God Of a Man
Across Two Eternities

“A loss helps develop empathy.”

Chapter Twenty: Never forgotten, never forsaken
Dated: 5th July – 7th July, 2461

It is easy to get lost in the whirlwind that life is, so much that one begins to neglect whatever one gets accustomed to. If it is always there, it need not be acknowledged! A loss however can bring life to a grinding halt when what has been lost was so integral to daily play of life, that one suddenly no longer knows how to manage life that seemed so easy barely the other day. And this is the starting point of a vast learning; about how to first get your life back together, then how to appreciate and not lose what is still left on you, and finally, what others might be feeling when going through a similar phase. Empathy is born that very instant!

Empathy can be taught as well, by those who know how to teach values to their kids. But artificial learning is like knowledge that has been committed to memory without understanding. Such empathy is rarely felt from deep inside one’s heart, for that heart hasn’t experienced the pain that empathy is expected to understand. None who hasn’t lost all their money to a thug knows how it feels to sleep hungry when you had worked hard to earn your meal and much more. They may understand that the victim is distraught, angry and in need, but what they don’t feel is the deep angst that burns inside the victim’s heart, and how empowering as well as consuming that might be. But those who have been in a similar situation would know exactly the thoughts that would cross the troubled mind.

But even still, knowing how a person feels, will not tell anyone what would best help that person, for their needs might be different even if their pain was similar. Needs are a balance of abilities, resources and desires. Same loss may not leave two different individuals in same situation, even though the two would feel similar pain. The question is; who else knows what Captain Aman Ahluwalia really needs?

“Sir, I beg of you, please let me make just this one trip,” Aman requested the Admiral one more time, as Bradley and Shania haplessly watched his plight, “It won’t even take five full days for me to make this trip and be back. I just need to go there and have one look for myself.”

“But I don’t see any reason why,” Admiral however wasn’t impressed with his pleadings so far, for they were not based on reason, but merely assumptions, “Rear Admiral’s men found nothing over there, and even Captain Williams didn’t see anything.”

“She didn’t even land at the spot Sir,” Aman however reasoned back as Shania nodded in agreement from behind, as if her vote might change the Admiral’s mind.

“But there was no need to,” Admiral retorted further, “And we need all the resources at our disposal. We need to make haste for the more we delay our departure, the tougher our life is getting; especially now with the new knowledge in front of us that has put our entire body of work to square zero all over again.”

Having realized his pleas were falling on deaf ears, a frustrated Aman made a final pitch, “Sir, I did not even want to be on that mission. I was happy to die here with my sweetheart, face whatever the life had to offer. Yet I was forcibly removed from here and taken on a mission that I had every right to refuse to be a part of, and have done so. Yet I accepted my situation, and ask Bradley over here Sir; did I ever fail the call whenever the mission needed me? I have done what was expected out of me, when all I wanted was to be here with the love of my life, no matter what. Am I now asking too much in return? What difference will five days make when we were not even expected to be back here anymore? Does love even means anything or matters to anyone over here anymore?”

“Enough young man, you have already said too much,” an enraged Admiral roared back in response. But his speech was cut short by Lady Michelle Davis, who had been a mute spectator to the discussion so far.

“I’ll handle this Admiral,” Michelle exclaimed as she put a firm hand on Admiral’s shoulder, and then stepped around the table to where Aman was, “Make sure you pick the best team Captain, and do not return until you find that girl, or get some final news about her. I don’t care how long it takes you.”

Her words left everybody in the room speechless and surprised. The Admiral did well to mask his smile though.

Smiles appear and fade in no time however, for they are far more fragile than morning mist. While the mist still needs external factors to work on it, a smile is an absolute slave of every thought internal to the being.

The straits had gone way beyond dire for poor Jenny and Jack. The solar storm that had been building up for months was finally going to hit their world in a matter of hours. But life had become a struggle at least a week in advance, for searing heat travels way faster in vacuum as radiation, than by conduction through matter or convection through air. They had filled three huge tanks of water to drink. Two emptied out in no time, while third one was beginning to get low. Worst part was; this tank had also become their temporary relief from physical heat since the last few hours, as a tub. It was the same water to drink, and the same water to sit in! Their skin had swelled up, but stepping out of it was no option anymore.

“I am scared Jenny,” a crying Jack exclaimed, although it was hard to say if his body still had water to produce tears, or was it merely the water splashed on to his face from the tank.

“Don’t worry sweetheart, I am sure father will be coming to pick us up anytime now,” Jenny tried in vain to give him hope when she had none left on her. If she was still alive, it was because all she had learnt in her life was to fight on.

Survival however is an important part of winning battles. Nobody wins by dying, for victory belongs to the survivors. Those who are dead are just that!

“There it is,” Captain Williams was quick to point out the block of units she had first spotted while on her earlier mission to this world. This time however, she was accompanying Captain Ahluwalia’s team as a guide and second-in-command on board NSSS ‘The Phoenix’.

“How much time do we have before the storm front hits this part of the planet?” Aman asked Jhiang.

“About ten hours Captain,” was the comforting reply from Jhiang, who had already worked out the math even before the question was raised.

