Thirst No. 5 (36 page)

Karna tells me that it does, and he explains what I will have to do to fix it. His instructions are long and detailed and I’m not sure I follow all his words. To me, it seems he sometimes uses phrases that come from the star worlds. They pop out of his mouth when he’s distracted.

He gets distracted whenever he looks at me.

Finally we reach the
vimana
. It is like a large domed structure built half on the shore, half in the water. At first it appears to be made of metal, but as we draw near it glows with a dull orange light and I imagine it is a huge ball of glass half buried in the ground. I don’t know how much of it sank into the earth when it fell from the sky. There is no door I can see but Karna assures me one will appear when I approach it.

“Do you remember everything I have told you?” he asks as the others halt far back on the path. I imagine the strange metal box cannot harm me at such a distance but I’m loath to flee from such an exciting mystery. It’s hard to look at the ship without also turning my eyes toward the stars. Did it really come from another world? Karna remembers a tremendous amount from his past lives and yet there are many holes in his knowledge.

“I’ll do my best to fix it,” I say.

Karna is uneasy. “I have warned you about the damaged weapons, the dangerous light they give off. It won’t look as threatening as fire but it’s already killed several of Duryodhana’s men who have tried to fix the ship.”

“They died from a light you can hardly see?” I ask, puzzled.

“Yes. When you find a metal container that glows, put it away fast in one of the vaults I have described to you. Whatever you do, don’t hold on to the weapons long.”

“You’re worried. You must have been in this ship yourself.”

Karna turns away and stares at the lake. “For a short time. Then I remembered these dangers from a past life and fled.” He pauses. “I’m a coward.”

“Being cautious doesn’t make you a coward.”

Karna sighs. “But I allowed other men to be sent in after me.”

I snort. “You mean Duryodhana sent them after you. That’s not your fault.”

Karna shakes his head. “A dozen went inside the ship. Six are still inside, dead. The others died after staggering outside.” He turns and grips my shoulders. “I feel as if I have come to know you, Sita. Please tell me that the stories about you are true and the
vimana
won’t harm you.”

Such a dear man; I touch his face. “I don’t know if it will harm me or not. But I must go inside. Remember, you’re not forcing me. Whatever happens will be my own doing. If I fail to return, don’t blame yourself.”

Karna takes my hand and kisses it. “No, Sita, if you don’t come back, I’ll never forgive myself.” He looks in my eyes. “I wish you would run.”

I smile as I take back my hand and kiss his cheek. “I would rather fly, Karna. Fly to your star worlds.”

With that I turn and walk toward the
vimana
.

W
hen I open my eyes, Seymour and Matt are sitting in chairs on the other side of the hotel room. “What happened?” I asked.

“You stopped talking fifteen minutes ago,” Matt says.

“I lost contact with your mind then,” Seymour says. “It’s like a wall came up between us.”

“What’s the last thing you heard?” I ask.

“You were walking toward the
vimana
,” Matt says.

I hang my head. “That’s all I remember.”

Matt stands and stretches. “We’re still missing the most important part. What went on inside the
vimana
. How does it connect to the Nazis and the veil?”

“But we learned a great deal,” Seymour says. “The metal box Major Klein used to knock Sita out sounds exactly like the
box that came from the
vimana
that crash-landed during the Battle of Kurukshetra.”

“I wonder how the Nazis got ahold of it,” I say.

“Didn’t you see the original
Indiana Jones
?” Seymour says. “The Nazis were obsessed with finding spiritual artifacts even before the war began. Hitler was more interested in Eastern religions than Christianity. It’s well documented that he sent teams of archaeologists into Tibet, China, and India. One of them must have come across the box.”

“Or else he had it from the beginning,” Matt says. “The box might have been passed down in a secret tradition we know little about. Recall how most of the inner Nazis belonged to the Thule Society—an esoteric satanic cult.”

“That’s a possibility,” Seymour says. “Hell, for all we know Hitler might have used the box to help with his rise to power. But let’s focus on the
vimanas
for a moment. When my mind was linked with yours, Sita, I saw the lights in the sky the people at Krishna’s campfire were talking about. And while you were still coming out of our hypnotic trance, I looked up
vimanas
on the Internet and found out there are several major scriptures that talk about them—and not all of them are from India. One is called the Samarangana Sutradhara. Let me quote this one part. ‘Strong and durable must the body of the
vimana
be made, like a great flying bird of light material. Inside one must put the mercury engine with its iron heating apparatus underneath. By means of the power latent in
the mercury which sets the driving whirlwind in motion, a man sitting inside may travel a great distance in the sky. The movements of the
vimana
are such that it can fly vertically or horizontally or fly in circles. With help of the machines human beings can fly in the air and heavenly beings can come down to earth.’ ” Seymour stops and shakes his head. “We’re not deluding ourselves. These things existed.”

“But do they exist now?” I say. “On earth?”

Seymour shrugs. “Mr. Grey says the government is building them.”

Matt paces. “He says the government is
trying
to build them. From what I heard, it sounded like the Nazis were trying to build them too. But these Fastwalkers that have been developed, they’re poor imitations of the real
vimanas
.”

“Because they can’t travel to the stars?” Seymour says. “Or because heavenly beings are not flying around in them?”

Matt hesitates. “Maybe both.”

Seymour nods. “That’s an interesting idea. But let’s stay with what we learned from Sita’s trance. The Nazis didn’t just expect her to confirm that the
vimanas
were real, they were confident she could give them hard data on how to build one. Where did that confidence come from?”

