Aaditya had no idea where he was, but from glancing at his mobile phone, he learnt two things. First, the flight had so far lasted eighteen minutes, and second, he was now out of range of his cellular network. The flight had been fairly level and smooth, and as he suddenly felt the craft slow down and descend, he guessed that he was at the end of his journey.
The cockpit was momentarily enveloped in darkness as the craft descended, then it landed with a soft thump, and Aaditya heard the canopy slide open with a hiss. He waited for several minutes after he heard the pilot exit the craft, then cautiously raised his head to see if the coast was clear. When he saw no obvious signs of activity, he slowly climbed out. What he saw took his breath away.
The craft he had hitched a ride on was one of several lined up across the length of a long corridor. Most were of a similar size, and each sported animal colours and designs. The craft he had been in was coloured like a peacock, down to eyes on each side of the nose. Next to it was a similar craft coloured like a tiger and then, the white craft with raised horns he had seen during the fight at the Old Fort. At the far end of the line, he saw much larger craft, perhaps as large as commercial airliners.
Where the hell was he?
The rational part of his mind was still saying that he had found himself in the middle of some top-secret operation, perhaps carried out by the CIA. He tried hard to explain away the beam weapons that instantly reduced men to ash as advanced weapons he had not seen or heard about and the man with the snake eyes as perhaps a mere figment of his fear and imagination. Nobody had eyes like a snake in real life, did they?
With no sign of anybody around, Aaditya walked till the far end of the corridor, marvelling at the unusual craft he saw arrayed before him. He was also wondering how he could get away. If this was indeed some secret government installation, surely they would let him go once they realized that he had got mixed up in thus purely by accident. There seemed to be no doors or windows obviously visible as he looked in vain for a way out. Then he heard soft footsteps behind him, and whirled around. Standing in front of him was the man with matted hair he had seen at the Old Fort and then on his rooftop.
In the bright light, Aaditya saw that the man looked quite fearsome. His muscled body and tiger-striped body-hugging suit were in themselves intimidating, but to add to the effect, his matted hair was piled on top of his head, and his forehead and face seemed to be smeared with ash. Aaditya took a step back, not knowing what to expect. The man was looking at him curiously, and despite his fearsome appearance, his eyes seemed kind, and he spoke softly.
'How on earth did you get here?'
Aaditya realized that dressed in his old T-shirt and shorts that he wore to bed, and wearing no footwear, he must be looking like a vagabond. He reached into his pocket to fish out Mr Muni's card, hoping that would establish that he meant no harm. It turned out to be a bad move. The man started at Aaditya's sudden movement and before Aaditya knew what had happened, a massive punch landed on his face.
Everything went black.
When Aaditya regained consciousness, he was lying on the floor in a small room. There was no furniture around, and as he sat up, he rubbed his jaw where the man had struck him. It still hurt like hell. He realized that his phone, wallet and lucky patch had all been taken from him. As he sat contemplating the situation, a portion of the wall in front of him slid open. Mr Muni walked in, a bemused expression on his face.
Aaditya sprang to his feet and began to explain himself.
'Aaditya, relax. I know you meant no harm, and I know what happened on your rooftop, and I apologize if the one who struck you hurt you.'
'Mr Muni, I still don't know which organization you work for, and honestly, I don't care. All I want to do is to get back to my home.'
Mr Muni sighed.
'Yes, I was afraid you'd want that.'
A sinking feeling came into Aaditya's stomach at those words.
'You can't keep me here! I swear I will not tell a soul anything. Just send me back, and you won't ever hear from me again.'
Mr Muni walked closer to Aaditya. He looked almost sad.
'Aaditya, I wish it were as simple as that, and that I could decide on your fate all by myself. But the stakes here are higher than you can imagine.'
'So what, I'm your prisoner now?'
Mr Muni began to walk towards the wall, indicating that their conversation was over. Then he stopped and turned.
'I do hope you come to see yourself as a guest till we figure out the best course of action.'
With those words, the wall slid open, and Mr Muni was gone, leaving Aaditya alone in the room. Barely having slept the previous night, fatigue soon got the better of him, and he dozed off on the floor. He was awakened by the sound of the door sliding open. He sat up, still groggy, and unsure of how long he had been asleep. A young woman entered the room, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. She looked no older than a college student, and was carrying a palmtop computer in one hand and a plastic bag in the other. Her dark hair was tied in a ponytail. Under other circumstances, Aaditya may have liked to linger longer on her, since she was certainly easy on the eye. But that was hardly the most pressing matter on his mind now.
