Science fiction. The aviator

 

Science fiction. The aviator

“Whorooom, whorooom, clack, clack , bangggg!”

This was the vocabulary of sounds that I heard when the crash took place. It was two of us who had entered into a simulated dog fight for training purposes only, and we were supposed to cross an area that lies in the Triangle of Tragedies. Aerial tragedies I mean. And for most of us, pilots, it is the ultimate test to assess our presence of mind and ability to be in command of the machine that is worth 2 billion dollars. 

Flying such an advanced machine has two psychological impacts:

1: You feel you are somebody who can claim anything in the sky. I will limit it to the sky only, because our planes still need air for efficient combustion. And to go beyond the sky, into space, there are different pilots who fly totally different machines, and I am not one of them.

2: You become extra conscious not to do anything wrong, and this often leads to a brief spell of nervousness. Once you have dealt with it, you become the true owner of the machine worth 2 billion dollars. 

When I say you are the owner, I really mean it. Because unless you do not have the feeling of owning it like your only object of fascination, the strict protocols of the federal government will never let you graduate as a pilot.

And we both had achieved this graduation milestone. But to become world class and preeminent combat pilots, passing through the Triangle of Tragedies was the only milestone left to achieve.

Both of us had studied a lot of literature on this subject and we also had consulted a few of our senior combat pilots who had flown their 2 billion dollar machines through the Triangle of Tragedies. Overall, we were very confident and we reported at the flying base at 10:00 am sharp.

Our combat jets were ready and they were the machines you would undoubtedly fall in love with because they were sleek, undetectable, travelled almost nearing the speed of light, broke many barriers, one of them being the sound barrier, and they could destroy any approaching missile. There were many other features that offered them aerial supremacy, but their main flying supremacy was defined by their new generation of turbo engines. 

Their design and their fans were modelled in such a way that they developed 50 times more thrust. And our country has achieved this groundbreaking design enhancement by working on the handicap of existing turbo engines. It was surprising that nobody had been able to spot it over so many decades.

But the age of turbo engines will be over soon, so our combat planes are also mounted with the latest secret engines that work on a totally different technology and it is these engines that we need to test once we have entered the Triangle of Tragedies using the latest generation of turbo engines. Which we would be turning off as soon as we enter the Triangle, in order to allow the latest secret engines to offer us the needed thrust, and test their efficiency. 

“Good day officers! Are you ready for the big day?”

As usual the energy of our commanding officer was encouraging and she surely appeared to be more excited than both of us. And we liked this quality of hers. So, the moment we saw her, we felt a professional compulsion with a strong sense of personal obligation, to express similar enthusiasm and acknowledge her morning greeting. That for 5 years has been a dual greeting- A morning wish with a question attached to it. And today is not the first time, but if we cross the Triangle of Tragedies successfully and return alive or otherwise, it might be the last greeting we will get to hear from her as our commanding officer. Because if we return alive we shall be joining different bases as independent pilots. And our ranks would differ, not because we will be flying machines worth 2 billion dollars. But due to other technical reasons.

Leaving all these factors aside, our true passion lies in flying them because they offer us the feeling of free spirits who cannot be contained. At least that is how both of us feel.

And if we do not return alive, I suppose we all know why today will be our last exchange of greetings with her.

So, we greeted her and she surely sensed our enthusiasm and our preparation as well. And she personally walked us upto our cockpits. We boarded the planes, gave a thumbs up to our commanding officer, followed by a thumbs up to each other and we ignited the engines.

My friend, a highly efficient pilot, moved his plane to the runway and took off. I followed from behind and joined him in the sky, leaving behind our base and the commanding officer who was still waving at us in excitement. And after a few moments we were above the clouds and we could not see our air base anymore. 

My friend took the lead, and in one hour we were heading towards the Triangle of Tragedies. As we neared its edge, we initiated our secret engines and slowly killed the turbo engines. The new secret engines appeared to be performing very well. We activated full thrust modes and entered the Triangle. It was not like a usual flying experience. The density of air was higher, and I am not sure what caused this increase in air density. In addition to this, there were mini clouds bursting every moment, which discharged sparks. We must have been flying in this Triangle for 15 minutes, when something began dragging us towards the left. Neither up, nor down, not even right, we felt the drag from the left side, and our wings were now tilted more towards the left.

My friend appeared worried, because his plane was bumping around, mine was bumping too, but compared to him, my flight stability trail tracker was not as haphazard as his. 

