A Paradox in Retrograde

by Faherty, John

  The emergency escape mechanism by necessity possessed a rudimentary design and could be operated manually by turning a sealed valve. Once turned, an exchange of gasses filled a metallic mesh balloon which would be deploying automatically from beneath. He grasped the wheel tightly and with all his remaining energy slowly rotated the wheel. The balloon, woven from a finely spun gold alloy began to fill and the casket then began to slowly rise. Leaving the murky depths behind, the automatic system atmospherically adjusted to the changing pressures outside and the once coffin became then a vessel, slowly guided itself upwards. After a tense thirty some odd minutes his vessel, approached the surface.

  Like some bizarre creature the craft had breached the surface in a tumult of roiling water. For a moment it rocked then stabilized. Automatically a few of the working on board sensorsbegan to measure and calculate its surroundings. By measuring the Earth's magnetic field and the relevant depth of the surrounding ocean the on board systems attempted to match its current location readings to charts loaded onto it's on board dataset. For several minutes the mechanism attempted to calculate a location based on known coordinates but was unable to make a lock. Our traveler grew worried as the apparent malfunction threatened to leave him perhaps stranded afloat in the middle of a churning sea. As time wore on it became evident he would have to manually remove the door himself and take his chances. There in the packet he found a matching set of wrenches specifically designed for this maneuver. With great relief he began the laborious task of removing the twenty-nine bolts that held the transparent door in place. As he labored he began to feel the full effects of the suns golden rays beating down through the composite glass.

  As the seal finally broke he could smell the salt air rushing in through the gaps and could hear what he imagined were the welcome sounds of sea going birds wrangling in the air above him. With the last bolt removed he pushed the hatch open slightly. He rose up exposing himself to the full light of day glancing to his left and right he would discover that his craft as had drifted for some time. He found himself floating in shallow water perhaps four feet of depth and mere feet from the spreading boughs of the mangrove tree. He would discover that it was but one of a cluster that formed a crown around a small abandoned island. He lay there for a moment and breathed deeply the salty air. Pushing back the heavy door into its full upright position, he sat up straight. The sun was high in the sky now and he averted his still sensitive eyes from its glare. He tentatively rose to a standing position. Though his body shook he still was able to support his own weight as he stepped carefully from the capsule. He made it to his feet to discover that his body had been well preserved. He estimated that there was very little muscular atrophy that could not be countered by physical exercise. The water was surprisingly warm to the touch. After a few moments he rose from the water only to fall onto the beach in exhaustion. As he lay there he pondered his situation his mind however was still in recovery mode.

  The circumstances of his current misfortune were, at least for now, lost to him. However slowly, over the course of hours and days the details of his ordeal would begin to become clearer to him as the effects of the chemicals that kept him long in suspension wore off. These unavoidable byproducts of his long endured slumber though acutely uncomfortable were temporary though many of these facts would in the short term remain forgotten. However in the course events, no one had ever slumbered as long as he. Only with time then would the facts of his unlikely journey be perhaps revealed to him.

  So after a short rest despite his exhaustion he stood up and brushed the sand from his body. He thought it best he should begin to exercise and shake the rust from his joints. Walking then would do him some good and he was eager to explore this new world. He thought it best he should move now. Though weary from the ages spent in hibernation he spent the better part of that day then wandering about exploring the island. In the matter of forty minutes he had encircled the whole of the island. Then he trudged with some difficulty into the islands interior. He managed during his wandering to find some helpful things. Caught among the rocks at the sea's edge, there he found many examples of rope, and netting. These he thought could make good use of. And from the forest there were palm and other native fruits enough where he would starve later rather than sooner. He also managed to find a natural fresh water seep high in the hills. Into a bottle he had found along the beach he collected the murky water. He had not realized until that moment the degree to which thirst was affecting him. He raised the bottle to his lips and drank down the water until he was full. Once satisfied he looked out from his vantage there onto the sea. From his observations he could infer that there were no large land masses nearby. This made finding his current location all the more critical. After gathering together what he could carry, he returned to the beach where his capsule had landed, tired and a bit hungry.

  Having return to the spot upon the beach from where he started he sat down to ponder his current situation. Though it was not yet clear to him how long he would need to stay on this island, he knew that it could not long serve his needs. For the time being though he would need then for now to forage for a living.

  Within the capsule there among a number items he found was a note book. He found the pages blank and he thought this telling of his future without a past. He thought it might prove prudent to make a record of some sort. As he sat upon the beach with the setting sun before him he began to document his first day. There he described the scene thusly, "Day one: The tumuli of our internment are lost as I have awoken alone upon sea. I can assume that I may be forever cut off from my kin as I am lost in both time and space. I shall endeavor in my remaining time to tie together what threads of this story may be remaining. As for myself I have fared well. By sheer providence I find myself high and dry upon a deserted atoll that appears to be part of a chain of islands. The weather is fair and the water warm. There appears to be abundant fresh water, plants and animals of all description. Some the likes of which I have never before seen. When night falls I will attempt to calculate by the stars if visible, not only my location but the duration of my slumber." He closed the book and began preparing for the evening."

