Sheetal watched her friend, mentor, and her boss, Dr. Joshi pick up his bishop and then put it down. She turned her attention back to reconfiguring her newly acquired electronic stabiliser to upgrade her wheelchair. The command she sent on her laptop made the two motors whir freely below her.
Dr Joshi, looked up and then glared at her “You know, you could at least look like you are trying?”
Sheetal would have usually let his pieces survive for longer but today she was annoyed with him.
She curled her lips upwards impishly and asked “You want to call it a draw?”
That would let the doctor save face and let her quickly get to the point of this work-play meeting.
Dr Joshi looked around at her room. It had mechanical parts strewn around on one side and two cushioned sofas on another. Calling it a workshop would have been more apt.
He shook his head and walked to a sofa blessedly empty of paper and lowered himself “No, no. I lost.”
They both looked at each other for a moment and then Dr. Joshi sighed.
“Alright, Sheetal. I have got the status reports, I have got the briefings and the statements. What am I missing and why are you giving me that look?”
Sheetal took in a sharp breath and then exhaled slowly “Why? Why?!”
Sheetal stopped herself, closed her eyes and began again “Professor, you left me here alone for two months.”
“So? I knew I could trust you and I can. You have everything under control.” Dr Joshi replied nonchalantly.
“Yes. But you left me here alone with that nepo baby.”
Dr. Joshi sighed “He has a name Sheetal. And might remind you, you are one too.”
“I am not. I earned my money and my status, and my right to be here.”
“Sheetal, he might not have a net worth in dollars, as a matter of fact I don’t think he even has a bank account but…”
“What he doesn’t have is sense.” Sheetal snapped back.
And then the dam broke open.
“As soon as you left, he first tried to access the secured areas and when the security caught him, he just told them that he was doing his job. And then they were friends? How does that even happen?”
Dr. Joshi leaned back as Sheetal raised two fingers.
“Then he asked for a coffee machine. Not the simple percolator kind. Or one of those capsule ones. This was one of those that was straight out of some luxury coffee places. The kind with chrome nozzles and dials. I said no, obviously. Next thing I know two muscled up soldiers are bringing it up along with a fridge full of Mobster Energy cans. Before I could get to the bottom of that I hear he is flirting with all the nurses in the wing, including the four men. Two of whom felt extremely uncomfortable, I must add. And when I decided to intervene I was told by the security personnel assigned to me, to relax. It is all friendly fun.”
“He found spies, Sheetal.” Dr. Joshi added in a soft tone.
“I know!” Sheetal yelled in frustration “It would have been better if I had known that before I saw two nurses in handcuffs.”
Sheetal raised another finger while her other hand grabbed a stress ball and began squeezing it.
Dr. Joshi looked down and saw three more in different colours. One even had bite marks on it. He decided to let her vent.
“Yesterday, when the NSG commandos came, he decided to stand there on the first floor balcony in the buff.”
“Wait, he was standing there naked?” Dr Joshi asked in bafflement.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“They had cut the water off to install the new filters. That’s not the point.”
Dr Joshi grimaced “Okay. What is the point?”
Sheetal growled “The point is what he called me.”
In a tentative tone Dr Joshi asked “Wheels within wheels. I heard that he calls you that. I will talk to him about that.”
“Not that. That means nothing. It is a stupid name he uses to get a rise out of me. It is what he said to me after I told him to put on some clothes.’
Dr. Joshi braced himself. Ashoka was always a handful and wondered what he would have said now. He swallowed and asked “What did he say Sheetal?”
Sheetal squeezed her stress ball hard and mimicked Ashoka “Listen to me wheels. You all can watch my perfect behind because I am not moving. Not for you and not for the commandos, no matter how crippled you all are.”
Dr Joshi winced.
“This was five minutes before I got an email from the DRDO about the NSG commandos' health conditions.” Sheetal looked at the co-leader of the initiative and asked “How does he have access to classified information? Information that you and I weren't cleared for until yesterday?”
