Gravity Versus Gravity, page 21
The first blocked pipe had weed inside. Kai opened the pipe near a junction, cleaned the weed and joined back the pipes. Water started flowing normally. When he inspected the second pipe to clear the block, he felt a very soft thing inside when he touched the bulge with his fingers. The thing inside also seemed to move.
Kai thought that the water accumulated on one side might have been the reason. He looked at the bulge again and found that it seemed to move sometimes towards the fountain side of the pipe.
This is strange, Kai thought. If water is pushing from the fountain side, how can the weed inside move against the water flow?
Kai opened the joint nearest to the blockage and started squeezing the pipe to clear what he thought was a weed. With some difficulty, he could move the blockage towards the open end. He switched on the pump to create pressure. After some effort, he finally saw the thing from inside pop out slightly. He moved to the open end to clear the block by hand. He got the shock of his life. It was a snake trying to wriggle out. As Kai bent down, the snake opened its mouth and hissed at him. Kai dropped his spanner and ran towards his colleagues.
“What happened?” Alfie asked.
“A snake,” Kai screamed.
“A snake?”
“Yes, inside the pipe.”
“That’s not possible. Let’s go and check.”
Accompanied by Alfie and Jamie, Kai went back to the fountain.
Water was flowing out from the open end.
“Where is the snake?” Jamie asked.
“It was at the end of the pipe.”
“I cannot see anything. You must have imagined things. Three days of heavy work seem to be taking a toll on you already.”
“I bet I saw a snake.”
“Did anyone else see it?”
“I don’t know. There were only a few people around.”
“Let me handle this. You can set up pipes at the other fountains.”
Kai left along with Alfie. They had walked hardly twenty meters when Kai saw the snake disappear into the bush. He scurried towards the next fountains without saying anything to Alfie.
On the fourth day, Kai got a call at two o’clock in the night.
“Is that Kai Hayes?” said a voice on the other end.
“Yes, it is,” Kai said, rubbing his eyes and looking at the clock.
“This is PC Hannan,” the man at the other end said. “The pipe near Victoria Station has started leaking. A taxi hit it. You need to come fast.”
Kai called Alfie and Jamie. “Come straight to Victoria Station. I’m going to the Park to switch off the pump,” he told them.
“Why do these accidents happen when we are sleeping?” Alfie asked.
“If I had a way of avoiding these accidents at night, I would have done that happily,” Kai replied.
Kai put on his uniform and rushed in his service van. He first went to St. James’s Park. The water pump had been running for almost one full day. Yet the Lake was only half empty. Kai went inside the makeshift switch-room and switched off the pump.
He called Alfie. “I’ve checked the pressure. The water inside the pipe would continue to flow for at least one more hour,” he said.
“If only someone could have stopped it some time ago, it would have meant less flood to deal with,” Alfie replied.
“What is the use of such questions? We have to do what we have to do, and there is no best time.”
“Don’t be so optimistic. I’ve dealt with water-leaks near the Victoria Station earlier, and I know it will be a mess when we reach there.”
The three men reached Victoria Station almost at the same time. They found that the pipe had almost completely ruptured. The adjacent roads were a foot deep in water.
“See!” Alfie said. “This is what I meant.”
Kai kept quiet.
“How do we go to the spot?” Jamie asked.
“With that kind of force, it would be difficult to wade through the water,” Alfie said.
“I’ll ask PC Hannan to rescue us,” Kai said, walking towards PC Hannan who was standing with folded hands.
“Would you be able to fix this disaster?” PC Hannan asked Kai.
“Yes, but it won’t be easy.”
“Not till the morning?”
“Less, if you help us out.”
“How?”
“Get us the biggest fire engine with the largest ladder.”
“Not a problem,” PC Hannan said. He called the fire service. A huge fire-engine turned up in less than two minutes. The ladder was the longest that Kai had ever seen.
One by one Kai, Alfie and Jamie got onto the ladder and worked on the pipe from above. Kai’s service van was lifted by a crane and put near the pipe.
The three of them made a cut in the pipe a meter from the leakage. They put a sheet inside. They made another hole and put another sheet inside. After about an hour, they could stop the water flow. It took them another hour to join the pipes. There was still a lot of water inside the pipe although the pressure had decreased.
“Well done,” PC Hannan said when Kai climbed down the ladder.
“Not an easy job. My boys are experts. No one else but our team could have stopped this and that, too, in two hours,” Kai said proudly.
“I could see how efficiently the three of you worked. The water on the roads has started to ebb. Rest of the water should be gone in about an hour, I presume.”
“Yes. It should clear in an hour. We’ll open two manhole covers to increase the outflow of water.”
“We can now happily go back to our homes,” PC Hannan said, smiling.
“Good luck, PC Hannan,” Kai said, getting into the water to open the manholes. He got drenched knee-deep but could locate the manhole covers and remove them.
When the work was finished, Alfie looked at his watch and said, “Almost five in the morning. Let’s hurry back home. We can catch two hours of sleep.”
“Yes,” Kai replied.
As Kai headed home, his greatest wish was that the zero-gravity event came and went as soon as possible.
