"Why we are unable to receive any messages from back home" The traveler was checking the communication logs, his forehead creased in deep thought.
"The Commutation array was fully destroyed, so we did not have any choice", replied Wania the AI.
"Well, the receiver equipment is intact, it is the dish array to send and receive the messages which was destroyed, if i am not wrong", he said, looking out the window.
The scene outside was from another of his childhood memories. The residential flats near Clifton in Karachi. The Sky was full of clouds, constantly moving away from beach. The weather in the room was that of a sunny day in Karachi, so it was neither hot nor cold. A pleasant indoors weather. He could not simulate the constant wind, which he loved there, rest it felt almost the same.
He came out of the revere. There were more pressing matters at hand.
"We need to rebuild the communication dishes to connect to the Deep Space Network (1)" he sighed. He hoped to at-least inform the space agencies back home that they were not dead, and moving at 0.99 speed of light towards Alpha Centauri.
He also needed to control the 1g drive to start decelerating now, since they had covered more than half way towards the closet solar system.
One issue at a time. He reminded himself.
On his request Wania presented all the required parts and heir inventory list. He quickly compared the available raw material inventory with the parts list, and noticed, that in theory they could almost come up with the full list in two weeks of 3D printing spree, but it would leave them with little else to build upon. He needed to repair the drive as well.
"Any bright ideas, i need metal, should i start dismantling the drive components, or ..." he suddenly had an idea.
"What is the Asteroid composition, Wania".
"All metal core, but we don't have any sensors to ascertain the exact composition, while fly by sensor reports were also vague, due to thick ice cover, which mostly melted away during our close fly by to the Sun.
"Please detail both robots to start drilling, and store the recovered metal onboard, so that we can decide what to do with it. I will need exact composition, to determine, what all can be build with it".182Please respect copyright.PENANA0wFKOzDrWJ
182Please respect copyright.PENANA4cimIMROk6
"The metallic asteroids are mostly composed of up to 80% iron and 20% a mixture of nickel, iridium, palladium, platinum, gold, magnesium and other precious metals such as osmium, ruthenium and rhodium. There are a few that are made up of half silicate and half metallic. I will be able to answer this question in one weeks time" answered Wania, scanning her internal database.
"I am sure we will be able to at least listen to what signals are being sent by Earth since few centuries, since start of the first Human TV transmission, and maybe send our SOS call to them as well after two weeks. Although i don't know, if anyone can help us this far away", suggested Wania hopefully.
"Yes, i am also hopeful, we will be able to overcome this communication problem", on later thought, he added "Although, most of us are unable to establish our communication with our Creator over our life time".
"Is it easy, talking one way, to an Invisible Entity", She asked.
"Who says, it is one way, It is not. Main issue is establishment of a friendship to last a life time. Once established, He is ever present in our inner most thoughts, our prayers, our day to day business", he smiled.
"Only Prophets were able to communicate with God, and mostly through Angel Gabriel", she again refereed to her inner database.
"My Dear, i will here refer to What Ali (2), One of the closest companion of our Beloved Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be Upon Him) said in this regard , 'Once i want to talk to God, i get busy in prayers, and once i want God to talk to me, i start reading Quran (The Word of God)'". He smiled again, fondly remembering the wise saying of one of the closest companions. "But for us to listen to him, we have to first clear our minds of all the clutter we have gathered there in first place. Remember, Allah can reside with us, in our hearts, in our thoughts forever, provided we first empty the place for him"
"But with so much opposition, your inner daemon, the outside influences always invading your thoughts, how is it possible?", asked Wania, speculating on human nature, and her recent discovery of the inner thought process of a human mind.
"Its never easy my dear. It takes a life time to empty the place of all the false gods, including our our ego, to leave the heart pure and empty for Him, however remember, He never leaves one alone, especially one in agony. If you are in distress and call him, He always responds".182Please respect copyright.PENANAMwo4D55G0y
"Looks like a communication problem, like tuning of an antenna to me, too much noise will make it impossible", She was dead serious, never realizing the pun on human condition.
References:
(1) NASA's deep space Network: In addition to Spain, the Deep Space Network has ground stations in California (Goldstone) and Australia (Canberra). This configuration allows mission controllers to communicate with spacecraft throughout the solar system at all times during Earth’s rotation. It was managed among other by Badri Younes, deputy associate administrator and program manager of NASA's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) in early 21st Century. Later additions to the sensor array were installed on Moon an Mars, 2 and 3 stations each to cater for the planets' rotation and Moon's locked position respectively. 182Please respect copyright.PENANAQR72K1wMh2
(2) Ali ibn Abi Talib (Arabic: عَلِيّ ٱبْن أَبِي طَالِب, ʿAlī ibn ʾAbī Ṭālib; 13 September 601 – 29 January 661) was a cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (Peace and Blessings of Allah be Upon Him), who ruled as the fourth caliph from 656 until his assassination in 661.
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