It is a characteristic feature of these planes. It is a new technology, that we refer to as twin mode calibration, where I have a section dedicated to showing all flight mode related technicalities in the companion plane. This technology is mainly used to destroy multiple targets aimed at a single plane. More about that later.

As a coordination syncing protocol, I sent him my flying details that he could replicate simply by pressing ok. He allowed my flight mode details to sync with his system and now his plane was more stable and less jittery.

But, the drag towards the left was getting stronger and we could feel its intensity interfering with the overall performance of the engines.We both were ready to activate turbo engines in case our latest secret engines failed.

We had reached the center of the Triangle where the Eye of Tragedies lies. " A real Eye of Tragedies!" That is how our seniors had defined it and that is how our instructors had explained it. And all of them had their own versions of guesses about the mystery surrounding this flying zone.

Where mysterious forces merge together and your combat plane experiences low thrust output generated by the engines. And my guess has always been that the air concentration in this area should be so low that engines fail to generate enough thrust because the air injector is unable to supply sufficient oxygen to the fuel combustion chamber. I could never come up with any other reason. And so far it has all been hypothetical, but today, I will test my theory in reality and right in the Eye of Tragedies!

My friend knew what we were dealing with and so did I- Flying terror and an aviator's nightmare. But a true aviator is made and defined by his/her will to face the Eye of Tragedies.

His engines began failing and he instantly powered his turbo engines and his plane stabilised. I did the same and we were flying at the same height, and I was following the tail of his plane. Due to the left drag it was impossible to fly beside each other.

We must have been in the Eye for 5 minutes, when his plane disappeared from my tracking screen and my screens also went blank. Although there was 100% visibility, I could not see his plane. It was as if it had turned invisible. And this worried me a lot. 

Somehow I recalled, during the Independence day show, we had used special colour nozzles filled with the tricolour of our flag. I, for whatever reason, had not gotten rid of them. So I sprayed them in front of me hoping it would colour the tail of my friend’s plane. But he and his plane had disappeared.

It all seemed so spooky because it defied every logic and every flight lesson we had learned. And we both had never missed a single class. In this single moment I visited every class but I failed to find any answer to what I had witnessed. 

“So what could it be?” 

I was thinking really hard, and then it occurred to me, that the drag we had been experiencing ever since we got into the Eye, may be too intense at some spots. 

“But then, I was following his plane, so I too should have crossed that spot.”

I began arguing and counter arguing with myself. Finally I decided to check my trail plotter and there I noticed a marker where my height had dropped by a few meters. And that is where his plane had disappeared. So it was clear that the Eye which exerts pull from the left side tends to get too strong at certain spots. 

This did not scare me but made me more alert. So, I launched my special drone and I maintained a distance of 80 meters from it. I had 5 more minutes and after that I shall be out of the Eye. I had entered the 3rd minute and the drone disappeared, I quickly initiated a deliberate drop in height, and then realigned with the usual track after 1 minute. Thus, I had managed to come out alive from the Eye of Tragedies.

In compliance with the tradition of real aviators I waited for my friend. Hoping his plane may have got dragged towards the other end of the Eye, and he would appear very soon and we shall return together to the base.

After 2 minutes, I did hear something, and yes, his plane was approaching towards me and I could barely hold my excitement. His plane stood right in front of my plane, but his wings had sustained heavy damage, as if somebody had ripped off its metal sheets. He was aware of it, and he raised his thumbs, just to say that we had made it out of the Triangle of Tragedies. I was about to raise my thumb when my screen, which was synced with his combat plane, showed details which were very worrying. I am sure he knew it, but in the true spirit of a genuine aviator, he still smiled. It was at this moment I heard this sound, “Whorooom, whorooom, clack, clack , bangggg!”

His plane began losing height because all his engines had failed. He was losing height at a dangerous speed. And I was astonished that he had not ejected out of the plane. And this is the psychology of flying a 2 billion dollar worth of plane, that not every aviator can free himself from. Because we as aviators feel we are the custodians of our country’s valuable asset and we shall try as long as we can to salvage whatever we can, as far as the plane is concerned, even if that means risking it all. By all, I mean all.

