He wipes his tears and looks away, his hand trembling as he places it on his wife’s belly. “We’re gonna make it through this like we always do.”
“I hope so.”
They sit in silence for a few minutes before a doctor walks in. “Ms. Anaya, I have an update for you.”
Anil stands upright. “Hello Doctor, I’m Prisha’s husband. What’s the situation?”
“We’ve completed our tests, and it seems you fell and suffered a concussion. The baby is fine. You were lucky this time.”
Prisha sighs in relief. “Thank God.”
Anil grabs his wife’s hand. “Can she go home, Doctor?”
“Yes, you can leave the hospital in a few hours. I would advise strict bed rest until your delivery. Pre-eclampsia is a life-threatening medical problem. You have a high-risk pregnancy and it’s not safe to walk around unattended.”
The doctor draws the curtain and leaves. The whooshing sounds of the heart monitor fill the air. Anil closes his eyes and listens to his baby’s short, rapid pulses. “Our sweet baby is fine.”
She smiles. “You’ll be a great dad.”
“We will give her a good life. I’ll do whatever it takes to provide a bright future for her. She will be a shining star.”
Prisha tries to stand. “Let’s go home now.”
He guides her back down. “Relax. Just rest here for a few hours. I’ll stay with you.”
“But you’re missing work.”
He grabs his bag. “That’s not true, babe. I can do my job right here.”
He takes a seat and removes his laptop. He powers on the outdated machine and hands his wife a cup of artificial apple juice.
She rejects the offer. “No thanks. It tastes rotten.”
The screen loads and Anil projects his desktop on the wall. He loads a web browser and queries for “Pre-eclampsia.” An advertisement begins.
“Nano Greens is the best vertical garden for your home. With minimal water and sunlight, you’ll have basil, lettuce, and cabbage ready to eat when you want. Order today—”
“What the heck is that?” Prisha asks.
“Nano Greens? It seems like a good idea.”
“No, why did a commercial play just now?”
Anil nods. “Oh, that’s our new ad platform that launched today.”
She squirms. “You have to watch a clip every time you run a web search?”
He shrugs. “Yes, it’s part of the new Information Tariffs. They rolled it out for the War…”
“That’s ridiculous. How will watching ads help us win the War?”
“Don’t ask me. I’m not a politician.”
After a lag, the search results appear: “Pre-eclampsia is a pregnancy disorder characterized by high blood pressure and signs of organ damage.”
Anil looks at his wife. “This is a very serious condition.” He grabs her hand. “You have to be more careful, Prisha. Don’t go out on walks without someone to help you. I don’t want to lose you.”
She looks away. “I’ll be fine. Just do your work.”
He logs onto the Google portal and loads the blueprints for Project Titan. He scans his messages and calendar looking for tasks but finds them empty.
Prisha regards the projection. “Anil, what’s happening with the countdown?”
He turns to her. “Don’t know. I haven’t paid attention to it.”
“Can you track the signal?”
He loads the JPL website and opens the radio message from Barnard’s Star. A map of the Milky Way Galaxy appears on the wall. “Looks like it’s still counting down. After what happened last time, I don’t think we should mess with it.”
“When does it end?” she asks.
“Next week.”
She stares at the star. “Will there be a gravity wave like last time?”
“Who knows?” Anil’s brows furrow. “I have a stupid question though. What exactly is a gravitational wave?”
“It’s a wave of gravity traveling through space.”
He scratches his head. “What do you mean?”
“Think of it as a form of energy.”
“Hmm… not sure I follow.”
She contemplates. “Let me put it this way. There are different forms of radiation in the universe. The most common are electromagnetic waves, which carry currents at the speed of light. Think of visible light, X-rays, or gamma rays—”
“That’s funny, we’re looking for a gamma-ray gun for Project Titan.”
She raises her eyebrows. “Do they make them anymore?”
“No,” he says, shaking his head, “don’t remind me about that. So you were saying…”
“Gravitational waves are another type of energy that fly at the speed of light. They were generated during catastrophic events like colliding black holes or collapsing stars.”
He rubs his chin. “Black holes? I still don’t follow you, Prisha.”
She sits upright. “A long time ago, Albert Einstein predicted gravitational waves in his theory of relativity. He believed that when a large mass accelerates, its gravity changes and forms ripples that radiate outward.” She cups her hands and rotates them in the air. “Imagine two black holes about to collide. Their gravities twist upon impact, sending waves out into space.”
“So the bottom line is that gravitational waves are energy?”
“Yes, just like light or X-rays.”
He stares intently at the laptop screen. Deep in thought, he stands and anxiously walks across the room, staring at the ground.
“What’s the matter?” she asks.
He looks up at his wife. “Can we ride a gravity wave?”
“What?”
“Can we harness that energy?”
She tilts her head. “Be more specific. What are you considering?”
He turns and paces. “Well, here we have this countdown that ends next week with a massive gravitational wave. What if we collect that current and use it here on Earth?”
She laughs. “I don’t think that’s possible, Anil. It will last for an instant of time and then disappear. The wave travels through the planet at the speed of light. No one has ever harnessed that before.”
Anil’s jaw drops. A bolt of light flashes before his eyes and shivers run down his back.
Eureka! This is the solution.
“Are you okay, Anil?”
He takes the laptop and projects some blueprints on the wall. “I have an idea. Our reactor needs a jolt to kick-start fusion. That’s where we’re stuck. The only power source that will work is a gamma-ray gun and that doesn’t exist.” He grows quiet and peers into her eyes. “Can we use gravitational waves to ignite the reaction?”
Her eyes widen. “Theoretically.”
He marches around in excitement. “What if we harness next week’s gravity wave and launch our prototype?”
She frowns. “But Anil, there’s no way to capture that energy.”
“Well, we’ll have to build a machine.”
“A machine?”
“Yes.”
She chuckles. “Anil, that’s never been done. And besides, do you think you can build this magical contraption in one week?”
“I was born to do it,” he shouts, pumping his fists and laughing giddily like a child. “I’ve been looking for something challenging like this!”
He opens a document and types some notes. A few minutes later, he stands and paces again, jumping and kicking his feet. “I just got another idea.”
“You know how to build the device?”
“No, I know what to name our daughter!”
She smiles. “You’re funny, Anil.”
He bends over and kisses her cheek. “It’s the perfect name.”
“What do you want to name her?”
“Luminous! Like a flash of knowledge, a Eureka moment. That’s what we should call her.”
“Luminous?” she asks. “That’s an unusual name.”