by Neeraj Chand
Puzzled, she switched her phone off and again started her car, but the boy had now moved in front of her and she paused to let him pass. She bent down to replace her phone in her purse.
Which was why she missed witnessing the accident. The whole incident was over so quickly that for a moment passersby could only stare in shock. The boy moved forward to the middle of the road, and a giant black sumo raced up the road to his left. The boy had barely time to turn his head before the car had crashed into him. The impact of metal against metal and the squeal of rubber tires produced an ugly, high pitched screech. Before anyone could react, the sumo was gone, racing on down the road at an even faster speed.
The boy was thrown into the air from the impact, landing ten feet away, and lay there unmoving. The rest of the onlookers were too horrified to do anything but stare. Divya got out of her car and ran to the inert form stretched out on the road. She knelt beside him, and for a moment all she could do was stare in horror as well. His arm had been totally mangled. There was blood pouring out of his skull and the right side of his ribcage had caved in.
“You! Help me get him inside my car.” Divya shouted to one of the onlookers, a man in a blue shirt who looked thoroughly unnerved. A crowd had begun to gather rapidly on the spot. Between the two of them they managed to get the boy inside her car, away from the blistering sun. “Call a hospital. Tell them to bring an ambulance.” She told the man. He walked off quickly, fumbling for his mobile, the front of his blue shirt now stained with dark red blood.
A s he disappeared, Divya knew it would be too late. The boy"s condition was critical. Even without a stethoscope she could almost hear his heartbeat slowing. She shook off the helplessness she felt and grabbed the box containing the serum, placing it under the front passenger seat. No one should see the container when the ambulance came
Divya stopped, her hand still on the container. For a long moment she stared at the handle of the container. Slowly, she placed the box back on the seat. Now that the shock was wearing off, her mind was beginning to function normally again. The analytical side of her brain was computing the chances of the boy living till the ambulance arrived, while a separate part of her mind was replaying flashes of a conversation she had had with DoctorFahim months ago. “This serum is going to be particularly helpful in times of war.” He had said.“The recovery speed from wounds and the healing rate for the subjectis phenomenal.” He had laughed then, the pride of the creator in his voice.“I’m almost tempted to put it on the market as medicine.”
Divya stood frozen, bent over her car seat, feeling oddly detached from the scene around her. Her mind was wrestling with the implications of what she was contemplating doing, and the repercussions her actions might bring. And yet it was the only way, the only hope there was for saving the boy"s life. Thoughts blew a whirlwind inDivya"s mind. Arguments and counter arguments. The work and effort that had gone into making the serum. The importance it held for the entire nation. Her duty towards the project. Towards her country.
However, after all had been said and done, there was only one reality. The image of the boy taking his last breath in front of her. Divya knew she had no choice. Her fingers flew over the combination lock. Within seconds, she had taken the serum out of the container, raised the boy"s head from the seat and was helping him gulp down the liquid.
* * *
Divya was pacing the floor of a private room in the hospital. Twenty minutes ago, the ambulance had rushed the injured boy to the emergency room, and he was currently being operated upon. Divya had called Doctor Fahim, who was still at the secretariat. She had given him a brief account of what had happened and where she was. After the initial shock and subsequent inquiries, Doctor Fahim had instructed her to stay at the hospital, and was now on his way over with Mr. Rai and General Bakshi.
Divya paced the room, waiting. A part of her was still reeling in shock at what she had done. The other part was wondering what they were going to do to her. Her decision had been mainly instinctive, and now that she had time to think beyond that decision, the future looked very bleak. She had been trusted with a literally priceless piece of government property, and had managed to lose it in less than an hour. Even worse, she had involved a civilian, a teenage boy, in a top secret government project. She knew offenders had been executed for lesser crimes before.
“Miss!” A frightened voice came from the door. Divya turned. A nurse was peeping at her from behind the half opened door. “Some men are looking for you , Miss.” the nurse said in a whisper. “They"re turning the hospital upside down. One of them seems to be a military man of some sort. He was insisting that they be allowed to see the injured boy you brought in, even though the doctors tried to tell him that the boy was being operated on. But then the other two men managed to persuade him to wait. And now they"re asking for you.”
Divya nodde d. “They are friends of mine.” she said. It was an odd way of referring to the three men, two of whom would quite possibly want to have her jailed, but it was better than revealing their true identity. “Could you tell them that I am waiting for them here? We will need some privacy.”
The nurse nodded and scurried off. Divya resumed her pacing, her hands feeling clammy with sweat. In the past few years she had matured a lot, and had become used to fending for herself, yet her heart quailed at the thought of meeting General Bakshi now.
A minute later she heard a series of rapid footsteps outside, and upraised voices. She turned to face the door, inwardly steeling herself. The door burst open, and three deeply disturbed men entered the room. The Defense Minister was in the lead. Lines of worry creased his forehead. The General was right behind him, his mouth tightened into a line of fury. Doctor Fahim came in last. He shot a look of inquiry at Divya, his eyes full of concern. The sight of Doctor Fahim was reassuring, and Divya felt slightly more confident. Doctor Fahim turned and locked the door, sealing the room behind them.
