When Aaditya opened his eyes, Tanya was standing over him. He wanted to ask what had happened, but before he could say anything, she smothered him in kisses.
'If I'm dead, this is a pretty good heaven to go to.'
Tanya smiled and hugged him. 'Why the hell did you have to go and be a hero?'
Aaditya didn't know what to say to that, so he just lay back on the pillows that were propping him up. His left arm was heavily bandaged, and he still felt a bit dizzy from all the medication that must have been pumped into him from the IV drip that was attached.
'Tanya, I'd like a word with this hero of yours.'
Shiva sat down next to Aaditya and Tanya excused herself, walking out of the room.
'Aadi, do you know why I asked to take you along on this mission?'
Aaditya just looked at Shiva's blue eyes that were looking straight at him.
'So I could rid you of what I thought were your foolish notions about going into battle. So you would see that battle and death are ugly things that you don't have the stomach for.'
Aaditya thought back to how he had reacted on seeing the dead bodies and wondered if Shiva was in fact right. Then Shiva surprised him. 'But you proved me wrong. It takes a far braver man to risk his own life to save someone than to just take someone's life. Thank you.'
Shiva left the room, just as Kartik walked in. The younger Deva looked happy, with a smile on his face, and was whistling a tune.
'Aadi, you are making a habit of rescuing Devas in trouble, aren't you?'
Aaditya motioned for him to sit down and asked if they had got Maya.
'No, he got away. But here's a secret, next time one of us looks like we're in danger, if there are other Devas around, don't worry too much.'
'Why's that?'
'We're a bit harder to kill than humans,' said Kartik with a grin.
'If you really have been around for 15,000 years, I'd say you live a fair bit longer than us.'
Kartik laughed and answered, 'The bodies you see are just shells. We created these shells to better fit into the environment we are in. Our true form is more energy than a physical body. So, even if our physical body is destroyed, we can create a new one.'
'So I wasted a perfectly good chance to escape by coming back with you.'
Kartik's expression became more sombre.
'No, my friend, you did save my life. If our body is destroyed, we have but a couple of hours to transfer to a new shell. So I do owe you a debt, and I fully intend to repay it.'
'And how will you do that?'
Kartik leaned closer.
'By teaching you how to fly a vimana.'
Aaditya sat up, not believing what he had just heard.
'So you've decided I can fly after all?'
Kartik's grin was back.
'Who am I to decide? My father is raving about your courage and he appealed to Brahma, and there you have it. You will now be trained as a pilot.'
A hard glint came into Kartik's eyes as he continued, 'And, perhaps one day, you can get the opportunity to avenge your father.'
The next week passed in a blur of treatments and sedation and being nursed back to health by Tanya. On the latter count, if ever Aaditya had any doubts, they were firmly dispelled now. He was, as the old song went, truly, madly and deeply in love with her, and it seemed that she felt the same way. What more could a guy ask for?
If Aaditya thought his life was good, he had never bargained for what happened next. He was rudely awakened, bundled out of bed and a blindfold placed around his eyes. He struggled in vain against the strong arms that held his hands behind him and marched him out of his room.
'What the hell is going on?'
There was no answer as he was pushed out. Then his blindfold was opened and he gaped in shock at what he saw before him. It was a gleaming silver vimana, looking much like what Kartik's did-a sleek, triangular craft with a tapered nose and a raised cockpit. Except this one was not covered in any animal livery. On its side was painted the crest that Aaditya always carried as a good luck charm, the squadron badge that had once belonged to his father. He didn't know what to say and turned to find Kartik, Shiva, Indra and Narada standing next to him.
Shiva thumped him on the shoulder.
'I thought it fitting that you ride with the insignia that once belonged to your father. As for this morning's theatrics, they were entirely my son's idea.'
Kartik grinned.
'At least you can't accuse us Devas of not having a sense of humour. Now come on and follow me in your vimana.'
Aaditya ran into his craft and into the cockpit. It seemed identical to the one he had been in with Kartik. There were two earplugs and he inserted them. Kartik's voice came in over his headset.