The only another time, Kai was disturbed in his sleep was on the sixth day. A stray dog had been sucked into the pump.
That is interesting, Kai thought as he prepared to leave. I’ve heard of leaves, ropes, clothes, and packets clogging pipes. And yes, I’ve seen a snake, too. But a dog?
When Kai reached the Serpentine, a small crowd had gathered around the scene of the incident.
“How did this happen?” Kai asked.
“I’m responsible for taking animals out of Central London,” a man said, extending his hand towards Kai. He looked disheveled. He was almost bald, but his leftover hairs were standing on their edges.
“The animals seem to be giving you a tough time,” Kai said, looking at his hairs.
“You bet,” the man said.
“Let me hurry before it is too late,” Kai said, getting ready to save the dog. The dog’s two hind legs were stuck in the pump. It was looking pitifully towards Kai.
The instant Kai switched off the pump, the dog jumped out.
“As simple as that,” Kai said.
“Thanks,” the man said.
The dog took the opportunity to run away. The man ran after him. The two of them were shortly on the road and out of sight.
“I hope the man gets the dog this time,” Kai said, ready to go home to catch up some more sleep and get recharged for the next day.
17
All residential areas and government buildings had been scanned. Everything that needed to be taken out was taken out, and everything that needed to be secured was secured. Either the residents and pets had been removed, or the people were aware that they had to leave at least four days before the start of the event. Some, who were suspected of being in a mood to stay back were forcibly evicted. Those with mental issues were first got checked by a doctor and based on the advice of the doctor, they were either evacuated or asked to leave on time.
It was a month ago when the issue about Chelsea Hospital had come up in the meeting of Borough Council. Joe Banks, who was leading the DIMA delegation had said, “It’s an important issue that we should always have at the back of our mind. But let us know devote our attention to the general safety of the population. We are still far from reaching a satisfactory level.”
The Deputy Mayor of Chelsea Borough, Millie Slater, who was chairing the meeting had agreed.
“I agree with, Joe,” she had said. “Chelsea Hospital is an important building, and we have patients, who must be handled with extra care and precaution. We should, therefore, devote our full attention on how to deal with Chelsea Hospital after we have sorted out the other issues, which will affect many people.”
“Yes,” the Head of the Fire Department had said and so had the Chief Engineer and the Senior Superintending Civil Engineer. The representatives of the Home and Defense Offices had no reason not to go along with the majority voice.
Jimmy Lambert, Head of Administration of Chelsea Hospital was present at the meeting. He was dealing with a nurses’ strike at that moment and could not concentrate on anything else. In the half-an-hour that he had been in the Underground train heading for the meeting, his secretary had called him five times. She had called him thrice while at the meeting. He had three SMSs from his boss, Ramesh Thakur instructing him about the two meetings with the Nurses’ Association on that day.
Jimmy was relieved when everyone decided to postpone a problem which seemed far away into the future.
“Is that acceptable to you, Mr. Lambert?” Millie Slater had asked.
All heads had turned towards Jimmy. If he had not agreed, the group would have been bound to discuss it there and then.
But to everyone’s delight, Jimmy was not a spoilsport. He had accepted the proposal firmly and had said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s a matter of great satisfaction that the esteemed gathering acknowledges the importance of Chelsea Hospital and the need to deal with it with full attention. You’ll have the full support of our Hospital whenever you decide to deal with the matter. And I’ll be at your disposal at any point of time you decide to avail of my services. I take your leave with the hope to see all of you at an early date.”
With those words, Jimmy had left without waiting for any response.
And then the day came when all other issues of Chelsea Hospital became insignificant and the zero-gravity day loomed over its head. Only a week was left.
Jimmy was called in by Ramesh Thakur. Thakur was the Deputy Director of Chelsea Hospital.
“I understand that we are in discussions with the Borough Council and DIMA on the zero-gravity event,” Thakur said.
“Yes, that is what we have had so far. Discussions,” Jimmy said.
Thakur looked sharply at Jimmy with a hint of contempt in his eyes. He wanted to say, you are the one who is supposed to be responsible for this. And now you would dump everything on me to sort it out.
Jimmy could read what was going on in Thakur’s mind. He was ready with a reply, you are my boss. I do what you tell me to do. In the last one month, you have been telling me to run around calming nurses and fighting with the unions. And that is what I’ve done. And as the penultimate head of administration, you are equally responsible for anything going wrong with administrative issues.
Thakur had spent all his life in Chelsea Hospital. In the last ten years, he had attended more to the problems of the workers in the Hospital than patients. He knew what Jimmy’s reaction would be if he put the blame on him. So, he said calmly, making an extra effort to keep his voice down, “Let’s request for another meeting speedily. I’ll also go this time.”
From that moment, Jimmy’s entire focus had shifted to saving the Hospital and its patients from the wrath of the binary comets. He called Slater and got an appointment with her after three hours flat. He called DIMA officials and everyone else who had attended the previous meeting and requested them to come.
