Vimana

'Now, just go with your instinct. What you think, the vimana will do for you. Just don't speed away or do any drastic maneuvers-get a hang of it till I come.'

Not sure how this would work, Aaditya asked himself where he was and what his bearings were. To his amazement, a holographic 3D map emerged out of thin air on his left. His vimana was represented by a blue dot, and the three enemy craft were depicted in red. He saw numbers below each dot. Those below his craft read 20,20500,217. There were a smattering of green dots, but all much further away.

'Indra, what are these numbers? Speed, altitude and bearing?'

'I told you it wouldn't be difficult to get a hang of it. It displays in units your mind relates to. In your case, I guess speed in kilometres per hour, altitude in feet and bearing relative to our base. The red dots are the asuras, and the added number below each is the range in kilometres from your vimana. The green dots are aircraft of your people.'

Your people. That was a strange way to put it.

When he wondered where he was, the map began displaying place names, showing that he was several hundred kilometres to the northeast of Delhi.

The enemy craft were no more than two kilometres away, and as he watched, the one behind him edged closer. He now saw another blue dot appear on the display. It was four hundred kilometres away and closing in at more than a thousand kilometres per hour, swooping down from an altitude of more than eighty thousand feet. His mind boggled both at the craft's performance and the fact that his radar, or whatever instrument the craft used, could pick it up at such a range.

'Now Aadi, don't move at all. I don't want to lose the advantage of surprise.'

On his display, Aaditya saw two yellow dots separate from Indra's vimana, and streak towards the craft around him at an impossibly high speed. He had barely had time to look around when the craft on either side exploded into giant fireballs and disappeared as if nothing had ever been there.

'Get out of the way now!' Indra screamed into his ears.

It seemed weird at first, but Aaditya mentally asked the craft to accelerate and willed it to bank sharply to the right. His first turn was way too sharp, and he soon found himself in a dive. In a fit of panic, his fingers grasped at thin air, trying to find the controls to pull up.

'Calm your mind, son.' Indra's voice boomed into his ear and he forced himself to sit back, and while hardly calm, thought, pull up.

The craft came out of the dive. Still not used to the control system, Aaditya found himself involuntarily moving his body to the right or left as he maneuvered, but recovered enough to restore the craft to stable flight. He took out his lucky patch from his pocket and clutched it tightly in both hands. In part, it was like a safety blanket, helping to calm his nerves. In part, as he moved his hands, he used the patch like a joystick, so that he not only used his thoughts, but also hand movements that were more familiar, to control the craft. It seemed to help, as he managed to stop himself from abruptly jerking his craft around.

His problems were far from over though. His display showed the remaining red dot zooming in towards him.

Think you're at your damn PC. Think that this is another newbie out to earn his glory by trying to take on IndianBader. Once you thought you could be a fighter pilot-now don't be a chicken.

He hoped that would be enough to give him courage. However, soon he found himself facing a new danger, when a yellow dot separated from Maya's craft and moved towards his vimana. Aaditya noted that it was moving much slower than Indra's missiles. He did not dwell on that for too long, since he quickly realized that being shot at in a video game was very different from having a missile home in on you in real life. He moved his craft into a series of tight turns, but the missile kept closing in.

Do something to throw the missile off!

No sooner had he thought it when a flash enveloped his craft, temporarily blinding him. When he opened his eyes, the yellow dot was gone, and so was Maya's craft, which his display showed as speeding away at a speed of more than two thousand kilometres per hour. He looked out the window to see a craft just a few metres to his right. In the cockpit, he could make out a man, who raised his hand in a wave, as Indra's voice echoed over his headset.

'That bloody coward's run off again, but I am impressed. I thought you were done for when he fired. Now, shall we go back?'

Aaditya had been caught up in the adrenaline rush of the unexpected flying, but now he paused to think. He had been on his way home. Now he was expected to go back to the base where he had been a virtual prisoner. After seeing so much more of their so-called vimanas, would they ever allow him to go home?

'Aadi, can you hear me? Just ask the vimana to chart a course back to base, and you'll be on your way. I'll be right beside you.'

Instead, Aaditya found himself thinking What's the fastest route to Delhi?

The holographic display in front of him showed a glowing light with 'Delhi' under it. At the speeds this craft seemed capable of, he could be there in less than a few minutes. He wasn't sure about where to land or how he would deal with the consequences of putting down this strange craft in public. But at least he would have a shot at getting back home.

Even before he consciously knew it, his mind had commanded the craft to chart a path for Delhi. His headset exploded into a cacophony of noise.

'Aadi, what are you doing? Don't do this, please.'

Aaditya tried to filter out the voice, but he could not ignore the young man lying slumped in his seat just next to him. A large pool of blood was gathering under Kartik's head, and while Aaditya did not know if he would live or not if they went back to base, he was sure of one thing. If he continued on to Delhi, there was little chance Kartik would survive, simply because the chaos that would accompany the arrival of such a strange craft would almost certainly mean that first aid would take a backseat.

'Aadi, stop now, or I will have to fire.'

It was not the threat that stopped Aaditya, but the fact that he just could not bring himself to sacrifice the life of a young man to get back his own. He was not sure if they would let him go after all he had seen, but his conscience could not bear the burden of the death of the young man next to him. So, as much as his head screamed at him to continue to Delhi, his heart won this debate, and he commanded his craft, 'Back to base.'

***

Aaditya watched the display before him as the craft set on a course back to its base. When he wondered where base was, a caption appeared under a dot on the map. It read, 'Kongka La'. The words meant nothing to him but soon he saw snow covered peaks appear over the horizon. He had guessed correctly. Base was indeed somewhere in the Himalayas.

Indra's craft was with him, leading the way, no more than a few hundred meters away. Aaditya could see no jet exhaust, and wondered what was propelling the craft. It seemed to be much larger than the one he was in, and was white in colour. As it peeled off towards the mountains below, Aaditya saw that its nose was shaped like an elephant, complete with curved tusks.

What was it with them and animal motifs on their craft?

'Aadi, follow me down and stay close.'

So with his good luck charm still firmly clenched in his hands, Aaditya maneuvered the craft into a shallow dive as he followed the vimana ahead of him. Indra had entered into a narrow valley with snow-covered peaks on either side. As the space got narrower, he began to wonder if he could maneuver the craft in such a narrow space without plastering it all over one of the peaks.

Only when he saw a narrow opening slide open in a rock face ahead of him did he realize he had been holding his breath for several minutes. He watched Indra's craft glide into the opening, and he followed. Landing the vimana was easier than he had imagined. No sooner had he asked himself the question, How do I land this thing, than it began a slow and measured descent through the gap. He found himself inside the hangar where he had staged his ill-fated escape attempt. The cockpit canopy slip open when he commanded it to, and he found himself facing a veritable welcoming party.

There was Indra, who had alighted from his craft. He towered over Aaditya and may have looked menacing