"Thank You Colonel." He turned toward Xora and with a respectful nod said, "My Lady." He turned back towardLandaus. Colonel, excuse the interruption. I'm here to make you aware that a small but boisterous crowd has begun to assemble outside the citadel gate." "Sergeant, you see I'm engaged here in business. Certainly you can handle this boisterousness on your own. Or is there something else? Could you be more specific?" "Yes Sir, Private Lance reported what he saw to me. He stated that though as a group, their demeanor was not yet out of control there were among them a handful of troublemakers well known to the guard."
"I see." Landaus was keen to keep order so he would move sooner, rather than later. So he gave the order, "Sergeant of the guard come with me." The sergeant with a silent hand gesture summoned several of the accompanying guards to follow. Landaus buckled back his sword around his waist as he walked. He turned back toward Xora and said, "We shall finish this conversation when I return."
Soon they were just inside the outer gate. Landaus then gave another order. "Sergeant I'll need you to subdue this crowd before something ugly happens. But first I should tell them something. Alright open the door." The massive wooden door began to slowly open outward on its stout hinges. There between the open doors Landaus stood facing them.
As the doors opened the small crowd pushed forward. Landaus with the back of his sheathed sword pushed back into the crowd. The guards formed into a wedge and followed in closely behind him. The sergeant pointed his pistol into the air and fired a single shot. This concussion seemed to get their attentionand for a moment the shoving that was about to get out of control, had stopped. Landaus seized the moment and began to address those standing there. "I know curiosity has brought you all out here tonight. Now however, it is not the time. In due course, announcements will be made in which certain details will be revealed. For the time being I can tell you only that there is evidence that Baldur may soon be under attack by foreign aggressors. If I could give you one bit of advice, it would be to make ready what weapons you may have."
Just then they were again distracted by a new commotion, this time from above. Suddenly there came a sound akin to a sustained crash of thunder. For an instant it startled those standing by, causing them to duck in fear. Looking up they witnessed falling gently a descending cone of light. Against the backdrop of the starlit sky this object at first possessed the brightness of a new moon. It grew larger in both size and intensity the closer it drew toward the ground. At a point of about a hundred meters from the ground the ship fired another set of rockets. The effect of which was sufficient to bring the ship to a sudden stop. For a few seconds it hovered there motionless in the sky. From this position the ship then began to reorient itself into its landing position. Extruding from the vehicle sides two sets of landing legs were deployed. At this point from their vantage on the ground details could begin to be seen by the onlookers. From behind the shroud of fire Landaus could make out that this silhouette was of one of the alien ships. Together in fear and awe they stood back and watchedas the stream of fire from the retro rockets lowered the giant craft gently toward the ground.
The people there could barely believe their eyes. They held their collective breath for none on Baldur had likely ever seen such a wonder of technology. The ship was long and sleek, shaped like a metallic winged arrow. A platform and an accompanying set of stairs extracted itself from the body of the ship. All eyes were now fixed on the door of the craft. They could not be quite sure who to expect as the door slowly opened. Silhouetted there by the ship's internal lighting two stark figures were illuminated. Unsure if this one was the ship that was earlier captured Landaus reached for his pistol. Finding only his empty holster, he remembered he had left it in the hall. He would have to make do with his saber. As his eyes adjusted to the light he discovered to his surprise and relief that it was Ananda. The second figure to their astonishment was a captive alien. As Ananda and the strange creature descended the stairs, Landaus studied the alien's appearance. Though diminutive, this version of the species held the same traits and attributes as its larger cousin. Landaus wondered as it drew nearer, "Is this a child?" The crowd stood back clearing a swath as the two travelers walked past them. The men guarding the gate opened the great doors as the two figures approached. Following Ananda the majority of the crowd entered into the citadel. The guards close on their heels followed suit, abandoning their posts.
By now the crowd had all but dispersed. Landaus had watched passively as the stranger among them paraded his captive within the gates. This was to him an unsettling scene. He was troubled now by something intangible. He having fancied himself as being a keen judge of character took notice that something had subtly changed about Ananda. Perhaps it was Xora's abbreviated warning that triggered in his mind a second look. There was something different about him, that much was true. He however could not put a finger on it. It was in his eyes; though it had likely been there all along, he had not before seen it. In this he felt he was alone for all of the others seemed too captivated by the prisoner to notice such trivialities.
Though the prisoner that Ananda held in tow was a mere child, he had a wild and fearsome look to him. Landaus could feel only pity, for the captive was their enemy, he nonetheless was just a child. Of those gathered there who had in their hearts sworn to defend their world and families against a mighty enemy, had not imagined this one so young. With arms tied behind its back, and seemingly helpless, he struggled vainly. The bound slave though he had much heart had not the strength to break his bonds. With a loud screeching sound he made his protests known.
By now Xora had approached at the mouth of the great hall and now stood in witness as the spectacle was paraded by. As Ananda approached, she wanted to look into his eyes to feel what evils she had been warned about. Suddenly she felt a tugging upon her long dress. She looked down to see young Ibsen staring up at her with a look of fear. She looked up again and Ananda had by then already passed. She put her arm around young Ibsen and followed them through the citadel. The wailing of the prisoner continued as the procession made its way down into the lowest levels of the citadel. There the long unused dungeon awaited its newest occupant. One of the guards opened wide the heavy cell gate. The boy then was thrown still bound, into the dank cave like cell. With a loud clang the gate heavily shut behind him.
