CHAPTER 10
- Good afternoon, Brigadier.Agent Shiva greeted me warmly as he walked behind me to my office. He sat down without asking, waiting for me to speak first. Slowly I explained the details of all the information given to me by the first lady, without going into details of who had given me this information.
- It's great information – The agent said. I ordered him to thoroughly investigate every person chosen by the senator. Something told me that if we followed the track and we checked carefully this information, we would find one or more members of the group that infiltrated the ship. I told him discreetly that information of the progress of the investigation should only be given to General Singh and myself. I gave the agent the password to enter the files where all records of all civilians in the NIRMANA 394 were, I would contact him within 24 hours. I apologized for the urgency and for the need to work fast and efficiently. I let him go, explaining that he had to attend to other matters.
On the way to see General Singh almost reaching the central command post I crossed paths with Dr. Jadhav. As always, her hair fell on her shoulders over her white coat, making her eyes shine bright like two suns. This woman had a charm that fascinated me. When she was in front of me, I could forget all the problems, I was scared when my mind reacted saying: I was falling in love. I never had time to experience that feeling. And I wondered why now.
How could I afford to love someone who, like me, had no destination. Every human being at this time who lived within these three ships, had a destination. Nobody knew what would happen. I know love can overcome all obstacles. When she approached me.
She took my arm in her hand. She lifted a corner of the dressing and looked me straight in the eye, gave me the most beautiful smile ever before saying:
- You must make an upcoming to visit to the infirmary. Since the wound is healed, we can now remove the bandages and clean the scar.
I promised the doctor to visit her in a few hours, I really had no desire to take my arm and those bands off. I was quite pleased with her diagnosis. What I did not mention to her was my desire to see her again.
And the thought that crossed my mind that now I did not have an excuse to visit her, where she spent most of her time. General Singh was giving instructions when I got to where he was. The flight captains were coming and going between the control panels. I approached him and asked him for private time. The man asked me a few minutes. I stood behind his seat. I heard him give orders. Until finally he rose from his chair and looking at me asked me to follow him, to a small rooms adjacent to the main control room.
- I hope you come to give me an interesting report on the investigations- The General told me as he sat on the chair of this room.
- Yes, I have, General. - I replied. And immediately I explained everything that had happened since meeting with the first lady in their private quarters. I gave the commander of NIRMANA 72 all the information and told him about the orders given to agent Shiva.
- Very good job, Brigadier. I expected no less from you. Keep me informed of every step in this research.
And tell agent Shiva that only you and I must know this.
- I already did, Commander. - I said.
- Ok. OK, now go and rest about two hours. At 21:00 hours I need you ready to receive instructions and be ready to go with seven pilots to the mission we talked about earlier. Since the ships are ready to remove the ice needed. At 23:00 hours you will leave for earth.
With a military salute, I turned my back to the man who commanded those three ships.
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Two hours was very little time to rest, so I decided to go to the infirmary and have my arm bands removed. As I arrived, my eyes were searching the doctor. She was taking the pulse of one of the patients admitted, who remained in quarantine. The weight of my eye looking at her caused her to turn around and saw me starring at her.
- Brigadier apparently you are desperate to remove that band. – She said. It’s only been forty five minutes since I told you and you are already here.
- I’m leaving in two hours for a mission and wanted to have them removed. But if you're busy I can come back another time. -I replied.
- It's OK, come with me.
I followed her to small end at the end of nursing quarters. She ordered me to sit on a metal table and extend my arm. From a shelf she had pulled a tray with all the healing tools in her hands, she put on nylon gloves, and taking scissors started cutting the bandage. I kept looking at her. I had her there so close to me and yet I dared not say anything. She looked up at times. And sought my eyes. Bands finally disappeared from my arm. And then I felt her fingers touch the scar that extended a few inches into my skin while cleaning what was left of the wound. I do not know how made. But my other hand sought hers. Her fingers lost between mine. This time she did not look up. But let the warmth of my palm caress her hand. – Your arm is like new, she said. And I, not knowing how I jumped over the metal table and taking her by the waist pressed against my uniform. She was so close to me that for the first time I could smell her hair and skin, your perfume. A that point I was almost ready to kiss her. Almost touching her lips with mine when a girl suddenly opened the door of that room.
