A black cargo truck with an angular nose and wide open reversed to get into position. The driver hit a button and the truck lowered itself closer to the ground. Then with an electric whirring sound the vehicle backed past Air and his men and ploughed into the bird statue at the roundabout.

Crack!

The rising bird swayed and dust from it flew up in the air. Not satisfied with just putting fissures in the statue, the truck sped past them to a dozen feet away and returned to the scene in at full speed.

Crash!

This time the bird with its triumphant beak lifted towards the sky didn’t survive the impact. It crumpled to the ground in pieces.

Ari looked at the magnificent statue lying there in pieces. Its eyes seemed to glare at him in accusation. They bore into his soul and called him names. The commander clenched his fists and took a step to smash the rest down to dust and stopped.

“Are those triangle tyres commander?”

Nameer who had misunderstood where Ari’s attention was and asked. Singh who knew his boss well gave Ari a concerned look who and then turned his attention towards the young man.

“What does it look like navy?”

Ari took in a breath and calmed his flaring temper. The neuro shard in his brain was making him lose his equilibrium more often and more quickly. Usually, Ari worked up to an angry state. That gave him time to analyse the situation, reason himself down or plan to do things through. Now with the neuro shard, not only was he getting angry way to fast but it had also showing him things that weren’t there.

Thankfully he had Singh. And his old friend had decided that one of their team, was always to be around Ari. Just in case he, the commander of their operation needed protection. Ari knew better and the tens of red dots all over his body from two days back had lasting effect on all his people. At least, they were agreeing about something, much to his chagrin.

Nameer held out a bottle for Ari. Ari drank the water and looked at Singh walking away after a salute. Ari needed to get his old friend alone, thank him, and discuss things. Just in case he lost it on his men. He would rather be put down quietly than hurt the people who depended on him. And maybe Singh knew that, that is why he was avoiding Ari with a will.

“Is that a truck?”

Ari looked from a retreating Singh to the vehicle in question. Two armoured people were throwing parts of the broken statue on the bed of the vehicle. Ari was about to snap out a curt answer but then he controlled himself. After all, the question wasn’t without merit. When either one of them inspected the vehicle the system name for it was unimpressive.

Vehicle - Dhona

Type – Material Transport

Class 1

Ari took a sip to clear his throat, looked at vehicle in front of him and pointed at its parts “It has a driver cabin, a flat bed, and a steering wheel. So, I would say it is a truck.”

“But it also has triangle tyres with tank tracks, a body that is hovering over its chassis, and robotic arms on its back.”

Ari sighed “And?”

Nameer shut his mouth and shrugged “And nothing sir. I am just trying to classify the vehicle. I might have to sketch it when we go back home.”

Ari raised an eyebrow.

“Well… Sir… I… “ Nameer stuttered as he tried to find the word and began again with a sigh “I have been useless here. I though at least I could sketch out things when we reach home.”

Ari tense shoulders relaxed at Nameer’s morose look. He needed to remember that he wasn’t the only one that was going through trouble. He clapped the young man’s back with a smile.

“You haven’t been useless, Nameer. Without you, we would have died of thirst.”

Nameer nodded “I understand that sir but you all have been fighting. You all have been protecting me and the doctor. I…I have been just hiding behind everyone huddling behind corners like a Somalian pirate when he sees a destroyer.”

Ari blinked and ran that statement back over in his head.

He chuckled “That was a great analogy, Navy. But you did good. Now tell me, have those tin cans had a look at your heart.”

Nameer nodded “Yes, one of the Taran clones checked me out when he took my skin.”

Nameer raised his forearm. The wound still looked red, and Ari knew it wasn’t even close to being healed because he had a similar wound on his forearm. They all did, all of them except for Joshi. The continuum didn’t even want to go close to that man.

The naval lieutenant continued “They gave me two options. I could take six shards from them and agree to a ten year long mercenary contract. Or I could get a mechanical heart and serve them for three months.”

Ari’s eyes narrowed.

Nameer saw the commander’s expression and quickly reassured Ari “I didn’t agree to anything. Even if my heart starts giving out right now, I still wouldn’t agree. None of us will. We represent the Indian Defence Forces, sir. We fight for India. Not some strange cyborg force.”

Ari smiled at the earnest look on the boy’s face and was proud of him. Most of their injuries had healed. But heart defects like Nameer’s, and his cancer seemed to be the exception.

Ari nodded “Good. Keep it like that. I will have chat with Jay and these medical types myself. There must be a way to get us completely healed.”

“It’s not such a bad deal, you know.”

A female voice distracted Ari from the conversation he was having with Nameer and Ari turned around sharply ready to fight. A woman in one of the continuum armours had somehow appeared right behind them without their knowing anything. Ari started moving his metal clad hands upwards when Nameer quickly jumped in between him and the woman in the light armour.

The woman laughed girlishly “You don’t have to protect your commander from me, water mancer. I was sent here to save his life.”

“Save my life?” Ari asked with mistrust dripping from each of his words. Then caught the familiar stock of a shotgun sticking up behind her shoulders.

