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  Cherry nodded and Jinjing continued. “You will receive your detailed briefing message in a few moments. It has details of all politicians and bureaucrats who we believe were in those meetings, and may be privy to the information. We have added as much background detail as we know about each individual on the list, all their individual weaknesses and strengths, their habits etc. Select your target and select it well. We need to know quickly.”

  With that Jinjing hugged and kissed Cherry on the cheeks as two old acquaintances would bid goodbye after a casual chance meeting at the temple. Then she was gone. Cherry lingered on for 15 more minutes appreciating the beautiful temple made out of marble before exiting herself. She instructed her cab driver to go to her apartment near the university, but she didn’t wait to reach home. She opened up her tablet and started studying the detailed dossier sent to her.

  By late afternoon she had selected her target. It was a bureaucrat. Bureaucrats are easier to approach and target than politicians. They have little or no security at all, and less scrutiny on whom they meet. In her estimation, they are also hungrier for the commodity that is her usual bait, having far less opportunities than politicians.

  This bureaucrat had a fairly simple vice to exploit. It would not be a subtle or sophisticated job, but she had been given very little time. There was no room to be subtle on this job.

  She needed a muscle on this job. Actually she would need more than one, they need to be intimidating and numbers make muscles even more intimidating. But she needed muscles with restraints, not some blood thirsty brainless thugs. Someone who would hold back when she ordered, and not get into a sadistic frenzy.

  She had to do a quick and dirty job, but it need not be ham handed and turn into a diplomatic fiasco. That may be disastrous for her career if not for her life.

  She also needed a cover. She could not let anyone know this is a Chinese operation. The northeastern part of India had a majority of people who were racially of similar stock as the Chinese, and thus looked similar to them. Cherry had taken the effort to learn more about this part of India on her arrival here, and especially their accent of speaking English, which is distinct for every part of India.

  She now spoke English is such a way as to easily pass off as a person from the Northeast. She knew the right people for the job, although getting them into this job would cost her many chips she had earned over her period of stay here.

  When an operative starts out in a new station, they need to quickly cultivate and get access to shady characters, who can be called upon to do dirty jobs. In the course of doing this part of the job, she had met a gang of petty drug peddlers.

  They were three brothers all supposedly studying in JNU, but had no intention of ever graduating. They had a few friends who would work with them on and off, but the three brothers were the core of the gang.

  They hailed from the northeast, and as such had no political affiliations. They were just interested in making money and having a good time. She had slept with the eldest brother, and leader of the gang to seal the relationship. He had been in awe of her, exotic as she was for him. The daughter of a rich foreigner.

  She would get in the three brothers but no one else. Three drug addled muscles should be enough to intimidate a wimpy bureaucrat. The political part of the questioning might be tricky with the brothers. Oh well… she will fix that with sex if necessary. It always works.

  The bureaucrat in question was named Kapil Sharma, and he could always be found after 7 pm at the Delhi golf course bar, where he would usually stay till 10 pm, when he would usually be helped by his driver getting into the car after one too many drinks. The driver would then drive him home, though not always he went home. His second weakness was women.

  Cherry had no problems arranging to get inside the exclusive Delhi golf club. She arranged to be met by one of the embassy staff, who all had the club’s membership. At 6 pm she entered the club with an embassy staff ostensibly as a couple. The embassy staff immediately went off to the course to tee off, not to meet her again, while she recced the club house as a bored wife waiting for her husband to finish a game.

  At 7:10 pm she noted Kapil Sharma entering the bar, and go straight to his usual place at the bar counter. He didn’t need to order, as the bartender got his usual whisky. He had some chat with the bartender, and then settled by himself occasionally greeting some of the regulars at the bar. Cherry took a seat at the bar two stools away from him and ordered a beer.

  Half a drink later, she was casually introducing herself to Sharma as the daughter of a businessman from Shillong, capital of one of the Northeastern states. By 9 pm they were not just sitting next to each other, it was getting difficult for Cherry to keep his paws off her, not that she minded, but she had to keep up appearances.

  She let him know that a lot of her dad’s friends frequented this place, and she was not very comfortable here. She suggested that they move to the bar of a nearby 5 star hotel, where she was staying. The way she said that it, suggested that there could be more after the bar. Sharma didn’t really need an invitation. He signed both of their tabs, despite Cherry putting up a show of trying to pay her own tab.

  They drank at the bar of the hotel till about 10.30 pm, by when Cherry had started acting a bit high, and Sharma was genuinely drunk. She told Sharma that she dared not drink any more beer, but she wanted to drink some more, but only the Sherry she had in her room. Would he be interested in joining her? Sharma followed her with his tongue hanging.

  The moment they entered her room and Cherry locked the door behind, Sharma’s day took a turn for the worse. The three brothers entered from the adjoining room of the suite. Before Sharma could even express his surprise, he had been bound, gagged and stripped. Cherry asked the youngest brother, who in her estimation was the most restrained to soften Sharma up, while she made her payment to the eldest brother in cash and kind.

