement. He immediately punched in a few more commands into the craft’s system, before jumping out of the seat and rushing towards the hatch. He quickly opened the hatch and jumped out. It is hard to say whether he forgot the helmet, and whether he needed to carry any of the alien air supplies to survive in space vacuum, but he jumped nevertheless.

Faith might give hope, but rationality gives the reason. And it is reason which allows a calculated risk likely to succeed. An unreasoned risk is an invitation to failure.

Margaret, having stared out into the pitch black for too long, finally dozed off in her seat. But the thud was not only loud enough to shake her out of her sleep; it shook the craft in its entirety. “What the hell,” she exclaimed in horror and nearly jumped out of her seat, “Shit, I let my craft get hit by a rock.”

But that was no rock that hit her. A bright light was flashed from outside her craft’s front screen, strong enough to light the insides of her craft’s cabin that was barely big enough for four people to stand comfortably behind the seats. The light was then turned away by the pointer, towards own face. It was Bradley straddling her craft’s front, an alien torchlight in his hand. He had made a hundred and ten alien miles journey in space within a matter of few seconds, thanks to the inertia thrust provided by the craft he had jumped out off.

“Bradley,” a shocked and surprised Margaret exclaimed.

Bradley however gestured her to open her craft’s hatch, which she duly did, and then jumped out of her seat to assist him get inside. A rope was stretched out of the hatch that Bradley grabbed, and then wasted no time in climbing inside. But no sooner had he landed inside, closing the hatch, an excited Margaret jumped on to him.

“You made it, yeah,” she exclaimed as she straddled him in excitement and planted a small friendly welcome kiss on his cheek.

“Oh C’mon, we don’t have time to waste,” Bradley however was in a disinterested rush, “We need to get out of here quickly.”

“What? Why?” Margaret immediately had more than one question for him.

“They are following me; twenty two alien minutes behind,” Bradley exclaimed as the duo rushed to the two seats. “I’ve ditched their craft at a speed that will allow them to gain on it completely in twenty two minutes and ten seconds, and two seconds later the craft will explode and destroy everything that is within five hundred thousand miles radius in the space.”

“Five hundred thousand miles,” a shocked Margaret exclaimed.

“Don’t worry, that is way far from where we are,” Bradley however assured her, “But we need to get out of here so they don’t find us.”

“Oh, I see,” Margaret exclaimed as she put the craft into motion, and finally gave it a direction.

“By the way,” Bradley continued, “You haven’t brushed your teeth today, have you?”

“Oh, C’mon now!” an exasperated Margaret threw her hands in the air.

*************

Chapter Fifteen: Hope to hold on to

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God Of A Man

Infinity Confined

“A woman without a word and a man without a pride, are forgotten, forgiven or lost.”

Chapter Fifteen: Hope to hold on to

Dated: 21^st -22^nd October, 2460

Nature affects not only the way a species evolves, but also determines some of the behavioural characteristics of its individuals. Mammalian males generally have physically dominant morphologies than their female counterparts, while the female bodies have evolved to bear and raise young ones. The hormones that control their bodies are different, and the way nature has done its work, they not only control the physiological characteristics of their bodies, they also impact on their psychological patterns. A good example is the case of menopause, where female bodies stop producing female specific hormones and the psychological impact on their behaviour and feelings is drastic. The way the two sexes have evolved in nature, while males fight with other males for both territorial and sexual rights, risking personal safety, the females have evolved to cater to their personal safety foremost and then their personal needs, both of which are linked to their need to secure their offspring’s life.

Women thus have evolved over the centuries to reason their way to safety, especially given the fact that by nature males are aggressive. So while a woman may feel for the entire humanity, because her hormones make her soft by nature, yet she always only lives for her own interests, for she has to fend for her child. The only times a woman would be silent are when her guilt has made her speechless, or when everyone she cares for have forgotten her, or when she is lost in unknown terrain. She’s a woman who either seeks forgiveness, hopes for a rescue, or dreads catching attention.

Men on the other hand are boisterous, extroverts and foolhardy. A man may feel for none, for everyone is a competitor, yet a man is more likely to die for everybody, for the defence of his tribe and people is what comes naturally to him. The only man without a pride is the one humbled by life, or the one who is gutless, or the one who doesn’t know anymore what he stands for. Such a man either seeks penance, or is heading into ignominy and anonymity, or needs an anchor.

“You think he’ll come back?” Mishansa, who had been watching Aman gazing out of the sighting cabin into the deep dark unknown, finally asked.

