Mainak Dhar - Vimana

Aaditya's skepticism must have shown on his face, so Kalki stopped.

'You don't believe me.'

'Look, I know my father better than you and I can't understand why he would ever choose to side with you.'

'Tsk, tsk, the Devas have indeed brainwashed you well. Good and evil are so easy to understand when you think of them as black and white concepts, but reality consists of so many shades of grey. The Devas want to rule over you as gods. All I wanted was to give humans the freedom to choose. Call me a capitalist and them benevolent socialists. That's all the difference there is between us.'

Seeing that Aaditya was still not convinced, Kalki continued with his account.

'So he acted as my adviser on how best to both reach out to humans and how to defeat my adversaries in the air.'

'What happened to him? If he served you so well, why is he not around?'

Kalki looked at Aaditya, surprise in his eyes.

'You mean you really think I killed him? The ones who killed him are your beloved Devas.'

Aaditya's mind refused to believe that. He began to get up, but Kalki held his wrist with a vice-like grip.

'That's why I wanted to meet you. If nothing else, I hoped that you would want to avenge your father and help me against the Devas.'

As suddenly as he had gripped Aaditya's wrist, he let it go.

'The choice is yours. Now, sleep over it and let me know what you choose tomorrow morning. I do hope you choose to cooperate.'

There was no menace in Kalki's tone of voice, but the burning embers in eyes made Aaditya shudder. He was walking back to his room, escorted by Maya, when suddenly a loud siren rang out. Maya grabbed his hand.

'Run, come on!'

Maya dragged him along the corridor till they reached his room, and then faced him as the door slid open.

'Something's going on. You get inside your room and wait till I come for you again or Kalki sends for you.'

With that, Maya was gone, sprinting down the corridor. Aaditya was about to enter his room when it struck him. In his hurry to get away to deal with whatever had happened, Maya had forgotten to put Aaditya inside the room and lock the door. Aaditya was now standing at the threshold. If he walked inside, the door would close behind him. He thought about it for a second and then stepped back out into the corridor. Aaditya would explore for himself what exactly went on in this underwater world that Kalki had created for himself.

'Help me! For God's sake, please help me!'

Aaditya had been nearly knocked off his feet by the man who had run into him and before he could recover, the man was holding on to his hand, pleading with him.

Aaditya had been exploring the corridors of Kalki's fortress when he had stumbled upon a steep spiral staircase that seemed to lead deep underground. A good thirty minutes of climbing down the stairs led him to a narrow corridor then to a brightly lit area. He was about to return to his room when the man had stumbled into him.

Aaditya pulled the man into the shadows and in the dim reflected light of the, he got his first good look. The man was emaciated, as if he had not eaten well for days, his ribs sticking out prominently through the thin white vest he wore. His eyes looked desperate, even crazed. His white hair was matted with sweat and clung to his scalp.

'Are you one of them? Are you one of them?'

The man kept asking Aaditya the same question over and over again. Over his shoulder Aaditya saw two shadows moving across the corridor ahead. He flattened himself against the wall, clamping his hand over the man's mouth to keep him shut.

He peered around the corner to see two daityas, each carrying large axes, walk into view. One of them paused just a few feet from Aaditya.

'Looks like he got away. Maya will have us skinned alive if he gets to know.'

The other daitya shrugged.

'Where the hell will he go? Sooner or later we will get him.'

As they disappeared from view, Aaditya removed his hand from the man's mouth. Realizing that he was safe for now, the man slumped to the ground. Aaditya sat down next to him, and turned to look. The man was white, and when he spoke, Aaditya realized that he was most likely American.

'Where the hell have you come from? I haven't seen a man as well fed as you in years.'

Aaditya didn't quite know where to begin. Why was this man running free in the heart of Kalki's fortress? He answered with a question of his own.

'Who are you?'

The man stood up straight, and Aaditya realized that he stood as tall as him.

'I am Colonel James Lafferty, United States Air Force. You can call me Jim.'

'You're an US Air Force Officer? What the hell are you doing here?'

The man put his hand to his lip, motioning for Aaditya to lower his voice.

'Look, kid, you're not one of his spies, otherwise I'd be demon feed today. I don't know who you are but if we hang around here, we will be found sooner or later. Come on.'

The man ran through the corridor, Aaditya struggling to keep up with him. Jim hoisted himself up to what looked like an air vent. He removed the grill and climbed in, then held out a hand for Aaditya.

'Come on in.'

Aaditya followed him, crawling on all fours through a narrow shaft for several minutes. Jim kept taking abrupt turns and Aaditya had a tough time keeping up in the near total darkness. Finally the man stopped.

'Here we are. Home sweet home.'

They climbed down another vent and Aaditya saw that 'home' was a narrow space, probably lodged in between the walls. There were two cardboard boxes in a corner and a dirty mattress. Jim motioned for Aaditya to sit down on the mattress, and then reached into one of the boxes to pull out a bottle of water, which he emptied in a few gulps.

'Ah, that feels good. Today I thought I was done. Years of running like a rat have made me a bit jumpy.'

Aaditya saw the man reach into the folds of his baggy trousers and stood up in alarm when he took out a large, curved blade of the sort he had seen Maya and the daityas carry. The blade seemed to be covered with blood, which the man wiped dry on a cloth he took out from a box. Now Aaditya was really worried and he stepped back, wondering what he had gotten himself into. Jim looked at Aaditya, his soft eyes at odds with the bloody weapon he held in his hands.

'Kid, tell me your story.'

'It's a long one. I don't know where to begin.'

'Start at the beginning. What's your name?'

Aaditya nodded and the man fished out two apples, tossed one to Aaditya, who bit into it before answering. 'I'm Aadi. Look, Colonel, Jim, how do I know I can trust you? For all I know, you're one of Kalki's men.'

Jim laughed, taking a big bite of his own apple.

'Aadi, the blood on the blade was from one of the demons who was chasing me. I got one, but three to one is odds too great for me at my age. As for trust, I'm the one who's taking a risk. I've been hiding out here for almost two years, and at last count, I've taken out at least twelve of the demons. If you work for that horned bastard, then I'm the one who will be roasted alive. So don't talk to me about trust.'

After that Aaditya related his entire story starting from the battle at the Old Fort, and then what had happened over the past year. The man's eyes widened when he heard about the Devas and how they had been locked in a war with Kalki and his minions for millennia. He almost whispered, 'So there is hope. We all thought Kalki was just waiting to take over our world and there was nobody to stop him.'

'We?'

Jim looked at Aaditya quizzically, then smiled.

'You have no idea how many people are down here. At least five thousand men and women are kept as slaves to grow food, clean the place, serve food and so on. And then there are the two hundred or so military types. All of them kept in cages, no better than animals.'