Cosmic Tryst

 ‘All I’m saying is, this is a stupid mission,’ Arjun complained, hacking the vines covering his path. ‘I cancelled the date for what, this! hacking my way through this dump? I should be in a restaurant with Elina right now. Do, you know how hard it is to get one of those girls from admin team to go out on a date with you?’

‘Yes, it must be very difficult, especially for someone like you Aju.’

Arjun stopped his hacking amidst heavy breathing to squint at Kayati with contempt. ‘Don’t get smart with me. How long do I have to hack through these? They don’t seem to end any soon.’

‘I scanned the area ahead of us and we should be in the clearing in about 500 meters. So stop being grouchy and start moving before the blade rusts,’ Kayati replied with her usual satire. Frustrated Arjun made his way through the swamp forest, grunting his protest.

The Chirping of birds and insects made the forest’s silence more prominent. Occasional screeches of monkeys punctuated the deep silence of the forest, adding to the already thick sense of foreboding.

‘Don’t spoil your suit for god’s sake, it’s a costly one,’ said Kayati.

‘Hey, if they wanted the best guy on the mission, they should be ready for some laundry later,’ said Arjun, irritation apparent in his voice.

‘Statistically speaking, you are the 7^th best guy, right after George, Hari, Bernard, Hite – ‘

‘Yaaa, yadda yadda yadda. You know, whoever programmed you guys with sarcasm must have done so when he was high on something,’ Arjun kept hacking while Kayati hovered to his left a little above his head.

‘We were programmed with sarcasm as a functionality so humans would feel more comfortable around us. It makes us more humanlike,’ provided Kayati.

‘Who do they think a fool? Am I supposed to feel cozy with a flying hemisphere with spidery legs and creepy eyes just because it’s sarcastic? Yeah, right.’ Arjun snorted.

‘I can switch off the sarcasm if you would like that.’

Arjun removed the last of the vines from his path to reveal a large clearing with a crumbling stone structure the size of a large hill. ‘Then what? bore me to death with your statistics? I’d rather choose the sarcasm.’

‘See Aju, you too can be sensible at times,’ Kayati went ahead into the clearing, diligently mapping the region with her sensors.

Arjun took a small box concealed in his suit to set the nanobots in it to the task of building a tent. ‘I never get why these tactical suits always seem to have so many holes and protrusions on them? Is this some kinda fashion thing?’ Arjun’s question came as more of a statement than a question.

The black coloured suit was made of flexible metal, to fit Arjun’s profile perfectly. It had silver lines along the length of his body, like that on a circuit board and had a belt with numerous gadgets on it. Arjun used the control panel built-in on the suit’s forearm to command the nanobots. There were protrusions along the smooth suit in certain places like it belonged to a huge Lego set. At the back, two swords extended at an easily accessible spot and two guns, on each thigh, in a holster molded in the suit.

Kayati now closed on the dilapidated structure hovering at about 8 feet from the ground. ‘Certainly a mask would have been extra fashionable and not to mention, it would have drastically improved your looks too,’ came Kayati’s reply.

‘Ah, shut up. So, why are we at this place? People abandoned it like, what, 8000-9000 years ago?’ asked Arjun still working the nanobots.

‘I would’ve said 9436 years 5 months and 14 days. But, someone doesn’t like statistics.’ Kayati snickered.

‘yeah yeah, you keep going like this and I’ll have you dismantled by these nanobots.’ Arjun retorted. ‘Anyways, what’s so significant about this place?’

‘According to the information I have, Dr. Arvind and team have found convincing evidence that these ruins may hold the most destructive and advanced weapon known to mankind. Dr. Arvind and team will reach this place in a couple of days to conduct some research on this weapon. We came here to make sure it’s safe for them to come.’ Kayati had finished mapping and returned towards Arjun.

His superiors had decisively insisted on the success of this mission. To find and safeguard this stone structure. But Arjun couldn’t comprehend as to why. No explanation was given to him whatsoever. Why would they send him alone if they considered the mission critical? Of course, his training made him the equivalent of ten men in a fight, but that doesn’t explain why they chose him over the others. Like kayati mentioned, he wasn’t even considered as one of the top 5 soldiers in the academy.

