The Return of Vaman - A Scientific Novel

by Jayant V. Narlikar

  ‘A man of many names!’ The Major elucidated: ‘He has been responsible for many acts of smuggling important documents, archaeological remains, valuable gems. Several countries want him, not just for smuggling, but also for kidnapping and murder … Well, gentlemen, this man has recently been seen in Bangalore. As Karl Shulz, he is staying at the Royal Manor. If he is around it means that things are getting hot.’

  ‘But what makes you link his presence with our project here?’ Arul asked. Major Samant pulled out a photograph with another face, which again was unfamiliar to them both.

  ‘This man is Pyarelal. Runs a business in Delhi and has been connected with Dr Navin in some of his shady deals … Well, Pyarelal has been seen with Shulz in one of the Bangalore restaurants. And, as you know, Dr Navin has also been visiting Bangalore.’

  ‘Well, if visiting Bangalore is a crime, then I am about to commit one today.’ Laxman smiled in spite of the gravity of the matter under discussion.

  The Major also smiled, but added, ‘No sir! But Dr Navin was seen with Pyarelal at a Bangalore cabaret last week.’

  ‘It’s true that Navin visited the cabaret’, Arul recalled. ‘He was relating some racy stories in the canteen the next day.’

  ‘Then, yesterday I discovered something more serious. Come, let me show you.’ The Major took them to a tiny patch where a cactus garden was coming up. Large stones were placed besides blooming cacti. Major Samant picked one up. There was a hole underneath.

  Probably a snake’s abode, thought Laxman. But the Major shoved his hand in and took out a tiny, dark object.

  ‘An ingenious transmitter of foreign make! With this, Dr Navin doesn’t need to go to Bangalore. He can send messages from right here … This little toy has a range of ten kilometres.’

  The Major replaced the ‘toy’ in the hole and covered it as before.

  ‘But why don’t you confiscate this dangerous thing?’ Arul asked, shocked.

  ‘Dr Arul, espionage never goes along the direct routes that are so common to you scientists.’ The Major’s face was expressionless as he proceeded. ‘We have put our own little bug on that toy. So we will get to know exactly who sends out messages and what information is being leaked. So far nothing of value has leaked out … But I need hardly add, please be cautious and on guard with Dr Navin. He must not suspect.’

  ‘But what about my secret report?’ Laxman asked. ‘I have to show it to him.’

  ‘With your word processor, I suggest that you give Dr Navin a doctored version, while you and Dr Arul keep the correct one.’

  ‘It’s difficult’, Laxman said, worry showing on his face. He was trying to recall just how much of the report he had already discussed with Navin.

  ‘Difficult, but not impossible and, under the circumstances, absolutely essential.’ The Major was hardly being helpful.

  ‘And we will have to act as if we don’t suspect’, Arul added. ‘Well, we will do our best.’

  But it was going to be very tricky, they both felt.

  ‘So this is the Royal Manor?’ Urmila asked.

  ‘She was visiting a five-star hotel for the first time and was suitably impressed by the imposing architecture. Laxman had chosen to celebrate his completion of the report in the grand manner and overruled Urmila’s suggestions of cheaper restaurants. He also felt that she deserved only the best. Before reaching the hotel, they had visited the shops on Brigade Road—for at Gauribidnur nothing at all special was available. By nine o’clock, they were seated in the restaurant and Urmila was studying the menu. From where he sat Laxman got a good view of the entrance.

  ‘You know, Umi, the best suite in this hotel was once called the Waterloo suite.’ Laxman loved telling a tale he had heard from a Bangalore friend.

  ‘Waterloo? After the famous battle?’ Urmila queried. The menu was proving incomprehensible to her, so she gave up reading it.

  ‘I’m glad you still remember some history. Well, this suite is reserved for VVIPs when they visit Bangalore. And guess who came to occupy it one day?’

  The question evidently did not call for any answer. In any case Urmila did not have one.

  ‘The President of France!’ exclaimed Laxman. ‘So they had to change the name of the suite at the last moment.’

