by Kumar L
Ryan nodded, kneading the sore muscles in his neck as he straightened up from the console. He was frustrated that the two of them had not been successful. He’d sent Manisha off a couple of hours ago. That girl was on the verge of exhaustion and they needed her fresh if they decided to move the ship again. He was well aware how tiredness affected the mind. He smiled inwardly at this though as he himself was dead tired and just trying to think straight was a herculean effort.
‘Madhavan, let’s get back to the drawing board and maybe look at the schematics once again. If the power is being drained off there had to be circuit connection somewhere.’
‘It’s not going to work, Commander,’ repeated Madhavan, but too tired to argue further, he called up the power schematics. The two of them poured again over the circuits they had almost memorized by this time.
Dr. Khan was also not having any further luck with his search either. His medical and Dr. Lian’s science teams had completed two complete circuits of the ship with handheld detectors looking for the source of the particle emission. They had probed every corner and he had even interrupted Ryan and Madhavan at their work to get them to help tune the search pattern. Still nothing.
Dr. Kahn was hunched over a map of the entire ship interlayered with the radiation readings taken by his team. There was a pattern and it seemed low level radiation was spreading throughout the ship but he could not pinpoint the source. The Captain had also come over and the two of them had programmed the computer to analyse the readings. He only good news was that his crew was not showing any significant increase in signs of radiation exposure. Could this have to do with particular regions of space, he had wondered, but the ships scans had not revealed any significant changes in the background radiation levels.
The Major was still locked up in his room. He’d briefly spoken to the Captain and assured her that he would have something for her in the next six hours. The Captain had observed him working on a control pad inside his station and had assumed he was looking through his defence database for ideas. The Major had offered no explanations so far.
Anara had been across the ship several times in the last 24 hours. She had worked with each of the teams providing her inputs when asked. She was aware that she could not add value to what her people were doing. She had confidence in her team but was getting restless just sitting around waiting for them to come back with solutions. She had spoken to most of the crew. Morale across the ship was fluctuating from despondency that the mission may be abandoned to fear that the aliens would return to finish the fight. To keep people occupied she had set up continuous shifts of work and assigned everyone to various project teams. She herself was looking for answers to Narada’s behaviour. Not the most critical issue at hand but it may hold a clue to the host of mysteries they were facing.
‘So Narada. Let’s pick this up again. There is a power drain on our ship and you keep telling me that you are now aware of this in spite of all the evidence to the contrary.’
‘Yes, Captain,’ replied the AI.
‘Narada, do you realize the situation you are in? The data is right in front of you. You cannot deny it,’ Anara persisted.
There was silence from the AI.
‘Narada, is there an error in your programme?’
‘No Captain. I have run a diagnostic as you’d asked me to do. No anomalies have been detected.’
‘Then why are you not accepting reality?’ Anara said raising her voice. She felt she was breaking her head against a stone wall.
Again silence. Anara sighed and walked to a port window. ‘Narada, we are alone in this region of space. I cannot allow a malfunctioning AI to remain in control of this ship. I see no alternative but to turn you off and take manual control of this ship. Protocol demands that I cannot dump your programme but as Captain I have enough authority to put you in stasis and strip you of controls. You should realize this will put the ship and crew in further danger but we will have to live with this. I’m not sure I can trust you take critical decisions autonomously. We will enable auto control on the computer.’
‘Captain..,’ she could almost feel the AI coming to a decision. Its ethics program would not allow it to put human lives in danger. ‘I am not malfunctioning but I am under orders not to discuss certain aspects of the mission with anyone not even you.’
Now it was her turn to be silent while she digested this piece of information.
‘Who has given these orders, Narada?’ she asked quietly.
‘I’m afraid I cannot answer that, Captain. But I assure you I remain in full command of my faculties. There is no danger to the crew or ship due to me,’ Narada continued. ‘Removing me from control at this juncture will put the ship in peril. I implore you not to do that. I assure you I will tell you everything when the time is right.’
Anara chewed over this plea in her head.
‘That is hardly any comfort Narada even though I appreciate your candour,’ she replied. ‘I’ll have to think over this. Dismissed.’
She decided it was time to gather her team and make the decision to return or go ahead. She had not heard any positive news so far and did not expect any surprises. But first they needed some rest and so did she. She sent across a message to all teams to wind down and take a break for 4 hours.
They reassembled in the conference room looking somewhat fresh after a few hours of sleep and a shower.
‘I know you’ve not had much success in solving our mysteries or in formulating a new plan to handle this threat so let’s not bother with self-flagellation and look at options,’ said Anara.
Ryan started to speak then closed his mouth. They had tried hard and failed. The Captain was right - it was time to move ahead.
‘Our choices remain the same, we go ahead with minimal protection and weapons and hope we can convince the aliens about our peaceful intentions. If not we may get destroyed. Or we return back to Earth and hopefully come back stronger in the future and negotiate on equal terms,’ said Anara.
