Chapter 258: The Natural Scapegoat!
No small talk.
No “Mister, please come with us.”
No pleasantries at all.
A group of personnel wearing federation uniforms directly took Nilanjan away from the classroom.
Indian descendants appeared particularly passive at such times, unable to utilize their talent skills.
Students attempting to take photos or record videos to post on social media were all watched by relevant personnel, who deleted the videos one by one.
Only in the Line group at Stony Brook University was an urban legend left about Nilanjan being taken away.
The federation building in Manhattan, New York bathed in the summer sun, while the interrogation room inside the building was cold and oppressive.
The room was cramped, with white walls glaring under the fluorescent lights, and a one-way mirror occupying an entire wall, reflecting everything in the room.
A digital recorder sat on the metal table, its red light flashing, next to a stack of documents.
Nilanjan Balasubramanian sat on a hard plastic chair, hands clenched tightly, trying to conceal his inner unease.
He wore a dark gray sweater and khaki pants; the composed temperament he usually had in the Stony Brook University lecture hall was completely gone.
Nilanjan probably guessed the reason.
He thought to himself that his students really didn’t give him any peace of mind.
Why make such a big fuss?
But at this moment, he was just nervous, because he knew very well that he had no relation to this matter.
He was a scholar in artificial intelligence, specifically in natural language processing, and had nothing to do with aerospace.
Moreover, Lin Ran’s doctoral career was very short; he achieved huge results and graduated in just two years, and Nilanjan felt his relationship with him wasn’t deep enough to be implicated in such a matter.
But his black-rimmed glasses slid down slightly, and fine sweat still beaded on his forehead.
At 43 years old, he had never imagined sitting in such a room, facing interrogation from some BI.
Commissioner Smith cleared his throat, his voice low and clear—this man was really named Smith: “Professor Balasubramanian, we need to ask you some questions regarding matters involving national security.”
Nilanjan adjusted his posture, forcing himself to stay calm: “Of course, but I don’t quite understand what’s going on.”
His inner monologue: “What bad luck. Randolph, why did you, a mathematics professor, have to get involved in the field of aerospace? Isn’t that asking for trouble?”
“We are investigating an incident that may involve the leak of sensitive technical information, specifically regarding the technical details of the Apollo Program F-1 rocket engine.
Recently, China Aerospace announced a ‘Moon-1’ engine whose parameters match the F-1 exactly.
This has aroused our high attention.” Smith stared straight at Nilanjan, his tone stern.
Nilanjan’s confusion was evident: “F-1 engine? That’s the moon landing rocket engine from the 1960s, right? I know some popular science knowledge, but I’m a computer scientist researching natural language processing. I don’t understand what this has to do with me.”
Of course he knew what the connection was.
The students he supervised were mainly Indian descendants, and discussions in their WhatsApp group were very heated.
After all, India was also a country aspiring to the stars.
After Lin Ran returned to China, he founded Apollo Technology, then developed a medium rocket, and the subsequent replication of the F-1 engine further excited Nilanjan’s Indian descendant students.
If Chinese people can do it, so can we.
What’s more, Randolph Lin was their direct senior alumnus.
In a sense, they regarded Lin Ran’s achievements as possible future achievements of their own.
This also made Nilanjan’s student group feel like a small fan support club, filled every day with Lin Ran-related news, most of it posted by Indian descendant students.
But Nilanjan still thought it was absurd; he thought to himself: “F-1? They don’t think I know rockets, do they?”
Johnson, another staff member, was even more severe in tone: “We know your professional field, but our investigation shows that your student Randolph Lin was deeply involved in this matter, and your behavior in past classrooms indicates you provided convenience for his information gathering and technical guidance.
You better confess honestly!”
Nilanjan spread his hands, his tone helpless: “Randolph Lin was my student, yes, but that’s because I’m an academic worker. I collaborate with many researchers globally, including from China, but all about natural language processing, like text excavation and semantic analysis.
My guidance to Randolph was also limited to the natural language processing field; I’ve never touched aerospace engineering.”
Smith opened the folder, pulled out a printed archive borrowing record, and intensified his tone: “Specifically, we are concerned that you provided convenience to Randolph. In the Columbia University NASA-related archive application records, we found your name.”
Nilanjan was truly shocked this time; he took the paper, looked at it, and said: “No, impossible. I absolutely did not sign such permission for Randolph!”
Nilanjan thought for a long time but couldn’t figure out what connection he had to this matter.
Smith continued: “According to information we extracted from the student group, you repeatedly mentioned in class that your guidance to Randolph went far beyond the natural language processing field, including many other areas, allowing them to fully unleash their imagination.”
Johnson angrily rebuked: “And you say you’re not involved in aerospace technology transfer!”
Nilanjan was truly at a loss now.
What he meant back then in class was actually that Lin Ran’s mathematical achievements also had his merit.
Although he was a professor in artificial intelligence, his mathematical intuition provided great help to Lin Ran. He hadn’t found his own specialty back then, so he did artificial intelligence; his excellent mathematical intuition helped his student solve the twin prime conjecture.
In public classes at Stony Brook University, he said he provided help; in private gatherings with only Indian descendant students, his statement became providing crucial help.
