“What do you mean, take the Convergence? Aren’t they going to help us?” Darbian complained.
“Well, the Armankouri aren’t always very generous with their revolutionary technology. I’m sure you understand. Anyway, you'll probably have to steal it,” the Timekeeper said.
“Why can’t you help us, you crazy old fool?” Darbian was on the verge of hitting the Timekeeper in frustration.
“I can’t interfere. Godspeed weary traveler!” The Timekeeper punched the final button.
Darbian and the children disappeared along with Gregorical.
Chapter 16
Darbian and the children reappeared on Gregorical’s bridge while the ship itself appeared in the orbit of a large planet.
Darbian shook in his chair. “Gregorical, where are we?”
“Sir, we’ve materialized in Prohibited Sector 17,” Gregorical said.
Darbian rolled his eyes. “Are we orbiting Armankour?”
“Yes, sir, the planet fits the last known description of Armankour,” Gregorical responded.
“I can’t believe it,” Darbian paced around the room. “They set themselves smack in the middle of Prohibition 17. Who in the blazes thought that was a good idea?”
Micah reached out to stop Darbian. “What’s Prohibition 17?”
“This is a mess! I can’t believe they would be this foolish. They’re supposed to be the smartest people in the universe!” Darbian didn't notice Micah’s question.
Micah stepped in front of Darbian this time. “Darbian, what is Prohibition 17?”
“Child, I’m sorry.” Darbian stooped down to speak to Micah. “Many generations ago, the Council of Planets deemed that certain threats were too dangerous to be contained by the Wardein alone. Instead, they devised a plan to forbid entrance into certain sectors of space. They called these sectors Prohibitions. Inside, they imprisoned whatever the threat was…anything from diseased creatures to single beings who would never be allowed to see a free universe again. They’re like prisons and everyone on the outside knows you can’t enter a Prohibited Sector. They’re shielded from the outside to prevent it! The only way in or out is through time travel which only the Wardein and certain races possess.” He stood back up. “It appears the Armankouri have tempted fate by entering one of these zones where I’m certain they hope to live without interference.”
“Ok, what’s special about number 17?” Hannelore piped in.
“My dear, it’s hard to describe.” Darbian smacked his lips. “There is a race of giants here. Oddly enough, they’re peace loving. Unfortunately, they’re far too large to come into contact with any other race of people. They’re so immense that the sound of their voice crushes the eardrums of whoever they speak to. You don’t want to know what happens to people they try to greet.”
“Sir, it’s best if we focus on contacting Armankour,” Gregorical interjected.
“You’re right.” Darbian walked to the main control panel and initiated a communication. “This is Darbian…the last remaining Warden, seeking to speak to the President of the Armankouri people.”
After a moment of radio silence, a voice returned. “This is the Office of the President of Armankour. How is it possible we’re speaking to the last of the Wardein? We spoke to several Wardein only yesterday.”
“Sir, remember, we have traveled over three hundred years into the past. The Wardein have not yet been defeated with the Time Bomb,” Gregorical said.
“Yes, I forgot,” Darbian said. “People of Armankour, let me restate that. I’m a Warden from the future, and I’m in desperate need of your help.”
There was silence once again for a few moments, but the voice returned. “Darbian, we have no record of you occupying the office of Warden.”
“Yes, as I said, I’m from three hundred years in the future. In my time, the Wardein have been defeated and I need your help to stop the culprit. The entire universe is in peril and I seek to bring back the Wardein.” Darbian said.
“How did you find this planet, Darbian?” the voice returned.
Darbian inhaled, winced, and spoke. “The Timekeeper sent here us, using the Astrolabe.”
Immediately, Gregorical and his passengers were teleported down to the surface.
“I’m getting a little tired of people moving me around without asking,” Darbian said.
They set Gregorical and his passengers on a large platform attached to a huge tower reaching up into the sky.
The tower was a spiral that narrowed as it grew taller. Covered in glass, there were many platforms as this structure was used for visitors coming and going. It housed the government of Armankour and it was the tallest structure on the planet.
