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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:
21st 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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