Dr Joshi sighed ““Sheetal, what were you doing when you were eight?”
Sheetal gave her mentor a flat look “You mean when I was trying to not scream out because of my bed sores? Reading meaningless philosophy, and preparing to pass school.”
Dr Joshi sighed “Why do I always get stuck with overachievers?”
Sheetal huffed “Now don’t tell me you don’t like working with me anymore.”
“No, what I am telling you is he is just like you.”
“Like me!?”
Sheetal almost screeched and Dr. Joshi raised his hand to stop her.
“Look Sheetal, I met Ashoka when he was eight. He was arguing about the merits of tyrannical rulers over communism with three politicians and he was winning. And he was doing it by mostly basing his arguments on Marxist philosophy to annoy his mother. I don’t know how he did it, but it was amazing.”
Dr Joshi saw Sheetal opening her mouth and he held up his hand again to stop her.
“You know how he actually did it? He used psychology. He has read everything from Freud to Chanakya to Jung. His mother trained him to be the perfect politician, only he is…”
“A narcissist and a sociopath?”
Dr Joshi smiled “Yes, and looks like somebody has gone through his files. And so is Kavita. A sociopath not a narcissist. So be gentle.”
Sheetal grimaced “Nepotism!”
“Well, anyways, we recognised that trait in him and taught him how to read body language. It was all fine at first, then he started beating everyone in cards and then everything else. Then his training got more specialised. He never went to school, he didn’t go to college, and he never had friends. He has targets.”
“So, you are saying that Ashoka went to some Batman ninja school in the mountains and that helped him guess that they were all, quote-unquote, crippled by watching them for fifteen minutes?”
“Oh, no. He must have realised that in fifteen seconds. There is a lot of subconscious movement we make when we walk, move and talk. A little grimace here, a little adjustment there, and to him it all adds up. And just for your information, there is no ninja school in the Himalayas. Believe me, we checked.”
“Don’t try to change the subject, Dr. Joshi. Are you seriously telling me that our guest got all that information by the magical power of observation and not by hacking our systems?”
Dr. Joshi laughed “Hacking? Ashoka? Really child. The only thing Ashoka does with his laptop is watch porn.”
Sheetal grimaced and then stopped “How do you know that? Are you still monitoring our online activities?”
Dr Joshi smiled “You know, you both are so alike. Anti-authoritarians geniuses.”
“I am nothing like him.”
Sheetal stopped when she saw Dr. Joshi’s phone buzz.
They both looked at it in hope, apprehension and terror.
Dr Joshi picked up the phone and his face paled.
Sheetal asked “What is it?”
“We lost team one and two. We still have four members of team three but they don’t know if they will survive. No matter what happens, site one is…”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Done!” Sheetal spat the word out and continued “I told them they needed to show their people the videos.”
“Sheetal, this is no time for I told you so.” This time there was no gentleness in Dr. Joshi’s voice. He had transformed from the ailing old man to her boss.
Sheetal lowered her head. People had died because of her discoveries and even though she wasn’t directly responsible for their deaths. She bared some guilt.
“I am sorry.”
“Don’t blame yourself girl.” Dr Joshi caught her look and comforted her with a hand to her shoulder. “One thing you learn as a scientist is when you find something good, there is some idiot who wants to blow it up.”
Sheetal gave him a pained smile.
“Also, there is no time for guilt. They have asked us to start the initiative.”
“Can we...” Sheetal began hesitantly and then started again “Can we show them the videos? I think they will help.”
Dr Joshi gave a slight nod “You are right. We need to show them the videos first. Schedule a meeting for tomorrow with the colonel’s core team. We’ll let him break the mission to his people the way he wants to.”
Sheetal sped her wheelchair to her laptop and began typing. She looked at her boss walking away gingerly and said “Dr. Joshi, I still think everything will work out.”
Dr Joshi smiled and nodded half heartedly.