But because he knew saying it that way might get him slapped in the face—if Lin Ran publicly refuted it, wouldn’t it be embarrassing? Having been away from his homeland too long, his face wasn’t as thick as before, and as a full professor, a person of status, he naturally couldn’t express it too nakedly.
So Nilanjan’s wording was very skillful: making students think his guidance to Lin Ran was important, not just in artificial intelligence, without saying it outright.
In the eyes of Commissioner Smith and others, this was clearly providing technical guidance in the aerospace field?
And you say you don’t know rocket engines!
Smith then pulled another printed email record from the folder, intensifying his tone: “Additionally, we are concerned about your exchanges with some researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, particularly in 2018 during the International Artificial Intelligence and Data Science Conference, where you discussed technical document processing projects with several Chinese researchers.”
Nilanjan said loudly: “Yes, I attended an AI conference, and there were indeed Chinese scholars.
But we discussed how to use natural language processing technology to extract structured information from scientific literature; that was open academic exchange, themed on biomedical literature, not aerospace!”
“No no no, at the time, only you and Chinese scholars were there on site, and those Chinese scholars’ identities are equally suspicious.
We suspect this is a conspiracy spanning decades!
China connected with you before that, and you were responsible for collecting NASA-related technical data for China at Stony Brook University.
In 2019, you made breakthrough progress; knowledge involving the F-1 engine could only be transmitted through direct person-to-person exchange.
Therefore, the Chinese side sent Randolph Lin to connect with you.
They even packaged Chinese mathematicians’ achievements as Randolph Lin’s to keep us from noticing the Apollo moon landing technical data leaking away.
And you, Professor Nilanjan, played a key role at the end!”
After Smith finished, Johnson pulled out another paper: “Additionally, we found records of you visiting the NYC Health + Hospitals – Sea View skilled nursing facility in New York multiple times, where 6 former engineers involved in F-1 design and manufacturing reside.
Coincidentally, your student Randolph Lin also visited there last year.
After our questioning and investigation of the elderly at the nursing home, they confirmed that an Indian descendant had indeed visited them!
And you! Are that Indian descendant!”
That nursing home is named exactly that: NYC Health + Hospitals – Sea View.
America considered restarting the F-1 production line in 1992 and specifically investigated how many engineers involved in the F-1 were still alive.
According to Rocketdyne research, in 1992 there were still 248 active personnel and 76 retired personnel with F-1 production and manufacturing experience.
Now in 2021, that number has decreased to under 20.
20 people, and 6 of them reside in that New York nursing home.
The nursing home was built in 1905, later designated a national historic district, reopened after many years, and considered by Newsweek to be New York City’s best nursing home, with a full 304 beds.
Nilanjan was now truly sweating; national treasures down to 20, and the place he went to had seen 6 of them.
Worse still, Randolph had been there too.
“No! I went there for academic exchange and charity activities!
As I mentioned before, my research topic is natural language processing, involving extracting structured information from biomedical literature. We have long-term cooperation with NYCHH; it’s America’s largest and most expensive tuberculosis treatment municipal facility to date.
Additionally, I sometimes go there to do volunteer work.” Nilanjan hurriedly explained.
“Oh, what a wonderful coincidence. There are over 500 nursing homes in all of New York, and you chose the one gathering former NASA retired engineers involved in the F-1 engine for cooperation.
And you happened to visit those engineers.” Smith said darkly.
Nilanjan hurriedly said: “Many times things are just that wondrous.
Moreover, during my volunteer work at NYCHH, I didn’t know the pre-retirement identities of every elderly person.
They might have remembered wrong; besides me, other Indian descendants go to NYCHH to do volunteer work!”
Smith was already smiling: “Mister, are you taking us for fools?
Do I need to remind you again? During your 2014 cooperation with NYCHH, you requested access to their medical management system database.
You still have access to that database today; you wouldn’t know the identity of every person lying in each bed?
Don’t tell me about signing confidentiality agreements; those are just for show!
Mister, with so many coincidences, you still insist you’re not involved in this matter—isn’t that too dismissive of us?”
Smith and Johnson were both pretending.
Actually, for them, whether Nilanjan was really involved in this matter didn’t matter at all.
What was important was that this matter needed an explanation.
An explanation to the public, to global public opinion.
That was all.
China collaborated with an Indian descendant professor in a conspiracy spanning over a decade, just to get the F-1 engine technology.
This Indian descendant professor, like James Bond, collected information in various ways, his public identity just a cover for his purpose.
Is there a more perfect explanation than this?
This is all China’s conspiracy.
Compared to admitting China’s production and manufacturing capabilities surpassed their own, compared to admitting Randolph Lin is a genius more brilliant than all of NASA combined, compared to admitting China’s reverse engineering capabilities are much stronger than NASA’s, better to find an Indian descendant to take the blame.
This is good for all the Commissioner Smiths and can continue to give the public the illusion of winning.
Nilanjan just hadn’t figured it out yet, thinking with evidence, he would eventually be cleared.
Smith closed the folder, his tone softening slightly: “Professor Balasubramanian, thank you very much for your cooperation. For further investigation, you will need to stay here for a while longer.”
Nilanjan asked: “How long?”
“Uncertain; it depends on the progress of the matter.
But if you can persuade your student Randolph to return to America for review, I think this time will end soon.” Johnson’s voice lingered in Nilanjan’s ears for a long time.