  Urmila laughed, more because she was happy to see her husband relaxed than at the anecdote. The head waiter had meanwhile materialized. Laxman gave his order and left Urmila to work out with the waiter’s assistance what she wanted for herself. He was idly studying the cross section of Bangalore gentry walking through the door when, suddenly, he stiffened. A tall, well built white man had just entered and was being shown his table. There was no mistaking him. Laxman nevertheless got as close a look as possible. Yes, it was the man in the photograph he had seen that morning and whom Samant had described …

  Karl Shulz.

  © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015

  Jayant V. NarlikarThe Return of Vaman - A Scientific NovelScience and Fiction10.1007/978-3-319-16429-8_3

  Guru

  Jayant V. Narlikar1

  (1)Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune, India

  Jayant V. Narlikar

  Email: jvn@iucaa.ernet.in

  1 The Trojan Horse

  ‘Gentlemen, let us open the packet given to us. Like you I am also eager to see what is inside.’

  The Minister then proceeded to tear open the manila cover marked ‘secret’. The meeting of the ‘Container Committee’ was convened in Shastri Bhavan this time. Great care had been taken to ensure the utmost secrecy.

  ‘Before the members start reading this report, I would like to make a submission, with the permission of the chair’, Laxman spoke up.

  ‘Of course, Dr Laxmanan, go ahead.’

  ‘What you are now going to read has been checked by Dr Navin and Dr Arul. You may be tempted to think so, but let me assure you that nothing is exaggerated. It’s a factual account. Even so, I have taken the liberty of not mentioning certain portions that are at present known only to me. They are so sensational that I do not wish to disclose them to this committee without a green signal from the Honourable Minister in the chair. I will be happy to present this additional material to you, sir, after this meeting.’ He bowed to the chair and looked at Samant who winked in approval. He had already briefed the Minister about this before the meeting.

  ‘True! A committee with a membership of three or more can never keep a secret—so says a Sanskrit proverb.’ Probir Ganguly gave his support. One member, however, felt otherwise.

  ‘With all due respect to Dr Laxmanan’s point of view, sir, I wish to state my opposition’, Harisharan said. ‘If he cannot take us into confidence, we would prefer to withdraw from the committee.’

  ‘Harisharanji! You misunderstand what Dr Laxmanan is trying to say. As we all heard, he has left it to me to decide what can be disclosed and what cannot. And I propose to reserve my judgement until we have gone through this report … Gentlemen, I give you forty-five minutes to make a rapid reading.’ The Minister closed the discussion with a finality that only a seasoned chariman can bring to bear on a committee discussion.

  There was pin drop silence for three quarters of an hour, broken only by occasional exclamations of surprise or sharp intakes of breath.

  Raj Nath was the first to win the reading race. And the effect the report had on him could be judged from the fact that he forgot to smoke his pipe throughout that period. He rectified this omission by releasing his reaction through a hearty puff.

  ‘Yes, Dr Raj Nath!’ the chairman said some five minutes later when everybody had finished.

  ‘Had I been unaware of the circumstances, I would have called this report an exciting piece of science fiction.’ Sir, I am not competent to comment on all aspects of the report. I will confine myself to the field that interests me most.

  ‘As we are all aware, Cray is the fastest and biggest supercomputer at present.’ Its mode of operation is sequentia
l. There are attempts to branch out into what is called parallel processing. In due course we may hope to surpass the capabilities of Cray by suitable combinations of sequential and parallel computing.

  ‘However, what this report contains is a blueprint for a computer that makes all our present efforts sound primitive. Instead of electronics, it uses photonics. That is, the processing of information in the computer is not done through electrons as in the computers we know today, but through particles of light, the photons. For us a photonic computer is a dream for the future. For those who left the container behind, it was a demonstrated reality. If we can reproduce that achievement, we will have jumped across several steps in computer technology.’

