Earth To Nole: It begins at the end

by Kumar Lomash

  Ibu continued: We will go over topics in general knowledge, equipments, history and science-&-technology. I encourage all of you to talk as much to your hover bots as possible. They are hovering encyclopaedias and that is the only reason all of you have been assigned one. At the end of this course, which will last 21 days, you would become a certified citizen of the Union. We will meet for 6 hours every day for 21 days including today and you will have a one hour break between the two 3 hour sessions. Can we go over the names, quickly?

  There was silence in the class. Ibu smiled and said, “Just tell me your real names. Not the one’s that you just got”.

  “Richard”

  “Samantha”

  “Yoke”

  “Yusuf”

  “Gambhir”

  “Kevin”

  “Sochi”

  “Joe”

  “Blu”

  “And you all are Ks.”, Ibu added. “Do you know what that means?”.

  Silence.

  Let’s begin today’s first session with the gene-pools. You know what genes are, right? Genes were discovered in the mid 19th century and are the molecular unit of heredity. Simply speaking, our physical bodies are based on a scheme or a blueprint called genes. Parents’ genes are combined to form their child’s genes causing children to resemble their parents in structure and behaviour. In the 20th century, humans started experimenting with artificial ways of reproducing. In the early days, only fertilization could be done externally, outside a woman’s body. The fertilized egg would still need to be kept in a woman’s body for 9 months so that the egg could develop into a healthy human child. Now, it's a different story altogether - but we will come to that later.

  During the fertilization of an egg, it was soon possible to play around with the genes such that the blueprint or the scheme for the resulting child could be altered. Eventually, humans identified which modifications caused what results and started a whole new branch of science called “genetic engineering”. By the late 21st century, genetic engineering was common practice. Every parent who could afford it was trying to pick and choose attributes in their child. But soon it all backfired. The engineered babies had a high mortality rate in their pre-teens and teenage. Probably, due to an underdeveloped immune system which just refused to learn as it would in a normal human being. At this point many people went back to the older ways of reproducing.

  There were giggles in the class.

  “Oh, come one!”, Ibu smiled. “You are all adults here”. He continued.

  “There was a breakthrough in early 22nd century where not only could the eggs be externally fertilized but also externally developed into a child. The system took almost 30 months to deliver a baby and had a 50% mortality rate before delivery. Businesses which were involved pushed for making it legal and finally got it approved around 2120. A child was born at the end of the 30 months of the egg being fertilized and then was handed over to the parents. The mortality rates were still high in pre-teens if genetic engineering was involved. So genetic alterations still remained unpopular and genetic selection caught up. It all started with the businesses trying to make a database of gene-samples and analysing the life of the resulting child. People found that, instead of trying to make their own genes better, they could simply use the genes from the existing database of people who were healthy and smart. The combination of genetic engineering and genetic selection gave birth to the modern day birth system and the gene pools.”

  “This brings us to the birth control system of the Union. If put briefly, the Union mandates that all human births should happen via the system. Labour is considered an unnecessary pain and thus natural pregnancy and birth are illegal. All legal births, that is, via the system should be pre-approved. Although parents are free to choose the gene-pool of their future child, the Union tries to limit births in each gene-pool such that the population has a good distribution over gene-pools. Any legal citizen of the Union who does not have a child of 3 years of age or less can be a parent. Once the Union approves a parent’s choice of gene-pool, which depends on several factors like the financial status of the parent, their educational background, etc, the parent can approach any hospital with a birth system to get his or her baby delivered.”

  “We are carrying 5 such birth systems with us on this ship and along with it one hundred birth pods. A birth pod is what keeps the baby warm and nourished until delivery. The birth system takes a sperm or an egg sample from the single parent or both in the case of a couple, along with a randomly chosen sample from the gene-pool. The birth system fuses the sperm and/or the egg with the sample from the gene-pool to create a unique genetic mapping for the child. Finally it creates what we call a fertilized egg. This process takes about 24 hours before the egg is transferred to a birth pod which would deliver the baby in approximately 12 months.”

  “Unless we create more pods on Nole, we can only grow at a rate of 100 humans per 12 months - which is a very bad growth rate for any population trying to start on a new planet. Right now there are 20 thousand people on this ship, roughly. Given that none is younger than 20 years of age and most of them younger than 60, an average distribution puts…”

  “500 humans in every age group.”, Kevin replied without realizing that he had interrupted Ibu.

  Ibu was delighted. His eyes sparkled as he confirmed Kevin’s calculation. “Thats right, Kevin”. Ibu was delighted not only because Kevin’s calculations were quick and correct but also because Kevin saw the point in Ibu’s story. Ibu chose the “gene-pool and birth-system” as the first lesson because it was directly related to one of the fundamental challenges faced by the 20 thousand humans on board. Ibu continued with his analysis.

  “With only 100 humans being born every year, our current population of 20 thousand would soon reduce because…”, Ibu paused.

  Everybody, including Ibu was looking at Kevin now.

  Kevin started speaking confidently, “because, every year 500 humans would be nearer to their deaths but only 100 new babies would be born.”

