The Thar Incident - 13

Continued from Part 12.

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On his way home from the CO's office, Khalid stopped at a near by cyber cafe and typed the words "First Contact" on Google. What came up caused him to shake his head. After about half an hour of searching, Khalid decided he had enough and walked out of the cafe. The thoughts circled in Khalid's mind, "first contact", something about gold prospectors in Papua, something about Star Trek, something about a movie by Jodie Foster, the pattern was all to obvious but what was this specifically about?

It couldn't be the aliens, there was no such thing as aliens, though Khalid. This had been drilled into them by the officer teaching Psyops at the school in the forest on the Ridge.

"The human mind is prone to pangs of belief, even the most cynical mind seeks the comfort of hope. Even if all our science and investigation points to the complete absence of any kind of alien species in space, people still dream of ETs. The media industry churns out one blockbuster after another, public demands entertainment and Aliens always find their niche. More popular than pornstars, the Alien sucks our imaginations towards it. It should be no surprise to you all that the American Government's Psychological Operations Coordination Board chose to use the idea of Aliens to camouflage the secret activities of the intelligence services. It didn't matter what the actual cargo in the box was, it could be guns, nukes, drugs, someone's mother, you name it, as long as you said it was aliens, no one wanted to open it! Concievably the most successful psyops in human history"

So Khalid now wondered, was that what this was about? a deliberate psyops by the GoI's finest to pull the wool over someone else's eyes? a deception operation on a grand strategic scale. What exactly was this... the questions bounced about in his head. He decided that this was time to pick up those text books on psychology and read them up. He spent his next week reading.

The next time he called that number the NSA gave him. The NSA answered himself and gave him an address. It was a small farmhouse next to Arjangarh. To most it seemed insignificant, but Khalid knew enough to know that the farmhouses in that area were extremely secure, they were inside an electronic exclusion zone that surrounded the Arjangarh Facility. The entire area was systematically swept for transmitters of all sizes and the zone was kept electronically clean. This was where the great defector had been brought, Khalid knew because he was the one that had brought the defector home.

When Khalid arrived, he found that he was alone in the farmhouse with the NSA.

The NSA spoke, " Have you had a chance to think about what I have said?"

Khalid replied "Yes I have."

The NSA wanted to hear his thoughts.

Khalid now spoke with his customary economy of words, "This sort of thing has been done before, the psyops part. We could replicate it here but I couldn't say for how long."

The NSA mumbled, "hmm... good, by the way speaking of long, you will no longer be reporting to your CO. As far as they are concerned you are finished with them."

Khalid was expecting something but he was a little unnerved by the speed at which it had happened.

The NSA continued, "I gave them a fake intercept by NTRO that said that you and your man friday on the ground had been compromised, so they never want to see either of you again. Man Friday will go to Nahan as an instructor, he will live the rest of his life happily with his family, you will work with me. "

Khalid was now visibly upset.

The NSA continued, "Don't worry, I made it look like it wasn't no fault of yours. Your record is clean but you can't go back there..."

Now Khalid's mind raced, so this was always a one way street, I should have known, curiousity had gotten the better of instinct again, if he could not go back to the boys, where could he go? it was here or a ditch on the banks of the Yamuna. What a choice...

The NSA seemed to sense what was going through his mind, "I am sorry, it was the only way.."

Khalid nodded but his inner voice spoke via his eyes, yeah! sure... easy for you to say.....

The NSA looked at him for a rather long moment and then spoke calmly,"What I am about to tell you is for your ears only. I ask that you leave your preconceptions of this topic aside. I have a challenging task for you, but I am sure you will be up to it."

Khalid's mind was off on its own, ah the pep talk before they ask you to kill people you don't even know.. it was surprising that people didn't simply tire of this.

The NSA did not stop, and told him of recent events, little by little, Khalid's suspicion and instinct gave way to his childlike curiousity yet again. After about forty five minutes, the NSA drew a deep breath and said, "Contrary to what we teach at the school, this is not a psyop at our end. We have a genuine problem that affects our national security and possibly the security of the whole world. We have no idea who owns the craft and what they will behave like if they come looking for it".

"How do we know that it is not an American psyop." Khalid asked.

The NSA replied, "The technology in the craft is far ahead of anything our spies report that the Americans can field even in their wildest dreams..."

Khalid was about to ask something but he realised he would not get a straight answer, so he stopped short of asking.

The NSA continued, "There is however a strong possibility that the Americans have aimed a psyop at us. Their representatives have alluded to a treaty signed in 1954 between the American President and the non-terrestrials. The treaty states that the Americans will recover any such craft and negotiate on behalf of the world with the non-terrestrials. The Americans over the past sixty years have gradually brought other nations into this treaty. A sub-clause in the treaty binds member states to hand over negotiating power with non-terrestrials to a committee comprised of a handful of international nominees. This international committee acts as the guidance council for a small secretariat which is the defacto power center inside this sytem, needless to say the secretariat is dominated by Americans. Perhaps you see why this would make some uneasy."

Khalid asked the obvious question, "Why would anyone submit to this? what does the secretariat do?"

