A Paradox in Retrograde (31 page)

Without another word spoken the crew unfastened their harnesses and began to make their way down the vertical access ladders.
As they moved down through the sections they discovered that
the walls and doorways were now floors and ceilings. Though
they had not noticed it prior the space, though perhaps more
cramped was just as serviceable. Adjusting themselves to the new
ship configuration their tempers soon cooled and the work had
gotten underway to make ready what supplies that were needed.
Soon for all that were heading toward the palace most of what
supplies needed were safely packed. All was set but for the explosive device. Though among them there was unease in the
thought of attempting what came next, they were mostly in agreement in that Leif would have to be a hostage. Seemingly there
was no other way. When the time came a plan was hurriedly
hatched to surround and subdue him if necessary. Landaus however thought it right to first ask Leif for the sake of his dignity to
cooperate. Leif who had until this moment had been cooperative
sensed a change among the other crew members. He found himself suddenly surrounded by men with vacant expressions.
Grunhuf held within his hands the harness containing the explosive device. Upon seeing the device it had suddenly became clear
to him what was going on. Again they saw in the eyes of young
Leif the raw anger they had before witnessed. Landaus spoke,
"Leif look at me. I think you know what's coming next. I ask you
to cooperate with us now knowing that our intentionis to merely
defend ourselves while in the process returning youto your
home.

Leif attempted to make a run for it, but as the crew collapsed
around him he was easily subdued. However In the process of
attempting to apply the harness Leif found an opening and he
struck a deep bite onto Grunhuf's lower arm. He letout a pained
cry as Leif's canine teeth clamped deep into his flesh. In the heat
of the struggle with their adrenaline surging he could not yet fully
appreciate the severity of his wound. When the struggle was
complete and Leif was thoroughly subdued. Grunhuf stood bleeding heavily from his arm. The site of the blood left him faint and
he keeled over. Landaus called out to Xora, "Xora he's injured.
Go and find a med kit we've got a problem down here."

A moment later from the floor above she slid down the ladder
with an emergency medical kit in hand. "I've got it." Upon opening the kit beyond the usual bandages, they saw it contained
some unfamiliar items. As the crew looked on puzzled Ibsen
stepped forward under Amida's control and removed from the
kit an aerosol cylinder. He began shaking it vigorously. After a
few moments of this he pointed the cylinder nozzle at the affected area and pressed down on the button. A fine opalescent mist
projected from it enveloping the wound. Almost instantaneously
the bleeding had stopped. They were amazed by what they had
just seen. Amida spoke, "Do you see such technology? Is this
the mark of an inferior race? I think not."

"What is it?" asked a dumbfounded Xora.

Amida answered with his trademark superiority, "Within that
cylinder are contained millions of microscopic machines less
than the size of a single cell. Each one programmed for its specific job. You would do well to make peace with these people."

A moment later Grunhuf sat up to see his arm had already begun
to heal itself. "That is amazing, never have I seen such a wonder."

Amida again spoke "If this plan is to work Leif must walk of
his own power. Anything else would draw suspicion that he was
perhaps already dead. I shall control young Leif's body. As he
finished speaking Leif was enveloped in the sphere of Amida's
mind and paralyzed him to his own will. Leif's body was now
under the influence of Amida's control. He could donothing as
against his will. They with reservation released his bounds. Amida made Leif stand motionless as they affixed, secured and
armed the explosive device to a vest it around his chest. There
was among the crew a mixture of emotions associated with this
act. Few of them dared look on him, as his appearance was truly
pitiful. Despite their feelings all was now ready.

Having obtained their bearings from the ships computer, they
were prepared now to leave the relative safety of the starship behind them. The outer hatch opened and the internal pressure within equalized with the air outside. Strange unfamiliar smells entered their nostrils and their consciousness's, as the air rushed up
past them through the hatch opening. Down the vertical landing
ladder Landaus and Grunhuf accompanied by Leif and Amida in
the guise of Ibsen carefully crept one by one. They entered unto
the ground beneath the ship and could feel the intense heat still
radiating from the engine. They had to move.

