Another Door and finally the travelers and the would-be-terrorist reached the lowermost depths of the Library. The room they had found themselves in was small, brightly lit, and contained a flying saucer.
“What is that?“ Titus was hesitant to enter.
"In all probability, that god of yours.” Colin was far more eager rushing up to the alien ship.
Alex, not far behind, pressed a hand to the ship’s smooth grey surface “Kandosian?”
“That’s my guess. Explains the psychic distress signal and how Alexander was able to conquer the solar system.” Colin leaned in and listened to the micro-vibrations. He tapped the rhythm out on the hull. The ship definitely belonged to the slime-folk of Kandos Prime. “Only question is, if this ship has been stuck here since 48 BC, why would Titus’ be the first to hear the call?”
“That’s the only question?” Titus interjected
Alex ignored the protest. “Or at least the first to talk about it. For all we know there’s a whole asylum full of people claiming they hear gods telling them to blow up national landmarks.”
They looked to Titus.
“No, not that I know of.” He paused for a moment. He was about to say he was as confused as they were, but that would of course be a lie. The worldbound felon’s grasp of the situation was still approximately as acute as the center ring in the Towers of Hanoi is of its own puzzle.
The wanderers, on the other hand, were simply trying to fill in the last few words of a crossword puzzle.
“Step away from the subject.” The voice sounded as though it had tried to plaster calm over a wall of quivering rage. Hadelock ought to have hired a professional contractor; the plaster crumbled less than a word in to the demand. The three turned to face Hadelock.
“I am High Captain Hadelock of the Third Alexandria Reliquary Guard and I command you to step away.” He was flanked by several guards whom the intruders recognized from the level above.
Seeing the weapons pointed at them, they backed up. Thanks to english grammar this means that, from the reader’s perspective, they had stepped away from a subject. Hadelock, existing within the story, had no means of appreciating this technicality.
“Pleased to meet you, Captain,” Colin did indeed take a step away from the craft toward the guards. “I really do appreciate the diligence with which you guard this place.”
Hadelock sneered “I anticipate that is sarcasm.”
“No, no” Colin held out his hands to show he was unarmed. “Really. We apologize for any trouble.”
Alex leaned in to add “I do hope that sword is undamaged?” One of the guards opened his mouth to assure her the sword was fine, but aborted when he saw Hadelock’s gaze.
“Look we’ll even pay for the damages,” Colin said. “All these other artifacts and texts? They’re either yours or at least preservation of the people you’ve conquered. Nothing we can do about that; It’s your world.” He tried to make a subtle gesture to Alex as if to say ‘on my signal, get to the ship.’ “But this? This ship doesn’t belong in Alexandria.”
“Everything belongs to Alexandria.” Hadelock spat.
“Sure, keep telling yourself that. This place holds so much of so many cultures, I’m sure there are scholars that appreciate that but I get he sense you see it as a sort of hoard, a trophy . Does it make you feel superior? Is it what gives you the misplaced confidence to think those weapons scare me?”
’Me?’ Not ‘us’ thought Hadelock. Dammit. It was just the one. The intruder’s bluster was nothing but distraction where had the others gone?
~~~~
Inside the ship, Titus wondered the same thing. “At this point I figure it’s pointless to ask, but how did we—”
“Pass through that wall?” Alex wasn’t looking at him but was already working at a green, slimy control console. “Kandosians aren’t big on doors. They just phase shift walls, and that wall was waiting for your psionic signature.”
“I knew it was pointless to ask.” Looking around, Titus once again traded one bafflement for another.
What was this place? he wondered. The floor and walls were all…uncomfortably moist, translucent tubes ran around the the edges of the ceiling carrying various colors of liquid.
“All the complicated stuff is in here. That’s why your engineers could only manage reverse engineering the impulse thrusters.” Alex had rearranged several bone like knobs on the control panel. “Which means the pilot should be safe and in stasis. I just have to get this online, and we can send them home.”
Outside Colin had finished his distraction and waited for Hadelock’s response.