Darbian and the children disembarked the ship and walked onto the platform where they were greeted by several guards and an official of the Armankouri President.
“Greetings, keeper of the Secret. My name is Bau Gerean, Chief Security Officer for the President. We have awaited a representative from the Timekeeper for some time now. It’s been several hundred years since he spoke to our people. Is all well?” The official spoke as though he had not heard a word of what Darbian transmitted earlier.
“No sir, nothing is well. The universe is under threat from a maniac who thinks he’s a god. Your immediate help is required,” Darbian responded.
Bau Gerean’s face widened. “Gracious sir, what is the nature of the situation?”
“Sir, I come from a time where the Wardein have been wiped out and a cult leader named Ajax Halinkoy is holding the entire universe hostage. His ships are powerful enough to destroy planets and there’s no one left to stop him,” Darbian waved his arms in either direction.
“We must speak with the President and the Ruling Council,” said Bau Gerean.
“There’s one more thing, sir. The Tammeder have returned. Halinkoy’s cult is primarily made up of Tammeder soldiers who’ve come back from the abyss of history. They didn’t disappear, sir. They were in hibernation on Halinkoy’s home planet Earth. He discovered them and has used their technology to wreak havoc. What’s more is that he claims to have quadrillions of Tammeder soldiers at his disposal. In fact, sir…” Darbian paused. “Crystal Dawn has been destroyed. The Council of Planets has been eliminated along with it.”
Bau Gerean stopped and stared at Darbian. “Surely, none of these things are true. These things are impossible.”
“I’m afraid not, sir,” Darbian responded.
Bau Gerean spoke again. “Let us go then and discover whether this is true.”
The group walked into the structure and went up an elevator several stories into the Ruling Council’s chambers where an emergency meeting was called to listen to this representative of the Timekeeper.
When Darbian and the children entered the room, everyone rose to their feet. The entire eleven-member Ruling Council stood to attention while the President left his desk to walk down to the floor and offer greetings.
“Darbian, representative of the Timekeeper, welcome to Armankour. We are honored by your presence and have granted you an audience here in the Rychelkour, our capital. Please, speak your mission and enlighten us,” said the President.
Darbian bowed to the President. “Mr. President, I am honored to be in your presence and to be allowed to enter this iconic tower, but we come with grave news. An ancient enemy of the Armankouri has returned, Ajax Halinkoy…”
One member of the Ruling Council spoke up. “Who has spoken to you of Ajax Halinkoy?”
Darbian stepped forward. “Dignitaries, I beg your pardon and your patience. I and my companions are from the future. Three hundred years into the future to be exact. It was there we met one of your people, named Taurean, who first spoke to us of Ajax Halinkoy. Since then, we’ve met him face to face.”
“You faced Ajax Halinkoy in person and lived to tell the story?” Another one of the Ruling Council members, Ug Jurean, said. “I don’t believe it. This is nonsense.”
“No need to be rude, good
sir,” said the President in response.
“Taurean? That’s my son’s name,” said Bau Gerean as he laughed.
Darbian and the children peered at Bau Gerean with surprise that their old friend was likely the child of the Chief Security Officer who had greeted them.
“Wait just a moment,” another member of the Council said as he removed his glasses. “You’re serious. You’re actually serious.”
“Yes,” responded Darbian.
“What sort of Warden carries children with him?” said Ug Jurean.
Yet another member of the Ruling Council, Ti Faurean, left his seat and came down to the floor. He looked into Micah’s eyes. “These are Earth children, are they not?”
“How do we know these Earth children are not accomplices of Ajax Halinkoy?” said Ug Jurean.
“You’re entirely too cynical, Ug,” responded the President. “The Earth people are known not to be hostile. They’re not advanced enough to be so. Ajax Halinkoy is an anomaly.”
“Yes, but the only one who’s advanced enough has become our greatest enemy. That should tell us something,” replied Ug Jurean.
