Genesis

by Tej Pratap Singh

  “This is huge…” said Akil who was also listening as he looked at the council members on his wall.

  “I also scanned the travel logs that you… managed from the Xz-01 Commander,” further added Crona. “50 years back, one of Garmin’s battle cruisers had accidently entered into the co-ord- C- 333.84.1984.253 in the Earth’s asteroid belt, when they were being chased by the AMU battle ships. All this while, we thought that Garmin’s ship had been destroyed in the Earth’s asteroid belt.”

  “After almost one year, that is 49 years back, Garmin received a distress call from this ship and that is when Garmin figured out what was going on, and tapped into this space which we didn’t even know existed. Slowly and steadily, Garmin pumped relatively basic and simple outdated technology of our universe into the U2 universe and rebuilt it there again from scratch and 49 years later, he has complete control over this alternate universe - U2 with tech that works there.”

  “Why did he have to rebuild the tech here in U2?” asked KC.

  “Commander, the laws of physics are slightly different here. What physics and mathematical laws hold good in our universe have fractional anomalies here in U2. Though the difference is in fractions but they still exist. The more advanced the technology that we introduce here, the quicker it will get distorted.

  Anything that I introduce here can last maximum for a minute and not more. Within 60 seconds so many anomalies accumulate that it completely shuts down the system,” explained Crona. “That is also the reason why when I tried to restore your wall here in U2, it collapsed within a minute and when I tried to do a simple location-jump of your team from the roof to the apartment below, I briefly lost two men! It is not safe to use AMU tech in this universe,” concluded Crona.

  “That’s not good,” said KC. “This means that not only can we not use our advanced tech here but we are also almost 50 years behind Garmin’s tech here.”

  “Technically, we have no jurisdiction there,” added Cdr Rul. “Our legal laws don’t hold good there either. We cannot arrest Garmin... there!”

  “That deduction is also correct,” added Crona. “In the universe U2, Garmin is not an outlaw. But if we arrest him, we will be!”

  “This is unbelievable,” said KC. “That hooligan and lout is about to start an intergalactic war here and get thousands killed,” said KC furiously. “And lest you forget…we all know, next he would be attacking our Universe.”

  “Crona, how stable is the window between the two universes?” asked Cdr Amin.

  “Commander, that window is as stable as it has been in the past 50 years or so. It’s only getting stronger. We don’t know how it came into existence or for how long it’s been there.”

  “The Tarski paradox,” said Jenny hesitantly.

  “Pardon me lady,” said Akil as he noticed Jenny say something. The wall interface was very unclear. “What are you saying?”

  “I said the Tarski paradox. That could be the explanation of the… multiverse you are talking about,” said Jenny slightly loudly this time. “The Banach-Tarski paradox is a theorem in theoretic mathematical-geometry which states that a solid ball in 3-dimensional space (say a universe) can be split into a finite number of non-overlapping pieces, which when… put back together in a different way can yield two identical copies instead of just one original ball!” explained Jenny further.

  “…Well that is absolutely mathematically correct. That could be it,” said Crona. “I just ran the derivation of Tarski theorem 800 million times in simulated models. It holds good every time.”

  “And a deduction of this could also mean that one finite entity can be at two places at the same time,” added Jenny.

  “Yes, that is an excellent deduction,” said Crona. “We should work together on this. It took Garmin 50 years to perfect his technology in this dimension. With your help Jenny, I should be able to build some basic technology to hold off Garmin.”

  “Sure,” said Jenny smiling. “Anything to prevent an intergalactic war.”

  While Crona continued to gather information about the U2, KC and his elite guards continued to go over various plans to capture Garmin. This time they couldn’t afford to fail. The situation was tricky. Even if they got to Garmin, he could not be arrested. Not in U2. And capturing him was a challenge in itself. They were outdated with respect to technology in this dimension.

  “The basic plan is ready,” said KC. “But tell me something Crona… can’t you just location jump Garmin to our universe… to AMU?”

