“What are your orders Supreme Cdr?”
“Demilitarization to continue as planned. The rebel armies have been disintegrated now. Their alliance is not of doubt anymore. Let peace prevail,” evaluated KC as he turned around and looked at the planet covered with clouds all over on which he had just fought the greatest battle of his life.
“This reminds me so much of home,” exclaimed KC.
“Home!” repeated Rul.
“Yes, home…our home,” said KC calmly. “Earth - vast blue oceans, continents, green grasslands, brown deserts and snowy mountains.”
“Earth… the third planet from its medium-sized Star consisting of 53 planets. First four rocky planets followed by four gaseous planets followed by ice-predominant planets. And further away a gap filled with clouds and a second ring of asteroids followed by gas giants and tiny ice planets thereafter,” added Crona.
‘53 planets!’ wondered KC. In his time in 2956, they had discovered only 22 planets.
“Earth was deserted in the 23rd century after intense battles made the habitat and the ecosystem untenable to sustain life,” added Crona. “Earth and the inner planets were destroyed in the 25th century’s battle of the Super cluster when accidently hit by the now phased-out technology of ‘Anti-carbon clouds’. Being located in an unstable war zone, the Sun disintegrated over the next few hundred years thus moving out of its location in the Orion arm of the Milky way galaxy and spinning out into the unknown.”
KC clenched the railing of the command deck where he was standing looking at the planet.
‘Our home planet doesn’t even exist anymore,’ he wondered.
The realization just hit him that with altering the past of his planet, he had not only altered ‘his future’, but had altered the future of the entire known universe. What he feared now were the consequences. What is the extent of changes he had set in motion?
“We have no recorded photographs of Earth,” added Akil. “My great grandfather, however, told me that when he was a kid his grandfather had shown him real pictures of Earth. The planet was blue, like sapphire. Beautiful with green landscapes.”
“Cdr… the medical deck requests your presence,” interrupted Crona. “It’s Jenny!”
“What about her?” asked KC as he hurried into the location modulator. Without even waiting for Crona to reply, he quickly reached the medical deck which was located at the other end of the Class-C ship.
“What happened Doc?” asked KC.
“Cdr, we have a problem, your decision is required,” replied the head surgeon of the ship. “The peace treaty that Officer Jenny was carrying was in the form of a liquid gel. It was encrypted. Fearing that it would be lost in the battle, as Jenny and her handful troops were outnumbered, she injected the liquid into her blood. It was a good move to do so as only AMU has the technology to extract the peace treaty/liquid gel, back from her blood,” explained the surgeon.
“Well then let’s do it,” exclaimed KC. “Let’s get it out of her body. The peace threat is extremely important for ensuring future peace in the outer sectors and will set an example for the inner sectors as well. It is the key to a peaceful existence in this time and in the future,” added KC wondering what the confusion was all about.
There was no reply! A pin drop silence followed as the faces of the doctors turned pale.
“Cdr, we would do it… But the procedure will kill Jenny,” replied the head surgeon after gathering all the courage he had to speak up. We have three minutes left to extract the treaty. After these three minutes lapse, the treaty would have dissolved in her blood irrevocably, we won’t be able to extract it, Cdr. If we do recover it within the next three minutes, Officer Jenny will die,” explained the Head surgeon.
“Your call Cdr,” said the surgeon, sweating.
KC approached Jenny lying on the operating bay. He got down on his knees and held Jenny’s hand and squeezed it hard.
“This was not supposed to happen,” said KC gently.
“It’s alright Kenneth,” replied Jenny smiling as her green eyes gleamed into KC’s. “You are the greatest man I have ever met. You have saved thousands; billions and you will continue to do that. Extract the treaty! It will save us from future wars. Don’t worry about me, Kenneth. I remember what you spoke of when you were coming to rescue us on the planet, and that day as well when we were standing on your terrace at Ground Zero. You said, ‘This is not the end, it’s just the beginning’.”