  Ibu knew that Kevin has got the point but he wanted him to explain such that everybody understands. “So what, Kevin?”.

  Kevin went further into his argument, “Let’s assume that everyone lives till 100 years of age, which is a pretty generous assumption even with Union’s mortality rates, I guess”. Kevin looked at Ibu for confirmation. Ibu nodded. Kevin continued, “with no one more than 100 years of age and only 100 people for every age-group; eventually, there could never be more than 10 thousand humans alive at any given time”. Kevin dragged through the last sentence almost trying not to say what was otherwise a mathematical certainty. He realised that their current population of 20K was not just going to reduce mildly but was going to be halved.

  Ibu spoke with a heavy voice now, stressing on the seriousness of the matter. “This is one of the most important problems to be solved once we land on Nole”.

  “Why can’t we reproduce the old way, Sir?”, Kevin asked. “That way our growth would be exponential”.

  “I am feeling hungry now”, Ibu changed the topic. “Let’s take the lunch break and be here in one hour”. Ibu moved out of the room.

  Kevin turned to Gambhir who was sitting next to him. Gambhir was already looking at him. Kevin said, “Lunch?”. Gambhir looked interested, he nodded with excitement. By this time it was clear that Kevin was smarter than the rest of the class. Gambhir and others were finding it difficult to reconcile the plethora of information that Ibu was imparting as part of the “crash course” but Kevin was not only able to reconcile them but also ponder over them and catch up with Ibu on his thoughts.

  “Where are you from?”, Gambhir fired his first question while walking out of the room. Kevin replied that he was from somewhere in Gujarat, India. “I don’t really know which city exactly but the colony is named Dwarka after the mythical underwater city of the same name..”

  “Hey, I am from India too. Somewhere near Punjab, not far away from you it seems”.
Gambhir responded jubilantly. He proposed a handshake by extending his right hand and said, “I am Gambhir but friends call me Kaddu.” Kevin shook Gambhir’s hands, smiled and said, “I am not an expert in Indian nicknames but Kaddu is supposed to be funny, right?”. “Yes, Kaddu means pumpkin or something like that - I am not sure. My friends called me kaddu because I was fat when I was young - much like a pumpkin.” Gambhir and Kevin both started laughing. They were now in the elevator. Kevin turned to Moji and looked at it for a moment. He was pleased that Moji was accompanying him everywhere. “What's your hover bot called?”, Kevin turned to Gambhir and asked. “Moti”, Gambhir replied. “I have a dog back home who’s name is Moti”, Gambhir added. Kevin seemed excited after hearing about dogs, “You guys have dogs, wow! I have only read about them. We don’t have dogs in my colony.”

  “Dogs are great! They are always energetic and in the mood to play. It is very difficult to be bored when you have a dog as a pet.”, Gambhir added. “I don’t know if I will see Moti again. I miss him”, Gambhir said in a sad voice as they walked out of the elevator and towards the canteen on level 20.

  “What is that?”, Kevin pointed towards a crowd gathering near the canteen. “Some sort of protest it seems”. Gambhir looked closely and said, “Hey, I know that guy from level 14. He was there at the canteen on my level last night when we were having dinner. He does not like the Union a bit”.

  “Why?”, Kevin asked.

  “I don’t know for sure but he kept talking about some conspiracy theory.”, Gambhir replied.

  “And, now he is looking at us. Don’t look at him.”, Kevin hurried into the canteen.

  Kevin and Gambhir were having their lunch when suddenly a voice interrupted them.

  “Are you Kevin?”

  Kevin turned around and saw the guy who Gambhir was talking about outside the canteen. He replied cautiously, “Who wants to know?”.

  The man smiled, he was amused by how naive Kevin was. His smile soon disappeared and with a hint of arrogance the man said, “Who I am is not important Kevin. What’s important is who are you and why you are on this ship. If you ever wonder about that then I am staying in L14-413.”

  “We are here because we left Earth for Nole. What do you mean why are we here?”, Kevin responded with a borrowed sense of confidence.

  “I know why we are here, but why are YOU here? Why did the Union suddenly pick up 9 humans from colonies they have never cared about? Don’t be naive Kevin, there is the Union and then there is you - there is no we.”, the man sat down at the table.

  “And who are you? I mean, are you with the Union because you are not one of the 9 Ks on this ship?”, Kevin’s curiosity and fearlessness were both, now into the play.

  The man replied in a subtle tone, the arrogance was no more there but he was still speaking strongly. “I am not with the Union and I am not one of the Ks either...”. Then the man did something which surprised Kevin as well. The man went close to Kevin’s face, looked into his eyes for a moment and then went past his face such that the man’s lips were near Kevin’s ears. He whispered, “...and neither is your friend”. The man stood up and nodded once, it was more like a bow, to say good-bye. As the man left, he said “I have already told you where to find me”.

  Kevin was confused what to make of this man’s claims. He thought, maybe a conspiracy theorist trying to gather as much attention as he can. He looked at Gambhir who was minding his own business, eating the food on his plate. Kevin thought it would be better to park this new knowledge somewhere till there is more to conclude either way.

  “Kaddu, you just love your food - don’t you?”, Kevin joked.