'You know the basics by now. Gently raise the vimana and follow me out. Then, the fun begins.'
Kartik's vimana gracefully slid out of the open hangar door, while Aaditya's exit was much more wobbly and clumsy. Conscious of the narrow space he was maneuvering in, his vimana wobbled its way out till he was in the valley, hovering a few feet above the ground. Kartik's vimana was just a few feet away and slightly above him. Then, Kartik's vimana seemingly disappeared in a blur of speed, as his laughing voice echoed into Aaditya's ears, 'Catch me if you can!'
Where the hell have you gone, Kartik?
No sooner had Aaditya thought that, the holographic display appeared, showing the blue dot representing Kartik's vimana speeding away, in an almost vertical climb. Aaditya ordered his vimana to accelerate to a matching speed-a thousand kilometres per hour and follow Kartik's trajectory. The vimana responded immediately, and Aaditya was pushed back into his seat as it entered a vertical climb. Aaditya increased his speed and soon was rapidly closing the distance to Kartik's vimana. He was now passing 50,000 feet altitude and suddenly it struck him just what he was doing.
Here he was, doing what he had always dreamed of, indeed doing more than he had ever imagined-piloting a craft with capabilities beyond what any fighter aircraft was capable of. That feeling of exhilaration stripped away any remaining nervousness he had, and he joined the chase in earnest. Within a minute, he was within visual range of Kartik's vimana.
'Got you!' Aaditya exulted over the intercom.
'Not bad, now just try and get me off your tail!'
Kartik's vimana swerved to the right in a tight turn, and before Aaditya knew it, Kartik was on his tail. Aaditya took his vimana through a series of evasive maneuvers, turning right and left, doing a loop to try and turn the tables, but whatever he did, Kartik remained rooted behind him. Finally out of sheer exasperation, Aaditya spoke up, 'Gimme a break! What the hell do I do?'
'Aaditya, this is tougher than flying a normal plane since you telegraph your moves before you even realize it.'
'What do you mean?'
'Our vimanas are thought controlled, what we called mantric vimanas. So, your craft will start reacting the moment you think of a maneuver, which may be even before you are consciously aware of it. Since your mind is the key, flying our vimanas is as much about learning to control your mind as it is about flying skills.'
The lessons continued, and Aaditya's days fell into a predictable but delightful routine. Evenings spent with Tanya, days spent in the sky with Kartik, and any spare time in the camaraderie of the Devas. In his second week of flying lessons, he got his first exposure to Asuras in the sky. He and Kartik had been flying over Southern China, when his display picked up two red dots about five hundred kilometres away.
'Asuras, my friend. Care to pay them a visit?'
Even before Aaditya could think of what to say, Kartik had turned towards the red dots. Not knowing what else to do, Aaditya followed. He noticed that Kartik had slowed down to less than two hundred kilometres per hour, and he followed suit, pulling alongside Kartik.
'Aadi, this is a live lesson in what our enemies are made of. We have two key advantages that they would kill for. First, their vimanas are mechanically controlled, much like human fighter planes, what we call kritika vimanas. That means that we have an advantage in reaction time and maneuverability with our thought controls. Second, their sensors are nowhere as good as ours. We can see them from more than five hundred kilometres out, but they won't know we are there till we're within a hundred kilometres of them.'
Aaditya soaked in the information as he kept looking at the red dots on his display, now closing in towards him and Kartik.
'Unfortunately, Brahma has forbidden combat this close to our base, since we don't want to attract attention in case any humans spot explosions. So today, we fly away.'
Kartik's vimana dove away, and Aaditya followed suit. By now, while not nearly as fast or as quick as Kartik, Aaditya had reached a point where he could fly without requiring too much instruction. As he flew back to the base, he thought that, for the first time outside of his dreams or video games, he could truthfully say that he was a pilot.
He found Tanya waiting in his room. A quick kiss, and then she was about to leave.