  “Commander, the good news is that working with Jenny on the Tarski Theorem, we have managed to extend the stability of our technology in this dimension to at least five minutes now. So, the next time you need to use your wall or location-shift, we could do that unhindered for a minimum of five minutes. The bad news is that Garmin has evolved some technology in this dimension such that I cannot get to him; he has somehow shielded himself. In order to locate him, we will have to neutralise his shields,” explained Crona.

  “Do we have his approximate location?” asked KC.

  “Yes Commander, he is on the planet Wontrax, beyond the Andromeda galaxy in the cloud nebula,” replied Crona.

  “Oh… that can’t be good,” said Jenny immediately. “Wontrax is in the middle of a massive asteroid belt. The area has got highly heated gases. A spacecraft has to pass through the cloud of hot gases in hyper drive, real fast or else it will burn up in seconds. And since we have asteroids there, it’s not advisable to cross that area in hyper drive. It will be almost impossible to steer the spaceship at hyper drive between the asteroids and yet maintain a steady speed to cross the hot nebula,” described Jenny drawing the map on her holographic projector.

  “Well then Crona, can you location-jump us to Wontrax?” asked KC.

  “I could…” said Crona. “But then I won’t be able to location-jump Garmin and everyone else back to the AMU.”

  “No question about that,” said KC. “We are flying through the asteroids. If that is what needs to be done, then that’s what we will be doing,” he added determined.

  “Who has driven a ship before at hyper drive?” asked KC as five of his men raised their hands.

  “OK… Who all have driven a ship through an asteroid belt before?” asked KC again. Only three hands rose this time.

  “Alright then,” asked KC, “Who all have driven a ship before at hyper drive through an asteroid belt?” This time there were no hands up as everyone looked at each other.

  “I have…,” said Jenny as she raised her hand. “On one occasion I had briefly entered the cloud nebula, accidently. I was on a mission flight to deliver some cargo to a planet system on the far end of the Andromeda galaxy. As I approached the cloud nebula, I lost all my communication due to the heavy electronic interference from the nebula. And I was blind without my communication and coordinates. My course got altered and for almost a minute or two, I got lost into the asteroid belt!”

  “How long is the stretch of the asteroids and the hot gases?” asked KC.

  “The nebula including the asteroid belt is about 50 light years across,” replied Crona. “Even at hyper drive, it will take a very long 20-30 minutes at least,” answered Crona. “The hyper drives are a very primitive mode of travel. Unfortunately, that is all we have got now,” added Crona.

  “Primitive! Are you seriously kidding me!” said Jenny.

  “Yes Jenny,” said KC smiling. “Hyper drives are pretty slow. We don’t even use them in our Universe or at the AMU anymore.”

  “Well, this very primitive technology is going to prevent an intergalactic war,” said Jenny as she got up and placed the suit cube on her chest as it took her shape in less than a second. “Well, boys gear up… this is going to be a ride of a lifetime.”

  Chapter 9

  To Victory and Forever

  “All in,” said Jenny as she made a final check of her ca
rgo plane’s statistics. “Good to go.”

  It was a huge cargo plane; a beast of raw power solidly built and it could take a lot of beating. The Nebula’s electronic interference would not let Garmin’s early warning systems detect their approach, until they were almost over him. And even if they were detected, once they dropped out of hyper drive, Garmin would foresee no threat from a solitary cargo ship.

  The ship took off smoothly. KC for the first time saw planet Earth in all its splendor. It was beautiful and peaceful.

  “Let’s keep it this way,” he said to himself as they left the atmosphere. He could see the sun rise as a golden ring formed around the planet. It was so picturesque and breathtaking. Down below, he could see the rivers turn and bend and the clouds form vast swirls. It looked heavenly.

  “Is this what heaven looks like?” asked KC. “I have read about it in our ancient texts.”

  “Heaven and hell. Good and bad, are all within… It’s just a matter of what we control and what we can’t and let loose!” said Jenny calmly as she banked left and finally aligned her ship with the Planet Wontrax. “Gentlemen, it’s about to get a bit bumpy in 3…2…1…”

  “Bring it on,” replied KC as all his men clenched their fists and tapped their chests. “To Victory and Forever.” They all said loudly in sync.