  “Yes, I do”, Gambhir replied with some food still in his mouth. Kevin smiled and went back to eating too.

  Kevin and Gambhir went back to the class after their lunch where Ibu shared more with them. Kevin listened to every detail that Ibu had to say and understood the concepts almost intuitively. Ibu already knew that Kevin was special, anyone who was born and brought up in a class 4 colony would not have understood these new concepts so well. Kevin was not only listening but also participating in what Ibu said. The rest of class mostly tried to understand what Kevin and Ibu discussed.

  Kevin and Gambhir parted ways on their way back from the class. It was almost evening and the lights on level 20 simulated early dusk beautifully. People were out of their cabins and strolling around. Kevin sat on a bench in the seating area looking at a window far across the hall. It was being said that when the spaceship entered Nole’s orbit, Nole would be visible outside this window.

  “I can’t see anything.”, Gollow’s voice suddenly appeared from nowhere. Kevin turned his head to find him standing right in front of him, staring.

  “Well, of course.”, Kevin replied. “Our approach vector towards Nole puts Nole and the Star in the same direction from us, dead straight. So, we can’t see Nole till we are so close that we are entirely in its shadow.”

  “Then what are you looking for Kevin? Let’s get ourselves some beer.”, Gollow was to the point.

  Kevin looked around. His eyes were looking for Joti but she was not to be seen anywhere. He had no option but to tag along with Gollow. Standing up he started walking with Gollow to the canteen.

  A few hours later, they both appeared drunk outside of the canteen. Kevin looked less drunk as compared to last night. His body was getting used to the alcohol it seemed. Gollow was humming something.

  “Is that some military song?”, Kevin asked.

  Gollow walked a few paces away from Kevin and then turned towards him with his hand touching his forehead, almost like a salute. “I have been chosen into the military service, Kevin!”, Gollow almost screamed towards the end of that sentence. He looked very, very happy.

  Kevin hugged Gollow and said that he was happy for him. He held Gollow in front of him and said, “Go kill those…”, Kevin paused and then almost jokingly asked, “...whom are you going to kill? We don’t have any enemies, Golli”.

  Gollow became all confused and started walking backwards from Kevin. This was turning out to be a comic scene for Moji who seemed to be enjoying every bit of their drunkenness.

  “I will kill anyone who stops us from landing on Nole.”, Gollow seemed to have got back his mission goals. He was saluting again. “Long live the Union!”, he screamed.

  Kevin joined him, “Long live the Union, my friend”.

  “Hey, look! There’s Nole”, someone shouted.

  Gollow turned towards the window at the far end of the hall. It was almost mid-night but in spite of that a bunch of people were waiting for Nole to become visible. They rushed towards the window as soon as they heard about Nole’s visibility. Kevin tried to look outside the window but he was too slow, a crowd was already all over the window making it impossible to see outside, at least from where Kevin was standing. Gollow said, “Let's go Kevin, let’s have a look at our new home” and started walking towards the crowd. Kevin started to follow Gollow but he was too tired to muscle his way through the crowd. Gollow soon disappeared into the crowd and Kevin started walking back to his cabin. He was yearning for Joti. He wanted to be alone for a while, afraid he would lose the trail of her thought in the crowd.

  As Kevin walked towards his cabin, he remembered Joti’s innocent face. Her long braided hair, dark as the space itself. Her deep, dark eyes which hid God knows what emotions behind them. Kevin felt a rush within his body. He missed Joti as if he had been in love with her his entire life. He felt a sort of pain inside his heart, a faint pain which seemed to have taken over his lungs and his capacity to breathe. He had to open his mouth to allow more air into his lungs. Kevin did not understand what this was. Was he homesick? Maybe. But then there was no one to miss back home. He had no relatives, only a few buddies whom he used to hang out with but none so close that he would miss them so dearly. Maybe it's just alcohol messing up his brain and it would be fine in the morning, he thought. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He thoug
ht, with this breath he would let go of all these depressing feelings before walking straight to his cabin. As soon as he tried opening his eyes after the deep breath, he felt a sudden urge to keep his eyes closed. Joti’s face was visible behind his closed eyelids as if she was standing in front of him. He just wanted to keep his eyes closed and imagine her face the way it looked the first time he saw her. And the second time when she was looking at him through the corner of her eyes, passing in front of his room.

  Kevin felt better with her in front of him, even if only in his imagination. He wondered if Joti was the one who put him into this misery or whether she would be the one to save him. He wondered how she could be the cause of the pain and also the cure? Kevin let her name slip from his lips, his eyes still closed. “Joti, is that you?”, Kevin asked the Joti in his imagination if she was the one causing all of this.

  “Yes!”, someone answered Kevin’s question.

  Kevin realised that he might have said that last sentence out loud. He quickly snapped out of his lingering thoughts and realised that Joti crossed his room this morning while going for breakfast, so she might be staying somewhere in his lobby where Kevin was walking right now. He noted that the voice which he just heard sounded like that of a young woman. A young woman responding to Joti’s name? Kevin feared, but it all added up to the fact that Joti saw him walking with his eyes closed and talking to her in his imagination.