'Aadi, we've already told you that we cannot let you fly in combat. You survived the last time you were up in a vimana, but playing video games and flying against Maya and the other Asuras are two very different things.'
'Then teach me,' Aaditya pleaded with Indra.
Once again, Indra refused. Aaditya returned to his room, and found Tanya there, who greeted him with a big hug.
'You don't give up, do you?'
Aaditya grinned. 'I may not be as strong or as fast as these Devas, but I sure as hell will prove that I'm more stubborn than any of them.'
It had been three days since Aaditya had told Brahma that he would stay. Three days since Tanya and he had spent virtually every spare minute together. Three days in which he had gone and made the same request to Indra a grand total of fifteen times. That afternoon, just after they had lunch, a message flashed on the holographic screen that served as his communicator to the Devas. The message read: Come to the conference room. We may have good news for you.
'Oh my God, maybe they have agreed to let me fly after all.'
Aaditya rushed as fast as he could, arriving slightly out of breath. He found Brahma and Indra there, together with Ganesha.
'Can I fly?'
Brahma laughed, 'No, you cannot fly.'
Seeing Aaditya's crestfallen expression, he spoke more gently, 'Aadi, the reason you cannot fly is not because I don't believe that, given the right training, you could master a vimana. We cannot spare the time or resources to train you. Kalki is intensifying his activities, and we need all our resources to understand what he's doing. But I do have an important job for you. Go with Ganesha.'
Aaditya was disappointed, yet excited at being given some work. So he followed Ganesha. The potbellied Deva seemed to always be smiling, and had a voracious appetite, picking out sweets from his pockets and munching on them as they walked.
'Do you want one?' he asked, offering a bar of chocolate to Aaditya.
'Thanks, I'm quite full. By the way, what exactly am I going to be doing?'
Ganesha motioned over his shoulder for Aaditya to follow. They entered a room where the walls were covered in holographic screens, with a seat in front of each. There was only one person in the room, a thin girl who looked like a geeky schoolgirl, with ponytails and thick glasses.
'That's Lakshmi. She's our money person.' whispered Ganesha.
'Money?'
'We need tons of it. To repair our vimanas, liquid Mercury for their propulsion, other materials for our weapons, to pay informants, you name it, it all costs money. So she runs several shell companies, trading in options and futures, and rakes in billions a year. Narada uses his contacts to get material transported to private airfields, where we pick them up. We are the biggest Fortune 500 corporation nobody knows about.'
Lakshmi just nodded as Aaditya passed her, and got back to whatever she had been doing. Ganesha asked Aaditya to sit down.
'The same holds for Kalki and his gang. So, part of our job is to track down his operations and shut them down. That's where you can help.'
'What do I do?'
Ganesha sat down on the next chair.
'Laskhmi handles the financial intelligence. I do the tactical part, trying to find out what Kalki's up to by ferreting out information, making connections, trying to get a picture of his latest mischief. You're knee deep in defence and aviation matters, and you seem to be a regular on forums where this kind of stuff gets picked up, so you have a headstart over a civilian who wouldn't known a Sukhoi 30 from a Sukhoi 27.'
If it was meant as a compliment, it sure worked, so Aaditya asked what he needed to do.
'Intelligence, my boy. Intelligence.'
Aaditya was still not clear what was expected of him, so Ganesha laid it out. Basically Aaditya was expected to go through literally thousands of pieces of information-news reports, intelligence summaries from the world's agencies that Ganesha had hacked into, even forums dedicated to conspiracy theories. He would have to keep searching for a few keywords such as 'unidentified flying objects', 'unknown attackers' and so on, and then feed the results to Ganesha.
It was mind-numbingly repetitive and Aaditya soon saw that Ganesha was several times faster than him, so he began to wonder if he was really doing something useful or if they just wanted to keep him occupied. After a while, it really got to him, so he turned to Ganesha. 'Hey, mind if I ask you something?'
'Go ahead,' responded Ganesha without even turning to face Aaditya.