He got up as she approached.
'Hello, Aaditya. I'm sorry but we aren't used to having too many unexpected guests, but I hope I can help make your stay a bit more comfortable.'
Her accent didn't sound like she was from India.
'Comfortable? I feel like I'm in Guantanamo Bay or something right now. So if you are the CIA, what comes next? Torture?'
The woman flinched at his harsh words, then regained her composure.
'Nothing like that will happen. I have some fresh clothes for you. Just leave your old clothes in the bag and we'll get them cleaned.'
Realizing how dishevelled his clothes must look, he grudgingly took the bag. As the woman turned to leave, he realized he did have something else on his mind.
'Excuse me, how do I, err, go to the bathroom?'
She smiled, something Aaditya found himself enjoying despite everything.
'Just ask,'she answered. Then, seeing Aaditya's quizzical expression, 'Just say aloud whatever you want. Try it, it's fun.'
As she walked out, Aaditya thought jail cell or not, why not give it a try? Feeling a bit silly, he said aloud, 'I'd like to go to the bathroom please.'
To his shock, a section of the wall slid open, revealing a fully furnished bathroom. When he was done, he changed into the clothes the woman had left. They were a plain white full sleeve top and track pants. But when he slid them on, they tightened around him, fitting him perfectly. Not bad, he thought. Then he said aloud, 'Can I get a Coke and a burger?'
To his delight, a section of the wall swiveled open to reveal a small table and chair. On the table was a tray with a can of Coke and a burger, which didn't taste bad at all. Further investigation revealed that when he asked for it, a bed would slide out for him to sleep on. Feeling cocky, he asked to be let go. Not surprisingly, nothing happened.
Jail or not, he was at least comfortable, well fed and could rest.
And now, he would plot a way to get out.
***
Aaditya had no way of knowing how long he had been there, but just judging from the number of times his body had told him that it needed sleep or eat, he guessed it must have been at least two days. During that time, he received no further visitors.He focused on keeping himself strong, not knowing what lay ahead. So, he ate well and exercised every opportunity he got. Finally, when the door did slide open, he saw Mr Muni, dressed in the same kind of clothes that Aaditya wore. Except that they were saffron in colour.
Mr Muni held up his lucky patch.
'I understand this belonged to your father. I thought it appropriate that you keep it.'
Aaditya took it and put it into the pocket on the side of his trousers, wondering how they knew, but he had a few questions of his own.
'Narada.'
Mr Muni looked at him, and then smiled, realizing that he had given away his name. Aaditya continued. 'So that is your name-that's what that snake-eyed freak called you. Here is what I have figured out-you are obviously some secret force, and you're worried that I will compromise you. All I've seen are the planes and this cell; I don't know anything more. Just let me go. Please.'
Narada called for two chairs, which the wall moved to reveal and he motioned for Aaditya to sit down.
'We have our secrets to protect, for sure, but it's your well being that is also at risk.'
Aaditya snorted dismissively.
'Look Aadi, I hope you're okay with me calling you by your nickname--if you had just told me you had the cylinder we could have avoided a lot of trouble. We would have taken it and made it known that you were nobody, just someone caught up by accident. But now, even if we let you go, they will come for you. They will not believe so easily that you have nothing to do with us.'
'They?'
'The ones who came to your apartment. This time, my superiors will not risk coming to your aid. We risked too much, revealing ourselves during the incident on your roof.'
Aaditya was getting tired of being a pawn. It seemed that all this Narada and his colleagues cared about was their agenda, and he was expendable. He stewed in impotent rage. The next day when the door slid open and the woman who had given him the fresh clothes came in, a plan began to form.
'I just came to see how you're doing. Mr Muni told me you were troubled and I thought if nothing else, you may want to chat.'
The last thing Aaditya wanted to do was to make small talk, but he smiled and summoned two chairs, asking her to sit. Being the polite host to the hilt, if only in his own prison cell, he also called for some juice. The woman seemed genuinely surprised at this change in his mood.
'I never asked you your name.'
'It's Tanya.'
She asked about Aaditya, and he told her about his college and his background, and then asked her what she did.
'I handle Public Relations here. You may be surprised, but you're not the first person to have stumbled on to them. Of course, I don't think anybody has got involved in such dramatic circumstances for many years.'
