Sky Blue

The monthly meetings of DOPE (Department of Paranormal and Extraterrestrial) were held in the most unlikely of places; the main building of the Income Tax department in the capital. Information regarding the working and existence of this department is a closely guarded secret.

Eight men were seated in the conference room; one of them-the representative of the secret service organizations and the armed forces-was seated apart from the rest [comprising heads of prestigious research institutes and scientists of the ranks from which Presidents are elected]. They were attentively listening to one of their numbers. The Insider, as the Representative was called by the others, was going through some files. They were waiting for the arrival of the administrator or the Head of DOPE, who was late as usual.

They realized that the Head had arrived, only when his chair creaked as he pulled it back.

“Gentlemen, sorry I am late.”
[‘As usual’ some murmured under their breath]

“So what do we have to deal with today?” The Head directed the question at the Insider.

“The usual sir.”

After dealing with Two UFO sightings, one crop circle and a Sea monster in the usual way[Weather balloons(input: Space agency), Pest (input: Life sciences group) and Navy experiment(input: Insider)], the Administrator started signing some formal documents[A sure sign that the meeting was over, and the others were dismissed].

“Sir?” the insider interjected.

“Yes” the Head completed the signature at hand and replied.

“Dr. Daruwala has something he would like to discuss.”

Without waiting for the Heads permission Dr. Daruwala began,

“Sir, we have been working on a space defense project involving the use of LASERs mounted on satellites to target hostile crafts. Last week we tried to use the same system to destroy ground based missiles launched against the satellite. The test missile fired at the satellite wasn’t correctly targeted. As the system had been used successfully in space we assumed that the atmosphere obstructed the proper working of the LASER…”

“What does that have to do with us?” The head was losing his patience.

“I will come to that point in a minute.” Dr. Daruwala promised and continued,

“So when we were making adjustments to the system, one of the engineers noticed that the air around the LASER remained colorless. Actually when light of any wavelength passes through air it is absorbed by the air or to be specific, mostly by molecules of nitrogen and oxygen. These molecules, in return emit light of a shorter wavelength-mostly blue, this is explained by ‘Rayleigh’ scattering and ‘Mie’ scattering and this is what gives the day sky its blue color. But our experiment shows that the atoms actually emit waves of a much shorter wavelength which are invisible to human eye and accordingly the day sky must appear black like the night sky.”

This matter must have been discussed earlier amongst them as all eyes were on the Head waiting for his response. The Head appeared to be lost in his own thoughts when he replied,

“But it doesn’t, in the past people used to believe that the blue color was that of the heavens, as science progressed this absurd notion was replaced by the theory that the sunlight reflected off the surface of vast oceans gives the sky its blue color. With further advancement of science we dismissed that theory and made ourselves the existing one. Now we have made further progress and we find that this one too is not correct. Believe me we will find a new plausible…”

The Head was interrupted by one of the others.

“But sir, the shades of blue that are observed in the sky comprise a spectrum that is used in Psych wards as it has a calming effect on…”

“Now Dr. Sinha I have stopped taking you seriously since you tried to sell us the idea that Global warming was affecting the average height of people”, the head had raised his voice, showing his displeasure at being interrupted.

“And Astronauts have also mentioned that there is a single moment when travelling into space that the sky turns from blue to black and not gradually, as it should.” Mr. Sinha continued regardless.

This statement set off the others and they started speaking animatedly between themselves. The Head, clearly losing his patience banged his desk with the file in hand.

“I will have none of this nonsense. Mr. Daruwala, I want a full report on this by next month. Good bye gentlemen.”

Quite sometime passed after their departure when the Head picked up his cell-phone and dialed a number,

“Sir, maybe they suspect…”