“What have you done?” t he General shouted without preamble, his face a deep shade of red. “What monumental stupidity possessed you to behave in this manner? Answer me, Miss Nayak!”
Divya took a deep breath. “I did what I thought was right, sir.” she spoke as evenly as she could. “The boy was dying in front of my eyes. The serum was the only thing that could have saved him. It seemed to be the only course to pursue.”
“ The only course?” the General spluttered. His face was growing steadilyredder. “And who gave you the right to decide how to make use of a piece of government property? Who said you could involve in a private matter technology intended specifically for the use of the Indian army?”
“Calm down, General.” Doctor Fahim said, coming to stand next to the Minister and the general. “Don"t tell me to calm down, DoctorFahim.” the General turned to glare at the doctor. “Do you realize what she has done? In less than an hour we have lost the single greatest tactical advantage in the history of the armed forces, something that could have single handedly turned the rules of modern warfare on its head. And instead we have gotten a massive casualty on our hands in the form of a child with the power of a demon. And even that is provided he survives the operation, which does not at all seem likely at the moment, in which case the power of the serum will be lost forever. I want to know what she has to say for herself. Why was she even given the serum? You were the one who was supposed to get the serum to the lab.”
“Which is what I would have done if your plans for getting the project ready by tomorrow had not forced me to change my plans regarding the training program of the subject.” DoctorFahim said calmly. “I had to talk to Doctor Mathur about the therapy techniques we intend to use on the Alpha Soldiers. I therefore instructed Divya to take the serum to the lab.”
“And how did she know the combination for opening the safe containing the serum?” the General growled, his eyes narrowing. “Do you routinely share critical information of that sort with yoursubordinates?”
“She knew because I had told her.” Doctor Fahim
said, his voice becoming sharper. “Kindly do not make unfounded and damaging insinuations against Miss Nayak, General. This accident was not a „private matter", as you called it just now. This serum was designed to help people, which is what she did. Divya has worked on this project with me for the last four years, and I trust her implicitly.”
“But I"m afraid I do not trust her, DoctorFahim.” the General said, breathing hard as he staredat the doctor. “And I do not trust you either. This is why I was against using civilians in the project in the first place. They can never be trusted to follow orders.”
“Calm down, General.” the defense Minister now spoke up, putting a hand on the General"s shoulder. “We cannot change the past. What has already happened is beyond our control. We need to decide how to deal with this new situation. Miss Nayak, will you tell us exactly what happened? We only know the barestdetails.”
Divya took a deep breath and began to tell them what had happened at the intersection; the accident, theboy"s broken body landing on the road, his life ending in front of her, and then the serum. The three men listened in silence.
“I didn"t think I had a choice.” Divya said. She looked at Doctor Fahim almost pleadingly. “The boy was dying in front of me.” “ It was the only course to pursue,Divya.” Doctor Fahim said quietly. “You did what any decent human being would have done. Wecannot blame you for it.” The General shot a look at the doctor, but did not say anything. Doctor Fahim ignored him.
“I called the police on the way over.” t he General said. “The man who was driving the car was caught two miles later. Some idiot with too much alcohol in his body. He will be jailed, of course,but the damage has been done.”
“The question now is, what do we do with the boy?” t he Minister said. He stared abstractedly at a nearby table, his forehead still creased with worry. “Provided he even survives the operation.” He turned to Doctor Fahim.“Do you think he will survive, Doctor Fahim?”
“It would depend on how long he can be kept alive for the serum to take effect on his body.” DoctorFahim said slowly. “I have already mentioned how remarkable the effect of the serum is on the healing ability of the subject. I believe there is an excellent chance that he will survive the operation.”
“So after all our preparations for an Alpha Soldier, instead we are stuck with an Alpha child?” General Bakshi was no longer shouting, but the frown was still in place. “I"m afraid you do not fully understand, General.” Doctor Fahim said quietly, a strange expression on his face. He glanced at Divya.“There is a side to this new situation that you are not aware of.”
“What do you mean?” the defense Minister was looking at Doctor Fahim warily.
“There is a curious property of the serum that I have not yet shared with either of you.” Doctor Fahim said slowly.
“At the secretariat, you said that you had told us everything.” the Minister said, his voice less calm than before. “Everything that had a bearing on Project Alpha.” DoctorFahim said. “But there was a host of additional information related to our experiments that would have taken too long to relate.”
“So what part of that information has suddenly become relevant to the project?” General Bakshi stared hard at Doctor Fahim. Divya watched the three men, hardly daring to breathe. The information that Doctor Fahim was about to give the other two men would show them how the situation had become much more complicated then they believed.
“The serum was tested on fully grown chimps, and the increased muscular and neural capacity they exhibited was entirely satisfactory.” DoctorFahim said. “But a curious fact was noticed when the chimp in question was younger. The effect of the serum seemed to be compounded in their case.”
Doctor Fahim looked at the two men significantly, but from their expressions it was clear that they did not understand the implications of this discovery. “It seems that the reason behind this augmentation is that the serum directly affects the glands which areresponsible for the growth of the body during adolescence.” Doctor Fahim continued.
