Parallel Threat

PARALLEL THREAT - SRINIVASAN They ignored it the Third time… ϒ23~0θ λ50~6α0 Calling… 06-26-2010, 1730 GMT James Clieve, Junior Officer, Institute of Advanced Physics, Columbia was in charge of this phase of testing. He knew he had to inform his chief Mr. Robert Hannington, immediately, about this weird call that they had been receiving for the past 3 hours. And weirder is the fact that this caller has been trying to reach them since their instrument has been fully functioning. It was totally unexpected for them to receive a call on this device. For they thought there wasn‟t enough technology anywhere on the planet for anyone to build such equipment. Yet this call has been properly routed to the device since its first attempt. They first suspected it to be some hacker trying to steal in bandwidth. But the first time they attended this call, they knew the caller meant serious business. It was “the moment” for the scientists in the IAP lab - the first full testing of IUCS (Inter Universal Communication System) which is capable of trans-receiving signals throughout the solar system or even beyond. The only problem they were facing was to overcome the limitation of transmitting at a finite speed. The best technologies at the laboratory allowed them to transmit information at ¾ the speed of light. This implied, to reach a distance of Pluto, it would take them around a year. For the present requirements, this was not a major drawback. Hence they decided to go ahead with announcing the product. But, here comes, this person who has been able to communicate without any time lag. We have to track this person down before he spoils our reputation, thought Clieve. 06-26-2010 1800 GMT

ϒ23~0θ λ50~6α0 Calling... The same number. Must be the same prankster. Clieve picks up the private line and calls his Chief. “Do not attend the call until I come” was the instruction from the other end. From his past experiences Clieve very well knew that he better not disobey his superior.

Ten minutes later, a black Sedan came to a screeching stop in front of the testing lab. Robert had to cancel the ongoing round table conference on Commercialization of the product to attend to this crisis. He knows that, whatever that person is up to, the very fact of someone hacking this network would be a major setback to the release of the product. This was supposed to be used by NASA for its exploration of Jupiter. Fearing how he would report this to the higher officials, Robert attended the call. “Hello. May I know who it is?” A hoarse voice, perhaps disturbed due to the noisy reception of their receivers sounded “This is no time to introduction. We have been trying to contact someone over there for quite a long time. Too late now. This is just to inform that you‟re doomed in 2 hours. Thanks to our technologies. We would like to hear to our victims every half hour. So keep the line open.”, and the line got disconnected. Harrington turned to Clieve “Now, that was not a very informative conversation, was it? So any clue on where he‟s calling from? Are you sure this guy has a valid claim?” “Sir, we‟ve been trying to track him down for the past three hours. But our space tracker is not able to plot him. Also, we tried calling back to this number. It seems he has created it as a one way line.” “What does he mean by „someone over there‟? Is he referring to us, the people of USA? Guess he‟s trying to emulate 9-11.” “Bet my life, he can‟t do it.” “But the only thing that keeps bothering me is that no one on earth could have developed a device that can hack our line. I doubt that technology could have been smuggled from our lab during the design stages” “And he says he has been waiting for a long time to convey this... How long? ” “I guess we have to wait another half hour to know the answer.” 06-26-2010, 1830 GMT The device beeps again. This time they didn‟t have to look at the caller‟s number. They picked up the phone. “Good. Now that you‟ve been waiting for half hour, I wish to divulge some information about your impending disaster. Just listen. We‟ve launched a missile against you. And it will be reaching the target in another, hmm, exactly 87 minutes. Be prepared.”