“Of course he will! What do you mean?” a shocked and outraged Aman pounced like a wounded lion. He wanted to go with Bradley, but Bradley won’t agree to that. He wanted to stay back and wait for him in the emergency craft, but the Defence Core Committee won’t approve of that. Simmering with discontent, he had been left a mute spectator hauling Mishansa in and out of her cabin. They were no longer waiting for another eventuality to happen. All hope had already been lost, and fight yielded to fate.

“What do you think he was thinking when he said he needs to go with them?” Mishansa asked Aman.

“He could read their minds,” Aman blurted out, “He would have known if they posed a danger.” And then he realized what Bradley must have known, that Mishansa is alluding to. “Still, he is safe as long as he’s got the gun to their heads,” Aman finally retorted, “And if anything goes wrong once he is on their planet, he will know how to get out of there.” And finally he realized the improbability of Bradley’s escape. He grabbed his face in his hands and sank down into a seat. Mishansa got up from hers’, walked to his side and put a hand on his shoulder. “Well, in that case we too have no chance, for they won’t let us get away,” Aman somehow found solace in the fact that their own future was bleak, “I seriously hope he manages to convince them to help us.”

After a few seconds of comforting silence Mishansa finally quipped, “Aman, you and Bradley are the only too people who hold a belief that some of my people might still be alive, and who really think that one day you will re-unite me with them. Everybody else is just sorry!”

Sometimes sorry is not the one who inflicts, but the one who suffers. Being sorry for yourself might be comforting, but is also self pity. Those who really want to change their future, feel sorry for those who have caused them a suffering.

The alien craft finally landed on their planet, and an entire platoon of enemy was ready and waiting on the tarmac for Bradley to disembark. Bradley had already had a chat with their commanding officer while on the way in, but if he was looking for any warm reception, that was not on the menu. Carefully he disembarked, behind the two aliens that he had constantly kept under the cover of their own weapon. But this defence was no longer going to serve him anymore, what with more guns pointed to his body than the organs making it up.

But if Bradley didn’t have a word to say, or a hope to salvage the situation, he probably would have killed the two aliens back in space, and then possibly launched a single minded and manned invasion of the alien territory in their own craft. He would have been consumed by such an idiocy, but he was going to get consumed anyway.

So carefully he stepped out of the craft, but immediately broke out into a conversation with the waiting alien officer. He turned the direction of his weapon away, stepped forward and handed the gun to his visibly non-impressed host. But then he did something that surprised his host. He said something and pointed out in the direction of four snipers, all positioned far off, their weapons locked on to Bradley’s head. He probably asked the officer to let his men know that he poses no threat.

The officer, shocked as he was, turned his head sideways; his eyes still fixated on Bradley; and ordered something to his subordinate. He then said something to Bradley, to which Bradley replied shaking his helmet covered head in the negative. Immediately the guns of men surrounding him were raised, ready to blow it. The alien officer raised his hand to check his men, but persisted in what he had asked off Bradley. Left with no choice, Bradley was forced to take off his helmet, cutting off his oxygen supply.

Oxygen, a very light element compared to gold or silver, and yet more powerful than either. A man needs oxygen more than all the gold and silver in the entire universe, or for that matter, diamonds.

“Nah, not a single trace,” Doctor Harvey shook his head in negative, after analysing yet another sample of Oxygen collected by Doctor Dillon.

“How is this possibly,” a frustrated Suzanne exclaimed. While the ship was being slowly flown back towards the ghost planet, five engineers were working non-stop to fix the damaged exterior, the best they could while squeezed in between the tight outermost layers of the ship. Suzanne meanwhile had been busy collecting samples of oxygen from every nook and corner of the ship, including the reclamation plant, to provide them to Doctor Keith Harvey and Doctor Shelly Dawson for analysis. The fact that sample after sample were failing to test positive for contamination was irking Suzanne. “He’s still breathing, isn’t he?” Suzanne asked.

“He appears to be so,” Shelly replied.

“Then how come his body is not affecting oxygen when everything else is getting converted by the chemical reactions going inside his body,” a confused Suzanne asked.

“Maybe his body is not using oxygen,” Keith made a bewildering suggestion.

It is easy to make guesses about the unknown, but it takes much more to determine the truth. It takes a man!