“At this stage of the operation, I believe the behavior of test monkeys might be considered superfluous, DoctorFahim.” the General said impatiently. “How would this detail affect humans?”
Doctor Fahim stared at the door for a second. He turned towards the General and spoke slowly. “Provided that the effect of the serum is the same on humans as on the monkeys, the serum will increase the abilities of a normal man roughly fivefold.” He paused. “However, it will increase the abilities of someone whose body is already developing by natural processes by ten-fold or perhaps even twentyfold.”
There was complete silence in the room as the two men realized what Doctor Fahim meant.
“By „someone",” the defense Ministersaid slowly, “Youmean youngsters?”
“A youngster like the one who hassuffered the accident?” the General"s voice was rising again rapidly. Doctor Fahim inclined his head. “According to Divya, he is a teenager. That means, if he survives, all the physical and mental enhancements we were expecting in the case of the soldierswill be much greater in his case.”
Mr. Rai was staring at Doctor Fahim in blank shock. The General turned and walked away slowly, breathing hard. Perhaps it was the thought that they were in a public area that made the General attempt to deal with his agitation through movement rather than more yelling.
“So this boy…” the General spoke, and Divya was surprised at how calm he sounded. “This teenager. He will be even stronger than we had anticipated?”
DoctorFahim nodded somberly. “His power will be greater than anything the world has ever seen before.”
The four occupants of the room gazed at each other in silence. The Defense Minister closed his eyes, composing himself as he tried to process all the information. His shoulders slumped as the full extent of the situation was borne upon him. “We need to talk about this to the Prime Minister.” he said finally, rubbing his eyes tiredly. “Please excuse us.”
The General and the Minister left the room. Only Doctor Fahim was left with Divya. He looked at her in silence for several seconds. Then he smiled a rueful smile. “The best laid plans washed down the drain by a single unfortunate occurrence, right,Divya?”
“I"m so sorry, sir.” Divya whispered . Her voice was tight with anxiety. “I wasn"t thinking about the consequences of my actions. And now I"ve cost the army the project, and I"ve cost you all the research you did.”
“Don"t let the G eneral"s harangue scare you.” Doctor Fahim said gently. “Given the circumstances, you did the right thing. That is all anyone can ask for. This situation is the product of an accident, so stop blaming yourself.”
“What will happen now, sir?” Divya asked soberly. “ Well, given the unusual circumstances that this project had fallen upon, I think we will need an unusual solution.” Doctor Fahim said thoughtfully.“Now, we will have the opportunity to observe a very interesting partof the experiment”
“A teenage meta human.” Divya nodded.
“Actually, I was referring to how apoplectic the general will become before he has a heart attack and expires.” the doctor said, his eyes twinkling.
Despite the gravity of the situation Divya could not help but laugh in a low voice. “ I cannot predict how this new situation will affect the overall plan anymore than you can, Divya.” Doctor Fahim said, his voice serious again. “But rest assured, this is not the end of the project. The General is too determined a man to be stopped by stumbling blocks, and the Minister is no less tenacious. The project will continue forward, one way or the other. The child now….” Doctor Fahim frowned thoughtfully and shrugged his shoulders. “The child I am not so sure about. I believe he will survive, but you can never be completely sure. We will simply have to wait and see.”
* * * Nurse Arti sat nervously in the private ward. She was only a few months into this job, and it was the first time she had been assigned to this particular ward. The room was small but comfortably furnished, with more amenities than th
e usual private hospital room provided. It was kept separate from the other rooms, and was used for patients who required peace and quiet to recover, or when someone well known or important was in the hospital and wished to keep a low profile. On the single bed in front of her slept a young boy. It was the same boy who had been admitted to the hospital two days ago. He had been heavily sedated following the surgery, and had slept for an uninterrupted twelve hours. He had woken up briefly in a half delirious state yesterday and fallen asleep again immediately. After the surgery the doctors had not been very hopeful that he would survive such a serious accident, although they admitted that his vital signs were very strong for someone who had suffered such grave injuries. The boy"s mother had arrived in a haze of panic the day before. She had been calmed down and assured that her son was in the best possible care. The mother had since been visiting the hospital regularly, if only to check on her still sleeping son.
The nurse wondered who the boy was. He had to be related to someone very important, judging by the number of important people who seemed to be concerned about his welfare. It was remarkable how quickly the usual red tape had been dealt with, and the boy transferred to the most privileged room in the hospital. There were rumors among the hospital staff that someone very high up in the government was interested in the boy"s well being, and it was speculated whether he was a Minister"s son. But the security around the boy"s identity was air tight, and it was said that even the doctors who were treating him knew almost nothing about his civilian identity. Even the rumor grapevine of the hospital had been unable to extract any details.
The boy suddenly stirred. Arti was startled out of her musings. She looked at the young patient. He was waking up, and much earlier than the doctors had hoped for. At these times it was usual to bring in the doctor in charge of the patient and the patient"s relatives. This time, however, nurse Arti had different orders.