“You know one thing I do not get.” Dr Joshi looked at Sheetal.
“What?”
“Why did you let that cripple comment go?”
Sheetal snarled “I wouldn’t have but then he was waxing his body.”
Dr. Joshi looked at her “And that threw you off? The Sheetal Serai, who lectured the half naked yoga baba in front of the media about relativity.”
Sheetal’s face reddened and she mumbled “He was waxing… his stuff.”
Doctor Joshi looked confused.
“His stuff with thin scars all over it. The kind you get after plastic surgery. Why did he have to have plastic surgery on his genitalia, professor?”
Dr Joshi closed his eyes with a pained expression. He finally asked “How do you know what those scars are?”
“I have similar ones on my back from the time they tried the experimental surgery to give me control of my legs.”
Doctor Joshi looked at Sheetal for a moment and then answered “Do you know what happens to spies who get caught?”
Sheetal took in a sharp breath “He got tortured?”
“Yes. And his mother gave up on rescuing him. In the end he was in the hands of the enemy for weeks. Until he broke out and freed himself.”
“Damn.” Sheetal whispered.
Doctor Joshi nodded “Yeah.”
“Is he stable?”
Doctor Joshi chuckled “Who knows?” And before Sheetal could ask any more questions he turned around and left her room without a word.
Midday the next morning Sheetal rolled into a conference room and found the bane of her existence, Ashoka draped on a chair.
Ashoka looked at her and grinned “Hey wheels. There is one good thing about you brainiacs. You have boring meetings in cold rooms. Thank you for the great nap I am going to have.”
Sheetal ignored the jibe and rolled herself to the right side of the head of the table. She busied herself in connecting her laptop to the conference room screen and only looked up to see the NSG commandos come in.
The next time she looked up she saw the NSG commandos and Ashoka giving each other looks. Ashoka looked contemplative, while the NSG colonel looked inquisitive and his men looked dismissive. Which somehow, rubbed Sheetal the wrong way.
She wondered why? Before she could introspect, Dr Joshi walked in and sat down nest to her.
The NSG commandos stood up and the colonel greeted Dr Joshi with a curt “Doctor.” and then another “Doctor.” towards Sheetal
Dr Joshi responded with a head nod “Colonel. Captain.”
Sheetal was going to respond similarly when they all heard a groan.
“Seriously, it's like I am in a bad episode of Star Trek.” Ashoka got up and mimicked a robot “Captain, Lt Commander, Commander.”
Sheetal scoffed “You didn’t watch Star Trek.”
“I did. How else was I going to prove socialism doesn’t work to white college girls? You know you remind me of them sometimes.”
Doctor Joshi saw Sheetal getting annoyed and clapped his hands.
He turned to Ashoka and ordered “Boy, shut up and sit down.”
Ashoka grumbled and in a cartoon bunny voice replied “Yes, doc.”
Dr Joshi turned to the room and smiled “Alright everyone. Some of you have been briefed about the initiative, others haven’t been. So let me begin from the start.”
The lights in the conference room dimmed and a presentation slide popped up on the screen behind Doctor Joshi. It said, ‘Vayu Initiative’.
“The Vayu Initiative started five years ago when Doctor Sheetal Serai was looking for a sustainable and eco-friendly way to dry tobacco leaves for her family's business.”
A younger Sheetal’s smiling face popped onto the screen.
Doctor Joshi looked around and smiled “Yes, she is that, Serai. She is also a mechanical engineer, a physicist, and has thirty research papers to her name. Seven of which are classified. Oh, and she also has twenty patents. Ten of which are being used by our government.”
Doctor Joshi grinned “Basically, gents, she has the biggest brains in this site, and she is slumming it with us apes here.”
Chuckles erupted from the soldiers and Sheetal smiled as she took Doctor Joshi’s place.
“Five years ago, I was travelling across Rajasthan with a few locals. We were near a small village just past Kelava when we saw these tiny little motes of light dancing in the wind.”