“Karna described the interior of the
vimana
to Sita in detail,” Matt says.

“But I didn’t hear Sita giving that detail to Himmler,” Seymour says. “At least not in that meeting they had. Also, even
before Sita told Himmler about Karna and saw the
vimana
, Himmler knew she knew about them. It was like he read about her in a book.”

“A book Hitler’s scavengers found in India?” Matt asks.

“That’s the impression I got,” I say, breaking in. I feel I should at least comment on my own memories. “It’s obvious Klein and Himmler knew about me from an ancient source. That’s how I ended up in their damn file. They had read about me. It’s the only explanation.”

“I agree,” Seymour says.

Matt stares at me. “Why did you stop when you did?”

“I don’t know.” I stand and walk to the sink, picking up a glass. I’m dying for a drink of water. Blood would be even better. “There’s still some kind of block.”

Matt turns to Seymour. “What’s the block?” he asks.

Seymour is uncomfortable. “Whatever happens next is pretty bad.”

“Are you saying she’s afraid to face it?” Matt asks.

“Hello,” I say. “I’m right here. You can ask me.”

“But you just said you don’t know what is causing the block,” Matt says.

“Look, let’s work with what we’ve got,” Seymour interrupts, trying to protect me, or my memory. “It’s clear the Nazis believed they could win the war if they could tap into
vimana
technology. That doesn’t surprise me. With a handful of ships that could move that fast, they could have destroyed the Allies’ entire air force.”

“They were not trying to win the war with fast-flying ships,” I say.

Seymour goes to speak and stops. “How, then?”

I point at Matt. “Ask this guy.”

“Why me?” Matt says.

“You said you beat the game,” I say.

“So?” Matt says.

“Seymour, what is the goal of the game?” I ask. “The one the Cradle posted on the Internet?”

Seymour’s eyes dart back and forth between the two of us. “To find a spaceship and fly it back to the center of the galaxy.” He stops and speaks to Matt. “You really beat it?”

“Yes,” Matt says.

“So you know where it is,” I say to Matt.

“Where what is?” Seymour asks.

I raise my voice. “The
vimana
. The real
vimana
. The one from five thousand years ago. The one that crash-landed in the lake.”

Seymour lifts his hand. “Wait a second? Are you saying that all this time the Cradle knew where a real
vimana
was?”

“Maybe they knew, maybe they didn’t know,” I say. “But the power they were channeling definitely knows.”

“Tarana?” Seymour says.

I nod. “Does he know, Matt?”

Matt hesitates. “Yes and no.”

“That’s a safe answer,” I snap.

“Don’t get angry, I’m trying to help you remember,” Matt says. “The goal of the game was not the
vimana
that Karna led you to in the lake.”

“How do you know?” Seymour asks. “You weren’t there.”

“No. But my father was,” Matt says.

“Yaksha,” I gasp. “I don’t remember seeing him that night.”

“He was there, he told me what happened. He knew you were near the campfire when Krishna was speaking. He was worried about you, so he followed you back to the Kauravas’ camp. He followed you and the man with the box and Duryodhana and Karna to the crashed ship.”

“I don’t remember any of this!” I gasp.

“I know,” Matt says.

“Wait a second,” Seymour interrupts. “I just thought of something. Sita saw Umara that night five thousand years ago. Yet Sita didn’t know Umara when she met her two months ago. How is that possible?”

“Because Sita remembered nothing that happened that night,” Matt says.

“How did she lose so many crucial memories?” Seymour asks.

“How indeed?” Matt says.

“You still haven’t answered our question about the ultimate goal of the game,” I say to Matt. “If it wasn’t to find the crashed
vimana
, then what was it?”

“To find the same thing the Nazis were seeking,” Matt says.

“They were trying to win a war,” Seymour says. “The purpose of the game is to find a spaceship. They wanted to find the ship so they could build them and win the war. That’s got to be the answer.”

“That’s not the answer,” Matt says.

“Did Yaksha tell you the answer?” I ask.

“Yes,” Matt says.

“Tell us what it is!” I say, exasperated.

“I will. Soon,” Matt says.

“Now!” I order.

Matt shakes his head but doesn’t answer.

“Tarana created that game,” I warn Matt. “He didn’t create it for your own good. The game is evil—John has told us as much. Why do you act like it contains the secret of secrets?”

“The game is important,” Matt says. “But I think Mr. Grey is right. I think you are the secret of secrets. Or the key, as he said.”

“Spying on me again?” I say.

Matt shrugs. “I can’t help but hear what people say around me.”

Seymour shakes his head. “Just when I think I have everything figured out, you bring up all this shit. What are we supposed to do now?”

“Get Mr. Grey and go to Joshua Tree National Park,” Matt says.

“What’s in Joshua Tree?” I ask, although I should know.
That was where John was conceived, and that was where he was taken when he was kidnapped by a monster before he was rescued by me. I have a history with the place. So, apparently, does Matt.

“The end of the game,” Matt says.

• • •

Dr. Tower is still at the hospital when I arrive with Matt and Seymour. The doctor assures us the operation went fine.

“We were able to relieve the pressure and stop the bleeding in Joel’s temporal lobe,” Dr. Tower explains, his focus on me. “If there are no further complications, your brother should make a full recovery.”

“Wonderful,” I say with feeling. “Can we see him?”

“He’s in recovery right now. He’s heavily sedated. You can see him but don’t expect him to respond.” Dr. Tower looks at my two companions. “Only immediate family is allowed in.”