A Paradox in Retrograde (20 page)

Aboard the alien ship, Ananda wrestled to control the thrusters
as it rocked to and fro. He imagined that one need obviously to
be a master pilot to handle such a craft. As far as he knew he
possessed no such special knowledge. The controls however
though unusual were as he had earlier noted, not as alien as he
would have imagined them to be. Though he was heavy handed
with them, they soon responded to his touch. The alien ship for
several awkward moments moved haphazardly through airspace
just above the tree line. However Ananda quickly seemed to develop some rudimentary mastery to the controls. Soon the ship
began to level out. He was flying.

High above Baldur's green hills the Air ship and its precious cargo made the precarious trip homeward. The balloon straining
from its burden floated gracelessly, as its white linen surface
was seemingly ablaze with the light of the afternoon sun. Like a
great wounded beast it lumbered precipitously within feet of the
jagged peaks and tall trees. Slow and steady with the sight of the
high tower of Breideblic in the distance as his beacon, the pilot
skillfully guided the ship and crew away from danger. Moving
methodically, the alien ship followed closely. Ananda flew his
craft in formation and at a tandem speed with the airship. He
swore he could sense an energy coursing through the controls
into his nervous system. He could literally feel the power of the
ship as it were speaking to some remote part of his mind. This
experience was such that he could not tell if it was a delusion. He
longed now to feel the expression of the vessel's true power.
Aboard the airship the speakers of the communication channel
came alive with Ananda's voice. "I will join you shortly; there is
something I want to see first." Then the voice cut out. Ibsen
watched as the alien ship broke off from formation. It raised high
into the air to the point to where it was difficult to see. Then there
was a flash of bright light and a cloud of smoke. Shortly there
after, the air was filled with a thunderous roar. Then it was gone.

The arrow headed cylinder piercing the sky, glowed a fiery red
hot as it broke the plane of the heavens. In an instant it had leapt
in one motion, into the black abyss of space.

Ananda peering through the pilots' canopy watched as the clouds
and sky almost instantaneously gave way to the deep gulf of
black space. He rose from his chair free from the bonds of Earth.
Floating, no longer encumbered by the pull of gravity, he looked
out onto the great arc of the Earth shining below him. Through
his eyes he drank in its unfathomable beauty. Adrift in the quietude he peered out again toward the familiar stars that beckoned
him onward. Suddenly he found himself stymied by a strange
sight. There amongst the other bodies was something that seemed
both out of place and at the same time vaguely familiar. The body
was bright, glowing in colorful shades of red and green. He
thought to himself, could this be where the vaunted halls of Nibaru stand. He pondered it for a moment as a wave of memory
again rolled over him. The look of wonderment that graced his
face had abruptly disappeared. It was replaced by one of another
sort as he remembered something. He knew it must be Nibaru, for
he had been here long ago.

Peering out through the crystalline canopy, Ananda was enthralled by the glowing aura of light cast by the wayward planet.
So preoccupied was he that his senses soon betrayed him. As it
turns, he had not done as thorough a check of the ship as he had
imagined. For with knife ready, behind him crept a lone enemy.
With all the courage he could muster, young Leif moved stealthily toward him. With one last leap he flew through the micro gravity. In an instant he was on him. He was determinedto strike the
blow that might end, once and for all the endless conflict. In a
fierce stroke he plunged the jeweled obsidian dagger deep into
the back of his enemy. As the blade came down he cried out,
"Die Hector."

Had he been wearing his armor he may have been spared, however he had not. He sensed the danger a mere moment too late.
The piercing blow found its mark, sending a shock wave of pain
throughout his body. With arms desperately wrenched out toward the source of the stabbing pain, he let out a primal scream.
With lightning speed Ananda's reflexes sprung to defensive action. To Leif's astonishment Ananda leapt into the air performing a low G somersault. As he tumbled through the air he pulled
the knife from his back. In an instant Ananda was in a position
to strike back at his bewildered attacker. With blade in hand
Ananda stood in position to strike. Though adrenaline coursed
through speedily beating heart his zeal for revenge was then stifled as he caught the gaze of his young assailant. In his eyes
there he saw the youthful light of life clouded in desperate fear.
His rage somehow was tempered by the sight of this child, for
he felt a small measure of pity. He threw the knife smeared in
his own blood back into the far end of the cabin. He grabbed the
young prince by his throat and lifted him up level to his position. "Who is this fool who would try to kill me?" Gasping for
air Leif defiantly spoke, "Go ahead Lord Hector you can kill me
if you like, for I like my fathers before me shall be enshrined in
the temple." Ananda threw the boy down onto the hard cabin
floor. "What is your name boy?" asked Ananda. "I am Leif, son
of Aaralaat, prince royal of Nibaru." In fear he looked into his
dark eyes as he stood over him. There he could see the wheels of
his mind turning. "No my prince I shall not kill you today. I
think you shall be far more useful as a hostage."

Once the meeting at the great hall had ended, there about was a
flurry of activity. From there those in attendance had dispersed
out through the citadel gates, energized to continue their assigned
duties. Some of them followed Landaus and Ananda toward the
air field to requisition a ship while others began to gather together
all manner of material that may be needed for their journey up the
ragged mountainside. Xora was determined to stay behind at the
citadel. Xora for her part, was a bit curious about the sudden need
to move now with such haste on information that was until recently not worthy of discussion. Her intuition set her now seeking
answers. She knew however that she would not find her answers
there among the wreckage. So while the others had gone off to
commandeer an air ship, Xora would look to the crystal room for
guidance. She would not as of yet let on to her suspicions. She
made the excuse that despite the excitement of late, there were
her many others duties that still required her full attention.