The NSA replied, "Signatories of the treaty were all given economic benifits as membership rewards. These were channeled to them via an enormous international financial system that was created after World War II. The maintainence of this system was tasked to a political apparat. This apparat is sometimes called the One World Goverment. It operates invisibly under the guise of a number of international bodies to ensure that payoffs required to preserve the Treaty are made. The secretariat is responsible for four things, the smooth functioning of the apparat, the recovery and storage of all treaty items, the maintenance of global information control, and the regulation of all contact with non-terrestrials. "

Khalid was taking it all in, and said nothing, the NSA continued, "You should be aware that an article in the treaty forbids the direct development of weapons technology from recovered items and another clause severely restricts the kind of research and development activity that can be conducted on the recovered items while they are in storage. A special research and development organisation provides the necessary support to the secretariat, and though it is nominally attached to the secretariat, it is the only arm that is given independent access to the guidance council. There is a technology transfer section inside this R&D organisation, the section transfers harvested technologies to the civilian sector upon recieving instructions from the secretariat. This technology trade forms one of the corner stones of the pedestal on which the One World Government operates."

The NSA drew a deep breath again,"But whatever I have just told you is by word of mouth. We have no independent confirmation of this. This entire story could be a psyop on their side."

"If other nations are part of this, couldn't we ask them?" Khalid asked.

The NSA replied, "You can't ask a nation, I mean we are going to have to ask specific individuals in these nations, its not like everyone knows. Specific people could easily be turned to say whatever the Americans wanted them to say. That verification scheme would yeild no real results of value."

Then Khalid saw what the NSA was driving at, all this time.

"You see" the NSA said, "We have to do it from ground up."

Khalid looked at the NSA and bluntly asked "So are the Americans going to let us?"

The NSA replied, "Well temporarily we have asked them for a little time and we have indicated to them that we intend to investigate the matter to our satisfaction. They have requested that we keep them informed of our moves and that we keep our activities within the spirit of the treaty, and avoid starting something that no one can stop. The PM has acceded to this request."

Then Khalid asked to be sure "So the PM is ...."

The NSA cut him off," Yes, but you must understand that the PM has to keep the economic health of the nation a priority. That limits her flexibility. "

"Why not just take their pay off and be done with it?" Khalid asked again.

The NSA knew this was coming, "The answer to that is a difficult one. In the Ramayan, it is said that Ravanan, and his brothers, Vibhishanan and Kumbhakaranan carried out a brutal form of penance. The penance eventually succeeded in gaining them enlightenment and access through the gates of Eternity. However upon entering Eternity they wandered through timelessness and soon got very bored. It is said they sat down and laughed uncontrollably for a while and then after that they got up and left Eternity. They returned to Earth, without any shred of responsibility and lacking compassion, they became an endless scourge that nearly wiped out humanity"

Khalid's mind's reaction was ..Whoa... wtf is he talking about.. ease off on the crack cocaine dude...

Seeing Khalid's eyebrow raised, the NSA realised that Khalid was lost, "Once knowledge is imparted to someone who may not necessarily understand its value, the knowledge becomes an invitiation to boundless trouble. Power without purpose corrupts absolutely."

Now Khalid was a little confused. There must be more to this then the NSA was letting on, knowledge? the Americans were going to gain knowledge from the craft? Something that they perhaps did not have? how did the NSA know this? How could he know that the craft would enable the Americans to become more knowledgeable?

Why the concern over sharing knowledge when India did not have any itsel.. "But if..."

The NSA cut him off again, "Think it through... remember everything about the Mahabharat and the Ramayana.. think of them holistically, not as simple stories for children.."

Khalid tusseled with the doubts in his mind, it took a few minutes, and then it hit him.. those stupid mythologies, or were they meta narratives and nemonics for something else, the repeated emphasis on terrible things that happened in times gone by when some man or woman, driven to madness by personal inadequacy, petitioned the denizens of the Heavens for a boon and then the boon became a curse to humanity. The nightmare of proliferation playing itself out in full view each time as gifts of the Gods were misused to solve human differences...

And as he did, quite suddenly in his minds eye, a disturbing picture fell into place. They had known all along... all this while they knew it all... and soon Khalid didn't know how to feel.

The NSA saw his plight and took pity on him, "Today we live in a world where resources are not equally shared. A whole economy has sprung up around an imperfect distribution of opportunity. A misguided sense of superiority afflicts a few and misplaced inferiority dogs the rest. Yet in even in times past, bad judgement has been Mankind's most inforgivable sin. What makes the Americans less prone to such misjudgements? than us? So are we not abdicating our responsibility by simply handing it over to the Americans?"

For once the voice in Khalid's head had no answers, the only response it could muster was a voice repeatedly saying "they must have known this all along... all this time... they knew"

Finally after a long silence, Khalid spoke "So what do you want me to do"

The NSA looked straight at Khalid and said, "The Aliens will return to collect their ship. When they do you will make first contact."

Khalid asked, "How much time do we have?"

The NSA replied, "We don't know.. it could be today, tomorrow, ten years from now..."

