Operation Chaos: A Gripping Action Thriller

by Himanshu Rasam

  ''So where do we find the Reclining Buddha?'' Sameer asked Shonali.

  ''There are a total of 29 caves around here and every cave has been assigned a number. I think the Reclining Buddha is in cave no. 26.''

  ''That's right,'' one of the accompanying local authorities confirmed.

  David and the commandos started to make their way to cave number 26 cautiously with Shonali, Sameer and a local expert following them.

  ''These caves are a unique representation of what artwork one could create with just a chisel and a hammer. You know, Sir, the caves were occupied for almost 700 years since around 2nd century A.D but were abandoned rather abruptly. They remained hidden, unknown to the world for almost a thousand years. It was in 1819 when John Smith, a British army officer accidently stumbled upon them, that the existence of caves came to be known,'' the local expert was giving out information even though no one paid much attention to him except Sameer and Shonali.

  ''How were these caved built?'' He got a question from Shonali.

  ''With the simple instruments available for the cutting of rocks then. The entire work was done using only three instruments - pick axe for digging purposes, chisel and hammer for more delicate work. The excavation of the caves always started from the top- from the ceiling and then gradually came downwards. The perfection in carving, the excellence in designs, rich sculptures and exceptional paintings of Ajanta cannot be rivalled. The caves express the heights of Indian cultural traditions.''

  They were halfway to cave number 26 when Sameer noticed some caves were of a specific design. He turned and asked Shonali about it.

  ''These caves comprise of mainly two categories of architectures. The first are the Chaitya Halls, or the shrines, dedicated to Lord Buddha, and the others are Viharas, or the monasteries, used by the Buddhist monks for meditation and the study of Buddhist teachings,'' Shonali said, answering Sameer's doubt.

  ''And how did they make the paint for the paintings?'' asked Sameer as they increased the pace and almost went into a jog.

  ''The technique of the painting was simple yet unique. The content of the paint mixture was mostly clay, cow dung, powered rock and sometimes mixed with rice husk,'' the local authority accompanying them answered. ''Ajanta is famous for its three dimensional paintings and special colour effects in the paintings.''

  The group moved on stone pathway which curved as each cave passed by. David looked at the rock cut caves and the shrines built inside them, the Chaitya prayer halls and the sanctum with a small pavilion with numerous Buddha images and sculptures.

  So much of history buried down in these caves. So much skill and knowledge passed down for centuries.

  After crossing a couple of caves, they stood before cave number 26 which held the answers to their questions. Shonali stepped into the cave which was illuminated by a stream of small spotlights nested in the walls to enable the tourists to see each and every detail of the amazing sculptures in the caves. No streak of sunlight reached the caves even during the brightest hours. The local authority accompanying them was wise enough to bring a big flashlight and a couple of lanterns to lighten up the cave. Shonali was overwhelmed by a strange feeling as she entered the cave, a feeling that was familiarly unfamiliar. Everything about the cave was different. The calmness inside, the silence, the serenity in its atmosphere and small miniature Buddha Sculptures peacefully meditating. David followed closely with his team as they entered the cave with extreme precaution. It was a Mahayana Prayer hall with a stupa containing image of Buddha in the pavilion. Along the whole length of the cave on the left wall was the rock cut sculpture of the Reclining Buddha, exuding a charm that enchanted everyone. All of them stood in a line just gazing at sculpture bathed in yellow spotlights. It seemed as if history had come alive.

  ''Why do they call it the 'Reclining' Buddha?'' Sameer asked the local guide.

  ''The reclining Buddha represents Shakyamuni Buddha that is the historical Buddha at his death. It is said that the Buddha knew death was approaching, and asked his disciples to prepare a couch for him in a grove. He lay there, reclining on his right side, facing west, with his head supported by his hand, as he passed into nirvana- the supreme state where one becomes free from suffering and individual existence,'' the guide replied. ''The statue of the Reclining Buddha is not supposed to evoke sadness, but rather encouragement that all beings have the potential to become enlightened and attain release from the sufferings which characterize the cycle of rebirth. The reclining Buddha has a serene and composed expression. You can observe that he is actually slightly smiling as a reminder of the serenity that comes with enlightenment''

  David suddenly interrupted the guide's free knowledge session.

