Vimana (14 page)

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?

***

EIGHT

When Aaditya opened his eyes, Tanya was standing over him. He wanted to ask what had happened, but before he could say anything, she smothered him in kisses.

'If I'm dead, this is a pretty good heaven to go to.'

Tanya smiled and hugged him. 'Why the hell did you have to go and be a hero?'

Aaditya didn't know what to say to that, so he just lay back on the pillows that were propping him up. His left arm was heavily bandaged, and he still felt a bit dizzy from all the medication that must have been pumped into him from the IV drip that was attached.

'Tanya, I'd like a word with this hero of yours.'

Shiva sat down next to Aaditya and Tanya excused herself, walking out of the room.

'Aadi, do you know why I asked to take you along on this mission?'

Aaditya just looked at Shiva's blue eyes that were looking straight at him.

'So I could rid you of what I thought were your foolish notions about going into battle. So you would see that battle and death are ugly things that you don't have the stomach for.'

Aaditya thought back to how he had reacted on seeing the dead bodies and wondered if Shiva was in fact right. Then Shiva surprised him. 'But you proved me wrong. It takes a far braver man to risk his own life to save someone than to just take someone's life. Thank you.'

Shiva left the room, just as Kartik walked in. The younger Deva looked happy, with a smile on his face, and was whistling a tune.

'Aadi, you are making a habit of rescuing Devas in trouble, aren't you?'

Aaditya motioned for him to sit down and asked if they had got Maya.

'No, he got away. But here's a secret, next time one of us looks like we're in danger, if there are other Devas around, don't worry too much.'

'Why's that?'

'We're a bit harder to kill than humans,' said Kartik with a grin.

'If you really have been around for 15,000 years, I'd say you live a fair bit longer than us.'

Kartik laughed and answered, 'The bodies you see are just shells. We created these shells to better fit into the environment we are in. Our true form is more energy than a physical body. So, even if our physical body is destroyed, we can create a new one.'

'So I wasted a perfectly good chance to escape by coming back with you.'

Kartik's expression became more sombre.

'No, my friend, you did save my life. If our body is destroyed, we have but a couple of hours to transfer to a new shell. So I do owe you a debt, and I fully intend to repay it.'

'And how will you do that?'

Kartik leaned closer.

'By teaching you how to fly a vimana.'

Aaditya sat up, not believing what he had just heard.

'So you've decided I can fly after all?'

Kartik's grin was back.

'Who am I to decide? My father is raving about your courage and he appealed to Brahma, and there you have it. You will now be trained as a pilot.'

A hard glint came into Kartik's eyes as he continued, 'And, perhaps one day, you can get the opportunity to avenge your father.'

The next week passed in a blur of treatments and sedation and being nursed back to health by Tanya. On the latter count, if ever Aaditya had any doubts, they were firmly dispelled now. He was, as the old song went, truly, madly and deeply in love with her, and it seemed that she felt the same way. What more could a guy ask for?

If Aaditya thought his life was good, he had never bargained for what happened next. He was rudely awakened, bundled out of bed and a blindfold placed around his eyes. He struggled in vain against the strong arms that held his hands behind him and marched him out of his room.

'What the hell is going on?'

There was no answer as he was pushed out. Then his blindfold was opened and he gaped in shock at what he saw before him. It was a gleaming silver vimana, looking much like what Kartik's did- a sleek, triangular craft with a tapered nose and a raised cockpit. Except this one was not covered in any animal livery. On its side was painted the crest that Aaditya always carried as a good luck charm, the squadron badge that had once belonged to his father. He didn't know what to say and turned to find Kartik, Shiva, Indra and Narada standing next to him.

Shiva thumped him on the shoulder.

'I thought it fitting that you ride with the insignia that once belonged to your father. As for this morning's theatrics, they were entirely my son's idea.'

Kartik grinned.

'At least you can't accuse us Devas of not having a sense of humour. Now come on and follow me in your vimana.'

Aaditya ran into his craft and into the cockpit. It seemed identical to the one he had been in with Kartik. There were two earplugs and he inserted them. Kartik's voice came in over his headset.

'You know the basics by now. Gently raise the vimana and follow me out. Then, the fun begins.'

Kartik's vimana gracefully slid out of the open hangar door, while Aaditya's exit was much more wobbly and clumsy. Conscious of the narrow space he was maneuvering in, his vimana wobbled its way out till he was in the valley, hovering a few feet above the ground. Kartik's vimana was just a few feet away and slightly above him. Then, Kartik's vimana seemingly disappeared in a blur of speed, as his laughing voice echoed into Aaditya's ears, 'Catch me if you can!'

Where the hell have you gone, Kartik?

No sooner had Aaditya thought that, the holographic display appeared, showing the blue dot representing Kartik's vimana speeding away, in an almost vertical climb. Aaditya ordered his vimana to accelerate to a matching speed- a thousand kilometres per hour and follow Kartik's trajectory. The vimana responded immediately, and Aaditya was pushed back into his seat as it entered a vertical climb. Aaditya increased his speed and soon was rapidly closing the distance to Kartik's vimana. He was now passing 50,000 feet altitude and suddenly it struck him just what he was doing.

Here he was, doing what he had always dreamed of, indeed doing more than he had ever imagined- piloting a craft with capabilities beyond what any fighter aircraft was capable of. That feeling of exhilaration stripped away any remaining nervousness he had, and he joined the chase in earnest. Within a minute, he was within visual range of Kartik's vimana.

'Got you!' Aaditya exulted over the intercom.

'Not bad, now just try and get me off your tail!'

Kartik's vimana swerved to the right in a tight turn, and before Aaditya knew it, Kartik was on his tail. Aaditya took his vimana through a series of evasive maneuvers, turning right and left, doing a loop to try and turn the tables, but whatever he did, Kartik remained rooted behind him. Finally out of sheer exasperation, Aaditya spoke up, 'Gimme a break! What the hell do I do?'

'Aaditya, this is tougher than flying a normal plane since you telegraph your moves before you even realize it.'

'What do you mean?'

'Our vimanas are thought controlled, what we called mantric vimanas. So, your craft will start reacting the moment you think of a maneuver, which may be even before you are consciously aware of it. Since your mind is the key, flying our vimanas is as much about learning to control your mind as it is about flying skills.'

The lessons continued, and Aaditya's days fell into a predictable but delightful routine. Evenings spent with Tanya, days spent in the sky with Kartik, and any spare time in the camaraderie of the Devas. In his second week of flying lessons, he got his first exposure to Asuras in the sky. He and Kartik had been flying over Southern China, when his display picked up two red dots about five hundred kilometres away.

'Asuras, my friend. Care to pay them a visit?'

Even before Aaditya could think of what to say, Kartik had turned towards the red dots. Not knowing what else to do, Aaditya followed. He noticed that Kartik had slowed down to less than two hundred kilometres per hour, and he followed suit, pulling alongside Kartik.

'Aadi, this is a live lesson in what our enemies are made of. We have two key advantages that they would kill for. First, their vimanas are mechanically controlled, much like human fighter planes, what we call kritika vimanas. That means that we have an advantage in reaction time and maneuverability with our thought controls. Second, their sensors are nowhere as good as ours. We can see them from more than five hundred kilometres out, but they won't know we are there till we're within a hundred kilometres of them.'