Back To School

Aditya gingerly climbed down from the car with the help of an elbow crutch. His right hand was securely wrapped in a plaster cast, held in position with a sling around his neck. There was a cast around his right leg as well, as he slightly limped. His body had suffered from eight fractures; none of them was fatal. Otherwise, nothing could have stopped Hamsa and Maahi from rushing to the tribal village.

Tya had warned Maahi that the Organisation could monitor her movement because of her connection with Taarini. Maahi's company was the financier to the Bangalore iconic building project taken up by Taarini. After Hamsa had said that Aditya's body condition was not in any danger, Maahi heeded Tya's advice and stayed.

Even though Tya was not able to directly know Aditya's health status, he could guide Taarini to do the preliminary check-up. Tya was undoubtedly the epitome of human medical knowledge unsurpassed by anyone. In fact, Tya's education was not limited to the medical sciences. Tya had utilised entirely the potential of the glove made by Aditya and had secured thousands of terabytes worth of data.

Aditya had stayed at Maahi's suite after he had returned to the city. He had given a brief explanation as to what happened on the Highway (freeway). Maahi remained quiet before revealing that Tya had shown her what had transpired, down to the minutest detail. Aditya was surprised that Tya was able to transfer information through his soul particle to others.

Aditya did not need to delay the construction of his very own personal supercomputer as long as he could get the components smuggled. Faizal and others had returned from their tour of East Asia. They had visited Shenzhen (China), Taiwan, South Korea and Japan to place a wide variety of orders of components.

Faizal represented different engineering colleges, software companies and statistical organisations from India to place specific orders to different companies. Aditya did not want to look conspicuous by placing a large order under the name of a single company. He also did not procure from one company either.

Aditya would have to manufacture some key components by himself as no company would be willing to sell their latest technologies. Also, Aditya could not afford the price of these technologies, which was placed in tens of billions of dollars. It was better he worked on it himself as Tya was privy to this latest technology. Aditya would also have to assemble these components by himself.

Aditya had a plan to reduce this workload, but it will have to wait until Tya was able to activate the 'Cellular Regulation' ability again. It would take a week for this, almost the same amount of time required for him to recover completely.

As for the source of Aditya's money, it was a wide range of cold beverage formulae and also that of uncarbonated ones. Tya did not hack or steal any corporate secrets to get this information. Aditya had to drink the said beverage and Tya could give a detailed list of the chemical constituents of that liquid. It was the same way in which Tya was able to discover the presence and the molecular formula of the unique drug in Saira's blood.

So, Tya had held an 'unofficial secret bidding competition' on these formulae in the dark web. In the beginning, no beverage company took his claims seriously, but when they saw their own beverage formulae being revealed, the situation changed.

Aditya's eyes had shined when he saw the amount of money being deposited in the various bank accounts. These bank accounts had been opened by Faizal on Aditya's behest and were completely secure thanks to Tya's interventions. So, the funding for the components of the supercomputer was not an issue.

Fortunately, the bidding took place on the night before going on the trip with Taarini. Otherwise, Faizal would have to return emptyhanded, and Aditya's plans would have been delayed by weeks.

"Are you sure you could manage yourself?" a mature female voice was heard as Aditya was mulling over his thoughts.

"Yup, no problem," Aditya smiled as he nodded at his elder sister Saira, who was in the driver seat of the vehicle. Saira was the one who took care of Aditya after he had returned to the city. She had taken him to a military hospital and had him thoroughly diagnosed.

Aditya was allowed to leave only after the doctor had given a clean chit. The doctor was utterly shocked at the speed of Aditya's healing and wanted to look deeper, but was stopped by Saira. The doctor knew enough to keep his mouth shut. He knew Saira and the kind of her work. The unusual nature of Aditya's body was the reason that Saira had taken him to that military hospital.

The pain in his right arm and leg bothered Aditya a lot as he walked. Aditya wanted to spend some time with his friends after what had happened in the past few days. He needed something to occupy his mind and divert him.

Aditya had killed too many people at once and had escaped death many times in a day. He had almost lost a close friend in his arms. It would be a lie if Aditya said he was not psychologically affected by these events in the least.

"I may have to leave the city for a few days. Maahi will take care of you when I am gone," Saira said as she gazed at Aditya with eyes filled with concern. Saira had never expected that her little brother would have to face the might of the Organisation in this way. This meeting was too early. The move of the Organisation by choosing to attack the underworld of Bangalore left her puzzled. According to her, this was not the way the Organisation functioned.