From the gates of the great hall she made her way on foot to the
temple where the library and the crystal room resided. Though
her journey would be perhaps less hazardous, it would be in no
way any less meaningful. It would be then and there that within
the crystal room itself, she was to make some unsettling discoveries that could have far ranging consequences. For frozen there
within the crystal matrix these discoveries had long remained
there unnoticed. Their superbly timed discovery was fortuitous
for it would not have made a bit of sense until that moment.

As she made her way to the crystal room she recognized that
she would need to put her growing anxiety aside for the moment, for there was much to be done. On her way to the great
library she passed through the high arched door and into the ornately decorated chamber where the crystal room resided. Once
there within the ante chamber her instincts had confirmed what
she already knew. She knew immediately that something was
not quite right. It was nothing overt like a ringing bell that set
her on edge. It was more akin to an unseen aura, a shadow presence of something far more subtle and strangely menacing.
Whatever it was, she could not articulate it in words. To this
strange intuition she was both uncharacteristically alarmed and
drawn toward. Despite these mental diversions, without any
further hesitation she moved through the entry and into the inner
sanctum. She sensed there now a dreadful pulsing energy emanating from within the room's crystalline lattice. This expression
of pulsating sound, and light was something she had not ever
seen during her tenure as keeper of the books. It seemed as if
she were meant to perceive this display as an omen, or some sort
of warning. She wondered if this were so, how was she to respond?

Searching for answers she spoke cautiously, calling out to
James. "James, it is I, Lady Xora. To what warning have I come
to receive? I fear it must involve some foreseeable danger." As
she waited for a response within the lattice, a glowing color
changed from orange to blue. A transparent ball of blue light
appeared before her. After a moment this glowing transparency
morphed into the form of an avatar representation that though
she had not before seen such an apparition she intuitively recognized it to be that of James. Though this image was startling she
kept her cool as the mouth on the avatar moved mimicking human speech. From somewhere behind a voice attemptedto
sound in time with the image's movements.
"My lady", James spoke. "There is perhaps, grave danger contained within that which I dread to tell you. Tell you however I
must. Since your last time here, I have learned much about our
traveler. There as well I have found something of my own origins
and also that of Breideblic." Xora's eyes widened with anticipation. She wondered what revelations may be contained within his
statements.

"First tell me James, how have you come about this information?" Though he felt the need to communicate the emergency,
he respected her wishes and answered her question first.

"It was not so much of a how as of whom." She looked at him
with a puzzled expression as he continued. "My Lady, yesterday
after you left here, there was a message that came through asking
specifically for you. I was puzzled when I discovered that the
message had originated from the same temporal coordinates that
were recently accessed by our guest Ananda. She said she was
Queen Samantha of Atlantia, wife of King Hector."

Her expression went from one of bewilderment to amazement.
For a moment she wrangled with the probabilities and the possibilities involved in what he had told her, and then she asked him,
"Are you sure she asked for me? How could that be? She would
have had to have independently possessed knowledge of me prior
to my existence. That doesn't seem likely. But for that matter
nothing I've seen today has seemed even possible. I fear we may
not understand this machine of ours as well as we have imagined." She paused for a moment contemplating by what scenario
such an event would have taken place. "We must learn the truth.
Play that message for me. Perhaps we shall gain something by
hearing it directly."

James accessed his memory and began playback of the recording.
There summoned before her an image wrought of light appeared
in the likeness of Queen Samantha. There like before, the image
came to life and she spoke. This time however the context had
changed for the transmission was live. The voice that spoke
through the ages, spoke to her. "Xora, keeper of the books, It is I
Queen Samantha. Finally you've found me." This Image was a far
cry from that of the raven haired beauty she had seen previously.
This was a pale and grizzled facsimile, worn by a lifetime of travails. Xora was confused and a bit startled. "I don't understand
how can you be here talking to me now? I always believed the
interactions within the crystal room were an illusion, a very sophisticated party trick. I see now that things are perhaps more
complicated than they first appear."

"Why Xora, I'm surprised that you haven't already learned this
truth. The fact is Xora that in my life time I have spoken to you
many times. What makes this so amazing to you is that it is only
the first time in your lifetime that we have spoken. For all I
know this may be the last time I speak to you in my lifetime.
However there may come a time in your life time when we will
be fast friends. That conversation however, is for another time. I
have reached out to you to warn you." For a moment she
paused and her face took upon a grave expression. Then she
spoke, "You and your entire world are in grave peril. You will
be soon besieged from beyond by an ancient enemy. We in our
time knew this enemy. We were besieged for a months of relentless battle. Many were lost, though that was just the beginning
of our troubles. In a desperate gamble to gain victory the Earth
and most of its inhabitants were laid to waste in a firestorm the
likes of which are beyond description."

Xora tried her best to absorb her words and reconcile them with
what she already knew. It would have seemed all too fantastic a
few days ago. It as if they had passed into a different kind of
reality, unlike anything she had known previously. There were
many questions that arose in her mind. "How do you know these
things will come to pass? And how is it that Ananda has managed somehow surviving the passage of time untarnished?" Samantha searched for the right words then spoke. "I know this
may be difficult for you to understand, for I was once in a place
as you are now. However the true will soon be revealed and an
understanding of it will be forced upon you by cruel reality.
There out in the universe is a cycle of events that exists just beyond our capacity to remember them. The human mind is a fragile thing. Paper lasts only so long and machines are subject to
failure. All that is left is our primal fear and mythology born out
of biological necessity. It is only by the use of this machine in
which you now stand that we are made able to see beyond the
corners of the unknown. This cycle, whose beginning is marked
by the relative position of Nibaru to Earth has arrived. Though
you have no record of it, this cycle has gone on unhindered for
untold millennia."