"May I speak freely sir?"
"Yes, speak your mind."
"Sir, I was only guarding the ship as ordered. If I had known it was you who was coming I would have saluted and done my duty as told."
"What is your name Corporal?"
"My friends call me Lex sir.
"Well Corporal Lex, that being the case, I'm sorry you had to take such a knock on the head. We couldn't be too careful. I hope you understand. Grunhuf untie him."
"Thank you sir."
"Corporal can I trust you to take charge of those explosive devices?" Though Landaus could not recall it, it had been hewho had personally trained the corporal in the handling of explosives. The Corporal however had a keen memory of it. "Yes sir, I had a good instructor."
Grunhuf as he untied the prisoner was the first tosay it out loud. "Ok we've made it this far, what now?" They all looked around the room at each other to see that none among themhad a shred of a plan past get to Nibaru. All that had been thought of before their departure was the very good idea of confiscating the explosive charges. This had served the duel purposes of not only leaving Ananda's atomics without their much needed primers but also giving them a useful weapon. The explosives provided them an ends whose outcome though not entirely clear, was far more concrete than the means.
Sensing a growing uneasiness, again from the child's mouth the disembodied voice of Amida spoke. "My friends it is to your credit that under such circumstances that you have done so well. And Landaus, your natural skill as a pilot far exceeds my own when I was your age. You are to be commended. However there is much now to be done. We must patch in a course for Nibaru. This ship has gone missing and soon they will come looking for it. We must use this to our advantage. They will not have expected us to be in possession of this ship. We should be able to evade their defenses and approach unmolested. What we do upon landing is another story." Grunhuf who was keen to avoid being killed asked, "OK we manage to land, what's to stop a great horde of warriors from slicing us to ribbons?"
"I understand your fear Grunhuf. If I may I would propose a plan of action?" They all seemed eager to hear and nodded agreeably. "We have one thing that trumps all others. We are in possession of the young prince. As long as he is in our custody no harm shall befall us. We shall upon landing announce to them our intentions, and if all goes as planned we shall obtain an audience with the king."
Landaus then added, "Let us not forget why we are here; that is to somehow hamper their ability to strike. We should make our way to their waiting ships and destroy them using thoseexplosives. We'll split into two groups. Grunhuf and I along with the boys will bluff our way the palace. Using this foray into as a diversion, Xora and the Corporal Lex with stealth will go about setting the explosive charges among the enemy warships. I think we may be able to cause enough of a stir that you may slip unnoticed into the deserted dock yard. There Lex can string a device that can be detonated at a distance, perhaps by radio frequency."
Lex seemed excited and he nodded eagerly, "Yeah I can do that."
Grunhuf held on his face an expression of disbelief so he again asked a question. "I have seen these creatures; they are more beast than man. How is that they could agree to such a meeting after showing nothing but belligerence? I don't believe we'll last five minutes out there."
Landaus had an answer ready. "By using a few of the charges we can rig an explosive device. We hang it around young Leif's neck attached to a dead man's switch. They'd have to know it was real however to make it work. Lex can you rig something like that?"
"I think so sir."
"Good, then get to it."
Grunhuf protested angrily, "This scheme will not work. They do not value life as we do." Amida responded, "The answer is despite what you think; though they are the aggressors they are not without some degree of honor. Though we are at war Aaralaat is a practical man. He understands that the taking of hostages is a part of that and he would not allow anything to happen to his sole heir. There is much that you don't know about your foe. In the endhe is not much different from you."
A look of bewilderment came over their faces as they tried to reconcile their experience with what they were being told. "What do you mean by that, exactly?" Landaus shot back at him.
Amida drew a sigh and spoke, "Perhaps the time is right for you to learn the whole truth? Long ago visitors escaping the destruction of their planet in a far off star system came upon the system of Sol. They had been part of a colonial convoy on its way to a new home world when their ship's plasmafield became unstable. They were forced to abandon their ship in life boats. Their long range sensors identified a suitable safe landing. Soon a course was plotted for a primordial Earth. They were told by their comrades to hold tight until a rescue ship had arrived, as a signal had been sent to the home world. The convoy moved on without them and the rescue ship never came. After a while they began to surmise their kind had not fared well in their new home. After several years they decided to make the best of their new home. After all it was so much like a paradise as the wild beauty of life flowed from every nook of the pristine planet. By shear chance their arrival there in the Sol system coincided with the era of planetary convergence of which you are now familiar. It was decided to improve their chances of survival that their contingency should be broken in two. One would colonize the Earth and the other would do so on Nibaru. What ships that had been available the life boats were converted to ships more suited for exploration. Once they were there, they found a world seemingly as promising as Earth, so an outpost was set up. By then their fuel was virtually depleted. Theywere then forced to make the difficult decision to stay put. For those who had chosen to go the Nibaru, they could not have foreseen their fate. Over time they watched asthe gulf of space between them grew ever wider. For a decade or more contact between the two colonies was maintained. Earth bound astronomers kept it in its sights for decades. Eventually as Nibaru retreated again into the darkness even the communication signal was lost. To each group the memories of the others would eventually be lost. This however was just the beginning, for both of these isolated groups in the fullness of time adapted to their new environments, surviving more or less by the dictates of harsh nature. Their relationship one to the other was lost in the mists of time. You and your kin are the descendants of those earth bound travelers. The others hidden within volcanic caverns deep in the frozen rock of Nibaru endured there for five hundred generations. There in that time would be manifest a most hideous expression of evolution. By the time the Earth and Nibaru were again within striking distance the one species had become two. Thus with a clock works regularity the intervals of discord and strife had begun."
