by Craig Gaydas
I kicked at an obsidian rock laying nearby and started toward the shuttle with Gard in tow. A bush near us moved and I jumped back, instinctively reaching for a graphite rod that was not there. Weaponless, I had to either stand and fight with Gard by my side or grab him and run. I was no warrior and made the decision to run but a voice stopped me.
“Wait!” I turned and saw Wraith step from the bush.
“Where you there the whole time?” I asked, suddenly panicked.
“Yes, Satou insisted I go with you in case you were in danger. We were unsure of Kedge's intentions…until now.”
I could practically see the implication in his final words. Are you a traitor?
I threw my hands in the air in exasperation. The pressure of indecision overwhelmed me and I had to tell Wraith what was on my mind or I would explode.
“I don't want to do something traitorous, perhaps I could reason with the Council of Five?” I asked.
“Kedge's intentions seem to be noble, but I'm afraid they will fall upon deaf ears,” Wraith said.
“Why?” I asked.
“Well, Nathan, the Consortium insists on maintaining its mission of peace and exploration. At the time, when time holes were discovered there was a big moral discussion regarding their use.”
“Oh really? And what was their decision?”
“Well they decided that it would be improper to use the time holes to alter anything in the past, no matter how beneficial the intent. They issued a mandate long ago that no one would be able to use a time hole without the consent of the Council of Five.”
Before we boarded the shuttle I grabbed his elbow. “What should I do? Among all of you I'm just a baby and now I'm expected to make a decision that could alter the universe. I didn't sign up for any of this.”
A quizzical expression crossed his face. “What did you sign up for Nathan?”
“I had been brought—no wait strike that—I had been yanked into this. All I wanted to do was explore a damn mine with my best friend. That's all. I imagined an adventure beyond the barrier but nothing like this. No matter what decision I came to I was afraid whatever answer I gave Kedge would be the incorrect one.” I placed my head in my hands and started sobbing. “I didn't sign up for anything, Wraith.”
He placed his hands on his hips. “Do you truly believe that?”
I looked up through tear stained eyes and realized that my curious nature and thirst for knowledge combined with the potential for adventure fueled my decision to accept the responsibilities of the Cartographer. I yearned to explore beyond barriers. Whether it was a barrier in a cave or a barrier to another galaxy, it was all the same in the end—a mysterious adventure leading to a quest of the unknown.
Instead of answering Wraith's question, I silently trudged up the ramp and buckled myself in without saying another word. Satou's eyes shifted from me to Wraith—who gave him a slight nod—before turning his attention to the controls.
“It's good to see you are OK,” Satou said without turning around. “Calypso will want to be briefed on your meeting, he has called me three times since you left.”
I glanced at Wraith but he was busy studying a speck of dust on the floor. He never answered my question and it seemed it was clear that I would have to make this decision on my own. Even Gard offered very little conversation during the trip back to the Argus.
By the time we docked with the Argus I had made my decision. I needed to bring this up before the Council of Five. They needed to be made aware that Kedge was not like his predecessor and they held the power to bring permanent peace between them. There would be no losers—the Consortium would gain peace and Kedge would get the opportunity to right the wrongs done to mankind.
Or so I thought.
Meet and Greet
I stared at the computer screen, swallowing the remaining lukewarm pizza and washing it down with root beer. The computer was off, but I could visualize the map. Sitting here staring at the blank screen seemed to be my daily ritual ever since leaving Planet X (officially named Xajax by the Explorer's league). I located the map disk on the side of the computer but refused to remove it, as if the act alone would set events in motion that could not be undone. It was as if I was the biggest procrastinator aboard the ship.
Gard had kept me company the entire voyage, offering witty banter to break the silence and occasionally joining me in games of chess. Their game was different than I had become accustomed to because they had two levels to the board with more spaces on each board and contained two kings and four queens. It took me awhile to get used to it, but once I did, I managed to steal a win or two, although Gard may have let me win.
“Gard, how long until we land?” I asked.
“Estimated at our current speed: forty-five minutes.”
I sighed and picked at the glass as I finished my drink. A dull pressure was building at the back of my eyeballs and I wasn't sure if it was from an incoming headache or my body getting acclimated to space travel.
“Is something wrong?” Gard inquired.
“Yeah, Gard, my eyeballs are about ten times too big for my skull right now,” I groaned.
“They appear to be the same dimensions as before.”
“Never mind.” I was about to make my move on the chess board when I thought of something. Since Gard was a robot and analysis was his specialty, I decided to toss the question out there.
“Gard, if I had the opportunity to save a planet from destruction should I do it, no matter the cost?”
He hesitated for an eternity. The clicks, buzzes and whirrs coming from inside his mechanical brain drowned out the noise coming from the hall beyond my room. His racket stopped abruptly and he looked at me.
“I am not sure I can fully answer that question with the data provided. I would need to know the cost.”
“What if I knew someone who could go back in time to save Mars, but in order to do that I would have to turn the Universal Map over to them?” I clarified.
“That feat would be impossible, Nathan, because all wormholes on Mars had been destroyed.”