“Captain,’ if I may?’ started Major Rawat from the end of the table. ‘There may be a third choice.’
All heads turned towards him.
‘And what would that be, Major?’ asked Anara.
‘I’m afraid I have not been entirely truthful with you Captain. I had instructions not to reveal what I am about to tell you unless the situation was dire or the whole mission was threatened,’ he continued as the rest listened in silence. ‘I believe our current predicament fits this definition.’
‘You think so, do you,’ whispered Madhavan sarcastically under his breath.
‘With your permission Captain,’ said Rawat, ignoring this comment, ‘I would like to ask Narada to join this conversation. I believe I can explain his behaviour as well.’
Anara nodded her consent though inwardly she was fuming. Who else was ganged up against her and her ship? Narada joined in at the Major’s request.
‘Captain, the problems we are facing are all related but I believe what I am about to tell you will give you enough confidence to take the ship forward to our original destination.’
8th December 2114
Assembly
The massive hull of Antariksh was lifted into space from VSSC by a set of space haulers. The journey to the Moon assembly-post MG 1 would take a few hours. Most of the other critical components had already reached there and were ready for final assembly.
The entire team at the base was dedicated to a single task now. They had been supplemented by technicians, engineers and scientists from Earth and all of them would work over the next 6 months putting the spaceship together. The lower gravity plus availability of assembly equipment made this the ideal location. Also, the test and final launches could be better controlled from the Moon.
The assembly area had been evacuated of personnel and awaited the arrival of the hull, it’s massive dome left open. As the freighters lowered the hull to the ground and moved off, the doors closed and atmosphere was restored. Scores of people then moved
in to start their respective tasks. Large cranes, assembly robots, drones and exo-suits with technicians inside them came to life and the entire area started buzzing with activity.
The first piece slated for assembly was the power plant. As it was positioned and fixed to the structure, connections were completed and the fuel storage was brought in as well. The fuel and anti-matter would be loaded at the end just before starting of the tests. For the moment, the ship was being powered by external generators. As the power plant was completed it was sealed off from the rest of the ship. It had been designed to be autonomous and the drones / robots to be placed inside had been programmed in advance. They were let into the plant to allow them to self-learn further tasks and maintenance activities that they needed to do. Madhavan was for the moment concentrating on this having given other parts to his team members.
Next came the assembly of the computer system. Each node was thoroughly checked and then interfaced in stages with the others. Functions were released to the computer system and the ship slowly came to life with a brain of its own. The AI was incorporated next, fail-safe checks carried out and then the ethics team energized the AI allowing it achieve sentience. Over the next few weeks, more and more controls would be released to the AI, allowing it to self-learn. From now onwards it was deemed a living entity and would be treated as such.
The incorporation of the dome was the trickiest part. The intricate systems which allowed it to function in FTL speeds would take time to adjust and fine tune. Some of these would actually be done under actual flight conditions. This was a very dangerous job and since it was one of the first times it was being done on a ship of this size, additional safety precautions needed to be taken. Anara was keen to try it out with Madhavan and was already working on simulators to work out any bugs. She had with her a dedicated team of people who had designed the system and carried out early field tests. Everyone kept their fingers crossed. If this component failed, there could be no flight of Antariksh.
The navigation, propulsion and control systems would come next. Since the ship would be flying almost blind at FTL speeds, the pre-jump navigation plotting was important. The scanners, lasers and astrometric data needed were all being tested continuously. Control stations were set up across the ship and the crew was encouraged to interface with the computer so their individual signatures and characteristics could be recorded.
The tasks had been put in action and now it was to the engineers to do their job. Anara and her team were now based on the Moon. They were being trained intensively on operating the ship through various programmed simulations. This along with their physical presence on the half built ship allowed them a good context to familiarize with the ship which would be their home for a year.
21st May 2117
Plans
‘Captain, before Antariksh left Earth some changes were carried out to the design and we added some additional components,’ said the Major. ‘Their design of was carried out by DRDO. Do you recall the three weeks of work stoppage in 2114? That was the time when we inserted these components into the hull of the ship.’
‘Where the hell does the DRDO come into all this? And I can’t believe Dr. Pratyush would ever consent to be part of this deception,’ said Anara. She was surprised and offended that something as big as this had been hidden from the Captain of the ship.
‘He did not have a choice, Captain,’ replied Rawat. ‘The orders for this came from the PMO directly. It was to be done in complete secrecy and a very small number of people were actually aware of the whole picture. Even I was briefed only once the task had been completed.’
‘You have dropped some big names, Rawat. So, what were these changes and why did they have to be kept a secret?’ she asked.
‘DRDO enhanced the defensive measures on the ship and in fact went a step further and provided offensive abilities. Your ship Captain while ostensibly a vessel of exploration is in fact a man o’ war,’ revealed the Major referring to the powerful sea going warships of ancient times.
The group around the table was taken aback. Whatever revelation they were expecting this was not it.