  The youngest brother got working on Sharma in the living room, while Cherry locked the bedroom door behind her and turned to look amorously at the eldest brother. She let him take her roughly and wildly in his drug induced frenzied sex. It was all part of the job. Once he had finished, she climbed on top him, and cooed the usual after-sex pleasantries she knew well.

  She explained that she was helping a friend who was part of an underground political group in the northeast. She further explained that the friend of hers had been raped and brutalized by the Indian army in a raid they had conducted. She was trying to get information from this bureaucrat about a major offensive the army was planning against the militants, to help save her friend’s life and prevent her from getting raped again.

  Although he had no political affiliations, this concocted story immediately drew up sympathy in his mind. That and the wad of currency notes she handed to him, convinced him to keep his mouth shut and let her do all the interrogation. Cherry had helpfully brought a fresh stock of drugs for all the three brothers, which they took gleefully and gave themselves another shot.

  Cherry started the interrogation. She listed a set of high level meetings, giving the details of the attendees and the venues to leave Sharma in no doubt, which meetings she was referring to. For the benefit of the brothers, she then said that she suspected the meetings to be about a major offensive against our homeland in the Northeast. She emphasized the word ‘our’ to imply to Sharma that all four of them were militants of some underground movement.

  After a few more punches Sharma whimpered and denied the meetings had anything to do with any militancy. When asked what the meetings were about, with some more forceful persuasion, the story he came up with sounded so fantastic that Cherry was sure that he was fooling around with them. The poor Mr. Sharma kept getting beaten up again and again for telling the truth. Cherry was getting frustrated and decided to force the issue. She asked for proof.

  The proof according to Sharma was in his tablet, if she let him have it, he could show it to her. Sharma was past caring now, he wanted to get rid of the pain and
the beating. He wanted to get away. He didn’t care if a bunch of militants got to know a state secret. It was not as if this particular secret would hurt the country anyway. Let them see it, and be convinced that it has nothing to do with them. Then maybe they will let him go.

  Cherry was wary however. They had taken the tablet off his person and immediately removed its batteries, to ensure that no emergency signal could be sent. She had even inspected it to check that the tablet was a standard commercial model, with no back up batteries like the one she had.

  If she let him switch on the tablet, then there is the risk of him being able to activate some emergency signal. She decided to play it safe. She took the tablet herself and asked him to tell her what to do. The only time she let him touch the tablet was when his thumb was required on the screen for authentication.

  Sharma was extra helpful in taking her through the minutes of the meetings, and the briefs they had had from scientists. He had access to all the technical data. She had essentially completed her job and would just have to tie up some minor loose ends.

  No brutal business required to tie them up, no killings. The bureaucrat would be put to sleep and would wake up sometime tomorrow with a massive hangover. He would probably keep the entire thing quiet himself. If he reported it anyway, she had made sure, there would be nothing here tying it to the Chinese government.

  Yet she was not feeling happy, she was feeling disturbed. For the first time in her professional career, she had come across intelligence she had gathered that was personally of interest to her.

  She could not understand why anyone would want to keep this information a national secret. If this is true, then all humans will face the consequences. If we didn’t unite together, then we all may be collectively screwed!

  Chapter 5

  A double date

  It had been a few weeks after their discovery, and it was a big evening for both Jorge and Ramesh. Jorge was finally going to fulfill his end of the bargain he had made with Ramesh, he did not want any debts owed by him. Ramesh was nervous for obvious reasons. He was having a date with the woman he had dreamed of, ever since setting his eyes upon her when she was a freshman… that was over 7 years ago.

  Fluentez was also a PhD student, one year junior to Ramesh and Jorge, in the psychology department. She had recently finished her masters in applied psychology, and had started her research for a thesis topic. She was of mixed decent, as was the case with many in this island. She had Hispanic-Filipino ancestry, and was a really petite woman with very long dark hair, that seem to mesmerize Ramesh, whenever he would steal a glance at them.

  Now here he was sitting in a restaurant too fancy for his wallet, waiting for Jorge to arrive with the ladies. He fidgeted with his collar and wondered if he had dressed appropriately. He had asked Jorge for advice on what to wear for the evening, and all Jorge could say was to dress casually but soberly.

  That had not very helpful as far as Ramesh was concerned, he was hoping that Jorge with his experience would pick the clothes out for him. For better or worse, here he was with the clothes he had chosen himself, waiting for one of the only handful of dates that Ramesh had ever had.

  When Jorge walked in with the ladies, Ramesh stood up for the introductions. Ramesh knew Mischa Carville somewhat. She was a pleasant looking woman of average height and fairly sociable and outgoing, she would talk to Ramesh at social events, unlike Fluentez who was a bit on the reserved side. The two women were in the same department, and had been inseparable friends since their freshman year.

  The evening started off fine, with all of them ordering their choices from the menu, and settling down for a glass of red wine, except Ramesh, who chose a mocktail. Ramesh was feeling relaxed now, and the conversation was free flowing, when Jorge thought Ramesh made his first gaffe.

