A Paradox in Retrograde (27 page)

"You have to understand, the security of the citadel is our primary mission. If we can't even do that, then what good are we?"

Grunhuf, who could just as likely as not give wise counsel, chose
the former.
"Landaus our mission is clear. There will be plenty of time to
revise history and point fingers, when our job here is done. But
for now, let's take this opportunity to get in, get what we need,
and get out. You should be glad you didn't have a reason to kill
one of those fine young men. That would have been far more
difficult to deal with than an abandoned gate. Beside these men
will be looking to you above all others when this is over. You
must have faith as your father did."

Landaus for a moment, let these words tumble through his mind.
It was all true and it gave him comfort. He let out a deep breath
and spoke.

"Of course your right I may be over thinking this. Let's take advantage of this good fortune and get out of here."

From their hiding place within the shadow of the arch, they
made a quick dash toward the wall adjacent to the hall entrance.
Taking position on either side of the entrance door they carefully
craned their necks to observe the goings on within. Seeing that
the coast was clear Landaus nodded to Grunhuf and whispered,
"Let's move." They entered and in tandem and quickly moved
across the open floor of the brightly lit space. There would be no
hiding now. They would need to stay out of Ananda's sight however. For they wagered he would immediately recognize their
plan for what it was. The others at this point would have no reason to yet question their presence. Having seen the space arranged thusly for the first time, it took them a moment to orientate themselves. Grunhuf spied the room wherein the charges
were held. He gestured toward it while mouthing the words,
"That's it."

From a distance Landaus spied the doorway. He recognized the
guard on duty to be private Lofton. He knew him to be a likable,
good natured young fellow. He knew he would regret what he
would have to do next. It however could not be helped if their
plan were to move forward. The pair of them walked toward
Lofton as nonchalantly as could be. Despite the fact that
Grunhuf was sweating profusely they gave no indication to what
would happen next. Lofton, as was the company fashion, clicked
his heals and saluted his commanding officer as he approached.

"Good evening Colonel, how can I help you?"
Landaus with his right hand returned the gesture. A split second
later instead of dropping his arm to his side, he threw a punch at
the young private that struck him square in his unguarded jaw.
The force of which was sufficient to send him careening to the
ground unconscious. With eyes darting this way and that they
quickly surmised that they had not been spotted. They scrambled
to search the guards person to retrieve the ring of keys that he
possessed. After a frantic moment they rolled him over and found
them tied with a sash to the back of his belt. As Landaus untied
the ring he apologized to the hapless private,

"Sorry Lofton, I promise I'll make it up to you."

Landaus was familiar with the guard's keys so they easily found
the key they needed. The old tumbler clunked and rolled in response as the skeleton key was turned. One last clunk and the
lock opened. They quickly grabbed Lofton by the shirt sleeves
and dragged him into the storage room closing the door behind
them.

Once inside they scanned the shelves. There arranged were a collection of items most of which either of them had never before
seen. Landaus said, "These were obviously artifacts collected
from the wreckage. Somehow Ananda had considered them special enough to deserve being locked up out of view. All of these
logically should then be weapons of some sort. Can you make
any heads or tails out of it?"

"We're here to find those charges. Oh, wait a minute, I just did."
"Let me have a look there Grunhuf."

Landaus came closer to have a look. "You certainly did. That was
some grade A detective work."

Grunhuf turned and shook his head though he displayed only
mild amusement. It was however genuine. "Enough with the nonsense lets get this stuff wrapped up and get out of here."

"Wait a minute Grunhuf. Aren't you even the slightest bit curious about all this, stuff?"

"Yes but to be honest with you, I couldn't begin toidentify what
those things might be."
"Fair enough, I say we take a few samples and see if our new
friend can identify them."

They set themselves to filling the burlap sacks they had brought
along with them with as many of the charges and other items as
they could carry. They propped Lofton up against a post and
proceeded to bind and gag him. Landaus hoped he would not
have to knock him out for the second time. So was relieved
when the ropes were secured.