- Doctor, the patient in bed 34 has worsened, Dr. RIMT needs your help. Said the girl and closed the door.
I picked up my military cap from the table, before the Dr. noticed my cheeks were red, I left.
I checked the time, I appeared before General Singh,which he had been expecting me. With him, we went to the main hangars of the NIRMANA 394. Already there were the other seven pilots that would accompany me on the mission, several of the experts were explaining how to extract and store ice in the eight
ships ready for this. It was the general who gave the first indications.
- You will depart exactly at 23:00 hours, Brigadier Jay will command the mission, enter the planet through the northern hemisphere, which currently is the hemisphere that is facing the sun.
Exactly the coordinates 10 ° 57 '42'' north latitude and 74 ° 46' 54'' of longitude west of the city of Barranquilla. When passing through the atmosphere you will be divided into two groups of four and these in turn into four pairs and make a reconnaissance flight. Since the eight ships are equipped with special cameras and equipment to measure pollution, none of this will be a problem for you because these cameras will be directed from here. Overfly each capital city of the India’s. You will not leave your ships, see what you see. After the reconnaissance flight, the four ships that will be in the southern hemisphere and will go to Antarctica. Overflying the northern hemisphere at 4:00 pm in the Arctic pole. While there a hydraulic arm attached to each ship in the bottom will be extracting the ice to fill the compartments with which there are eight ships. You only need to ensure that the depth reached for these arms is five hundred feet, at that point it should not have contamination.
You have five hours for this. At the end you should have turned around and then the four ships that are in the Antarctica fly over the continents of Africa, Australia, and Asia, the ships that fly over the Arctic are Asia and Russia, meeting everyone at the coordinates 25 ° 03 ' N and 121 ° 30'W in Taiwan
City to begin the climb and through the atmosphere at 17:00. You should be back in NIRMANA 394 at 23:00 am tomorrow. The team of experts will explain how to drive the hydraulic extraction. You have enough oxygen in you ships for 48 hours. You cannot take off your spacesuits or leave your ships for no reason at all your equipment are designed against radiation. Pilots,
God bless. - The general became silent and each of the pilots including myself headed to the ships prepared for the mission, though I was familiar with all controls and the flight deck of a ship, for the first time I was going to fly a ship that would cross into the atmosphere. The Z-shaped wings out from the center of an oval frame where the cockpit was in the bottom. Small windows let us see into outer space.
One expert went with me and showed me how to handle the arm that would draw the ice. Everything else was of my knowledge. All ready, General Singh, gave the order to go, the NIRMANA 394 gate opened to release the eight ships departing.
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We leave the NIRMANA 394 in triangle formation, we started our journey to our land. I was sure this would be the last time I would see the world in which I lived in for so many years, a feeling of heaviness invaded my spirit. We crossed the atmosphere at the agreed point, and there I gave orders to divide. Three pilots followed me to the northern hemisphere. The other four were out of my sight flying to the southern part of the planet. After flying over Delhi with a difference of a few miles between ships, we separated, one of the pilots was to fly over the east coast of the India, fly over the states of Arizona, Mumbai, Gurgaon, Shimala, Jaisalmer and Bangalore. A second pilot would travel the cities of Chennai, Telangana, Kerla and cities of Karnataka, the pilot closer to me was to fly over the states of Maharashtra and Gujrat. And finally I would fly over the east coast of the India, the states of Chennai, Mumbai,Delhi. After passing over the India each ship would head north, and fly over the states of Eastern India and head to meet at a point in the Arctic pole. I realized I had been selfish in distributing routes, but I had wanted to pass by the military barracks which had seen me grow into a Brigadier. I wanted to see with my own eyes the city where I grew up in. See the lake where every evening I would sit with my father in that old wooden bench that I helped build.