With all that had transpired in the last several days though they could barely register the meaning of what they had been told no one dared challenge the truth in it. Landaus was numb for everything he had thought he had known was somehow wrong. Looking upon the young prince he noticed how the milky glaze of his translucent albinized skin held within the form of a man. It was a different kind of man to be sure, but a man nonetheless. At that moment he resolved not only to protect his home but also to do whatever it took to end this senseless cycle of violence.
As the others strained to contemplate the meaning of what they had been told, Landaus returned to the command chair. There he began resetting the coordinates for a rendezvous with Nibaru. He easily recalled the necessary code and nimbly entered them into the keyboard on the control panel. A low hum filled the cock pit asthe fusion rockets were primed and readied for escape velocity. Lights flashed on the board as the artificial brain of the navicomputer calculated the formula.After a moment the ships machine voice spoke into his headset. "The course has been plotted and verified." Again on the screen he watched as a red blip that represented the ship mimicked in two dimensions the course that would take the ship from its high earth orbit and place it at the perfect angle for insertion on far off Nibaru. He gave the order for all his crew to don their pressure suits
. This time he would take no chances. At the appointed moment all aboard had already been secured and the sound of rocket count down filled their ears. A second later the engines fired. As the thrusters struggled to break gravities bounds the pressures mounted within the cabin and they were all pushed deep into their flight chairs. With the primary rockets engaged the ship at first shook violently then leveled off as the ship reached nearer to escape velocity. An instant later in their rear view panel they watched as the orb of the earth began to slowly shrink away behind them.
Once free of the gravitational effects of the Earth an all clear signal was given. They unbuckled themselves from their harnesses and began to get down to work. They had to make every moment count so the work began immediately. Amida's sole job now was only to control young Leif. Despite their claimed intentions, he was not at all pleased to be used in such a way. He would be called on again once they were in the presence of Aaralaat.
Nibaru on its cycle around the sun traveled along on an ellipse that intersected the solar plane at an angle of forty five degrees. It currently was falling from the northern solar hemisphere towards the south. Soon, in several months’ time it would be within its closest approach to the Earth. Its distance now wasroughly equal to that between the Earth and Mars. It appeared to them however merely as a distant point of light. Racing near relativistic speeds they watched over the course of hours as the orb grew more and more distinct. Each of them in their own way was affected by the marvels that the heavens afforded them.
Soon the proximity alarms again began to ring out.By now the crew having learned from their mistakes understoodthese routines would save their lives. Each then in preparation had made ready by securing themselves into their suits and harnesses. Once this had taken place, Landaus and the rest were again free to stare in wonder at the sights before them. All but overwhelmed by the sight before them, they held their collective breath as with each passing second the image of the glowing orb of Nibaru grew larger and brighter through the view screen. There within the planets shadow the ship was made puny. The corporal called out excitedly, "We're coming in hot." A moment later the ship began to shake violently as the tidal forces bearing down on them threatened to tear the ship to pieces. To counter this growing gravitational pull, the on board computers automatically began making final corrections to the ships trajectory as required for orbital insertion. The wild shuddering stopped and the ship began to level out. The ship though moving at an incredible speed in a breaking maneuver descended into the upper atmosphere. The ship now glowing in a bright shade of red seemed to skip like a stone across the top of the atmosphere. In doing so the ship completed two entire orbits, during which time the crew and its precious cargo were subject to a bone jarring turbulence. To their relief it all came to an abrupt stop as the vessel was finally captured into a planetary orbit and its momentum absorbed. In an attempt to slow the ship down slow enough for a soft landing the automatic retrorockets beganto fire. Landaus counted the seconds as the roar of the rocketsresounded in his chest. The ship then began its controlled free fall. They could feel then for the first time the weight of Nibaru pulling heavily on their bodies. Soon these stresses were doubled and doubled again. Landaus watched as his field of vision was forced into a narrow tunnel of light. Sensing these tremendous pressures, their pressurizing suits struggled to force the blood back to their brains where it was most needed. With the negative pressure of the suits brought to bear, their senses returned just in time.