'Look, I've been here two hours, and I feel kind of silly just going through this junk and forwarding it to you. Does this ever help?'
Ganesha swiveled around in his chair to respond.
'This is where the action is. Sure, the flying and blowing things up is glamorous, but without the right intelligence, we're as good as blind. You have it so easy now, with all the information flowing through the networks.'
'What do you mean?'
'Fifty years ago, Kalki used human agents he'd bribed or threatened to do his bidding. So we'd have to track them down and neutralize them. Messy work. The way we play the game now is different, but the game's the same.'
'What game?'
'Oh man, the game Kalki loves playing, and I must add, is very good at. The game of temptation. For an ambitious bastard like him, he has one big problem. Do you know what that is?'
Aaditya just nodded encouragement, wanting to learn as much as he could, as Ganesha continued, 'There's maybe fifty Asuras left. Between them and the hundreds of dimwit daityas he has, he can't really conquer the Earth all on his own. Maybe he could a hundred years ago, but not now. You have nukes and as far as his vimanas go, they are but one or two generations ahead of your latest fighters. So you know what he does?'
Once again, Aaditya figured it was a rhetorical question, so he waited for Ganesha to continue.
'He divides and conquers. He pits one nation against another, hoping you weaken your nations enough to give him a chance. And you ask if this intelligence gathering serves a purpose! Hell, sitting in this very chair, I discovered how he was leaking knowledge on rocketry to the Nazis. We put an end to that, for sure.'
Suitably educated and chastened, Aaditya got back to work. After four hours, his eyes were blurry and he desperately needed a break, so he went back to his room. Tanya was there, though it looked like she was about to leave. She greeted him with a kiss.
'Hey, sweetheart, I hope Ganesha's not working you too hard.'
'Where are you off to?'
'I've got some work. Looks like some newspaper picked up a report on a vimana sighting over Nepal. So I need to draft a Press Release which Narada will get one of his contacts to issue.'
'They do work like the frigging CIA, don't they?'
She lovingly tousled Aaditya's hair.
'It is hard work. And they don't even pay a salary. And you thought studying in college was a tough gig. See you later.'
She kissed him and left. Not having anything better to do, Aaditya returned to the room he had been with Ganesha. There was nobody there, so he called up, or rather willed up, a monitor and asked for any news reports on unidentified flying objects. He got several references to the story Tanya had mentioned. Then he asked for any references to unexplained aircraft losses. He saw one report, from an internal Pentagon memo.
How the hell did these guys hack into everything including the Pentagon?
One line in the memo caught his eye.
December 14, 2011. Predator drone lost over Northern Afghanistan. Cause unknown, though enemy action suspected. Fourth loss in three weeks.
Four Predators lost in three weeks? As someone with a lifelong interest in flying, he had followed how the US had used Predator drones with devastating effect, the one bright spot in an otherwise disastrous war in Afghanistan. So, how had the Taliban suddenly discovered how to knock out four in three weeks-more than they had managed in the last ten years put together?
He quickly called up any other reports of lost Predators, and sure enough, he saw that all four has been lost as a result of suspected enemy action. He also saw in some US Army memos the emerging panic that if the Taliban had indeed mastered how to down Predators, then the balance of the war in Afghanistan could shift decisively. He began cross-tabbing with any reports of unidentified flying objects. Then he saw it.
Four months ago, before the spate of Predator downings had begun, a Pentagon report had a small item tucked away among the minutiae of war. A US Air Force F-15 flying over Afghanistan had picked up an unidentified flying object on its radar for a split second near the area where the Predator had been reported lost. The unidentified contact then disappeared off radar, being tracked as moving at more than five thousand kilometres per hour. It had been dismissed as a glitch in the radar system and ignored.
Aaditya looked over at Ganesha, who had opened a box of sweets and was gulping them down, two at a time. He offered one to Aaditya, but then seeing his expression asked what was up. When Aaditya mentioned what he had discovered, Ganesha looked over the data, and then asked Aaditya to go take a break while he dug deeper. As Aaditya left the room, he heard Ganesha mutter to himself.