  At dusk he fought off his weariness, preparing for his night sky observations by gathering firewood and some familiar shell fish. He ate these with relish by the fireside. With primitive tools that might seem familiar to mariners of any age, he watched as the first stars and planets appeared on the horizon. As darkness fell he was startled to see the degree to which he could visualize the universe. The great swath of the Milky Way divided the sky in two, as he had never seen it before. He paused there a moment staring into those dark spaces. For a fleeting second he thought there ought to be something there that wasn't. He put this thought quickly out of his mind and returned to charting in his notebook the relative locations of the planets and constellations. Using the note book he wrote these findings. Again and again he checked the numbers for something did not quite add up. It would seem none of his calculations seemed to make any sense, this he found troubling. His results based on the current positions of the stars showed that his location relative to them put him thousands of kilometers from his last known position. He realized if he made the assumption that his current position had not radically changed from his previous one, the positions of the stars would then indicate he had been adrift in time for more than twelve thousand years. This realization of the implausible left him stunned. How could it be possible that against all odds or by some strange twist of fate he had survived? Sitting alone on the beach bathed in the starlight and the ocean breeze he checked and double-checked his findings. He was forced then to accept against his will, the facts as they presented themselves. He questioned himself, "however would I make it alone in a strange world of which I know nothing?" And of his family, what had become of them? They were surely all gone now. How would he communicate with the survivors and in what primitive state would their culture be in? The world from which he came was one of turmoil and stri
fe, devastated by the powers of a seething Earth and beset by missiles from space. There were only several thousand left of the once thriving human race when he began his journey. He had long ago missed the rendezvous and now he wondered what could be left.

  Staring into a fire he had built from the sea drifting wood, he watched mesmerized as the pillar of smoke welled high up into the night sky. The sounds of crashing waves and of crackling embers created a symphony as he stared into the rising plume. Suddenly into his field of vision flew a craft of unknown design. His ears now were full with an obnoxious sound of its motor. He could feel its base rumble in the pit of his stomach as the craft passed speedily overhead. He abruptly stood and ran off into the direction of the trailing lights of the speeding craft. He followed it, running and waving his arms, along the ring of the beach until he ran out of land. He stood there, hyperventilating, knee deep in water and watching its taillights blink until they disappeared into the distance. Glowing there at the edge of the horizon were the telltale lights of civilization casting its illumination far out to sea. From his belt he removed his binoculars as to estimate their distance. With careful observation he correctly assumed the lights to be of a medium sized coastal town perhaps thirty kilometers to the west. He determined now he would have to make the journey across the water. Returning to his capsule he spent the night looking up into the stars until he fell asleep dreaming for the first time in millennia.

  As morning arrived he wasted little time and began to cannibalize the capsule. It was then he noticed something he had not before seen. In contrast there upon the sarcophagus under a heavy patina lay in gold inlay a set of symbols. He reached out his hand and traced with his finger over the surface of the script. As his fingers moved the sounds these symbols represented rang in his latent mind a distant chord, both familiar and mysterious. He could not tell for sure what strange meaning was held there, for he spoke the words that formed in his mouth "Hector the King." He shook his head in denial while turning away from that which he had no capacity to remember.

  With a renewed sense of urgency he removed from the capsule the metallic cloth which was used to raise the capsule. From it he began fashioning a rudimentary sail to hang from a make shift mast that he lashed to the capsule. He did not bother with supplies for he thought with luck it would take a day at most to sail across the portion of sea that separated him from those distant lights. With his preparations complete and without much ado, he pushed the dark capsule back into the blue surf and pushed off from the beach with an oar he carved from a bambootrunk.

  The sea was mild and the warm breeze ruffled the sun lit fabric as the tiny craft plied the gently rocking waves. Sheltered from the sun beneath the fronds of palm he rowed out into the open sea in hopes of catching a favorable wind. Before long his sail had caught the westward wind. Our traveler watched as the day grew older and the outlines of the distant city grew more distinct on the horizon. By the early evening before him the great body of the sun sat heavily over the lands of the western islands. As the sunlight faded he took a moment to write another note in his journal, "Day two: I have in my makeshift raft reached overthe horizon to the city on the far side of this expanse. I know not if I will find there descendants of our experiment, or a rabble of pirates. I have little choice but to assume this is my best chance at finding the truth."

  To those who witnessed this image from the shore, the visage of the golden sail shining like a mirrored orb afloat upon the placid sea, were much impressed. The craft was still some distance off the shore as the sun was swallowed into the horizon. He grew chilled in the darkness as the cool night air caressed his sun burned skin. From exhaustion he drifted once again into unconsciousness. After an interminable time he was jarred awake by the shock of an abrupt landfall. His craft had run aground upon a course of white sand. Still groggy from his long ordeal and exposure, laden in his somnambulist's armor, he stepped reluctantly into the tepid water. Leaving behind his makeshift craft he walked up the slope of the beach. There he stood in amazement, as he looked at the strange angularity to the architecture shining in the moonlight. This sparkling city stood just beyond the clutch of forest that bordered the beach. Using a strong bow from a severed mangrove root at the crest of the beach he twisted there into the sand a flag garnished with a swath of blue cloth. Fluttering in the breeze the makeshift flag danced. In a symbolic gesture he said with a laugh, "I claim this land in peace for all of humanity." Having said his piece, he fell to the ground giddy with exhaustion. The rigors of exposure and of his labors brought him to sleep where he lay.

