Aaditya didn't know how high he was flying so it was hard to judge distances, but the three pursuing craft were now bracketing him, one flying on each side of his craft and one directly behind him-on his six o'clock, as fighter pilots would say. His craft was now hovering in the sky. He was far from calm but realized that if they had wanted to destroy him, they would have done so easily by now. Instead, it looked like they wanted him to surrender. A new voice came over the headset. He had not heard this voice before. It was deeper than either Narada's or the ash-covered man's voice.
'Aadi, I gather that you are not new to flying. We have retrieved your NCC records, and you've got hundreds of hours in microlights and gliders.'
'Fat lot of good that will do me now.'
The voice that responded was slow, deliberate, and if he was trying to calm Aaditya down, he was beginning to succeed.
'The basics are no different, just the user interface is. Now tell me, your father was a fighter pilot, was he not? So you grew up around pilots and fighters, and the exploits of IndianBader on the Internet tell me that you know your way around fighters.'
Aaditya had no idea how they knew all this about him, but it helped to calm him.
'What's your name? If my life depends on you, let me at least know who I'm talking to.'
'My name is Indra. Now, as you may have gathered, they don't want to shoot you down. They will box you in and perhaps more of them are on the way to capture you. Look behind you, do you see the red tipped vimana behind you?'
Aaditya turned around and said he did.
'That is the vimana of Maya, who I gather you have already met.'
Aaditya remembered the snake-eyed man and shivered in spite of himself.
Then it struck Aaditya. 'How do you know who's behind me?'
'Because I am on the way. I should be there in less than five minutes.'
Aaditya let out a sigh of relief. Help was on the way, but how the hell would he get out, if Kartik could not be revived? Indra helped out, sensing his predicament.
'Look in Kartik's right ear. There is a small round plug there. Place it in your right ear.'
Aaditya did so, and for a second was struck by an intense headache. He gasped in pain.
'What was that?'
'Don't worry, it's calibrating to your brain.'
What the hell did that mean?
'Now, just go with your instinct. What you think, the vimana will do for you. Just don't speed away or do any drastic maneuvers-get a hang of it till I come.'
Not sure how this would work, Aaditya asked himself where he was and what his bearings were. To his amazement, a holographic 3D map emerged out of thin air on his left. His vimana was represented by a blue dot, and the three enemy craft were depicted in red. He saw numbers below each dot. Those below his craft read 20,20500,217. There were a smattering of green dots, but all much further away.
'Indra, what are these numbers? Speed, altitude and bearing?'
'I told you it wouldn't be difficult to get a hang of it. It displays in units your mind relates to. In your case, I guess speed in kilometres per hour, altitude in feet and bearing relative to our base. The red dots are the asuras, and the added number below each is the range in kilometres from your vimana. The green dots are aircraft of your people.'
Your people. That was a strange way to put it.
When he wondered where he was, the map began displaying place names, showing that he was several hundred kilometres to the northeast of Delhi.
The enemy craft were no more than two kilometres away, and as he watched, the one behind him edged closer. He now saw another blue dot appear on the display. It was four hundred kilometres away and closing in at more than a thousand kilometres per hour, swooping down from an altitude of more than eighty thousand feet. His mind boggled both at the craft's performance and the fact that his radar, or whatever instrument the craft used, could pick it up at such a range.
'Now Aadi, don't move at all. I don't want to lose the advantage of surprise.'
On his display, Aaditya saw two yellow dots separate from Indra's vimana, and streak towards the craft around him at an impossibly high speed. He had barely had time to look around when the craft on either side exploded into giant fireballs and disappeared as if nothing had ever been there.
'Get out of the way now!' Indra screamed into his ears.
It seemed weird at first, but Aaditya mentally asked the craft to accelerate and willed it to bank sharply to the right. His first turn was way too sharp, and he soon found himself in a dive. In a fit of panic, his fingers grasped at thin air, trying to find the controls to pull up.
'Calm your mind, son.' Indra's voice boomed into his ear and he forced himself to sit back, and while hardly calm, thought, pull up.
The craft came out of the dive. Still not used to the control system, Aaditya found himself involuntarily moving his body to the right or left as he maneuvered, but recovered enough to restore the craft to stable flight. He took out his lucky patch from his pocket and clutched it tightly in both hands. In part, it was like a safety blanket, helping to calm his nerves. In part, as he moved his hands, he used the patch like a joystick, so that he not only used his thoughts, but also hand movements that were more familiar, to control the craft. It seemed to help, as he managed to stop himself from abruptly jerking his craft around.