Bradley was still alive and his hosts perplexed. Realizing the elements around him will not kill him, he had no reason to carry the burden of oxygen with him anymore, and the first thing he dumped was the pack of canisters that were merely a weight slowing him down. His host cum captors had only two choices; either to lead him to their seniors as he wished, or to restrain him for determination by their seniors. Or perhaps the only choice was to either kill him at that very instant, or to let him live. But since they were free to kill him at leisure, it was obviously not a bad choice to allow him an audience with their seniors. Now dressed in one of their suits, carefully Bradley was flown to their governmental centre, that wasn’t too far away from the port of arrival, given the speed at which their worldly craft flew. And soon he was, standing in the middle of an open court, open to curious inspection by a sea of aliens, all seated high and all physically domineering.

With grace and élan Bradley began his address. In any other space on any other day he might have moved mountains with his words, but today he was up against those who move not by words, but by their own wills. His pleadings were passionate, his requests humble, yet it appeared he was not getting the response he might have been hoping to generate.

The members of the alien council heard him patiently, then discussed amongst each other passionately, and finally came down heavily. Bradley was in a place where humanity had no place. The alien monarch finished his determination, rising up with a finger pointed at Bradley. And Bradley was immediately taken into custody. The monarch gave further orders, and another alien guard stepped forward with a sword shinier than silver and stronger than steel, ready to chop Bradley’s head. One of the three guards holding Bradley stepped forward and grabbed his head by his hair, pulling it into a position to be chopped.

Not to give up hope easily, Bradley made one last futile pitch to the alien monarch, but in vain.

The sword came down swiftly, but for someone who could read their minds, Bradley knew exactly when to pull his head back. The sword chopped not the head, but the hand holding it.

In a flash Bradley pushed himself back to his feet, while the surprised guard took another swing at his upright body. This time Bradley pulled his weight to one side, and let the alien blade feed on more tissue of their own kind. The idiot, having already incapacitated two of his own kind, swung the sword quickly back, but Bradley ducked and let him take out the last remaining guard holding him. Once free, Bradley plunged into the torso of the one wielding the sword, tackling him to the ground as a shocked court of onlookers watched in horror. Bradley wasted no time in relieving the alien of the gun that hung by his waist, leaving the sword in his hand, a sword he could no longer use having just lost his head to the brute shot of the laser.

There was no time to waste. Bradley rushed out towards the gate, his mind reading abilities giving him the power to pre-judge the entry of the enemy combatants, and their numbers. Missing the shots was neither an option, nor something that Bradley ever knew. He just kept rushing in the right direction, having already become aware of everything he needed to know about the place. The passages were no longer a puzzle, and passwords no longer secret. The doors were there just to be opened, and enemy had no choice but to pursue.

The closed confines of the building played out to Bradley’s advantage, and he made the aliens pay for their injudiciousness. But luck ran out as soon as he escaped out into the open. There was no longer a place to hide or a hurdle to duck behind. Bradley was a duck in the open, available to be shot by the first sharp shooter, and there were many of them. Bradley might have known who was going to take the first shot, but not quickly enough to beat the laser beam. The beam was so powerful, not only did it blow into bits the alien suit that had been put on him, but it tossed his body away into the distance.

A guess can sometimes not be as good as the fact, and it is the fact that is important. The fact may establish the validity of a guess, but a guess cannot validate an unknown fact until the fact has been revealed to be consistent with it.

“Are you telling me that there is no contamination in his faeces too?” a shocked Suzanne couldn’t believe what the two doctors informed her of the tests' results on Bradley’s defecated matter collected by Doctor Dillon from his reclamation unit.

“His body has definitely digested the matter, but seems like it has absorbed all its’ secretions back, and surprisingly, has absorbed nothing else out of the digested material,” Doctor Dawson replied to her query, “What has been let out is as normal as us humans, except that it has no bile elements in it, or enzymes, and it still contains all the minerals, compounds and elements that a normal human body would absorb out of the food it digests.”

“Then how is his body satisfying its’ nutritional and energy needs?” a confused Suzanne asked.

“No idea,” Doctor Harvey replied to her query this time, and added presumptuously, “Either his body is starving itself to death, or perhaps it is living off some form of radiation, like plants, but importantly, only on radiation, unlike plants.”

New knowledge is often bewildering, not because it is new, but because it is enlightening, and often challenges what someone earlier believed as truth. But new knowledge is always welcome, for it leads to improvement, if not in state, then in acceptance of it.

Like a phoenix he rose. His clothes were in tatters, but body still intact. And this time, it was glowing, in the same colour as the laser beam that had hit him, and at the same spot where it had hit him. Watching him stand up again made his suitors discharge their weapons more, and more the lasers hit him, more his body started to glow. But that was not the end of his surprise. The impact of the countless lasers flung his body further back and hard into a massive piece of rock lying in the background, destroying the rock into pieces.