Grunhuf by now was growing more nervous by the moment. He
urged now for a quick retreat. "It won't take long for him to go
unnoticed. We should make a quick break for it." Landaus
shook his head in agreement. "Ok let's go."

Carefully they opened the door. There was no one there before
them. Landaus turned his head from side to side. Itappeared that
for the moment they were safe. Relieved, with bags in hand they
wasted no time in making their way across the floor. The seconds dragged on as the hall floor now seemed miles wide. At
long last they again retreated to the shadows, then out again
through the unguarded gate.

Meanwhile into the murky night Xora, with the young ones in
tow, made her way to the place where Ananda had landed the
ship. She was nervous but she was also determined to do her
part. For the journey through the town she had dressed Leif in a
long hooded robe so to disguise his appearance from prying
eyes. It had worked well enough, for their journey had raised not
so much as an eyebrow. After some time they came upon the
ship in the court yard before the gate. From the darkness hidden
beside the citadel wall they studied their plan of action. Ananda
had thought the ship important enough to station at least one
guard there for its protection. The good news was that the
guards were using the ship's control cabin as an impromptu
guard station, so the cabin was unlocked. "How was one to get
in there unnoticed, long enough to take control of the ship? That
was the question." Though Xora puzzled over this long and hard,
she could not yet arrive at a feasible solution. "I just don't know,
I just can't walk up there and say, may we have your space ship
please?" Ibsen was troubled by her lack of initiative thought to
himself; I think I could come up with something.

"Lady Xora why not allow me to act as a decoy to gain access to
the cabin? I know all the guards by name, and they would have
no reason to distrust my motives. I can get inside and a least give
you an Idea of what we are dealing with." This seemed all very
logical to her. It was by far a better plan than she had come up
with. She was forced to by default allow it. "Ok, I don't like it,
but it's all we've got right now."

Ibsen was exuberant for he was up to the challenge. "I have another idea. What if while I'm occupying the guard our friend here
helps me to knock him down the stairs?"

A string of guttural noise came from Leif's that somehow was
understood by them both. "I can understand what you're saying."
He said, "I have for some time now. Seemingly this spirit of
yours has given us the ability to communicate. And yes I will
help you. I want nothing more than to get off thisplanet, and return to my home. If this can make it happen sooner, then I will
do it. You go first and I will circle around the other way."

Ibsen easily recognized the guard on duty to be corporal Lex. As
he drew nearer toward the stair to the alien ship, Lex raised his
musket and called out a warning. "Who is that? I am authorized
to use force if necessary for you had better state your business."
As Ibsen now in range of his weapon raised up his hands and
said, "It is I, Ibsen." Upon recognizing young Ibsen his demeanor
changed immediately. "What the devil are you doing out here
Ibsen? Does your father know you're not in bed?"

"My father as you know is far too busy right now to worry about
me. Besides I wanted to come out and take a peek at this ship. I
knew you were out here Lex, and I knew you wouldn't mind me
having a look see for myself."

"You know if I'd have tried half the things you get into when I
was young I would have gotten a beating. I should call your father right now. But it will just be a waste of my time because
you'll get to see it anyway. Alright Ibsen, come onup I'll give
you five minutes." Ibsen wasted no time and raced up the stairs to
the platform. "Remember Ibsen, not a word to anyone. Do you
understand? He nodded his head in acknowledgement and entered through the opened airlock.