'Brahma wants me to work on a special project. I'm going crazy with work.'
'What project?'
'He's asked me to think through what people's reactions could be from a religious standpoint if the Devas make their presence public.'
Aaditya had heard mention before about the Devas thinking of how they would handle their first official contact with humans. He asked what Brahma had in mind.
'He doesn't tell me, but I think he's worried that with the way Kalki's going, it may become inevitable if the war comes into the open.'
As Aaditya started to change, Tanya stopped at the door. 'Hey Aadi, I found a weird looking plug in one of your pockets. I was about to throw it away but thought I'd ask if you needed it. Be back soon, sweetheart.'
Aaditya looked at the small plug lying on the table, and his heart stopped for a second. In all the excitement of the last few days, he had forgotten all about it. He reached out with shaking fingers to pick up the plug that Maya had given him in Afghanistan.
What did Kalki have to say to him about his father?
***
'I am honoured to be speaking to Ghosh's son.'
The deep, measured voice sounded like it belonged to a sports commentator rather than a renegade god out to destroy the world.
'What a twist of fate! The son of the man who served me so well now serves my enemies. I hear you are quite a favourite of the Devas, and if you are half the man your father was, I don't blame them. Words are cheap, and you may not believe me, but I am not who Brahma and the Devas make me out to be. If ever you really want to learn what happened to your father, come to me. The Devas know where I am, and I know exactly where they are. Since we cannot break each other's defences, we play our game of cat and mouse all over your planet. But I do hope to get a chance to see you.'
Aaditya took the plug out and sat back, thinking about what he had just heard. What had happened to his father? What was the truth about Kalki? If his father had indeed lived after the accident and worked for Kalki, why had he not come back?
That night, as he and Tanya lay on the couch, watching TV, Aaditya asked her, 'Hey, I was wondering what the deal with Kalki is. I mean, he's Brahma's son, isn't he? So, why's he such an enemy of the Devas?'
Tanya propped her chin up on her palms and looked at Aaditya. 'They say he was Brahma's favourite son. The strongest, the smartest. That's perhaps why the Devas took his betrayal so hard. But what's with the interest in Kalki? How's your flying going?'
The next day, Aaditya went to meet Ganesha, who was still lost in his monitors and data.
'Hey Ganesha, was thinking of doing some research on the Asuras. Any idea where I could start?'
'You've come to the right place. Sit down on the red chair there. That's where we bring up our archives. I'm afraid you may not be able to access everything, but whatever's cleared for you to see is there. All you need to do is ask.'
Aaditya got all he wanted to know about the Asuras and their vimanas, and then some. There were detailed manuals on the daityas and how best to defeat them. For some reason, a strike to the back of the neck seemed to work. He learnt about battles from Earth's ancient past. Under other circumstances he would have loved to sit and learn about how the Devas defeated an army of daityas in battle on the banks of the Euphrates River using tactical nuclear weapons more than 12,000 years ago. But, try as he may, he got no hits on Kalki. All he got were references of him leading the Asuras, or to plots he had hatched. But there was nothing about who he really was and why the Devas hated and feared him so much.
His curiosity aroused, he remembered what Brahma had told him-that Kalki was also the same evil creature that lived in human memory as the Devil or Satan. If the Devas were not going to help him, he could always turn to Google. Back in his room, he brought up a web browser on the holographic display and searched for 'devil and the gods'. The world's religions essentially mirrored the story that Brahma had told him, that Satan, or Lucifer as he was known in the Bible, had been one of the angels, and was cast away by God. But why? What had caused this war that was still raging? He came across a passage from the Koran, whose translation read: 'It is We Who created you and gave you shape; then We bade the angels prostrate to Adam, and they prostrate; not so Iblis (Lucifer); He refused to be of those who prostrate.'
(Allah) said: 'What prevented thee from prostrating when I commanded thee?' He said: 'I am better than he: Thou didst create me from fire, and him from clay.'
