Vimana

by Mainak Dhar

  'A Su-30MKI of the Indian Air Force?' he asked aloud, to nobody in particular.

  Everyone in the room seemed to freeze and the display disappeared. Narada was the first to react and came towards him, 'Aadi, we didn't know you were still here. Come on, we'll get you to your flight.'

  Aaditya shrugged off his touch and walked towards the group. Secret organization or not, fierce unknown warriors or not, one could not walk away from some things. He spoke, his voice rising, as he struggled to come to grips with what he thought he had uncovered.

  'The Indian Air Force has lost only one Sukhoi whose wreckage was never traced.'

  Everyone looked at him in silence as he continued. 'That plane was flown by my father.'

  He looked at Brahma to see his reaction, but in the old man's eyes, he saw only sympathy, no surprise.

  'You knew….'

  Brahma held up his hand.

  'Aadi, your father's plane was taken by the same enemies we fight. Yes, we knew that. But you still need not get involved. Go home and get on with your life.'

  Aaditya almost screamed, his voice choking with emotion. 'Go back and sit at a desk in college and pretend that I don't know who killed my father? Pretend that he died in an accident, when I now know he was murdered by the same bastards I've seen over the last few days? No sir, I cannot do that.'

  Shiva walked up and held Aaditya around his shoulder, as if comforting him.

  'Aadi, all you will get is pain. Once you learn more, I don't know how you will ever be able to cope with being back home.'

  'At least give me that choice. It's my father we are talking about.'

  Brahma motioned for the others to step back.

  'Very well then. Come over here and listen to what really happened to your father.'

  SIX

  Hawk One en route to waypoint three. Hawk Two has some FOD and is coming home.

  Hearing his father's voice again was like an electric shock for Aaditya. Everyone else in the room had stepped back, leaving Aaditya alone in front of the holographic display. He watched a blue dot representing his father's plane move across the green tinged landscape. He knew that his father's wingman had aborted the sortie due to what was called in aviation parlance 'foreign object damage', which turned out to be a small bird hitting one of his jet intakes. The next ten minutes were routine reports from his father on the progress of his mission, which has been to test out flight characteristics of his aircraft after being loaded with the newly inducted Brahmos cruise missile. Then came the first sign of trouble.

  I see something emerging from the water. Do we have a submarine in the area?

  Hawk One, negative. Please confirm it is a submersible.

  Going down to take a closer look.

  It's large and spherical. Not a submarine for sure.

  Hawk One, confirm your last transmission, please.

  I see two craft taking off from its surface and coming towards me. Radar shows negative.

  Hawk One, can you ID the bogeys?

  They look like…..saucers, one has a red tip. They are flanking me now. Intent seems hostile, request authorization to take evasive measures.

  Then there was silence. Aaditya fell to his knees. Narada made to come towards him but Brahma waved him back.

  'They said it was an accident. Why did they lie?'

  'Because no government likes to make such incidents public,' said Brahma.

  Aaditya's mind was in turmoil. He had no idea what he should do. 'Aadi, perhaps it was fate that got you involved in all this, but we had no idea whatsoever of who you were till you posted online about the Delhi incident and we had to start doing background checks. Believe me, we would rather have not got you involved at all.'

  Shiva knelt down beside Aaditya. 'I am a father. I nearly lost a son today, so I feel your pain. But I also think it's best that you get back to your life. You're young and have your whole life ahead of you.'

  'A life spent knowing who my father's murderers are. No, I cannot do that.'

  Indra raised Aaditya up.

  'Son, what do you want to do?'

  'I want to help you destroy those murderers.'

  'Don't be foolish. What could you possibly do to help us?'

  'Let me fly,' he pleaded.

  'That's impossible!'

  'I flew one of your vimanas back here, didn't I?'

  Brahma intervened and motioned for Indra to back down.

  'Aadi, you're angry, and I can understand that, but take some time to think it over. If you really want to stay and help us, we will not stop you, but don't be reckless. Your flying the vimana back was impressive but flying in combat against Maya and others like him is totally different.'

