Genesis

by Tej Pratap Singh

  “Well then, just jump us to some other location near to it,” said Kamal.

  “No…the Commander is at that particular location,” said Crona. “We have to go in hot. And retrieve the Commander and Jenny immediately. We can’t spend more than five minutes in that time. If we do spend absolutely any extra time there, we will distort the stability of that dimension as well. This dimension and space is as such heavily distorted and is about to crash. If anything goes wrong in the other dimension, the result will be so catastrophic that even I can’t predict, calculate or control its effect.”

  “So to put it in… English. We have five minutes to go to a completely new dimension, where probably a war is going on. Find KC and Jenny. Stay alive while we are at it and then get back,” said Kamal.

  “That’s pretty much it,” replied Crona.

  “But how are we going to jump to that dimension so quickly? There are so many of us,” questioned Jonny.

  “I require only 0.0000002 sec to location-jump to that dimension irrespective of the amount of matter involved,” said Crona.

  “But won’t everyone get…mixed? I mean, we are all going to be terribly disintegrated and then integrated again all within 0.0000002 seconds. How is that possible? Isn’t that too quick?” said Jonny stunned as the Tac-3 tightened their gear, prepping for the big Jump.

  “If I were to take any longer that 0.0000002 seconds, then probably everyone would get inappropriately integrated!” explained Crona. “To simply put it… it is somewhat like ‘frequency hopping communication’. The technique that you presently use to communicate on Earth between two radio sets or stations. You send one message from one radio to another radio using several channels. The message while traveling switches or hoops between several channels at the rate of 100 times/sec. The hopping is so quick that the receiver receives the message uninterrupted, also ensuring that the message is not compromised since it is changing channels so frequently.”

  “OK… So it’s like watching the ceiling through a fast moving fan. The celling can be seen clearly. But if we reduce the speed of the fan then it hinders the view,” said Jonny.

  “Exactly,” replied Crona. “The rate at which I make ‘matter’ jump from one location or time to another is so ‘quick’ and ‘in such small packets’ almost equal to 1/10000000th of a quark at a time, that matter moves almost instantly to an observer.”

  “Wow,” expressed Kamal in clear fascination. “This is so incredible! And way… way beyond our time”

  “Let’s do it then,” said Jonny in excitement. Jonny and his team had faced many challenging situations before. But now what they were heading into, was a league apart. He had never thought even in the wildest of his dreams that he would have the privilege to do anything like this. He couldn’t wait to Time jump.

  “Gentlemen, lie down on the floor,” announced Crona. “In the next five seconds we are going to enter the Parallel Dimension. In 5…4…3...2...1…”

  Chapter 7

  XZ-01- 2956

  All the three sectors were at peace. Free trade was active. There was harmony across the three sectors of the known universe, and the AMU had kept all the anti-social elements at bay by enforcing peace accords through ethical, moral policies and compassionate laws. All seemed to be in pristine condition.

  …but for one strange situation. Garmin, the most notorious criminal of the universe lay dormant! Not one illegal activity by his faction in over a year. And yet he was growing in power. His war machinery was growing at a staggering rate and he was accumulating monetary resources with an uncanny consistency. This unusual growth of Garmin’s cult had even the smartest minds and think tanks of AMU perplexed. How could Garmin be doing nothing substantial and yet be getting so powerful? Something was happening under the wraps; but no one could comprehend what!

  Not even Crona with her superior intellect, analytical and diagnostic cognizance could grasp the reason behind Garmin’s sudden growth.

  “Status report,” said Commander KC as he inspected the outskirts of the vast third sector while abode the gigantic ‘D’ class Super Destroyer Battleship.

  “All peaceful Sir,” reported Cdr Rul checking his wall display in front of him. “Zero incidents.”

  “What about Garmin?” inquired KC.

  “Surprisingly, Garmin is on his home planet - Eritra, sector 1,” replied Rul. “However, Cdr… we tracked his battleships moving out to sector 2 and sector 3 and then, together back to sector 1.”

  “How many ships?” asked KC analysing the situation as he looked out of his ship into the vast expanse of space in front of him.

  “…. All,” said Rul after a brief pause.