That evening, Aaditya sought out Narada in the Devas' club. Narada was sitting in a corner, sipping on some Soma. Aaditya picked up a Coke and sat down next to him.
'You missed your flying today. All well?'
Aaditya certainly didn't want to reveal anything about Kalki's message, but he did tell what his searches had revealed.
'I've just been trying to find out what exactly happened to cause this war with Kalki. But I keep drawing a blank. If he was one of the Devas, is this all just about his greed for territory or something more?'
Narada took a long sip and then replied, 'Aadi, there is one thing Brahma may not have told you.'
Aaditya stopped, waiting to hear what Narada had to say.
'Back home, Kalki was the prodigal son-smart, strong, ambitious, the natural heir to Brahma. But when we came here, we all saw that his ambition had a dark tinge. He was not content to wait for his turn to ascend to the top. As your holy books say, he figured it was better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven. But then he did something that we should have put an end to.'
'What was that?'
'He interfered in your evolution.'
Aaditya waited for him to explain as Narada drained his glass and filled another.
'When your books say that God made man in his own image, they are not exaggerating. Kalki used genetic engineering to make slightly smarter versions of your Neanderthal ancestors so that he could have an army of his own. Many of his experiments resulted in freaks that did not survive. But two did. The Daityas, whom he used as his muscle.'
'What was the second?' Aaditya asked.
'Homo Sapiens. Your species.'
Aaditya stopped, stunned by what he had heard, as Narada continued,
'Aaditya, he just provided the initial spark all those thousands of years ago. How humans have evolved since then has been the result of your own choices and experiences, and our assessment was that the development of intelligent beings like humans was certain. Kalki just seemed to have accelerated that a bit, but that interference itself was against our rules.'
Aaditya digested everything he had heard, realizing just how complex and layered the connections between the Devas and humans was. Narada spoke again,
'He was Brahma's favoured son, and many of us kept warning Brahma that Kalki was fast getting out of control, but perhaps even he is a father first. So when he did finally order Kalki to cease his activities, Kalki claimed that he was being betrayed, that the other Devas were just jealous. Since then, he has fought two battles-one for survival with us, and the second, for control of those he created and claims as his own-your people.'
Aaditya walked back to his room, feeling confused. Whom should he believe? He was about to turn into the corridor that led to his room when Kartik came running.
'Aadi, where have you been? Come on!'
Aaditya hurriedly followed Kartik towards the hangar.
'Two Asura vimanas just attacked targets in Iran. Looks like they're trying to spark a war in the Middle East, and we tracked two more flying towards Israel.'
'So what do we do?'
'Blow them out of the sky!' replied Kartik with a grin.
Aaditya got into his vimana, still a bit confused by the rapid turn of events. He followed Kartik out of the hangar on the way to his first real-life dogfight.
***
They were five hundred kilometres away when the Asuras showed up on Aaditya's display.
'Hey Kartik, should we fire?'
'No, at this range they'll detect our astras coming and have a pretty good chance of evading them. Plus I like to get up close.'
With that Kartik took his vimana in a steep climb, accelerating to more than Mach 6 and Aaditya followed, knowing what was on the Deva's mind. They would swoop down from above at the Asuras. Given how superior their vimanas were, it struck Aaditya as a bit of overkill that the Devas had sent two of them against two Asuras. He saw the clouds zip by him as he climbed to over 75,000 feet, and then leveled off.
The Asuras were now within Israeli airspace. On the way, he had learnt that an Asura strike had destroyed an Iranian air defence site and this attack was headed straight for the Israeli nuclear facilities near Dimona. Both Israel and Iran would deny the attacks, but the chances of the attacks triggering an all-out war were only too real. As Brahma had told him, part of Kalki's game plan was to bleed and weaken the major human powers, and a conflict like this would no doubt drag the US in.
'Aadi, now's your chance to put all that practice to work. Good hunting.'
Aaditya realized he was being given the first shot, and he closed his eyes for a moment. Could he take another life? Literally, with a thought of his, another being would cease to exist. Could he live with that?
