PARADOX - Chapter 57

Chapter 57

May 15, 2012 – Arianni Base – Near Eclipse Island - Australia



Dorbec sat at a small table sipping a glass of Pernod mixed with spring water. Two guards showed up at their room half an hour earlier and demanded that Dorbec accompany them. He had no idea where he was and why he was separated from Chester. As soon as the guards left, a young attendant arrived and opened a hidden cabinet, which turned out to contain a wide selection of liquors and wine. The attendant suggested he make himself comfortable, then quickly left the room.

The room was very Spartan in appearance. The furniture serviceable but sparse, and the small table with two chairs was strictly utilitarian. A lack of decorations indicated the room was used as a casual transit room and not one to linger in. A door led to another room, which he had no desire to explore. One single painting hung on the wall, which appeared to be an original. It was a painting of ‘Painter’s Square’ in Paris, a place he often visited when in the Capitol City. The other walls were a light off green color.

Half way through his Pernod, the main door opened and Ariana entered. She had changed from her white blouse and casual skirt into some type of futuristic looking uniform, which did nothing to hide her slim perfect figure. Although she carried herself like a debutante, head up, back straight, and sharp eyes searching her surroundings, she appeared upset about something.

Dorbec slouched down further into his chair as she slowly walked over to the small table. He acted as if he was suddenly fascinated with the milky texture of his drink and her presence was not worth noticing.

Ariana stood quietly looking at him then finally broke the silence. “I did not know what they were planning. The Council has yet to spread the information to the rest of us. All we have been told is that world peace is possible and they now have the means to achieve it.”

Dorbec took a sip of his drink and swirled the clouded glass around in his hand. “Assassination was never mentioned?” He still refrained from looking at her.

Ariana walked over to the cabinet and poured herself a glass of wine, then returned and sat in the seat opposite him. “Our people will not condone such action. The Council is acting against every principal and law we believe in. The taking of human life, even by proxy, is strictly forbidden.”

Dorbec finally looked into her beautiful violet eyes. His intuition told him she was telling the truth. He was a great judge of character and he could sense the gnawing tension in her. This type of nervousness signified something had gone wrong in her peaceful little world and she did not know what to do about it.

“What will your people do when they discover the ugly truth?”

Ariana took a sip of her wine and started to rub a spot on the glass. “I have been ordered to speak to no one about anything that I have heard.”

“I see.” Dorbec smiled. “The Council is hiding the secret from the people, a secret that the people would disapprove of, and you have been ordered to keep quiet about it. You don’t know whether to follow the orders of the Council, or to spread the word to the people.”

Ariana nodded her head.

“My friend, Doctor Stiehl, teaches his men that to obey an illegal order, an order that will kill innocent people, is a criminal act. He says that too many people throughout history have given the defense, ‘I was only following orders.’ If you knew the act was wrong before you did it, you are not only guilty of complicity in the act, but guilty in your failure to prevent it.”

“Should I spread the word, the families of Colonel Schmitt and his men will be terminated,” Ariana whispered. “I don’t want that on my conscience either.”

“A good old case of blackmail.” Dorbec chuckled. “I take it The Brotherhood has the upper hand in this scheme?

Ariana nodded her head again. “Over time, they have mapped the coordinates of our hidden bases and delivered them to highly placed members of their organization. Should the Council default in using our time ships to assist them in their ugly scheme, they promise we will be destroyed by nuclear strikes.”

Dorbec thought about her answer for a few minutes. Everything sounded logical and it was highly conceivable that The Brotherhood had such powerful connections. If they could force the US Government to kidnap family members of their own armed forces, then anything was possible.

“Why are you telling this to me and not to Chester?” Dorbec sat up straight in his chair.

Ariana shrugged her shoulders and looked at him in a pleading manner. “I sensed that you have solved many difficult problems. I do not know what to do and I need advice.”

“Do nothing for now.” Dorbec could feel her attraction towards him, similar to the personal magnetism he felt towards her. “We need a complete list of the important surface people who work for The Brotherhood. Do you have someone with the resources available to get this information, preferably without the knowledge of The Brotherhood?”

Ariana thought for a few minutes then nodded yes.

“We will continue on the mission as planned.” Dorbec reached for her slim hand and could feel the tension in it as he gently rubbed it. “I take it that only your people can operate the time machine, or time ships?”

“There are only two time ships because of the tremendous energy needed to operate them, and only two crews who know how to control them.”

“The jewels.” Dorbec muttered, now certain of the source of the power.

Ariana shook her head again. “We created the jewels thousands of years ago. They are not actually jewels, as you think of them, but spheres of controlled antimatter. Each individual jewel has more power than that produced by the sun. Many were lost during the terrible wars we fought in our past; wars, which encompassed both, time and space. It was one of the jewels in the hands of a mad man that almost destroyed out civilization thirteen thousand years ago.”

“So now you have some and the Nazis have some. You are using your jewels to power your time ships, what are the Nazis doing with theirs?”

“They are using them to create an Earth Crust Displacement.”

Dorbec gave her a quizzical look.

“Using the jewels and some machine they have developed to interfere with the electromagentic field, they are sliding the Earth’s crust from one point to another. The Earth’s axis will remain in the same place, but by the time their shift is completed, Antarctica will be where Europe is presently located.”

“Mon Dieu!” Dorbec yelled. “You don’t plan to stop them?”

“We cannot stop them, they are very powerful, perhaps the most powerful military force on the planet. One country could not possibly defeat them, it would take the combined miitary might of the entire Earth.”

“Surely your Council could work with the other governments of the world to prevent them from doing this. I know your people cannot take human life, but I can guarantee you the rest of the world is pretty damn good at it.”

Ariana looked deep into Dorbec’s eyes. She saw consternation and anger. “Our Council believes that with the successful accomplishment of The Brotherhood’s mission, the Nazis will no longer exist in history. The problem will thus solve itself.”

“Idiots!” Dorbec shot back. “Do you know if the Nazis are aware of your scheme to change history?”

Ariana appeared hurt by his sudden flair of anger. “Not my scheme,” she clarified. “We are certain they have knowledge of it. We know there are Nazi spies among us, just as we have spies among the Nazis.”

“Then they will attempt to prevent your, The Brotherhood’s, plan. Do they have the ability to time travel?

“Another one of our secrets they successfully stolen.” Ariana stood and walked to the wine cabinet to refill her glass. “They have had that secret for only a short period of time, but we are sure that by now they have at least one operational time ship.”

“That’s where the most important battle will be fought.” Dorbec shook his head. “And, that’s exactly where our Team must be. If we can somehow prevent The Brotherhood from fulfilling their mission and at the same time infiltrate the Nazi base, we have an opportunity. No doubt the Nazis will send a strike force to prevent us from altering history.”

“You will be unarmed on this mission.” Ariana sat back down and reached for his hand. “No weapons are allowed to be taken into the past.”

“We retain our most important weapon.” Dorbec pointed to his head. “Most of my battles were won here before they even begin. Do you know the location of the Nazi base?”

“Their primary base, the one they call, New Berlin, is located deep beneath Antarctica. They have several smaller bases spread around the world and use them primarily for spying, for deploying spies, and electronic eavesdropping. Unfortunately, their most important base is beyond your present capability to infiltrate.”

“Why is that?” Dorbec finished his drink.

“It’s located on the far side of Earth’s moon!”

Dorbec raised his eyebrows and let out a slow whoosh of air.

“Merde! Nazi Luna-ticks. I need another drink!”