Getting back to the journeys of my family, set in the fantastic futuristic science fiction universe that I have created in my mind, read this post and the remaining before you proceed. Ok, all caught up? Now read on!
After we leave the last planet we visited, we are on cruise mode for a few days. This was planned as the kids also need to catch up with their studies and classes plus some of my cousins and uncles needed to catch up with their work and get connected with their offices back in the home planet. Hence we decided that we would use the next 5 days to do that. I would spend mornings from 10 to 6 on the bridge, Shawny by my side, studying the reports gathered on the way, doing long range scans and giving orders to the bridge crew of robots.
In the evenings though we all got together in the lounge areas and ate snacks and drank till dinner time. The kids would usually be in the games area after their school work and playing all sorts of games until we call them for dinner. They would sit together and have their big meals while the elder sat nearby and talked until they got hungry too. Usually it would be 8:30 pm or so by the time we all got our dinner and chatted with a few beers till like 11 or 12 and went to bed.
After 5 days by before I went to bed, I got a message from a colleague from Federation ship, someone who I had worked with, asking if I had a fem moments to spare. I said yeah and so we video conferenced. After some pleasantries, he said that while the ship he was on was checking, my ship and I were within range of a desert planet in a star system that had just 3 planets, with a few moons. The desert planet, which has 3 moons itself, had very little life other than worms, some crab like creatures, some vegetation in patches and a large herbivorous animal that feeds on these patches of vegetation.
So he tells me that these creatures were on the verge of extinction since the waters in their areas dried out and it as a chance encounter by a Federation ship that stopped them from being extinct – the ship had some crew draw the lake of water using our advanced tool & technology towards the tribes of these creatures, and thereby saving them. They have since thrived but every 2 year this has to be done again. Since I was close, could I do it? I said sure and changed the heading to this planet which we were only 5 hours away at warp 8 speed. We arrived in orbit during the night time when everyone was asleep.
The next morning at breakfast I announce to everyone the favour I was gonna do for that colleague. Everyone gathered at the bottom deck to get into the vehicles to get us to the surface and we drive to the area that contains the lake and help the flow of it towards the tribe of the giant creatures. As we sit back and watch, the flow of water increases to a great extent and then we drive towards the tribe. The animals look very formidable with two tusks and an outer body shall that covers most of their body, kinda like a turtle. The water flow increase cause the animals to go towards the fake river and they begin to drink.
Satisfied that the work is done I see that it is almost lunch time. So we head back to our ship and after a quick change of outfits, I quickly contact my colleague and confirm that the work is done. I join my cousins and others for lunch.
Indian tabla maestro, composer, percussionist, music producer and film actor Zakir Hussain died at a hospital in San Francisco, his family said on Monday. Hussain died due to complications arising out of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, the family said in a statement. He was 73. He had been hospitalised for the last two weeks and was later taken to the ICU after his condition deteriorated.