Something in what she said struck Aaditya as odd, and he tried to put his finger on it. She sensed the change in his mood. 'Is something wrong?'
'You said "them".'
Tanya didn't get it at first, so Aaditya repeated himself. 'You referred to this organization as "them", not "us". That sounded weird. So, what is your real story?'
Tanya smiled, realizing her lapse.
'It still takes some getting used to. I am not one of the, let's say, original crew. I am originally from Canada, but have learnt to make this place, and this organization, my home.'
'So you don't fly around in those fancy machines and carry weird weapons, do you?'
Aaditya said it with a smile. Tanya took it at face value and replied with a laugh, 'No, thank heavens. I just do the PR work sitting at a desk in front of a phone and a laptop. They tried teaching me self defence, but I was hopeless, and why would I need it anyway?'
As she got up to leave, Aaditya asked her, 'Look, if you're not too busy, maybe you could stop by sometimes. I could go crazy just sitting here by myself.'
Tanya just smiled, but she did come back. Over her next four visits, Aaditya learnt several things. First, that there still seemed to be no resolution in sight for his situation. Second, he took careful notice of the exact spot where the door would slide open when Tanya came or left, and once she was gone, timed just how fast he could get there. Finally, he realized that he really enjoyed spending time with Tanya. She seemed to be genuinely concerned about him and went out of her way to make his stay less miserable. That made Aaditya feel just a little pang of guilt for what he was about to do.
The next time Tanya came, she had brought a few magazines for Aaditya. When they finished chatting, she got up to leave. Aaditya stopped her with a gentle tap to the shoulder.
'Hey Tanya, I wish we had met somewhere else. Soon I'll be gone and I doubt these spooks will let me come near them or here any time soon.'
Tanya smiled, but it was a smile tinged with sadness.
'Aadi, I really think my work is important, but I do miss having a normal life. Meeting you made me remember what that could be like. When they do let you go, I'll miss you.'
Just as she reached the door, Aaditya sprang into action. He reached her just as the door began to slide open. Aaditya pushed her aside and leapt outside the open door. She was too shocked to even resist.
He found himself in a long plain corridor, but having learnt how things worked here, he ran along its length, commanding doors to open, hoping that outside of his cell, the doors would open on command as well. He was about to give up when to his relief, a door slid open to his left. He ran through it, barely hearing Tanya's cries for him to stop.
He didn't know how much time he had or just how far he could go, but he was not going to stay cooped up in a cell any longer. His captors may be the CIA for all he cared, but either they had to tell him what they wanted with him or let him go. He was done with being a prisoner.
To his relief he soon found himself at the hangar where he had landed. The craft were still there, and while he was tempted, he realized that he would never get the time to figure out how to fly one before he was discovered. However, being in the hangar meant that the exit could not be far away. He looked desperately along the length of the hangar, wondering where he should start looking. He heard muffled footsteps coming from the wall behind him, and ran as fast as he could towards the end of the flight line.
Two or three figures emerged from the door he had opened. All around him there were nothing but closed walls. He desperately kept asking for doors to open, but either there were no doors here or they had been disabled when Aaditya's escape had become known. He was but a few feet from the far wall and about to give up when it suddenly swung open, revealing the same blue coloured craft on which he had come aboard. Oblivious to his escape, the pilot was coming in for a landing, and Aaditya took advantage of the open door to run outside.
What he saw made him stop in his tracks.
He was standing in a snow-covered rocky valley, with nothing around as far as the eye could see but jagged peaks topped with snow. With no sign of any humans or buildings around, it seemed as if he had been transported to an alien landscape.
***
Then the biting cold hit him. Though his clothes looked no thicker than an average cotton track suit, they somehow insulated all parts of his body that they covered, but his face and hands were exposed, and he was barefoot. He had no idea what the temperature was, his breath came out in smoky billows, and even though he had been outside for only a few seconds, he began to feel his hands and left foot go numb.
He glanced back inside the hangar. The blue craft had landed, and its pilot, the same young man he had seen on his roof, was running towards him. Aaditya stopped for a second, considering the choices before him. Should he give up and go back to the uncertain fate that awaited him inside his cell, or should he take his chances in the inhospitable landscape he saw in front of him? When he saw his pursuer take out a small device from his pocket, similar to the weapon he had seen used on his rooftop, he decided to take his chances.