  There he slept for untold hours until as morning approached a child with a gentle shake awakened him. He stood abruptly startled in confused response. "Ah huh what!" he said in a language the boy could not comprehend. The child stood his ground and with a gesture beckoned the stranger to follow him. He stood brushing the sand from his armor and began to make his way up from the beach and onto the ancient walk way that rose from the sea into town. He ascended a stairway made of a well-worn alabaster until he had reached the start of a broad avenue. It rose up toward a highpoint on which at its apex stood a citadel with a tall tower. His gaze was illuminated along its length by lines of light reflecting panels. Above the street level on either side of the avenue stood all manner of building some whosestyles seemed vaguely familiar while still others appeared strange. There were also people there. This land he concluded seemed wholly unfamiliar as did the people he saw there both in manner of language and dress. He thought it likely that to them he too looked equally strange. As he walked along with trepidation, a crowd of the curious began to form around him. As the crowd swelled he sensed he was being ushered onward toward an agora or central square.

  He found himself after sometime within the gates of the citadel. There a sea of people meandered about dressed in every imagined color, adorned with strange motifs and symbols. The imagery although intriguing held little meaning to him. At the center of the square stood a temple like structure atop whose stone stairway there appeared a contingent of dignitaries. He based this observation upon the relative fineness and ornate quality to their garments compared to the others. This assumption though presumptuous was nonetheless correct.

  Once they had reached what appeared to be the stairs to a temple, the people there began speaking. From this strange barrage of voices there he could not find one word of understanding. In frustration he gestured for them to stop with his open hand, to which they seemed to understand. During this pause he reached into his shoulder bag and removed a small electronic device. He pinned this device to his chest and turned it on. He gestured again for them to begin again to speak. As they did the small but powerful device sifted their voices through a pattern analyzer. Within a few moments the traveler then began to hear their voices in something akin to his own language. Activating in mid-sentence the first words he heard were, "Visitor from what strange land have you sailed? The spectacle of your golden sail was like none I have ever seen." His translator having broken the language code processed the vocal signal sensed in his throat and translated it automatically in a language they could understand. "Good day gentlemen and ladies I am Ananda. I apologize for being perhaps a bit vague but due to discrepancies in my equipment it is difficult for me to determine how long or how far I have traveled. However I am left with two equally compelling conclusions based on the information available to me. Either I have sailed far from my home or I have been lost to time, perhaps for manycenturies." "From what land did you first depart?" asked one of the robed

  figures. To which he responded, "I come from a land west of the Pillars of Hercules, a land called Atlantia. Have you heard of it?" They responded with only blank stares. "What of the lands of Isis, or the lands of the polar seas?" No one among them seemed to recognize these odd sounding names. After a moment he began to realize that the world from which he came was truly unknown to these people. He again began to speak, "To what land have I come?" One of the apparent elders answered, "I am Grunh
uf, Lord Mayor and a member of the governing body. It is for us an honor to show a traveler as yourself hospitality while you remain as our guest here now in the great nation of Baldur. Our people as is our tradition have been here since the great flood many thousands of years ago." His words though clear did little to inform him of his whereabouts, and so he posed the question again. "Has not one of you heard of my land of Atlantia? From that land of which I speak, many years ago I was set adrift in time and the sea. We as princes of our lands would ride out the long winter that had befallen us. Having been plagued, we had survived the ravages of flood, storm, earthquake and fire, despite our technology. In the end we found ourselves burdened by all manner of ills until we determined that we could no longer sustain our own survival." One of the gentlemen spoke to him, "I for one, have not heard of the strange names of these lands, nor of any equivalent catastrophe as of which you speak, save for the flood." Statements such as this left him troubled. "The city state of Atlantia was the greatest on the continent, "surely you must have heard of it", he said to them. In response he received only confused unknowing stares. It then dawned on him they should have some form of knowledge repository or historical database from which he could discover his location. So he asked, "Do you have a library or other such depository? If so I would request an opportunity to peruse these documents for any historical clues. Would that be possible?“ One of the Ladies there stepped forth in response and spoke to him. "Good day sir. My name is Xora, and I am the keeper of the books. Though I doubt you will find what you are looking for there is a resource to which might answer your questions." She raised her hand and pointed towards the tower beyond. "There upon within the temple complex stands this repository that you speak of." Those there recognized his keen interest for which this possibility held for him. Grunhuf then made an unusual suggestion. Lady Xora, It would appear he is much interested in this wonder of your’s. When would it be possible for our guest to be availed to an audience with the crystal room? Though Xora was taken off guard by the suggestion, she was none the less intrigued by his arrival. There was something about his appearance. She wanted to know more. After a moment she said, "The request is highly unusual, but so is your appearance here among us. We can go now, if you like." Ananda gladly accepted her invitation and thanked her for her hospitality. Xora then beckoned him to follow.