“Now I know what you meant Kenneth. I don’t know ‘How’. I don’t know ‘When’. But I know you will save me. We will be together again. Promise me Kenneth,” said Jenny as she got up and hugged KC.
KC rolled his arms around Jenny and hugged her as hard as he could and didn’t let go. The surgeon took two steps ahead with the extractor and looked at KC. Time was running out. The same ‘Time’ KC thought he had all but mastered! KC closed his eyes as tears rolled out. He embraced her like the time he had after he had shot her on Earth in the year 2018. He was about to lose her again after all that he had done to get her back. He had defied logic and time to get to her and here he was… again putting Jenny to her death. KC took the extractor from the surgeon. He looked at Jenny as his eyes met hers. They exchanged a lifetime of a conversation in a moment…
He wiped the tears from Jenny’s eyes and moved his hand through her beautiful long hair. “This extractor is not going to be painful Jenny, because this is ultimately going to unite us,” said KC as he pressed his lips against Jenny’s lips and simultaneously pressed in the extractor against her arm.
The extractor slowly sucked out the bright blue treaty fluid from Jenny’s blood, so did it the life out of her. As the fluid left Jenny’s body, KC could feel her hold around him weakening. He tightened his hold around Jenny as if trying to stop her from going, but it was futile as Jenny’s hold further weakened. Her arm fell off KC and her neck rolled back. She was getting weaker by the second. KC almost skipped a heartbeat. He supported her head with his arm and again hugged her as hard as he could.
“I will save you Jenny,” said KC. “We will unite again, even if I have to… bend time again… Jenny… Jenny,” whispered KC.
Jenny laid still. Very still. KC placed his hands around her cheeks.
“Jenny,” said KC again. Jenny opened her eyes and smiled. “Earth,” she said and with the last bit of energy that she could gather, she pointed through the window of the medical deck towards the planet they had just fought on. “Just like you described.”
KC looked out of the window absolutely zapped! He could see the Indian ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Indian land mass and then Japan. New Zealand, the Americas and Briton as the class-C ship now in a farther orbit gained momentum to get back to the 14th sector.
“Earth… Jenny… It’s Earth,” said KC as he looked at Jenny and shouted in excitement. This time there was no reply. He saw Jenny resting in the most peaceful manner, her eyes closed. She had a faint smile on her face, her hands on her chest. KC gently rolled his hands over her hair and kissed on her forehead.
“Cdr, she is…” said Akil.
“I know,” replied KC, “she is at peace. Maintain orbit,” added KC speaking on his comn link.
“Of this planet?” confirmed Aarian.
“This, gentlemen… is Earth,” declared KC as he gently placed Jenny on the bed.
“How is that possible?” said Akil. “Crona just said that Earth and the inner planets were destroyed… Its Sun was tossed out of the Orion arm of its galaxy!”
“This is most spectacular,” interjected Crona. “I just compared the documented pictures of Earth I have in my database with the planet we are orbiting. It’s a 98% match. Topography, gaseous composition, life form; everything matches, unbelievable.”
“Why is there a 2% mismatch?” enquired KC. “On what account?”
“There are some topographic anom
alies,” replied Crona.
“Elaborate,” probed KC.
“The famous mountain range – The Himalayas, are not as high as recorded,” replied Crona. KC quickly opened his wall to display the map of the planet below. He rolled his finger and then his arm to quickly reach the Himalayas. He moved his fingers apart to zoom in. Indeed, the Himalayas were a lot shorter.
“Of course!” said KC realising something. He quickly rolled his arms to move west on the map, he zoomed on to South America.
“Crona, how high are the Andes mountain range here?”
“The Andes mountain range is a lot higher than recorded in my database,” replied Crona. “I believe we found out the reason for this anomaly.”
“What did we find?” pondered Akil not being able to follow.
“We are looking at a primitive Earth, several thousand years before civilization. That’s why the beings we met below were still not living in any form of society. The Himalayas are still rising violently, and the Andes are still in the process of eroding,” explained KC.
