The Battle of Titan Read online

  Jorge got busy putting up a report based on all the work they had done through the night, while Ramesh took a break for an ablution. By the time Ramesh was done, Jorge had finished the report and sent the message to Heidi. Now all they could do was wait.

  Chapter 3

  Petty politics

  Heidi Bernstein was already in office and on her desk when the message beeped on her personal communication system. It beeped simultaneously in various different ring tones on her wrist watch, her phone in her hand bag, on the table top display of her desk and the computer screen behind her.

  It even buzzed her so called “Smart” reading glasses that her students had gifted her, trying to drag her into the 21st century. She kept the display of the damn thing off, it was too distracting. She gave an audible sigh. This connected world was too much for her, it would not even give a woman some private time on a Saturday morning to come to office and finish her backlog.

  She missed the time of her youth when all you had was a simple mobile phone for talking. Heck she was old enough to remember her teenage years and childhood years when all that existed was a land line! You could only call up people through wires at their homes or office, no display. You had to pick up the phone and talk to the person to know who is calling.

  That was then, there is no turning the genie back into the bottle I guess. Now all the details of the message and the expected callback were flashing on the table top. It was some PhD student, Jorge Sterner. Hmmm… she vaguely recalled him from their few interactions. Handsome fellow, bright but a bit too brash for her liking, but she bet he was popular with the ladies in campus.

  What did he want? PhD students rarely got in touch with her directly. She was not taking any courses for the university, and had not acted as a guide for any student in the last few years. Her research and administrative duties as the head of the observatory made sure she had no time left.

  “Please have a look at the attached data, need your advice urgently… Jorge.” That was all the message said with attachment. One more exuberant youth who has come across some data sampling error and jumped to a wrong conclusion without cross verifying with other data, or simply someone who has done some wrong calculation.

  Heidi growled while grinding her teeth at this waste of time, and was in half a mind to ignore it. She decided the she will give a quick glance and then decide how miserable she would make this student’s life.

  As she opened the file and started reading the well cross referenced data, she forgot all her misgivings and was entranced with the implications. As she read and re-read parts of the data and analysis, she could feel a hot flush come over her.

  Was it that time of her life, which every woman must go through? At 52 she could certainly expect it to start. No that was not it. This was not the onset of her menopause, it was the profound implication this message suggested. She could feel her hands shaking, and willed them to stop.

  She stabbed at the call icon on the table top, getting impatient to talk to this Jorge the moment she had done so. It took over a minute of ringing before the call was answered and Heidi was getting mad. “Sorry ma’am I was taking a bio break, it has been a long night.” Jorge said as he appeared standing in front of a table tucking his T-Shirt into his jeans.

  Now there is a well-mannered boy, Heidi thought, to being addressed as ma’am, though she did not want to be reminded of her age too much. “You can call me Heidi. I called after going through your data. It is interesting I must say. You seem to have done a good job of identifying the lack of those two algorithms in the analysis.

  I will recommend that we review all the algorithms in the light of your findings. Whom did you collaborate with from the CS department to run this analysis? I would like to bring him or her also into the conference.” Heidi started but could immediately see the discomfort in the face of Jorge and was puzzled.

  “Ma’am… you see… the fact is…” Jorge started muttering, ignoring the invitation to call her by first name. “I did it myself, ma’am… there was no one in the CS department… and then it was late… had to wait… so I opened up some files… I know I am in a bit of trouble on that front but I thought the ends justify the means if you know what I mean.” Jorge started rambling.

  Heidi with all her experience about students knew that this boy had been naughty. He was hiding something. “Jorge you are not in trouble if you level with me right now. These findings are important, I give you that, but I cannot accept untruthful behavior.” Heidi said, forcing herself to appear as calm as she could manage, hoping her grinding teeth were not showing.

  Jorge stood there for a moment, apparently thinking something to himself deeply, before he replied in a suddenly acquired calm demeanor. “You see ma’am, it is not me that I am worried about, it may get a friend into trouble who has helped me to do this despite knowing the risks. I have promised myself that I would rather face any consequences that let him get hurt…” Jorge lost his calm demeanor and was starting to ramble again.

  “You or your friend will not be in trouble! I give my word on it.” Heidi was almost shouting. “It is important that I talk to the programmer to verify the correctness of the calculations damn it. This will not go beyond you and me, if that comforts you. Now who is this person, bring him or her online.”

  Jorge seem to look over the table, as if asking a question with his eyes to someone at the other end that she could not see. After a few moments a young man of Indian origin came to the side of the table next to Jorge.

  “Ma’am I would like to introduce Ramesh Srinivasan. He is a PhD student from the CS department. He is not however linked to our department or any of the systems programmed by Computer Science department.

