Vimana

by Mainak Dhar

  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 dis
appeared 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.'

  Aaditya soaked in the information as he kept looking at the red dots on his display, now closing in towards him and Kartik.

  'Unfortunately, Brahma has forbidden combat this close to our base, since we don't want to attract attention in case any humans spot explosions. So today, we fly away.'

  Kartik's vimana dove away, and Aaditya followed suit. By now, while not nearly as fast or as quick as Kartik, Aaditya had reached a point where he could fly without requiring too much instruction. As he flew back to the base, he thought that, for the first time outside of his dreams or video games, he could truthfully say that he was a pilot.

  He found Tanya waiting in his room. A quick kiss, and then she was about to leave.

  'Brahma wants me to work on a special project. I'm going crazy with work.'

  'What project?'

  'He's asked me to think through what people's reactions could be from a religious standpoint if the Devas make their presence public.'

  Aaditya had heard mention before about the Devas thinking of how they would handle their first official contact with humans. He asked what Brahma had in mind.

  'He doesn't tell me, but I think he's worried that with the way Kalki's going, it may become inevitable if the war comes into the open.'

  As Aaditya started to change, Tanya stopped at the door. 'Hey Aadi, I found a weird looking plug in one of your pockets. I was about to throw it away but thought I'd ask if you needed it. Be back soon, sweetheart.'

  Aaditya looked at the small plug lying on the table, and his heart stopped for a second. In all the excitement of the last few days, he had forgotten all about it. He reached out with shaking fingers to pick up the plug that Maya had given him in Afghanistan.

  What did Kalki have to say to him about his father?

  ***

  'I am honoured to be speaking to Ghosh's son.'

  The deep, measured voice sounded like it belonged to a sports commentator rather than a renegade god out to destroy the world.

  'What a twist of fate! The son of the man who served me so well now serves my enemies. I hear you are quite a favourite of the Devas, and if you are half the man your father was, I don't blame them. Words are cheap, and you may not believe me, but I am not who Brahma and the Devas make me out to be. If ever you really want to learn what happened to your father, come to me. The Devas know where I am, and I know exactly where they are. Since we cannot break each other's defences, we play our game of cat and mouse all over your planet. But I do hope to get a chance to see you.'

  Aaditya took the plug out and sat back, thinking about what he had just heard. What had happened to his father? What was the truth about Kalki? If his father had indeed lived after the accident and worked for Kalki, why had he not come back?

  That night, as he and Tanya lay on the couch, watching TV, Aaditya asked her, 'Hey, I was wondering what the deal with Kalki is. I mean, he's Brahma's son, isn't he? So, why's he such an enemy of the Devas?'

  Tanya propped her chin up on her palms and looked at Aaditya. 'They say he was Brahma's favourite son. The strongest, the smartest. That's perhaps why the Devas took his betrayal so hard. But what's with the interest in Kalki? How's your flying going?'

  The next day, Aaditya went to meet Ganesha, who was still lost in his monitors and data.

  'Hey Ganesha, was thinking of doing some research on the Asuras. Any idea where I could start?'

  'You've come to the right place. Sit down on the red chair there. That's where we bring up our archives. I'm afraid you may not be able to access everything, but whatever's cleared for you to see is there. All you need to do is ask.'

  Aaditya got all he wanted to know about the Asuras and their vimanas, and then some. There were detailed manuals on the daityas and how best to defeat them. For some reason, a strike to the back of the neck seemed to work. He learnt about battles from Earth's ancient past. Under other circumstances he would have loved to sit and learn about how the Devas defeated an army of daityas in battle on the banks of the Euphrates River using tactical nuclear weapons more than 12,000 years ago. But, try as he may, he got no hits on Kalki. All he got were references of him leading the Asuras, or to plots he had hatched. But there was nothing about who he really was and why the Devas hated and feared him so much.

  His curiosity aroused, he remembered what Brahma had told him-that Kalki was also the same evil creature that lived in human memory as the Devil or Satan. If the Devas were not going to help him, he could always turn to Google. Back in his room, he brought up a web browser on the holographic display and searched for 'devil and the gods'. The world's religions essentially mirrored the story that Brahma had told him, that Satan, or Lucifer as he was known in the Bible, had been one of the angels, and was cast away by God. But why? What had caused this war that was still raging? He came across a passage from the Koran, whose translation read: 'It is We Who created you
and gave you shape; then We bade the angels prostrate to Adam, and they prostrate; not so Iblis (Lucifer); He refused to be of those who prostrate.'

  (Allah) said: 'What prevented thee from prostrating when I commanded thee?' He said: 'I am better than he: Thou didst create me from fire, and him from clay.'

  That evening, Aaditya sought out Narada in the Devas' club. Narada was sitting in a corner, sipping on some Soma. Aaditya picked up a Coke and sat down next to him.

  'You missed your flying today. All well?'

  Aaditya certainly didn't want to reveal anything about Kalki's message, but he did tell what his searches had revealed.

  'I've just been trying to find out what exactly happened to cause this war with Kalki. But I keep drawing a blank. If he was one of the Devas, is this all just about his greed for territory or something more?'

  Narada took a long sip and then replied, 'Aadi, there is one thing Brahma may not have told you.'

  Aaditya stopped, waiting to hear what Narada had to say.

  'Back home, Kalki was the prodigal son-smart, strong, ambitious, the natural heir to Brahma. But when we came here, we all saw that his ambition had a dark tinge. He was not content to wait for his turn to ascend to the top. As your holy books say, he figured it was better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven. But then he did something that we should have put an end to.'

  'What was that?'

  'He interfered in your evolution.'

  Aaditya waited for him to explain as Narada drained his glass and filled another.

  'When your books say that God made man in his own image, they are not exaggerating. Kalki used genetic engineering to make slightly smarter versions of your Neanderthal ancestors so that he could have an army of his own. Many of his experiments resulted in freaks that did not survive. But two did. The Daityas, whom he used as his muscle.'