Arjun boxed the nanobots once they finished constructing the tent. ‘Report,’ commanded Arjun to kayati. A list of data points and infographics appeared on his tablet screen along with a 3D model of the structure.

Kayati supplemented the report on Arjun’s tablet with a summary, ‘No human or animal presence inside the structure. What remains of the structure seems to be stable, with 5.8% probability of collapse. No toxic gasses or flora found. The structure has four stories with one underground level. Each level containing multiple rooms with varying degrees of deformation.’

‘So, this is one more boring recon mission–‘

 Arjun hadn’t noticed the monkey which had approached him from the back while he was busy working. It surprised him when it snatched his tablet and ran towards the building. It stopped fifty feet away from him, shaking the tablet, curious to know what it does; tapping and hitting it on the ground. Every time Arjun tried to get close to the monkey, it skittered a little further towards the structure, away from him.

‘Annoying little brat. Must be your relative Kayati,’ saying so, Arjun hurried to catch the monkey. To his dismay, it bounded towards the structure with the tablet. ‘Ah, great. That’s what I need. An afternoon chasing a monkey!’

‘Hey, at least you might run into some luck with the monkey unlike the girls back in town,’ Kayati teased, following him into the structure.

The structure looked the same inside as it did from the outside: sturdy, massive and impressive. The rooms were dark, with either a single or no source of light and air. Water trickled from the roof into small puddles at the corners. After winding through a series of rooms, Arjun followed the screech of the monkey, which took him to a large atrium at the center of the structure which looked as big as the clearing outside.

‘why didn’t you shoot the monkey?’ asked Arjun, looking around to spot the source of the screeches.

‘My instructions are to not harm any life form in the research zone. Moreover, it was fun watching you get mugged by a small monkey,’ Kayati said, emphasizing the word ‘small’.

‘Hey, keep your bloody comments to yourself tin can. Now where did the monkey–‘ Arjun stopped when he saw the silhouette of a man leaning against a pillar on the  far side with the tablet in hand, examining it. He must have been 6 feet tall with a muscular body to have cast such a huge silhouette.

‘I thought you mentioned that there were no humans in the area,’ Arjun said in an accusatory whisper to kayati, now hovering very close to Arjun as if afraid of staying unaccompanied.

‘I did say so, but whoever he is, he shouldn’t exist according to my sensors. Even now my sensors aren’t picking up anything from him.’ Kayati said with a finality, which Arjun couldn’t argue upon.

By then, the man had noticed Arjun and came out from the shadows.  He wore a saffron dhoti in Kshatriya style with nothing else. He bore bracelets on his biceps and forearm. His beard was thick and came unto his broad chest, which was covered with a multitude of scars. He had his hair in a bun from which few strands had escaped, bellowing in the wind.

‘I believe that’s mine,’ said Arjun to the man in saffron.

‘This is a strange stone you got here. There’s light coming out of it from various places,’ he said, still keenly focused on the tablet.

Arjun raised a thick eyebrow to give kayati a perplexed look.

‘I’m kalanabha, the guardian of this shrine,’ the man continued, finally looking away from the tablet. ‘What interest do you have with the shrine? And what kind of an ugly bird is that?’ he enquired Arjun, pointing at kayati and went back to inspecting the tablet, not waiting for an answer.

Arjun disguised his snicker under a cough and eyed kayati. ‘This guy must be from the loonville.’

‘Hey, “kala banana” or whoever the heck you are. Just give me my tablet and scamper. I wouldn’t fancy hurting a hermit.’ Arjun started walking towards kalanabha with extended hand.

Kalanabha waved a languid hand at Arjun, all the while looking at the tablet with a deepening frown. A sudden gale lifted Arjun off his feet and threw him 10 feet in the air. Arjun hit the wall and fell to the ground followed by kayati falling over him, knocking the wind out of Arjun.

‘Oh yeah, go ahead and insult the local guy, who can do that. That’s the wisest thing to do,’ kayati whimpered from above him.

‘Shut up wise-ass,’ Arjun shot back.

