Chapter One - Fate awaits

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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: 25^th – 26^th 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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