Retribution (Shaitan Wars)

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Retribution (Shaitan Wars) Page 17

by Sudipto Majumdar


  There are always some difficult patients who do not follow health, dietary or medicinal regimen. Such patients have to be dealt with one to one, where most of the time you are acting as a counselor more than a physician. The most incorrigible cases have to be referred to their commanding officers and that further adds to the time to be devoted to such patients.

  All in all the last 3 months had been hell for the four physicians onboard the Avenger. Dr. Kramnik being the senior most amongst them got the most difficult of the cases, both medically as well as psychologically. Not everyone acts perfectly rationally after waking up from such a long sleep.

  Still the Avenger has had it easy medically speaking compared to the Kali. Dr. Ghosh and his team had two casualties. Two human beings who never woke up from sleep and went into coma. Technically they were always in coma when they were in stasis. Medically speaking they were not asleep, they were in coma. So these two persons, one navy and the other marine, never revived from the coma as they should have.

  Dr. Ghosh had shared all the data about these two cases with her as well as dispatching them back to Earth who should get it in a few months, in the hope that someone can figure out how to revive them. As of now their case did not look very hopeful. Still for the first large scale implementation of the fledgling science of human long term hibernation, this was a fair success rate.

  There had been 1200 souls who had gone into hibernation during various times onboard the two ships – Avenger and Kali, and there had been just two casualties. It was far better success rate than any hibernation scientist had ever dared to hope for. There were still cases of people who had not fully recovered physically, but most would. Some take more time to recover from long term inactivity and muscle atrophy than others. A few who may never recover fully were not impaired in any major ways. Most would complain lifelong about things like persistent aches, but that’s about it.

  The unforeseen negative side effect of long term stasis was not so much physical as psychological. The psychologists onboard were all military psychologists, not clinical practitioners. They were poorly equipped to handle these cases, which were more specialized in nature. These military psychologists had their hands full and Dr. Kramnik shared some amount of sympathy for them. Dr. Kramnik noted that it was still the human brain that was causing all the trouble in the quest for human long term hibernation.

  She tried to forget all those issues for a few hours as she entered what the crew and the Marines called the ‘Mess hall’. She had come here to relax and take a much deserved break. The ‘Mess hall’ was not really a hall at all. It was a narrow ring section of the ship that went all the way round the circumference of the ship and spun to keep half G gravity. The floor was on the outer hull side, while the low ceiling was the inward side of the ship.

  The floor was obviously curved, and looking very far gave one a sense of vertigo, as one would see humans standing upright in what seemed like a tilted floor. The low ceiling of the mess hall helped in restricting the view around the circumference very far, which restricted the amount of tilt in the floor one could see. This retained some level of sanity, as your eyes told you that the other person standing on a tilted floor should fall off, but you brains understood why they wouldn’t.

  The mess hall was packed with seats protruding out of the bulkheads, placed closely to each other. Like every sitting arrangement in the ship, every seat had safety belts to strap on in case of emergency. However safety belts were the last thing on the mind of the humanity crammed into the hall. They were living life with full zest, for no one knew what tomorrow might bring.

  This place was popular with everyone in the ship. Even the captain made it a point to show his face here regularly, although he had his own cabin to relax in. Since there were no day or night, and every shift was manned equally, this place was always crowded. There were food dispensers catering to a wide variety of culinary habits, but right now the most popular counter was the ‘Bar’.

  There was no counter with a barman standing behind to serve drinks. It was just another dispenser which served liquor of your choice, as long the choice was one of the 4 drinks on offer. Nothing fancy, just the most basic and common alcohol that humanity drank. Needless to say that the most popular of them was the recycled beer, or ‘recycled piss’ as the Marines bawdily termed it.

  It wasn’t so bad in Dr. Kramnik’s opinion. Reconstituted alcohol with very little time for brewing was bound to have its limitations. Given those limitations, the beer didn’t taste that bad. It was unfair to compare it was Hamburg beer, which is what the marines seem to want. Mary Kramnik stood in queue, got her glass filled and looked around for a place to park.

  The only free place had one brooding blond woman sitting on a seat all by herself, lost in her mug of beer. Mary approached the table and asked if it was fine for her to sit. The blond woman was in uniform – Marine uniform and as she looked up, Mary felt that she would bark some obscenity at her for wanting to sit on the same table. Instead she was surprised to see the blond marine give her a smile and wave her hand politely to invite her to sit.

  “I am very surprised to find a single, blonde, stunning lady sitting all by herself, in a hall overflowing with testosterone charged Marines, who have not tried to even make a pass at her.” Mary said.

  The blonde woman laughed out loud and said. “Let those miserable low lives try. I would love to see any of them try. They would have those two hanging sacs from where that testosterone comes broken into pieces. Most of the idiots know that already, and a few others who don’t will learn it soon. The poor enlisted men would not dare approach an officer anyway, although they are far more decent than the officers, who are the real creeps.”

  “Whoa, that’s some attitude sister. Obviously I am sitting on the right table if I want to be left alone. Dr. Mary Kramnik by the way…” Mary said extending her hand.

