Vimana (6 page)

What the hell were they?

He had little time to observe further as the man seated next to him prodded his prosthetic leg with his knife.

'So now they have an army of cripples to fight us.'

As the two men behind him sniggered, Aaditya felt anger rising within him.

'You have your cylinder, now leave me alone.'

The man picked at his fingernails with his blade.

'It's not as simple as that. You were there when so many of my daityas were crippled or killed. I had to burn them myself lest they be discovered. What a waste, but I don't tolerate failure.'

Aaditya now remembered that the man with matted hair had also called the attackers by that term.

'So first of all, will you tell me how you are involved in this? Are you one of them inserted to live with men? Or are you a paid agent?'

Aaditya had no idea what the man was referring to, and when he said so, the reaction was as instantaneous as it was brutal. The left hand shot out at blinding speed, landing a stinging blow on Aaditya's face. His lip cut and bleeding, Aaditya recoiled in pain and surprise.

'We know who you spent your morning with. How do you know my old friend Narada?'

Narada??

A second's delay in answering and the man lashed out again, but this time Aaditya was ready. He blocked the man's blow and struck back, landing a solid punch to the temple. The man rocked back, and as his two men grabbed Aaditya's shoulders from behind, he bellowed in rage.

'I will cut your heart out and eat it myself! But first, I will extract every drop of information you possess, even if I have to bleed it out of you.'

Till that point, Aaditya had harboured hopes that they would take the cylinder and be gone, and he had cooperated with them. However, he had no intention of being slaughtered like a lamb. He rocked his head back, connecting with one of the men's jaws. As the man loosened his grip in surprise and pain, Aaditya slammed his fist into the other man's eyes. Free now, he vaulted over the sofa, and ignoring the pain in his right leg from the impact, ran into his bedroom, locking the door behind him. He picked up his mobile, wallet and good luck patch from his bedside and climbed up to the roof, hoping to escape down the fire ladder on the other side of the building. He never had the time. The three men were barely a few feet behind him, having battered down his bedroom door in seconds.

Aaditya saw them climb on to the roof, and suddenly remembered what Mr Muni had said. He looked in his wallet for the visiting card and dialed the number. Before he could say anything, the larger of the three slammed into him, sending him down to the ground. Their leader was now upon Aaditya, landing a series of hammering blows. Aaditya blocked one or two, but the man was too strong and too fast, and Aaditya fell back. He saw the man bring his blade up. Aaditya landed one last desperate blow, a kick that was perhaps more painful for him than for the man. He stepped back, pivoted on his left leg, and landed a roundhouse kick with his right leg. The man swerved out of the way, but the kick slapped him across the face, sending his dark glasses flying. The two other men had now pinioned Aaditya's arms and held him against the roof's railing. The smaller man stood over Aaditya, blade in hand, and without his glasses on, Aaditya got his first look at the man's eyes.

They were not the eyes of a human being, but slanted, green and scaly, the eyes of a serpent.

That was when Aaditya began screaming.

***

The blade was but inches from Aaditya's right eye when an explosion of light shattered the darkness. His attackers turned to see what was happening. A streak of light streamed through one of the big men holding him, turning him instantly into a pile of ash. The two remaining men rolled away from beams of light aimed at them, producing small handheld devices no larger than a mobile phone through which they fired back with streaks of light. Aaditya took advantage of the chaos to hide behind the water tank, as he watched the bizarre battle unfold on the rooftop.

The white aircraft with the curved nose that he had seen the previous night was back, hovering a few feet above the roof, and beams of light were streaking out of its fuselage, targeting the two men on the roof. Then realizing that this strategy was not working, the craft came lower till it was just a couple of feet above the rooftop, and two figures leapt out.

Aaditya had seen both of them before. One was the man with the matted hair, still dressed in tiger-striped tights, who leapt through the air, stabbing the remaining large man through the neck with his trident. The other was the woman Aaditya had seen earlier. She was still dressed in white, with a long red mark running down her forehead. She engaged the man with the snake eyes.

