Mainak Dhar - Vimana

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.'

'So what, I'm your prisoner now?'

Mr Muni began to walk towards the wall, indicating that their conversation was over. Then he stopped and turned.

'I do hope you come to see yourself as a guest till we figure out the best course of action.'

With those words, the wall slid open, and Mr Muni was gone, leaving Aaditya alone in the room. Barely having slept the previous night, fatigue soon got the better of him, and he dozed off on the floor. He was awakened by the sound of the door sliding open. He sat up, still groggy, and unsure of how long he had been asleep. A young woman entered the room, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. She looked no older than a college student, and was carrying a palmtop computer in one hand and a plastic bag in the other. Her dark hair was tied in a ponytail. Under other circumstances, Aaditya may have liked to linger longer on her, since she was certainly easy on the eye. But that was hardly the most pressing matter on his mind now.

He got up as she approached.

'Hello, Aaditya. I'm sorry but we aren't used to having too many unexpected guests, but I hope I can help make your stay a bit more comfortable.'

Her accent didn't sound like she was from India.

'Comfortable? I feel like I'm in Guantanamo Bay or something right now. So if you are the CIA, what comes next? Torture?'

The woman flinched at his harsh words, then regained her composure.

'Nothing like that will happen. I have some fresh clothes for you. Just leave your old clothes in the bag and we'll get them cleaned.'

Realizing how dishevelled his clothes must look, he grudgingly took the bag. As the woman turned to leave, he realized he did have something else on his mind.

'Excuse me, how do I, err, go to the bathroom?'

She smiled, something Aaditya found himself enjoying despite everything.

'Just ask,'she answered. Then, seeing Aaditya's quizzical expression, 'Just say aloud whatever you want. Try it, it's fun.'

As she walked out, Aaditya thought jail cell or not, why not give it a try? Feeling a bit silly, he said aloud, 'I'd like to go to the bathroom please.'

To his shock, a section of the wall slid open, revealing a fully furnished bathroom. When he was done, he changed into the clothes the woman had left. They were a plain white full sleeve top and track pants. But when he slid them on, they tightened around him, fitting him perfectly. Not bad, he thought. Then he said aloud, 'Can I get a Coke and a burger?'

To his delight, a section of the wall swiveled open to reveal a small table and chair. On the table was a tray with a can of Coke and a burger, which didn't taste bad at all. Further investigation revealed that when he asked for it, a bed would slide out for him to sleep on. Feeling cocky, he asked to be let go. Not surprisingly, nothing happened.

Jail or not, he was at least comfortable, well fed and could rest.

And now, he would plot a way to get out.

***

Aaditya had no way of knowing how long he had been there, but just judging from the number of times his body had told him that it needed sleep or eat, he guessed it must have been at least two days. During that time, he received no further visitors.He focused on keeping himself strong, not knowing what lay ahead. So, he ate well and exercised every opportunity he got. Finally, when the door did slide open, he saw Mr Muni, dressed in the same kind of clothes that Aaditya wore. Except that they were saffron in colour.

Mr Muni held up his lucky patch.

'I understand this belonged to your father. I thought it appropriate that you keep it.'

Aaditya took it and put it into the pocket on the side of his trousers, wondering how they knew, but he had a few questions of his own.

'Narada.'

Mr Muni looked at him, and then smiled, realizing that he had given away his name. Aaditya continued. 'So that is your name-that's what that snake-eyed freak called you. Here is what I have figured out-you are obviously some secret force, and you're worried that I will compromise you. All I've seen are the planes and this cell; I don't know anything more. Just let me go. Please.'

Narada called for two chairs, which the wall moved to reveal and he motioned for Aaditya to sit down.

'We have our secrets to protect, for sure, but it's your well being that is also at risk.'

Aaditya snorted dismissively.

'Look Aadi, I hope you're okay with me calling you by your nickname--if you had just told me you had the cylinder we could have avoided a lot of trouble. We would have taken it and made it known that you were nobody, just someone caught up by accident. But now, even if we let you go, they will come for you. They will not believe so easily that you have nothing to do with us.'

'They?'

'The ones who came to your apartment. This time, my superiors will not risk coming to your aid. We risked too much, revealing ourselves during the incident on your roof.'

Aaditya was getting tired of being a pawn. It seemed that all this Narada and his colleagues cared about was their agenda, and he was expendable. He stewed in impotent rage. The next day when the door slid open and the woman who had given him the fresh clothes came in, a plan began to form.

'I just came to see how you're doing. Mr Muni told me you were troubled and I thought if nothing else, you may want to chat.'

The last thing Aaditya wanted to do was to make small talk, but he smiled and summoned two chairs, asking her to sit. Being the polite host to the hilt, if only in his own prison cell, he also called for some juice. The woman seemed genuinely surprised at this change in his mood.

'I never asked you your name.'

'It's Tanya.'