  He is simply a friend who was working on the defense of his thesis on a Friday night when he dropped everything at my request and worked overnight to modify the program and run this data analysis.” Jorge said, while Ramesh just stood there without saying anything like a boy who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

  “You hacked into the system, didn’t you?” Heidi said in a softer tone, hoping she was not smiling. She felt like she was admonishing two boys caught doing mischief in the yard. She was no longer angry with them. She was basically having a matronly moment. Damn, she thought to herself, I am not that old yet.

  “Yes ma’am… No ma’am… I mean I was just looking ma’am, I did not overwrite anything, just copied some code and that’s it… I mean I already have had two warnings from the HOD and I don’t want to be in trouble again…” Ramesh blurted and this time Heidi could not help herself.

  She burst out laughing. “Relax Ramesh. Andrews or no one else will hear about this”, referring to the HOD of CS department. “Just don’t make it into a habit. Now I want you two young men to take me through the data analysis step by step with all the programming modifications, the formulae you used and the copy of the algorithm it was translated into.

  Please send me the algorithms you have written Ramesh, they are not part of the attachment you sent. And now that you boys are done buttering me up with your ma’am thing, you can start calling me Heidi.”

  Jorge and Ramesh took her through every detail they had worked on over the night. Heidi was quickly impressed with the amount of work these two had gotten done in one night, which her entire department might take weeks to do. Obviously these two work well as a team. That Jorge was bright was known to Heidi, the new aspect about him that she was learning, was his application to his discipline.

  This was no bright but shallow man. He might love his booze and girls, but his foremost love was astronomy. She had not known Ramesh at all. The fact that he was mathematically gifted and a computer whiz was obvious.

  What was impressive was his knowledge of physics. Most CS graduates chose to forget physics after the few required undergrad courses, but not Ramesh. He had a surprisingly deep understanding of physics for a CS student, which had helped him in programming the algorithms so elegantly.

&
nbsp; It was afternoon by the time they finished. Heidi was now more excited professionally than she had ever been in her career. There were a million people she wanted to shout out to and let them know about this discovery.

  She however decided to take a few moments to decide the next course of action. She needed some time by herself to think. She also needed these two men by her side for further investigation.

  So she said as she decided her next course of action. “Have you two boys had any sleep at all in the last 48 hours? I guess not. So here is what we do next. You two get some sleep immediately, and that’s an order. I want you sharp for what is coming next.

  I am going to take some time talking to people and getting a team in place which can investigate this thoroughly and independently validate the findings. I hope you had no plans for the Saturday evening, because they stand cancelled. Meet me sharp at 7pm at my office with whatever you may need to continue your work.”

  The two men acknowledged and they cut off the line. Heidi let of a huge breath as soon as she was alone. This was the biggest thing she had encountered in her career. Forget herself, if it turned out to be what it is, it would be one of the biggest thing encountered by humanity. Even if it turned out to be something else, it would be one of the most significant discoveries in astronomy of this century!

  What she needed immediately was an independent visual confirmation of the phenomenon. Who else commanded the most astronomy resources on this side of the hemisphere? Herman… Her heart both fluttered and sank at the same time thinking about him.

  Get a grip on yourself Heidi, don’t let your personal feeling get into your professional life. It has to be Herman and you know it. She knew intellectually that it was Herman she needed to talk to, but wondered whether she was just looking for an excuse to talk to him. Screw it, she will do what she has to do.

  After Herman, she will talk to Oleg. He was a good guy, someone she could trust. She needed his theoretical knowledge, for her specialty was observational astronomy. She also needed the weight he carried in the Astrophysics community in particular, and the scientific community in general. If Oleg said something, everybody listened immediately.

  So what was the time in Chile? What was the time in California right now? It didn’t matter, this was not the time for social etiquettes, and it was probably not that late in the evening anyway.

  She hesitated for many minutes with her fingering hovering over the call icon on her table before calling Herman, audio only. She somehow still avoided facing him when possible, even though they saw each other almost every year in some conference or the other. Her heart was pounding like a teenager, which made her really annoyed with herself.

  Why does this man have such an effect on me? She thought. Shut up Heidi, a voice inside her said. You had your chance 20 years ago, you made your choices then. Don’t blame poor Herman for anything. He was there for you. It was you who let him down, now live with it.

  “Hello Heidi! It so great hearing from you after such a long time. How have you been?” Herman said from the other end of the line in a peculiar mix of both German and Spanish accent which used to drive her wild in her youth, and still did not fail to have an effect.

  “Hi Herman, I am doing great. How are you doing? How are Bonita and the kids? Has Juan started college yet?”

  “Oh we are all doing just fine. Yes Juan started college a week ago, he is very excited. So what is this about Heidi? I wish you would make social calls, but I know you don’t, not to me at least, so what is this about?” Heidi’s heart sank at the jibe because it was true. Why did anything coming from Herman hurt so much? Damn the man.

  She kept those thoughts aside and said “I need your help Herman. I need some observational and analytical help to be more precise…” Heidi let it hang there, not knowing how to proceed further.