  The hand was caught in a firm grip by the blonde marine. “Sarah.” She replied. “Say aren’t you the doc who brought me out of sleep?”

  “Yep. That’s me. I remember you too Sarah. Hard to miss a woman Marine. Not that many blonde woman Marine on this ship. Let me see… counting you, that would be a grand total of… one!” Mary laughed and took a long swig of her beer.

  There was a few moments of awkward silence as each of the women were lost in their own thoughts. Then Sarah asked. “So what’s your story doc?”

  Mary looked at Sarah a bit puzzled and asked. “My Story?”

  “I mean your reason for being on this ship. Most of us have a common thread and a very understandable reason to be out here, trillions of miles from home with no hope of seeing it again for decades if at all. You see all the young faces out here. Most of them fall in two categories. Half are orphans or severely aggrieved parties of the Holocaust. The other half are from nations where they had no hope of seeing space other than on this trip, and their lust for adventure was greater than the pain of being away from home for decades.

  You fit into neither of those categories. You are in your forties if I am not mistaken, which definitely makes you far older than the average age out here. Your accent is East European, so you couldn’t be affected by the Holocaust. So how come you are on this ship?” Sarah asked bluntly.

  “Boy, you are blunt aren’t you? I like that in a woman. Nothing like a straightforward, no nonsense fem I say.” Mary said with a twinkle of mischief in her eyes. Then she continued. “Yes you are right on both counts. I am in my forties, but I must say in my defense that I am exactly forty, barely out of my thirties. And yes I am East European. Polish to be precise. I didn’t realize I had such a prominent East European accent. I spent most of the last decade and half in London. Thought I had erased the accent.” Mary said.

  “I grew up in Germany. I know every nuance of every accent in the EU. Your English is good, but hard to hide that accent from someone like me.” Sarah said.

  “Yeah. I was going to ask you about that. Your record listed you as a US citizen, yet
you speak with a fair amount of German accent.” Mary wondered.

  “Grew up in Darmstadt, Germany from the age of 8 till I went back to the US for a year to join the Marines. My foster parents live in Germany. Once I got picked for USC-GCF, I have been a global citizen training all around the world, space and Mars. Kormas base was the most awesome experience. But enough about me. You still haven’t told me your story.” Sarah asked.

  “Well… I am one of the most unlikely people to be here in more ways than you realize Sarah. I was a member of the European Green Party, and as committed a pacifist as you could find. I took part in peace rallies and demonstrations and called the USC and all our government names – warmonger perhaps being the most kind amongst them. I even protested against violation of Shaitan rights on Titan, and petitioned against the capture of the Shaitans stranded on the Moon. We wanted them to be left alone on the Moon.

  Then the Holocaust happened. I remember I cried and I cried the first night. For almost one month I would cry myself to sleep thinking about the tens of millions innocents who had died. Most of my friends and ideologues found ways to justify why it was all human fault. How we had brought it upon ourselves. It disgusted me and I was not shy in letting my opinion known to them.

  They ostracized me, my partner left me, and I was left not just heartbroken, but suddenly abandoned from all beliefs and certainties I had in life. I spent a few months in my own personal hell, as I felt I had lost everything in life. Then one day as I was reading my scroll while digging into my 100th gallon of chocolate ice-cream, I read about the research contract awarded to a London based bio-research company to decode the stasis mechanisms found in the Shaitan ship, and another one found on the Ka-let ship.

  I knew at that moment how I could make right, all the things I had done, and I found a purpose in my life again. I was not just a physician, but a junior trainee researcher in a giant pharmaceutical company researching anti-aging drugs and anti-oxidants. I was no soldier, but I knew how I could contribute to the war. If there was anyone, who had the right expertise to do this research then I had the background.

  I applied and told the recruiter that I was willing to work for free if that is what it takes to get the job.” Mary smiled. “It didn’t turn out to be necessary, and I have worked on stasis research ever since. When they called for volunteers for this journey, they did not expect any of the core researchers to volunteer for it. They were surprised when the two of us volunteered.

  My story you already know, the other is Dr. Ghosh who has been like a father figure all through my years in the company. His wife had died in an unfortunate accident, and his children had grown up. He has dedicated the rest of his life to stasis research. If ever we perfect human long term hibernation, then the Nobel Prize should go to him. He is the chief physician on the Avenger, in case you don’t know about him. So… now that you know all about me, what’s your story Sarah?” Mary asked.

  “My story is the same as that of a hundred other marine on this ship. Orphan of the Holocaust. Born in Seattle, lost both my parents. Grew up with my foster parents in Germany. That just about sums up my story… Oh and my middle name and my Marine handle is ‘Kali’ – same as the name of our sister ship. Only my friends and superiors dare call me by that name though. To the enlisted men I am simply the LT.” Sarah said with a smug smile.

  “I thought that Kali was an Indian name. The name of the Indian goddess of war.” Mary sounded dubious.

  “Not the goddess of war, although war comes with the territory for Kali. The Indian goddess of war is Durga actually. Kali is the embodiment of destruction, carnage. She is the instrument of retribution. To the wrongdoers, she is death itself. You have seen the ship’s motif I presume?” Sarah asked.

