A Paradox in Retrograde (33 page)

Amida somehow had forgotten just how stubborn they were. He
was sorely disappointed in their decision for he also had grown
tired of these endless cycles. He now would act alone. "We will
release the prince into your custody in exchange for the safe passage of these humans off of this planet. As a measure of good
faith I shall remain here as your hostage."

Landaus voice rose up in opposition, "With all due respect, that's
not what we came here for. We are here to end this thing once
and for all. I did not come all this way to come back empty handed. What assurances do we have against further attacks?" The
translucent figure of Amida turned toward him and pointed toward the darkened space behind them and said, "Look there at
your assurances."

There from the darkness a base rumbling sound punctuated his
words. Then from within the shadowed portion of the chamber
behind them a strange blue light resonated in time with the sound.
They turned around startled to see there a glowingmass. They
soon began then to make out the hazy edges of cylindrical shaped
object forming within the pulsating ball of light.Ibsen was first to
recognize it as the object he had found back on the beach. Now
however it glowed in a manner he had not before seen.

Amida turned again toward Aaralaat and spoke, "Good king do
you recognize the object now before you? Do you notrecognize
it? It is the means to my power." The king looked on the object
while possessing an expression of puzzled fascination. It was
plain to all that he did not. The space around them now
hummed with noise and spectral light as it drew nearer. Amida
had now gotten the kings attention and began again to speak.
"This as the vessel of my consciousness is all that truly exists of
me in your world. It in some sense is my true form. Through it
however my consciousness is projected, and though it is now
inert it would only take a thought from me for its power to be
awoken. Do you understand that many awesome feats of creation and destruction can be manifest at my will alone? This is
the power that I possess."

The guards knowing that there was little to be done to protect
their king from this new kind of danger brought their weapons
now to bear upon the humans. There was little else the nervous
guards could do. Soon all the humans were staring down at
their enemy over the points of sharpened lengths of spear. They
though frightened by this sudden show of force responded by
bravely standing their ground. Aaralaat despite his fear spoke
unflinchingly, "Is it not unwise in the midst of negotiations to
make such demonstrations? You should be more careful. Now
tell me before I lose my patience. What sort of weapon is it?"
Floating across the chamber, the ball of light came to rest there
upon the landing where the king and Amida now stood. The
light and sound soon dissipated as the object unfazed itself
completely into their space.

"You seem to have given me little in the way of alternatives. It
is more of a means to an end than a weapon; however it can be
many things, including a weapon. It is one that ifneed be, I am
not opposed to using. So please I assure you on myhonor that
my intentions shall be made presently clear. So please if you
would call off your guards, this menacing gesture is quite unnecessary"

To escape, from the fetid planet of their enemies, the humans
were prepared to strike a hard bargain. The weight of history
would however make this difficult. For their part the king and his
men would secretly consider it a victory if they were to only gain
safety for the young prince. So then they negotiated, each side
exploiting for their own purposes the archaic rules of combat. After a brief but intense period of wrangling they had come to an
agreement. By conceding the release of Leif they had determined
a means through which they could peaceably part company, at
least for a short while. In exchange for their safe passage and
Leif's safe return to his father, Amida had volunteered to act as a
hostage. It was for all intents and purposes an even swap. And
though no bounds could truly tie Amida to this place he had given
his word. Under the rules of combat this promise must be accepted at face value. As promised, Aaralaat then had no other choice
but to send them to go on their way. Along with this agreement
there was an implied yet tenuous pledge that they would do so
unmolested. Amida however was quite aware of the potential
loop holes to this deal. After this contentious deal was finalized
the humans gathered together their things in preparation to
leave the Nibaru palace, their small group now would number
only three.