  Herman helped her out as he always did by turning the conversation light with a joke. “Don’t tell me you need to see through my humble binocular! What is it that your mighty telescope at Mauna Kea cannot see?”

  Heidi & Herman’s most powerful assets however, were not their mighty looking telescopes on earth, but the ones floating in space. Most of them worked from comfortable offices far from the telescopes, usually visiting them once in a while for administrative reasons.

  All astronomy work was now done on computer screens, not at the end of an eyepiece as is the popular image. The only human eyes stuck behind a telescope were those of amateurs. Professional telescopes had electronic sensors behind them.

  Heidi continued the playful banter style of conversation in relief. She had been too tense. “Herman, I am a woman, I don’t get into these ‘mine is bigger than yours’ argument that you boys love. I just don’t have the equipment. But seriously, I want to show you some data, this could be big.

  I need independent confirmation. There could be no better endorsement coming than from Chile.” That was no flattery, in the Astronomy circles the international observatory in Chile was as well respected as the national observatory at Mauna Kea.

  “Ok, hit me with the data. Let’s see what you got.” Herman said in a playful tone. Heidi regretted opening an audio only channel now. She really wanted to see his face.

  “Ok I am switching mode and sending the file over now.” She said and took the excuse of switching the mode to turn on video. It did not mean that she would be able to see Herman, unless he switched it on at his side. It just made the video link option available to him. Heidi’s video would be transmitted to Herman.

  Herman switched on his video immediately and said. “Don’t tell me you were speaking from the loo before this. It’s good that this thing does not transmit odor.” Herman joked. He was sitting in an open verandah, and it was evening there. It would be mid-winter out there, he had a pullover on.

  “Ha ha, Herman the joker as usual. Please concentrate on the data I just sent, and let me know what you think.” Heidi quipped, now getting comfortable talking to him. How could she tell him why she had not switched on the video? How could she tell the fear, the guilt, and a million other emotions she felt every time she had to face him?

  The playful look from Herman’s face was however gone now. She saw his face as he was reading the data over the tablet, she slowly saw his face transform from playful, interested, to incredulous, to excited, and then to something else. God! This must have been how I looked, when I read the report.

  She gave him a full fifteen minutes to study it before clearing her throat loudly. Smooth as Herman was, he simply looked up and quipped. “You have been watching my handsome face all the time haven’t you? I have this effect on ladies, what can I do? Not your fault.”

  In their younger days she would have smacked Herman on cue, for the quip. It was almost as if Herman wanted the smack, so he would say such things, and she would not disappoint. It was a game with them. Now they were separated by something much more than the distance between Hawaii and Chile, so she just gave a weak smile. “So what do you think?” She asked.

  “You hit me with a bomb and then you ask ‘what do you think’! Heidi… Heidi… Heidi. You are not the joking type I know, but swear to me that you are not pulling my feet.” Herman asked.

  “It is ‘pulling my leg’ Herman. And no, I am not pulling your leg. This is deadly serious. So what do you think, will you do it?”

  “Only if I get to share the Nobel Prize.” He winked at Heidi. It was at moments like these that she remembered why she had fallen in love with him, but this was not the time to review the choices she had made in life, and what she had gained and lost. She just made a disapproving face.

  They knew each other too well, so he hurriedly said. “Of course I will do it, and right now. I am going to call my entire team and give them this urgent and mystery assignment. I am not going to show them this data you sent me. Heidi be careful about who all you share this with before it is verified. You should have asked me not share it with anyone as well. You are too trusting.”

  Desp
ite her best efforts, she could not keep her voice from breaking as a lump formed in her throat, and her eyes turned watery. “Herman, if I can’t trust you. If I even need to tell you to look out for me and my best interests, then I really don’t care about anything in this world. So let’s just leave it at that.”

  She realized she was losing control and need to break away fast, so she hurriedly said. “Listen I have to make many more calls and I got to go right now. I will get in touch with you after a few hours, or you do the same if you find something new. Bye for now.”

  With that she cut off the line before Herman got the chance to say bye. She just couldn’t hold on any longer and had to cut off without any polite considerations. The moment she hit the icon, the floodgates opened with tears streaming freely. She couldn’t have let Herman see them, although she knew that Herman knew.

  She spent a few minutes with herself and a few tissues. Went to the ladies room to compose herself before returning back to call Oleg. She sent a call message to him with an urgent tag. Oleg returned the call immediately. He was behind the wheel but the car was on auto drive mode. “Hey Heids… what’s up?”

  Oleg Larson was an instinctive anti-establishment guy. It was his measure of brilliance that the establishment not just tolerated him, but also listened to him despite this. Anti-establishment and rebel attitude went into everything he did including not calling anyone by their proper names, however short it may be.

  He would have to make up an informal name if there wasn’t any and call the person by that. So Heids it was, as far as Heidi was concerned. You didn’t argue about trivial things like the proper pronunciation of your name with one of the most brilliant and liked man in the scientific community. And Oh by the way… a Nobel prize winner.