  Mary nodded and shivered her body in disgust and disapproval.

  “Yeah we westerners are squeamish aren’t we? A naked woman dancing entranced with decapitated heads of her enemies holding her sickle to decapitate more, and drink their blood. That is the goddess Kali, exactly what we need – goddess of retribution. We don’t like to visualize such pictures do we? The Indians are not squeamish about death.

  They don’t put their dead in a closed casket. They lay down their dead open and for the whole world to see and then the closest loved one sets fire to the body directly. It gives better closure to the family than we can ever get with a closed casket lowered into the earth. The Indians know and accept that their loved one is truly dead and gone, because they have seen it with their own eyes.” Sarah finished with a gleam of something scarily lustful about death in her eyes.

  Mary cowered a bit, but regained her composure and asked. “So how do you know so much about Indian goddesses and how come you ended up with an Indian middle name?”

  “My foster mother is Indian. Well actually she is American… a second generation American, of Indian origin. So what is she doing in Germany?” Sarah asked with a smile rhetorically. “She is married to a German. The kindest man I have ever seen. I don’t remember my biological father much, but I would like to believe that he would have been exactly like my foster father.

  My mother was not the religious types, and not in touch with her cultural heritage. She was a NASA navigation expert and later a flight controller, as scientific as a person can get. She had a career, raised a family, and her children were all grown up. Then the Holocaust happened. Three things happened after that.

  First she came back to her country to help in any small way she could in helping the people of West Coast. While working as a volunteer, she came across me and my brother and decided to adopt us, despite the fact that she was pushing 69, having already raised three children. She took us in, and I am thankful that she did that, for we could not have found a better set of foster parents.

  Second she rediscovered her spiritual and cultural roots, finding solace in the scriptures and philosophies. I am thankful for that too, for I have gained a lot from that as well. I cannot claim to be a good follower of the teachings for Hinduism teaches to kill and take revenge without hating the enemy. It tells you to take retribution not because you hate your enemy, but because it is logical, and that is the only thing that will prevent it from happening again. But I cannot stop hating the Shaitans from taking everything away from me as a child.

  The third thing this incredible woman, my foster mother, did was set into motion a process which has let us plan this entire mission. I am sure that you are aware of the LTKS mission and the first strike of human retribution on Alpha Shaitan. So now you know my foster mother. The reason I am here today getting myself pissed drunk is that I just got a mail packet. My foster mother has cancer, and she is dying.” Sarah finished. The tough exterior had softened slightly and there was moisture glistening in her eyes.

  Mary laid a hand on Sarah’s hand in a gesture of understanding and said. “I am sorry to hear that Sarah. I came to mourn someone whom I thought I no longer cared about – my ex-partner. I just heard that she committed suicide.” The two women drank in silence.

  Chapter 12

  Shock and Awe

  Alpha Shaitan System

  September 2104

  Capt. Brogan’s heart was pounding so hard that he felt it in his throat. This was easily the riskiest thing he had done ever, and he had taken a few risks in life. It was arguably one of the riskiest maneuver a USC fleet had undertaken in its nearly 40 years of existence. Any moment they might be blown to dust. The only consolation Capt. Brogan had, was that it would be quick, instantaneous actually. They would not even know it before they died.

  He looked around the bridge at the suited figures that were poring over their consoles. Their bodies stiff with apprehension and tension as they half stood, half floated in front of their stations. The design of the Avenger class ships dictated that the thick spine of the spacecraft was reserved for structural support structures, weapons and machinery. The entire ship was built around that central spinal column. The bridge was still in the center of the ship, but around the cen
tral spine.

  That is why there was a micro gravity around the bridge at that moment, with the AWPS system running. When the crew put their foot on what was now the nominal floor, they experienced a few Kg of weight. It was enough weight for them to stand when not in motion, but still light enough that they could float gently to another part of the bridge if they wanted, but it took practice. Every USC crew had enough bruised shoulders and bumped heads to vouch for that.

  Capt. Brogan wondered whether the crew needed to go through the discomfort of wearing a suit at all for the dangers they were facing. If something hit the ship right now at nearly 4.8% of the speed of light, he doubted if anything more than small pieces of the ship would be left. Who would come to rescue them anyway a quarter light year from home? That too, when the suits were only designed to last 2 hours.

  There was always the danger of the Shaitan lasers. That is why the AWPS system was running. The AWPS had proved to be an effective foil for the Shaitan lasers for over 40 years now, but one never knew. There could be new and more powerful lasers developed by the enemy since then. Now that they were nearer to the home world of the Shaitans, they could have an orbital laser more powerful than the one mounted on their warships.

  Being light speed weapons, they would get no warning if their hull started getting punched with holes, so on the whole the suits were probably warranted. Thankfully the new suits designed for the navy were a lot more comfortable than the older generation that the admiral and his generation had fought with last time. The new one was fundamentally the same in function as the old one, just lighter, more flexible and less bulky. All thanks to the remarkable strides humans had made in materials in the last few decades, particularly in battery technology, which was the bulkiest piece of item on any suit.

 

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