“Gentlemen, Halinkoy seeks to destroy the Earth. That’s the reason I’ve come to you at this time and place. The Timekeeper sent me to retrieve the Convergence so we may repeat the process that hid your planet and save Earth’s people.” Darbian put his hands together as a sign to ask the favor.
“Now, wait just a minute. You will not be allowed to take the Convergence off this planet,” said Ug Jurean. “In fact, how did you know about the Convergence in the first place?”
“Because one of your people, Taurean, took it and hid it on Earth for a short period. This happens at some point in the future; I’m not sure when,” Darbian said.
“No,” said the President. "It's out of the question."
“We’re clearly dealing with a complex web of time travel my fellow dignitaries,” said Ti Faurean. “I think it's best if we let our visitor speak. He is, after all, a representative of the Timekeeper. Let’s not forget that.”
“He said the Tammeder had been hibernating on the native planet of Halinkoy,” said Bau Gerean. “That Halinkoy had used Tammeder technology to orchestrate a reign of chaos.”
“Yes, thank you, Bau. I intended for Darbian to speak. Do you mind?” Ti Faurean shot daggers through his eyes.
“Sorry, sir,” replied Bau Gerean.
“Darbian, speak now. We won’t interrupt any further,” said Ti Faurean.
“Darbian, what is true and what is not true about what you’ve said?” Ug Jurean commanded.
“I’m sorry, gentlemen. I…we’re in need of your help. We aren’t representatives of the Timekeeper. We only met him a short time ago, and he’s as mysterious to us as he is to anyone else. The coordinates of the Astrolabe were given to us by the last surviving member of the Council of Planets, shortly before she was killed.” Darbian’s eyes fixed on the floor.
“What is this you say?” asked the President.
“I’ve been trying to tell you what happened from the beginning. Have none of you been listening? I told Bau Gerean that I’m the last of the Wardein. The rest of our force has been decimated by a Time Bomb. We’ve been betrayed by one of our own, Aculpus Atronis. In fact, Aculpus is the one aiding Halinkoy in threatening to destroy the planet Earth. He’s a member of Halinkoy’s Cult and now does his bidding. The Council of Planets has been destroyed. Crystal Dawn is gone.” Darbian paused. “You’re our only hope of stemming the tide that Halinkoy has created. We need the Convergence!”
“The Convergence was stolen thousands of years ago,” the President spoke again. “It was sold to the highest bidder by Qa Yorean, one of the scientists who designed and built it. He has since been punished, but Ajax Halinkoy was the one who obtained it and the damage he did was irreversible. A Warden of great skill and wisdom returned it to us. Ever since that time, we have moved our planet periodically to avoid detection and hide this device from any potential foe. The Convergence cannot leave Armankour. That is final.”
“The Convergence is under our protection. That cursed thing has already caused enough trouble and heartache. We would destroy it if time itself wouldn’t be ripped apart in all likelihood,” said another member of the Council, Hed Vurean.
Darbian felt as though he were frozen in time. He sensed nothing but silence from the surrounding people. He heard nothing but the pattern of his own heartbeat. “That’s how he did it.”
“That’s how who did what?” asked the President.
“That’s how Halinkoy defeated the Wardein. When he took the Convergence, he destroyed it. That’s what caused the Time Bomb,” said Darbian
“How can you be sure of such a thing?” said Ti Faurean.
“It’s the only thing that makes sense,” said Darbian. “If destroying the Convergence would rip apart time then that’s precisely what Halinkoy has done. You said yourself that Halinkoy has caused great irreversible harm.”
“Irreversible harm? Does that mean the Wardein are gone forever?” Hannelore picked up on an important detail.
“No! It can’t mean that!” Darbian responded not knowing if he was telling the truth or not.
Ug Jurean responded. “That’s not possible. If Halinkoy destroyed the Convergence upon buying it then how could it have been returned to us? That’s obviously not what happened!”
