Neel Dervin and the Dark Angel (3 page)

“And how
did she know the combination for opening the safe containing the serum?”
the General growled, his eyes narrowing. “Do you routinely share critical information of that
sort with yoursubordinates?”

“She knew because I had told her.”
Doctor Fahim said, his voice becoming sharper.
“Kindly do not make unfounded and damaging insinuations against Miss Nayak, General.
This accident was not a „private matter‟, as you called it just now. This serum was designed
to help people, which is what she did. Divya has worked on this project with me for the last
four years, and I trust her implicitly.”

“But I‟m afraid
I
do not trust her, DoctorFahim.” the General said, breathing hard as
he staredat the doctor. “And I do not trust you either. This is why I was against using
civilians in the project in the first place. They can never be trusted to follow orders.”

“Calm down,
General.” the defense Minister now spoke up, putting a hand on the
General‟s shoulder. “We cannot change the past. What has already happened is beyond our
control. We need to decide how to deal with this new situation. Miss Nayak, will you tell us
exactly what happened? We only know the barestdetails.”

Divya took a deep breath and began to tell them what had happened at the intersection;
the accident, theboy‟s broken body landing on the road, his life ending in front of her, and
then the serum. The three men listened in silence.

“I didn‟t think I had a choice.” Divya said. She looked at Doctor Fahim almost
pleadingly. “The boy was dying in front of me.”

“
It was the only course to pursue,Divya.” Doctor Fahim said quietly. “You did what any
decent human being would have done. Wecannot blame you for it.” The General shot a look
at the doctor, but did not say anything. Doctor Fahim ignored him.

“I called the police on the way over.” t
he General said. “The man who was driving the
car was caught two miles later. Some idiot with too much alcohol in his body. He will be
jailed, of course,but the damage has been done.”

“The question now is, what do we do with the boy?” t
he Minister said. He stared
abstractedly at a nearby table, his forehead still creased with worry. “Provided he even
survives the operation.” He turned to Doctor Fahim.“Do you think he will survive, Doctor
Fahim?”

“It would depend on how long he can
be kept alive for the serum to take effect on his
body.” DoctorFahim said slowly. “I have already mentioned how remarkable the effect of
the serum is on the healing ability of the subject. I believe there is an excellent chance that he
will survive the operation.”

“So after all our preparations for an Alpha Soldier, instead we are stuck with an Alpha
child?” General Bakshi was no longer shouting, but the frown was still in place.

“I‟m afraid you do not fully understand, General.”
Doctor Fahim said quietly, a strange
expression on his face. He glanced at Divya.“There is a side to this new situation that you are
not aware of.”

“What do you mean?” the defense Minister was looking at Doctor Fahim warily.

 

“There is a curious property of the serum that I have not yet shared with either of you.”
Doctor Fahim said slowly.

 

“At the secretariat, you said that you had told us everything.” the Minister said, his
voice less calm than before.

“Everything that had a bearing on Project Alpha.”
DoctorFahim said. “But there was a
host of additional information related to our experiments that would have taken too long to
relate.”

“So what part of that information has suddenly become relevant to the project?”
General Bakshi stared hard at Doctor Fahim.

Divya watched the three men, hardly daring to breathe. The information that Doctor
Fahim was about to give the other two men would show them how the situation had become
much more complicated then they believed.

“The serum was tested on fully grown chimps, and the increased muscular and neural
capacity they exhibited was entirely satisfactory.” DoctorFahim said. “But a curious fact was
noticed when the chimp in question was younger. The effect of the serum seemed to be
compounded in their case.”

Doctor Fahim looked at the two men significantly, but from their expressions it was
clear that they did not understand the implications of this discovery.

“It seems that the reason behind this
augmentation is that the serum directly affects the
glands which areresponsible for the growth of the body during adolescence.” Doctor Fahim
continued.

“At this stage of the operation, I believe the behavior of test monkeys might be
considered superfluous, DoctorFahim.” the General said impatiently. “How would this detail
affect humans?”

Doctor Fahim stared at the door for a second. He turned towards the General and spoke
slowly.