What left her even more shocked was the fact that Aditya was able to kill more than twenty members of the Auxilia, all by himself. After Saira and others had arrived at the spot, it took eight military choppers, ten squads and thirty-five hours to hunt the remaining members. Even then, the leader had escaped and was rumoured to be hiding in Bangalore. Saira had thought of incorporating Aditya into her team but did not ask Aditya as she felt that he was still young. She wanted to give him some time.

During this hunt, Saira's superiors were expecting to be contacted by the organisation but was surprised to receive no response, of any kind, from the Organisation. It was as if the fate of these people had nothing to do with them.

"Okay, take care and call me if you come across any issue," Saira said as she started the vehicle and drove away. Aditya gazed as the car went out of sight. He did not fear that the Organisation would link him to the killing of its members, as he was confident of Tya's camouflage technique. Aditya saw many police vehicles as they patrolled the roads and conducted random checks of cars and people.

The city was filled with a kind of dull, gloomy haze. What more could be expected when the Chief Minister of the state had been killed in cold blood, a few days ago. If the Chief Minister had a natural cause of death or at least a suspicious death, it would not have created such a disturbance. But, the Chief Minister, with all his protection, was killed in front of the public and media personnel. Although no electronic evidence had been retrieved, everyone knew what had transpired. It was an open secret.

All sorts of public institutions, schools and offices had remained closed for three days. Aditya was not sure whether they had been closed because they were mourning the loss of a leader or just plain terrified about the circumstances of his death.

There were all kinds of rumours circulating around the death of the Chief Minister. They ranged from a conspiracy of the rival political party to a retaliatory strike from a terrorist organisation. The people seem to perceive that the times were changing. Aditya could see a sense of restlessness in the people as they went to work.

"Adi, what the ..?"

Aditya heard an exclamation as he entered the school. He turned to see Kranthi making his way towards him as he pushed students aside. Aditya smiled as he said, "slow down White buffalo; it was just a small accident."

Kranthi panted as he hurried with his heavy stature with Rahul (little pig) following on his footsteps. He examined Aditya and calmed down only after he failed to notice any glaring wound. Kranthi held Aditya's right hand as he asked, "how did it happen? You were perfectly fine the other day."

"Fatty, that is why it is called an accident. Just chill, I will be perfectly alright in a week," Aditya reassured as he looked at Kranthi. He felt warm when he saw his friend's concern.

"Why did you need to come to school with these injuries. It's not like you are going to miss anything?" Kranthi said as he bent down to examine Aditya's right leg. Kranthi was aware of the fact that Aditya knew the syllabus like the back of his hand.

"Well, it is boring to just stay at home," Aditya grinned as he unwrapped a mango-flavoured lollipop and placed it in his mouth. Rahul came over and carried Aditya's school bag as he said, "elder brother Adi, where have you been the past few days? It had been chaotic in the city. Do you know that the Eiffel Tower has collapsed? Our Chief Minister had also been killed. And, there is a video circulating on the internet where four Chinese civilian aeroplanes crashed into each other. Many are saying that it is a fake video, but it looks quite realistic to me."

Aditya smiled as he nodded at Rahul. It would be false if Aditya said that he was not shocked at the destruction of the Eiffel Tower. Saira had replied that these incidents were the Organisation's way of giving the last warning. She said that these incidents were successful at driving the message home and the temporary alliance had been abolished.

Unless there was an unexpected change in the status quo, there was no way that any country was willing to act against the Organisation. Aditya had asked Saira if any one of the nuclear-armed nations consider the nuclear option. Saira had replied in the affirmative.

If things continue the way they are, Saira was sure someone would take that step, and no one knew when it would happen or if it will be successful. But Aditya could tell that Saira was not optimistic about the success of a nuclear attack.

Aditya shared the same feeling, from the technological superiority of the Organisation, it would be foolishness to think that they did not have a countermeasure in place. Aditya remembered the missile which had tracked them and hit the train. The newspapers stated that the train accident was caused by the poor state of the bridge infrastructure.

"Okay dude, today we have a zoology lab. Let's go and dissect some cockroach mouthparts," Kranthi said as he held Aditya left hand and supported him. Aditya smiled as he limped towards the school; the pain did not bother him anymore.