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God Of A Man
Infinity Confined
“None is perfect; some are
just better at hiding their flaws.”
Chapter Nine: The dark of
the light
Dated: 19th July,
2460
Life can be planned and controlled, but emotions will
always be free. And emotions will invariably lead an individual to
indiscretions. However life is also about learning, including about self. Each
indiscretion is also a revelation, of both the low points a life can hit, and
of the consequences it might entail. The more learning a person has had from
their life, the better adept they would be in dealing with unplanned circumstances,
as and when they may unfold.
No one who lives a real life, experiences real
emotions, and entertains real relationships, can stay perfect. The more
passionate a person, the more error prone would be their life. And to find a
good leader amongst such a lot, one has to overlook some imperfections, for as
much everyone is error prone, that much is everyone well versed in hiding their
injudiciousness. The better a person is in hiding their dark; the brighter they
appear overall.
But this does not mean the adjustment has to continue
limitless, for at some stage the quality would become so diluted that it would
defeat the advantage coming from all the learning of the past. Some errors can
be forgiven, some are unforgiveable, but sometimes it is the accumulation of
errors which renders further forgiveness a folly.
Nothing had changed much about how Captain Bradley
Connors looked from the outside, except that he had now turned into a person of
black descent. Nothing had changed about his body internally as well, as long as
it was possible to peep inside using an X-ray machine. But now not only was his
body impervious to X-rays, as much as it was immune from physical scratching,
the scrapings of his dead skin cells had really puzzled the scientists on board
the spaceship Maa.
“Doctor Dawson, Doctor Harvey; what are your
findings,” Anne asked them the first thing as she entered their laboratory,
accompanied by Aman, Bradley and Suzanne.
“It is really interesting Commander, as to what is
really happening over here to our friend’s cellular chemistry,” Doctor Keith Harvey,
the Chemist, started off his reply in his usual lethargic tone, “Now we already
knew from our study on the specimen recovered by Doctor Suzanne Dillon, from
the underground site in Middle-East, the one that our friend Captain Connors
was idiot enough to mess with using his bare hands; that the atomic structures
of the other universe are electrically reversed, with their nuclei being
negative charged, and their outer shells carrying ultra light positive charge.
But this specimen that we have now recovered from our friend’s dead cell
scrapings, simply blows our mind away.” Doctor Harvey finally managed to finish
his statement, and let his companion, Doctor Shelly Dawson, the physicist, pick
up the thread of communication from there.
“What surprised us was, that the atomic structures
making up Captain Connors cells,” Doctor Dawson continued from where her peer
had left, “They have lost all their charge all together. There is no longer a
charge differentiation between the atomic nuclei, and the charge clouds
surrounding them.”
“Could you please explain this in English,” Aman
finally couldn’t bear it any longer and interrupted.
“Like in case of nuclear energy, where atoms break up
to release energy, or combine to release it,” Doctor Dawson took a deep breath
and continued, only this time in not too technical terms, supposedly, “It
appears the contents of Captain Connors atomic structures are releasing
radiations, and losing their charge in the process. These radiations are
further propagating this chain reaction, and slowly but surely, converting the
entire mass making up Captain Connors, into a charge-less mass.”
“Does this mean good or bad for the rest of us,” was
Anne’s simple and relevant query.
“The good thing is, and we are guessing it to be so,”
Doctor Harvey qualified his positive words as soon as they escaped his lips, “That
this change is happening only when atoms are involved in a chemical reaction.
So technically, unless you mix Captain Connors’ fluids or tissues with the rest
of us, we are all safe.”
“Tell me about that,” Anne shook her head as she
reminisced the last couple of months, “It was really quick thinking on part of
Doctor Dillon to inform us, and we were plain lucky that we had extra
reclamation equipment and other arrangements available, to quarantine Captain
Connors. This has been such a drain on our resources.”
“Sorry to interrupt Commander-in-Chief Miss De
Villiers,” Aman however interjected immediately, “But Captain Connors is still
serving his role efficiently, and is only using what he would have used anyway.
Yes we had to use one of the spare equipment sets, but I don’t think that’s
really a drain on our resources, given the wealth of experience and expertise
that Captain Connors brings to this mission. The most important part of this
situation is; thanks to Captain Connors, we now know exactly how interaction
with the matter belonging to the other universe can actually affect us.”
“You are talking just like my idiot friend Doctor
Xavier Adams,” an incensed Suzanne however confronted Captain Ahluwalia on his
assertions, “Do you even realize how catastrophic it could have been for the
entire mission?”
“I absolutely understand your point of view Doctor
Dillon,” Aman however calmly replied, “But the problem is; Captain Connors is
not responsible for Doctor Adams decision. Besides, he is carrying his weight
around pretty well. You cannot castigate him for what is not his fault.”
“No one’s castigating anyone here Captain Ahluwalia,”
Anne however intervened before the discussion turned argumentative, “We are
only trying to find out a best possible outcome for a situation that is neither
any of ours in making, nor in any of our hands.”
