Aditya sprayed paint on the car while wearing a vapour mask as Chakri helped dry the paint on the other side. Aditya wanted to modify his car … cough … Faizal's Jeep wrangler a little as he felt the black colour was a little too 'plain'. So he thought of adding a little extra colour. He did not go for any vibrant colours and extravagant designs. Just plain stripes of Dark blue colour and a small white line in between. It added a sporty yet elegant look to the Jeep.
Today, Aditya wanted to relax his mind a little from all the exhaustion of last month. He had practically dismantled the entire Jeep's engine in the name of 'servicing', just for fun. Along the way, he also modified the cold air intakes and fuel injectors for better torque and mileage efficiency. He had also prepared a new software for the car's computer with many added features. He had uploaded it into the car through the OBDI II port.
It was very rare in the garage when a high end 'off the road' vehicle like the Jeep Wrangler's engine was dissected and displayed freely for examination. Even Uncle Ramlal was interested as he asked the other mechanics to utilize this rare opportunity. Chakri was first in the line as he helped Aditya in this 'operation' while all the other mechanics were watching. They would discuss among themselves about how the 'Pentastar' engine was different from others and the different ways of handling it. Aditya would also chime in enthusiastically as he skillfully took parts apart. What could you expect when a group of 'autophiles' gathered around this metal beast? It was not much different how people watch a fashion parade.
Uncle Ramlal was always doubtful of Aditya's skill when it came to handling high-end cars as he was just 16 and this was the reason that he did not allow him to process luxury vehicles in the garage. But, after looking at how Aditya assembled the engine back to back and how the engine's sound or the car's efficiency was not only affected but had increased, he changed his opinion of Aditya as he liberally praised him in front of everyone and promised that he could handle any car in this garage from today onward. Aditya smiled when he got Uncle Ramlal's recognition, he was always grateful towards Kranthi's father who took him in without asking any questions just based on his relationship with his son and his knowledge of cars.
But there was one person who was sitting dully as if he had been disillusioned about this life. It was none other than the actual car owner, Faizal. He had been sent by his big Sis (Taarini) to bring Aditya but not even in his dreams did he expect that this elder brother of his would be using his car to satisfy his 'mechanical' urges. When he saw his dear car been taken out part by part and displayed to others, he felt his heart crack a little. After all the dismantling was done, he could no longer recognize his car. Although Aditya assembled the engine expertly, Faizal felt that it was no longer his car. Maybe he should just give this car to this elder brother and be done with it.
Aditya finished the painting as he walked towards the dull figure of Faizal while wiping his hand with a rag as he smiled and said, "Faizal, how is my modification? it's awesome, right?"
Faizal looked at Aditya's innocent, smiling face and did not speak as he could not get any good words to speak. It was his car, to begin with, the agreement was that his elder brother would borrow it sometimes. The agreement was based on the fact that he would give him the loan money. But not only did he not give the loan money, but he also started using this vehicle as his own.
Now if Faizal wanted the car, it was he who had to 'borrow' the car from Aditya and not the other way around. In addition to that, Aditya went ahead and made modifications to the car without any prior intimidation to him. Now, when he saw Aditya's innocent expression as if he had done a great favour to Faizal made him think about all the unfair treatment he suffered since the day that big sis asked him to follow Aditya. He feared that the bike also would not remain his for long.
The most depressing aspect of his life was that elder brother started schooling them about things like reading, writing and computer education. If there is anything more depressing than that, it would be that they were been taught alongside a 10-year-old kid. This kid was more educated then them and he became their senior apprentice brother and they had to ask him if they had any doubts.
Also, the things that his elder brother has become capable of doing in the past few days were on an almost superhuman level which shocked him a lot. The admiration and awe he felt for Aditya's martial prowess and shooting talent was replaced by terror. You might admire someone for his skills if you think these skills are humanly possible.
But, when you see someone doing things which are not humanly possible, you do not feel admiration but fear and apprehension. As for the interrogation techniques with which his elder brother questioned the key followers of the Mumbai Mafia Alliance about what happened in Mumbai, the night when the whole mafia was wiped out, was almost nightmare level. If he could go back in time, he would request his big sis that he would be fine even if she threw him to the wolves but she should not assign him to this anomaly.
Faizal put up a bright smile as he said, "Not only awesome, elder brother, this modification is terrific. I wanted to ask you to modify this car but couldn't gather the courage."
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Aditya smiled as he patted Faizal's shoulder as he said, "Not a problem, not a problem." how could he not know how Faizal was feeling truly. But, for some reason, Aditya enjoyed playing around with these four subordinates that Taarini gave him, especially Faizal. Aditya felt that his shocked expressions were particularly hilarious.
He had marked these four people as his future key subordinates who could be entrusted with big responsibilities. That was the reason that he had spent most of his time as 'Aditya', instructing them and training them. He had already started taking educational lessons to them along with Chintu (the ten-year-old son of a female street vendor that Aditya used to eat breakfast before Hamsa came.)