Left to his own devices, quickly he struggled to release his bounds. In short order he had thrown them off and was then racing headlong at them. There he discovered first-hand the hard truth of the steel bars. He bounced off the cage door and fell hard onto the floor. As he did a raucous laughter rose up from the crowd egged on by Ananda. Dazed the boy rose again to his feet and charged again, though more carefully this time. Ananda stood before the howling beast and said to those in attendance, "Look now onto your enemy. Do not feel pity, for if he could he would drain the life force from your bodies." He turned toward those assembled and gestured up towards the heavens. "There on Nibaru your enemy awaits. In a thousand ships like the one in which I came, they will descend and strike a death blow. They will not stop until the human race has been extinguished." They were captivated now by his words as he walked among them. Wishing now to further stir their emotions so to spur them on, he would continue to push them. "Though they are formidable, the means to their ultimate destruction is within our grasp. Upstairs we have in our possession, all that we need to create an array of weapons the likes of which the earth has not seen in thousands of years. The very same technology that allows their ships to leap across space can be harnessed into a weapon. With such a weapon we will unleash the collective power of a sun in one brilliant flash of destruction. It is here on the rocky plains of Baldur that we will ransom the life of this young prince and so lure their fleet of ships to their destruction. Let us go now and proceed to that end. Who among you now will join me on this crusade?"
The crowd, once paralyzed by fear and confusion had been galvanized by his mere words. Their collective energy so honed seemed now to hu
m of its own accord. Ananda seizing the moment and personally began leading them back up the dungeon stairs and into the great hall where at last the work would commence. The entire group seemed now to move of one purpose. Xora could see now how such a man could steal the hearts of men. Having stood there painted in the blood of his enemies his words formed a tune both ancient and familiar that would draw them inexorably toward a war of his own making. Observing those listening she noted that all there seemed affected although to varying degree. "Here is the man who I have been warned of; for this is too awesome and dangerous a power for one man to long possess."
Ibsen had looked on as a quiet witness when those around him stood mocking the captive child. He immediately had felt a wave of sorrow for his would be enemy. For in his plight he saw his own. He could not help to think that he and this alien had much in common. Like himself, he was an unwilling victim of those bigger, stronger, and louder. Ibsen seemingly had a level of maturity that was out of sync with his young age. The fact that he found the behavior displayed by his elders was unbefitting their status was a testament to this. Ibsen was fearful, and wanted no more to do with this rabble. Still holding tightly onto Xora's hand he looked up to her as to ask her why.
Without a word spoken she shook her head for she had no answer for him. Staring into the cold blackness of his captive's eyes, he saw there mirrored dimly an image of fear. Ibsen however could not tell what emotions if any, were hidden there behind his fearsome expression. Studying him so, he had not noticed that the majority of them had returned to the great hall. Only Xora and his father remained. "Are you alright son? It's time we got ourselves upstairs" said Landaus as he placed his hand gently upon his son's head.
He turned towards his father and with a subdued expression on his face said "I'd like to stay back here awhile, if that's alright?"
"I suppose it's OK, but don't get too close to that cage. He might be small, but he sure looks dangerous."
"Yes father I'll be careful." Landaus and Xora proceeded to climb the stairs to join the others on the main floor. Soon they came upon the large wooden door that opened out into the imposing space that was the Great Hall. There they found Ananda who once again was displaying his great ability to be all things to all people. He stood there before the assembled crowd while tinkering away at an alien device that seemed to open like the leaves of a book. However unlike a book, its brightly illuminated pages were projected as a hologram into thin air before them as he flipped through its pages. None there save for Xora who had unlimited access to the crystal room had before seen such technology displayed. There as the leaves were paged through many a chart and diagram of great complexity were displayed. He was looking for something. No one there could possibly help him find what he was looking because it all seemed so unfamiliar. After a few moments he seemed to have found whatever it was. He pressed the pages down flat and stepped back. Floating there above the in three dimensions was an animation of three intersecting shapes in motion. Once those assembled had gotten over the initial shock their minds began to focus more intently on the dialogue that describedthe imagery.