An instant later, the ship's hull penetrated into the dense lower atmosphere. The friction of reentry increased greatly, causing the space surrounding the ship again to burst suddenly into a fiery lightshow. The heat upon the ship's hull intensified and with every meter it dropped, the craft's alloyed skin shined a brighter shade of cherry red. Though the ship was insulated against such extremes of temperature, they none the less could feel the sweltering heat within the cramped control compartment attempting to bake the very life out of them. Nothing in Landau's life till that point had prepared him for such a ride. He trusted those who had sent him there and he prayed that they had earned that trust. Through the view screen before them, a red and orange glow illuminated the sharp lines etched upon his face. As the ship around him shuddered he wondered aloud, "Will we survive this?" All the while the drag of the atmosphere on the craft's skin had continued to slow its velocity. And it slowed the heat and fiery glow diminished. Soon it was all over. Then there below for the first time, the planetary features became visible. Oriented now for atmospheric flight the ships lifting body prepared to glide like an airplane.
Landaus checked life support systems on his monitor. Everything seemed safe and so removed his helmet. He lowered the descent heat shield that covered the carbonized glass window and looked out upon the landscape. The polished stone of the battlements gleaming in the setting sun passed in a blur below him. On cue the ship's auto pilot throttled back the engine. Deployment of its long and shiny gliding wings came next, extruding from the hull. Now with the grace of a great metallic bird the ship banked sharply into a circling pattern above the enemycity. There below he saw a great stone building that matched thedescriptions he had been given of the temple of Earth. Landaus said to the sergeant "There is our destination. It's a pyramid not unlike those on Earth"
The Corporal unfastened the safety harness and moved back towards the ship's hold. There he found to his relief that their fragile cargo had survived reentry. He carefully checked each of the mechanisms and they all appeared to be functioning properly. As they were designed to do, the digital read outs flashed continuously. This indicated that the bombs were still safely in stasis mode. He returned to the cock pit and reported to Landaus. "All is as planned Colonel. The weapons have survived reentry they look as if they are ready to be deployed."
Chapter 13
For the sake of the mission it had been a great stroke of luck that corporal Lex had been on duty that day. For although it had been Landaus who had personally trained the corporal in the handling of explosives, his skills in this area had since surpassed those of his teacher. His abilities now were such that within the course of those few short hours of which their journey had consisted Lex had managed by cannibalizing parts from the lower deck controls to produce many of the tools they would need. Of these was included the dead man switch that they would use to brazenly bully their way into the palace. From those same panelswere also acquired the many yards of wire and fuses as well as the wireless transceivers that would be needed to remotely detonate the bombs. After hours of concentrated effort toward these ends they had barely noticed that Nibaru was now upon them. As this realization came to them they knew that though their plan was a thread bare one, it was all they had. It had to work.
From high above, the patchwork of corridors and roads of the Nibaru city resembled to Landaus the radiating spokes on a great wheel. On board schematics had told them that all of these routes eventually would lead one to the city's central boulevard. It was there at its far end where the royal palace resided. They hoped that once they had found their way that their journey would be a simple one. In theory it played out simple enough. While observing the scale of the Nibaru city Landaus's secret doubts again percolated; for their success was far from guaranteed. Despite these reservations Landaus's outward spirits for the sake of the mission remained high. All that he could depend on was that soon he would again be tested.
Far below them the entrance to the vertical landing bay opened like a great yawning maw. Spiraling toward it like an eagle toward its prey the ship in an ever tightening circular course closed the distance between itself and the port. The ship suddenly banked sharply inward as it now prepared to come in for a landing. Without prior warning to the crew, the ships proximity sensors initiated the landing sequence by firing the retro rockets in a specific preset sequence. In an instant the computers calculated the intricate parameters required for auto negotiating a vertical landing. Landaus, with little time to spare recognized this
for what it was and yelled out to the crew, "This ship is preparing itself for a vertical landing. You all had best make it back to your harnesses now or you'll all be in a world of hurt." The crew leaving their gear where they had stood raced to make it back to the safety of their seats. The firing of these rockets had a disorientating effect on the crew. As the ship prepared to bring itself to a sudden and dead stop it left them to move of their own momentum. Over the course of the next several secondsits own momentum was countered by the rockets until its trajectory had come to an abrupt stop hundreds of meters directlyabove the landing bay. There for a moment it hovered for final adjustments. As it did its hollow graceful wings began to retract back within the body of the ship while simultaneously deploying its landing fins. Once that had been completed the ship began then to rotate slowly nose upwards from the horizontal. Anything not secured began now to make its way falling down toward the aft of the ship. The crew who without a moment to spare had secured themselves within their harnesses now had to dodge a barrage of missiles as everything that wasn't nailed down flew about the cabin wildly. The crew struggled to guard their faces from the hail of debris that for the moment had not yet settled. As they endured this, the computer without further interference finished the job of landing the ship. With the computer controlled rockets firing in quick succession, maneuvering the ship downward seemed effortless as it floated gracefully toward the waiting ground. With little room to spare within the tight quarters of the bay, the ship settled gently into a perfect three point landing mere meters from the other ships. The crew exhaled in a collective sigh of relief.
A Paradox in Retrograde Page 22
