Neel Dervin And The Dark Angel by Neeraj Chand (bookstand for reading TXT) 📕

'What have you done?' the General shouted without preamble, his face a deep shade of red. 'What monumental stupidity possessed you to behave in this manner? Answer me, Miss Nayak!'

Divya took a deep breath. 'I did what I thought was right, sir.' she spoke as evenly as she could. 'The boy was dying in front of my eyes. The serum was the only thing that could have saved him. It seemed to be the only course to pursue.'

'The only course?' the General spluttered. His face was growing steadily redder. 'And who gave you the right to decide how to make use of a piece of government property? Who said you could involve in a private matter technology intended specifically for the use of the Indian army?'

'Calm down, General.' Doctor Fahim said, coming to stand next to the Minister and the general.

'Don‟t tell me to calm down, Doctor Fahim.' the General turned to glare at the doctor. 'Do you realize what she has done? In less than an hour we have lost the single greatest tactical advantage in the history of the armed forces, something that could have single handedly turned the rules of modern warfare on its head. And instead we have gotten a massive casualty on our hands in the form of a child with the power of a demon. And even that is provided he survives the operation, which does not at all seem likely at the moment, in which case the power of the serum will be lost forever. I want to know what she has to say for herself. Why was she even given the serum? You were the one who was supposed to get the serum to the lab.'

'Which is what I would have done if your plans for getting the project ready by tomorrow had not forced me to change my plans regarding the training program of the subject.' Doctor Fahim said calmly. 'I had to talk to Doctor Mathur about the therapy techniques we intend to use on the Alpha Soldiers. I therefore instructed Divya to take the serum to the lab.'

'And how did she know the combination for opening the safe containing the serum?' the General growled, his eyes narrowing. 'Do you routinely share critical information of that sort with your subordinates?'

'She knew because I had told her.' Doctor Fahim said, his voice becoming sharper. 'Kindly do not make unfounded and damaging insinuations against Miss Nayak, General. This accident was not a „private matter‟, as you called it just now. This serum was designed to help people, which is what she did. Divya has worked on this project with me for the last four years, and I trust her implicitly.'

'But I‟m afraid I do not trust her, Doctor Fahim.' the General said, breathing hard as he stared at the doctor. 'And I do not trust you either. This is why I was against using civilians in the project in the first place. They can never be trusted to follow orders.'

'Calm down, General.' the defense Minister now spoke up, putting a hand on the General‟s shoulder. 'We cannot change the past. What has already happened is beyond our control. We need to decide how to deal with this new situation. Miss Nayak, will you tell us exactly what happened? We only know the barest details.'

Divya took a deep breath and began to tell them what had happened at the intersection; the accident, the boy‟s broken body landing on the road, his life ending in front of her, and then the serum. The three men listened in silence.

'I didn‟t think I had a choice.' Divya said. She looked at Doctor Fahim almost pleadingly. 'The boy was dying in front of me.'

'It was the only course to pursue, Divya.' Doctor Fahim said quietly. 'You did what any decent human being would have done. We cannot blame you for it.' The General shot a look at the doctor, but did not say anything. Doctor Fahim ignored him.

'I called the police on the way over.' the General said. 'The man who was driving the car was caught two miles later. Some idiot with too much alcohol in his body. He will be jailed, of course, but the damage has been done.'

'The question now is, what do we do with the boy?' the Minister said. He stared abstractedly at a nearby table, his forehead still creased with worry. 'Provided he even survives the operation.' He turned to Doctor Fahim. 'Do you think he will survive, Doctor Fahim?'

'It would depend on how long he can be kept alive for the serum to take effect on his body.' Doctor Fahim said slowly. 'I have already mentioned how remarkable the effect of the serum is on the healing ability of the subject. I believe there is an excellent chance that he will survive the operation.'

'So after all our preparations for an Alpha Soldier, instead we are stuck with an Alpha child?' General Bakshi was no longer shouting, but the frown was still in place.

'I‟m afraid you do not fully understand, General.' Doctor Fahim said quietly, a strange expression on his face. He glanced at Divya. 'There is a side to this new situation that you are not aware of.'

'What do you mean?' the defense Minister was looking at Doctor Fahim warily.

'There is a curious property of the serum that I have not yet shared with either of you.' Doctor Fahim said slowly.

'At the secretariat, you said that you had told us everything.' the Minister said, his voice less calm than before.

'Everything that had a bearing on Project Alpha.' Doctor Fahim said. 'But there was a host of additional information related to our experiments that would have taken too long to relate.'

'So what part of that information has suddenly become relevant to the project?' General Bakshi stared hard at Doctor Fahim.

Divya watched the three men, hardly daring to breathe. The information that Doctor Fahim was about to give the other two men would show them how the situation had become much more complicated then they believed.