“Save all your lives.” Parvati A197 nodded and her helmet split. The six struts floated the six parts to her shoulder revealing a girlish face.

Ari shook his head. No, not a girlish face. She was a girl. Ari needed to remember that.

“How old are you?” Ari asked.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Twenty two, well I will be twenty three in two months.”

“And you are a doctor?”

“No, not really but I do know a few tricks.”

“Good because I was going to ask that aren’t you too young to be a doctor?”

“Aren’t you too old to be just a commander?” The girl said with a smile.

Ari chuckled “I am actually a colonel where I come from, that is when I was medically discharged and put behind the desk. I was Inspector General in my prime, but you are right. Let me introduce myself properly, I am Colonel Arivarsaan. Formerly of the NSG Commandoes. Now assigned to the Vayu Initiative.”

“I am Parvati A197. I am a gun freak.”

Nameer took a step away from the commander and the flirtatious not doctor girl. As the silence between them grew Nameer noticed the long look they were sharing and took two more steps back.

“Umm… Common… I mean Colonel. I am just going to go and sit over there on those dark granite bricks.” Nameer announced and walked a few metres away.

Parvati M646 smiled coyly “I think I just embarrassed one of your men.”

Ari shook his head “No, I think I did.”

“Really. How?”

“By flirting with a girl half my age.”

Parvati M646 shrugged “Well, I started it.”

Ari did not have an answer for that. So, he decided to change the topic.

“How can I help you Parvati A197?”

“Your arm.”

Parvati reached out and took Ari’s hand in hers. She moved past his metal wrapped palm, to his wrist and then to the exposed skin of forearm with a feather touch. Her other hand laced her finger in his. Ari enjoyed the touch of her fingers on his forearm and followed her when she decided to walk him back with his hand in hers.

Finally, Pretty broke the silence with “I need to draw some blood from you. Do you mind?”

Ari looked at her fingers and asked “Why?”

“For skin grafts.” Pretty nodded at Ari’s wound and continued “That was living flesh the old guard took from you. That won’t heal just like that. And the chances of infection will grow if that is not treated right now.”

Ari looked at the young girl and asked “Will you do that for my men too?”

Pretty straightened out Ari arm to reveal a vein and a smooth motion hit him with a syringe gun “I already told you. My job here is to save all you lives. Even if I like one more than everyone else.”

Ari hadn’t even felt the pain from the syringe and kept looking at the girls youthful face. She smiled and continued.

“The first time I was brought to the trails, I was thirteen. When I was fifteen, my world died and this was my new life. In this life, I have seen death, destruction, and experience friends and loved ones dying suddenly and painfully. And I have learned to not wait to get what I want, Ari.”

Ari looked at her and noticed what attracted him to her. It was her eyes. They were older. They reflected how he felt inside. Then he felt her hand let go of his palm leaving a slip of paper on his fingers.

“We should go in and maybe discuss things in private?” The girl directed him into the temple.

Ari followed her as she took out a square medical box strapped to her back with a belt and squeezed the blood vial into it. He looked at the paper she had surreptitiously left in his hand. It had some sort of numbers on it with dots and dashes. His hud translated the writing to a comm link address which quickly added itself in his contacts under the name.

Parvati A197

Call sign – Pretty

Assault Specialist.

Class 1 – Human (Evolved)

Continuum – Perseverance Faction

Ari smiled. He did not even know he had a place for contacts in his brain. Much less how to get a girl’s number and yet here he was. He looked at the paper again and this time he caught a blob of ink on the right corner of the paper. At first glance it looked like Pretty had dropped some ink on the paper but then his hud zoomed into the blob and revealed closely packed lines written in some kind of language on the paper. Still, the computer in his head zoomed in and translated the words.

Colonel Arivarsaan.

Don’t reveal this message. We are being monitored. Ashoka Stalin said you would understand these words. There are two India’s. We don’t know what it means. But we can understand the context. And just as there are two India’s, there are two Continuums. Right now, the militaristic minded amongst us are in power. They will press you into service. Don’t let that happen. Once you reach us, we will give you the shards to recover from your ailments. We are warning you to show you that not all of us are heavy handed as the old guard. We hope to work with you as partners and not against each other as enemies. We hope our goodwill gesture will be reciprocated.

Taran 45

Supreme Councillor of the Continuum.

Ari looked up from the paper to the fire lit room he had followed the girl into. Before he could say anything Pretty took the paper from him, used her tongue to suggestively lick it and bit it in half.

Ari did not how she did that with a piece of paper but his heart skipped a beat and obediently opened his mouth when she brought the other half to his mouth.

He expected to taste bitter ink and mushy paper but the note melted in his mouth leaving an aftertaste of mint and blackcurrant. Then her lips were on his and his arms were around her.

He recovered from the kiss and asked “So, why are you doing this. Is it because of this your boss, that councillor guy or…”

Pretty licked Ari’s bobbing Adam's apple and answered “Oh he is not my boss. That is General Athena. But this is a message from the current political head of the continuum. And no, I am not kissing you because of them. I am kissing you because I want too.”