'What mischief are you up to, old friend Kalki?'
***
Aaditya was lost in thought. Tanya put her head on his chest.
'I do hope you're not thinking of another woman.'
'Of course not, but I was thinking of something.'
When Tanya probed, he said, 'Look, even if I assume that these guys are actually aliens, and everything they say is true, one thing does not make sense. How could they not have aged in 15,000 years? You know, you've been around them for so long.'
Tanya looked irritated and turned her face away.
'Tanya, did I say something wrong?'
'No, they did tell me, but I'm sure they can explain it better. Why don't you just ask one of them? But for once, at least now, please stop thinking of them and pay me some attention.'
Aaditya pulled her close and did just that.
The next morning, he was called to the conference room for a meeting. When he walked in, he found the Devas more agitated than he had ever seen. All the Devas were there, and they seemed to be talking at the same time.
'Let me and my Ganas go over there. We will smash them,' thundered Shiva.
'Shiva, this requires a bit more thinking through. The last thing we want is for a nuclear bomb to be triggered in the battle,' counseled Vishnu.
Brahma's voice cut through the clutter. He did not raise his voice, but there was an unmistakable stamp of authority that silenced everyone.
'Everyone has had their say, but most of you are just reacting to bits and pieces of information we've heard this morning. Let Ganesha tell us what he found so we all know exactly what we're dealing with.'
Ganesha stood up, and then pointed to Aaditya.
'He's the one who found out about it first. Hear it from him.'
With that he sat back down, popping another sweet into his mouth, leaving Aaditya with every eye in the room trained on him. When he finished his account, Ganesha piped in, 'So, I got our satellites to intercept a few cellphone conversations and my father here helped break a few knees to get the information we wanted.'
Shiva nodded with a smile as Ganesha continued, 'So, here's the deal. It seems Kalki is helping Al Qaeda but in return has extracted a terrible favor. He is passing on a crude nuclear device which he wants them to use on a US target.'
Aaditya was stunned at the casual way in which Ganesha shared the information. Brahma brought up a map of Afghanistan on the holographic display.
'So like him. Wreak havoc so he can reign over the rubble that remains. Well, we know what to do. Indra, get a plan ready. We meet again in an hour.'
Everyone left the room, leaving Aaditya feeling pretty confused. He rushed after Indra, figuring that since he was the one making whatever plan needed to be made, he could help.
'Aadi, I have a lot to plan. Can we chat later?'
'Whatever you're doing, can I come along?'
Indra stopped in his tracks.
'No.'
'Come on, I'm the one who found out about all this. Please don't leave me here while you go after them.'
'Aadi, it was made very clear that you cannot fly or take part in battle.'
This time, Aaditya was not going to give up that easily.
'These guys killed my father. Fine, you won't let me fly your precious vimanas, but at least let me be there when you take them out. At least let me have that measure of revenge.'
Kartik was passing by and stopped when he heard the exchange.
'He could just sit in my vimana. I won't let him get into trouble.'
Indra glared at him.
'Why don't you go and convince Brahma?'
Kartik replied with a smile, 'I did. Aadi did uncover this operation in the first place.'
Indra looked in Brahma's direction, not believing what Kartik had said, but the older Deva smiled, nodding his head in affirmation.
'Let the boy tag along. Kartik, keep him out of trouble, and he stays in your vimana.'
An hour later, Aaditya was in the hangar, where all the Devas had assembled. He had been given a white, full body suit, with a hood to protect him from the cold in case he was exposed to the elements. As Aaditya saw the buzz of activity in the hangar, it was clear that now Indra was in charge.
'Kartik, you will be flying top cover with me. I don't expect the Asuras to mess with us in the air, but we can't leave Shiva exposed on the ground. Narada is already on the ground, and is ensuring the target information we have is accurate and will also jam all transmissions-human and Asura, while the operation lasts. Shiva, are your Ganas ready?'