Every step hurt, and Aaditya's left foot was already almost completely numb. For once, he thanked fate for his prosthetic right foot, which was immune to the cold, and soldiered on. He dove into a small crack on the side of the hill, hoping he could conceal himself from his pursuer, and also think through what he would do next. For a few minutes, it seemed his plan had worked. He could hear movement outside, but nobody disturbed his hiding place.
'The heat sensors show something here.'
With those words, the game was up. The pilot of the blue craft who had been chasing him reached in and looked at him, grinning. He seemed little more than a boy just out of school, with a thin face, unruly hair and dimples that showed prominently when he smiled. Aaditya contemplated resisting, but he was already so numb with cold that he wasn't sure what exactly he could offer by way of resistance. Also, despite his disarming appearance, he had seen how deadly the young man had been on his rooftop.
'First you steal a ride in my vimana, now you go and try to freeze yourself to death. What's with you?'
Aaditya didn't know what to say so he clasped the young man's hand and was pulled out of his hiding place. He found Narada standing there, none of the young man's amusement on his face.
'Kartik, go and try to cool down your father. I think he's ready to kill our restless friend here. He told me he should have hit him harder in the hangar.'
Aaditya remembered the ash-covered man and how he had knocked him out with one blow, and wondered just how much trouble he was in. As Kartik left, Narada turned to him.
'Get back in here. When you have some hot food in you and we're sure you won't suffer any hypothermia, I'll come and meet you.'
Narada walked Aaditya back to his cell, and when he left, Aaditya sat down, feeling quite foolish. That gave way to even more embarrassment when Tanya walked in.
'Look, I'm sorry I…'
Tanya cut him off with a curt glance, and wordlessly put some hot soup in front of him and gave him a warm blanket. She walked out, leaving Aaditya feeling even more miserable. His escape attempt had been a total fiasco, and he had betrayed the trust of the one person who had been nothing but decent and friendly towards him. He sulked in his cell for a day or more before Narada came to him again.
'Aadi, it's time we parted ways.'
Aaditya got up, startled at the announcement.
'You're going to let me go?'
When Narada just nodded, Aaditya asked with indignation, 'If you could let me go just like that, why did you wait so many days? Do you realize that my friends are probably already in panic because people can't get in touch with me? God, they must be filing police reports by now.'
Narada smiled. 'That's the least of your worries. Your professors have received an email saying you are not well, and anyone who calls your mobile gets a recording that sounds pretty close to your voice saying the same thing.'
Aaditya was too stunned to respond as Narada continued, 'We were genuinely worried our enemies would come for you. Some of us argued that in the larger scheme of things it doesn't matter, but that is what makes us different from them. Every life is sacred. We have sent out the feelers that you are not connected with us in any way. We don't know if they believe us, plus we can't risk you trying another escape. So you earn a flight back.'
With those words, Narada tossed Aaditya's clothes and belongings towards him.
'Get changed. I'll be waiting outside.'
Narada had been nothing but civil, but Aaditya could sense a hint of disdain in his voice. Honestly, he didn't care-whoever these people were, they had no right to keep him confined here. And no matter how unexciting his regular life was, he would pick it any day over being locked up in a cell. He followed Narada outside, but before he entered the hangar, Narada asked him to wait. Aaditya was startled as Narada put a blindfold over his eyes.
'Is this really necessary?'
'Yes it is. You have already seen too much for your own good.'
Feeling like a prisoner even though he was supposedly being released, Aaditya was led through the hangar. He then heard the voice of the young man who was called Kartik.
'Look, my friend, I'll be flying you home. Please don't try anything silly like taking off your blindfold. My father looks much bigger than me, but I can punch just as hard.'
The last line was accompanied by a laugh, but Aaditya had no doubts that the young man would carry through on his threat. He had no intention of being a hero; all he wanted to do now was to get home.
Aaditya was helped into the cockpit, and strapped in with a seat belt. He heard a soft hum as the engine powered on, but before the canopy closed and the craft took off, he felt a soft touch on his left hand, and heard a whisper, 'Goodbye.'
It was Tanya. Aaditya felt a slight pang of regret at how he had betrayed her trust and wished that he had gotten a chance to say sorry. He heard the canopy slide down around him, and then the craft seemed to lift slightly as it glided forward slowly, presumably towards the hangar doors. He felt himself being pushed back against the seat as the craft accelerated and then entered a steep climb. Aaditya had no idea how fast they were going, but within what seemed like a few seconds, the craft stabilized in level flight. He heard Kartik murmur next to him, 'Now we sit back and wait till we're over Delhi. Should be there in twenty-five minutes or less, but we're in no hurry, are we?'