“Brilliant,” Aman exclaimed, “This means I can actually tear down every door if I have to, to find her.”

“It is going to be very hot out there sir,” Jhiang however cautioned him, “I expect it to be close to Sixty Five degree Celsius. You will need a lot of fluid on you.”

Maybe Jhiang was already harbouring doubts if anyone would still be alive even if they had been missed by the two crafts that had been there earlier. But if that was the case, he tried his best not to mention it frankly, and Captain Ahluwalia did not dwell too much on his suggestion, or would have cared anyway. Instead the Captain laced himself up in his safety suit, not because he was scared of heat, but because he wanted to be efficient. He then wasted no time in descending down the hovering ship.

“Guide me through the streets will you,” Aman radioed back to the ship, to Captain Williams, “Make sure I don’t miss any street, for I might not be thinking straight once the heat around me starts getting to my head.”

“Roger that Captain,” Shania replied, “You may want to start east from this very intersection.”

Heat and cold can both kill, but first they make people delusional, as hormones start kicking in, trying hard to keep bodily functions stable. It is often hard to tell reality from mirage, yet those who may feel there is no way out for them anymore, may latch on to any hope without bothering to question whether it is a valid avenue to pursue.

“They are here,” a desperate Jenny exclaimed.

“Who’s here?” a fast weakening Jack asked.

“I hear them, they are here?” Jenny exclaimed as she suddenly found the courage and energy to get out of the water tank, “You stay right here. I am going to bring help!”

“Please don’t leave me Jenny,” Jack cried out.

“I won’t,” Jenny replied as she staggered away towards the staircase leading out of the basement, “I promise I won’t. But I need to go right now.”

“Jenny,” a loud cry from Aman reverberated across the hot empty streets that were fast turning into an open furnace. He didn’t know which house to look into, so was kicking down every door that stood in his way, and then rushing in, trying to look through them as fast as he could. “Jenny,” he cried out again.

“Aman,” a shocked Jenny exclaimed as she recognized the faint voice coming from a distance. “It’s Aman! He’s here!” she exclaimed as she pulled her collapsed frame up from the burning floor, and latched on to an even hotter door frame. “Aman,” she cried out as hard as she could. Alas she didn’t have the energy to make any more noise than the rumblings of fallen leaves!

“Jenny, please don’t go,” a desperate Jack cried out, too weak and scared to come out of his tub.

“Jenny,” came another loud cry from a fast dehydrating Captain, who had to open up his helmet to speak out, and bear the brunt of the weather as a consequence.

“Aman,” cried out Jenny as she pushed herself through the steaming streets, and in the direction where the voice of her fiancé was coming from. There was the hovering spaceship above that she never cared to look at. She was focused only in one direction; where Aman was!

“Jenny,” Aman cried out again as he rushed out of another empty house, and back on to the street, but this time he stopped in his stride. In spite of the strong glare of the hot radiation, he spotted the faint shadow slowly dragging itself towards him. “Jenny,” a cry full of joy and agony, both at the same time, escaped his lips. The sight was as painful as it was joyous to behold for the man, and rush he did, head on.

“Aman,” this time a weaker call escaped Jenny’s lips, as she finally collapsed under the heat. But Aman did not let her fall to the ground this time, for he skidded in and grabbed her crumbling frame in his strong arms.

“I found you,” he exclaimed in joy, but Jenny had already fainted. “Jenny,” a concerned Aman patted her face to wake her up, but it didn’t work.

“Captain, have you found her?” Shania asked him just in time, for it broke his trance.

“Yes, I did,” Aman replied and joyous shrieks reverberated across the flight deck, “Now getting me up quick.”

The lift was dropped down as Aman carried Jenny in his arms and rushed to the waiting spaceship. The take-off was quick, but that wasn’t his concern, for his concern at the moment was solely Jenny, who despite her ordeal, still looked a picture of grace and perseverance.

“She seems to be severely dehydrated,” Doctor Leung, who was accompanying the mission exclaimed, “I need to put her on the drip and oxygen immediately.”

The wait is always most anxious when it is for the health and recovery of a loved one, and always the longest when the situation is worst.

It was four wild hours of efforts put in by Doctor Rukhsana Leung, that Jenny finally opened her eyes again. Only this time, it was Aman sitting right next by her side, holding her hand in his.

“Aman, you found me,” Jenny exclaimed as she tried her best to get up.

“I had to,” Aman replied back as he bent over to take her in an embrace, “I wouldn’t have been able to live otherwise.”

“But I never for a moment thought that you wouldn’t,” Jenny replied, “In fact, Jack didn’t even believe me when I said someone’s come to pick us up.” And then she realized, she hadn’t introduced Jack to Aman, or rather even seen him.

“Jack,” she called out the name as she frantically looked around for the little chap.

“Turn the ship around quick,” Aman immediately asked Captain Williams who had just walked in to greet the lady.

“What?” a surprised Shania asked.

“We need to go back, immediately,” Aman however already knew what might have happened.

“Where’s Jack?” Jenny too finally realized Jack wasn’t there. So she grabbed Aman’s arms and asked him.

“Who’s Jack?” Aman however had a much simpler question.