Shiva grinned and whistled. Aaditya was taken aback by the arrival of a dozen men who looked more like a group of kids than soldiers. Each was no more than four feet tall with clean-shaven heads and large, bulging eyes in their strangely elongated heads. They were all dressed in what seemed to be little more than brown loincloths, showing off their enormous muscles. Each carried some sort of weapon strapped to his back. Despite their size, they moved with the precision of trained soldiers, marching as one and then standing near the large vimana that Shiva piloted.
'Ganas, get into the Nandi. We're ready for takeoff.'
A door swung open on the side of the vimana and the men walked in wordlessly.
'Who the hell are those creatures?' Aaditya whispered to Kartik. Shiva answered for him. 'Those are my Ganas. Kalki has his daityas, and these are my own clone army. The daityas are clumsy oafs, but sometimes numbers do matter. And don't be misled by their small size, the Ganas will cut your throat before you know it.'
As Kartik nudged Aaditya to follow him to his vimana, he heard Shiva bellow at the top of his voice, 'Come on, folks, it's time to smash in some heads!'
***
They had been flying in silence for ten minutes, the three vimanas abreast of each other, when Aaditya asked Kartik what was on his mind.
'I get the stealth part, and how nobody picks your vimanas up on radar, but won't people be able to see you, flying in broad daylight like this?'
Kartik just tapped his head in response.
'It's all in the mind. Just as we fly with our thoughts, we can wish our vimanas to be invisible. Hard to explain in terms of your technology, but think of it as a sort of cloaking device, a skin that absorbs all light and makes the vimana virtually invisible. The downside is, we are blind too-when we activate that, our sensors turn off and we rely only on visual flight rules.'
Their vimana started a gradual descent as it crossed the Pakistan-Afghan border. It was still at an altitude of more than 70,000 feet but the skies below looked crowded, with dozens of green dots. As Aaditya sought their identities, they appeared below each dot. They were all American aircraft and a handful of loitering Predator drones. Then he saw three red dots streak in from the north border.
'So, the intelligence was right. Our Asura friends are here right on cue.'
Aaditya felt a tightening in his stomach, and involuntarily took out his good luck charm. Wanting to avenge his father was one thing, but knowing he was going to be in the thick of battle against the monsters he had encountered on his roof was another thing altogether. Kartik, perhaps sensing his anxiety, reached over and handed him something. Aaditya looked in his palm to see a small, cylindrical object, like a pocket flashlight or perhaps a laser pointer. It was black and had a small switch at one end, and two buttons-one red, the other yellow.
'Aadi, we'll stay in the air, so you shouldn't need it, but just in case. The switch turns it on. Yellow stuns and red, well, it makes them go…poof!'
Aaditya nodded as he remembered Shiva using a weapon like this one during the battle on his rooftop. The vimana was now less than 20,000 feet above the mountains and descending rapidly. As they came lower, Aaditya could see that the Asura craft had landed in a valley, and near them were two jeeps full of men. Indra's vimana was still nearby but Shiva's craft peeled off to the right.
'Now we go in blind.'
Kartik muttered something, and the display disappeared. Aaditya looked out the cockpit to find he could no longer see either accompanying vimana. As he looked carefully, he thought he saw some distortion in the air where they were, but to the casual observer who did not know what he was looking for, they had for all intents and purposes, disappeared. More than a dozen daityas were encircling the two jeeps and Maya stepped forward to address the occupants. The men got out and knelt before Maya, laying an assortment of AK-47s and RPG launchers by their side.
'Al Qaeda's finest. The scum of your world cavorting with the scum of ours. How appropriate.'
'Kartik, they're all packed together. Why don't we just take them out?'
'We could just blow these bastards to hell right now, but how would your governments like to deal with the radioactive fallout of that little toy there? There's a town of twenty thousand not too far away and Brahma would vaporize us if we went back with innocent blood on our hands.'
Aaditya looked to where Kartik was pointing, and saw a large metal box just behind Maya. He sucked in his breath, realizing just what he was going to be a part of. He was also now close enough to make out Maya's features. This was the creature who had been responsible for his father's death. He gripped the weapon Kartik had given him in his right hand, raising it to point at Maya.