“Not necessarily,” said Bau Gerean. “There have always been rumors they created more than one Convergence device.”
“Bau, would you please be quiet?” the President huffed.
Ti Faurean spoke up. “Now good sirs, let us consider what is being said here. If we’re dealing with a complex series of events interconnected through time, then we can’t be precisely sure of what’s happened and what hasn’t. More importantly, we can’t interfere in these events. Perhaps the Convergence was returned to us after having been used to decimate the Wardein. Perhaps its secrets are not fully understood, even by us.”
Ug Jurean jumped to his feet. “Unless, of course, these travelers plan on procuring the Convergence so they may give it back to Halinkoy and then he could use it to do whatever he wishes…perhaps even destroy the Wardein. There’s no reason to trust these people.”
Ti Faurean stood up. “Why would these people do any of those things? It would do nothing but raise suspicion to speak of the Convergence in such a way. How else would they have found our planet if not guided here by the Timekeeper? The fact of the matter is that this tragedy has already happened. We can’t stop it by refusing to cooperate. We’ll only damage our own history if we try to rewrite the future.”
“Ah, yes, but the future is never written in stone,” said the President.
“I understand,” said Ti Faurean. “But what if it's destiny that these travelers receive the Convergence now so they may use it and return it at a time in the past?”
“That’s not possible,” said Hed Vurean. “The Convergence we have now is the one that was returned in the past. Where it goes from here is a future event, not a matter of history.”
“I hate time travel,” said Hannelore.
“Are we sure of this?” said Ti Faurean. “Is it not possible they used the Convergence to move the planet Earth in a future time? In all of our investigation we have never known the key point in the series of events that led to Qa Yorean selling the device. These events could be completely unrelated.”
“But what is the proof? We must have proof or we could, in fact, be damaging the timeline further,” said Ug Jurean.
“Hear! Hear!” said many of the Ruling Council.
“Warden Darbian, you said the Convergence was taken by an Armankouri scientist named Taurean at some point in the future. In fact, you said it was taken to Earth. Where’s the device in your time? Why couldn’t you use it then?” asked Hed Vurean
Darbian sniffed. “Well, that’s a funny story."
“Is it now?” said Ug Jurean.
“The truth is…that…uh…we d
on’t know where the Convergence is. We were trying to protect it from Vinitor, a bounty hunter working for Halinkoy, and Taurean programmed it to relocate with no direction or record of where it went.” Darbian put his hands behind his back as though he were a child about to be scolded by his teacher.
“You can’t be serious,” said the President. “You’ve already lost it once and you want to lose it again? We should kick you off this planet right now!”
“Hear! Hear!” said a few of the Council members.
“Let’s not be hasty,” said Ti Faurean. “Where is this scientist you speak of, this Taurean? Perhaps he has an explanation for what he did?”
“Well, he’s currently stuck inside a time dilation field,” said Darbian.
“I see,” said Ti Faurean.
“Taurean said you move the Convergence periodically to keep secret its location…” Darbian said.
Ug Jurean interrupted. “This Taurean sounds irresponsible. In addition to his folly of allowing the Convergence to be lost, he’s profoundly mistaken. We would never move the Convergence from place to place. That’s the height of foolishness. We keep it on Armankour and move the planet itself from time to time.”
“Actually, that’s just what we tell the Council. We move it all the time at the order of the President,” said a grinning Bau Gerean.
The President put his hand over his forehead.
“Excuse me?” said Ug Jurean as he nearly fainted.
Other Council members mumbled and grumbled as well.
The President composed himself and stood to his feet. “I’m sorry, good sirs, but ever since the Convergence was first stolen, there has been a secret Presidential program to keep it on the move throughout the universe. The betrayal of Qa Yorean proved we had to keep it safe from ever our own people.”
“Secret program?” Hed Vurean asked as he flipped through a pile of papers laying on the desk in front of him.
"If you're looking for a memo, you won't find one," said the President.
The Accidental Astronaut Page 14