Aaditya watched in fascination as they traded blow for blow, the snake-eyed man armed with the curved blade that had been about to pluck out one of Aaditya's eyes.  They seemed to be blocking each other's blows till the man got an opening and lashed out with his right foot, sending the woman staggering back. She recovered in a split second when the man with the matted hair came to her rescue. He had already reduced his opponent to a pile of smoking ashes. Now he leapt through the air, his agility belying his height and bulk, and landed a crushing kick on the face of the snake-eyed man. His sunglasses destroyed, and his snake eyes revealed for everyone to see, the man reeled back, and slashed with his blade. The man with the matted hair avoided the blow by inches and landed another kick that sent Snake Eyes flying, landing on his back.

It was now two against one, but the man with the snake eyes seemed to be holding his own, staying close so that his opponents could not use their handheld weapon, and countering them blow for blow. The man with the matted hair was however slowly but surely gaining an edge and Aaditya guessed that it was but a matter of time before he struck a killing blow.

That was of course till further pandemonium was created by the arrival of two saucer-shaped flying vehicles. Six dark giants rappelled out of them, and the tables were neatly turned, with the man in the matted hair and the woman with him now going on the defensive. Seven against two turned out to be odds too heavy for them, and even though one of the attackers was soon lying lifeless on the ground, the others pressed home.

If Aaditya had thought he had seen it all, one more flying vehicle appeared. This one was blue and seemed to be painted to resemble a peacock. It landed on the roof feet away from Aaditya, and a solitary figure leapt out and joined the melee. The newcomer was smaller than the other men, but moved with the grace and agility of a gymnast. He cartwheeled and rolled through the five men in black, striking so fast with a concealed blade that Aaditya could not even see a single blow land. When he had come up in a half crouch on the far side of the roof, Aaditya saw that three men were down. Now it was four versus three, and as another dark giant fell, Aaditya could see the man with the snake eyes begin to falter. His two remaining men were still engaged in a life or death struggle, but he had begun to move back slowly but surely.

As the battle raged, Aaditya took his first close look at the blue craft that was near him. It had a tapered nose and a raised transparent canopy like many fighter jets but nothing else about it resembled any aircraft Aaditya had ever seen. There was no tail fin, no signs of any air intakes or jet engines. The fuselage was flat and thin as if it didn't have to be encumbered with things like fuel or engines, and as far as Aaditya could see, the aircraft was shaped like a triangle.

Aaditya looked behind him to see that one of the saucer-shaped craft had now come within feet of the roof, and Snake Eyes had begun to move towards it. Unfortunately that brought Aaditya straight in his path. He stopped, glaring at Aaditya, murder glowing in his reptilian eyes, his blade at the ready. This is the end, Aaditya thought, when the man with the matted hair called out, 'Maya, you coward! Don't leave your daityas
to die while you escape to your hellhole. At least die an honourable death.'

Maya swerved out of the way as the trident that had been hurled his way missed him by mere inches. Aaditya saw that the cylinder that had been the cause of all this mayhem had fallen out of Maya's grasp and the woman had picked it up. The two remaining giants, who had been referred to as daityas, were still trying to hold back their opponents in order to give their leader a chance to escape. Maya now resumed his retreat, running towards the waiting saucer, and Aaditya. His blade was out, his arm extended, and Aaditya knew it would be seconds before he was cut down.

In panic, he looked around him and saw the blue flying vehicle standing very close. He ran towards it, and using a small step-ladder embedded on the side, climbed aboard. He was of course curious about what this craft was, but for now, he just wanted to get out of Maya's way. There were two seats arranged side by side, and a small empty space behind them. He crawled into the space, hoping to climb out as soon as Maya was gone.

He heard the faint buzz of the saucers flying away and raised his head, ready to make a getaway before anyone saw him.

Someone climbed into the cockpit.

Shit!