So under the glaring eyes of the King, his royal courtiers and
their retinue, they were then escorted out of the palace by the
royal guard. Soon thereafter the small band approached the outer walls of the palace complex. The heavy doors swung open
outwards onto the deserted streets. Landaus was surprised by
what he did not see there. Considering the presence there previously, the streets he thought were now suspiciously empty. The
torrent of blood rain that had recently fallen had relented, and
the air was now still and silent. Within this peace, Landaus despite his reservations could see no evident signs of trouble.
Though this current situation seemed to him unnatural he had
after all nothing in his experience to compare it to. He could
only conclude then that for the time being Aaralaat seemingly
was keeping his word. With trepidation then they made their
way out through the threshold gate out onto the broad avenue.
As they did the huge wooden doors shut tightly behind them.
With the palace gates and the protection they provided behind
them, they were once again on their own. This time however
there were only three. They took a moment to surveythe silt
covered streets laid out before them. There under the open sky
not a soul was to be found. From where they stood,all they
could see about the abandoned avenues were the pools of rusted
water and a line of foot prints tracing far off into the distance.
Despite the recent rain, their own prints were far more pronounced and therefore more recognizable alongside those of the
Nibaru native. Their first time around this way navigation had
required the use of cumbersome maps. This time to find their
way back home, they needed only to follow their ownfootsteps.

They trudged onward following the line of tracks confirming as
they went along the placement of landmarks. With each footstep that they took, their confidence increased. Soon their pace
quickened to march. This method proved effective; by doing so
they had quickly covered more ground than would have been otherwise possible. Landaus however somehow knew that the ease to
which they had been able to leave had to be no more than a ruse
designed to make them feel at ease. Amida had warned him not to
put trust blindly in Aaralaat's word. He had implored him to be
mindful to the contrary, that from him, he should expect some
hidden treachery. Recalling these warnings his thoughts raced;
for there among the darkened corridors from where they had
come, his mind's eye could foresee that even now, forces could be
assembling unseen. In keeping with this he would maintain a
heightened sense of awareness, keeping one eye on the path, and
the other upon the horizon. From every corner then they watched
for any signs of sudden movement. Grunhuf though mindful to
the dangers, seemed emboldened by their current pace and the
relative ease to their escape. Compared to Landaus, he almost
giddy. As he strode onward through the thin layer of mud, a tense
smile stretched across his face. Expressing his new found optimism, in a hushed tone he broke the silence, "It looks like we
may just sneak away with this one."

Landaus stopped in his tracks and turned toward him. "You
should wipe that stupid smile off of your face. We're not out of
the woods yet." An obviously aggravated Landaus retorted stubbornly. "I have it on good authority that we may very well be
walking into a trap. So you would do well to drop that attitude
and maintain an alert surveillance."

Grunhuf stopped now and turned toward Landaus so torespond.
"On whose word have you come to this conclusion? For we have
seen neither hide nor hair of those wretched beasts. Tell me then
why I should not celebrate?"

"While we were still within the confines of the royal chamber,
somehow Amida communicated this to me without a word being
spoken."

"That's a new one." Grunhuf said incredulously. "Alright then,
just what kind of trap has old Aaralaat have in store for us?"

"According to Amida an attack could happen at any time. However by the rules of combat, as king Aaralaat could not knowingly break a promise made on the field of battle. Logic dictates
that if he was planning a trap, he would need to seek out others
not specifically bound by his word of honor. And what better
place is there to spring a trap than the abandoned space port, out
of sight of witnesses. You've seen it. It's a dark labyrinth where
people like us could just disappear in the darkness. I would not
be surprised if as we speak some well-chosen henchmen were
assembling there."

"That my dear friend is easy to answer, for there are two very
good reasons. Firstly our ship is there, and I am unaware of any
other way off this world. Secondly Amida has promised that he
would provide a diversion for anyone waiting in ambush. If all
goes as planned the distraction should allow us to slip unnoticed into our ship."

"Tell me Landaus, who is being stupid now? You putall your
faith in some ghost of a man you know nothing about. Did you
for one moment question whether he may have his own agenda,
one that doesn't include our wellbeing? I don't like that kind of
blind deal. It makes me very nervous indeed."

