Science fiction : The starry night

 

Science fiction : The starry night

Yesterday, when I went out in the evening. The sky was clear and twinkling with billions of stars. Everywhere, they shone like jewels etched in the dark layer of the night sky. It was a fascinating sight, and it was so restful to look at, and think of the grandeur of the universe and its workings. For whatever reason, for a moment, I felt that tonight, the sky was the bride being adorned by precious jewels of beauty, and the entire Universe was hosting this grand ceremony where the night sky was supposed to renew its vow of eternal companionship to the day’s blue sky. In secret, they made this pledge and the Universe cheered and smiled, while a shooting star traversed through the dark sky, like a messenger of love who was meant to establish the fulfilment of this pact between two lovers. 

And its trail left a faint, greyish streak behind, as a reminder of, not the falling star, but the star, that affirmed the romantic rendezvous between two realities, which in reality perceivable to humans, never meet. But tonight, the realities overlapped and embraced each other, to extend the lease of universal order and celestial symphony. It was a magnificent sight to witness; and along with the happy stars share the happiness of the universe, secretly, in the presence of reality that grants us the vision to see beyond the reality of 3 dimensions. 

While I was immersed in this view of wonder presented by the starry night, I saw a few stars twinkling brighter than others, and they appeared to drift, all in one direction. “What could this be, certainly not a satellite?” Enquired my mind. 

Then to verify I looked at other stars and they were stationed at their spots, fixed, unmoving, as if they had found their ultimate destiny which they did not want to leave at any cost. 

However, I was still thinking about the three stars that appeared to be moving in the same direction, and they did leave behind a few stars that I used as markers to identify their exact position. Then I thought, if they were moving what took them so long to cross these stars that were so near to these three moving stars. And ah, how could I miss this simple fact. Stars that appeared to be apart by just a few feet when viewed from my position on the Earth, were actually millions of light years away. However, due to the distance between me and them, they appeared to be so close. It was then that I realised whatever these three stars were, they were indeed moving extremely fast, because they were leaving behind the other stationary and unmoving stars. How fast, I may not be able to tell, but indeed they were moving ahead at an incredibly fast speed.

I spoke about this to my cousin who was with me then, he looked at them, and he did confess they were moving and it was unusual. But then he lit his cigarette and the thought vaporised with the smoke of the cigarette. I moved a little farther, because the smoke of the cigarette was veiling the view of these mystery stars cruising towards somewhere. Where, who knows, how fast, who could tell, what were these three moving star like objects, I could only guess, but nothing for certain. Because they looked like stars sparkling and moving.

But going by the logic of four forces that act upon everything that exists in the universe, stars are not supposed to move like that, and three stars moving with a perfect symmetry, is impossible, if one is to assume they were nothing, but stars.

Nevertheless, that is where the beauty of writing lies, “It is the province of knowledge to speak and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.”

(Reminds me of something very humorous. The parliaments of the world where politicians and bureaucrats decide the fate of the world, speaking is the primary quest of all, but very very few possess the wisdom to listen. A Global political tragedy!)

And if one understands this secret of life, he/she will understand the totality of every fact that governs the universe and human life. It is a quote by a US writer and physician taken from his literary masterpiece, “The Poet At The Breakfast Table.”

Now, being at the breakfast table he could come up with such a great thought, and here I was seated at the table of the Universe, and if I did not set the horses of my curiosity, knowledge and wisdom free, to run wild. Their inaction would make them either mules or donkeys. And for the human mind to achieve agility and think the unthinkable, it is important to speak, and then listen as well. Right now my mind, and my every bit of knowledge about physics, astro-physics was running wild, to come up with a solution, while a part of my brain was waiting patiently to listen to the logical argument of my mind about these three star-like objects moving across the Sky. Then if they made sense, the listening part of the mind would speak as well, but only in favour of the proposed answer to this puzzle, or challenge the proposed solution based on valid reasons and logical assessments. 

But this situation was different, knowledge was speaking, wisdom was listening, but the mystery was getting complex with every argument and it was leading to no conclusive outcome.

I gazed at them for almost 35 minutes. They were moving still, and they had left a few stars behind, so it was proof that they were moving at an incredible speed, but for them to completely disappear from my view, I might have had to stand there for more than 6 hours. So, I allowed my hunger for dinner to overcome this visual interaction in the night sky, and I proceeded to have dinner.

