Astronomicon: Icarus

35 - The Donald Paradox

Warrant-Officer Ewan Scott was alone in the rec. room. He felt depressed and wanted to be left on his own to think for a while. His head was still quite sore and even though they had effectively won the war, he was still deeply annoyed at losing so many of the battles on the way to victory. Apart from anything else, losing their vessel was simply embarrassing.

His primary mission had been to protect the Wagner from the American salvage crew and, while they had not actually succeeded in stealing it and taking it back to Earth, the fact that they had comprehensively taken control of it, and that it was no longer in a flyable state, made Scott feel like he had fundamentally failed in his mission.

Even that was not as bad as the sense of failure he felt at losing the survivors from the Oppenheimer. For them to have survived so much only to get murdered was terrible. It angered him deeply that so simple an attack by the salvage crew had wiped them all out in one move. He did not feel as though there was any part of the mission about which he was worthy of feeling any pride.

He looked across at the hot drinks machine and wondered if he could be bothered to get across to it to fetch a hot beverage for himself. He decided he could not. His sense of failure was manifesting itself in the form of overwhelming apathy. His appetite was a casualty to that apathy.

"Where did everyone go?" came a surprised voice from his left.

Scott glanced across quickly to find that Donald was standing near one of the padded bench seats, looking stressed and confused. He stared at Scott but did not say anything more.

"Donald! I thought you were..." he paused before he finished the sentence.

"Where is everyone?" asked Donald.

"You weren't about when the Wagner docked, were you?"

"Wagner? What's the Wagner?"

"So...maybe... just... How long has everyone been gone?" asked Scott, thinking quickly.

"Seconds. One minute they were here, your Captain Taylor was talking, and then everyone was gone, leaving just you. I was just..."

Scott interrupted him, "So you haven't been into the bunk room?"

"No... Should I?"

"Not yet. I think I need to try something. Do you believe that you can change the past?"

"Change it? How? I don't see that could be possible. I'm not a physicist but..."

Scott interrupted him again, "Well I'm going to tell you something very important. It's critically important, but you mustn't tell anyone else and you mustn't forget it."

"Okay..." replied Donald, looking very puzzled.

"At some point later today, Captain Stirling is going to tell you to hide in one of the bunk rooms. Agree to it, but don't do it. If anyone else tells you to go into a bunk room, which they will, just go along with it, but if Captain Stirling tells you to I want you to do something else."

"Something else?"

"Remember this: When Captain Stirling tells you, by which I mean all the Oppenheimer survivors, to hide in a bunk room, I want you to hide in the First Officer's cabin instead. It's the cabin first on the left when you leave the control room. It's not as large as the bunk room, but you shouldn't be too uncomfortable in there. I can't tell you why but you will be a lot safer in there. Don't tell anyone and stay in there until I come and get you."

"Can I ask why you want us to do this?"

"No. Just trust me, please. You won't be disturbed in that cabin so you'll be quite safe. Just make sure you don't tell anyone that is where you are hiding. It must be a secret."

"What do I tell the other members of my crew," asked Donald.

"Anything. Whatever you need to. Just make sure you all stay out of the bunk rooms when Captain Stirling tells you to hide there. Can you do that?"

"Well, it shouldn't be difficult. I still don't know why it's..."

"I can't tell you that. The less you know the better at this moment in time. Now..."

Scott stopped talking as soon as he saw a confused looking Donald once again fade out. He realised that his hastily thought up plan was a long shot, but it had to be worth a try. The really weird thing was that if the plan was going to work, it would have already worked. That was both the only reason it could work and the main reason why it did not make any sense.

Part of him was mostly convinced that attempting to pass information into the past was not possible, but there was only one way to find out.

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