"Well Grunhuf, all I can say is even if we didn't have a second
reason, the first would still be sufficient to makeit our only option. So I'm hopeful that whatever help he can afford us, will
improve our chances and therefore can only help us."
Grunhuf went silent as he mulled it over. After a moment he begrudgingly spoke, “As is often the case with you, it's hard to argue in the face of such logic. But however much I am made to
agree with you, I'm brought back to this question. Can this ghost
or yours be trusted? What about the boy? Aren't you at all concerned about your boy's safety? For God's sake, don't you think
that he's far too young for all of this?"

"Certainly I have thought about it. What is the point in asking that
question now? When we left Earth it seemed that I had no alternative. To not have come would have meant certain death to all of
us and Because of Amida, Ibsen had to come. There were no other options. Now I fear it was all for nothing. For little or nothing
was accomplished with this mission. And if it makes you feel better I have asked the question; what kind of father would do such a
thing? And the conclusion is that I have put my child in danger
for nothing."

"Landaus, I'm surprised that a military man like you didn't see
that this for what it was. This was never a peace mission. No such
agreement could ever have been won with these savages. Everything that has happened today has been subtly orchestrated by
Amida. He knew he would never leave this planet. His goal all
along was for us to escape and in doing so destroythe fleet. His
role here as a hostage is merely a foil to buy us the precious time
we'll need to get back to the ship and blow this place to hell in the
process. You can't see this mission for what it is because your
judgment is clouded by concern for Ibsen. I fear however if you
don't get your head into this we may not all make it back in one
piece. If Ibsen had been back on earth where he belongs we
would not be having this conversation."

"I will admit that you may be right to a degree. Myconcern for
Ibsen's safety however has not clouded my judgment. All or
some of what you now say of Amida may be true. But for the
sake of Ibsen's safety I must believe that Amida will do as he said
he would. He has promised he would do all he could for us to escape, and I have little choice but to believe him for there is no
alternative." Ibsen looked up to his father a squeezed tightly
onto his hand. Landaus in response looked down and said,
“Don’t worry my son, Amida would not betray us." To this Ibsen was in agreement.

For a time their voices went silent as they pondered their chances. Recognizing that they may be walking straight to their undoing a somber mood seemed to a creep over Grunhuf’s expression. For a good while then they walked on, there was however
no more conversation. These realizations had hit too close to
home and needed time to sink in. In the silence then they finally
came upon those same disused streets that they had first discovered only hours before. It had seemed like it had taken an eternity to reach this far. This part of their journey however had
reached an end.

The sun now was low on the horizon and the last of the evening
sunlight spared no detail as it illuminated the streets before
them in a saturated glow. There now was a sense of otherworldliness to this archaic portion of the city that had gone unappreciated on the first go round. There Landaus began to notice how
the new city had appeared to have been grafted onto one far
older. In places such as these where the lines between the two
worlds met were in stark contrast to one another. Landaus wondered how such a state of affairs could have existed and what
had brought these human cousins to that point. "Grunhuf, how
do you suppose a no man's land such as this had come into existence?" Before he answered he gave the area another quick
look around. He seemed only now to have taken notice for himself. "I don't know, perhaps it was war or disease,take your
pick. In a way it's similar to that lost world of our so called forbearers. How many strange and beautiful items have been attributed to them? No one even knows who they were. Never
mind how they may have disappeared. All I do know is that this
place is spooky. It's like some kind of ghost town."
"Well if that's the case I think it's going to get a little spookier.
Earlier when we had followed this path out of the space port and
the city's lower levels and we were just glad to see the light of
day. Now however instead of rising from darkness, we will be
descending into it. From the looks of things I would be surprised
if we didn't see a ghost or two." He turned to steal a glimpse of
young Ibsen. Though he tried to show a strong face for father, his
father knew him too well not to recognize the expression of fear.
He put his arm around and gave him a reassuring wink. "Now
don't you worry Ibsen, everything's going to be alright. I didn't
mean real ghosts."