  “What!” said KC in utter surprise. “Garmin left his home planet and his galaxy clusters undefended… completely!”

  “That’s true Cdr,” said Rul. “In fact, his royal guards have been decommissioned for good. There are no armed patrols in Garmin’s Galaxy cluster anymore.”

  “That’s most astonishing,” said Cdr Akil who was also sitting on the table with Cdr Rul. “Could it be remotely possible that Garmin has actually given up his mischievous ways?” added Cdr Akil.

  “No,” said KC and Rul together.

  “Not in a hundred eons,” added Cdr Rul.

  “I thought so,” agreed Akil. “I had one of his ships checked and scanned at the sector 2 border outpost as his ship moved into sector 3… It had fiber and rice!” “That’s just cloth and food!” spoke Rul puzzled.

  “Yes,” confirmed Akil. In fact, I later remotely scanned all his ships passing in and out of sector 3. The Garmaniens were supplying antique cloth and food to sector 3 and buying low grade vitamins from sector 3 which they were taking back to sector 1.”

  “What in the name of the universe are they doing with so much of vitamins in sector 1,” inquired KC. “Crona, is there any epidemic prevalent or likely to occur in sector 1?”

  “Negative Cdr. There is none,” replied Crona. “In fact, as per my data, Garmin is storing all the vitamins he is collecting from sector 3 in a warehouse in sector 1. This warehouse is on the artificial planet - Xz-01. And he has been stocking his load on this planet for the past one year now.”

  “Isn’t Xz-01 a docking station having numerous ship repair yards for military and merchant vessels?” inquired KC. “Why is he storing vitamins there?”

  “Commander, as per the trade logs and import records of planet Xz-01 which I have just checked…. as I speak, it perfectly matches. He is selling vitamins for medicinal use to all merchants.”

  “There has got to be more to it than this,” affirmed KC. “Garmin selling medicines can’t justify his mighty weapons and armament built-up. Why does he need massive weapon, if it’s trade that he is into now? He can fool the universe with his gimmicks but not me,” stated KC. “Rul, activate Scout Team (ST6) for a covert recce of Garmin’s warehouse on Xz-01,” ordered KC. “I want a detailed report about what Garmin is up to.”

  * * *

  It was a particularly cold morning. A magnetic storm was raging at the borders of the 1st sector and it was heading towards the Viso-01 Super-Galaxy cluster. One of the galaxies - ‘The M-W’ in Viso super-cluster contained the artificial planet Xz-01. In the same space where once, planet Earth stood!

  Stealth in this operation was of the highest priority. No one in the known universe trusted Garmin. And Garmin reciprocated in kind. The AMU knew very well what criminal doings Garmin was capable of and catching him red-handed was all-important.

  Shielded by Crona, the recce team - ST6 was location-jumped into the magnetic cloud. This was the safest approach to the Viso-01 super cluster. The team couldn’t be detected by any means due to the heavy interference of the magnetic could which spread over several million kms. The protective wall by Crona, however, protected and shielded the AMU’s ‘Class C’ destroyer aboard which the ST6 approached the Viso s
uper cluster.

  The ST6 crossed several ‘trade posts’ established by Garmin across sector 1, which were actually covert military stations to keep an eye on AMU trade ships and military movement.

  “Commander, there is a problem,” informed Crona.

  “What happened?” asked KC as he moved his hand in front of him to open his wall. He could see the map showing the ST6’s position in the magnetic cloud, which was still about 200 million light years from the Viso super cluster. It also showed the numerous positions of the trade posts established by Garmin as red dots and how narrowly the class C destroyer was maneuvering between them, thanks to the cover provided by the magnetic storm.

  “Commander, the storm is changing directions and in the next one hour we will be out of it if we continue our course to Xz-01.”

  “Options?” asked KC.

  “We could follow the magnetic cloud and get as close as 40 million kms to the Xz-01. But it would take about 20 days as the storm is not following a straight path anymore. Or we could directly location-jump the ST6 to Xz-01 from its current location.”

  “Option 2 seems better,” said KC promptly. “But we will lose surprise.”