Lex and Xora from the cockpit window looked on as the others
made their way out into the landing bay. They watched as they
disappeared one by one into the gun metal darkness, their only
light the rose tinted reflection of the sliver of sky. As they left his
field of vision he turned to Xora and said, "It's down to us now
lady Xora, are you ready?" With her heart beating wildly and
without saying a word she nodded to the affirmative. They both
then made their way to the vertical ladders. Soon they were in
what had been the below deck where the devices had been
stowed. With great care Xora gathered up the wired set of explosives and began to loop them around one after another about
Lex's head and shoulders. The delicate devices hanging precariously down over his chest jostled about as he gingerly stepped
onto the ladder. Xora held her breath as she counted his foot steps
down the ladder. When he had cleared the hatchway Xora hurriedly gathered up the remaining tools and fuses together. She
loaded them into the olive toned satchel that had been the med kit
then slung it over her shoulder. She stood still for a moment
catching her breath in an attempt at summoning courage. Before
she stepped out onto the ladder she closed her eyesand tried to
remember how she had gotten to this place. It seemed as if she
was born anew on this day. She wondered aloud, "If I survive this
how can I ever go home again?" The Earth seemed so far away
indeed. In that instant sound of Lex's voice shattered her gloomy
thoughts. "Xora are you coming? Have you lost your nerve?"
That perceived challenge was all it took to end her hesitation.
Following him down the ladder she stepped out into the darkness.

In short order they were on the bay floor. By now the aft exhaust
port had cooled sufficiently: they did not need as the others had
to make a run for it. They looked around carefully taking in what
little they could see through the darkness. There again the eerie
glow was cast about a hazy half reflection of the meager light
that managed to reach this depth. After a few moments their
eyes began to adjust to these conditions and they began to see at
first phantoms and shadows forming from the grey recesses.
Soon these phantoms began to manifest as shapes now familiar
to them. There the highly reflective surfaces of the ships mitigated the lack of direct light by diffusing what little that was available through out the space. Now as the sparing light was deflected its effect was like one of twilight.

Though they took some solace in the fact that they were in a
manner camouflaged by the darkness, they could not however
stay there long. Their presence there would not go unnoticed forever. Lex looked to Xora and asked, "Are you ready?"

"I'm as ready as I'm ever going to be. Let's get this done already.
I'm about to throw up from nerves."

 

"You're not the only one. I've never done anythinglike this before."

 

"I don't know whether I should be reassured by that or not."
"I just want to let you know that you're not alone here. We're in
this together. Do you know what I mean?"

 

"I think so."

This short exchange had done much to soothe her nerves. At
ease now with each other and their mission with stealth they
then began to make their way out among the ships. Lex working
as the technician and Xora as an assistant of sorts their movements seemed well in sync. As they roved beneath the standing
ships they crouched unrolling as they went the long string of
charges. Though they stayed below each ship for as little time as
was needed each charge required some minor adjustments. Then
sometimes using clips or magnets, one by one the charges were
attached. It was determined in advance that the most likely target
location should be to the main external heat exchange ports.
These were located conveniently near the aft section of each ship
well in reach from the ground. Upon completion of each installation Lex with care would activate the charges. For a long while
they toiled. When all was said and done there were roughly fifty
charges set.

As the last of these charges were set, Xora asked "That's the last
one will it be enough to stop them?"

"One for every third ship the blast radius of these devices should
be sufficient to disable the entire fleet. Let's hope this gives them
their due." Though Lex spoke these words with convincing bravado he held his private suspicion that though it should be
enough to cripple their fleet that many would in fact survive.

