A Paradox in Retrograde (28 page)

Collins many years his elder urged the man to calm himself,
"Harris now settle down there has to be a reasonable explanation. Now stand back and let’s have a look." Usinghis own set
of master keys he unlocked and opened the door.

There to his shock he found Lofton struggling to free himself.
The guards rushed in and with their knives cut the ropes that
bound him. He removed the gag that had muted him and blurted
out; "It was Colonel Landaus, and the Lord Mayor. They surprised me, knocked me out and tied me up."

Harris again filled with purpose now stood up and tried to make
his way toward the exit. As he moved he spoke making his intentions clear, "We must warn Ananda." The sergeant stopped
him. "Now hold on there just a moment before you do that.
Think for a moment. Why would our commanding officer feel
the need to come in here in such a manner? There is something
odd going on here."

Impatient with line of questions, the other guard said, "It doesn't
matter. Obviously the Colonel is now a traitor. We must warn
Ananda." The guard made another move to leave and the sergeant this time drew his sword and blocked his exit with it.
"You'll do no such thing! Do you here me? Let's take a moment
to look at this logically. It appears to me hat the Colonel must
have had a very good reason do what he did. Until I know what
that is you're not going to say a word to anybody. If you don't
like that, I can kill you right here where you stand." The Sergeant
looked deeply into the young private's eyes as he spoke those
words. He knew he was not bluffing.

"Good, now until I say it's ok, I don't want you to breathe a word
of this to anybody. That goes for all of you. We will not give up
our loyalty that easily, is that understood?"

They all for a moment took a deep sigh of relief for the ship having been secured now stood ready for the second phase of their
plan. The others kept a watch through the ships view screens as
Landaus tried to make sense of the layout. Making his way toward the cock pit along a long narrow corridor he found there at
its end the pilot’s chair. He stared quizzically as he looked upon
the controls set in front of him. To this array of dials and blinking switches, he could not begin to fathom a purpose nor assign
a function. It bothered him that he would need now to trust the
safety of himself and his son merely on the words of an apparition. Despite his reluctance he was committed, for there would
be no second chances. Hesitantly he lowered himself into the
command chair.

Landaus rightly thought it should be he who piloted the alien
craft. It was he after all who had the command experience. His
ability to perform under pressure was above question. On this
point he would get no argument from his tiny crew. He could not
however deny to himself what he hid from others. The fact was
he had been in charge for so long that he had forgotten how to
admit his shortcomings. These shortcomings were mostly theoretical for he had not until recently been so tested. Though he had
kept his cool in the heat of it, he was bothered by the prospect
that if so challenged a second time he might not rise to the occasion. Though these thoughts challenged his confidence, their
point was a mute one, for the opportunity to find out was upon
them. For here was a new and unfamiliar challenge. His compatriots had the luxury of not sharing his doubts. They would imagine the coming voyage as a forgone conclusion. He envied their
blissful ignorance as he ran through an improvised checklist.
Though he could not be entirely sure, he sensed the time had
come to stop pondering and start acting. He gave the order,
"Alright lets button up this bird and get in the air before we've
been spotted." He turned toward his young son who had dutifully
followed and looked upon him. Possessed there within his child's
frame resided now the specter of Amida. Landaus did not flinch
for it was from him he would now call upon for his assistance.
"Amida are you there? We are here upon the ship. We are ready
to, as you say, "make the leap." I call on you now, for I am far
from familiar with these controls."

Ibsen came and stood beside his father. He put his small hand
gently on his father’s shoulder. In that instant his eyes closed involuntarily. Then they began as if in a waking dream to roll and
flutter about beneath his eye lids. Just as before,a voice that was
not his own emanated from his mouth. "Landaus your feelings of
doubt do you a disservice; for you have shown great courage over
these last days. What I can show you now pales to what you already possess."

From the tips of Ibsen's fingers a pale blue pulse of bio-electric
energy, coursed first over the surface of his body, and then onto
his father's. Landaus was still as the storm hovered there just
above his the surface of his skin. It floated there, painlessly accessing the internal tendrils of his nervous system. There the others witnessed in astonishment what could only be described as a
kind of psychic transference. Deep within the folds of Landaus'
brain the bioelectric energy tapped into the seat of his consciousness. There then the data regarding everything from the basic
concepts of flight to the inner workings of the guidance system
were passed into the vault of his subconscious mind. Just like
that he now held there a knowledge that he had not before possessed.