He told the officials, who said that they may not be able to make it, that the fate of the Hospital and the patients depended on them. To others, he said that this was the biggest task at hand for the whole of the UK at that moment. When his power of persuasion did not do the work with some, he threatened them in an indirect way in the name of higher authorities.
Jimmy’s efforts worked. When the group assembled after three hours, not a single person was missing.
“We have been able to sort out all major issues related to the general population and all buildings. But what do we do with Chelsea Hospital?” Slater said.
Slater had obviously forgotten about the various papers she had received on Chelsea Hospital since the last meeting. In the three hours that she had to prepare for the meeting, she did not even have the time to read the small folder that her staff had prepared for her.
Before anyone could remind Slater about it, Colin Fuller shot off an answer, “Shift everyone to Guy’s and St. Thomas’s.”
“Are you mad?” Thakur said, looking at Colin.
Colin was taken aback.
Thakur continued, “If the solution was as simple as that, we would not have gathered two dozen people here.”
Jimmy did not open his mouth. He knew that talks could go astray before things settled down. He looked around at the people who had assembled. Every department, which could be represented was represented. And many of them at senior levels.
With so much talent and experience in this room, the solution will be found. All we need is people like Slater, Colin and I keeping our mouths shut till the specialists have spoken, Jimmy thought.
As if Thakur had not had enough and just as Jimmy was thinking that no one would now dare to pose stupid propositions like Colin, Slater said, “Why can’t we do that when we are shifting everyone else?”
Jimmy looked with eyes wide open and jaw hanging at Slater. He then looked at Thakur. From his years of association with Thakur, he knew the reason Thakur took a pause before saying something. This was his recipe to control his breathing and in the process, keep his temper down. If Thakur had trashed Slater as he had dealt with Colin, at the worst, it would have meant the end of the meeting, and at the best, it would have laid a very bad background to the meeting.
Slater and Thakur were the two most important persons for the mission to succeed and if they had parted ways, in the beginning, the task would have been very difficult to deliver.
Jimmy was relieved when Thakur said, “Because normal people are not admitted to hospitals. Even many of our outdoor patients have difficulty shifting from one place to another. In our Hospital, we have all kinds of patients. Some of them are so serious that they cannot be shifted to another room. Some are so old that any change could prove catastrophic.”
“Got the point,” Slater said.
Colin was sitting sheepishly with his head down, looking at the table. He, too, had understood but found it too embarrassing to admit that he had shot off an answer that a six-year old kid would have hesitated to. He got up quietly and slipped out of the room.
“And besides that,” Ramesh continued in a temper which had completely cooled down, “our Hospital, just like all large hospitals in the world, has machinery and there is no way that all this could be shifted in a few days. And when a person is attached to the machinery at the other end, you cannot shift the two together in many cases.”
Why are all the specialists not talking about some technical solution? Jimmy thought, looking around the room. He counted on his fingertips. There were at least seven persons he could call specialists.
Jimmy looked at the specialists. One of them had a faint smile on his face. Another was frowning.
The specialists here are perhaps more intelligent than we think they are. They want everyone to make a fool of themselves and then jump into the conversation. Or, maybe, they are waiting till Slater asks them their advice, Jimmy thought.
Whatever the reason, the specialists kept their mouths shut. Jimmy also thought it better to follow the specialists’ strategy rather than risking his reputation by blurting out nonsense.
Thakur was oblivious of what others were thinking and what they were thinking of him. He said, “We can divide the patients into three categories. The ones who can be shifted out, the ones who can be shifted within the Hospital and ones who cannot be shifted at all.”
“So, you agree that some patients could be shifted to Guy’s and St. Thomas’s?” Slater asked.
“Yes, but we would have only about twenty percent of such patients. It doesn’t solve our problem.”
“We can start doing that from today itself.”
“Yes, we can,” Thakur said.
Slater looked at the Director of Guy’s and St. Thomas’s, who nodded in approval.
“And what about others?” Slater asked Thakur.
“Many patients can be shifted within the Hospital. About fifty percent, I would say.”
“Where would you shift them?”
“We’ll take them to the basement.”
“Do you have enough space there?”
“We have enough space in the two basements to house two or three smaller hospitals of London. Nearly half the space is occupied with hospital machinery and files, which we would shift to the floors above and secure properly.”
“Good,” Slater said. “That leaves us with the most difficult part of the Hospital - dealing with those who cannot be shifted.”
“That is not the most difficult part. Everyone, including those in the basements, would be affected by the zero-gravity event, only that the effect would be much less in the basement. The most difficult part is what our specialists would have to do - neutralizing the zero-gravity effect on top of the Hospital.”
Slater straightened her back, “Yes, yes, neutralizing the zero-gravity effect. All this time that I’ve been taking this meeting, I’ve been having this feeling of having missed something important. I read about it several times in my files after it was first mentioned in our last meeting, although perfunctorily.”
Read your papers well before coming to the meeting, Jimmy thought, looking at Slater.
“We, generalists, well I’m speaking more about myself since Thakur is a doctor, have been blabbering about mundane things. Let us now request the real solution providers to provide their advice. I would request Harley Quinn, our Senior Superintending Civil Engineer to speak first,” Slater continued.
