Neel Dervin and the Dark Angel (4 page)

But where was here, exactly? Neel knew he was in some sort of a hospital room. An IV
drip attached to a stand was placed next to the bed. A bedpan was kept nearby. Someone had
placed flowers on the small table at the side of his bed.

Neel squeezed his eyes shut tightly. He was finding it almost impossible to focus his
eyes. Images seemed very sharp when he looked at any one thing, but everything became a
blur if he turned to look from one direction to another, as though he was watching them from
a very fast moving car. He was also having trouble telling the depth of the images his mind
was receiving. It was as though the entire world had suddenly become flat and two
dimensional. Everything seemed far away and near at the same time. His arms seemed at
once stretched thin and yet oddly bloated. There was a steady thumping in his ears. It took
several moments for him to realize he was listening to his own heartbeat, louder and clearer
than it had ever been before. He clutched the bed sheets tightly as panic rose inside him.

He still had his eyes closed when he heard footsteps outside the door. The sound of the
door opening came to his ears. He opened his eyes and saw that a tall man with a lean frame
and a young girl with long black hair tied back in a ponytail had entered the room. The girl
closed the door behind her. The old man stared at Neel for a moment, and then said
something quietly.

Neel stared at the man uncomprehendingly. The words had sounded as though they
were coming from a badly tuned radio, garbled and indistinct, but loud. The old man came
closer, still speaking.

It was then that Neel began to feel truly frightened. The man‟s words seemed
incredibly slow. In fact, everything about the two newcomers, from their speech to their
movements, seemed incredibly sluggish.

Everything he had ever heard about brain damage came rushing to Neel‟s mind. He sat
up straight on the bed, looking at the two.

 

“What‟s happened to me? I can‟t understand anything you‟re saying.” Neel spoke to
the man in a frightened voice.

The words came out in a string of gibberish, too fast for Doctor Fahim or Divya to
understand. The boy was beginning to move around uneasily in the bed, and his movements
appeared bizarrely accelerated and abrupt.

Doctor
Fahim and Divya glanced at each other. It was as they had expected. The boy‟s
brain speed was much faster than normal now. Doctor Fahim motioned to Divya, who took
the recorder out of her pocket. She held it in her palm and hit the play button.

The room was suddenly filled with meaningless noise, a message played at three times
the normal speed, too fast for a normal person to make sense of.

 

Neel, however, could understand every word of the message. He stopped moving and
froze, listening intently, his heart hammering against his chest.

“Calm down
, Neel.” the voice in the recorder said. It was DoctorFahim‟s voice. “You
are completely fine. In fact, you are better than fine. Everything around you seems to be in
slow motion, but I can help you speed everything up. Please trust me. I can explain
everything. But first I need you to slow your mind down a bit. I want you to close your eyes.”

The same message played out three more times to make sure the young boy understood
every word. Divya had been timing the message with her watch, and now hit pause.

 

Neel hesitated for a brief second. Doctor Fahim smiled encouragingly at him. Slowly,
Neel closed his eyes.

 

Doctor Fahim nodded to Divya. Again, she hit the play button on the recorder.

“Very good.” said the voice. “Relax. Take a deep breath.
You are not the first person to
experience these sensations. I can promise you that you can be in command of your mind
again. You simply need to understand how to regain control over your senses. Open your
eyes and focus on any one thing in the room. Ignore everything else.”

Neel opened his eyes. He stared hard at the flowers on the table, forcing back the
feeling of panic, and took deep breaths, trying to stop his heart from hammering against his
chest. Slowly, speed returned to normal. The movements of the other two became faster and
the speed of the watch on Divya‟s wrist returned to the normal rate.

“Well done.” Doctor Fahim said, watching intently as Neel‟s movements became
slower and more controlled.

Neel sta
red at the man. “Who are you?” he said, speaking carefully. He looked up at
the girl who was watching him as well. “What‟s happening to me?” He continued to breathe
slowly, his mind threatening to speed up again at any moment.