The slide now focused on dusky sky with pin sized golden orbs
“The villagers were afraid of them and told us that they had burned three of their people to ash. We got curious and decided to analyse them. We thought it was just an urban myth and these things were an environmental effect. So, to disprove the myth I took out my heat sensing camera. The results were…”
Sheetal paused and took a sip of water “Troubling. Some of these motes of light were radiating heat in excess of a thousand degree celsius, others were at minus two hundred degree cold, but most of them were inert.”
The slide changed to a video with five drunk men calling each other names while approaching the motes.
“My guide and five others decided to touch the motes and this is what happened.” Sheetal's voice fell off at the end.
On the screen three men heckled each other good naturedly. They ran at the motes with drunk voices. They laughed and grabbed at the red and blue motes. There was no warning, no screams, they just turned to ash and fell apart. Everyone’s attention went to the fourth and the fifth men who had just stopped with their hands outstretched like statues. The video sped up and the dusky sky was replaced by a night time one. Now the surrounding were illuminated by headlamps of vehicles and the motes. The video slowed and first one then the other man came to. They looked at each other and almost together, they ran at the other motes.
Behind the camera, Sheetal screamed for them to stop.
One of the men stopped to look at her and was immediately body checked by the trailing man. The first man crumpled to the ground with a crack. The camera focussed on him and his collapsed chest. He gurgled twice with spurts of blood coming out of his mouth and then stilled.
The trailing man skidded to a stop and looked down at the broken man. He turned his hands and looked at them in shock .
Sheetal again screamed and begged him to stop.
The man looked at the camera and shook his head “No, I can’t. If I do. I am dead.”
With those words the man flew at a mote and stopped again. This time he stayed like that for a full minute and then fell apart into ash.
Sheetal continued in a subdued voice “We left and got help. Unfortunately, it took us five days. When we returned the village of thirty had only two survivors. One old lady and one crippled boy. The only thing is that the old lady looks like this.”
On the screen there was a before and after picture. On the left side was a picture of an old woman smoking a hookah on the right was an ageless woman knowingly smiling at the screen. The screen changed again and this time everyone's eyes focused on a smiling boy with malformed arms on the left and a Bollywood hunk on the right.
“The child you see is a teenager. When we questioned him, he said that the motes made him whole again but he had to do things to pay a price. We tried to contain and question him again and this happened.”
On the screen a jostling phone camera footage began. A young man with spotty facial hair was following the ageless woman over a sand dune. The camera in a police jeep followed them. The three men next to the cameraman jumped out. Two of the men ran towards the young man. The third jumped out and started drawing a gun.
The next moment the ageless woman was standing next to the gunman. She slapped him and his head twisted unnaturally. The cameraman squealed and looked at the woman. She shook her head and pointed at the confrontation.
The camera man turned his camera and caught the first police officer getting chest crushed in with a kick.
The second one swung a rod at the young man. It hit the back of the man’s head and the young man slowly turned around with a snarl and looked at the constable. The constable back peddled. The man shot his hand out. The constable’s head turned into mush.
In the sudden silence the camera man’s voice repeated “Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god.”
And then he screamed. The camera jostled twice and then focused on the ageless woman who was now sitting in the driver’s seat. She turned to the cameraman and began.
“Tell them we don’t want any part of their madness. We are leaving. You won’t find us again. If you come after us, you will die.”
What made the whole thing more eerie was that she never opened her mouth to speak. But both the camera and the man understood her.
And just like that, both the man and the ageless woman were gone.
The lights came back on in the conference room. And everyone took a few minutes to process what they had just seen.
The colonel asked the first question “Doctor Joshi, are we going after those two individuals?”
“You mean freaks, right Colonel?” Ashoka asked.
The colonel turned to look at Ashoka “Those two individuals are citizens of India. People who I and my team have bled for. They deserve our respect and need to be brought in for the crimes they have committed.”