“Provided that the effect of the serum is the same on humans as on the monkeys, the
serum will increase the abilities of a normal man roughly fivefold.” He paused. “However, it
will increase the abilities of someone whose body is already developing by natural processes
by ten-fold or perhaps even twentyfold.”

There was complete silence in the room as the two men realized what Doctor Fahim
meant.

 

“By „someone‟,” the defense Ministersaid slowly, “Youmean youngsters?”

 

“A youngster like the one who hassuffered the accident?” the General‟s voice was rising
again rapidly.

Doctor
Fahim inclined his head. “According to Divya, he is a teenager. That means,
if
he
survives, all the physical and mental enhancements we were expecting in the case of the
soldierswill be much greater in his case.”

Mr. Rai was staring at Doctor Fahim in blank shock. The General turned and walked
away slowly, breathing hard. Perhaps it was the thought that they were in a public area that
made the General attempt to deal with his agitation through movement rather than more
yelling.

“So this boy…” the General spoke, and Divya was surprised at how calm he sounded.
“This teenager. He will be even stronger than we had anticipated?”

 

DoctorFahim nodded somberly. “His power will be greater than anything the world has
ever seen before.”

 

The four occupants of the room gazed at each other in silence.

The Defense Minister closed his eyes, composing himself as he tried to process all the
information. His shoulders slumped as the full extent of the situation was borne upon him.
“We need to talk about this to the Prime Minister.” he said finally, rubbing his eyes tiredly.
“Please excuse us.”

The General and the Minister left the room. Only Doctor Fahim was left with Divya.
He looked at her in silence for several seconds. Then he smiled a rueful smile. “The best laid
plans washed down the drain by a single unfortunate occurrence, right,Divya?”

“I‟m so sorry, sir.” Divya whispered
. Her voice was tight with anxiety. “I wasn‟t
thinking about the consequences of my actions. And now I‟ve cost the army the project, and
I‟ve cost you all the research you did.”

“Don‟t let the G
eneral‟s harangue scare you.” Doctor Fahim said gently. “Given the
circumstances, you did the right thing. That is all anyone can ask for. This situation is the
product of an accident, so stop blaming yourself.”

“What will happen now, sir?” Divya asked soberly.

“
Well, given the unusual circumstances that this project had fallen upon, I think we will
need an unusual solution.” Doctor Fahim said thoughtfully.“Now, we will have the
opportunity to observe a very interesting partof the experiment”

“A teenage meta human.” Divya nodded.

 

“Actually, I was referring to how apoplectic the general will become before he has a
heart attack and expires.” the doctor said, his eyes twinkling.

 

Despite the gravity of the situation Divya could not help but laugh in a low voice.

“
I cannot predict how this new situation will affect the overall plan anymore than you
can, Divya.” Doctor Fahim said, his voice serious again. “But rest assured, this is not the end
of the project. The General is too determined a man to be stopped by stumbling blocks, and
the Minister is no less tenacious. The project will continue forward, one way or the other. The
child now….” Doctor Fahim frowned thoughtfully and shrugged his shoulders. “The child I
am not so sure about. I believe he will survive, but you can never be completely sure. We will
simply have to wait and see.”

* * *

Nurse Arti sat nervously in the private ward. She was only a few months into this job,
and it was the first time she had been assigned to this particular ward. The room was small
but comfortably furnished, with more amenities than the usual private hospital room
provided. It was kept separate from the other rooms, and was used for patients who required
peace and quiet to recover, or when someone well known or important was in the hospital
and wished to keep a low profile. On the single bed in front of her slept a young boy. It was
the same boy who had been admitted to the hospital two days ago. He had been heavily
sedated following the surgery, and had slept for an uninterrupted twelve hours. He had woken
up briefly in a half delirious state yesterday and fallen asleep again immediately. After the
surgery the doctors had not been very hopeful that he would survive such a serious accident,
although they admitted that his vital signs were very strong for someone who had suffered
such grave injuries. The boy‟s mother had arrived in a haze of panic the day before. She had
been calmed down and assured that her son was in the best possible care. The mother had
since been visiting the hospital regularly, if only to check on her still sleeping son.

