‘Think nothing of it. I am glad I am doing my small bit for the effort. If you don’t mind me asking, how is all this going to end?’
The people in Mumbai Command center under General Gautam were playing the waiting game. Mumbai Command, as was perhaps true of many other Command Centers, had realized the futility of a conventional war against the aliens. They had opted for a strategy of waiting the invasion out. The news of the Alien-US alliance had slowly leaked out. Everyone knew that the aliens did not mean to colonize the Earth. They were having what many were saying, a refueling stop and would eventually be on their way, leaving the Earthlings to themselves. They had shown no inclination to set foot on Earth, save in US, and even there, the master aliens hadn’t yet set foot on the ground. The ‘Greys’ were there, on behalf of their masters, more so to assert command and control over the surrendered US officials, than for any real tactical need.
Alex worried about letting the aliens have their way. They had been promiscuous and indiscriminate in their endeavor of stripping Earth of all its organic plant and animal cover. He was not sure if the Earth that will be left behind will be livable or habitable to any great extent. Alex was worried that although life may survive on Earth, if humans make it in the aftermath was questionable. An Earth, repopulated without the humans would still serve the alien palate if they decided to return after a millennium or two. Perhaps it would better serve the alien interest not to have life intelligent enough to mount any credible defense against them.
Alex smiled at the doctor, who was stealing glances at him while tending to Susan, half expecting an answer.
He did not have a very hopeful answer for her,
‘I am going to have to get back to you on that. We are making some progress on a counter-offensive but things are in a preliminary stage as of now. Can I call on you some other time, without Susan?’
Sunita smiled, blushed a little, and shook her head in affirmative. Alex took his leave, Susan in his hands and Nilofer by his side.
Alex did not know why he did that. That was almost an involuntary response from him. Dr. Sunita was beautiful in a way that was unconventional for Alex. She had a small roundish face with shoulder length black hair and a hint of black kohl lining her lower eyelids. She was slim and stood at least a foot shorter than Alex. She looked at least a decade younger than him too. Was it proper for him to entertain feelings for her, so soon after Sienna’s death? What was it that he craved – intimacy or companionship? He had not imposed himself on her. He had asked her and she had agreed. That wasn’t improper. These were difficult times and people were hesitant to form emotional bonds when uncertainty and death loomed on them every day.
Yet two days later, Alex found himself with Sunita in her room, for a home cooked dinner of soup, Indian bread and lentils. Her quarters consisted of a bed, two chairs and a table, surrounded by plywood boards for walls. Most rooms in the camp had been made of such provisos.
The home-cooked food was a welcome change for Alex, having lived off canned stock food since leaving base. During dinner, conversation started off with formal introductions. Alex told her everything there was to tell about himself, about Sienna, his daughters, his capture and subsequent escape from the aliens. Sunita listened with rapt attention, feeling genuinely sad for Alex. Everyone saw him as a war hero and Sunita understood that it was an additional burden to carry, to dehumanize oneself and be a hero, to be a sliver of hope in this hopeless war, a poster boy of resistance after having surmounted alien capture, and keeping up that pretense. Alex enquired about her past and she gave a very matter-of-fact narration of her life, removing the angst and the emotion out of it. She was thirty-two, had married two years ago after completing her Masters in Pediatric Surgery and widowed by the war a year and a half after her marriage. Her parents and in-laws were separated from her, possibly dead and she had ended up here in the Mumbai Command as a refugee.
Alex nodded at her and sighed. There was nothing to say. They were way past condolences and frankly, offering one would neither suffice nor matter.
‘I asked you about the war. Are we doing anything?’
‘Yes’ there was no harm in telling her. Alex recounted what General Shi had told him earlier. Sunita listened attentively and then replied,
‘You need a carrier into the alien ship?’
‘Yes, we need a way to shift the cyanide inside the ship’
‘And it is liquid’
‘Yes it is’
‘Put them inside our bodies and send us up’
‘How?’ Alex’s face had that question written all over it.
‘The alien harvesters are indiscriminate in their harvest of all organic matter on Earth. Our bodies can hold a lot of liquid within. Our stomachs and our bladders can be filled up to the brim with this cyanide liquid and we could be placed in the path of these harvesters. That will do the job of transporting us to their ship.’
Alex was excited. That was definitely something that they could work with. It was a feasible way to get through to the alien mother ship.
‘It would mean a suicide mission’
Sunita’s face was grim
‘If that is what it takes, then so be it’
Alex’s face brightened up a bit
‘It need not be a suicide mission after all. Why not animals and plants? Since they are indiscriminate in their harvesting of organic material, why not deliver it to them in animal and plant bodies?’
Sunita was agog now with surgical possibilities in her mind
‘We could tie up the esophagus and the bowels to create inflatable balloons within animal bodies. The same could be done with the bladder too. In fact, we could place plastic or rubber balloons with the liquid within the peritoneum’
‘What is that?’
‘What? Peritoneum? Oh…its the space within our bellies that holds our gut and a few other abdominal organs. It’s a potential space that can be developed to huge dimensions – thirty liters in an average human adult and maybe a hundred liters in the cattle’
‘Wow. That is huge.’