As we flew, the silence became king of the eight cabins on the ships, although we were all were interconnected, not a word had been heard. The horns of our ships were not used a single time. The destruction on the planet was complete.
Everything was reduced to rubble. Not one of the cities that I flew over was still standing. The colors of the streets of my country, had now the color of funeral gray including the landscape. The waves were invading some of the buildings that had height. Not a single sign of life. A few trees were still standing but not a single green leaf. Major interstate highways were full of cars and trucks turned into ashes. Nearly half of Chennai had disappeared under the sea now only a desert full of silence and death. From the old castles in the state of Delhi had less than ten feet, all with more than half of the buildings destroyed. I intentionally flew over my old neighborhood, my home, nor the house or the bench were there. I understood why the pilots refusal to say a word. When I approached Mumbai, no city had been destroyed like this one. One of the warheads had crashed in the center of Vidarbha. I only found dust and sand, and the waves of a sweeping black sea took what little was left.
And so the mission passed in silence, we just let the images form our ships do the talking. The images we were also seeing were also seen by NIRMANA 394, not a single word from them either.
At the appointed time the four ships headed to the Arctic, the other four, twenty minutes before had been reported as on site in the extraction site of the Antarctic pole. We placed our teams on the marked extraction site. The digging arms moved towards the white ice. Within half an hour the tips of the augers in the arms were at the required depth. I gave orders to start the motors. And the compartments began to fill, the measuring needle began to move, everything went as planned. So far the mission was a success. Except the sadness of seeing our home, the earth, totally destroyed and dead.
Exactly three hours forty-eight minutes the extraction operation lasted. The northern hemisphere ships were ready for the second part of the mission, to fly over the other side of the planet. The ships in the southern hemisphere needed about twenty minutes more. I hoped that the launch was timed as had been calculated. But when going to the second part of the mission one of the ships left hydraulic arm was stuck in the ice. For the first time in our cabins speakers we heard the voice of a pilot.
- Brigadier, I have problems!
- Tell me pilot, what wrong? -I said to the man that seemed scared.
- My ship, the auger is stuck. It does not respond to my commands, the coupling mechanisms to the ship have frozen.
- Calm down, Shinde. Do not leave, stay put, let me ask for instructions. - I connected my radio equipment to the frequency of NIRMANA 394, we were all waiting to see what would happen, but I was not willing to leave that pilot on earth, many human lives had already been lost.
- NIRMANA, NIRMANA, Brigadier Jay here. Do you read me?
- Affirmative, Brigadier, I read you, what happened? From the other side a voice of one of the flight
captains answered my call.
- The ship number 3 is stuck in the ice, the auger and hydraulic arm do not let go, those do not respond to the system.
- Brigadier. Here speaks engineer Patil. –I recognized the man who spoke to me, he was one of the experts who had shown us how the whole system worked to extract and fill the compartments – the hydraulic lines may have frozen, the ice also imprisoned the length the arm. I connected the pilot to the frequently of the ship.
- Ok, Affirmative. I copy. - From the cockpit of my ship I could connect the other ships to the frequency of NIRMANA, I looked at the controls on my head and I added the Shinde in trouble to the conversation.
- Pilot. Are you there? - Asked from NIRMANA.
- Affirmative, Shinde here. Pilot Ship No. 3.
- Pilot, engineer Patil is speaking to you. What is your situation?
- All the compartments are filled to 100%. I was about to take off, but when operating the ice trying to get systems hydraulic arm, the system does not respond. I'm stuck in ice.
- Ok, Shinde, I understand your situation, listen closely.
To your right are two panels of the ship stability.Among these you have a small panel installed, it will
release, it is a different color to the others in your controls.
- Affirmative, here what I have.
- Release the panel that I mentioned, you will find a black control.
- Yes, here it is.
- That's the manual command to expel all hydraulic arm extractions, operate it slowly upwards. The arm will come off the ship and you can take off.