Now that he was free, Aaditya's curiosity was running on overdrive. Where had the base been located? The kind of mountains he had seen were certainly not to be found anywhere in the Indian heartland. The closest one could find them was in the Himalayas. If indeed they had been there, flying to Delhi meant a one-way flight of more than one thousand kilometres at least. All his knowledge of flying and planes was now being exercised as he did some quick calculations.
Travelling that distance in less than twenty minutes meant flying at over twice the speed of sound all the way. That was if indeed they had been at the closest possible location to Delhi. No fighter aircraft could sustain Mach 2 for such a period of time and still have the endurance to cover such a long round trip. He corrected himself-no aircraft that he knew of. If anything, this experience was showing him that there were many things he had not the foggiest idea about.
Kartik must have guessed what he was thinking about.
'They say you're quite an aviation buff. Flying is my life, so I can imagine how curious you must be about the vimana we're in. Too bad I can't tell you too much.'
Aaditya had heard that word before,
'Vimana? Doesn't sound like something the CIA or Americans would call their planes.'
Kartik seemed to mutter under his breath, as if regretting having spoken too much. After that, there was no more conversation.
The monotony of the flight began to get to Aaditya. He felt his body loosen up as the stress of the last few days drained away, and he was soon nodding off. He dreamt he was in a fighter plane under fire, and was being buffeted violently from side to side as it narrowly escaped exploding shells. When his head hit the seat behind him hard, he woke up with a start. It had not been a dream.
The craft was undertaking drastic maneuvers, swerving from one side to the other. There were loud explosions outside. Fighter pilots wore special pressurized suits to protect their bodies from the effects of pulling such maneuvers which often put pressures several times that of normal gravity on the body-G forces as they were called. But even in his shorts and T-shirt, he felt no major impact of G forces. However, he had little time to contemplate how the builders of this craft had managed yet another seemingly magical feat.
'What's going on?'
When there was no response, he shouted louder.
'Dammit, what the hell is going on!'
Kartik answered softly, but the tension was apparent in his voice.
'We're under fire.'
'Who? The freaks that you fought on my roof?'
No response. After a second, Kartik exclaimed, 'Is your mobile on?'
Aaditya remembered that he had turned it on when it had been returned to him.
'Oh God, that's how they are tracking us!'
Aaditya felt Kartik's hand reach into his pocket and take out his phone. Just then the craft shook more violently and he heard Kartik scream. Then there was silence.
'Kartik?'
No response.
Aaditya took off his blindfold. It was utter mayhem around him. Kartik lay slumped in his seat, blood oozing from his head. His seat belt was undone, and Aaditya guessed he had reached over to get the phone when the craft had suffered a near hit, and he had slammed his head against the wall. Aaditya looked frantically around, trying to see what was happening. The raised canopy gave unrestricted visibility, and Aaditya saw three dark shapes in the distance. As they came closer, he thought he recognized them as the saucer shaped craft he had encountered earlier.
With Kartik out cold, they would be a sitting duck. He had no idea how this craft worked, but at least he was no stranger to flying planes. He looked at the cockpit in front of him, searching for the controls. He was flabbergasted. There seemed to be no flight controls-no joystick, no thrust controls, nothing.
How the hell did one fly this beast?
He looked over at Kartik and saw an earpiece tucked into his left ear. He plucked it out and placed it inside his own left ear. Within a couple of seconds, he heard some transmission. He could not be entirely sure but the voice seemed to belong to the ash-covered monster who had knocked him out.
'Are you there? Please acknowledge.'
Aaditya looked behind to see the three saucers circling him. They could have shot him down at leisure but perhaps they wanted to capture the craft he was in. They had him boxed in, one on either side and one behind and slightly above his position.
'Hi…this is Aadi. Kartik is out cold and we are surrounded by enemy craft. What the hell do I do?'
There was an ominous silence before he got a reply. 'We have a problem here. Now, I'll try and keep you alive. Just don't try and be a hero.'
So, surrounded by enemy craft, and in one he had no idea how to fly, Aaditya finally got a chance to live his dream of being a fighter pilot. At that moment, he would have happily traded all his flying dreams for a lifetime attending Donkey's classes and dealing with impossible assignments on Economic History.