Ari felt her lips brush his “I..Uh…I like kissing you too?”

“Good. Because that is not the only message I am carrying.” She grabbed Ari’s head and licked his ear.

Ari was about to gasp when he heard something from the arm holding his head.

“Commander Ari. This is Athena 8. The General of the Continuum. You, your people and your world are in grave danger. Do not agree to Jay’s or Taran’s overtures. Keep your forces neutral. You may agree to some concessions here or there to stall for time. We will try to save the two warders from your world. Hopefully when we meet, we have them with us. Athena out.”

Ari was having a hard time thinking the girl was nibbling on his ear while her hand kept sliding lower and lower.

“Which message do you really represent?”

“The second one.”

Ari cleared his throat as his shirt got pulled up from his trousers “Do you want to tell me why or do you just want some?”

The young woman in his hands chuckled “Oh I don’t want some. I want a lot. And I want to see a lot more of that salt and pepper look. And I can’t help wondering if things are the same everywhere.”

Ari gasped as he felt her hands slip into his pants.

“You fools!” Joshi shouted from somewhere inside the temple.

“Hey watch it.” Singh responded.

Joshi grunted loudly “Why am I even talking to you? Where is he?”

“The commander is busy.” Nameer tried to stop Joshi.

Ari closed his eyes and after an apologetic look at retreating Pretty, sighed “Over here doctor .”

Moments later the doctor barged into the small room in fiery blaze.

“What the hell were you thinking giving them a piece of your flesh?”

Ari clenched his jaw and in restrained tone responded “Doctor, you need to lower you voice right now.”

Joshi’s eyes flashed and he took a step closer to Ari “Restrain that neuro shard right now or I will pop it out your skull.”

Ari looked at the smouldering anger in Joshi’s eyes and took a step back.

“Do you have any idea what you have done?” Joshi continued.

“Found a way back home.”

“I told you to wait for me.”

Ari clenched his jaw “If you haven’t noticed doctor, we humans get hungry and thirsty and need care time to time. But you wouldn’t know that when you immerse yourself in a pod of fire.”

Joshi flung his hand up “I was in conference with the yaksha. And you tossed all his plans to ash.”

“That yaksha thing again.” Ari growled.

“You are alive because of him.” Joshi snarled back and then snapped his fingers at a retreating Pretty.

“Don’t you snap your fingers at her.” Ari moved menacingly towards Joshi.

Joshi looked at the commander, then at Pretty, and snorted “Human, yes. Thankfully I am that anymore. I don’t have to be a man guided by his desires.”

Ari squinted at Joshi “Be careful doctor. Or we might just have to have words.”

“Calm yourself Inspector General.” Joshi said and looked at Pretty “You girl from the Perseverance, you have my lords and my gratitude for the skin grafts. Could you please send someone else to take over because I really don’t want to do this when the commander is being all macho.”

Pretty who was standing in the door nodded stiffly “The perseverance follows the light’s will, priest.”

Joshi exhaled “Nevertheless, you have our gratitude.”

Pretty nodded and with one last look at Ari left the room.

As soon as Pretty left Ari began looming over Joshi “What the hell do you think you are doing?”

“Saving our world. Not just our country, our world.” Joshi shouted.

Ari opened his mouth to protest. Joshi raised his palm and stopped him. He continued “Talking to you like this is useless. But still, I will explain the basics to you. A portal is a pathway to our world. They took living skin from you to pinpoint where the exit should be and now, they will open up a door to Earth.”

Ari blinked “But…we need to go back to report and get new orders.”

“I am not done yet.” Joshi continued over Ari’s words “General, you are a tactician, aren’t you? Think about the ramification of your actions.”

Ari took a step back and looked at the old man who was no longer an old man. He was an ageless version of himself whose eyes blazed and nostrils blew out fire. He let his prejudice of the priest not being human for a moment and looked at the situation tactically.

“Dang, if the continuum attacks us…”

“Again!” Joshi shouted “You are not thinking clearly. You shouldn’t be afraid of the continuum but what they are fighting.”

Joshi paced up and down the small room. He finally turned to Ari “You need to let me fix that neuro shard.”

Ari stiffened and asked “And become a puppet to this yaksha like you?”

“Oh, for the lord’s sake. He doesn’t want you. I don’t want you. In fact, if I burn you to cinders right now, he might just pat me on the head and say good job.”

Ari folded his hand over his chest “You are not getting close to me doctor.”

Joshi threw his hands up in the air and began walking out of the room. Ari called out to him in a challenging voice.

“Doctor, if this yaksha tells you things, what does he know about Doctor Serai and Ashoka Stalin.”

Joshi turned around and looked at the commander “Ari, if you can’t accept me the way I am, how are you going accept those two? Especially after what the continuum is going to do them. No, commander, I will keep you away from them.”

“I need Ashoka Stalin, Joshi.”

“And I need you alive, commander. So read my lips. You are not getting anywhere near the warders.”

Joshi gave Ari one final look and stormed out of the small room.