Sci-Fi Story Series Part 8 : Adventures of Sifar - Tide

There was, is and always will be, battle between quest for knowledge and quest for power. Greed and fear are two most dominating emotions of humans. Most of our decisions are result of, one of the emotion taking over the other. There are people who wants the collective knowledge of humanity to be used for the betterment of the society, accelerating the growth further and then there are those who want to control it all.

With advancement of humans' understanding of the world they live in, each passing century has seen tremendous acceleration in technological breakthroughs than the previous one. Past centuries revolve around man basic needs, survival while in current one till year 2077, mankind has moved from basic to luxury to 3D printing of physical objects from devices, to organs. This gave rise to new kind of challenge, money, precious metals etc. are no longer a problem or have any value. They are easily available with modern alchemy and physical mutonics. New kind of economy is evolved with in last decade, which is energy units.

Energy is arguably, the purest form of universe. Energy is required for both construction and destruction. Earth is now falling short of energy required to sustain the demand of technology. With conventional fuels like fossils depleting, renewable ones still incapable to efficiently providing the  solution, nuclear fission being too dangerous and hazardous, mankind has left with limited options and to utilize what they have. Everyone require energy to sustain. Sifar's journey may unlock some more mysteries to harness the power of universe and satisfy the hunger of world.

Currently, facing its toughest challenge, to bypass solar flare. Average solar flare travels hundreds of miles per second, carrying high energy particles with temperatures as high as few hundred thousand degrees. Even Hind knew that directly confronting the flare will turn their ship into ashes instantly, without force field on which he was counting. It is incomprehensible why his ship is not behaving as it is expected.

"Why the force field not activated?" thought Hind. He checked all the routines and ran all the checklists by himself.

"We have withstood the initial hit of flare but hull integrity is reduced by 10 percent." said Smith

"The outer layer temperature is rising rapidly, currently at 4000-degree Fahrenheit. We won't be able to withstand another hit.". Jai stated.

The first few layers of Sifar is made up of some of the most heat resistant materials like compound of hafnium, nitrogen, and carbon, aerogel etc. with coolant tubing containing liquid nitrogen. Sifar can withstand some of the highest temperatures of solar system. But solar flare is all new level of temperature and radiation.

"We are approaching to another wave of flare, fast." Nia said anxiously.

"Nia, find the dark zone in flare, Jai calculate the path through it, Smith keep an eye on outer layer temperature and maintain ship’s inclination" Hind ordered.

The flare approached them in form of wave with crest and trough. Team started working on the orders.

"Dark zone located." Nia mentioned

"Team display the details of coordinates and ship data on deck screen. Engaging to manual drive." with this Hind took control of Sifar.

"This is dangerous." Jai said.

"We have no choice." Hind admitted.

Imagine driving a sophisticated plane by just looking on screen of numbers and not by looking to actual world around you. But only more difficult, as you are against one of the most powerful nature's force. Hind felt the heaviness of the responsibility on his shoulder of mission, of Sifar and of everyone on it.

"Now!" Nia shouted.

Hind maneuver Sifar like a surfer on the board riding a wave. Each movement should be precise otherwise they will hit the flare. Hind controlling Sifar ferociously feeding degrees, coordinates, inclination to get out of flare before it collapses on ship.

"It is working." Jai said.

"Temperature of outer hull is still rising steadily but with lot less increment." Smit added.

"We are going to make it." Nia said joyfully.

"Not yet. It is not over until it is over." Hind interrupted.

The final somersault brought Sifar out of Solar flare. The ship took some damage but all is not lost.

"Team, give me the damage report" Hind interrupted the celebrating crew.

"Structural damage at 45%. We cannot make a jump without repair.", Smith said.

"We have passed the solar flare with no internal breach." said Nia

"Ship's vitals normal, crew is doing damage control." Jai announced

"Jai, I want you to run full diagnostic on Ships software and program routines. I want to know why force field doesn't get activated." Hind mentioned.

"Smith, ready the robotic arms and self-correcting procedures to get Sifar's outer layer repaired." Hind .

"Nia try to establish communication with ground control." Hind.

"Team, we will keep on advancing to the speculated location of Wow! signal. How much time, we have left?" Hind asked

"Thanks to gravity assist, we gained on time, our speed doubled, we have to reach coordinates with in half hour. But flare has deflected us on wrong trajectory." Jai calculated.

"Jai forget about the diagnostics now. The primary target is to reach to the coordinates. We must do every repair during flight. We cannot miss the signal again. ". Hind said.

"My calculations shows that we will barely reach there." Jai running his fingers on panel.

"Engage Cryothrusters to full." Hind said

"Communication established with ground control." said Nia.

"Connect them to my personal line, so much to brief them." said Hind and left the deck.

---

"It’s not less than a miracle." thought Kuber seeing the feeds of Sifar.

"What are the odd of not getting barbequed by direct hit from solar flare? Still I am not able to understand the path of ship. What is Hind up to?" thought Kuber.

Much pleased from his code running in the background on the ship, providing the data to Kuber. It has done the expected to keep Sifar team busy and the unexpected, the path it followed to achieve the objective. He received the code from Maya but added his own signature touch to it.

"Maya will be pleased." murmured Kuber, sarcastically.

To Be continued…