  “Yes Commander,” confirmed Crona. “A location-jump this far. That too of the whole battle ship will most certainly be picked up by every scanner of every known civilization in sector 1. And most certainly by Xz-01 trade stations.”

  “We could do one thing,” expressed Cdr Rul. “We could location-jump the ST6 only…without the ship and equipment. Only with personal weapons. That way the transference load will be reduced and Crona could easily hide the location-jump of 50 of the ST6’s commandoes.”

  “So, you are saying, we send only 50 of the 800 commandoes of the ST6 into expectedly hostile enemy territory armed with personal weapons only,” clarified Cdr Akil. “…. I think it’s a good plan! No one will doubt.”

  “And it’s the only option we have right now,” confirmed KC. “Crona, keep your wall on them. They should be there but should not be seen or sensed by anyone or any machine. Activate the Ghost Protocol.”

  The Ghost protocol was only activated in the direst of situations. When activated, the troops could be detected by Crona, Cdr KC, Rul and Akil alone in the whole known universe. No technology, no entity in the universe could breech the Ghost Protocol. It was ultimate. The only time it was used before was when the Supreme Cdr KC had himself led a team of his elite guards of only 10 men right into the heart of the Garmanien super cluster and snatched Garmin from his home planet. So stealthy was the operation that even Garmin didn’t realize he was taken from his planet until he was aboard a Super-Destroyer ‘class-E’ on the edge of the 3rd sector. Following this incident, Garmin had been exiled for 10 years as a punishment for his wrong doings. The Ghost Protocol required high energy levels and could be maintained by Crona for not more than five hours. It was Crona against all the technology of the universe put together.

  Rul alerted the ST6, as the news of the Ghost Protocol was broken to the Class-C ship. 50 of the choicest men were readied in the next five minutes. They were ready to jump on the orders of the Supreme Commander, to their near certain death. But so much was their faith on the Supreme Commander that they knew, they would never be abandoned or left behind under the leadership of Cdr KC.

  The AMU had set an example before and it was an indelible memory in every soldier’s mind. It was during the Kome Wars many years back, when an elite unit of the AMU’s 1st Commando Brigade had raided an enemy weapons plant on planet Krigton. In the ensuing fight, all but one of the 800 commandoes returned back safe. One had gone missing!

  As a matter of principle, Cdr KC led the second unit of the 1st Commando brigade personally backed by the entire battle command of the 3rd sector consisting of 500 E-class Super Battle Destroyers. And this time, he brought the entire galaxy cluster to its knees and crippled their war machinery for good… For just one commando… who was taken prisoner. This had set an example to the universe. A precedence as to what the AMU was willing to do for each one of its citizens. Even if he was just the youngest recruit. Every man of the AMU was important. This is what made the AMU so powerful - The faith its men had in it.

  “Men, you are the best of the best we have amongst all the races across the galaxies - the Beastons, the Humans, the Galactics. You are the best. There is a war coming, and it is creeping out of this silence that is so prevalent in the universe now. As we rest and make merry, there are forces in the universe as dark as evil, which are getting strong and will feed on the very foundation of our Union,” said KC. “We will not let this happen. Not on our watch. Not now, not ever,” hailed KC as his image displayed all over the Class-C battleship carrying the ST6.

  “Garmin is carrying out some nefarious activities in the garb of medicine trade, through which he is incurring vast profits. These profits are being channelised to procure numerous weapons and high-tech equipment. We don’t know for what!” stressed KC. “Your mission is to find out the channel Garmin is using to fuel this trade so that he can be brought to justice once again. To Victory and Forever,” resolved KC as all men placed their hands, fists closed on their chests and vowed to do what was right. A faint flash was visible to those who were looking as Crona location-jumped the 50 of the ST6 to the planet Xz-01 in no time. This was the beginning of what was about to change the Universe and more… forever!

  * * *

  “Cdr, we are in location,” reported the team leader - Tas. “Ghost protocol activated. We have five hours until extraction. Teams divided into five sub-teams. One each in the five warehouses in the north zone on Xz-01.”

  “How does it look?” asked Rul.