"The Americans..." Khalid began, the NSA cut him off again.."will have to be handled but you.. you stay focussed on the Contact itself."

"Me alone?" asked Khalid.

"No, assemble a team, one that thinks before it acts." the NSA replied, " a composite team with the skill to do what it takes"

"Where is the craft now?" Khalid asked, the NSA replied "It is kept in a special place, the 22s have it under guard, you will go there with me soon.. but for now start thinking about your team and what you need. This farmhouse will be your base, use the telephone and the number to get what you need."

Khalid nodded.

The NSA got up, shook hands with him and left through the front door. Khalid heard a car starting up and speed away. It was then that Khalid realised that it was early evening and he turned the TV on.

A channel played an interview with the Minister of State for Science and Technology (MoS S&T). It was Ranjan Sharma's talk show Public ki Adalat, the PM's announcement that ISRO would carry out a manned space flight by the end of the year had become big news, everyone wanted to know what was going on - the MoS S&T was cutting footage, the election was only two years away, so the MoS was doing the usual thing of giving glib answers to questions from the public. The cute face of the government, the young man put in there to get some experience, a fellow being trained to sit in a warm gaddi somewhere else some other day.

It was all going fine until one of the members of the audience got up and asked

"So Mister Minister, Sir, I have heard that Government is doing this space flight because it wants to make contact with Aliens?"

The MoS smiled, "Now where did you hear such a thing?"

The man replied, "Sir, on the Internet, they are saying that there is a research facility in the Satpura mountains where Government of India keeps an Alien craft it has recently captured in the Thar desert and after it was captured the government wanted to find out who owns the ..."

The man spoke excitedly and seemed to continue forever without stopping for a breath, the MoS was now flashing his pearly whites and Ranjan Sharma had a huge grin on his face... ah alien conspiracy theorists the stuff of real entertainment...

Ranjan Sharma took the microphone "So Mantriji what do you say to this? Is this true? "

The MoS S&T replied "Well No we don't have any Alien things with us, yes there is military R&D for aerospace research which as you know has be secret, but there is no alien technology involved in anything."

Ranjan decided to bait the MoS S&T, "So Mantriji just to be sure I understand, you are saying there is no such thing as Aliens.."

The MoS S&T laughed and said," No Ranjan, none that we know of"

Ranjan saw a chance and took it, "So we are alone in the universe"

The MoS S&T replied, "Yes, thats what it looks like"

Ranjan jumped in"So then what is the point of going to space? isn't the Government wasting its time and our money with this expensive picnic in space.."

The MoS S&T had seen him coming, "Well I didn't say there would never be Aliens? I simply said we don't think there are any Aliens right now.. that could change."

Now Ranjan saw another chance to stick it to the MoS S&T, "So then the gentleman who asked the question is right. You are going to space to look for Aliens"

The MoS laughed again, "No no we are not going to look for them, we have no reason to believe they are out there but who knows we might see them.. we don't know what will happen once we get up there."

Ranjan was getting bored now, this was a little too easy, so he tried again "So the gentleman here is wrong?"

The MoS smiled, "look Ranjan, I know what you are trying to get me to do, you are trying to get me to make controversial statements so your ratings go up... Let me be clear, there are children and parents watching this show right now... at the other end of that camera is a young Indian boy or girl and they are thinking what is going on.. I have a responsibility towards them.. so I will be very clear.."

Turning towards the Camera, the MoS S&T said "To the viewers of this program I say this, as far as our science and technology can tell right now, we are alone in this universe. But science is not a static affair, we are always learning something new about the world. Our knowledge is ever growing and it has to be that way if human beings are to make progress. "

He continued"What we know today could change today, tomorrow, ten years from now... who has seen the future? Science is progressing and already we are answering questions that in my father's time we had no answers to, so it will be with you... "

" I say again, do not give up hope, you the little boy or girl watching the TV right now ... you could be the one that someday meets an Alien for the first time. So do not be afraid to imagine,
dare to imagine, for imagination is the engine that drives innovation and the growth of knowledge. "

And buy more model kits and toys of ISRO's rockets, though Ranjan, he knew the MoS S&T's brother-in-law was the biggest toy manufacturer in the country. But Ranjan's cynicism was drowned out by the round of applause that spontaneously burst out from the audience.

Less than a mile from the TV station, the PM and the PPS were watching the broadcast. The PM seemed preoccupied but she simply said "he is good, isn't he?", the PPS replied, "indeed he is.."

The MoS S&T was pleased with his performance, he had been a bit unnerved when the PM had called on him and told him what she wanted ISRO to do an hour before the INSA meeting he had rushed home to meet his father. The father listened to him and simply said, "Jao beta, abbu ka naam roshan karo." The only strategy that would work would be if both the people and the ISRO staff were driven by a spate of positive publicity so that was where this was all going to go. As he walked out of the TV station people were lining up shake his hands and a beeper indicated that his next meeting with the ISRO director was only twenty minutes away. Thats why we have these flashing lights on the car thought the minister as the motorcade sped away leaving the cameras and flashbulbs in its dust.