  The ship went into hyper drive as it rocked and rattled.

  “This is definitely an old bull,” joked KC. “Much too bumpy. Are you sure this is going to get us across the cloud?” continued KC as he chuckled.

  “To the cloud!” repeated Jenny. “This ol’ bull is going to take us to and beyond the cloud,” added Jenny as she smiled back.

  “However, I can’t guarantee the number of pieces in which we will get there.”

  KC’s guards lost their smiles on hearing this as KC and Jenny burst into laughter. At hyper drive it would take them about 20 minutes to cross the superhot gaseous cloud and the asteroid belt within it. Countless stars were whizzing past them. And then suddenly, there were no more stars! They entered the vast empty space between the two galaxies, the Milky way and the Andromeda. Nothing but the occasional asteroids and specks of gases whooshed past them every now and then. Until finally, they were crossing an overabundance of stars again.

  “And in 5…4... 3...” said Jenny, “Here come the asteroids. Hang on boys.”

  It was crazy. Almost like flies. Millions of them. All over the wind screen. The asteroids were of all sizes from millimeters to kms. The occasional rattling now got continuous until it started to sound like a continuous bombardment.

  “This doesn’t sound good,” stated Jenny seriously. “This is the most rugged ship we could have managed but even it can’t take this kind of beating forever.”

  “How are you even flying?” asked Zaul. “Can’t see a thing through the wind shield. It’s full of crashing asteroids. How in the universe are you even flying?”

  “Definitely not through the windshield,” replied Jenny, her eyes were glued in to her monitor just below the windshield. “I am not worried about the small asteroids, we can’t avoid them, they are too many of them. I am flying through the bigger ones, say 100 meters and bigger. They’re all over and the banging you hear, are from these bigger ones. I can avoid six out of every 10. But we are going to hit four no matter what,” said Jenny.

  Her eyes still pasted on her monitor as she swirled, banked, rolled and pitched the ship in a crazy pattern all over the asteroid belt with incredible skill. KC looked at her in amazement. What determination! What confidence! And he suddenly realized… they were just the same…but from a different universe…!

  “All right everyone. It’s going to get a way more crazy now. I can read over a thousand mid-size and large-sized asteroids up front on the final approach to the planet Wontrax,” announced Jenny. “I suggest, hold on something as tight as possible, because your seat belts are not going to help!”

  “Why can’t we go around the asteroids and approach the planet from the other side?” asked KC.

  “Becasue the asteroids are all around the planet. No matter where we approach from, we’ll run into them….” replied Jenny.

  She had barely announced this when the first asteroid hit. It literally carved into the ship forming a massive dent on the front deck. Then another one. Then a third one. And then… there was no stopping.

  “This is not good… This is absolutely not good,” shouted Zaul. “I am no fancy engineer, but I can tell you this Jenny - we cannot afford to take hits like these for long.”

  “OK Zaul, I need you to go to the monitor on to your left and give me a reading of the engine power. I feel like I am losing power,” said Jenny.

  Zaul tried to reach for his seat belt buckle. But Jenny’s sharp and swift turns and maneuvers were generating so much of G-force that it was almost impossible to even lift a hand. Let alone move to another position close to the monitor. And if that was not enough, the ship got hit by another asteroid, which caused another massive dent just next to Zaul’s seat, so much so that his seat got jammed against the floor.

  “I’m stuck,” shouted Zaul, “I can’t move.”

  “Hang in there,” shouted KC. He looked to his side. There was a row of about 15 seats. The fifteenth seat had the monitor with the engine details in front of it. KC knew exactly what to do. With all the energy he had, he unbuckled his seat belt but held on to it as the G-forces swung him all over the ship. He didn’t let go of the belt what so ever. KC recoiled himself on the seat belt until he was close enough to hold the seat belt of the next seat. So on, one by one he made his way till he reached the 10th seat holding their seat belts. He was completely exhausted by now and bleeding from the cuts in his hands as the seat belts cut into them.