“Not Mars. Earth. They would go back in time on Earth, build a ship capable of reaching Mars and attempt to warn the Martian Marines, or Buzz Lightyear or whoever the hell was there at the time of the impending attack.”
“That is an impossible scenario.”
My frustration level increased and I made the decision to tell Gard everything. While I retold the story I became exasperated, animated, agitated and many other `eds' but Gard remained stoic throughout it all. Instead of responding to my many emotional states, he continued to fixate on me with his usual emotionless stare. I loved him and hated him for it. I finished my speech and he rolled to the door.
“Wait,” I said. “Where are you going?”
“We are almost at our destination. I know what you plan to do, Nathan, and I agree with your assessment. The Council should be made aware of these developments so I made the decision to attempt to alert Calypso before we landed.”
“Wait a minute, I'm coming with you,” I called out, but he was already in the hallway. I had to run after him to catch up. “After all it was my idea!”
On the way to Calypso's room, a low hum came from Gard's head, and it seemed he was mentally calculating something. I didn't ask what he was doing and he didn't offer to tell me. We approached Calypso's door and I pressed the button to signal our arrival.
“Come in,” his muffled rang out from the other side.
We found Calypso propped back in a chair with a book in hand. When we stepped into the room I only saw the top of his head as he seemed to be fully engrossed in his readings. I was surprised to see he was reading The Call of The Wild. It was a book we covered in our seventh grade English class. It seemed that Jack London had made his impression upon the universe.
Calypso lowered the book and smiled. “I have enjoyed learning more about your planet. I took interest in your planet prior to your arrival, but ever since you came aboard, my inter
est has increased.”
His smile faded when he saw the grave look on my face. “Is something wrong?”
“Yes sir, it appears that—”
“Kedge wants to travel back in time to save Mars,” I blurted, preventing Gard from stealing my moment.
Calypso's face froze in a caricature of incomprehension. I could have easily had told him that a three headed pink unicorn was in my room singing the Star Spangled Banner. The disbelief surrounding him was palpable.
“Surely you're joking,” he countered.
“No sir, he is not joking. It seems he has had years to formulate a plan to return to Mars and it may be entirely feasible for him to complete this particular mission,” Gard interrupted.
Calypso was silent for a long time. So long, in fact, that I had to resist the temptation to poke him to make sure he was OK. Finally, he clasped his hands in front of him and fixed me with a steely gaze.
“How does he plan to do this?”
I told him the entire story, including the part I have yet to play. While I told the story, Calypso's eyes remained locked on mine and I became squeamish under his intense gaze. He listened intently and never gave off the impression that he was angry, but I didn't take any comfort from it. A twinge of remorse poked at me. I basically volunteered to be a traitor. When I finished he returned the book to his bookshelf and ordered a drink from his Sustanant.
“Let me guess, Nathan. You believe that Kedge's intentions are valiant and you are compelled to assist him. Am I correct?” he asked without turning around.
I shuffled my feet nervously. “Y-yes,” I stuttered.
Calypso took a sip of his drink. “His offer is generous. Peace in exchange for the opportunity to correct the wrongs of the Lumagom. The irony of the situation is not lost on me.”
He turned and smiled. The planet-sized weight I carried on my shoulders, like the mythical Atlas, rolled off my shoulders and out the door.
“I agree with you. We should bring this matter before the Council of Five.”
“Thank you,” I said.
His smile faded. “Don't thank me yet. I believe you may find I am your only ally of the Five.”
Captain Jasper's voice interrupted us from Calypso's communicator. “Calypso, we are approaching Caelum. Kale is requesting your presence on the bridge.”
“Nathan, would you like to see Caelum?” Calypso asked.
“Hell yeah!” I answered.
“Great, let me take you to the observation deck.”
The observation deck sat four floors above us and down a long corridor that was best described as a tube. At the end of the tube stood a large open room, shaped like an octagon with a clear view of space surrounding us in panoramic splendor. The planet ahead was massive. There were no tape measures nearby or anything, but I had to guess it was as big as Jupiter. The surface of the planet was mostly green, splashed with shades of brown intermingled with specks of blue that were no bigger than a baseball. It appeared to be similar to Earth, but instead of a snowy ice cap along the north pole, it was beige, as if a vast desert covered the top of the planet like a beret.
We came into view of an orbiting space station and the ship slowed as it approached. Calypso explained that the ship was too big to dock on the planet so we had to dock at the space station and hop a shuttle to the planet. The crew of the Argus stayed behind to conduct routine maintenance and repairs. Satou and Wraith (with the assistance of Gard) also decided to stay behind to assist with repairs to the Navetta as well as maintenance on the Cirrus. That left Calypso, Kale and myself as the only people to take the shuttle back to the planet, which was fine with me because they were two of the five people I needed to talk to anyway.
The shuttle offered a panoramic view of the planet as we cruised to our destination. We drifted closer to the surface and I admired vast forests thick with ancient trees. We hovered over them and I caught a glance of a building in the distance. From our initial location, it appeared to be nothing more than a brown Lego brick floating above the jungle. Once we approached I realized that it was the top of an expansive stone structure that looked like some ancient temple from Egyptian lore. Massive stone columns flanked a set of stairs and the entire structure looked like it had been carved from the mountainside behind it. A landing pad sat about 100 yards in front of the building and Kale set the craft down upon it. Without saying a word, I followed them from the shuttle to the tarmac.
