CHAPTER 2
I was back in my headquarters in Delhi. I asked my assistant not to bother me for a couple of hours. My conscience could not bear the weight of the responsibility that was given to me. At my desk, I had more than 500 records, each of them had I had commanded, all young brave Marines willing to give their lives for this great nation. How was I to choose only one hundred? I was sure that this was the most difficult mission I had ever served in, would have preferred that the order was to fly to the very heart of our enemies and stop the madness that was coming, but choosing one hundred of my men was putting to death all the others. I could not take anything to chance. I also understood the seriousness of the matter, I just wanted to think for a moment that everything was just a nightmare, I wished that at some point the phone would ring with the news that an elite group of soldiers had found the command center of our enemies and destroyed the possibility of a disaster. But I'm a career soldier I must follow orders, I only had thirteen hours for return, exactly five to choose and take the flight to take me back to the maze where salvation was only for a few. I started by separating women from men, I thought, at least, if I chose the same number of each gender it would be partial, or at least even, years of experience have shown me that there are times when women have more value, not counting with the fact that they are much more determined and organized by nature, I managed to separate the first fifty on merit and missions accomplished, then twenty more for their youth and their dedication. Of the remaining records I should take twenty, I looked name by name, I checked every history, personal details, if they were married or not, they’re medical records, so I reduced the list to choose just three, I had already chosen ninety-seven good soldiers. At that time, the office phone rang, it startled me. I prayed that it was the call I had imagined, but no it was the military hospital that warned that Rohan Shinde's wife had just given birth to a girl. The soldier had failed to be there, because he was on duty. Do not know how or why I did it, I have never failed to fulfill an order, but something inside me drove me to call my assistant asking her to call soldier Rohan and present himself to my office immediately. It took only five minutes when a very young man, short red hair, appeared at my door. Standing firm said.
- Excuse me Sir.
- Come in, Shinde, have a seat.
- I took off my beret for the first time in hours, and by standing in front of the soldier in a military fatherly tone I said:
- Soldier, I have for you a very important task, you must fulfill and a mission of utmost importance and cannot have the slightest error.
- Just give me your order sir, he said, the boy standing firm and taking his right hand to his forehead.
- Take a military vehicle with the utmost discretion and go to the military hospital, pick up your wife and daughter and come back here, soldier, you have two hours to fulfill this mission.
The gleam in the boy's eyes and smile was evident of the happiness that felt, when he tried to ask me why that mission, before he was even finished, I did not let him talk and in a stronger tone I said:
- Remember that you are a soldier of this nation and you fulfill orders without question, go now, have two hours.
I decided the best thing for me and my conscience would not to walk again through the courtyards of the barracks, I could not bear to leave those facilities with the memory of the looks and greetings from many guys that for years had served this nation under me, I felt nothing but cowardice, and I kicked myself for that, though I tried to find courage to do it, I could not, I closed the windows overlooking the patio and I was alone with my thoughts, people think that military people are strong and never cry, in those last two hours I showed the world they were wrong. That time had come, I washed my face, put on my beret, I went straight to the plane, my assistant had everyone sitting in their seats, as I entered the plane, my eyes were looking for soldier Rohan, I found him in half way in the right row, I breathed easy, I gave the pilot orders to launch, from the window to my left I could see Lieutenant Brigadier Ford, whom had left me in command of the unit with detailed guidance. I closed my eyes and left all my remorse behind the tracks.
*********
Once in the air I decided that it was best to talk to my soldiers on the mission entrusted to us, I worried about Rohan soldier girl, but it was the only chance I had to survive, to stay in the hospital was to be sentenced to death for Anyway, if enduring the trip to the cave-hangar would be more likely that millions of human beings. I stood up and came, holding, central plane.
- Marines, - I said out loud to draw attention of all - is it possible that a nuclear attack can occur within a few hours, you were selected among thousands of soldiers to protect the safety of what’s most precious to our nation, never in the years that you have served may lead you to such delicate mission, we are going to a secret facility where we probably may never return, there will be thousands of civilians for which our mission is to care for. We will flying into outer space on a ship designed and prepared by the best scientists of our land, the plan is to remove the best of our youth from a nuclear risk, we must watch that on that ship no unpleasant altercations occur that may endanger the life of any of its crew. Here are 100 chosen within our unit, I expect from you the utmost discretion and the highest sense of duty. With that, a murmur was heard on the plane, but for only a few seconds, after that silence had reigned the four hour trip. We got to the point of landing.