'The serum was tested on fully grown chimps, and the increased muscular and neural capacity they exhibited was entirely satisfactory.' Doctor Fahim said. 'But a curious fact was

noticed when the chimp in question was younger. The effect of the serum seemed to be compounded in their case.'

Doctor Fahim looked at the two men significantly, but from their expressions it was clear that they did not understand the implications of this discovery.

'It seems that the reason behind this augmentation is that the serum directly affects the glands which are responsible for the growth of the body during adolescence.' Doctor Fahim continued.

'At this stage of the operation, I believe the behavior of test monkeys might be considered superfluous, Doctor Fahim.' the General said impatiently. 'How would this detail affect humans?'

Doctor Fahim stared at the door for a second. He turned towards the General and spoke slowly.

'Provided that the effect of the serum is the same on humans as on the monkeys, the serum will increase the abilities of a normal man roughly five-fold.' He paused. 'However, it will increase the abilities of someone whose body is already developing by natural processes by ten-fold or perhaps even twenty-fold.'

There was complete silence in the room as the two men realized what Doctor Fahim meant.

'By „someone‟,' the defense Minister said slowly, 'You mean youngsters?'

'A youngster like the one who has suffered the accident?' the General‟s voice was rising again rapidly.

Doctor Fahim inclined his head. 'According to Divya, he is a teenager. That means, if he survives, all the physical and mental enhancements we were expecting in the case of the soldiers will be much greater in his case.'

Mr. Rai was staring at Doctor Fahim in blank shock. The General turned and walked away slowly, breathing hard. Perhaps it was the thought that they were in a public area that made the General attempt to deal with his agitation through movement rather than more yelling.

'So this boy…' the General spoke, and Divya was surprised at how calm he sounded. 'This teenager. He will be even stronger than we had anticipated?'

Doctor Fahim nodded somberly. 'His power will be greater than anything the world has ever seen before.'

The four occupants of the room gazed at each other in silence.

The Defense Minister closed his eyes, composing himself as he tried to process all the information. His shoulders slumped as the full extent of the situation was borne upon him.

'We need to talk about this to the Prime Minister.' he said finally, rubbing his eyes tiredly. 'Please excuse us.'

The General and the Minister left the room. Only Doctor Fahim was left with Divya. He looked at her in silence for several seconds. Then he smiled a rueful smile. 'The best laid plans washed down the drain by a single unfortunate occurrence, right, Divya?'

'I‟m so sorry, sir.' Divya whispered. Her voice was tight with anxiety. 'I wasn‟t thinking about the consequences of my actions. And now I‟ve cost the army the project, and I‟ve cost you all the research you did.'

'Don‟t let the General‟s harangue scare you.' Doctor Fahim said gently. 'Given the circumstances, you did the right thing. That is all anyone can ask for. This situation is the product of an accident, so stop blaming yourself.'

'What will happen now, sir?' Divya asked soberly.

'Well, given the unusual circumstances that this project had fallen upon, I think we will need an unusual solution.' Doctor Fahim said thoughtfully. 'Now, we will have the opportunity to observe a very interesting part of the experiment'

'A teenage meta human.' Divya nodded.

'Actually, I was referring to how apoplectic the general will become before he has a heart attack and expires.' the doctor said, his eyes twinkling.

Despite the gravity of the situation Divya could not help but laugh in a low voice.

'I cannot predict how this new situation will affect the overall plan anymore than you can, Divya.' Doctor Fahim said, his voice serious again. 'But rest assured, this is not the end of the project. The General is too determined a man to be stopped by stumbling blocks, and the Minister is no less tenacious. The project will continue forward, one way or the other. The child now….' Doctor Fahim frowned thoughtfully and shrugged his shoulders. 'The child I am not so sure about. I believe he will survive, but you can never be completely sure. We will simply have to wait and see.'

Nurse Arti sat nervously in the private ward. She was only a few months into this job, and it was the first time she had been assigned to this particular ward. The room was small but comfortably furnished, with more amenities than the usual private hospital room provided. It was kept separate from the other rooms, and was used for patients who required peace and quiet to recover, or when someone well known or important was in the hospital and wished to keep a low profile. On the single bed in front of her slept a young boy. It was the same boy who had been admitted to the hospital two days ago. He had been heavily sedated following the surgery, and had slept for an uninterrupted twelve hours. He had woken up briefly in a half delirious state yesterday and fallen asleep again immediately. After the surgery the doctors had not been very hopeful that he would survive such a serious accident, although they admitted that his vital signs were very strong for someone who had suffered such grave injuries. The boy‟s mother had arrived in a haze of panic the day before. She had

been calmed down and assured that her son was in the best possible care. The mother had since been visiting the hospital regularly, if only to check on her still sleeping son.

The nurse wondered who the boy was. He had to be related to someone very important, judging by the number of important people who seemed to be concerned about