Alex had to get that idea to the drawing board.
‘Yes this could work’ he got up, the possibilities running wild in his head. Almost involuntarily, he held Sunita’s face in his hands, lowering his mouth to a kiss on her lips, stopping just an inch above her lips, when he realized what he was about to do. Sunita was wide eyed, searching deep into Alex’s eyes and then she held Alex’s face with both her hands and reached up, to bridge the gap between their faces. Their lips met and the wetness of her tender lips rubbed onto Alex’s. She sighed and parted her lips gently sucking on his lips. Alex stood there, transfixed, his emotions caught in a tailspin.
There was an awkward separation and Alex mumbled,
‘I need to work on this. I need to get this through to the General.’
Sunita nodded her head as she saw Alex rush towards the door.
‘Alex!’
Alex turned at the door and Sunita looked into his eyes and said, hesitatingly,
‘Please come back for dinner tomorrow, if you find the time’
Alex nodded his head.
He will make it back here, definitely.
Chapter 33
A Breath
Mumbai Command Centre
April 30, 2019
It had been a hectic week. There had been a couple of developments that had kept everyone excited the entire week. The first was the establishment of a communications grid between major Command Centers across the world. These were the centers situated on port cities and Mumbai was part of this grid. It was connected to the port cities of Shanghai and Tokyo in the east and to Cairo, Dubai and Veracruz to the west.
Global communications had been down since the very start of the alien attacks. The aliens had taken down or cannibalized most of the communication satellites circulating the Earth. Information exchange between Command centers was happening the old style by messengers ferrying messages across open seas. There were a nu
mber of submarines roaming under the vast Oceans of the world coordinating this effort. But that had its limitations of time and distance.
The restoration of communication between ports was made possible by tapping into the undersea internet cables that were then connected to terrestrial telephonic networks, facilitating voice calling and basic internet between these port-cities.
The other big idea in development was Alex’s.
He had taken Sunita’s idea of using animals and humans as transport to General Canton and General Singh as soon as he could. That had set a few wheels in motion. Mumbai command got in touch with the Tokyo Command and discussed the idea threadbare in a three-way communique with the Shanghai Command. Shanghai was in touch with the Beijing Command regularly and it apprised them of the recent developments in the Hydrogen Cyanide Plan. Beijing had started industrial level production of Glycolonitrile, the liquid HCN derivative. The plan to use animal and human carriers was discussed at length in these talks.
That was a week ago.
Two days after the first time he had dinner with Sunita, Alex was at her door again for another dinner. He had an inkling as to how it was going to go if he stepped inside and that stopped him there. He stayed rooted there, thoughts of guilt and uncertainty raking his brain. There was this uncertainty of war and a sense of it being rash and irresponsible towards Susan.
Finally, he turned away, without having food with Sunita that night. He ran into her the next day though and apologized for not being able to make it the previous night. He relayed the enthusiasm with which the plan was received in Tokyo and Shanghai and both of them expressed hope that the plan be realized into something concrete.
Something concrete did materialize of the plan. Alex was asked to report to General Singh’s office the next day.
‘Come Alex. I have some news for you. Beijing has gotten back with progress on the HCN plan. They have devised some form of a catalytic trigger that can cause an explosive decompression of the liquid glycolonitrile into the gaseous HCN. The plan is to place liquid canisters with these catalytic converters within animal carcasses and transport them up into the alien harvesters and let them go kaboom up there’ he raised his arm pointing towards the sky.
‘How do they plan to trigger these catalytic converters?’
Singh had a sheaf of papers spread across his table. He rifled through them till he pulled out what he wanted, went through that and then replied, handing the paper to Alex
‘There are two ways that could be accomplished. There could be a mechanism for remote detonation of these canisters. They could also be rigged to go off to a timed mechanism.’
Alex thought for a moment.
‘Will it affect humans?’
Singh scratched his beard
‘As General Shi said, the dose might be regulated to make it lethal to the Daiits and non-lethal to others, but I guess it definitely will affect someone standing too close to the explosion. Are you thinking about the captive humans?’
Alex nodded his head. He was indeed thinking about William and the others in alien captivity. Of late, he had had to make too many moral sacrifices and that was what General Singh said next
‘That has to be the small price that we have to pay for the plan’s success.’
Alex responded tersely
‘I am broke General. I don’t have any karma left to pay this price with’
General Singh shrugged his shoulders, ignoring the drama in Alex’s words.
For Alex though, apart from the issue of his friends being caught in this crossfire, there were other concerns that needed to be addressed too.
‘We cannot guarantee the success of this plan from here. We have to be on board to make sure the chemical hits its target’ Alex thought out loud.
‘How do you think we can accomplish that?’
‘The same way I made it up the last time.’
‘But that was just a happenstance. You were captured and were very lucky to have made it back out’ the General stressed on the word ‘lucky’.
‘It wasn’t luck General. It is because of William and others that I am alive today.’