Aditya had started eating food outside again since Hamsa went away and usually he would eat at Chintu's place. Chintu's mother requested him to help this kid in his studies for a few hours in a week. Aditya agreed because it was not much of a hassle for him and he liked this kid who was always full of energy. It was an amusing scene to watch a small ten-year-old kid lecturing four burly and muscular goons.
"Did you bring a car?" Aditya asked Faizal as this Jeep wrangler had to be left alone for about 24 hours for perfect curing of the paint.
Faizal put on a wronged expression as he said, "I thought that we could use this car and so I came by taxi. How would I know that you had other plans for this car today?"
Actually, Aditya truly did not have such plans but, been busy with his passion was his way of controlling himself from making a call to his mother. Prior to the talk with Tya, Aditya had indeed planned to talk to his parents as soon as the number was activated, he did not think too much about this as he was occupied with thoughts of his parents. But Tya had suggested that it would be a waste to just use this call to talk to his parents when this call could be used to directly track their whereabouts.
Tya was asked by Aditya to write an 'Artificial Intelligence' (AI) program which was based on the 'soul particle' and Tya had indeed made a breakthrough in this area. As long as Tya could create an artificial sentient program, Aditya was sure that it would become an asset worthy of clashing with 'that' organization. So, if his parents could be tracked through this call, Aditya was ready to wait for a few months.
If the AI creation was a crucial step, the question of hardware support was another crucial method in which Tya could play a little role. Aditya knew enough about these things to speculate that the costs for the hardware would be astronomical. So, he had to ramp up his game. Also, he had to make sure that 'those' people do not get to know the large purchase of high-end computer hardware. Even if they knew, they shouldn't be able to track the purchase back to him. So, it required the help of Taarini's contacts, black money and even some foreign 'computer hardware manufacturing contacts' who could provide the required semiconductors and other hardware.
In short, it was a very big project which had to be done with the utmost secrecy. So, currently Aditya was focusing on the 'secrecy' part as without guaranteeing that 'those' people won't be able to track him, Aditya was not ready to take the risk as it would not only endanger him but also his parents. So, if secrecy was not guaranteed, he would rather just waste the opportunity. So, that's the reason that Aditya tried hard to divert his attention into other things as he could not talk to his parents anytime soon. It was a hard decision to make.
Aditya bade goodbye to everyone and drove a spare car available in the garage along with Faizal as he made his way to Taarini's place in the city.
The other significant piece of news was that Tya had analysed the blood sample of his elder sister. Tya had discovered a chemical/drug in Saira's blood which functioned as strength booster and a healing agent at the same time. Tya said that Saira's body was under very high stress due to an unknown reason but Aditya could tell that it was most probably the right hand. The chemical that was in Saira's blood helped her body cope with the stress. It made it possible for her to work like a normal human, in fact, better than a normal human.
But there was a downside to this chemical, a side effect or an adverse effect. This chemical stimulated the human body in a way which siphoned away it's potential. Tya said that the more the human cells divided, the more the length of telomeres (part of DNA) in a cell decreased which was basically the ageing process. But this chemical artificially stimulated an increase in the rate of cell divisions thus fastening the ageing process.
According to Tya, one or two shots of this chemical was fine but prolonged shots would have a significant effect on Saira which was clearly visible as Aditya could see that Saira looked as if she was in her early thirties when she was in her late twenties. It pained Aditya to think how wrinkles and other ageing signs were starting to show on his elder sister's beautiful face. He knew that she would not listen to his words if he tried to dissuade her just like how he wouldn't listen to her when she told him to not try to save his parents.
He had asked Tya about negating its effect and got an affirmative answer. Tya had told him that the next ability which was going to be 'Genetic Regulation' could make it possible for Tya to make his body into a pharmaceutical factory where he would be able to make all the drugs and chemicals by manipulating his genes.
At that time, it would be very easy for Tya to study the effects of new chemicals and think ways of altering their molecular structures to serve his purpose. This was only possible when the dark energy which was presently permeating his cells start to go deeper into the genes thus allowing Tya to break the human limits of his genome.
But this ability was not easy as according to Tya, a lot of dark energy was required and even with the help of Hamsa's soul particle, it would take many months, even a year, to complete it. Aditya could only hope that his elder sister's body did not deteriorate to a point of no return until he could find a cure.
He drove into a luxurious and rich neighbourhood where Taarini had asked him to come. As he was thinking about these issues and Faizal was brooding over his bleak future under this fiend, Aditya saw a girl, who was his first crush, standing beside a sports car as she chatted with a handsome boy who had a bright smile on his face as he looked at Anupama unblinkingly.
No emotions rose in Aditya's heart when he saw Anupama but his eyes flickered a little as he stopped the car and got out.