The nurse wondered who the boy was. He had to be related to someone very
important, judging by the number of important people who seemed to be concerned about his
welfare. It was remarkable how quickly the usual red tape had been dealt with, and the boy
transferred to the most privileged room in the hospital. There were rumors among the hospital
staff that someone very high up in the government was interested in the boy‟s well being, and
it was speculated whether he was a Minister‟s son. But the security around the boy‟s identity
was air tight, and it was said that even the doctors who were treating him knew almost
nothing about his civilian identity. Even the rumor grapevine of the hospital had been unable
to extract any details.

The boy suddenly stirred. Arti was startled out of her musings. She looked at the young
patient. He was waking up, and much earlier than the doctors had hoped for. At these times it
was usual to bring in the doctor in charge of the patient and the patient‟s relatives. This time,
however, nurse Arti had different orders.

She went out of the door and hurried down the corridor. Turning around a corner, she
knocked on the door to her left. A voice called,“Come in.”

Arti opened the door and stepped halfway through. Inside the room sat a white haired
old man with a neat beard and moustache, and a girl who seemed to be in her early twenties.
They were both poring over some biometric data sheets spread out in front of them. They
looked up as the nurse‟s head appeared.

“Yes?” the old man said.

 

“Please, sir.” Nurse Arti said, her voiceslightly breathless. “The boy is waking up.”

Both the occupants of the room immediately became alert. The old man stood up and
nodded. “Thank you, nurse. Kindly go and inform a man named Mr. Bakshi about this. You
will find himin the head doctor‟s office downstairs. He will thentell you what to do.” The
nurse nodded and disappeared.

“The r
ecovery was even faster than we had anticipated.” Doctor Fahim said softly,
putting the sheets which the two had been studying back in their folder. He reached inside the
small drawer in the desk and extracted a special mobile phone General Bakshi had given him.
Turning it on, he placed it carefully in his shirt pocket. “Do you have the recorder, Divya?”

“Yes, sir.” Divya said. She reached inside her handbag lying on the table and pulled out a
tiny tape recorder, placing it in her pocket.

 

“Good.” Doctor Fahim said. He gazed at Divya for a moment, both aware of the
magnitude of thatmoment. “Are you ready?” Divya nodded mutely.

“Let‟s go.” The two walked out of the door, retracing the path the nurse had taken to call
them. They stood outside the room 449. Doctor Fahim paused at the door for a moment, his
hand on the knob. No sounds came from inside. He pushed open the door and the two entered
the room.

Inside the small, cozy room, they found the young boy sitting up straight in his bed, his
eyes closed tightly. He froze at the sound of the door opening, and slowly opened his eyes.

 

“Hello, Neel.” Doctor Fahim said softly, his gaze intent as he stared at the young boy.

 

CHAPTER 2: Alpha Child

It had not been a good day for fourteen year old Neel Dervin. He had gotten up late for
school. He had forgotten to do the work and had been unable to submit his math homework at
school, leading his teacher Ticolo to compare his ability to follow orders unfavorably to that
of a monkey‟s. The front tire of his cycle had caught a pin and punctured just as he was
setting out for his coaching institute, making him late for tuitions as he got the puncture
repaired. And then the car had crashed into him, very nearly killing him.

Neel woke up feeling unusually drowsy. He opened his eyes to what seemed like a
strange new reality. His mind was swimming, and he was experiencing a vague feeling of
disorientation. His senses could not seem to focus very well. He was conscious of being
under starched white sheets, sheets that did not belong to him. He lifted his head and
registered that he was definitely not in his room. Again it seemed difficult to focus his eyes
on anything. The room seemed very sharply defined and hazy at the same time. He was dimly
conscious of someone getting up and leaving the room, but by the time he had looked around,
the person was gone.

Neel sat up slowly in the bed, trying to get back his bearings. Bits and pieces of
memory were hovering in his mind. An image floated through his brain. A car crashing into
him. Blinding pain. Darkness. A violent shudder passed through Neel‟s frame as the images
became clear, and his heart beat wildly. He stared around the room, reminding himself that he
was safe now. Hewasn‟t on the road any longer. He was perfectly safe, here in this room.