“Thanks Commander,” Aman replied with a nod as he
stepped away to leave, “And hopefully I won’t remember this conversation about
reclamation sets when I’ll drink the water next time.”
Knowledge is both found and imbibed in layers. The
first impression of any new knowledge is generally a holistic picture of what
is there at disposal. Finer details often miss the first glance. The second
look starts the identification of distinct layers, and then each subsequent
look reveals new dimensions of the same learning. Thus knowledge is both disentangled
and absorbed in layers.
“I love breaking into houses,” full of childish
enthusiasm, Jack quipped as he lent a hand to Jenny, in ramming a locked garage
door with a thick log of wood.
“We are not breaking into houses,” Jenny however
corrected him immediately, “We are only borrowing things from our neighbours,
and we will return them as soon as we won’t need them anymore, or as soon as
they will ask them back. Remember, we are good people; not thieves.” And Jenny
gave him a light hearted glare.
“But who’ll ask for them?” innocent Jack however had a
point.
“Still, we are not stealing,” Jenny however was
insistent too, “We are only borrowing. There’s a difference! We need them
badly, and there is no one here to give them to us.”
“But we haven’t asked anyone?” Jack however questioned
her, much like he was her conscience for the moment.
“Because we can’t, and we need help,” Jenny pleaded on
in defence before ending the conversation, “Never mind the labelling for the
moment, and just give the log a big push.”
And the duo gave one more mighty push to the log,
finally cracking the locks of the shutter. Jenny quickly lifted the shutter up,
to reveal another hidden treasure.
“Look at that,” and Jenny’s eyes immediately dilated
at the sight of what lay inside, “Now what kind of an idiot would stack solar
panels in his garage instead of putting them on his roof? We should have done
this a lot earlier.”
Opportunity presents itself so that it could be
adequately availed, by anyone who has the guts to grab it. Brave decisions are
made mostly on the spur of the moment, and yet their glory cherished for ages.
“How are we going with the schedule?” a concerned Rear
Admiral Gurubaan Ahluwalia asked Engineer Gurio Wallace, who had been busy
working day and night with his team, perfecting the new design of the ship, as
well as getting the alloy ready to be cast into the shape. No single pair of
hands was available to scratch the Rear Admiral’s back, for he was himself
keenly involved in the physical work taking up everyone’s time, as they burned
the full time oil, to upgrade their ship.
“Sir, we are running one month behind our original
schedule, because of the prototype that we had to test in between,” Gurio
replied, “But the good thing is; this craft will save us a day on top of a
month, in travelling time. So not only will we still easily make the trip to
the first space tear that we are targeting, but we will have a spare day to scavenge
this planet.”
“Sir, if you don’t mind, can I ask; why are we
building nukes?” Lieutenant Reginald, who was standing by his side, asked from
his senior.
“We cannot carry too much unwanted weight, so we can
only carry a limited amount of ammunition with us on this journey young man,”
Rear Admiral replied patting him on his shoulder, “But in the light of the fate
of the craft that we have reverse engineered, it is important that whatever we
carry with us, it is deadly enough.”
Sometimes knowing too much could prove to be the
undoing of a cause. Over cautiousness can stifle the natural flair, and thus
diminish the abilities of a protagonist, thus fatally flawing the performance.
Some risks are indeed worth taking!
“Feels like a flower has been stripped off its
fragrance?” Bradley quipped to Mishansa, whom he was tasked to accompany, in
the sighting cabin on the left side of the space ship.
“A flower detached from its plant, and captured in a
glass box, is but destined to whither,” Mishansa’s pain was apparent in her
words that registered more of her resignation to her fate, than a complaint
about her social seclusion.
“When you can see through the thick folds of skin and
bones, those who hold secrets behind them are bound to either hide their selves
from you, or hide you from them,” Bradley however thought she was unhappy that
Anne had severely restricted her movement in the ship, confining her sojourns
between her cabin, and this sighting room, that too under constant surveillance
of either Captain Ahluwalia, or Bradley.
“And isn’t it ironic, that the one who holds no evil,
is not to be trusted by those who know exactly what evil really is?” Mishansa
however questioned in reply.
“Maybe it’s not their knowledge of the evil, but
rather sharing of that knowledge of the evil, which they strive to contain,”
Bradley calmly replied.
“But such an evil would not be a collective evil,
rather only an individual evil, isn’t it?” Mishansa however asked.
“And perhaps then it is an evil that better be left
with the one who bears the burden, for then it cannot afflict others anyway,”
Bradley reasoned.
“But what if that evil is the source of evil for
others?” Mishansa asked.
“Then others will eventually find out about it anyway,
won’t they?” Bradley asked in reply.
Mishansa took a deep breath, and stepped closer to the
window, to peer deep down in space. Finally she commented, “Bradley, I cannot
hear your thoughts anymore.”
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