Kartik must have sensed his dilemma.
'Aadi, they're no more than a couple of hundred kilometres from their target. The radioactive fallout of this attack alone may kill thousands, not to mention what may happen if Israel retaliates in kind against Iran. Let me go in if you want.'
Aaditya didn't respond but guided his vimana into a dive aimed at intercepting the Asuras. He was still a hundred kilometres away when a red circle appeared around the dot representing his vimana on his display. The Asuras were tracking him. There was now no backing down.
He picked the lead Asura vimana on his display, and focused his mind on sending two astras to destroy it. No sooner had he thought it, than two balls of blue light emerged from under his vimana and streaked away towards the Asuras. The second Asura pilot, now seeing that they had been ambushed, aborted his attack run and turned towards Aaditya.
The astras, represented by glowing blue dots on his display homed in on their target. The Asura pilot seemed to be maneuvering desperately, but in vain. The blue dots kept closing in towards the red dot on Aaditya's display till they merged, and all three disappeared from the display.
'That's a kill.'
Kartik's voice was exultant. The second Asura was now less than thirty kilometres away and had fired two of his own missiles at Aaditya. He responded without conscious thought, his instincts honed by the hours of flying with Kartik. No sooner had he seen the missiles on his display, than two astras of his own streaked out to intercept them, vaporizing them before they even got close to his vimana. Still clutching on to his lucky charm like an imaginary joystick, Aaditya took his vimana through a tight turn to the left. Now he was heading straight at the Asura, the two vimanas closing in at each other rapidly. The Asura pilot fired one more missile, and Aaditya immediately fired two astras to intercept the missile and also two more at the Asura craft. He watched the four blue bolts streak out into the sky ahead of him, and a fireball glowed briefly before disappearing, signaling the successful interception of the Asura missile. Both remaining astras tracked into the Asura craft. He was so lost in watching the display that Kartik's frantic call jolted him.
'Watch out!! Straight ahead!'
Aaditya looked up to see the Asura vimana was now just a couple of kilometres away, its dark saucer shape plainly visible to the naked eye, and as Aaditya watched, both astras slammed into it. The Asura vimana exploded into countless fragments in a flash of red, and began collapsing upon itself. Aaditya swerved his vimana hard to right, missing the collapsing fragments of the Asura craft by a whisker. When he looked back, there was no trace of the Asura vimana left.
Suddenly, explosions buffeted his vimana on both his left and right.
'What's that?'
'Situational awareness, my friend.'
Kartik had said nothing to the effect, but Aaditya knew how badly he had screwed up. He had been so engrossed in the air battle with the vimanas that he had forgotten all about who else might be watching. His display told him that he was now barely five thousand feet above the ground, and must have been visible to Israeli ground forces, who were peppering him with anti-aircraft fire. His display also showed two green dots closing in on him-Israeli F-15 fighters who, were no doubt being guided by ground forces to intercept a strange aircraft flying overhead.
He looked around and did not see Kartik's vimana, though his display showed that Kartik was just to his right. Lesson learnt, Aaditya willed himself to be invisible. Immediately his display went blank. He watched in fascination as the Israeli fighters passed within a few hundred feet of him, puzzled at the sudden disappearance of the intruding craft. When the fighters had left the area, Aaditya and Kartik charted a course back to base.
When Aaditya got out of his cockpit, he saw a veritable reception committee waiting for him. Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and Indra were all there, as was Tanya, who ran up to him and hugged him as soon as his feet hit the ground.
The next few minutes passed in a blur of congratulations and smiles, but when Aaditya was back in his room, he finally got time to reflect on what he had done. He had killed two beings-Asuras or not, they were living things whose lives he had snuffed out in an instant. Tanya must have sensed what was on his mind, and she came into the room, sitting down behind Aaditya.
'You know what they say about being careful what you wish for.'
