Mainak Dhar - Vimana

'Come on, Kalki is asking for you again!'

The way Maya said the word 'again' Aaditya wanted to laugh at his petty jealousy, but he knew that he was living on a knife's edge. The last three days had been a nerve-wracking experience. For all his newly discovered friendliness, Kalki would kill without a second thought at the first hint of deception.

The first test of his loyalty would be critical. When Kalki had asked him to tell some secrets of the Devas, Aaditya had not instantly volunteered it. Narada and Indra and gone through the plan with him umpteen times, and at the end, their advice had helped him survive.

He had told Kalki about the one weakness of the vimanas-the fact that their sensors went blind when they rendered themselves invisible to the naked eye. So if someone could lure them into a situation where they were forced to use their invisibility, and at the same time attack them from the air with the Asura's own vimanas or from the ground, they would for once not have the seemingly invincible edge in sensors and weapons they otherwise seemed to possess.

The very next day, he had been invited back to Kalki's command center for a test. A radar display showed an area over Afghanistan, beamed back from a high-flying drone. Maya and four pilotless drones based on the stealthy F-22 fighter were loitering over northern Afghanistan. In the valleys below, a team of daityas was prowling in the shadows with Al Qaeda terrorists, planning to execute a spectacular attack on a US base. Aaditya guessed this was another attempt by Kalki to aid Al Qaeda in return for having them do his bidding. As Aaditya watched the display, he saw three dots representing vimanas of the Devas appear on the screen. They would have picked up Maya and his drones now, and two of them established a patrolling pattern over the area, ready to shoot them down if they interfered. One of the vimanas came closer to the ground, and by now Aaditya assumed it had gone invisible so as not to be seen by the daityas and their terrorist acolytes. In the past, faced with such a situation, Kalki would have feared committing his forces to battle, assuming that the Deva vimanas would pick up his every move, but now he knew that the vimana close to the ground was effectively blind.

Kalki had not told Aaditya what he had planned, but as Aaditya saw the plot unfold, he began to worry that he would indeed cause one of the Devas to die. A single Asura vimana had been lying still on the floor of the valley, all its sensors and engines off, covered by radar absorbent sheets. On Kalki's command, it rose vertically into the air and attacked the Deva vimana. The Asura pilot launched a volley of missiles that the other Devas must have picked up since the Deva vimana near the ground suddenly began evasive maneuvers and the other Devas obliterated the attacking vimana with a barrage of astras then proceeded to wipe out the daityas and their followers. Aaditya heard Maya's exultant voice.

'I think we got at least one hit! He's trying to limp back to base. Should we chase them?'

'Get back, you fool. Now that they know our game, they will swat you out of the sky.'

Kalki had looked at Aaditya in a totally different light since that moment. He had learnt that the Devas were not actually invincible in the sky, and most importantly for Aaditya, he had come to trust him. So Aaditya had been moved to a luxurious room and allowed more freedom to move around some areas of the base.

Maya had resented this, but with Kalki insisting that Aaditya be now treated as a valuable asset, he had little choice.

'Come in, I thought it's time I allowed you see the bigger picture.'

As Aaditya entered the command center, Kalki put down an ancient looking clay tablet on the table in front of him. The tablet had columns of strange symbols etched on to it.

'What is this?'

'This is the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar. Nowadays they just call it the Mayan calendar. The earliest examples date to perhaps the 2nd century AD, but they created a firestorm of controversy when people started interpreting them.'

'What's so special about them?'

Kalki smiled as he reached out to run his long talons along the surface of the tablet, making a screeching noise that grated on Aaditya's nerves.

'Have you seen the movie 2012 ?'

Aaditya remembered the special effects thriller he had seen on DVD a couple of years ago. The connection struck him.

'It said that the Mayans knew the world would end in 2012, right?'

'Not just 2012, Aaditya, but one specific date. December 21, 2012.'

Aaditya remembered some more of the movie and another connection formed in his mind.

'Tsunamis, tidal waves wiping out civilization. Is that why you're…I mean, do you know if this is actually going to happen and you're trying to make it worse with the tsunamis you plan to create?'

Kalki looked at Aaditya indulgently, like an adult smiling at a child who has just said something intelligent.

'Aaditya, I have no idea whether the Mayans knew anything or not, and don't know if anything will happen on that date because some ancient priests saw visions brought on by drugs. What I do know is what I will make happen on that day.'

A sinking feeling came over Aaditya.

'Your legends and religions are quite clear. The Mayans had their end of the world, and the Bible actually says that when the Day of Judgment comes, the waters prevail upon the Earth. So I will give them what they predict. On that day, the oceans will rise under my command and swamplands. Then as your holy books predict, I will emerge as the God returned to reclaim his children and cleanse the world of sin.'

Aaditya couldn't help but stifle a laugh at the thought of the massive, horned monster standing before him trying to pass himself off as God. Kalki snorted in anger, and Aaditya quickly wiped the smile off his face. Trusted or not, he knew that he couldn't push his luck too far.

'Fool, they will not see this form of mine. This hideous mutation was caused by the weapons my father and his followers unleashed on me. I could have had them treated, but I carry them as a reminder of the injustice that was done to me. No, they will see me as I once was.'

A door slid open, and a holographic figure slid into the room. Aaditya gasped as he saw what Kalki had once looked like. Still seven feet or more tall, but with flowing blonde hair, a chiseled face, a physique that looked so perfect that it deserved to belong in a museum immortalized in a statue than on any mortal being. The only words that came to Aaditya's mind were-a Greek God.

'Your blind faith and superstition, which the Devas have thrived on, will be turned against them. My children will once again be mine. If the Devas choose to fight, I will fight, aided by my human followers, bringing to life your own legends and prophesies of Armageddon. With the help you will give me, we will wipe them out once and for all. The Devas may be powerful in the air, but I am cloning an invincible army of daityas that no power on land can resist. The false gods will fall, and I will take what has always been mine.'

Aaditya felt numb with fear as the full extent of Kalki's plan hit him. He had only a couple of months now. He had to find a way to get out of the base and back to the Devas.

***

One of the benefits of his newly found favourite status was that Aaditya had been given a room with a view. His room had large glass sliding doors leading to a small balcony that overlooked the fields far below. Aaditya had not been sure where exactly he had been in the giant pyramid, but the first time he stepped on to the balcony, he had felt almost giddy. His room was near the very top of the pyramid, which itself was no shorter than the highest skyscraper Aaditya had seen. The gleaming gold pyramid towered over the humans toiling in the fields below, reminding them who really was in charge here. Kalki may have intended the room to be a reward for Aaditya, but seeing the ant-like figures of men and women working away in the fields below made him feel even sadder. So many lives snatched away, so many families destroyed, all so Kalki could build and feed his army of monsters. But the vantage point had its advantages. Aaditya had observed when the military prisoners, housed somewhere in the pyramid, unlike the civilians who lived in slums just outside the fields, were brought out for their daily walks. The long line of men and some women would walk out in single file, their feet manacled, the daityas watching over them, mingle briefly with each other, savour the artificial sun and wind and then go back to the dark isolation of their cells.