Ibsen saw within the gleaming metal of the control panels and
view screens that contained multiple readouts in a script he
could not understand. There at the fore of the ship, two empty
command chairs that sat before the crystalline view ports. He
imagined here the pilots had been seated. He turnedtoward the
rear of the ship and there were other seats clustered along the
perimeter wall of the ship. He walked beyond and there were
other more specialized compartments. Finally he made it to the
rear of the ship, where in the engine compartments resided. Satisfied he found no one else aboard turned and walked toward the
door. At the air lock entrance he called out to Lex drawing his
attention from the stairwell. "Lex, could you help me with something?" Eager to be rid of the young Ibsen he turned toward him.
"What is it now Ibsen? You're going to get me in trouble; I know
it." Just then as his attention was turned from his duty, Leif
made a quick and silent sprint up the stairwell. He positioned
himself out of sight. Lex now standing at the top of the platform
would be ill prepared for what happened next. Ibsen with all his
might threw all his weight at the unsuspecting guard. Lex
stepped backwards and was tripped up by Leif who was
crouched low behind him. He was easily knocked from his feet
and was now tumbling head over heels down the stairwell. Lady
Xora was there at the bottom of the stairs to retrieve his musket.
It was no matter because Lex having hit his head in the fall had
been knocked unconscious. Lady Xora called out to them.
"Come, hurry down here and help me bring him up into the ship.
He can't be allowed to get up and call the alarm." Leif said in
response,

"Leave it to me."

Leif leapt down the stairs, and lifted the unconscious guard over
his shoulder. He moved swiftly. A moment later he was back
within the cabin. He laid him unceremoniously out upon the
cold metallic floor. Xora noted that the guard had sustained a
rather serious head injury in the fall. She bent down and checked
his eyes. It seemed to her that his pupils were dilating normally
and so he was merely unconscious. Ibsen Asked with a twinge
of guilt in his voice, "Is he going to be alright?"
She responded as best she could, "Ibsen I'm no doctor, but it
looks to me like he'll wake up with a pretty bad headache but he
will be Ok. Alright boys we're not done here yet. I'm going to
need you guys to strip off his uniform." She than began to undress herself as the boys looked on. "Come on now, we must hurry. We can't leave the ship unguarded and cause undue attention
to ourselves." The boys still looked confused. "Do I need to explain everything to you? I'm going to pose as the guard." A light
of understanding came on and they quickly got to work. In short
order the guard was stripped, bound and gagged. Xora masquerading as the guard then took her place at the watch.

Standing alone atop the stairwell she kept a watchful eye on anything that moved. Though she managed skillfully tomaintain her
ardor, internally she was a wreck of nerves. Nearly half an hour
had passed since she took her watch and there was still no sight
of Landaus or Grunhuf. Suddenly at long last two ungainly figures wandered from the darkness. Both were heavilyladen with
burlap sacks. After another moment she identified them. It was
them, they had made it. She called out to the boys. "Boys they're
here, come help them with their bags." A moment later the boys
had made their way to the stairwell landing while Xora kept a
close eye with the musket ready. Another tense moment later
they were all puffing and panting at the top of the stairs with
charges securely aboard. Xora was glad her guard duty was over.
But she was more pleased they had both returned in one piece. "I
was beginning to worry about you two."

Landaus looked on her dressed in a corporal's uniform a little
shocked by her appearance and said, "I must say you are full of
surprises, Xora. Thanks for your concern. It looks as if you gotten everything under control here." She accepted the thanks but
said,

"I appreciate the thought Landaus but it was the two boys who
did most of the work. He turned to see Corporal Lex just about to
wake from his trauma induced slumber. Squarely he gazed at the
groggy soldier and said, "Dereliction of duty thatdraws a stiff
penalty. I'm going to have to bust you down to private." He could
maintain a serious expression on his face for only a moment. After which he burst into laughter at the corporal's expense. Soon
all had engaged in a short respite from their anxiety with a well
deserved laugh; all of course except for Lex.

Back at the hall, at just about that same time the guard shift responsibilities were about to end. Eager to impress his superiors
Corporal Harris had made it to work early. There upon arrival to
his relief post at the armory he found it unmanned. After a quick
inspection the door was found to be locked. The guardsman had
not the key to open the door, so he summoned the sergeant. He
caught the attention of one of the passersby and asked them to
summon the sergeant of the guard. After answering the call sergeant Collins and a team of guardsman arrived there upon the
scene few minutes later. He was immediately greeted there by
Harris with a frantic story. "Sergeant Collins something has happened the guard has gone missing."