  “KC, we are losing power. You need to get to the monitor, or we will drop out of the hyper drive. We still got over 10 light years to travel,” said Jenny as she dug her eyes into her monitor trying her best to avoid all major asteroid hits. She couldn’t afford to look up even for a second.

  “I am almost there,” replied KC shouting at the top of his voice. The noise inside the ship was almost deafening and the constant hits by the asteroids almost made it sound like a bomb explosion every second.

  “Come on Kenneth, you can do it,” said KC to himself. “Jenny, bank left when I say -‘Go’, and I’ll be there,” shouted KC.

  He gave himself a final push towards the monitor and said ‘Go’. Jenny banked left as KC went crashing on and just about managed to hold on to the monitor.

  “I got it… I got it,” shouted KC. “Jenny… what am I looking for?

  There are three blocks on the top and two at the bottom. All blinking.”

  “What’s their color?” asked Jenny as she shouted back.

  “Aaah. Top row, first two are red and the last one is green. And the second row, both are green. What does this mean?” asked KC.

  “Top row indicates the fusion reactor engines. Only one is green means we have lost two engines. And the bottom row blocks represent the two hyper drive engines. Both are green means they are good,” explained Jenny.

  “Ah… Jenny…” said KC with a pause. “All three blocks in the top row have turned red… we have lost all fusion engines!”

  “This is not good,” shouted back Jenny. “The Hyper drive engines can’t take the load of maneuvering the ship so jaggedly around the asteroids. The hyper drive is only meant for speed. If I continue to push the ship left and right now… the hyper drive will explode and with it, the ship. And if we are lucky to survive the explosion, the gaseous hot clouds will definitely kill us.”

  “Not to worry,” said KC as he thought for a second. “OK, here is what we will do… We will bullet our way through the remaining asteroids. Jenny, I have seen your engine alignment on the monitor. These hyper drive engines are mounted on a gimbal, which can move all over the ship. Right?”
<
br />   “Yes that’s right,” shouted Jenny back.

  “Lovely…” said KC. “Jenny, turn the ship around and engage the hyper drive in full thrust. The head of this ship has taken too much of a beating. Now we will go - rear first into the remaining asteroids. The momentum of the ship should break the smaller asteroids and the big ones as well.”

  “The ship should be able to hold on in one piece,” continued Jenny. “The stern or back of the ship is heavily reinforced for docking purposes. I’ll fly on radar. We got about eight light years to go. Say a minute of fly time left until we cross the asteroid belt and clear the nebula. If I can just maintain the general bearing, we should reach the planet the moment we drop out of hyper drive,” explained Jenny.

  As planned, Jenny skillfully turned her ship around in the middle of the asteroid belt with the hyper drive engines still on full blast. Nothing short of absolute brilliance.

  “If we land on the planet alive,” declared Zaul. “I’ll marry Poplin, the love of my life. And Jenny… you’ll be my God, as the ancients had theirs.”

  “Ha-ha Zaul, you’ll not die today, not on my watch,” asserted Jenny as she blasted through the asteroids. The incessant sound of the asteroids crashing was almost deafening.

  “Jenny, there is going to be a breach in the outer wall of the ship anytime now,” shouted KC as he read the ship’s coherence readings on the monitor.

  “It’s at 15%... now at 14% and now at 10%...” continued KC.

  “We are almost there…” said Jenny. “We will be out in 10…9…8…”

  “Jenny, the coherence is at 3% now...” updated KC as Zaul closed his eyes. “I love you Poppy,” he whispered slowly as the ship’s vibrations escalated.

  “Outer wall integrity at just 1% Jenny,” said KC bracing his seat. “6…5...4…we are almost out of the nebula,” said Jenny; her eyes still fixed on the monitor. “2…1…” Just then the ship’s hyper drive engines exploded giving them one final push out of the asteroid belt in the nebula and also blasted open the back portion of the ship!