Vimana

open. Aaditya pushed her aside and leapt outside the open door. She was too shocked to even resist.

He found himself in a long plain corridor, but having learnt how things worked here, he ran along its length, commanding doors to open, hoping that outside of his cell, the doors would open on command as well. He was about to give up when to his relief, a door slid open to his left. He ran through it, barely hearing Tanya's cries for him to stop.

He didn't know how much time he had or just how far he could go, but he was not going to stay cooped up in a cell any longer. His captors may be the CIA for all he cared, but either they had to tell him what they wanted with him or let him go. He was done with being a prisoner.

To his relief he soon found himself at the hangar where he had landed. The craft were still there, and while he was tempted, he realized that he would never get the time to figure out how to fly one before he was discovered. However, being in the hangar meant that the exit could not be far away. He looked desperately along the length of the hangar, wondering where he should start looking. He heard muffled footsteps coming from the wall behind him, and ran as fast as he could towards the end of the flight line.

Two or three figures emerged from the door he had opened. All around him there were nothing but closed walls. He desperately kept asking for doors to open, but either there were no doors here or they had been disabled when Aaditya's escape had become known. He was but a few feet from the far wall and about to give up when it suddenly swung open, revealing the same blue coloured craft on which he had come aboard. Oblivious to his escape, the pilot was coming in for a landing, and Aaditya took advantage of the open door to run outside.

What he saw made him stop in his tracks.

He was standing in a snow-covered rocky valley, with nothing around as far as the eye could see but jagged peaks topped with snow. With no sign of any humans or buildings around, it seemed as if he had been transported to an alien landscape.

***

Then the biting cold hit him. Though his clothes looked no thicker than an average cotton track suit, they somehow insulated all parts of his body that they covered, but his face and hands were exposed, and he was barefoot. He had no idea what the temperature was, his breath came out in smoky billows, and even though he had been outside for only a few seconds, he began to feel his hands and left foot go numb.

He glanced back inside the hangar. The blue craft had landed, and its pilot, the same young man he had seen on his roof, was running towards him. Aaditya stopped for a second, considering the choices before him. Should he give up and go back to the uncertain fate that awaited him inside his cell, or should he take his chances in the inhospitable landscape he saw in front of him? When he saw his pursuer take out a small device from his pocket, similar to the weapon he had seen used on his rooftop, he decided to take his chances.

Every step hurt, and Aaditya's left foot was already almost completely numb. For once, he thanked fate for his prosthetic right foot, which was immune to the cold, and soldiered on. He dove into a small crack on the side of the hill, hoping he could conceal himself from his pursuer, and also think through what he would do next. For a few minutes, it seemed his plan had worked. He could hear movement outside, but nobody disturbed his hiding place.

'The heat sensors show something here.'

With those words, the game was up. The pilot of the blue craft who had been chasing him reached in and looked at him, grinning. He seemed little more than a boy just out of school, with a thin face, unruly hair and dimples that showed prominently when he smiled. Aaditya contemplated resisting, but he was already so numb with cold that he wasn't sure what exactly he could offer by way of resistance. Also, despite his disarming appearance, he had seen how deadly the young man had been on his rooftop.

'First you steal a ride in my vimana, now you go and try to freeze yourself to death. What's with you?'

Aaditya didn't know what to say so he clasped the young man's hand and was pulled out of his hiding place. He found Narada standing there, none of the young man's amusement on his face.

'Kartik, go and try to cool down your father. I think he's ready to kill our restless friend here. He told me he should have hit him harder in the hangar.'

Aaditya remembered the ash-covered man and how he had knocked him out with one blow, and wondered just how much trouble he was in. As Kartik left, Narada turned to him.

'Get back in here. When you have some hot food in you and we're sure you won't suffer any hypothermia, I'll come and meet you.'

Narada walked Aaditya back to his cell, and when he left, Aaditya sat down, feeling quite foolish. That gave way to even more embarrassment when Tanya walked in.

'Look, I'm sorry I…'

Tanya cut him off with a curt glance, and wordlessly put some hot soup in front of him and gave him a warm blanket. She walked out, leaving Aaditya feeling even more miserable. His escape attempt had been a total fiasco, and he had betrayed the trust of the one person who had been nothing but decent and friendly towards him. He sulked in his cell for a day or more before Narada came to him again.

'Aadi, it's time we parted ways.'

Aaditya got up, startled at the announcement.

'You're going to let me go?'

When Narada just nodded, Aaditya asked with indignation, 'If you could let me go just like that, why did you wait so many days? Do you realize that my friends are probably already in panic because people can't get in touch with me? God, they must be filing police reports by now.'

Narada smiled. 'That's the least of your worries. Your professors have received an email saying you are not well, and anyone who calls your mobile gets a recording that sounds pretty close to your voice saying the same thing.'

Aaditya was too stunned to respond as Narada continued, 'We were genuinely worried our enemies would come for you. Some of us argued that in the larger scheme of things it doesn't matter, but that is what makes us different from them. Every life is sacred. We have sent out the feelers that you are not connected with us in any way. We don't know if they believe us, plus we can't risk you trying another escape. So you earn a flight back.'

With those words, Narada tossed Aaditya's clothes and belongings towards him.

'Get changed. I'll be waiting outside.'

Narada had been nothing but civil, but Aaditya could sense a hint of disdain in his voice. Honestly, he didn't care-whoever these people were, they had no right to keep him confined here. And no matter how unexciting his regular life was, he would pick it any day over being locked up in a cell. He followed Narada outside, but before he entered the hangar, Narada asked him to wait. Aaditya was startled as Narada put a blindfold over his eyes.

'Is this really necessary?'

'Yes it is. You have already seen too much for your own good.'

Feeling like a prisoner even though he was supposedly being released, Aaditya was led through the hangar. He then heard the voice of the young man who was called Kartik.

'Look, my friend, I'll be flying you home. Please don't try anything silly like taking off your blindfold. My father looks much bigger than me, but I can punch just as hard.'

The last line was accompanied by a laugh, but Aaditya had no doubts that the young man would carry through on his threat. He had no intention of being a hero; all he wanted to do now was to get home.

Aaditya was helped into the cockpit, and strapped in with a seat belt. He heard a soft hum as the engine powered on, but before the canopy closed and the craft took off, he felt a soft touch on his left hand, and heard a whisper, 'Goodbye.'

It was Tanya. Aaditya felt a slight pang of regret at how he had betrayed her trust and wished that he had gotten a chance to say sorry. He heard the canopy slide down around him, and then the craft seemed to lift slightly as it glided forward slowly, presumably towards the hangar doors. He felt himself being pushed back against the seat as the craft accelerated and then entered a steep climb. Aaditya had no idea how fast they were going, but within what seemed like a few seconds, the craft stabilized in level flight. He heard Kartik murmur next to him, 'Now we sit back and wait till we're over Delhi. Should be there in twenty-five minutes or less, but we're in no hurry, are we?'

Now that he was free, Aaditya's curiosity was running on overdrive. Where had the base been located? The