His problems were far from over though. His display showed the remaining red dot zooming in towards him.
Think you're at your damn PC. Think that this is another newbie out to earn his glory by trying to take on IndianBader. Once you thought you could be a fighter pilot-now don't be a chicken.
He hoped that would be enough to give him courage. However, soon he found himself facing a new danger, when a yellow dot separated from Maya's craft and moved towards his vimana. Aaditya noted that it was moving much slower than Indra's missiles. He did not dwell on that for too long, since he quickly realized that being shot at in a video game was very different from having a missile home in on you in real life. He moved his craft into a series of tight turns, but the missile kept closing in.
Do something to throw the missile off!
No sooner had he thought it when a flash enveloped his craft, temporarily blinding him. When he opened his eyes, the yellow dot was gone, and so was Maya's craft, which his display showed as speeding away at a speed of more than two thousand kilometres per hour. He looked out the window to see a craft just a few metres to his right. In the cockpit, he could make out a man, who raised his hand in a wave, as Indra's voice echoed over his headset.
'That bloody coward's run off again, but I am impressed. I thought you were done for when he fired. Now, shall we go back?'
Aaditya had been caught up in the adrenaline rush of the unexpected flying, but now he paused to think. He had been on his way home. Now he was expected to go back to the base where he had been a virtual prisoner. After seeing so much more of their so-called vimanas, would they ever allow him to go home?
'Aadi, can you hear me? Just ask the vimana to chart a course back to base, and you'll be on your way. I'll be right beside you.'
Instead, Aaditya found himself thinking What's the fastest route to Delhi?
The holographic display in front of him showed a glowing light with 'Delhi' under it. At the speeds this craft seemed capable of, he could be there in less than a few minutes. He wasn't sure about where to land or how he would deal with the consequences of putting down this strange craft in public. But at least he would have a shot at getting back home.
Even before he consciously knew it, his mind had commanded the craft to chart a path for Delhi. His headset exploded into a cacophony of noise.
'Aadi, what are you doing? Don't do this, please.'
Aaditya tried to filter out the voice, but he could not ignore the young man lying slumped in his seat just next to him. A large pool of blood was gathering under Kartik's head, and while Aaditya did not know if he would live or not if they went back to base, he was sure of one thing. If he continued on to Delhi, there was little chance Kartik would survive, simply because the chaos that would accompany the arrival of such a strange craft would almost certainly mean that first aid would take a backseat.
'Aadi, stop now, or I will have to fire.'
It was not the threat that stopped Aaditya, but the fact that he just could not bring himself to sacrifice the life of a young man to get back his own. He was not sure if they would let him go after all he had seen, but his conscience could not bear the burden of the death of the young man next to him. So, as much as his head screamed at him to continue to Delhi, his heart won this debate, and he commanded his craft, 'Back to base.'
***
Aaditya watched the display before him as the craft set on a course back to its base. When he wondered where base was, a caption appeared under a dot on the map. It read, 'Kongka La'. The words meant nothing to him but soon he saw snow covered peaks appear over the horizon. He had guessed correctly. Base was indeed somewhere in the Himalayas.
Indra's craft was with him, leading the way, no more than a few hundred meters away. Aaditya could see no jet exhaust, and wondered what was propelling the craft. It seemed to be much larger than the one he was in, and was white in colour. As it peeled off towards the mountains below, Aaditya saw that its nose was shaped like an elephant, complete with curved tusks.
What was it with them and animal motifs on their craft?
'Aadi, follow me down and stay close.'
So with his good luck charm still firmly clenched in his hands, Aaditya maneuvered the craft into a shallow dive as he followed the vimana ahead of him. Indra had entered into a narrow valley with snow-covered peaks on either side. As the space got narrower, he began to wonder if he could maneuver the craft in such a narrow space without plastering it all over one of the peaks.
Only when he saw a narrow opening slide open in a rock face ahead of him did he realize he had been holding his breath for several minutes. He watched Indra's craft glide into the opening, and he followed. Landing the vimana was easier than he had imagined. No sooner had he asked himself the question, How do I land this thing, than it began a slow and measured descent through the gap. He found himself inside the hangar where he had staged his ill-fated escape attempt. The cockpit canopy slip open when he commanded it to, and he found himself facing a veritable welcoming party.