  “Piles of liquefied vitamins filled in circular glass flasks one over the other, each flask about 5 meters in diameter. There is no end to it. Glass flasks everywhere,” reported Tas. He opened his wall and the visuals displayed in front of KC, Rul and Akil.

  “By the universe!” said KC baffled. “What in the name of the universe is Garmin up to? That’s one whole warehouse full of vitamins. Must be lakhs of glass flasks there, and there are five such warehouses,” added KC shocked to see the never-ending pile of vitamins flasks stocked in stacks over stacks in a massive warehouse.

  “What are those markings on the glass container?” asked KC as he zoomed his wall to see something written on the glass flasks.

  “Cordinates- 333.84.1984.253,” replied Tas as he read the label stuck on the flasks.

  “Of..?” asked KC bluntly.

  “These are the rough coordinates of the planet Xz-01 only… However, since the planet is artificial, it is not orbiting any star. Occasionally, the planet is manually moved back and forth to avoid running into the asteriod belt that surrounds it. The planet Xz-01 is in a violent neighborhood where once planet Earth stood. Earth was destroyed after the battle of the super clusters and now the space is filled with planetary debris and unaccounted asteroids,” explained Crona. “I calculate… if the artificial planet Xz-01 is moved by 200 km towards the Earth-asteroid belt, then these exact coordinates will be reached - C- 333.84.1984.253.”

  “But this fails my logic,” said Akil. “Why would anyone move vitamin flasks in to an asteroid belt? That too, to a violent neighborhood like the ‘x-Earth asteroid belt’. It has practically the debris of 4 to 5 planets. The cargo will not even last a second.”

  “What is Garmin up to!” said KC to himself. “Tas, look for some more clues. The chemical composition of the liquid inside the flasks. Are they really vitamins or explosives? May be Garmin is trying to punch a hole in the asteroid belt!

  “Negative sir,” confirmed Tas after analysing the liquid using a material analyzer. “These are vitamins alright, all of them.”

  “Yes, I confirm the same,” added Crona. The door of the warehouse 01 opened as a team of Garmin’s engineers walked in. Unaware of the presence of the ST6 due to their Ghost Protocol
, they walked past right in front of them and started to make some adjustment to the mainframe of the warehouse 01.

  “What’s happening?” asked Rul as the engineers fiddled with the circuits. “They are manually adding coordinates into the warehouse’s mainframe,” reported Tas.

  “This can be done automatically! Why do they need to do it manually…?” said KC surprised.

  “Crona, track the coordinates,” ordered KC as he zoomed out of his wall. Crona transferred the coordinates onto KC’s wall. A red dot appeared … exactly 200 kms from the planet’s location.

  “Oh no,” erupted KC, “Get the team out of the warehouse Crona. The warehouse is setting course into the asteroid belt. Tas, get out of there…Tas..!!” repeated KC. There was no reply.

  “What just happened?” asked Akil as he checked his wall for the visual of warehouse-1. It had vanished.

  “Cdr KC… I cannot trace WH-01, I have lost the warehouse,” said Crona with a pause.

  “What do you mean? Lost!” questioned KC. “They were in Ghost Protocol… they can’t be…. lost.”

  “Crona, what is their current location?” asked Rul.

  “Cdr Rul, their last location was in the Earth asteroid belt at C- 333.84.1984.253,” reported Crona. “But I can’t track them now… they have vanished.”

  “Could it be that they have crashed into the asteroid belt?” asked KC.

  “Negative Commander KC. They were intact until they vanished!” replied Crona.

  “But how can they vanish?” stressed KC. “Did they location-jump… to some other sector?”

  “Commander, had they location-jumped anywhere in the universe I would have come to know. But they didn’t… I am positive,” replied Crona.

  “Cdr KC,” said Kulo, now the team leader of ST6 after Tas had disappeared with his team of 10 men into nowhere. “There is movement in warehouse 2 and 3 as well…”

  “Crona, quickly location-jump the teams from warehouse 02 and 03 to warehouse 04,” said KC without wasting a single second. As Crona was about to location jump the teams, warehouses 02 and 03 detached from the artificial planet and accelerated at almost light speed into the Earth’s asteroid belt. In a fraction of a second, all was gone!