"Gentlemen and ladies, here is what I wanted to show you. However I would firstly make note that what I am about to tell you may be new to your science. Though the concepts represented are on the theoretical edge of your current knowledge the technology however is not. We are dealing with a learning curve that far exceeds anything you may have before experienced. I am realistic in my sense that some of you may not ever fully understand these concepts. I know from your number a core group will raise to the challenge. That being said let me now proceed. This seemingly simple set of forms is a model representing the potential flow of super-heated plasma constrained within a volume of an electromagnetic field. While suspended under intense electromagnetic pressures an iota of matter within the plasma are bombarded by the simultaneous firing of multiple streams of subatomic particles. In order to do this properly, one must first master the maelstrom of super-heated plasma within." The animation glowed revealing in pulsing colors of eddies and the temperature variations that must be overcome. Using a pointer he highlighted these areas and described them. "Here you can see that even at these temperatures and pressures the field is imperfect. One then must endeavor to identify and isolate the appropriate toroidal coordinates. For only a perfectly calibrated and precisely synchronized firing will create the optimal conditions required for the desired reaction. If these conditions are met and if the integrity of the plasma containment field can be controlled and maintained, a resulting implosion will result in the fusion of this plasma into a new element. In doing so an enormous amount of energy, far more than is put into creating the reaction is released. Furthermore if during the course of this reaction the pressure and the supply of plasma can be maintained this reaction could in theory be maintained indefinitely. It is in this controlled manner by which our enemy's ships can muster the energy required to leap effortlessly across the gulf of space." He walked to the table upon which the book sat and momentarily closed it. The image vanished. He turned back to his captivated audience and again began speaking. "I can tell by the look on your faces that this seems from your perspective, perhaps a little far-fetched. I assure you this technology and others perhaps even more astounding, are real. These artifacts as you call them are merely tools of a technology you have not yet mastered. In time, I will teach you that there are unlimited peaceful uses for these technologies." As was his intention, their faces glowed with emotion as they contemplated those promises. He paused another moment and returned to the where the book lay. For a moment he stood thumbing through its pages. He again opened wide its pages and looking down towards it his face was painted in an intense red and orange glow. The image again there in midair was projected. All there now witnessed an image they could little understand yet were innately drawn to. In the animation a stark image was portrayed. There upon a desert plain a bright flash in an instant lit the darkened twilight to daylight. Rolling out from the epicenter the shock wave that followed, moved out across the naked plain at a speed that defied practical belief. High into the atmosphere a singular white plume rose. Illuminated from within, the roiling cloud rolled onward to the roof of the sky. Gently the cloud broke and a black rain fell down onto the fiery hell below. Of those who stood as witness to this display there were awestruck as if they were looking upon the very power of the gods unleashed. Seeing their reaction he looked out upon them. Again he spoke and as he did he was possessed of a most ominous expression. "What you have just seen here is how by using virtually the same technology; a reaction of an entirely different sort can be obtained. This sort of chain reaction is not in a practical sense any more difficult to achieve than the peaceful variety. In fact this kind of reaction involves a skill set more suited to our crude abilities for there being no need to contain the reaction. We need only to maintain the pressure long enough to ignite the chain reaction."
Despite the dramatic visuals which dazzled their imaginations there was still some convincing to do, especially among those he needed the most. These were those technicians and scientists who would likely assist in the construction of such a weapon. He spoke now to them directly, "I know there are those among you who would require more tangible evidence. For you then I ask, what could be more tangible than hard numbers?" He requested a slate board be brought up onto the stage. After a few quiet moments one was rolled onto the stage so that he might express in numbers the nature of this weapon. With a thin bar of chalk he crouched before the board and began to illustrate his meaning in a strange numerical language few understood. Letters and symbols too were drawn. He commented that these were to represent the vast forces and pressures he was describing. Making short work of the problem soon the numbers were all but eliminated from the equation. He said that it was then that the forces canceled each other out. He was done and scribbled in white chalk was the formula that supposedly explained it all. Professors Ernst from the university was there and though he did not r
ecognize the symbols Ananda had used, he understood what it meant. He put up his hand to get Ananda's attention and was recognized."Do you have something to add professor?" All heads turned towards him as he responded. "Yes Ananda, thank you for allowing me to put my two cents in. I am Max Ernst. I am a professor of Mathematics at the university and I must tell you I have seen suchnumerical expressions before. These as you must now agree can however be only theoretical, for no means to such an end exits in all of Baldur."
The professor was shocked to hear Ananda agree with his evaluation. "You are quite right. You must remember that the state of your technology is woefully inadequate to the task. However we have in our possession technology of Nibaru that far exceeds the capabilities of your own. To facilitate the energylevels needed for the type of unrestrained reaction we are driving at requires the use of that technology, but using an entirely different approach."
The Professor again spoke, "Even with this alien technology we lack the ability attain the required energies. What methods do you propose? You must have had something in mind before you sat us down."
"You are perceptive professor. Though it has not been entirely worked out there is precedence to this theory. From the historical record there are stories of such weapons. That footage to which you were made witness to was no work of art. It was a photo animation of a real event. And as the stories go there are options that have succeeded in the past that may again bear fruit. One conceivable method entails a three staged reaction in which the resulting energy release is ramped up with each successive stage. In such a scenario Firstly an ordinary high energy chemical explosion is used to ignite a chain reaction in a fissionable material such as uranium. By driving a shaped charge into a densely packed core of uranium an atom can be split into two lighter elements. The corresponding reaction releases a tremendous amount of energy perhaps a hundred fold more than was needed to create it. By creating an environment where all this energy can be brought to bear, a third even greater reaction in which hydrogen plasma is fused to make helium, takes place. When all the bonds that form the basis of the elements are broken down the atoms fuse in a great maelstrom of fundamental energy. Mater is quite literally turned directly into energy."
A Paradox in Retrograde Page 17