Aaditya turned towards her and held her hands. 'As a kid, I had once asked my dad how he dealt with it, especially after the bombing runs he had done over Kargil during the '99 war with Pakistan. He told me what drove him was not just protecting his country but the men who flew with him and counted on him. He said that he wished nobody ever fought wars, but since men do wage war, he wanted to ensure all his boys made it back home.'
'I thought you wanted to fight to avenge your father.'
Aaditya had told her nothing about Kalki's message, so he just nodded.
That evening a small celebration had been held in Aaditya's honour in the club, and he found himself bombarded with congratulations. He met Durga after some time, and she explained that she had been away on a mission in Africa. Narada slapped him on the back, while a visibly drunk Shiva kept referring to Aaditya as 'my new brave warrior'. Of all the Devas, only Brahma seemed to sense that there was something else on Aaditya's mind. The elder Deva sat down next to him, a glass of Soma in his hand, as Aaditya watched Shiva and Kartik on the dance floor.
'Aadi, this is what you wanted, isn't it?'
Looking into the Deva's eyes, Aaditya realized it would be better to stick as close to the truth as possible.
'Brahma, killing others does bother me, but I've also been reading up on Kalki. Is he really the villain I was told he is?'
Brahma averted his eyes, as if not wanting Aaditya to see his reaction.
'Aadi, to a father a son can never be a villain, but sometimes even the most loving father must realize that his son has gone too far down the path of evil to be redeemed. In a perverse way, he is man's creator, not the benevolent god of your religions, but given human predilection for violence, perhaps that is not entirely surprising, is it?'
Brahma left Aaditya alone. After some time Indra came up and sat wordlessly next to Aaditya. He said to nobody in particular, 'The first one you kill is the toughest. After that, it's much easier.'
Aaditya asked the Deva general the other question that was on his mind.
'Indra, if we know that Kalki keeps creating mischief like this, why don't you just warn human governments and make contact with them? Sure, your technology is far ahead of ours, but if the major powers knew what was going on, and sided with you, Kalki would really have no plan.'
Shiva had come down to join them, and he passed a shot glass to Aaditya.
'Now drink a man's drink before I answer. Here's some Tequila.'
Aaditya usually never had anything stronger than beer, other than the night when he had gone and plastered his bike on the fender of a bus, but he did not want Shiva to stop talking. He felt the tequila burn its way down his throat as Shiva downed a shot himself.
'Aadi, do you think we haven't tried? Your bloody governments are just so greedy and power-hungry, sometimes I wonder if we should just leave them to Kalki's tender mercies.'
Indra raised a restraining hand, but Shiva was either too agitated, or too drunk to notice. 'In 1947, we established contact with the US government and set up a meeting.'
Despite feeling a bit tipsy, Aaditya sat up straight at the startling revelation. 'What happened?'
'The bastards ambushed us, hungry for our technology and weapons. Brahma had wanted for us to go in person. I was more cautious, having seen how humans have been over the ages, and sent a stripped down, captured Asura vimana with a Gana at the controls. The Americans shot it down, and what they got spurred on a lot of their advances since then in the areas of stealth and electronics. That was at a place called Roswell. Since then, we have decided to be more cautious.'
Aaditya digested what he had heard. He had heard and read about the infamous Roswell incident, where an UFO had supposedly crashed in the US, and since then, had been the subject of much conspiracy theories and countless books and TV programmes.
Just then, Ganesha burst into the room.
'Big problem, folks.'
As he motioned with his right hand, a giant holographic display appeared in the middle of the room. Aaditya saw that it was a breaking news telecast on CNN.
'As we have been reporting over the last few minutes, a major earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale has occurred in the oceans off Japan's east coast. A tsunami warning has been issued throughout the coastal area, and we are awaiting more details.'
An earthquake and tsunami had battered Japan just a year ago, and Aaditya wondered what new horrors this one would bring to that nation. He heard Indra mutter to himself, 'Kalki, what the hell are you doing?'
Aaditya asked Indra what a natural disaster had to do with Kalki.
'Perhaps everything,' came the Deva's enigmatic reply.