And he was doing the same, not that he was caught in the paradox of an aviator flying a 2 billion dollar plane, but a paradox where the aviator places his country and its assets ahead of his/her own life. It is only this quality that qualifies us as reliable combat pilots of the next generation. And my friend was definitely one, maybe our commanding officer would never get to know this now, but I am experiencing it right now, in the sky, as I see him and his plane falling with ever increasing hurry towards the earth. Where it will be smashed to pieces. But I know my friend will not give up, even when he knows now it is all in the hands of gravity and nothing else. He will not eject. I would have done the same, but seeing him die will not be easy. And this is the paradox of flying with a companion plane, where you are part of the emotions associated with the companion plane. And in our case this emotion was too intense, because we both had known each other from our childhood. You can easily imagine the rest!

So, without thinking about it too much, I take a nosedive to travel faster than the total output of his free fall inertia, luckily our twin coordination network was still intact and my systems auto calculated the speed required to catch up with his plane.

Finally, as my plane achieved maximum proximity, I made the best use of a combat plane that is worth 2 billion dollars. I activated a pulse based net ( a secret trial technology ) which is a combination of magnetic fields, air density concentration enhancer, along with super turbo fans that we can launch in the mid air, to create a huge vertex of air, that is capable of offering cushion to the falling plane, for that matter anything that falls from the space.

The net of magnetic pulse along with air density enhancer arrested some of the speed of his falling plane. Then I aligned the super turbo fan to create a vortex of air exactly under his plane via the sensors attached to the base of these planes and the sensors attached to the turbo fan. And I assisted him to land on the ground, at a spot which is 12000 kms away from our air base.

The 2 billion dollar combat plane is severely damaged, but as aviators we are born again and now we shall say with pride, we are the ones who returned from the Eye of Tragedies.

In 5 minutes our rescue jets arrived and they airlifted the damaged plane and my friend joined me at the air base. Where our commanding officer was waiting to greet us in her inimitable style. 

As you know, her greeting always has a question associated with it, and we both wondered what that question was going to be today. Since the 2 billion dollar worth of combat plane was severely damaged.

“Welcome back from the Eye aviators! And let me tell you something. None of your seniors had ever entered the real Eye of Tragedies. You were the first to do so. And there is your new plane waiting for you. By the way aviators, today onwards, exclusively for you, my greeting will have no questions associated with them. Although we may not happen to meet that often now, but whenever we do it shall be so!”

It was a moment of absolute rejoicement for both of us. And we saluted our officer, and once again walked towards our planes. Because as aviators we always owe it to our trainers, our maintenance staff, our ground staff, but we also owe it to the soul of our machines as well. Because they; like our will, refuse to break. Maybe that is why in India we have a God dedicated to mechanics. The Lord Vishwakarma! May He be with all aviators and all mechanical geniuses and enthusiasts of the world.

As the community of aviators we may seek blessings from many Gods: Allah swt, Lord Jesus Christ, Lord Buddha, Bhagwan Ji and like I said Lord Vishwakarma. But when we are flying in the skies and we have moments where we enter the Eye of Tragedies, we totally and only rely on two things: The Machine and our Will to protect the machine like we would protect our friend.

And today we crossed the Triangle of Tragedies, with the blessings from all these Gods, but let us not forget the ones chosen by Gods to develop such a well coordinated machine that at times proves stronger than the human will. The community of scientists, engineers, mechanics, and often ignored, just a simple and insignificant person like me, who is only good at fixing cogs and bolts. This short science fiction story is dedicated to all of them. The true Gods of the modern age, where only science and world peace shall establish themselves as true religions of humanity. While humans at individual levels can still venerate Lord Vishwakarma, Allah swt, Lord Jesus Christ or Guru Nanak Ji. whatever you may call this force that offers us inner peace. And I guess, a moment of reckoning with our own selves.

But humanity has only two religions as of today, Science and World Peace. And they are closely related. Because science and art can never achieve the ultimate pinnacle without peace, and for science to make humans an intergalactic species. Peace at Global level is the only Eye, we will somehow have to cross together, and not as individuals.

Because there are moments when a friend’s plane crashes and you need to activate your magnetic net to offer him/her the cushion for safe landing.

For more inspiration on World Peace and Science as the religion of humanity, please explore the science fiction novel, They Loved in 2075. If nothing, I am sure it will motivate you enough to help someone, not necessarily a friend. And right now humanity really needs to help itself before it destroys the very foundation of human emotions, feelings, and society. Now this might sound worrying. And if you are genuinely concerned and worried, then please do read the science fiction novel, They Loved in 2075. 

With these thoughts, we both saluted the commanding officer. And our ultimate combat planes stared at us like our best friends. Because in the sky these machines actually sync with our souls and we too sync with their mechanical souls.

Over and out!