Aaditya pressed himself against the cold wall behind him, wishing he could make himself invisible. But nobody was looking for him. It was much, much worse. Within seconds, the pilot powered up the craft, and it took off vertically, then flew off at breakneck speed, flattening Aaditya against the wall.

The craft flew on to its destination, taking Aaditya with it.

***

FOUR

Aaditya had no idea where he was, but from glancing at his mobile phone, he learnt two things. First, the flight had so far lasted eighteen minutes, and second, he was now out of range of his cellular network. The flight had been fairly level and smooth, and as he suddenly felt the craft slow down and descend, he guessed that he was at the end of his journey.

The cockpit was momentarily enveloped in darkness as the craft descended, then it landed with a soft thump, and Aaditya heard the canopy slide open with a hiss. He waited for several minutes after he heard the pilot exit the craft, then cautiously raised his head to see if the coast was clear. When he saw no obvious signs of activity, he slowly climbed out. What he saw took his breath away.

The craft he had hitched a ride on was one of several lined up across the length of a long corridor. Most were of a similar size, and each sported animal colours and designs. The craft he had been in was coloured like a peacock, down to eyes on each side of the nose. Next to it was a similar craft coloured like a tiger and then, the white craft with raised horns he had seen during the fight at the Old Fort. At the far end of the line, he saw much larger craft, perhaps as large as commercial airliners.

Where the hell was he?

The rational part of his mind was still saying that he had found himself in the middle of some top-secret operation, perhaps carried out by the CIA. He tried hard to explain away the beam weapons that instantly reduced men to ash as advanced weapons he had not seen or heard about and the man with the snake eyes as perhaps a mere figment of his fear and imagination. Nobody had eyes like a snake in real life, did they?

With no sign of anybody around, Aaditya walked till the far end of the corridor, marvelling at the unusual craft he saw arrayed before him. He was also wondering how he could get away. If this was indeed some secret government installation, surely they would let him go once they realized that he had got mixed up in thus purely by accident. There seemed to be no doors or windows obviously visible as he looked in vain for a way out. Then he heard soft footsteps behind him, and whirled around. Standing in front of him was the man with matted hair he had seen at the Old Fort and then on his rooftop.

In the bright light, Aaditya saw that the man looked quite fearsome. His muscled body and tiger-striped body-hugging suit were in themselves intimidating, but to add to the effect, his matted hair was piled on top of his head, and his forehead and face seemed to be smeared with ash. Aaditya took a step back, not knowing what to expect. The man was looking at him curiously, and despite his fearsome appearance, his eyes seemed kind, and he spoke softly.

'How on earth did you get here?'

Aaditya realized that dressed in his old T-shirt and shorts that he wore to bed, and wearing no footwear, he must be looking like a vagabond. He reached into his pocket to fish out Mr Muni's card, hoping that would establish that he meant no harm. It turned out to be a bad move. The man started at Aaditya's sudden movement and before Aaditya knew what had happened, a massive punch landed on his face.

Everything went black.

When Aaditya regained consciousness, he was lying on the floor in a small room. There was no furniture around, and as he sat up, he rubbed his jaw where the man had struck him. It still hurt like hell. He realized that his phone, wallet and lucky patch had all been taken from him. As he sat contemplating the situation, a portion of the wall in front of him slid open. Mr Muni walked in, a bemused expression on his face.

Aaditya sprang to his feet and began to explain himself.

'Aaditya, relax. I know you meant no harm, and I know what happened on your rooftop, and I apologize if the one who struck you hurt you.'

'Mr Muni, I still don't know which organization you work for, and honestly, I don't care. All I want to do is to get back to my home.'

Mr Muni sighed.

'Yes, I was afraid you'd want that.'

A sinking feeling came into Aaditya's stomach at those words.

'You can't keep me here! I swear I will not tell a soul anything. Just send me back, and you won't ever hear from me again.'

Mr Muni walked closer to Aaditya. He looked almost sad.

'Aaditya, I wish it were as simple as that, and that I could decide on your fate all by myself. But the stakes here are higher than you can imagine.'