Arjun’s mind worked fast to figure out the new guy. Was he a threat? He might be dealing with a magician here. However, kalanabha looked nothing like any magician he had ever seen. Not the clothing, not the gait and not even the typical gears that magicians carried.

‘Show due respect to your elders, you insolent child,’ said kalanabha in a matter of fact way.

Arjun scurried to his feet with both guns in hand, pointed at kalanabha. Magicians were a menace, who grew to prominence in the early 23^rd century. If anything, they were dangerous, irritable and extremely powerful. Arjun had had extensive training on neutralizing rogue magicians, but this would be his first time to put those training to use.

He had to finish it quick if he was dealing with a rogue. Without a pause, Arjun started emptying his gun at kalanabha and closed the distance between them with speed provided to him by the suit’s technology. The reinforced alloy bullets shattered against kalanabha as if they were made of glass and him of stone.

Kalanabha who was keenly focused on the tablet got startled to see the tablet burst into azure sparks as a stray bullet shattered it. He let out a screech and jumped on to one of the roots spreading on the wall. Hanging from the root on one hand with his legs on the wall for support, kalanabha bared his teeth at Arjun in a silent threat.

‘What did you do, human?’ cried out a clearly surprised kalanabha.

‘Why did you use magic on me?’ retorted Arjun.

‘Neither did I use magic nor do I need it to squash wimps like you.’

Arjun felt a mild relief at the fact that he was not facing a magician, but was in no mood to prolong the argument. He can’t reach kalanabha until he was safely perched twenty feet above the ground as he was now. For all the abilities that the suit provided, flight was not one of them. ‘What makes you think you can attack a soldier of the state, unprovoked?’ asked Arjun.

‘You intrude into the shrine under my guardianship and disrespect me. Be happy that I was in an agreeable mood to let you live another day boy. Don’t test my patience, for it has already worn thin with your gimmicks. Leave now and never return,’ kalanabha admonished.

‘Who appointed you the guardian? And what’s that you guard? This tumbledown?’ Arjun spread his hand, pointing at the ruins around.

‘Don’t try to interfere with matters that do not concern you, boy. Run while you can before I change my mind about crushing you between my fingers,’ bellowed kalanabha.

Observing the ineffectiveness of guns, Arjun decided to up the game with the advanced weapons in his gear. He dropped the guns in the holster and reached for his swords. Once out of his back, the swords started glowing blue with wisps of smoke coming from the edges. They were not the best weapon in the arsenal, but they certainly were the third best after constrictors and nanobots.

To prove the point Arjun slashed at a nearby stone. The section of the rock through which the sword went through glowed red for a moment and a portion of the rock dropped to the ground, molten rock still dripping from the edges.

‘Ooooh! Sorcery. The last guy who used sorcery on me begged for mercy from me under one minute. I give you thirty seconds boy,’ kalanabha flashed his teeth in a fierce grin, his eyes glowing.

‘Whoever appointed you guardian monkey boy, I’m going to relieve you of that responsibility today. Come down Mr. kala banana, let me warm you up,’ goaded Arjun.

That seemed to have done the trick. Kalanabha leaped from the wall like it is supposed to be the natural thing to do, unmindful of gravity. Midair one of kalanabha’s bracelets writhed and turned into a huge metal mace in his hands, which he gleefully brought it upon Arjun. If not for his suit enhanced reflexes, Arjun would already be a pulp of unrecognizable mass on the ground.

Arjun had his sword in an overhead guard when the mace hit it. The blow came with such force to make Arjun go on one knee to absorb the impact. Arjun barely managed to deflect the next several blows which came quicker than he could see. Only his intensive training allowed him to anticipate and parry each of the blows. Each of kalanabha’s blows had enough power to shatter the stone pillars supporting the structure. Arjun got slowly being pushed onto the wall with each blow. In a desperate move, he pushed one leg on the wall at an angle to leap into the air, landing across Kalanabha at the edge of the clearing, buying him few seconds of respite.

Arjun was completely out of breath, panting like he had completed a marathon in record time. kalanabha however, remained as calm as the stone wall he stood next to. Calm, focused and intense.

‘Aju, you are way out of our league dude. I think you should listen to this –‘ kayati had moved over to his side, whispering to Arjun.