It took about two minutes until the pilot's voice came again.
- Here, pilot of the ship three. I powered the control arm twice and does it does not release. What do I do?
- Calm down, Shinde. Await instructions.
From the NIRMANA 394 spacecraft took the three in the frequency just heard the whole conversation, for the second time the engineer Patil spoke to me.
- Brigadier Jay, are you there?
- Affirmative, here I am.
- Brigadier, this is engineer Patil again. I will explain the situation, apparently the eject commands are also frozen. You will have two options.Disconnecting the drill from the outside of the ship, which is extremely dangerous for any human being.
Due to radiation levels that our system is reading, or the other is leave the pilot and the ship behind, I know it's a tough decision, but we will have to sacrifice a pilot to achieve the mission’s success. The clock is ticking.
- I will not leave a man behind, - I said - tell me what to do.
- Brigadier, are you sure of your decision? – I recognized the voice that spoke to me this time. It was the NIRMANA 394’s commander, General Singh.
- Yes, Commander. I'm sure, too many lives have been lost on this planet to afford to lose one more. I wait for instructions, but I'm not leaving here without that driver.
- Brigadier Ok, I trust your decision. Engineer Patil will instruct you.
- Brigadier? The engineer began to give me instructions- in the bottom of the ship is the hydraulic arm that has a command equal to the one just operated by pilot Lester. This time you must drive it down hard. Please use the auxiliary protection suit behind your seat. Two suits will protect more than one. Leave your hatch open. If the bit is clear, you should run to your ship. A block of ice can break and leave you trapped, and that will not be very good for you. We will be in touch from the intercom attached to your suit. Good Luck.
- Copying, engineer. Thank you very much. In two minutes I was ready to go outside of my ship. I opened the hatch, which was behind me and an icy wind hit the inside of the ship 1.
My boots sank when they collided with the ice below me. A strange feeling overcame my body, after all that had happened, for the first and the last time I was putting my feet back on the planet who just days ago gave us life. Now, that same planet could take my life away. I walked the hundred yards that separated me from the trapped ship.
Through the window I could see pilot Lester’s frightened face, with my right hand I signaled him that everything would be fine. At last I came to the hand control of expulsion. For the fifth time I resumed the conversation with the NIRMANA 394.
- NIRMANA, NIRMANA, here Brigadier Jay, I'm in position.
-Perfect, Brigadier. Give me a minute to give pilot Lester instructions, stay in frequency. Engineer
Patil started instructing the pilot after adding him to our frequency
-Shinde, you have Brigadier Jay under your ship. Start your engines and put them at the lowest power. When the Brigadier pulls the eject command you should attempt to take off. You also need to pull the hydraulic arm, do it carefully but quickly. The Brigadier's life is at stake.
- Affirmative. I'm ready, engines on.
- Brigadier, press with full force the command arm down when you feel it move, you should leave there as soon as possible, wait for my cue to power. I will count backward from number 5. Upon completion of the count, you operate the panel and the pilot will attempt to take off. Got that?
- Ready. I replied with both hands on the expulsion panel, while the pilot was a set in his cabin.
- Five, four, three, two, one, zero!
I pulled with all my might. Until I felt the exhaust system work. My ears told me I had done my work, I ran as fast as I could, I felt like the ship was leaving behind me the ice block. I looked back a second and saw the detached arm, at a distance of nearly two feet ship three. While white pieces of rock scattered through the air. As quickly as possible I reached the hatch that had been left open. I almost threw myself in my ship. I sat in my seat, gave everyone orders.Through the intercoms you could hear the happiness in the central operating room NIRMANA 394.
The third part of the mission was on its way, which was flying and recognize the second part of the planet, silence reigned, the sadness of the images were repeated again. As before, there was dust and death.
Nothing was left of our civilization.At the appointed time we started the climb, the eight ships were already gathering and crossing the atmosphere, it was 22:30 pm when we spotted the NIRMANA 394 gate waiting for us.
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