Once the transference was complete the boy's hand lifted from
his father’s shoulder. Landaus opened his eyes to find that on the
control panel before him he suddenly knew intimately every
switch and gauge. With a new confidence he intuitively grasped
the control wheel. Scanning the boards, to his right and to his
left he accessed the ships controls. He was hitting switches and
buttons on both sides at once as if he were a journeyman pilot.
Orders now rolled coherently from his mouth. "Grunhuf, secure
the bulkhead doors we need to prepare for pressurization."
Grunhuf looked on bewildered and said, "I'm sure I don't know
what a bulkhead door is. Maybe you could come and show me."

"There's no need for that. Just pull the outside door closed until
it clicks. Then close the inner door down tight behind it. The
flashing red light will then turn green. That's how you know it's
secure. Can you do that for me?" In truth Landaus did not quite
understand how he had known, but know he did.

Needing to feel useful Grunhuf responded without hesitation. "I
think so." He inspected the door situation and all were present
and accounted for just as Landaus had stated. He gave the door
a healthy shove. With a loud clunk the internal door locked and
sealed itself. The light went from blinking red togreen. "The
door is secured Landaus."

"Good, I'll commence pressurization now." He hit a series of
buttons and the hull began to resonate with the humof vacuum
pumps. Soon their ears began to pop as the ships internal atmospheric pressure equalized. Landaus next had to raise his voice
over the sound to be heard. "Ibsen, why don't you and young
Leif go down below and check the fuel containment gauges?
Make sure the pressure reading indicator is safely within the
black. After that you can check the rest of the controls in engineering. Once we get that squared away we'll be ready for takeoff
so hurry back." They nodded rather than shout a response. Down
a small laddered they clambered into the below deck where many
of the auxiliary controls resided. They easily found where the set
of gauges and their accompanying valves resided. Here was
where adjustments to fuel mixtures for specific atmospheric conditions could be made. However they had found that all was as
anticipated. If need be these adjustments could be made from the
controls before him. A wise captain however would not trust
electronic sensors alone if he didn't have to. Satisfied that the
sensors he monitored read true and were adjusted to the proper
fuel mixture for Earth atmosphere, he called the boys back up
into the cabin. "That's good work boys now get back up here and
ready yourselves for takeoff."

Soon the deafening sound waned as the pump's auto shutoff was
engaged. He called out to Xora. "Xora I'm going to need you to
tend to our prisoner. Make sure he's secured before you belt yourself in." She looked across the aisle at the unconscious corporal
and shouted back to the Colonel, "I'll do my best Captain." She
gestured to Grunhuf and the pair wrestled the flaccid corporal
into the vacant flight chair closest to them. Using the safety harness and a length of rope he was tightly bound. After they had
finish properly securing him a half panting Xora called out, "The
prisoner is secure."

He looked down at all the indicators on the display screen. All
systems were working as anticipated. He called out through overhead audio. "I'm going to need for you all to find yourselves a
flight suit and belt yourselves securely in. I'm planning on blasting out of here in five minutes time."
Just then Grunhuf scrambled back into the cockpit and proclaimed excitedly, "We've got company! The sound of those
pumps must have gotten us some unwanted attention." Landaus
stood from his command chair and looked out through the crystalline window. There below a small contingent of guards and
onlookers assembled.

"They're confused now, but soon they will have caught on. We
have got to break camp as soon as possible. Get to your flight
chairs we're going in thirty seconds." The makeshift crew
dropped what they were doing and scrambled to find their places
and secure their safety harnesses. He called out to them one by
one. Each in turn responded that they were secure. "There's no
time for flight suits we have to launch; on my mark, initiating
primary thrusters in ten seconds." With the base rumble from
below intensifying, he began the hard count, "Ten-nine-eight."
The pre-launch alarm flashed and sounded. With so little time
remaining before engine start, they could not now abort it. For
those who stood on the ground outside the flashing display of
the alarm was enough for them to take serious heed to its warning. Soon they were all taking cover. Back in the cockpit, as the
count neared zero Landaus unlocked the firing mechanism. He
waited holding his raised hand above the main engine start button. When the count reached zero he slapped his open hand
down onto the button. In that instant a thunderousroar of even
greater magnitude than the one before shook them to their very
cores. To those who witness the blast off for an instant the
nighttime turned to day when the rockets ignited ina brilliant
flash.