  “Did you know that when seniors want to give a newly arrived freshman a hard time, they give them the task of finding out your first name?” Ramesh said with a broad smile. Damn, thought Jorge, doesn’t this fool know how sensitive Fluentez is about the issue of her first name? He expected Fluentez to explode any time now.

  Contrary to Jorge’s expectation, Fluentez burst out in laughter. I guess she likes him, Jorge thought. “You made that up didn’t you?” Fluentez said.

  Ramesh replied sheepishly. “Yes I did, but you can be sure that the next time I want to harass a hapless freshman, that is the assignment I would give.”

  Smoothly played thought Jorge, he had been underestimating Ramesh. After their meal, they decided to hop over to the bar next door. It was at the bar, which had a TV on behind the counter, that they noticed that an important presidential address to the nation was about to commence.

  It was here that the four of them along with a few other patrons of the bar heard the momentous announcement made by the president about the alien ship. The leak of the information to the Chinese government had forced the timing of the announcement.

  The looks on the faces of Mischa and Fluentez, for that matter everyone in the bar except Jorge and Ramesh was something. There was pin drop silence at the bar, as the president was speaking.

  That silence was broken by a cross between a shriek and a howl by Mischa and also a loud gasp by Fluentez when the president named the team that had discovered the alien ship and mentioned Jorge and Ramesh by name.

  “You jerk, you didn’t tell me”. Mischa was sitting next to Jorge and caught his collar in mock anger.

  “Hey. The government had sworn us to secrecy. I don’t want to end up in prison.” Jorge raised his hands pleading innocence but smiling at the same time. Mischa raised herself on her knees on the sofa and gave Jorge a sloppy kiss. “I am proud of you”.

  They were sushed by the patrons gathered at the bar under the TV, as the president was still speaking. The president outlined the plan of the US government to send out probes, as well as the plans of co-operation with the ESA-ISRO Sedna – 1 probe.

  After the president’s speech, people at the bar quickly figured out who Jorge and Ramesh were and came over to congratulate them for the discovery. Everything settled down at the bar, which was now very quiet with people talking in hushed tones.

  The four of them were on their second drink talking about the aliens, whether they would be friendly and wondering where they came from. Then Ramesh said something that got Jorge in all excited.

  “You know, after the president said that stuff about sending rockets to meet the alien craft, I wish I had a rocket which I could take slightly below the plane of the solar system, stop it there and then turn exactly to face the alien space craft. That way I would be looking at the exact direction the craft came from. It would be the best chance to look for their home world.” Ramesh said thoughtfully, almost to himself, he didn’t really expect to get his own spacecraft for this thought experiment!

  They all now knew that the alien spacecraft was coming into the solar system at a slight angle from above the plane of the solar system. It is the plane on which almost all the planet revolve around the sun. Since the alien craft was not exactly pointed towards the earth, when humans looked at the craft and then exactly behind it, the line of sight crossed the line of the flight of the alien ship at a small angle. This small angle when extended back even a few light years caused a huge error in the location where they should be looking for the home planet of the aliens.

  They now knew with a fair amount of certainty that the alien ship was pointed squarely on the sun from a point slightly above the plane of the solar system. That line of approach, intersected earth’s orbit at a point slightly below the plane of the earth at the current position of the earth in sun’s orbit. If one could go to that point and look at the alien craft, you would be looking exactly in the direction of the home system of the craft.

  “My god Ramesh, why didn’t we think of this before. You are a genius man!” Jorge exclaimed.

  “Huh. I am? This is just idle speculation man, unless you are going to lend me that spacecraft you got parked
in your garage.” Ramesh said with a playful smile.

  “No Ramesh, I am serious. There is something I know that you don’t. I was in a conference meeting with Heidi three days ago. There were a lot of Astronomers and physicists out there. The meeting was led by Dr. Herman Heinz, you remember the big shot from Chile. Well he is the chief consulting Astronomer on the Sedna project.”

  “Wait a minute, what is the Sedna project?” Asked Mischa, reflecting the blank look of all the three people on the table. Jorge realized that only Astronomers would have been aware of the project, and he will have to explain the Sedna project to the non-Astronomer friends here.

  Chapter 6

  Sedna – 1

  European Space Agency (ESA) and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), had jointly planned a mission long ago, more than 10 years before this amazing discovery of the incoming spaceship. It was an ambitious mission at that time, causing a lot of gripe from both the European Parliament, as well as the Indian Parliament.

  As is customary in any democracy, you have a set of politicians, who would consider even a cent spent on space, as a waste of money. They would throw statistics about underprivileged children, arguing that money was better spent elsewhere.

  The politicians cut the budgets of their respective space agencies to such an extent as to ensure that they could keep going comfortably, yet not have enough budget to take up this mega project they planned.

  Someone in one or both the agencies got a brainwave and they tied up to launch a single project by pooling in their resources and money. The budgets had been cut just enough to prevent the project, but the moment they pooled in, they had more than enough budget. The logic went around that the research needed to be done only once, so why send two space crafts.