  ‘I agree that it is an important matter and we will take a decision on it today. I am sure my colleague the Minister of Science is equally excited by this possibility.’ The chairman looked at the Minister of Science sitting across the table.

  ‘Absolutely! We must take Dr Raj Nath’s suggestion very seriously’, the M.O.S. replied.

  ‘However, if I may raise a wider question, I would like to ask the experts for their overall assessment of the role of this container as an indicator of a past civilization. Dr Pande, the report does not go into the details of how you deciphered the alien language. Could you enlighten us on this issue?’ The chairman put the ball squarely in Navin’s court. Navin, of course, was well prepared.

  ‘Sir, first let me say something about the age of the container. Radiocarbon dating puts it at around twenty thousand years. Comparing the proportion of carbon fourteen in the container with other known archaeological remains, we can agree on this estimate’, Navin looked at Dr Gupta for support.

  ‘Navin is right,’ Dr Gupta spoke in his steady, sure tone. ‘Let me explain for the non-experts. Normal carbon found in nature has an atomic weight of twelve; that is, its atom is twelve times heavier than the atom of hydrogen. However, one also finds on this planet a heavier brand of carbon in small proportions. This is carbon fourteen—with an atomic weight of fourteen—which happens to be radioactive. It decays into the lighter species through radiation. We know at what rate it decays. If you take any population of carbon twelve now, half of it will decay in about 5700 years. So by measuring the abundance of this radioactive species in archaeological relics we can estimate their ages.’

  ‘Thanks, Dr Gupta, for explaining this to us. I have been hearing the phrase carbon dating for so many years—only today have I understood its significance. Dr Pande, please continue’, the Minister added.

  Navin paused briefly to take stock of what he had to say. Everyone waited expectantly.

  ‘Gentlemen, you have read in the report how we managed to open the container. As we examined its contents we began to appreciate how logically those people had arranged them. They started with numbers. We use ten digits, they used eight … the so-called octal system.’

  ‘Does it mean that they had four fingers in each hand?’ Harisharan hazarded what he thought was a clever guess.

  ‘No. They had five fingers in each hand—in fact they were humans just like us. Their preference for the octal system was based entirely on convenience. As you know, the computer uses binary arithmetic in which every number is expressed with just two digits, zero and one. It is the most fundamental of all digital systems, but it requires a large number of digits to express any number. Since eight is expressed as 2 × 2 × 2, the octal system can be easily converted to the binary and vice versa. At the same time you don’t need a large number of digits to write a number….’

  ‘I will take your word for it, Dr Pande, although I must confess that much of this is going above my head.’ The Minister smiled as he made the confession.

  ‘Mine too, for I never liked maths and was glad to give it up at the first opportunity’, Navin smiled in return and added, ‘but even I could make out that in the theory of numbers these fellows were leagues ahead of us. Perhaps Dr Arul could comment on this.’

  ‘What Dr Navin has said is, if anything, an understatement. Abstract mathematics can in principle be described entirely in symbols—without words. So it was easier for us to decipher their mathematical writings. Let me tell you that they had solved most of the problems that today’s mathematicians consider intractable. For example, the Riemann hypothesis….’

  ‘I don’t think we need go into the details, Dr Arul!’ The Minister could see the baffled faces around the table. He motioned to Navin to continue.

  ‘Turning to words, these people had prepared a dictionary of sorts in which pictures of concrete objects were given side by side with their names.’ Moreover, they had evolved a method of digitizing the letters so that each word could be fed to a computer.

  ‘Even their grammar was expressed in mathematical language! It was therefore easy for me to understand how they constructed sentences….’

  ‘If I may interject, sir’, Laxman added, ‘Navin is understating again, but this time with respect to his own achievement. It was a pleasure to watch him unravel the grammar and get at the language.’

  ‘Thank you’, Navin said with a mock bow. ‘From sentences to information was the next step. I am still collecting and documenting the information about the social conditions of those people. I will present a concise report to this committee when I am through. I think Arul should comment on their science.’