The journey we had previously on sleds, was not feasible this time, because we needed to take equipment with us, we had to walk. Besides, someone could be watching from a satellite, the journey would be three hours away, as calculated by the guide that we expected. We were forbidden to use any communication equipment, long weapons should stay on the plane and returned to base, the guide handed out special coats for the 12 degrees below zero that were hitting our faces, we were given some instructions and started walking. Though he was the head of my platoon through the snow, from time to time he would do a visual inspection of all the men behind, especially soldier Rohan’s wife and daughter, the youngest Indian marine
When we finally arrived at our meeting point at the secret passage, it was the guide this time who put his hand in the stone and gave it the "open sesame" the first part of the mission was accomplished and there I was on time with my 100 soldiers and ready to begin the second stage.
*********
After going down the elevators in groups of twenty, I was taken by the guide, who never said his name, with all my trained guys to a room where I would be given instructions and drawings of the ship entered Through a side door, entered General Singh, followed by the president, was saluted in unison, the two men walked the line of marines, checking that everything was in order and looking into the eyes of each and every one, I was two steps away from them when they came to where soldier Rohan’s wife and newborn daughter were, the General turned around to ask me, but before he could even ask me, I responded, and said:
- It's my 100th soldier, sir - The President, who was to At the right of General Singh and in front of me, could not nothing more than laugh. We all laughed and the General gave the ok and reaching out in a hand shake congratulated me on the timely efficiency and quality of the chosen men. He asked me to follow him to his office where we would discuss here the strategy of the plan. My men were taken to a room where they would be using computers, given new larger caliber rifles for accuracy. A portable intercom mounted over their ears, which linked with each other and receive direct signal from the command post. New uniforms equipped with antiballistic. The mission would be explained in specific details and the responsibilities they had. The chain of command, learn the ships floor plans and learn to move within the ship. All civilians chosen to board the ship were all in military barracks prepared for this purpose, in a restricted area of the underground facilities. The second step of my mission was to lead them into groups and housing them in the ship’s south-west side, where six floors were divided in shelters, we decided to separate the men from the women, and put them up on the upper floors, minors and a few elders who were each selected for their knowledge and experience, all great doctors, in different fields of science. Each floor would have military command post, with ten of my soldiers. In the south-east side of the ship were the workshops, machine rooms, areas for the protection of animal and forest, a huge fish like pond with different species of marine life, one with fresh water species.
And cloning laboratories that ensured food for all crew. In the north Eastern part of the ship were grocery stores, hangars with about sixty exploration aircraft's, a military department with reserves for all the weapons available, drinking water supplies and oxygen tanks, tanks for fuel, in this case it was hydrogen in the six wings of NIRMANA 394, at the northeast side the main control rooms, main operating rooms, it was the only part of the ship that had large windows or skylights installed which allowed us to look into space. I organized my soldiers and began to move all civilians, with only five thousand remaining to board the ship. According to General Singh, we had enough time for the operation, but an alarm put everyone on alert, the General on radio told me we had to leave, according to the latest reports ten warheads could suddenly be in the air, the ground troops in the area of greatest conflict had captured an enemy commander's son who had gone mad. There were only fifteen minutes left to be in the air and through the atmosphere. I gave my soldiers the order to take all civilians left towards the ship, there was panic and despair, all in parallel formation marked the way for my soldiers to bring them to the barracks and through the main gate, someone with the force of their body struck me making me fall a few meters back, I pulled myself together and finished the operation, when I made sure that all of my soldiers were inside the ship, I pressed the button to close the huge gate, I immediately felt the gnashing of the powerful motors begin to run and again my body was on the floor when the vast mass of steel took off, my soldiers and I spent about 10 minutes trying to fight the inertia of our bodies, the belt of our uniforms had a button where we could press it and it would tie us securely to any side of the walls of the ship just by pressing the button, so we did and we merged with the walls of the immense Noah’s Ark. When calm was apparent and we could standing and walk around, it was soldier Rohan saw blood on my right arm.
**********