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Chapter Fourteen: Least of space

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God Of A Man

Infinity Confined

“Probability does not work at individual’s level, but it is individual who reaps the benefits or bears the brunt.”

Chapter Fourteen: Least of space

Dated: 21^st October, 2460

People often get carried away by happenings that occur out of the blue; luck, boon, curse or windfall, many words are thrown around to explain the phenomenon. But the culprit is much more sinister and subvert than all of these. It is the one that never tries to catch the limelight, or fancy of someone’s imagination. It leaves those for the ones who receive its’ tidings. Like a mole tunnelling under one’s feet, it keeps on doing its work undetected. Besides, for someone that can neither be predicted and nor ascertained, it catches none of the philosopher’s fancies. It is ‘The Probability’.

No one is alone in this world, even when they are without a mate, for there are others who dwell on this earth. Society is not made up by one person’s choices, likes and dislikes. Everybody is living their independent lives, and making an impact on the social map. Probability works at the level of the society. Many buy lotteries, and everyone thinks there is a very small probability they will win. But what they don’t take into account is the fact, that there is a very large probability that someone will win. And the more the number of people who buy a lottery, the larger that probability becomes. Yet the winner claims all the luck! Everyone makes a bad decision every now and then, but there is always only a small probability that everything will go so bad that the decision will come back to bite them. But when everybody is making some bad decisions, and then doing their best to make sure everything else goes right, there is a large probability that someone will suffer the consequences of their decision. The karma gets the blame for their curse!

But it is not just a question of probability getting the better of someone once. Once probability builds up someone, or destroys someone, it also sets them up in a situation where they are supposed to make many more decisions to recover or maintain. Their next decisions are based out of their current predicament, and even though the probability working at the level of the society is still the same, they have the advantage or disadvantage of a previous result which is their handicap for the game. The effects of their subsequent choices are tied to the result of their previous choice, and it is more likely that the probability that best connects to their previous result will materialize. Thus some people get all the luck, and some all the karma.

The aliens shocked less by another company, but more by what the new entrant to the scene said, stopped and replied back to Bradley, and a quick conversation ensued.

“I can’t believe this,” Mishansa exclaimed, “He can read their minds!”

“What,” a shocked Rocker exclaimed as everybody else kept looking on like mute spectators.

“You can read our minds,” Aman however commented, “Can you read his mind and know what he knows about the aliens?”

“I can’t read his mind anymore,” Mishansa informed him to his dismay.

Finally the conversation between the aliens and Bradley ended, and the two aliens finally backed off and stood still in a corner. Bradley stepped forward and took control of their weapons that were still lying on the floor.

“I need to stop the craft now,” Rocker exclaimed earnestly and moved towards the controls, taking the aliens by surprise. But Bradley calmed their nerves and explained to them what he was trying to do.

“Don’t turn the gravity off,” Aman commented.

Finally, Bradley turned to his people and made a shocking statement, “I’ll have to go with them.”

“What?” Anne exclaimed in surprise, “No you can’t; disallowed!”

“There is no other way,” Bradley exclaimed, “They have guessed our technical limitations correctly, and are co-operating only to get out of this situation. They will blow us to bits the moment they will get back to their craft.”

“Why shouldn’t we just kill them right now?” an angry Anne exclaimed, immediately raising the aliens concerns with her tone. Bradley had to calm the aliens once more.

“Negative,” Aman commented, “Their unit In-charge would be aware of their pursuit and engagement, and if we won’t send them back, or for that matter, allow them to report back soon, we should be expecting a much larger force confronting us.”

“That’s true,” Bradley quipped, “They were instructed to check up on us, and not to engage us unless it was utterly necessary or we were pathetically powerless.”

“So what do we do now?” a worried and distraught Anne exclaimed, “We are in no position to even continue our journey much longer in the current state of damage to our craft.”

“Let me go with them,” Bradley replied, “I’ll try to negotiate a safe passage from their superiors, while I suggest you fly back towards the ghost planet that we just found a couple of days back, and repair in its’ shadows.”

“But that’s not possible,” Anne reasoned, “We will miss our next space tear, which is only two days away.”

“We can’t travel in this damaged craft for too long,” Bradley reasoned back to her, “And besides, they won’t let us.”

“We’ll get stuck in this space,” Anne exclaimed.

“Actually no,” Aslam decided to join in the conversation at this point, “I and Jhiang have worked out the update for our system, and now we can predict space tears that would happen later in time, but at an increasing radial distance from our current location.”

“So effectively we can hop on to another chain, and start on a parallel journey; is that what you mean?” Aman asked.