Doctor
Fahim drew the chair up to the side of the bed and sat down. “That is what we
would like to explainto you.” he said gently. “My name is Doctor Fahim. I am a doctor of
biotechnology. This is Divya Nayak. She is my personal aide.”

“You suffered an accident two days ago.” Divya said, coming to stand next to his bed.
“Your injuries were very severe.”

 

Neel nodded. “I remember.” he said. “I was hit by a car. I thought I was going to die.”

“That would
certainly have been theoutcome if Divya had not been there.” Doctor
Fahim said quietly. “Fortunately, Divya had in her possession a serum which saved your life.
But that serum also changed you at a veryfundamental level. Would you like to know how?”

Neel nodded, not trusting himself to speak as he stared at the two serious faces before
him.

 

Doctor Fahim leaned back in his chair and looked at the young boy. “Tell me, Neel, do
you know anything about a scientist named DoctorWarren Thompson?”

Neel stared at him in surprise and confusion. He did not know what the name had to do
with his illness. But Doctor Fahim was waiting for an answer. Neel considered the question.
Warren Thompson… The name stirred memories. Certain news he had heard in an
educational program a long time ago.“I think I‟ve heard his name.” he said. He looked
uncertainly at Doctor Fahim and Divya. “He discovered something important, right? People
said he discovered big foot or something.”

“
Fictitious rumors fabricated for the benefit of themedia.” DoctorFahim said. “In
reality, Doctor Thompson discovered something much more important, a discovery which
has such far reaching implications that the government has gone to great lengths to keep it a
secret.”

Doctor Fahim rose from his chair and offered it to Divya.

 

“I‟m fine, sir.” Divya said quickly.

 

“It is a question of manners, Divya.” Doctor Fahim said. She reluctantly took the chair.
DoctorFahim walked over to the end of Neel‟s bed and looked at him.

“I was working with
Doctor Thompson on a piece of research work that promised to be
very intriguing.” he resumed his narrative. “Doctor Thompson had found a family of apes in
the African jungles. Although they numbered in a mere handful, the tribes people in the
surrounding area did their best to avoid confrontations with them. The remarkable thing about
these apes was their strength. They were much stronger than ordinary gorillas, capable of
uprooting gigantic trees and throwing heavy boulders across amazing distances. Doctor
Thompson tried his best to study them, but the apes were unused to human presence at such
close quarters. They attacked his research team and the two local tribes which were helping
him. It took more than a hundred men to stop them. In the end, only a single ape survived,
which Doctor Thompson kept with himself. That ape also died soon afterwards, but he had
collected enough samples to continue his study.”

Doctor Fahim paused. Neel was listening intently now. Divya already knew all this, but
she was listening closely as well. Doctor Fahim went on.“Doctor Thompson was an old
mentor of mine. He called me in and told me about his research, and we worked together on
studying the samples for five years. We discovered a new compound which mimicked the
properties of an undiscovered hormone and was responsible for the remarkable strength of
the apes.”

Neel‟s mind began to lose controlagain, and the doctor‟s words became sluggish and
incomprehensible once more. With a huge effort, he forced his mind to slow down.

 

“I‟m sorry.” he broke in, trying to keep the desperation out of his voice. “ButI don‟t see
what this has to do with why Ican‟t see or hear properly.”

“I am coming to that.”
DoctorFahim said gently. “Please bear with me a while longer.
Your present situation is another link in a chain of events which were put in motion a very
long time ago. You need to understand everything from the beginning in order to appreciate
your unique condition.”

Neel nodded and sat completely still, staring at Doctor Fahim.

“
Doctor Thomson was getting on in his years, and the conditions under which we
worked for so long were ill suited to his health.” the doctor continued. There was a ring of
sadness in his voice. Divya knew how deeply he had respected the man who had been his
mentor for so long. “He died a year after we had returned from Africa. He left all his
possessions to charity. But the samples and all his research work connected to our time in
Africa he left to me. I worked alone on the project for twenty eight years, and it was
developing into something truly remarkable. Divya became my assistant during that time, and
together we succeeded in uncovering most of the secrets of that curioussubstance.”