  Aaditya was about to protest when Shiva spoke up, 'Look son, we don't just fly around. It gets up close and dirty, as you have seen. And there, you wouldn't last a minute.'

  Aaditya thought Shiva was referring to his handicap, and he exploded in anger.

  'Yes, I have a damned handicap that robbed me of my dreams, but if nothing else, I'll fly one of your vimanas in a suicide mission.'

  At this point Brahma ordered everyone to disperse and told Aaditya to get some rest, saying they would talk again in a few hours when he had had more time to think things over with a cool head.

  Aaditya was stewing in his room when Tanya came in and sat down on the sofa next to him.

  'Aadi, I'm so sorry. I had no idea about your father.'

  'All I want is to get a chance to avenge his death. That's all I want.'

  Tanya placed a hand on his arm. 'Are you sure you want to stay?'

  'Yes.'

  Tanya sighed. 'Aadi, you would not be the first one to say that.'

  Aaditya turned to face her, as she continued, 'Many more have come in contact with them over the years. Lost travellers, crashed pilots, accident survivors, and explorers. At first, many of them want to stay, especially when they guess what's going on. But inevitably, they cannot bear being away from their normal lives and accept the full reality of what they're involved in. Without being mentally prepared for this, the pressure gets to them. Some go mad, others beg to return. When they are released, their description of what they've seen makes them objects of ridicule or worse. That's why they are so hesitant to have you stay.'

  'What's your story, Tanya? You aren't like them, and you clearly haven't gone mad.'

  Tanya looked away wistfully, as if bringing back memories she had not thought of for a long time.

  'My story is different. My family was killed in a plane crash over the Atlantic Ocean, and I was the only survivor. One of the vimanas saw a five-year-old girl floating on a life raft and picked me up. They tried to send me back, but the problem was I had no family other than the one I lost. In the months I was here, they got attached to me, and being a kid, my mind was open enough to take in who they were. So I grew up around them, they educated me, and when I was older, they offered me a chance to go back. By then, this was home.'

  Aaditya was looking at her in wonder.

  'So, you never wanted to go back?'

  Tanya smiled.

  'This was the only life I really remembered, and over time, I made myself useful, serving as the contact for anyone like you who happened to stumble upon them.'

  'Tanya, who are these guys? Their names…their aircraft…they certainly are not the CIA, nor do they look like any other government organization.'

  'That only they can tell you. Aadi, can I say something?'

  'Yeah, of course.'

  Tanya was holding both his hands.

  'I would be happy if you stayed. I have nobody I can relate to, nobody else here who will grow old like me. One day I will be an old woman and they will still be what they are. But do think hard about your decision, it will not just change your life, it will become your life.'

  Aaditya had no idea what she was talking about. But he was sure he could not just walk away after learning what had happened to his father.

  'Tanya, believe me, I wis
h I had nothing to do with all this. I wish I could just get on with my life. But for better or for worse, I am here, and now I cannot walk away. I'll stay, whatever that means, and try and do something. I threw away the dreams my father had for me, but now I will not let him down.'

  As he spoke, he banged his fist against his right leg. Tanya caught his hand and looked him in the eye. 'Aadi, you're a better man than you give yourself credit for. Now, if you really want to stay, I imagine Brahma will want to talk to you soon.'

  An hour later, Aaditya was back in the conference room, except this time there was nobody else other than him and Brahma. The old man asked him to sit down on one of the chairs and sat down next to him.

  'We are forced to keep our existence a closely guarded secret. But if someone chances upon us, we believe in giving nothing but the full truth. Do you know why?'

  Aaditya shook his head.

  'Because the day is coming when we may have to reveal ourselves. And the last thing I want is for your people to mistake our secrecy for hostile intent. Are you really ready to hear the truth? I ask you one last time, because once they hear it, many people wish they had not.'

  'I'm ready.'