‘Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Unless you want to die first’ snarled Arjun.

‘But –‘ kayati protested.

‘No buts, just do your job and analyze his fighting style and find me something useful, you tin can. Also, raise code 1,’ fumed Arjun.

‘But that’s for emergencies only, Aju,’ noted kayati.

‘In-case you haven’t noticed, someone’s way out of his league here,’ Arjun hissed in frustration.

‘Nice of you to have come to your senses at last. BUT –‘ Arjun did not allow her to finish as he saw kalanabha’s guard go down marginally. This should be his moment. He borrowed as much speed the suit would provide him to throw the blazing sword at kalanabha. Kalanabha reacted instantly by leaping out of its way. While he got out of the way of the first sword, the second sword was hurtling at blinding speed to intercept him midair.

Arjun knew once kalanabha jumped he wouldn’t be able to change his course until he landed. Arjun would use that to his advantage to pin him with his second sword. The sword was inches away from impaling him when kalanabha stopped himself midair and changed his course to let the sword pass by him.

Kalanabha stood there floating in midair with contempt in his eyes. Arjun hasn’t seen anyone do that before. Not even the strongest magician in the world had the Ability to fly. Who was this guy then? Kalanabha slowly inched towards Arjun, teeth bared.

‘Authorization override, “Aju-123-constrict”,’ shouted Arjun to the air and a part of his belt ejected out. Arjun caught hold of the ejected part and threw it at kalanabha who swatted it away with his mace.

On impact, it split into two pieces to engulf kalanabha inside a translucent blue sphere and started contracting. Constrictor happened to be the most powerful weapon available to man in small-scale combats till-date. That should certainly pulverize kalanabha into an imperceptible pulp, thought Arjun, for, the constrictor wouldn’t stop till everything inside it got reduced to ash.

The hair on kalanabha got singed on contact as the sphere shrunk. Kalanabha tried to hold the sphere from contracting in vain. As the sphere shrunk, he was pushed to curl upon himself in a fetal pose.

‘Uh oh,’ said kayati in a meek voice.

‘It’s “ha haa”. Not “uh oh”,’ said Arjun, facing kayati with apparent relief in his face.

‘No, I’m pretty sure it’s “uh oh”. And soon it’ll be “ouch” for you,’ kayati told a confused Arjun. ‘You were always the impatient halfwit of your lot and soon you’re going to be dead-twit.’

Arjun heard an eerie screech of a monkey grow into an angry growl of a powerful being. He turned to look at what was happening. Inside the sphere, where kalanabha was trapped, now stood a huge ape growing in size by every second. The pressure and temperature inside the constrictor sphere were simply enormous for anyone or anything to withstand and yet this man-ape seemed to grow in size expanding the sphere with it.

A terrified Arjun turned his head towards kayati.

‘Kalanabha means ‘controller of time’,’ kayati supplied.

‘In which language?’ asked Arjun.

‘Is it important? Nevertheless, it’s Sanskrit.’ Kayati said.

‘Oh, come to the point already,’ worried Arjun rushed kayati.

‘According to my observations he’s incredibly strong, super-fast, has a mace for a weapon, can grow in size like he’s doing now. He must be the small monkey that mugged you, for, there’s no other possible explanation as to why both the monkey and the man did not show in my scanners. Which in-turn means that the monkey and the man are the same beings. So, he can change shape at will too. All these characters are mapped to only one being in my database,’ paused kayati.

‘what’s your point? What to make of all these?’

‘He calls himself kalanabha, which is another name for the person whom you people call, the HANUMAN. Also, Legends say that Hanuman is a chiranjivi, meaning immortal. Conclusions from my observations and calculations say that there’s a 79.43% chance that he’s the one you people worship as the “lord Hanuman”,’ established kayati.

‘Uh oh,’ gaped Arjun, turning to look at the now flickering sphere of the constrictor.

 ‘I told you it would be an “uh oh”. Now sit back and wait for the “ouch”.’
To Arjun, it all implode inside his head and the possibility firmly gripped his mind. He saw the constrictor shatter with a loud explosion, which got muffled by a leonine roar!