POEM :
“COME IN URGENTLY, FLAKKER-35 !...(2)”
Act 1
(The pilot talking to the carrier; the pilot talking to himself)
“Mayday ! Mayday ! We might not be able to secure the cart,
Nor the software, nor the data… Get in here with utmost speed !”
Damn the electronics ! Of a fat lot of good they be !
The old carts of decades gone by were much better !...
(The carrier talking to the pilot)
“Say nothing, deny nothing, give away very little,
Just go by the procedures, we will get there quick;
It was equipment malfunction,
Things were beyond your control.”
“The electronics had kick’d in,
The cart did as it was programm’d,
You be not to blame, stay cool,
Play the game of some moronic fool.”
(The carrier talking to its staff)
Got it. Go for the darkie boxie quick,
While you be at it, fix some alarm to it,
Do it discreetly, the mother-whatevers be around,
We be in a bloody mess right now.
(The carrier talking to the pilot)
“Stick to your guns, stay cool,
You know nothing about dismantling,
We be getting there pretty quick,
Play for time, string them along.”
(The pilot talking to himself)
Damn it, the Yankees should have foreseen this :
The boxie should have been remotely eras’d :
Everything was sent in real time, anyway :
No need for the damn thing to fall in wrong hands…
*****
Act 2
(The pilot talking to the Indians)
Hello, good friends ! The cart met with some technical issue;
I was going back to the carrier when this thing went berserk :
It went on auto-pilot, having detect’d some anomaly :
Our experts will explain it all soon.
(The Indians talking to the pilot)
Not to worry. But, why didn’t you go to some military place ?
The matter was out of my hands,
The cart steer’d itself as programm’d :
It decid’d to land here automatically…
Here, come down, come in for a cup of tea.
Thanks very much, but I will stay here,
The procedures so demand.
Fine, we will get you a chair.
(The pilot talking to himself)
Jeez, this might be some long wait…
Having to sit on a chair on the tarmac…
At home they be readying the firing squad…
I hope the machine has been properly lock’d…
How on earth did all this happen ?...
What caus’d the equipment to go mad ?...
Anyway, bad weather, hydraulics,
Navigating issues, something, something…
State of the art ?
State of a bloody mess…
But then the carrier was too far off,
A Carrier Too Far…
(The Indians talking to the pilot)
Friend, fancy some nice hot curry ?...
Some exquisite dish as only Kerala can do ?...
(The pilot talking to himself)
“Curry… From the land of curry-wallas…
They want to fry me inside out…”
*****
Act 3
(The carrier to its staff)
Red alert ! Get the chopper ready !
We need to get there before that guy sings…
He might fall to torture :
Find out how to secure the cart !
‘Twas a software glitch,
Blame it on the Yankees.
How come this doesn’t happen
To their own machines ?!...
Jeez, you can’t trust anyone in this goddam world !
It had to happen to us… The abort procedure was wrong :
There should have been some manual override :
But then, we were A Carrier Too Far…
We hope that guy holds the fort
Long enough for us to bring him back…
There should be some auto-destruct mode
Programm’d in the goddam machines….
Some device remotely activat’d,
After our guy had got out…
Serve us right for relying on foreign stuff :
We have ourselves to blame…
*****
Act 4
(The Indians talking to the Russians)
Hello, our good friends Ruskies…
Long time no see !...
This must be a goldmine for ye…
And rightly so. We thank ye in advance !...
Now, let’s work on this together :
A manna hath fallen from the sky :
Rip everything apart, analyse everything :
Our friendship goes back many decades !...
(The Russians talking to the Indians)
Jolly well said, old friends :
Our arms have serv’d ye loyally for decades :
We will work on this together :
Our equipment we will bring in from yonder…
We will make their goddam machines talk :
No machine, no code be beyond our reach :
We will share with ye all that we find out :
Whatever ye need, just give us a shout !...
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Soman Ragavan
5 July, 2025
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END