Alex knew if he had to save William and the others, he had to elevate their cause here on Earth to above mere moral turpitude in killing fellow humans. He believed that those on the ship could be used in this fight rather than them ending up being mere collateral damage.
Alex met General Canton that evening and expressed his willingness to fly out with the bombs on to the alien craft. He advocated for an accompanying human military attachment to the cattle-bombs.
Canton listened carefully and finally replied,
‘I find merit in your arguments. No harm in exploring this option. Let me find the feasibility of it.’
Alex knew that he needed to be there where the action was. He could not convince Tokyo, Shanghai or Beijing from here.
‘I need to get to Tokyo.’
Canton looked at Alex and then simply nodded
‘Yes, you do. Let me talk to Singh. We can arrange an excursion for you.’
General Canton delivered on his promise.
A Chengdu J-51 stealth aircraft landed at Mumbai Command two nights later. The Chinese, in the last decade, had stolen a march over the rest in stealth technology. They had accomplished that with their phenomenal work on radar-absorbent materials and ‘Phononic Ceramics’ – a class of ceramic material that could bend radar and sonar waves in ways that would provide multi-spectral camouflage to the vessel bearing a coating of that material. In fact, Chinese submarines with that tech were known as ‘Harry-Potter’ subs alluding to the invisible cloak from the Potter series. Chengdu J-51 was one of the better stealth and air-superiority bomber aircrafts in the world now. The aircraft did a vertical night landing within the ruins of the Mumbai Command Center, shielded from aerial view by the mangled remains of the skyscrapers.
Alex had to secure Susan. He asked a big favor of Sunita and Sunita agreed immediately to move Susan and Nilofer to her quarters. Alex asked Aslam to keep an eye on all of them. Aslam assured him of the same. Aslam was slowly settling down within the chaos of the war and had volunteered to train young militia and join the armed raiding parties that ventured out of Command Center periodically to look for food and other supplies.
Thus assured, Alex left for Tokyo next night, occupying the co-pilot’s chair on the Chengdu J-51. They covered the distance in a little over three hours, flying very near Mach speed for most of the flight.
Tokyo Command Center was stationed in a basement of the now nearly destroyed DisneySea amusement park. Most of the rides and amusements were reduced to heaps of rubble and mangled metal since the beginning of the second wave of alien attacks. Alex was received by two uniformed officers and they took him to meet General Hideki Nishikori, the officer-in-command of the Tokyo Center.
Tokyo had of late come out as one of the most disciplined armed forces in the world. They had ended decades of their being a committed pacifist nation in 2018, and officially contributed their first armed contingent for peace-keeping in the Sudan conflict. Thereafter, they got sucked into the Korean war and fought alongside erstwhile rivals, South Korea. They proved their mettle there and were the most disciplined of the lot, tilting the war decisively in South’s favor.
General Nishikori was a quiet man but that quietness reflected some measure of his efficiency too. Alex introduced himself and after a few minutes, found some common friends who had fought alongside each other in the Korean War. General Nishikori laid the plans for the attack in front of Alex. Delivery of cattle-bombs was to be done on the same day from Tokyo, Shanghai and Beijing.
‘How many are you planning to send up? Alex asked
‘We will reach ten thousand cattle-head.’
There was certainty in that number, the way General Nishikori spoke it. Alex knew that number was huge, but realized that questioning it will amount to him questioning Nishikori’s efficiency.
‘Will it not arouse suspicion
in their minds?’
‘That is not a huge number when you take into account how many they harvest each day. The problem is of distribution and we will try our best to spread them apart.’
Alex nodded and Nishikori continued,
‘We have planned to have at least a hundred different delivery points, from Pakistan and Tibet in east to Australia down south and west.’
Alex was impressed. To have managed a coordinated effort across such a vast expanse was no mean achievement.
‘Do they have a unit working on this in Australia?’
‘They have been sounded about this and they are working on it. General Coolidge is leading the efforts in Melbourne.’
Alex felt it was time to broach what he had come this far for
‘I want you to consider sending a contingent of soldiers together with the animal carcasses’
General Nishikori looked up at Alex and Alex continued,
‘There are these air tight containers on the alien mother-ship, where these harvesters dump their harvest initially. If they suspect anything, they might seal off everything and for all our efforts, we may end up with nothing on our hands.’
General Nishikori nodded,
‘There is no plan as of now to send humans’
‘That is what I have come here to impress upon you. There are a thousand and one unknowns on that ship and we cannot just leave it all up to dead carcasses for our deliverance.’
‘How do we get humans up there?’
‘By harvesters. The same way I went up.’
‘You were lucky’
‘I admit I was but if we send a hundred, at least fifty would be lucky’
‘Or thirty, twenty or ten or none at all’
‘True. But, we would then know that we tried our best’
General Nishikori thought hard bout the proposition. It was a tough call to take, something that entailed putting lives at risk.
‘I am sure I would see you in front of this line of voluntary soldiers.’
‘Front, middle, back. Doesn’t matter. But I will be there. I need to go up there with the others.’
‘For your friends’
Exodus (The Domus Series Book 2) Page 18