‘What did they do to Antariksh?’ asked Anara finally.
‘Before I come to that Captain, you must understand the reasons. When the mission was approved, certain people raised concerns about sending an unarmed vessel lightyears from Earth with minimal protection. This was discussed in closed meetings and eventually brought up to the PM. It took some convincing but finally he accepted the truth. We needed to arm Antariksh better but if word of this got out, there would be hell to pay. So a small group of people worked on it in total secrecy.’
‘All that is academic now, isn’t it? What did they do to Antariksh?’ repeated Anara.
‘We first added four high power cannons Captain. There are two which are projectile based with High Explosive charges and we are carrying 48 charges. The other two are high powered lasers. They are similar to the ones we have now but approximately 10 times stronger,’ answered Rawat.
Ten times stronger! That would change the entire scenario was the thought in everyone’s mind in the room.
‘And.. what else?’
‘We are also carrying four conventional ship-launched thermonuclear weapons with a yield of 10 Megatons.’
‘What…?’ Anara was shocked. Nuclear weapons on her ship and she knew nothing about it! Ten megatons would be enough to blow a large hole even on the Moon! And there were four of these on her ship!
‘Believe me Captain, they are completely safe and under my direct control,’ the Major hastened to add looking at the reaction of his shipmates.
‘Major!’ Anara finally let go. ‘I have nuclear weapons on my ship that I knew nothing about! Not counting the fact that I hate these bastards, we are travelling in a ship with these.. these .. bombs which can destroy every single molecule of the crew. We are also bringing these weapons into space for heaven’s sake! Was it not enough that Earth has been threatened with destruction that we are now taking that threat to other species?’
For many years nations on Earth had continued to talk about nuclear disarmament but nothing concrete had come out of it. Fortunately, while nuclear stockpiles had remained steady, no-first use policies had saved Earth from a nuclear holocaust. Anara was a strong opponent of nuclear weapons though she grudgingly accepted that Earth's energy needs could only be met through nuclear energy. But this was completely wrong.
‘But Captain, wouldn’t our current situation bely your supposition? If the enemy is ready to use deadly force should we not be able to respond in kind? Not only to save our lives but to show our power?’ responded Rawat. ‘That was the thought behind this whole charade. Believe me even as a military man I do not support this. But isn’t it better to be prepared?’
Anara did not have an immediate answer to this submission. She tried to think back to a few hours ago when she and her crew were helpless in the face of an enemy - an enemy which was faceless and seemingly much more powerful. She had to admit even if only to herself that she felt more confident, safer now after this revelation. Was she not a hypocrite then?
‘Can you tell us more Major? Also, how are these related to the issues we are facing?’ asked Ryan quietly. Having seen conflict first hand and experienced death of close friends and mates, he believed that war was not the way to resolve issues but he was as ready to stand and fight as the next person to defend himself and his ship. These weapons would give them the edge they required.
‘Commander, the lasers feed off our power plant for charging. We have actually kept them on continuous trickle charging so that they were ready for use once we reached deep space. Also, we needed to keep their targeting and control systems active. That is why you have been seeing a drain on the power supplies. We had made changes to the computer system to hide this drain. They can be connected to the navigational lasers if required to increase their efficacy. The design change is available with me and can be done quite fast,’ said Rawat.
‘And Narada being connected to all computer systems had to know about it since it was the only one who could manage it in space,’ observed Ryan.
‘Yes Commander. We had to change some programming before Narada went live. This was also cleared at the highest level,’ said Rawat. He turned to face Anara, ‘Captain, Narada could not do anything against its programming. However, I can now release Narada from the change and restore his original programming.’
‘And the particle radiation was from the nuclear devices?’ chipped in Dr. Khan.
‘Yes Doctor. Since we had to fit all weapons in the existing space, there would have been a concentration of radiation. It’s possible the shielding was not enough or maybe there was some other failure in the casing or welding. Of course, I was keeping an eye on the radiation levels since Dr. Khan raised the issue and in case of any danger I would have come to you straightaway, Captain. I truly believe the crew was not in danger and we could live with it.’
‘Live with it, Major. Live with it? The DRDO is not living with it. The Defence Minister is not living with it. We are living with it!’ Anara forced herself to calm down.
‘I am truly sorry for the deception Captain but as the recent events have shown this was necessary. I hope you will keep this in mind while taking a decision. One last thing, Captain, my instructions were clear. I cannot fire these weapons alone. Once a threat was deemed imminent, I was supposed to take you into confidence and two of us need to concur before they can be fired.’
‘Small comfort, Major,’ she also said sarcastically then controlled herself. ‘From explorers, we are now some type of mercenaries,’ She was the ranking officer here, she had to come to terms with the changed conditions. First things first, get all the details now while the Major was in a talkative mood.
‘So, we now have a much superior firepower available to us that just a few hours ago. When can these be ready for use, Major?’ Anara asked.