“We are looking at the Earth in the past?” questioned Akil. “Even much before the iron age.”
“A lot before that,” replied KC, “a lot before homo sapiens walked the Earth.”
“But how did we get to the past?” asked Cdr Rul. “We didn’t time travel, then how did we reach here? Crona, evaluate.”
“There is one probability strangely. A logical explanation,” informed Crona. “Considering the limited 3x10y/34 variables and 1098 constants in this time-space equation, it is highly possible that we have traveled a great distance on the sphere of the ball-like space fabric. If we consider space as an oval-shaped body just like everything else is as it is the most efficient form, then we can reach the same place over again if we complete one circle of the sphere and reach the same point again.”
“OK but what about time?” asked Akil. “Yes, we can reach the same point in space, considering the space as a whole to be a huge sphere, but won’t we have traveled to the future in time while we completed the whole circle?”
“…‘Time’ is a relative term. It is different everywhere. When we location-jumped to our current location to get to Garmin, we came here in ‘no time’. When we jumped, we were almost at two locations at the same time i.e. at the border of the fourteenth sector and our current location, almost as if we’re stretched or to say we moved here in ‘no-time but covered a lot of ‘space.’ It’s not about speed or time, but about the distance we traveled out of the 14th sector till this location in space where Earth still exists,” added Crona.
“This means if we travel further in space in no time, we can reach a spot where the Earth would have evolved further say to a particular year?” queried KC.
“Yes, Supreme Cdr, we can,” answered Crona. “With my calculations, we can reach to any point in space coordinates within a millimeter’s accuracy. And if we quantify it in ‘space’, then… we can reach any point in ‘time’ of any heavenly body in that space.”
“What’s on your mind, Cdr?” asked Cdr Akil sensing something while almost knowing the answer to his question as well. KC looked at Akil and then at Rul. His look spoke a hundred words.
“Are you sure Commander?” asked Akil. “You want to travel to 2018.”
“Yes, positive. I will put an end to what I started. I have to get back to my time. To Jenny. Everything here is settled. Under your able leadership along with Rul and Amin, I don’t foresee any problems here. My journey though is still left and there is much to achieve,” said KC as he looked at the space ahead.
“Cdr, if you must, so be it, we cannot stop you. But needless to say, there is no surety that you will be able to get back to your exact time in 2018. More so, there could be so many more complications that I fear,” said Akil.
“All days are good for me. All numbers are lucky for me. I don’t care what the stones have to say, I don’t see the stars to change my day,” interrupted KC. “I am a man…lost in time, and I have reached that point in my life, where I have nothing more to lose… Let’s do it,” declared KC. “Besides I promised my father – whatever I do, I will do alone. I will not drag the AMU down with me.”
“Aarian, please be advised - the current sector of the universe is not mapped so I cannot feed the coordinates to the system. I will calculate the coordinates and communicate to you. You will have to pilot us to the exact coordinates,” informed Crona as everyone looked at Aarian…
“OK... I guess. I could…get us to the exact coordinates in space where Earth was and would be in 2018. What are the coords Crona?” whispered Aarian.
“23/234/23/678/56 23/267/888/903345/67/5678” replied Crona.
“That’s it?” asked Aarian.
“Yes,” replied Crona. “This should get us to exactly 24,093 kms from Earth in an orbit. We will take a 1/10000th of the Earth’s orbit in which we will transfer the Cdr to the planet and location-jump back to our location in space in the 1st sector.”
“How much time do we stay in Earth’s orbit?” asked Aarian.
“One six Hundredth of a second in terms of time,” replied Crona. “Any longer and we will not be able to return to our location in space.”
“Wow,” said KC as he held his head and slowly swiped his hand over it. “And all this while, I thought it was all about ‘Time travel’, but it’s actually about reaching a particular location in space; it’s Location travel!”
“I am ready Cdr,” said Aarian wiping the sweat off his forehead too. “This is going to be the first time we are location-jumping at this scale! And I am sure it’s not the last. Location jump in 3..2..1..” said Aarian in discomfort as he gradually felt the stretch.