At first the ship rose slowly as it struggled to gain momentum
against the relentless forces that called it back down to earth.
Driven by the powerful thrusters, the effects of gravity weighed
heavily upon them. Pressed tightly into their flight chairs the
crew and passengers could barely lift a finger. Landaus however
by necessity struggled to maintain attitude controlas his hands
moved sluggishly in the wake of the increasing drag. Higher and
higher into the sky the ship climbed as the ship's increasing momentum outpaced the forces that held it to earth. Landaus looked
askance through the port side view screen and he could see that at
this point the ship was at about several thousand meters of elevation and climbing. Though they were far from out of the woods
yet at least the burdensome shaking had finally begun to level
out. On cue the onboard sensors automatically initiated the retraction of the landing fins back into the fuselage. Slowly the maneuvering rockets began then to fire in short bursts correcting the
ships attitude for atmospheric escape. The lights upon the control
board began to flash signaling the OK for the firing of the primary nuclear engine. With one last bit of hesitation his hand again
hovered over the control switch. Whatever trepidations he may
have had were swept away as he initiated the fusion rocket. With
a force many times more powerful than the crew had previously
felt, the ship with a mighty roar cracked the plain of the sky. Suddenly the Earth below them was slipping away as the ship rode
upon an incandescent shock wave.

Ananda, who until that moment had been obsessed with first his
plan and then the job immediately at hand was suddenly startled
from his concentration. Having been frustrated by the distraction,
he left his work station behind to investigate the cause of the
thunderous sounds. It took him a mere moment to recognize the
sound and thunder for what it was, mighty rockets punching a
whole up through the sky. Upon this recognition he dropped his
tools to the floor and rushed out from the great hall towards the
outer gate where others had already gathered. He soon found
himself outside standing amidst a large group of people whose
eyes were now fixed skyward. Matching the angle oftheir gaze
he looked upward. To his utter amazement, he was forced to
watch helplessly as the alien craft rose upward in a cloud of hot
gas and dust just beyond the edge of the city gate. With the glow
of atomic fire illuminating his face, he could see the alien ship
cutting a gaping hole high up into the starless night. He stood
there for a moment staring in shocked disbelief and without
words. A fury born of ages past welled up from deep within his
soul. His body shook as tension rose to a crescendo in his throat.
His mouth formed into a hideous grimace through which he
fought back his own thundering cry. He held this grimace tightly
in the vice of his jaw until the shaking had stopped. He began to
gather himself together. Within a moment all outward emotion
had been sequestered. Behind the façade his secret thoughts
raced through his mind as he tried to figure out just what he had
done wrong. It was for him unprecedented that he had not foreseen the move of this unknown opponent.

The ship that had been slated to deliver his new weapon had
been hijacked. All that then remained to show for his trouble
now was a dull ringing in his ears. He had been bested though
for the moment he could not fathom by whom, how or why. He
wrestled with the question. Over and over he played out the full
gamut of possible scenarios in his mind. Each time he was likewise drawn to the same set of conclusions. He slowly began to
realize that either he had committed a grave tactical error by underestimating these humans, or that there was another like himself meddling in their affairs. Had these humans truly evolved?
Was his work here on Earth nearing its end? The facts for him
didn't seem to add up. He realized that there must be some part
of this puzzle that is still suffering under the influence of an induced amnesia. He would be forced now have to alter his tactics.
There however would be little time to think, for time was a luxury he did not possess. He foresaw that the time until a full scale
invasion drew shorter by the minute. Ananda determined as he
was, would leave his work in the great chamber there unfinished. He surmised that the key to these discoveries would require him firstly to find out who among them had thwarted his
plans and only then would he find another way to defeat his enemies. One bit was patently obvious. It would then have to be upon the Earth where the decisive battle would take place. How
now in the short time remaining he wondered could such a plan
be manifest? The answer he surmised may be closer at hand than
he had imagined. Making a realization he spoke out loud, "The
crystal room, the answers must lie buried there in its memory."
He knew that time was quickly running in short supply. He knew
however that the crystal room no doubt would hold such answers.