Ashoka sat up straight “So that’s what you are. Got it.”
Dr Joshi shook his head with a glare at Ashoka “Colonel. Those two quite literally disappeared. We are going after the motes, as Dr Sheetal Serai has named them.”
The colonel leaned back in his chair with a nod.
“Well, shit!” Ashoka spat out and everyone looked at him.
“Now what?” Sheetal looked at Ashoka and then held her hands up “Actually, never mind, I don’t care.”
Sheetal turned to the room in general “Dr Joshi phrasing is incorrect. We are not going after the motes, they are already here. That is why this site was built here. After the village incident the motes disappeared or that is what we thought. It was more like they had expended all the power they had and had to recharge.”
“The village.” Sheetal popped an open image on the screen which showed a baron landscape of Ash and colourful blankets. “Was destroyed and is now site two.”
The image changed again to an empty school.
“We didn’t know that the motes traveled then. We found them floating ten kilometers away from it. We learned from that and found more. And that is how DRDO created sites one, two, three, and four. All these sites are filled with servicemen and officers from different cores of defence.”
Sheetal paused to take a sip and Dr Joshi continued “You are in what was supposed to be site five before it was taken over by the Vayu Initiative. We are a civilian run body which is working with the government. We want to use these motes to heal and that is why you all are here.”
Sheetal stopped and looked at the military men and smiled. She got a curt head nod from the colonel and smiles from his officers.
Ashoka scowled at her “Excuse me, you never said where are these motes coming from?”
Dr Joshi gave Ashoka a knowing look and flippantly answered “We don’t know.”
“Right, I believe that.” Ashoka responded sarcastically.
Sheetal gave them both a look and sighed “That is not entirely correct. Our best hypothesis is that these things come from nuclear explosions, and these are the ones which have floated up from the nuclear site in Pokhran. It is a hypothesis because these things don’t follow wind patterns or any kind of pattern. We just keep finding them again and again in that area.”
“Please, hold on a minute Doctor Serai. Are you telling me that these things are floating around here and this site is not secure against them?”
Sheetal looked from the Colonel to her papers and read his name from a sheet.
“Colonel Arivarasan Ramamurthy?”
“Ari will do Doctor.”
“You are half correct Colonel Ari. This site is not safe with them around. Nowhere in the world is safe, with them.”
Sheetal hit a key on her keyboard and the image on the screen was replaced with an image of half burnt carcasses of camels and piles of ash. Another click, and the image changed to grey ash with CISF patches. Another click, and another pile of camouflage uniform.
“It goes on and on. Till now our loses have been sporadic, and minimum. But DRDO believes these things, whatever they are, they need to be contained. And with the healing nature of these motes, they present an opportunity which cannot be looked over.”
“Moreover, if they are not contained, they blow over the border, what do you think happens then?” Sheetal pointed her thumb at the screen.
Ashoka groaned “Best case scenario, they say we attacked them with a bioweapon. Worst case, they get a bunch of super soldiers who kick our ass. But what would really happen would be, that our crazy chaotic Neighbours will run to the Americans or the Chinese for help, and they will try take over with their expertise. And they would take over and our problems will compound because we will have two superpowers contesting just across our borders.”
The captain on the table blinked “Why would the Americans and the Chinese have any expertise in these motes?”
“Didn’t you her the brainiacs Soulja Boy? Or is it man? These things come from nuclear stuff. Who has done more nuclear explosions than the Americans? Also, when have the Chinese not swarmed a problem with people?”
Sheetal looked at Ashoka and then the other. Everyone was looking at him and Dr Joshi was grinning ear to ear.
“Wait! Where is the wind blowing?” Ashoka turned to Sheetal.
Sheetal blinked “Um… I don’t know. Why?”
“Didn’t you name this thing as the Vayu Initiative. Anyway, didn’t the other guys do their nuclear stuff in Ras Kohl hills? What are they doing with theirs? And are there blinking lights coming here? No, no. You said that these things don’t travel in the wind. They…”
Ashoka voice lowered until the room was silent. Sheetal turned to Dr. Joshi to begin again but he stopped her with a gesture.