There was Indra, who had alighted from his craft. He towered over Aaditya and may have looked menacing with his thick black beard, but his eyes were full of compassion. Then there was Narada, Kartik's father, the woman he had encountered during the fight at the Old Fort, and a number of other people he did not know, and then there was Tanya. As soon as the canopy opened, Kartik's father rushed in and pulled out his inert body. A small tracked vehicle came up and Kartik's body was laid down upon it, and the vehicle sped away.
'Do we still have time, Narada?'
Though he looked like a monster and killed like an assassin, Aaditya realized that Kartik's father was after all a father, and the anguish was apparent in his voice. Narada ran after the tracked vehicle, saying, 'I hope so.'
In all the chaos, everyone seemed to have forgotten Aaditya. He stepped down, wondering what he should do. Tanya walked up to him.
Whenever he had met her previously, her hair had been neatly tied in a ponytail behind her head, and her face had never betrayed any emotion. But now, her hair hung loosely around her, and her face was distraught. Aaditya could not be sure, but from her expression, it looked as if she had been crying.
She rushed towards him, and for a minute there was an awkward moment when he wondered whether he should hug her or not. To his relief, she stopped and then, as if through force of will, her professional facade was back.
'I'm glad you're okay.'
The adrenaline high of the battle behind him, Aaditya felt giddy and slumped against the craft.
'Aadi, are you okay?'
Aaditya exhaled audibly as he replied, 'I never thought I'd be happy to see myself be a prisoner of these freaks again, but I was going to be totally screwed out there.'
That broke the ice. Tanya burst out laughing, and soon Aaditya found himself joining in, roaring in laughter, though there was nothing funny about what he had said.
Tanya touched him lightly on his arm, and Aaditya realized that in spite of himself, he was staring. Why the hell had he never noticed how attractive she was? Perhaps being held captive by some top-secret organization did that to you.
'Come on, I'll take you to your room.'
She walked him through a sliding door and into to a room which was as different from his earlier cell as possible. There was a comfortable looking bed in a corner, a leather sofa, an attached bathroom and to Aaditya's delight, a TV and a mini-bar.
'Now, this is five star treatment.'
Tanya smiled.
'I told them you would like this better than the sterile room you had been given earlier. Get some rest, I'll come back later.'
Aaditya sat down on the bed. He was tempted to turn on the TV and find out what was happening in the world, but fatigue got the better of him, and before he knew it, he was fast asleep.
He was awakened by a light knock on his door. 'Come in,' he called, expecting to see Tanya there. Instead, Kartik's father walked in. Aaditya involuntarily stepped back, in part because the last time he had met this gentleman, he had been knocked out in a single punch, and in part due to his guest's fearsome appearance. His hair was still matted, though now tied in a top-knot on his head. His face was still smeared in ash, and he was naked to the waist down, wearing only tiger striped fitting pants. If anything, this made him look even more fearsome as it brought into focus his rippling muscles and the many scars crisscrossing his torso. As if sensing Aaditya's fears, he held up both hands, palms facing Aaditya, indicating that he posed no threat.
'They told me that you would be summoned soon enough, but I just came to say thank you.'
'Thank me for what?'
The man smiled. 'For saving Kartik's life. We all know you could have flown to Delhi if you wanted to.'
'What would you have done if I had decided to escape?'
The man smiled, though his eyes hardened. 'You would never have made it. Indra would have destroyed your vimana. But still, you made a brave choice.'
Aaditya flinched at the sobering thought that he had escaped death by a whisker. His guest now came closer, a genuine smile spreading across his face.
'Forget all that for now, because I come to you as a father who owes you his son's life.'
Aaditya took the outstretched hand and shook it.
'What is your name?'
The man sat down on the sofa. 'My name is Shiva. Now, let's have a celebratory drink.'
Aaditya opened the mini-bar and found it stocked with bottles of Blue Label, Smirnoff and Bacardi Gold. 'Someone has expensive tastes in drink', he said.
Shiva produced a small hip flask from his pocket.
'Help yourself, I have my own drink.'
Aaditya picked up a Coke saying he didn't drink alcohol. Shiva took a sip of his drink and laughed.
`What's so funny?'
'I had gathered you used to steal drinks from your father's cabinet, and now you claim not to drink. Come on, today you can indulge a little. I have a lot to celebrate-join me! Take a sip of my drink. It has no alcohol in it but packs a punch.'
Once again, Aaditya had no idea how these people knew so much about him, but he did need something stiffer than Coke to settle his nerves. He allowed Shiva to pour him a drink. Two drinks down, he had loosened up enough to ask what was on his mind. 'Who the hell are you guys? CIA? Your names sound Indian and you have all this weird technology and this base in the Himalayas.'