We proceeded toward the stairs and my mouth dropped when I caught site of two enormous stone statues, nearly hidden by the columns bore down upon us. The statue on the left seemed strangely human with the exception of small fins extending from its ankles and the extreme angularity of his facial features reminded me of elven folklore. It stared at the heavens and clutched an enormous trident, pointing it towards the jungle behind us. The one on the right reminded me of Lianne. Her fierce feline features gazed across the tarmac as she held an oblong shield and scimitar menacingly in front. I surveyed the statues with admiration, almost trance-like, until Kale's voice jolted me to attention.
“These are the symbols of Caelum,” he said with a hint of pride. “The statue on the right represents the Caelumites, or surface dwellers. The statue to your left represents the Aquanauts, or ocean warriors.”
We passed between the statues and the impression of their eyes following me, like some of the creepy paintings my mother kept in our den, gave me the willies. They looked so realistic for a moment I wondered if the statues would come to life and strike me down with their mighty weapons. Once we ascended the four billion stairs (there really wasn't four billion, I may have exaggerated some) a set of stone doors slid aside, kind of like the doors at Wal-Mart back in Carlsbad. I followed my party without thought until the doors closed behind me with a dull thud. Blackness engulfed us briefly before my eyes adjusted the transition from the bright outside to the gloomy interior.
Calypso led me into an enormous chamber surrounded by smaller stone columns. On each column hung a metal torch that burned with an eternal flame, like an oversized electric candle. The torches tossed eerie shadows in the corners and added a gloominess to the room that matched the demeanor of the two people I traveled with. Everything in the room seemed to be carved from stone, including the table that stood in the center of the room. It was shaped like a pentagon and flanked by three figures. The first person I saw almost caused me to run screaming out of the place. I swore on my unborn children that Bigfoot waited at the head of the table. The only difference between him and the tabloid photographs was the bright orange fur, and that this beast was no bigger than six feet, which made him slightly less imposing than those on the cover of Cryptozoology Weekly. The second person resembled the humanoid statue outside. Except for stone brown, the torches cast their light off the bluish hue of his skin. The third person I recognized as an Orgellian, but he was about a foot taller than the others aboard the Argus and built like an NFL tackle.
I approached the table sheepishly, well hidden behind my two companions. Kale brushed me off and Calypso let out a chuckle as we reached the table. Apparently he thought it amusing that I attempted to hide inside his clothes while he still wore them.
“It is OK, Nathan, you can come out. We are not going to eat you,” Bigfoot roared with laughter.
Even normally humorless Kale joined in with them. My face boiled with embarrassment and I folded my arms and shuffled my feet in shame. They sat at the table, but since there were only five chairs I had to accept stand up duty.
“Let me introduce everyone,” Calypso offered. “The one who isn't going to eat you is Varooq, the head of our Universal College.”
Bigfoot gave me a polite nod and the irony had not been lost on me that someone who looked like a mythological beast was in charge of education.
Motioning toward the Orgellian, Calypso continued. “This is Embeth, who is in charge of the Defense Fleet.”
Embeth said nothing, and he seemed more of an “action” type of guy rather than
“words”.
“And this is Hark-Kalech,” Calypso said. “He is in charge of our Science Unit.”
“Greetings Nathan Chambers of Earth. Word has reached me that you are Calypso's new Cartographer,” he rumbled while studying me intensely. “You are a little…young…are you not?”
Sweat started running down my lower back. I usually dealt with nervous situations by tackling it with cold, calculated thought back on Earth, but I had no idea how to react to these people. Most of my classmates were, for a lack of a better term, dumber than I was but when it came to the Consortium it seemed it was me who wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer.
“I g-guess,” I stammered.
There was no laughter in response to my nerves, only a curious exchange of glances. Calypso, not surprisingly, came to my defense.
“Listen to what he has to say. Once he is finished you may want to reevaluate your opinion.”
All eyes turned to me and I wanted to melt into the floor and disappear forever. Their eyes, full of curiosity and intrigue, burned into me like a hot drill. Even though the room was enormous, I suddenly felt claustrophobic.
“Um, well…I guess I will start with my initial scouting mission. The Lumagom attacked us.”
Not one surprised look passed between them. It was obvious they had been briefed on the events, and just wanted to know what I knew.
“I bumped into Kedge Mal'Dineen and he offered a truce. In exchange for peace he wants access to the universal map.”
“Bah, I will never allow the map to fall into his hands,” roared Varooq.
Hark-Kalech stood up. “Wait let us hear him out. There may be more to this story than we believe.”
He motioned for me to continue and I did.
“Yes, there is,” I confirmed. “He wants to travel back in time to prevent the destruction of his home planet.”
They exchanged confused glances and Calypso stood. “Kedge is a Martian survivor.”
“Mars?” Embeth rubbed his chin in deep reflection. “That planet was attacked by the Lumagom centuries ago. How could a human have possibly survived for that long?”