Though they did not know how long it had taken them to complete their task, for Xora each heart beat seemed to last an hour.
With nerves ragged, she watched in building anticipation as he
prepared to insert the final lead into the receiverdevice. He
closed his eyes and inserted the live lead into theharness. Carefully he tuned the control frequency to match thatof his long
range hand radio unit. All was just about completed when the
specter of doubt again reared up from the shadows. A bead of
sweat rolled down along the side of his temple as his mind raced
to quantify his potential missteps. This thought weighed heavily
on him for once it was done it could not be undone. This caused
him a paralyzing moment of hesitation. He held tightly onto the
activator switch frozen by his thoughts. Xora sensing his doubts
moved to reassure him. Careful not to startle him she whispered
softly in his ear, "Go ahead what are you waiting for? I was with
you the whole time and not once did you appear distracted or
unsure of yourself. So why start now? The sooner you flip it,
the sooner we're back within the safety of our own ship. Besides
if you don't, someone else will have to. You did all the work you
might as well have the glory." The sound of her voice soothed
his shattered nerves. Lex turned to her smiled, knowing then he
had done all he could have done. He flipped the switch. The indicator light now glowed a shade of neon green. He let out a
great sigh of relief then turned again to Xora and said, "Thanks
for the help; I couldn't have done it without you."

The others by this time had made good progress. The landing
bay at forty stories deep was a maze of shafts and corridors.
Their torches cast so little light that their eyes seemed to fail on
them. Their imaginations filled in the blanks as each bend in a
corridor filled them with anxiety. Landaus was leading the way
when they came upon something peculiar. There in the dim
torchlight a strange mix fear and adrenaline painted before them
a figure of a man moving about in the shadows. Landaus
stopped dead in his tracks and the others instinctively followed
his lead. Speaking quietly Landaus gave an order. "Stay here I'm
going to investigate." Hunched over he crept toward the shrouded figure. As he drew nearer its appearance grew stranger and
more pronounced. Now a mere meter away he shined his light
directly on it. "What in all of heaven is it?" Freed from the darkness its image could now be seen that it was merelyan object,
the figure of a man frozen in place. Amida in the guise of Ibsen
came forward. Landaus turned to him and speaking softly asked,
"Amida in the name of all that is sacred, what in blazes is this I
find before me?"

"Do you not have stories in your mythology of inanimate objects
transformed by technology into something more, or perhaps a
machine monster?"

"I certainly do not recall any such mythologies. Perhaps you
could enlighten me?"

"What you have here before you now is the remains of a fossilized automaton. They were once in the service of a great fleet of
cargo vessels whose trade brought goods between the know
worlds. Here in this cargo bay these machines once toiled loading
and unloading of these ships. Though they were primarily designed to serve as an army of robotic stevedores many functioned
at higher capacities. It's unfortunate but by the looks of the place,
he and this facility have not been functional for sometime."

Landaus satisfied now that there was no threat urged them on,
"alright let's move along there's little time for a history lesson."
one by one they filed past each in turn for a moment they stared
into its unyielding gaze. They continued on, and as they roved
they would come upon again and again the hulks of these mechanical beasts lurking ominously in the half light. To their relief
each time they would discover that they too were frozen in their
final footsteps, fossilized where they had long ago ceased to
function. They marveled at the level of technology that would
have been required for such a massive undertaking. And they
could little help wondering why such an achievement would go
so neglected. Landaus whispering asked of Amida, "How long
ago was this facility abandoned?"

"It's difficult to say for sure, perhaps fifty to a hundred thousand
years"

 

"But that's impossible, how can that be?"

"Still you ask the same question based on what you thought was
true as opposed by what you see and feel with yourown senses.
Haven't you seen enough yet to break that chain of thought?"

"I'm working on it."

Finally after long last they found the first corridor that was referenced also on the map. After having navigated their way through
the dimly lit labyrinth, the map now would show them the way.
From here on out the streets began to show signs of usage the
others had not. From here their footsteps were easily navigated.
From this point finding their way would be the easy part. For a
good long while they traveled in relative silence. So far through
these of back alleys that lead from the landing site toward the
main boulevard of the temple complex they had moved uncontested. Though they had tried to avoid any contact with their enemies, now as they emerged form the darkness out onto wide
thorough fare things were going to be different. Their eyes soon
adjusted to the acute rays of the sun. The first thing most of
them now noticed was that their presence there had immediately
begun to cause a stir. They watched as a group of individuals
began to move toward them from the other side of the street.
Landaus in an attempt to stiffen their resolve spoke to his team,
"Alright boys it's all or nothing, so dig deep and squash that fear.
It won't do you any good where we're going."