  Brahma motioned towards the centre of the room, where a holographic display materialized. It showed the Earth as viewed from space. It filled the screen rapidly, growing from a distant blue dot to a blue and green sphere ringed by clouds, where Aaditya could begin to make out features of the continents.

  'What a beautiful sight. Aadi, do you know what that is?' Brahma asked.

  'The Earth of course.'

  'Yes, of course it is. But this is more than just a video of the Earth from space. It is a recording that I cherish dearly.'

  Aaditya saw the wistful look in the old man's eyes and wondered where he was going with this.

  'This, Aadi, is a recording of the first time I saw your planet.'

  Aaditya's head swiveled towards Brahma in shock.

  What did he mean?

  'Yes, Aaditya. This was when I and my crew first came to your planet.'

  A million questions were racing through Aaditya's mind, and not knowing where to start, he blurted out, 'So you're aliens?'

  Brahma smiled.

  'So many people say that. What a curious word: Alien. Considering how long we've been here, one would have hoped for more hospitality.'

  He laughed at his own joke, and Aaditya stared at him, wondering if the old man was crazy or trying to tell him a tall tale. Oblivious to Aaditya's incredulity, Brahma continued.

  'What you choose to believe is of course up to you. I can but share the truth. This, Aadi is a recording of our first descent to Earth.'

  Aaditya turned to the image again. It showed what seemed to be North America, but as the ground loomed even closer, Aaditya was mystified by one thing.

  'I see no lights, no cities, just barren earth. Why is that?'

  Brahma turned towards Aaditya with a smile.

  'You see none of those, my son, because this recording was made 15,000 years ago.'

  ***

  Aaditya sat in stunned silence as Brahma continued with his tale.

  'We are part of an alliance that seeks out planets that can harbour intelligent life, and we nudge them along till they develop to a level of self-awareness where we can ask them to join our alliance.'

  'An alliance. Like a military alliance?'

  Brahma shook his head. 'No, far from it. It is an alliance that shares knowledge and resources; that seeks to nurture that most precious thing in our universe-life.'

  A map of the Indian subcontinent came into view.

  'We first landed near what you today know as India, then set up bases across the world.'

  Red dots emerged across multiple locations on the map-Egypt, South America, India and Europe.

  'At that time, we found that your people were barely entering the phase of what you consider civilization today. It was far too early for us to make contact. We debated that last point, but the question for me was sealed when some of your people chanced upon us and began to think of us as gods.'

  Realization dawned on Aaditya.

  'That explains your names. Those are all names of Hindu gods.'

  'People in other regions gave us other names, but having landed here first, we adopted these names over time. You know, Aadi, we should have never stayed. What we should have done was go back, and report that it was still too early to visit Earth.'

  'Then why did you stay?'

  'Because some of us broke our faith.'

  The angry response had come from Indra, who had walked into the room flanked by Shiva and Vishnu.

  'One of us got greedy. Seeing the primitive stage of development here, he decided to enslave your people and rule as a false God. He built monuments to his vanity and caused untold suffering. He began to corrupt others in our crew with promises of power.'

  The holographic image now showed slaves pulling huge stone blocks towards a giant half-finished pyramid. Vishnu took up the tale.

  'We tied to reason with him, pleaded with him to not go down this path, but he was beyond reasoning. When we threatened force, he took his many followers and set up a base here.'

  A dot glowed in the Mediterranean Sea.

  'We knew him and his crew as Ashwins. Indian mythology calls them Asuras and we became known as the Devas. The land they hid in is known to your people as Atlantis.'

  Aaditya's eyes began to roll over, and noticing his reaction, Brahma stopped.

  'So you don't believe me?'

  'I'm sorry but you expect me to believe that you're 15,000-year-old aliens? That sounds too far out for me.'

  Brahma wiped his hand and the holographic display disappeared.

  'That is your choice. But what I can tell you is that if you do not believe us, I really don't see any point in you staying here. How can you help us when you don't even believe in us?'