“You’re all insane. What even you believe, where ever you think you are from, I will not let you bring harm to the library.” Hadelock turned to the guard “I’m tired of this. Just kill him.”
Colin sprinted for the Kandosian ship and into the control room. “Have you got the defenses up yet?”
Alex turned from the panel “Defenses?”
“Yes! Defenses! Now that Titus is in here, the lock is down. It’s not long before they realized they can come in” Colin scrambled to another panel, reached up and turned a knob on one of the tubes.
“So just to be clear, there is no god?” Titus prodded
Alex shook her head. “Not necessarily, there’s probably one or two lurking about in this universe. But no, not under the library at least. so no trying to blow up any more nexuses of culture and knowledge.”
“Nexi,” Colin corrected.
“Nexuses,” Alex repeated. “The point’s moot anyway. You agreed to turn yourself in”
Titus stiffened, he and these strangers had been allies of convenience, He realized now that convenience had ended. “I agreed to that when I believed you messengers of a god. Why should I follow through now?”
“Because” Alex said “after everything you’ve seen this evening, who would you rather face the wrath of: Hadelock or us.”
Titus froze. The woman with powers beyond his imagination had a point. “Hadelock. Definitely Hadelock.“
Alex pushed him back through the wall of the ship. “Good answer.”
With the criminal squarely in the hands of the local authorities, the real work could begin.
Colin and Alex looked at each other. Alex spoke first: “I’ll go check on the pilot, you reboot the navigation and set course for Kandos Prime.”
Colin nodded and began his task.
Outside, Titus stumbled from the ship out to find the guards had so thoughtfully moved in to corner him. “I surrender.” It was a low and reluctant grumble, but loud enough for the guard to hear. He kneeled, head down and wrists out ready for execution or death.
“Surrender?” Hadelock said. “What of your compatriots?” he gestured to the guards to cuff Titus.
“I don’t know.” Titus shrugged. “—and compatriots is a strong word. Foiled my plan to blow up the library”
Hadelock forgot about the compatriots and focused on the second half of what Titus had said. “Your plan to WHAT?!”
Fearful that Alex was listening, Titus continued. “They stopped me, those two. Surely that evens out their trespassing. But for me? Even saving this thing can’t even out my deserting, theft, and attempted terrorism.”
Hadelock blinked. “Saving? Saving what?”
Alex entered the center room. What appeared to be a vat of yellow slime extended a sensory tendril to see the first being it had encountered in millennia.
“It’s alright. You’re safe now.” Alex said
The Kandosian bubbled in a way that psionic translation rendered as “What happened?”
“Long story.” Alex laughed. “Short version, you crashed, and a more than a thousand years later a very stupid, infuriating man picked up your distress signal and was willing to do far too much to save you. He thought you were a god.”
The Kandosian burbled with amusement at the notion of their prescribed divinity.
“He was going to let a lot of people die in an attempt to free you.”
The Kandosian ceased their burbling.
“We stopped him though. And now he’s giving himself up so you can get away, back home.” This was, admittedly a sanitized version of Titus’ arrest. Granted, Kandosians have no distinction between ‘giving oneself up’ and ‘being thrown under the bus’ anyway.
The Ship lurched in a hyper dimensional direction, gone.
“What the Hell was that, what have you done?!” Hadelock had dropped any facade of calmness. He oozed lividity.
Titus laughed until a steel-toed boot reminded him of his predicament. "I told you. I don’t know. Turns out I know very little.” Another kick to his ribs, a laser spear pointed at his nose.
Despite the abuse, Titus continued. “You won’t find them, that I’m sure of. But my name is Titus Welborn. I am responsible for the theft of Athena class explosives from the Westmost police office, the assault of two Alexandrian officers and–”
A guard interrupted him, lifting him up from his knees to escort him out of the room. “You’ve already listed enough crimes for life imprisonment. You want to knock that up to the death penalty?”
“No, no,” Hadelock sneered “Please, continue.” To his disappointment Titus elected to remain silent all the way to his cell at the High Prison of Alexandria.