Shiva smiled. 'No, we're not the CIA. That much I can assure you.'
'So who are you? And who is that snake-eyed bastard I seem to keep running into?'
Shiva's eyes hardened again with a brief flash of anger, then he smiled again.
'Aadi, do you want to go back home to your life?'
Aaditya was a bit taken aback by the question.
'Of course, why do you ask?'
'Because then the less you know the better it is for you. Now, let's just see if you drink as well as they say you fly.'
As Aaditya rapidly discovered, punching him was not the only way Shiva could knock him out. Several drinks down, Shiva still seemed to be sober while he was feeling distinctly happy. He didn't quite remember when, but he passed out in a dreamless slumber, and was awakened by a light touch on his shoulder.
Still groggy, he opened his eyes and found Tanya leaning over him, a broad smile on her face. 'I should have warned you. Never try and outdrink Shiva. Now get up and come with me.'
Aaditya sat up, his head feeling like it would split. He had no idea what drink Shiva had given him, but it sure was potent.
'Where are we going?'
'To meet the folks who run the show here.'
***
Tanya led Aaditya down a long corridor. When she reached its end, she spoke aloud, 'He is here.'
A wall slid open, and Aaditya was about to enter when he hesitated.
'Tanya, won't you come with me?'
She smiled, seeing the worry on his face.
'There's nothing to worry about. You showed great courage and did the right thing in bringing Kartik back. That counts for a lot with them. Now go in there, you'll be just fine.'
To Aaditya's surprise, she leaned over and hugged him. 'For luck, and in case we don't meet again,' she whispered in his ears. Wondering what she meant, he was about to go in when she stopped him. 'Aadi, when you meet them, just keep an open mind. Some people find it difficult to understand who they may be.'
Aaditya entered the room, which was large and circular, and ringed with chairs, much like a conference or meeting room. There seemed to be no lights on, and with the only light coming from the open door behind him, he could not make out the details of those seated in the room. It seemed to be a conference room, but there was no table or indeed any of the other trappings he had associated with corporate meeting rooms, like projectors, screens or notepads. Instead, in the middle of the room, suspended just a few inches above the ground, there were a number of holographic screens. As soon as the door slid shut behind him, the screens disappeared and lights came on. The first to speak was Narada.
'Aadi, we have met, but let me introduce myself properly. I am Narada Muni and I handle Intelligence here.'
Next to him was the ash-covered man, looking none the worse for wear from his drinking bout.
'And I am Shiva. I lead our Special Forces.'
The woman he had met in the fracas that had started this all was seated next to Shiva. She was wearing a red-bordered white suit, and she smiled as she introduced herself, 'I am Durga, and I never did thank you for trying to help me.'
Some connections were forming in Aaditya's mind, when the last three men there introduced themselves. The tall, muscular man with a beard spoke next. 'We have met in the air, Aadi. I am Indra, the Military commander here.'
Next to him was a man with a dark complexion, who seemed to be playing with a disc-shaped object in his hand. 'And I am Vishnu. I am the administrative head here. Think of me as the Chief Operating Officer, if that analogy works for you.'
What the hell was going on? Their names…they seemed like the names of Hindu gods. Were they trying to mess with his mind, or just hiding their true identities?
The last man, who looked much older than the rest, with long white hair and a white beard, spoke. 'My young friend, I am Brahma. I am in charge here and I wanted to meet you and thank you for what you did before you leave.'
Aaditya wasn't sure he had heard it right.
'So you mean I can still go home?'
Brahma smiled.
'Or course. What did you expect? We never keep anyone against their will, and while you have seen a lot more than you should have, the only request I have is that you try and forget what happened over the last few days. We have already sent out communication to our adversaries that you were caught up purely by accident and know nothing of any value. So please just stick to your life as it was.'
It sounded more like a plea than a threat. Aaditya asked why they were letting him go if they wanted him to keep quiet. This time Vishnu spoke.
'Because sometimes taking a risk to do the right thing is better than doing what's expedient but wrong. You should know that-that is what you did. And if we did not, we would be no different from our enemies.'
Indra got up and approached Aaditya. He held Aaditya's shoulder in a friendly gesture though his strength made Aaditya wince.
'Aadi, our enemies show no such compassion, as you have seen. If you try and share anything of what happened, they will track you down to get to us. That will cause some complications for us, but you will not survive. So for your own sake, listen to what Brahma said.'