Kartik gently lowered Aaditya's hand.
'I know how you feel, and we will get him. But don't spoil the plan. Besides, we're at the outer edges of the range of the handheld vajra, and at this range, I'm not sure even I could take him out.'
'What if they have reinforcements? Our radar is off.'
'Narada is on the ground somewhere nearby and he'll be monitoring just that.'
Indra's voice boomed over his earpiece.
'Shiva, it's time for you to dance.'
Aaditya watched in fascination as the Ganas emerged from behind rocks on either side of the assembled group. Their weapons were out. These looked like double-sided weapons-a rifle-like barrel at one end, and a large curved blade on the other. Aaditya hadn't noticed when they had taken up their positions. Shiva was there, holding his trident in his right hand and a vajra in his left. Kartik was tut-tutting to himself.
'That's my father. I keep telling him to just use the vajra and be done with it. But he loves mixing it up.'
Maya must have sensed something. Just as the Ganas fired their first volley-streaks of light that shot out towards the daityas--he took a step back. Six or seven daityas were hit, each of them glowing a bright red for a second before they seemed to implode in on themselves, turning into mounds of dust that fell to the ground where they had stood.
The Ganas closed in, moving with amazing agility, rolling in under the blows of the larger daityas and cutting them off at the knees with their blades. Shiva kicked one daitya to the ground, when Narada's voice cut in, 'Kartik, three pick-up trucks approaching from the south-east, just behind that grey peak. I think our turbaned friends have reinforcements.'
Their vimana swung into a sharp turn and climbed. Aaditya peered out the cockpit and as they crossed the peak, spotted the approaching vehicles. One had a large caliber machinegun mounted on its back, and each one was bristling with men armed with rifles and RPGs.
'Aadi, this is no video game. When we fire, men will die. And since your world's chemical composition is, to put it mildly, a bit different, they won't disappear into dust. There will be blood and gore where men once stood.'
Aaditya could feel his throat dry up. Then Kartik stunned him with his next statement, 'When we fire, we will be seen. So the first shot is the only one which will surprise. Go on, make it count.'
'What do you mean?'
'You wanted to fly and fight. Go on, I won't tell anyone. Take the first shot, and then I'll take over.'
Aaditya was too stunned to respond. Kartik leaned over and put a plug in his right ear. As had happened earlier, Aaditya felt a sharp jolt of pain.
'Just think where exactly you want to aim, and then choose your weapon. The vajra will get these vehicles and also tear up any man. For armored vehicles or long-range shots, use an astra, which is like your missiles. Come on, take the shot.'
Aaditya looked at the lead vehicle, the one with the large machine gun. He imagined a shot taking out the vehicle precisely where the gun was mounted.
'Good pick. That's the weapon that could have caused problems. Now, hurry up before they get too close.'
Aaditya was about to fire when he saw the men gathered on the truck. The one closest to the gun was little more than a boy, with a beard that had not yet fully grown and a rifle that hung awkwardly from one shoulder, as if it were still a bit heavy for him. Aaditya imagined killing him, then paused. He couldn't do it. Kartik took the plug out of Aaditya's ear and put it in his own.
The vehicle exploded into a giant fireball as a bolt of light slammed into it. The two trucks behind it careened to the side of the road, some of the men firing at the flying vehicle they now saw in the sky.
'Sorry but there was no more time. Let me do this.'
Another truck exploded before the men in the third truck realized that they were sitting ducks and began jumping out to take up positions behind rocks. One rocket snaked up towards the vimana. A bolt of light intercepted it, and the rocket exploded while it was still far away. Kartik was now hunting individual targets, streaks of light reaching out and hitting men hiding behind the rocks with the precision of a sniper rifle. The last man threw down his guns and raced away into the mountains, perhaps to tell his comrades of the incredible new weapon the Americans had unleashed on them.
Suddenly Indra's voice boomed into their ears.