  ''We don't have much time. I suppose we must start looking for the clues to the artefact. Where do we start Miss Shonali?'' David asked.

  ''I suspect that the clue must be somewhere around this sculpture. We should probably start looking for it the same way we tried to find the dhvaj - look for any transcripts, writings in the rock or hidden compartments. Let me have a look at the message that we translated from the dhvaj.''

  David had a strategy ready.

  ''Sgt Mohan, Capt. Ashish and Rakesh, take the left wall. Cpl Mahesh and Sgt. Harish take the right one. The rest will search the stupa for any unusual markings. You know we don't have time to waste boys. Move it fast.'' The Black Cats split to look for clues in the caves. The visibility was low, but the lanterns and spotlights made their work less tedious.

  In the chopper, Ranjeet was trying hard to do his job. The web evolved into something more complex with every bit of firewall he broke into. A couple of times, his intrusion was almost detected by the main servers at the Wheeler Island facility. He was 36 % through and now he was facing trouble accessing the key codes from the I.B. headquarters. He called the headquarters to confirm his security clearance.

  ''You do not have the level four and above security clearance. We cannot grant you those pass keys Mr. Ranjeet,'' replied a lady at the other end in a polite tone.

  ''No. YOU try to understand, ma'am!'' Never had Ranjeet felt so desperate. ''I am in a middle of an important job here and I cannot afford to be detected. The moment they detect an intrusion into their systems, they launch that damn missile. So unless you give me the pass keys, I can't make it further. And there is no question of backing out now so I NEED you to give me the clearance at once''. Pausing for a second, Ranjeet added, ''Madam, if you want I can get a recommendation for clearance from Colonel David D'Costa.''

  The female operator considered Ranjeet's reasoning for a moment.

  ''Hold on for a second, I will see what I can do.'' Saying so, the operator got off the phone and went to her supervisor's office.

  A minute passed by and then another.

  On the screen of Ranjeet's laptop, a window appeared.

  It was just a small window. Ranjeet didn't even realise it had come up on his screen when suddenly a timer started ticking on his console window.

  What the hell is that? Ranjeet was aghast.

  He started typing furiously, but nothing happened. There was nothing being typed in the command console. It was as if the console window was being locked down.

  Oh shit! A Lockdown. They must be changing the pass key sequence at the Wheeler island facility. If I don't get the security access key now, I am screwed.

  The servers at Wheeler Island were pre-programmed to rotate the pass key sequence every six hours. Ranjeet had successfully decoded the entire passkey sequence. It had taken all his knowledge and hacking prowess along with sweat dripping hard work of two hours. But now each and every pass key was going to be reset by the server.

  If I don't get through all this firewall now, I will be back to square one and that means starting from scratch.

  The timer on the screen read 72 seconds.

  Why don't they just give me the damn clearance? It would be a waste of time if I had to start over again. Maybe too late to stop those missiles. Ranje
et was at his wit's end.

  The marker on the screen blipped inside a small box and it was the only space on the screen where something could be typed in.

  60 seconds.

  Ranjeet had a blank space for the 16 character access password on another window. He shouted over the phone, ''Hey, is anybody there? We are running out of time!''

  47 seconds.

  ''Damn it. I need that access key!!''

  He kept on typing commands to somehow get his console window to work, but it was locked down. The timer was the only thing that moved. And it moved fast.

  38 seconds.

  There was a soft rustling heard as the operator picked up the phone and spoke on the mouthpiece, ''Ranjeet, you there? I managed to get you the clearance-''

  ''Just give the access code. I need it right now.'' Ranjeet was losing his patience.

  23 seconds.