  Indra now spoke. 'As Tanya may have told you, we initially welcomed people who stumbled upon us, since we hoped they could act as a bridge to your people when the time comes to reveal ourselves. But nobody really stayed. If you want to stay, we would be happy to try again, but as Brahma said, you need to fully understand what you're involved in.'

  Aaditya pleaded with him, 'Look, I would love to believe you, but this is so weird that I'd rather believe you're some kind of secret government organization that's saying this to prevent me from knowing the truth.'

  Vishnu asked the others to step back. 'Aadi's stakes in this are much more personal than for anyone before him, and let us not forget that Kartik lives today because of him. So, let me take him on a trip and try and show him some of our history at close quarters.'

  Five minutes later, Aaditya was in the hangar, in front of a large vimana that had a beak like a hawk and wings drawn on either side along with sharp talons. Vishnu asked Aaditya to get into the cockpit. 'This, Aadi, is my vimana, the Garuda. Put one of these on as well.'

  He handed Aaditya an earpiece similar to the one he had taken from Kartik. In an instant, they were out of the hangar doors and Aaditya felt himself flattened against the seat as the vimana accelerated nearly vertically. When it stabilized in level flight, Aaditya saw the holographic display showing the vimana at an altitude of 100,000 feet and a speed of more than five thousand kilometres per hour. Vishnu looked at his expression and smiled.

  'Garuda is not even being stretched here, but I thought for starters, I'd lay your doubts to rest about this being an aircraft from Earth. You know your planes, so tell me, is there any craft you can think of that could do this. Or this?'

  Aaditya shook his head mutely as the vimana accelerated to six thousand kilometres per hour and climbed to the very edge of space. Aaditya found his breath being taken away by the sight he saw-pitch black space above, and the Earth far below.

  Vishnu kept talking, taking up the story where Brahma had left it.

  'For some years, the Ashwins were content to live in their land, and rule over their dom
ains in Egypt and South America, and we kept trying for a peaceful solution. But perhaps we waited too long. They mistook our patience for weakness, and began a campaign of conquest. We were always few, perhaps a hundred of us, and a similar number of them, so they needed foot soldiers to occupy and hold land. Know how they did that?'

  Aaditya shook his head, as an image came up on the display in front of him. It was that of the kind of men he had encountered at the Old Fort and on his roof-large, dark, and with the ridged forehead.

  'Daityas,' Vishnu continued, 'They took some of the early proto-human species and created cloned monsters. Strong, ruthless and obedient, but not very smart. With those demons, they unleashed their reign of terror. They sided with human dictators, promising them power and helping with these demons and their technologies, but in reality making them slaves.'

  The display now showed vimanas flying high overhead, as a medieval looking army laid siege to a fort. Aaditya interrupted Vishnu. 'If this is true, and they were interfering in human affairs with these daityas and their vimanas, someone would have noticed it.'

  Vishnu smiled.

  'They did. In a way, we are lucky that you modern humans have such short memories and that you've come to trust nothing but what you discover for yourselves. Otherwise, our existence would have been no secret.'

  He pointed to the display where text emerged in a language Aaditya did not recognize, and then dissolved into its English translation.

  Vimanas, decked and equipped according to rule, looked like heavenly structures in the sky. . borne away they looked like highly beautiful flights of birds.

  'That's from the Indian epic Mahabharata, written some three thousand years ago.'

  Another quote appeared.

  The Puspaka Vimana that resembles the sun and belongs to my brother, was brought by the powerful Ravan; that aerial and excellent car, going everywhere at will, is ready for thee. That car, resembling a bright cloud in the sky, is in the city of Lanka.

  'That's from your Ramayana, written even earlier. And it isn't just your people who recorded it. Another quote.'

  A rushing windy great thundercloud like flying craft flew out of the north. The vehicle had the appearance of brilliant glowing fire all around it and the centre of the illumination the vehicle was polished metal.