Karnak brought a small packet out of his pocket. He removed the plastic wrapping and picked out a small black card from it.
“What is this?” asked Suneeti, leaning closer and peering at the card. Despite being black it reflected light in rainbow colors, like an oyster shell.
“It is a dormant nanobotic complex,” said Karnak.
“Nanobots ... aren’t they ...”
“Illegal? Yes, they are. But I have a certain friend who doesn’t subscribe to the same view.”
“But why do you need to use nanobots at all? You know all these mantras, don’t you? I saw you. You could charioteer the vimana, you could break the tantrik yantra too. Can’t you just chant something and get us out of here?”
Karnak felt annoyance build up inside him. He took a deep breath. Then he realized that he was getting angry over his own incompetence. He considered himself to be a powerful acharya. But the truth of the matter was that he was only an amateur at best. He knew how to do many things with mantras, but he did not know all of them. The best of acharyas could invent their own mantras for things, but even they had their limits. He doubted it any acharya could actually fly through vacuum. If they could, they’d not have to invent vimana’s would they?
“Mantras cannot do everything,” he explained patiently, “Mantras are like any other bit of engineering. Just because you can make a vimana fly doesn’t mean you can fly it at any speed. Just as there are limits to the physical world, there are limits to the mantrik world.”
Suneeti nodded.
Karnak had finished fiddling with the nanobotic complex. He opened a hatch to an ejection chute, put the card in and pressed the control. There was a sharp sound of air being sucked out.
“Do you want to watch?” Karnak asked Suneeti, “I always find it fascinating.”
He turned on the external camera. They could see the surface of the asteroid on screen. The image wasn’t very clear and Suneeti could barely make out the black speck in the centre of the display.
“What am I supposed to see?” she asked.
“Wait!”
For several moment nothing happened. Then Suneeti thought she saw something. It was like a little cloud of smoke rising from where the black nanobotic disc was sinking into the ground. Then Suneeti saw a structure forming up. It was hexagonal in structure and greyish-silver in colour.
“It’s magical,’ Karnak whispered beside her.
She looked on. The structure was now bigger, about a feet tall. It has begun to form a three dimensional dodecahedral pattern that extended out to form what looked like an antenna.
“Is that a beacon?” she asked.
“Yes, and if that beacon is working, we should have help sometime soon.”
Karnak backed away from the viewer and relaxed. He seemed visibly relieved.
“So,” said Suneeti, “I guess we just have to wait now.”
“Yes.”
She stayed silent for a minute, then said:
“Tell me about Gorakhnath. Why is he hunting you like this?”
“It’s a long story,” said Karnak with a smile.
“We have the time,” Suneeti shrugged.
“Okay,” said Karnak, “we go a long time back. About three years, I guess. I was at the ashram at that time.”
***
“What is this?” asked Suneeti, leaning closer and peering at the card. Despite being black it reflected light in rainbow colors, like an oyster shell.
“It is a dormant nanobotic complex,” said Karnak.
“Nanobots ... aren’t they ...”
“Illegal? Yes, they are. But I have a certain friend who doesn’t subscribe to the same view.”
“But why do you need to use nanobots at all? You know all these mantras, don’t you? I saw you. You could charioteer the vimana, you could break the tantrik yantra too. Can’t you just chant something and get us out of here?”
Karnak felt annoyance build up inside him. He took a deep breath. Then he realized that he was getting angry over his own incompetence. He considered himself to be a powerful acharya. But the truth of the matter was that he was only an amateur at best. He knew how to do many things with mantras, but he did not know all of them. The best of acharyas could invent their own mantras for things, but even they had their limits. He doubted it any acharya could actually fly through vacuum. If they could, they’d not have to invent vimana’s would they?
“Mantras cannot do everything,” he explained patiently, “Mantras are like any other bit of engineering. Just because you can make a vimana fly doesn’t mean you can fly it at any speed. Just as there are limits to the physical world, there are limits to the mantrik world.”
Suneeti nodded.
Karnak had finished fiddling with the nanobotic complex. He opened a hatch to an ejection chute, put the card in and pressed the control. There was a sharp sound of air being sucked out.
“Do you want to watch?” Karnak asked Suneeti, “I always find it fascinating.”
He turned on the external camera. They could see the surface of the asteroid on screen. The image wasn’t very clear and Suneeti could barely make out the black speck in the centre of the display.
“What am I supposed to see?” she asked.
“Wait!”
For several moment nothing happened. Then Suneeti thought she saw something. It was like a little cloud of smoke rising from where the black nanobotic disc was sinking into the ground. Then Suneeti saw a structure forming up. It was hexagonal in structure and greyish-silver in colour.
“It’s magical,’ Karnak whispered beside her.
She looked on. The structure was now bigger, about a feet tall. It has begun to form a three dimensional dodecahedral pattern that extended out to form what looked like an antenna.
“Is that a beacon?” she asked.
“Yes, and if that beacon is working, we should have help sometime soon.”
Karnak backed away from the viewer and relaxed. He seemed visibly relieved.
“So,” said Suneeti, “I guess we just have to wait now.”
“Yes.”
She stayed silent for a minute, then said:
“Tell me about Gorakhnath. Why is he hunting you like this?”
“It’s a long story,” said Karnak with a smile.
“We have the time,” Suneeti shrugged.
“Okay,” said Karnak, “we go a long time back. About three years, I guess. I was at the ashram at that time.”
***
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