Unlike the breakfast table, here I was at the dinner table, seeking wisdom from every rice grain that lay there on my plate. And as I poured some curry over a portion of my rice, it spread over it and it covered the white rice in a rust brown and spinach green curry. To the naked eye, the curry on top of the rice was the reality, but under this reality, there was one more reality that had got layered by curry’s reality, the reality of rice. There, but not visible. But there for certain!

And it was at this moment I realised something quite fantastic. Though these were possibilities, but possibilities indeed, at least I did not believe in the rule, “Let us find out what everyone is doing. And then stop everyone from doing it!”

Right now my knowledge was speaking and the wisdom was patiently listening. And here is what the wisdom intently heard and absorbed:

It was sometime ago, when I had read about the concept of Rogue Stars and Rogue Planets. It was a very interesting topic and the explanations offered on the subject were logically valid and made every sense.

The universe is governed by four main forces which define the makeup of the Universe, in the form that it exists in. And one of the forces , that I call, “Titanic Force of The Universe”Gravity. It is due to this force that the universe does not behave like an impulsive child. For the Universe, there are no whims and fancies, there are rules and laws. Even if there is an event of colossal destruction where a black hole devours a part of the galaxy, it too has a purpose and happens due to certain sets of laws. Universe is a place where there is absolute accord among all laws of physics, mathematics and other known and unknown branches of science. There is peace, to put it more appropriately, there is scientific peace and harmony. 

And the force of Gravity is responsible for defining this state of absolute orderliness.

But the force of gravity acting in a certain zone of the universe is not enough to tame rogue celestial objects. This does not mean gravity is weak. Not at all, because when the rogue celestial objects drift in space, they are drifting because they will finally be caught by the gravitational force of a different zone in the universe where the force of gravity is enough to tame this rogue celestial body. 

Now while it is moving freely, it may come across smaller planets with very weak gravitational forces and smash them apart. Quite possible, but most of these planets are dead, or they lie in non habitable zones of the universe. Anyway, we all know that to define habitable zones of the universe we need to factor in gravitational patterns and then define a map that will predict these habitable zones with a lot of ease. ( That is based on my little and insignificant knowledge about astro-physics )

And for this, we should take lessons from the earlier days of Earth, when it was developing as a habitable planet. It was getting bombarded by many celestial bodies, until all nine planets settled in their orbits, in such a perfect alignment that now if any major celestial object is Earth bound, few other planets will take the major hit prior to Earth being hit. That is why orbits or trajectories exist.

Well, what about rogue objects and their connection with the three star-like objects that I saw drifting.

Yes, let me come back to this point.

Actually, when a star is formed, it enters into a gravitational orbit that assigns it a fixed spot, but sometimes these stars while drifting to settle in the orbit of gravity, collide with other stars, so their mass doubles, triples, quadruples ( it is a variable value ) and at a point they become so big that the gravity in that zone of the universe can no longer hold them in that spot, and they break free from this gravitational zone and drift. They keep drifting until they reach a zone where gravity is forceful enough to restrain this rogue star.

But in my case there were 3 of them. Yes, I saw three, not one. Had it been one I would not have gotten this interested.

So my guess is, when the star collided with other celestial bodies and got extremely big in size, it drifted as a sole rogue star, until it came across a giant star that would consume it. But sometimes, that does not happen. A giant star may not always consume a drifting rogue star. So, when the two stars smashed into each other, they broke apart instead of combining into one mega giant star. And in this process of collision, were born three stars that were drifting in space, to keep drifting until they reached a spot where gravity would be strong enough to put reins on them, and finally make them stationary celestial objects, in the orbit of that gravity. Now gravity can act upon them easily, because they have broken into three different stars. So their individual mass is far lesser, compared to the giant star.

But here too, as they are drifting, they may not settle at three different spots, it can happen that gravity pulls them all together and they collide once again, this time they will either merge into one mega rogue star or split further into mini, organic space debris. There are endless possibilities. But these possibilities can easily be tracked, if we map the web of gravity that acts across the universe. We can easily tell the fate of every falling object.