  ''Alright, hold on. I am checking on the list. Tell me the firewall phrase.''

  ''WHEELER-IKC_103!'' was Ranjeet's immediate response.

  14 seconds.

  There was no reply.

  12 seconds.

  Silence.

  9 seconds.

  ''Hello, you there?'' Ranjeet shouted.

  ''I am unable to find it!''

  6 seconds.

  ''Hold on. Here it is - the passkey for phrase: WHEELER-IKC_103 is...''

  3 seconds.

  The sixteen spaces still remained vacant.

  Chapter 49

  Ajanta Caves,

  Outskirts of Aurangabad.

  Time - 03:40 am

  Almost twenty minutes had passed since they had started searching but nothing had come up yet. No sign of any hidden passage ways, no transcripts.

  ''It is of no use searching like this. We don't even know what we are searching for. We just got lucky at Nalanda and found the dhvaj, but this… the place is full of old sculptures and mysterious paintings. How are we supposed find the thing of which we know nothing!'' exclaimed David.

  ''Yeah, we are just throwing darts in the dark here. There must be some more clues on that dhvaj. It was the thread between Nalanda and this place,'' said Sameer.

  Shonali went through the writing on the dhvaj for the second time.

  ''The secret you seek is far simpler than you think yet very hard to find. You will need to completely devote your soul to the purpose. You will need the courage to face all the obstacles which may come in your path. Beyond the darkness is the light of wisdom. Continue your journey and you may find the answers you seek. Ah! Remember! You must surrender yourself to Lord Buddha.''

  What clue can be hidden in here? Everything looks normal-

  ..the secret you seek is far more simple than you think

  But we have no idea what we are seeking. Shonali looked at the writing again.

  You will need to completely devote your soul to the purpose... You must surrender yourself to Lord Buddha.

  Surrender to Lord Buddha?

  ''The translation of the script from the dhvaj is almost clean except for this part,'' Shonali said to Sameer, pointing the finger at that line. ''It translates as - Continue your journey and you may find the answers you seek and you must surrender yourself to Lord Buddha.''

  The line kept playing with Sameer's mind.

  Surrender to Lord Buddha... Surrender to Lord Buddha... How to surrender to this sculpture?

  Suddenly, he had a hunch.

  He explained his intuition to Shonali. ''Maybe the surrender here refers to taking blessings, to devote oneself to the Buddha.''

  ''Okay. But, how does that help?'' Shonali asked.

  ''So how do you surrender to someone or seek blessings of someone?''

  Shonali took a second to answer.

  ''Um... By bowing down or by touching his feet...''

  And then it hit Shonali- THE FEET! The feet of Lord Buddha- that's where the answer lies. Surrender yourself to Lord Buddha.

  Sameer saw the look of realisation on Shonali's face and smiled to himself. They dashed towards the feet of the sculpture!

  **********

  "39GENJ3011AKINOM"

  One second left.

  It was the astounding speed at which Ranjeet typed the password as the operator spoke which filled up the 16 blank spaces just a few milliseconds before the window closed.

  The screen went blank for a couple of seconds.

  Ranjeet crossed his fingers as he went on to type a command in his console window.

  Hope it works.

  He a typed in a test command and it executed spot on! He heaved a sigh of relief as he realised that he had barely made it through this firewall. But now the work had to go faster. Disconnecting the call, he had a little celebration in his mind and then went back to his work. He was halfway through.

  Chapter 50

  ''So you say we search around the feet? But we have already looked there. We got nothing,'' David said, looking at Shonali who was busy observing the area around the feet very carefully. She had checked for hidden compartments, but there was nothing there.

  The Black Cats watched in bewilderment as Shonali and Sameer were searching around the feet of the sculpture hysterically.

  ''Ma'am, this place was discovered a long time ago and many historians have inspected the place since; searched for secret caves, passages or cryptic sculptures. It has also been open for the public. I don’t think you will find anything new here,'' the local guide tried to convince Shonali.