Aaditya nodded. Unsure of what to do next he began to walk towards the door. Then he stopped and turned.
'Can I ask a couple of questions?'
Brahma nodded.
'What was that cylinder your enemies were after?'
Durga answered, 'They wanted it so badly because it could give them insights into how our vimanas work. My vimana had broken down and I was waiting for Shiva to come and help when they ambushed me.'
'Okay, if your vimanas fly around so freely without being detected, I'm assuming you have stealth of some kind. But why don't more people see them with their naked eyes?'
Indra shook his head, 'Nice try, but as we said, the less you know the better. Anything else?'
Aaditya paused, but then figuring he had nothing to lose since he was on his way home anyway, he blurted out, 'What's with the names? I imagine you'll never tell me what your organization really is, but why pick code names from Hindu mythology?'
To his surprise, they looked a bit perplexed. Then Shiva broke out laughing and the others joined in. Narada, a broad smile on his face, came to Aaditya and said, 'Let's just say that we've been around a while in these parts and we have come to like these names, so we made them our own. Now come on, we'll get you a ride home.'
Aaditya was at the door when Kartik burst in from a side door. Aaditya was shocked at seeing him so soon after the battle, and with no apparent signs of injury.
'A US Air Force F-22 has gone down in the desert over Iraq. They're calling it an accident during a routine training mission.'
Narada gestured with a hand and a holographic screen came up. In one corner, playing in a small box was CNN, showing the Breaking News.
'Ganesha, what do we know? A real accident or our friends at it again?'
As if on cue, a young man walked in. Unlike the others who looked like athletes or soldiers, this newcomer was short and potbellied. He seemed to have unusually large ears, and wore old-fashioned wire rimmed spectacles.
'What do you think? I hacked into the Pentagon servers, and they have no clue what happened. The plane just disappeared.'
Aaditya hugged the wall, realizing that in the chaos, everyone had forgotten about him, assuming that he had gone out of the room. Indra motioned towards the display and a world map came up, a few dots scattered on it.
'These are the aircraft we know they were responsible for destroying before 2000, because they stumbled upon them, or perhaps Maya and his goons just wanted to indulge their bloodlust. This is what has happened since then.'
The map now filled with dots, and a few began blinking. Durga spoke up.
'Many more, as if they are stepping up on purpose, but also so many missing and never found.' The display now showed only a dozen or so blinking lights.
'And all of them are top of the line aircraft in the Earth's major air forces-Rafales in France, Eurofighters in England, Blackjack bombers in Russia, the Su-30 from India and now this. What are they up to?' asked Indra to nobody in particular.
'If you ask me, they are preparing for war, trying to learn about these craft before they strike. Remember that their kritika vimanas are not much more advanced than these aircraft,' said Brahma.
'So Kalki will fulfill the prophecy,' said Vishnu, with venom in his voice.
Shiva almost spat out his words, 'Prophecy! He will rule over a pile of ash. Has he learnt nothing from last time?'
Aaditya had no idea what they were talking about, but something in their conversation struck a chord.
'A Su-30MKI of the Indian Air Force?' he asked aloud, to nobody in particular.
Everyone in the room seemed to freeze and the display disappeared. Narada was the first to react and came towards him, 'Aadi, we didn't know you were still here. Come on, we'll get you to your flight.'
Aaditya shrugged off his touch and walked towards the group. Secret organization or not, fierce unknown warriors or not, one could not walk away from some things. He spoke, his voice rising, as he struggled to come to grips with what he thought he had uncovered.
'The Indian Air Force has lost only one Sukhoi whose wreckage was never traced.'
Everyone looked at him in silence as he continued. 'That plane was flown by my father.'
He looked at Brahma to see his reaction, but in the old man's eyes, he saw only sympathy, no surprise.
'You knew….'
Brahma held up his hand.
'Aadi, your father's plane was taken by the same enemies we fight. Yes, we knew that. But you still need not get involved. Go home and get on with your life.'
Aaditya almost screamed, his voice choking with emotion. 'Go back and sit at a desk in college and pretend that I don't know who killed my father? Pretend that he died in an accident, when I now know he was murdered by the same bastards I've seen over the last few days? No sir, I cannot do that.'
Shiva walked up and held Aaditya around his shoulder, as if comforting him.
'Aadi, all you will get is pain. Once you learn more, I don't know how you will ever be able to cope with being back home.'
'At least give me that choice. It's my father we are talking about.'
Brahma motioned for the others to step back.
'Very well then. Come over here and listen to what really happened to your father.'