Ashoka suddenly slammed his hands on the table “Dammit!”
Ashoka looked at Dr. Joshi “Will there be a war? Is this the reason Beijing is pushing into the Himalayas? And is that why the Americans are cozying up to us?”
“War?” Ari asked the two doctors in front of him.
Dr Joshi smiled “Explain your reasoning, Ashoka?”
“It’s actually pretty obvious. I should have caught it when I stumbled on to the two spies. We have these motes, so do our neighbours. Our neighbour to the west is stumbling economically and yet, curiously their elites are pushing ahead like nothing is wrong. Our neighbour to the north who has been silent for decades suddenly pushing into the Himalayas, curiously at the places where the Americans installed their nuclear device and secretly blew it upin the seventies.”
One of the soldiers snorted derisively “Are we entertaining conspiracy theories now?”
Ashoka gave the man a pitying look and then turned to Dr. Joshi “No matter what happens in the north, Lahore is not capable of handling this situation. It will ask for help from the west. The Chinese will push their way in and then there will be a tug of war. I bet there already is. And if we let these motes fly towards the west, the American’s wil flex and Beijing will show their teeth. Until the situation will escalates to bullets.”
Dr Joshi chuckled “Welcome back, Ashoka The Great. I was wondering when you would wake up.”
Ashoka waved his hand “Ha! Did you just quote Buddha doc? You know I am better than him.”
“Then you wouldn’t have problem surviving whatever these things are and telling us how to do it.”
Ashoka jolted up “What, me?”
“Yes. You are consuming these motes with us.”
“No.” Ashoka laughed then sobered “No doc. You have these fine patriotic soldiers here who will do what ever you want and even jump on a bomb, why do you need me?”
The soldiers turned there glares at Ashoka and Colonel Arivarsaan voiced their thoughts “Are you saying we are expendable?”
Ashoka ignored them and continued “Hold on doc.” Ashoka began pointing at each of the parties one by one “You have health issues. She is… wheels. They are broken. I am awesome. Why do I need these things?”
The glares turned icy.
The NSG commandos bristled and one of them snapped “Because, you have been ordered to boy.”
Ashoka gave the commando a pittying look and muttered “That’s nice soldier boy but I don’t take orders from anyone.”
Dr Joshi laughed “Actually, the captain is right. Your mother said she needs a superhero in her left pocket.”
Dr Joshi left the rest unsaid.
Ashoka groaned and with a pained look asked “My beautiful baby brother is in the Himalayas isn’t he?”
Dr Joshi smiled “He is monitoring the situation. You unfortunately are the expendable one.”
The room looked at Ashoka and the Doctor in silence.
Ashoka fitted his teeth “Fine! So how do we contain these motes?”
Doctor Joshi smiled “We consume them like the two freaks did in the video.”
Ashoka groaned “Doc, are you serious?”
“Absolutely!” Doctor Joshi replied
“Is that it? What nobody knows what happens when we consume it?”
Sheetal cleared her throat “The American’s do but they are not telling anyone.”
Ashoka threw his hands yup in the air “Damn those yankee cowboys!”
Dr Joshi ignored Ashoka has he began to mutter and tuned to the Colonel “Prepare your team’s Colonel. Half of your men will keep the site secure. The other half will grab the motes with us.”
“With you sir? Are you sure about that?”
“Yes, Colonel. Dr Serai and I will be taking part in the experiment.”
Ashoka muttered “I swear if they turn me into mind talking freak, I am going to torture them by singing, Nirma, washing powder Nirma, over and over again.”
Sheetal looked at Dr. Joshi “Do you think he is stable enough to take part in the experiment?”
Dr Joshi chuckled “No, of course no. But now he is motivated.”
“I am expendable? I am expendable? I am not expendable, I am awesome.”