  But Shonali’s mind was on fire as her intuition directed her to observe minutely, search for an opening or a mark, from every possible angle, impervious to what others were saying.

  ''You know what- there is never a timeline for history to be discovered. You cannot compartmentalise history. That is one thing that this night has taught me. I saw a script hidden in the midst of the one of the oldest stupas. And that changed my perspective of looking at history. Maybe we are looking over something, or missing something.'' There was a vehemence and a conviction in her voice that was unmistakable.

  Sameer was flashing a light towards the bottom of the feet, when he saw a glare. A very small amount light was being reflected back into his eyes. Only he could observe it because the glare fell directly on his eyes.

  What's that? A mirror?

  Sameer cleared up his throat and announced to everyone in the cave.

  ''Everyone, I need everyone to switch off their flashlights. Can we get these spotlights out too? '' he said, turning to the local guide.

  ''In a moment.'' The confused guide dialled a number from his phone.

  ''What did you find, Sameer?'' Shonali asked excitedly.

  ''Just hang on a second. Need to confirm it first,'' Sameer said, clutching his flashlight tightly.

  Everyone had turned off their flashlights and lanterns. A few seconds later, the spotlights went out. The cave was pitch black now.

  David had kept on his night vision goggles just in case of any surprise attacks in the darkness.

  Sameer switched on his flashlight and carefully directed it towards the spot from where he got the glare. After a couple of attempts, he hit the spot and observed a glare coming from an unknown spot.

  ''There!'' said Sameer pointing at the feet of the Buddha. ''Can you see a beam of light being reflected back from somewhere around the bottom of the feet of the carving?'' Sameer asked, drawing Shonali’s attention to a tiny section where the feet touched the back wall. But Shonali couldn't make out the source of the reflection in the blinding darkness. All she could see was the light from Sameer's flashlight.

  ''I can see it! A very thin beam. It goes and hits somewhere on the ceiling of the cave!'' David observed.

  Through his night visions, David had a clear picture of the light beam emerging and hitting the roof. He went and stood exactly below the point where the beam hit the ceiling. ''This is where it hits the ceiling,'' David added, pointing upwards.

  Sameer asked everyone to switch on their flashlights.

  ''Do you
think there is some sort of arrangement of mirrors over there,'' Sameer asked, pointing to the compartment in the rock near the feet of Buddha from where the ray of light had emerged.

  ''Mirrors? In such a small compartment?'' Raghav was confused.

  Shonali was the one to reply. ''Yes! It's possible and it makes sense too. While carving and excavation of these caves, mirrors or light reflecting surfaces such as pans filled with water were extensively used to disperse the light falling at the entrance of the cave inside the dark caves where the sculptures were being carved. Obviously they had no spotlights in those days, so they had to depend on reflecting surfaces to direct the light inside the caves which used to be dark even during broad daylight. So it can possibly be an arrangement of curved mirrors which must be focussing the light to that single point on the ceiling.''

  Sameer remembered the lines written on the dhvaj- Beyond the darkness is the light of wisdom.

  Sameer took a deeper look at the small hole through which the light had shot out. In the darkness he could not see much, but was pretty sure of the presence of a hollow space somewhere inside that compartment where the entire mirror mechanism would be resting.

  ''I suppose we start looking at the spot on the ceiling of the cave where the beam touched,'' David said turning to Shonali.

  ''Of course it would be hidden in the roof... Again! Nobody looks for anything on the ceiling and that's where these Buddhist monks have hidden their stuff,'' Shonali quoted, with a little smile on her face.

  The ceiling was not that high and this time they had some help from the local authorities who made arrangements for a ladder to be put up. Five minutes later, Commander David D'costa reached up to the ceiling and felt the cold stone roof against his palm. He moved his hand along the stone surface to search for any cracks or compartments. The ceiling was absolutely plain, without any sign of any hidden spaces. David switched on his night vision and tried to see the surface more clearly. After five minutes of fruitless investigation, a disappointed David was tired of searching.