“Hahaha,” laughed KC as he turned around and looked at Jenny. “I am coming back Jenny. Let’s do this,” said KC aloud. “To Victory and Forever.”
Everything suddenly disappeared and rapidly reappeared as if he was stretched indefinitely. His brain was still processing the images from this present location aboard the battleship in 2956 and then almost simultaneously he could see superimposed images of 2018 where he had reached now.
It was one long stretched image of 2956 stretched to seeing Earth from a distance, whizzing past satellites orbiting Earth, falling down ripping the Earth’s atmosphere at an incredible speed, seeing the Indian sub-continent several hundred kms from above, to finally seeing a lush green tree as he lay in a street between two buildings.
Chapter 5
The Particle Accelerator
“Are you alright?” came a concerned voice.
“Ahh… What?” replied KC not able to relate things at all.
“You look…burned,” added the man as he bent down supporting his hands on his knees to look at KC.
“Where am I?” asked KC as he grabbed his head and tried to stand up stumbling all over.
“You are here. Right here,” answered the man.
“Where exactly is - here?” asked KC as he gave up the effort to standup realizing he might as well sit down for a while and find his balance.
“Right here at FC road,” replied the man.
“FC road…” repeated KC. “Where is FC road?”
“Oh man!, you don’t look that good,” said the guy keeping his hand on KC’s shoulder. “Oye!” He yelled as he got a shock as soon as he touched KC’s shoulder.
“It’s...it’s Eclecto…Electrostatic charge, that’s all,” said KC trying to calm the man down. “You were saying FC road. Which…which city is this?” added KC trying his best to coordinate his speech and motor functions while his head was still spinning around.
“Look man, you are in Pune. OK, and you don’t look good at all. You should see a doctor. I would have picked you up but you are all…charged up!”
“No...No. Wait…wait… Thanks for your help,” said KC. “I was just…I mean it’s 2018…right… I was just
waiting for some public transport for over an hour and it is so hot! I think I got dehydrated!”
“Well, I have a bike! You want me to drop you somewhere? I am heading towards KP.”
“Oh no, it’s cool. Thanks for your help,” replied KC with a smile. “It’s 2018, not like any war is on… I’ll find my way. Thanks,” added KC trying to prod the young man. Waiting for a desperate ‘yes’ it’s 2018 or a ‘no’, it’s not 2018.
“OK!” said the man giving KC the strangest look as he left. KC sat supporting his back against a parapet, checking himself for any injuries. All seemed well.
“So, I am in 2018, hopefully in the same space I left. I got to find Kamal and ensure I don’t give him any detail of the future and that should be it. I just need to be at Jasmine’s house when Akil, Rul and Amin intervene from the future after taking out Lurton and go back with them. That’s it. Simple Ah,” said KC to himself.
He was exhausted, tired, hungry, and thirsty. From being the undisputed Commander of the 14 sectors of the known Universe, in no time he had become a fugitive, a ‘nobody’ in this space. He looked up in hope and he found it! In the middle distance, he saw a mustard-colored flag fluttering. That was definitely a Gurudwara. He remembered it from the last time he was in this space. The Sikhs were an Indian martial race, known for their courage, simplicity and helpful nature. Their Gurudwara always has a tall mast which could be seen from a distance upon which a mustard-colored flag was placed to announce its position to travelers, offering them shelter and food every day 24/7, 365 days a year for free. No matter who you were. Irrespective of caste or creed or religion. Everyone could sit under one roof to eat! This was remarkable. Something which was just not possible in his time.
KC mustered his strength and walked up to the Gurudwara. As KC reached at one of the entrances of the Gurudwara, a Sikh gentleman walking past the entrance gate supported KC and helped him into the Gurudwara.
“You look famished son,” said the Sikh gentleman as KC looked at him. His turban meticulously tied and his brilliant beard flowed loose.
Genesis Page 8