'Come back, we're done here.'
Kartik took the vimana back to the scene of the main battle and set it down a few feet away from the nearest jeep. All three Asura vimanas were still there. Indra placed a glowing orb in each and stepped back. They imploded and disappeared into puffs of dust. There was no sign of the daityas, but the dust swirling in the wind told Aaditya what their fate must have been. It looked like the Asuras had not been the only ones to suffer losses, as three Ganas were also missing.
Kartik opened the cockpit, and the first thing that hit Aaditya was the stench. A smell like badly burnt meat. He controlled himself from gagging but when he disembarked and came closer, he doubled over and retched loudly. Spread out before him were the charred remains of the Al Qaeda men. He felt a hand touch his shoulder softly. It was Indra.
'That's why we try and avoid bloodshed, Aadi. War sounds glorious, but it is an ugly thing to behold.'
Aaditya retched again, and his eyes watering, walked weakly towards the Devas, who had gathered near Shiva. He could hear Shiva talking, anger and frustration evident in his voice.
'Maya and one daitya got away, and they have the nuclear weapon with them.'
'They couldn't have gotten far, Father. Should we hunt them from the sky?'
Indra shook his head.
'No Kartik, by now lots of people would be on their way. The Americans would have seen the smoke and Asura reinforcements are no doubt on the way to pick up Maya. Plus, we succeeded in preventing them from carrying out their plan. Let's go back.'
Aaditya's eyes were blurred with the smoke and his own tears. His throat was burning from the two times he had thrown up. He felt weak, like a coward. He had asked to fight, asked to be sent out to avenge his father, but then had behaved like a scared child. He turned to his right, away from the smoke, to clear his eyes, and also to not have to face the Devas. A movement behind some rocks in the distance caught his eye. A dark shape emerged from the shadows. It was a daitya with a long weapon at his shoulders. He was aiming at the Devas. Aaditya saw him shift his aim slightly. His eyes followed the daitya's aim, and realized he was aiming at Shiva.
Even before he could think, Aaditya was running towards Shiva. The Devas turned towards him, shouting, asking him what was wrong. He ran past Kartik and jumped at Shiva, using all his strength to push the Deva out of the way. A bolt of light streaked towards them, missing Shiva by inches. Aaditya fell to the ground, a terrible pain shooting through his left arm. It felt as if his entire arm was on fire and he screamed in agony. As he rolled on the ground and came up, the Devas had already exploded into action. Shiva and Kartik were sprinting towards the rocks where the shot had come from. Shiva leapt out of the way of another blast while Kartik, firing his vajra on the run, went forward. The daitya must have fled for they jumped over the rocks and disappeared from view in hot pursuit.
Aaditya felt a blast of hot air as Indra's vimana took off. His headset came alive.
'Aadi, stay here. I'll watch from the sky to ensure there are no more surprises.'
Aaditya crawled towards Kartik's vimana, and leaned against it. He took a look at his left arm. It seemed to have been burnt from the elbow down, and was a bleeding, black mess. Wincing at the pain, he lay back, his eyes closed, as he waited for the Devas to return. He heard some movement nearby and opened his eyes. He found himself staring into the terrifying snake eyes of Maya.
He reached out for the vajra lying near his right hand, but Maya stomped down on his hand with his foot, making Aaditya shout in pain. Maya reached closer, holding a curved blade next to Aaditya's neck.
'I would love to cut your throat from ear to ear, but my master has a message for you. Take this plug and put it in your ear to hear what he has to say and you may learn what really happened to your father and not the lies the Devas have fed you.'
Then Maya straightened and hesitated for a second, perhaps tempted at the prospect of flying back in one of the Deva vimanas, but a shout from Shiva sent him scampering into the rocks.
Aaditya lay there wordlessly as Shiva lifted him up and carried him into his vimana. One of the Ganas began to tend to his wounds, and Aaditya felt his eyes closing from the pain and the fatigue and the morphine that had just been injected into him. His last thought before he slipped under was, what the hell did Kalki want with him?