“Exactly,” Aslam replied.

“I guess the decision has been made by our predicament,” Bradley quipped, “You travel back to that planet, repair the outermost layer of the craft in its shadows, and then if the need be, enter its atmosphere and try to land on it. We might get some much needed break and replenishments.”

“What about you?” Anne exclaimed.

“Actually, what about us, for I am going with him,” Aman chipped in, “He’s not going with them alone.”

“Negative,” Bradley however replied, “The mission needs to have at least one of us here with it all the time. Besides, in case of an eventuality, the mission cannot afford to lose both its’ military attaché.”

“But,” Aman wanted to argue, but Bradley cut him with a raised hand.

“Leave someone to pick me up from here in one of our emergency crafts,” Bradley continued, “If I return, I’ll make sure I return alone, and leave their craft here at this spot, without giving them an inkling to where I headed to after that.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” Rocker decided to add his opinion to the discussion, “But the only problem is; if their chemistry is made in reverse, how are you going to breath in their world. You can barely take oxygen worth four hours with you!”

“That’s another reason for only sending one person,” Bradley quipped.

“But how far away is their planet?” a concerned Anne asked, “That barely gives you a four hour window to do all the work.”

“That’s alright,” Bradley replied back, “Their planet is only forty five minutes away from this place in their craft. That should leave me with two and a half hours to negotiate with them. But I don’t think the negotiations would really last that long.”

“Well, if we have no choice, then we might as well go with all that you have suggested Captain Connors,” Anne exclaimed before walking away to her command desk, and dialling an extension on her calling pad. “Doctor Dillon, could you please bring in an oxygen pack to the flight deck.”

A hypothesis may not be a panacea, but it surely is a starting point. It gives direction to the inquest. Of course it is the answers found in the ensuing research that not only determine the validity of the hypothesis, but also lay the foundations for a better one.

“Sir, do you reckon we will find another earth in this universe which would be as beautiful and as motherly as ours,” a nostalgic Reginald asked of his senior.

“We certainly will find a planet that is homely,” the Rear Admiral replied, “It might not be as warm and loving as our mother earth, but it would still be our mother. And a child does not get to choose his mother, just like a mother does not get to choose her child.”

Reginald heaved a huge sigh before returning with another question, “Sir, how can a universe replace another?”

“That my dear young man is a question best reserved for a scientist,” Rear Admiral quipped as he glazed over his shoulder to look at the Chief Engineer Marcus Dodd.

“Sir, I don’t think this Universe is replacing our universe,” Marcus replied, “That of course is the hypothesis that Mr. Jhiang started his work with. But I think it is more of a case of two universes colliding, much like two galaxies in a universe colliding. The space tears are being created by the clashing of two different gravitational walls, with each universe pulling at the other with equal force, causing things to jump distance every time two gravitational waves emerging out of two heavenly masses collide. After all, what is a universe? It is not the entirety of the pitch black space, but is rather just a collection of galaxies made up of stars and planets. There must be billions of such universes in this space, and possibly billions of spaces outside this space.”

It is not what one knows, but what one doesn’t know that drives learning. What one already knows however makes up the tools needed to dig up newer grounds.

Doctor Dillon brought the oxygen packs, unaware who and what they were needed for.

“Please give them to Captain Bradley,” Anne motioned to her as soon as she entered the cabin.

Doctor Suzanne nonchalantly walked up to the man, who turned around to let her put the pack on. But something stopped Suzanne in her stride, and an expression of shock appeared on her face. When she didn’t move, Bradley turned around and looked her in her eyes.

“What happened?” Anne asked.

“We forgot to quarantine his oxygen,” a shocked Suzanne replied much to Bradley’s chagrin and everybody else’s shock.

But Bradley could no longer stand her questioning gaze, and grabbed the pack from her hands, “I’ll leave you to figure that out on your own. I’ve got work to do.” And he stepped away, towards Aman and waiting aliens.

“Here, keep this powerful mini wireless set with you,” Aman quipped as he put the wireless set in Bradley’s possession, “I’ve set up the frequency for you to communicate with our craft that would be waiting for you right here.”

The duo followed the two aliens to the hatch, where Aman held one alien with a recovered weapon, while Bradley moved to board the alien craft along with the first alien.

“It’s a shame we can’t keep him hostage until you returned,” Aman quipped.

“He will die in our atmosphere, and then all hell will get loose irrespective of what I manage to convince them,” Bradley replied as he started his journey towards the alien craft.

“Take care bro,” Aman quipped.

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