But this will be a science project of mammoth proportions. And it will be a breakthrough in astro physics that will make humans Demi Gods. Because now humans can tell with extreme precision where and how the celestial body will end and what will be its fate in future. It would be a wonder, that any astro-physicist would do anything to realise. I am sure of that!

Here I am reminded of a US palaeontologist and author who once said, “Science is all those things which are confirmed to such a degree that it would be unreasonable to withhold one’s provisional consent.

Now with my argument in support of what I saw in the sky, please feel free to withhold your consent, because I believe that is the beauty of science. It emboldens you to entertain any form of criticism and consent of both types: reasonable and unreasonable as well. Because you believe in your imagination, 

A human mind enters into a state of curfew, without imagination, curiosity and lack of patience. And curfew in any form is not good, whether curfew in one’s mind, or curfew that restricts people from moving around. This is where the universe is unique once again, curfew like situation does not exist anywhere in the universe.

Had it not been so, rogue stars would not exist, meteor showers would not be a reality, sun flares would not take place, ionic dust would not cause cosmic disruptions. However, in the Universe everything happens based on a predefined set of laws, even black holes are a part of this order. It is simple, yet at the same time extremely complex.

Maybe this is why the world’s greatest mind, Mr. Albert Einstein once said, “At any rate, I am convinced that He (God) does not lay dice.”

And when he says this, the world's greatest mind, is referring to the laws and order that exist everywhere in this infinite universe, and in his own genius-like mellowness he confessed God does not impose curfew in the Universe. God designed the universe and then let it work out its fate based on the laws governing its every birth and death of stars, and other celestial bodies, which then gives birth to forces that govern the workings of the Universe. And if we look at Einstein's works in detail, he refers to four forces that manage the Universe, but when he talks about time dilation and concepts of warping, he offers hints about that mysterious force that eventually manages these four forces, and this is my second possibility, that I associate with three stars that I saw moving in the dark sky. Maybe they were being acted upon by this mysterious force, to fix them somewhere in the right loop of gravity.

Apart from these two probabilities, my knowledge is still speaking or willing to speak, but my wisdom no longer offers it the patient audience. Because these two probabilities satisfy the logical apparatus of my mind. Please note : I said “My mind.” And someone with deeper subject knowledge, would completely rule them out and offer a better reasoning, which fits well with logical parameters. I shall welcome it as a criticism from the wise. And criticism from the wise, is like a blessing from the divine and one ought to understand its every detail. And I shall do so with utmost and highest regard.

It is like saying, “A man should know something about his own country, too, before he goes abroad.”

And based on my knowledge I spoke and I thank all the readers of this blog post, that based on their wisdom they listened patiently. Now advancement in any field and on any topic is essential, therefore, I must admit that I am willing to go abroad now and see what others have to say on this topic.

Guess what!

When I went abroad, I returned with new thoughts and new ideas, and I summed them up in my science fiction novel, They Loved in 2075. Which is a romance science fiction, of love, desperation, separation, union, self aware machines, synthetic emotions, of life’s new wars in 2075 and human evolution to cope with searing heat and toxic air. 

And there is a clan that relies heavily on technology, and is hunting these men and women with organic adaptations to cope with changing climate patterns. 

It also discusses groundbreaking scientific concepts that have the potential to revolutionise many sectors. But at the heart, this science fiction, They Loved in 2075, is a love story of two people who are in deep and true love.

Experience the new height of passion and love, that will be a reality or just a possibility in fiction, in the reality of 2075. And the science fiction novel, They Loved in 2075, in the end, reveals it all!

For someone who wants to uncover the secrets of the universe, there is only one choice, keep guessing and keep proving yourself either right or wrong. Because when dealing with the universe and its laws, we can neither be physicians nor architects, we just have to dare to think of every possibility, test, and then either prove it right or wrong. Then venture further into thinking about other possibilities and pursue them with the same acumen. 

For physicians and architects there is a solution,

“The physician can bury his/her mistakes, but the architect can only advise his/her clients to plant vines.”

Alas! When it comes to the Universe neither of the two options would work. Because one cannot bury the Universe, and one can under no circumstances plant a vine to cover a part of the Universe.

I will leave you with this thought, and allow your knowledge to speak on it further, while your wisdom listens with patience. Let there be light of knowledge, the brightest of all lights.