  At a sign from the chairman, Arul started his piece, which he had carefully rehearsed so as not to tread on sensitive toes. He began: ‘I have always had difficulty convincing myself as a scientist that our Vedic ancestors were technologically advanced. For none of the descriptions to date have contained what we call hard core science, that is, laws mathematically worded and data quantified. Evidence in the form of precise figures and construction kits has been conspicuously lacking. Not so for the container people! Their documentation includes all these, from basic physics, chemistry and biology to their technological applications. The report touches on a few examples, but these are by way of being the tip of the iceberg. There is enough information to keep our research labs busy for years.’

  ‘May I say something, sir?’

  The Minister looked towards the smokescreen from behind which these words had emerged.

  ‘By all means, Dr Raj Nath.’

  ‘It seems to me, sir, that there is a lot of knowledge in there waiting to be unravelled. But the human brain, such as it is today, may take several years to do so unaided … Unaided that is, by their supercomputer.’

  ‘I get your point, Dr Raj Nath, we need to build this computer as fast as we can. This committee should give it top priority’, the chairman observed.

  ‘I endorse it wholeheartedly’, added Probir Ganguly. ‘We need to take a holistic view—and it leads us to the computer. The computer is needed to understand and interpret all the knowledge buried in the box. Converting that knowledge to useful ends will have far-reaching consequences. Let us build it as a top priority.’

  All except two around the table spoke up in support. The chairman, always very perceptive, noted this and decided to probe further.

  ‘Harisharanji, you have been silent!’

  Harisharan was waiting for this opportunity. He spoke in his most official tone. ‘The idea is indeed worth supporting. But there are several practical difficulties that I must mention. First of all, Plan funds have already been allocated and there seems to be no way of getting funds for this project. Second, the Department of Electronics has recently issued a strict order barring all new computers. Then, of course, there is the question of which ministry will serve as the nodal ministry for it.’

  In short, he does not want to be saddled with anything new, thought Laxman. He exchanged glances with Arul, who had also arrived at the same conclusion. But the chairman was undaunted. ‘Points all well taken. So far as D.O.E. is concerned, I am sure there will be no problem. The ban is on imported computers. We are making the computer here, not importing it. Regarding money, we all realize that this presents us wit
h an unprecedented opportunity for which we have to make new rules. Just before coming here, the P.M. called me. He is greatly interested and has assured me that there will be no problem of a financial nature. In fact, in view of his interest, let us resolve to request the P.M. that his office will be the nodal ministry.’

  ‘Hear! Hear?’ Navin broke out excitedly. He had echoed the mood of the committee. The chairman, however, had to solicit the view of another silent member.

  ‘Professor Kirtikar, you have been quiet so far. May we know what you think about this project?’

  Given this question, Kirtikar had no option but to speak out his reservations.

  ‘Mr Chairman, in normal circumstances one would, of course, have unreservedly welcomed the opportunity of constructing this computer.’ In fact it would have been silly to let the opportunity pass us by. But, gentlemen, I am reminded of the story of the Trojan Horse. The Trojans under siege found a large mechanical horse left outside their citadel by the Greek army. They took it inside … and that was their undoing. This story led to the saying “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts”. Before we accept the gift of this container we should think twice….

  ‘Why is this civilization that was once so advanced extinct today?’ Of course civilizations can be destroyed for two reasons. Natural causes, like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and ice ages can easily destroy a very advanced civilization. If this one perished for such reasons, I have nothing further to say….

  ‘But what if it was destroyed for man-made reasons? Today we are fairly advanced compared to our ancestors of a century back. But our technologies have brought their own perils, for example, nuclear extinction or large-scale pollution. What if this container has information that is potentially lethal? Would it not be wiser to first find out why those people were destroyed?’

  As Kirtikar made this impassioned speech he looked round for reactions. He realized that his caution would fall on deaf ears. Strange, he felt, that the only person on his side in this mixed assembly was the one he least expected. And even Harisharan’s support was based on entirely different arguments that would not serve his purpose.