“And for more information regarding where we are calling from We‟re just your twin separated by the umbilical cord, mates” and the screen went blank again. “What the hell does that mean? Twin? Umbilical cord? What does he think he is blabbering?” “Sir, I guess it could be from USSR. He might be referring to the Bering Sea link as the umbilical cord. I guess they could be the only people who can have this technology. But this prankster, I don‟t think he‟s doing this with the knowledge of the Government.” “A wild guess. What if he‟s an alien calling from Venus? Venus is also referred to as Earth‟s twin”, Robert let out a loud laugh and continued, “Come on. Stop worrying about that guy. I thought he was serious. But now I have lost hope. I think he‟s just playing silly jokes with us” “But, Sir, we‟ve this whole technology at stake and who knows, if his claims are true, we‟ve got our lives on the line too. I think we have to act a bit serious” As they continued their conversation, they got the call on the device. This time, Clieve picked it up. The voice on the other end said “I guess you people have not understood the seriousness of the situation. Ok. We are calling from the 23rd parallel.” “But the 23rd parallel does not cut through Russia.” Said Clieve. “You stupid. Do you think I am so inferior a creature to stay on your earth? We are from our EARTH, in the 23rd parallel Universe, the most developed Universe in existence.” It took a few seconds to register what they had just heard. “But, how come you are able to contact us without any time delay?” “Here again, you demonstrate your inferiority in technology. We developed this system 400 years before you. And we were just scanning through the other universes to find traces of similar systems. You‟re the 125th to join the club.” “Do you mean to say there exist many such universes like this?” “Not just many. Infinite. And we can communicate through the black Hole. We learnt that your scientists have also made a research on this. And they‟ve named the IU line as the Einstein-Rosem Bridge.” Robert interrupted Clieve “This is no time for online tutorial classes. Ask him about the missile.” “Yes. I am coming to that. The missile we have launched 3 hours ago travels at speed of light. And it will reach you in another 45 minutes. It has got enough fuel to make it reach there. It is fueled by Unipole Vibration system which can sustain for a 1000 years” “What do you mean by Unipole?”

“South pole of a magnet.” “Are you kidding? It is impossible to create a Unipole.” Robert, silently indicates Clieve to note down the details of the missile, as and when the caller reveals it. “Unipole cannot be created as such. But imagine you had one. Formed by High density vacuum which holds all the north poles of several magnets together. Then you can see only the South Pole sphere which will now function as a South Unipole. Denser the vacuum packing, More the energy stored in the Unipole. The Unipole is very sensitive to even a slight magnetic field. We suspend the Unipole in a high intensity magnetic field, which makes it release energy. We utilize this energy to run the missile. It is the state of the art Power.” “And since in the next half hour, all your communication lines will get interrupted by the Radar-Hum created by our missile, I think this will be our last conversation. Good bye Humans of 1st parallel.” Harrington went over the notes again and again. But he could not make out any way to disrupt the missile. But Clieve started relaxing and was enjoying himself on the sofa. Harrington feeling irritated, shouted, “Clieve. Now we have a matter at hand. There must be some way. We must stop the missile.” Clieve coolly replied “Our Earth knows to take care of herself” 06-26-2010, 1955 GMT “Five more minutes to go. The missile has entered our atmosphere.” Announced the Chief engineer. Clieve replied “Wait. Let him enter our stratosphere. We‟ll show our magic.” Harrington had no clue of what Clieve was talking about. Two minutes left. The missile reached the region beyond the ozone layer. It was then that the incredible happened. The missile which was heading towards the earth turned on its course. It started moving away and away finally going out of our atmosphere. And there it was , the missile which came in a flash, disappeared as fast as it had come. 06-27-2010 , 1400 GMT The information of the missile had spread around the world like a forest fire. The next day, during the press conference for unveiling the IUCS, the authorities were bombarded with questions. “Sir was it really a missile from the aliens?” “How did you find out that the missile will not be able to reach us?”

“Is it true that you, Mr. Clieve, was the Hero of the Day?” Clieve replied, “This incident had only a heroine. And it was our own Mother Earth. And I was right. Our earth indeed knows to take care of herself” and winked at his chief. P.S: Harrington didn‟t want Clieve to reveal the details that it was Earth‟s magnetic field which did the trick. The Unipole which was very sensitive to the magnetic field, got repelled away, and made the missile move out of the Earth‟s atmosphere. Revealing it would probe more questions into the design of the missile. They didn‟t want it to happen, as they had already appointed a team of 12 members to implement the technology of Unipole Vibration System Power Production, by the year 2015. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------