“At this point,
however, our resources dried. We could not continue our research. It
seemed as though we had come to the end of our work. And yet there was still so much left to
accomplish.”

“But then I received a call from a certain government official. Rumors of what I had
been working on had reached the military, and the call I had gotten was from the defense
Minister of India. I went to meet him, and a man named General Bakshi. They were willing
to fund our research, and sponsor our project, provided the end result would be handed over
to the army. I could think of no better solution. We would get the research money, and our
work would be used to help protect the country.”

Doctor F
ahim looked at Neel. “That was three yearsago.” he said. “Since then, Divya
and I have been working on perfecting the serum, and making it safe for human consumption.
We devoted all our energies to uncovering its secrets, and applying the fantastic effects of the
serum to augmenting the abilities of a normal human.” DoctorFahim‟s expression had
become brooding. “Our work was finally completed a few weeks ago. Two days ago, we
finalized the transfer of the serum to the army. Divya was taking the serum back from the
army headquarters to our lab when she witnessed your accident.” Doctor Fahim looked
intently at Neel. “I should also mention that, one of the properties the serum dispenses is a
drasticallyincreased rate of healing.”

Neel stared at the doctor in a daze. Finally, he understood why Doctor Fahim had been
telling him all this. “So you…you gave me that serum?” The doctor nodded quietly.

“It was the only way.”
he said. “Without the serum you would have died long before
you had arrived at the hospital. Your condition was far beyond human aid. And so Divya
chose the one course of action that had a chance of helping you. She saved your life.”

Neel stared at the doctor, and at Divya. Then he stared around the room, trying to
process the information. According to the doctor, the serum made a person stronger, yet that
was not what Neel had experienced when he had woken up.“You said I‟ve changed.” he
said, his voice coming out a little hoarse. “What exactly does that mean?” He ran a cursory
glance over his body. As far he could make out, everything seemed completely unchanged.

Doctor Fahim came and sat on the edge
of his bed. “The serum was refined and made
more potent, with more widespread effects on the nervous system then mere physical
strength.” he said. “Your senses, your speed, your strength, your stamina, everything has
increased to a superhuman capacity.”

Neel stared at him dumbly. Perhaps the words were supposed to make him feel
important, or excited. All he was conscious of was a feeling of unreality.

 

There was a long pause. Neel was still staringat the doctor. “And I saw everything in
slow motion just now because?…”

“Because your
sensory nerves have become more receptive, and your response speed to
external stimuli, along with everything else, has been enhanced.” DoctorFahim said. “Your
brain is unused to processing information at the speed it is now receiving. It is an ability that
you will have to learn to control. In fact, everything that you know about your body and its
capabilities will have to be learnt again.”

Again, Neel could only stare at the doctor. A part of his mind told him this was all
ridiculous, that he was either dreaming or was the target of some giant practical joke. But it
did not make the situation any less bizarre.

“There has to be a mistake.” Neel said, looking helplessly at DoctorFahim and Divya. “I
don‟t feel any different. Just my eyes were messed up for a while. But I feel finenow.”

Doctor Fahim nodded thoughtfully. He glanced around at Divya, who reached inside
her bag and pulled out a solidly built steel rod about a foot long. She brought the rod forward
and gave it to Doctor Fahim. He hefted the rod lightly in his hand, testing its weight and
strength. “This seems like a good, strongpiece of workmanship.” he said. He handed the rod
to Neel.

Neel took the rod reluctantly, and looked at Doctor Fahim. The two stared at each other
for a moment.

 

“I think you know what I want you to do.” Doctor Fahim said simply.

Neel returned his gaze to the rod. Slowly, he grasped the rod in both hands. He felt
nothing new. What he did not notice was he was lifting the rod more easily than either Divya
or Doctor Fahim had been able to.

Neel applied his strength at the ends of the rod. It bent very slightly. He continued
building the pressure at the ends, feeling a sudden power surge through his hands. The rod
twisted, and bent easily in his hands. In a sudden burst, he pulled at the ends of the rod hard.