The Paradox Corridor

Chapter 8: The Crown Prince Denalzo

They continued down the janitorial hallway. The trio looked around them, not sure where in the Mills they were.

"If we tried to run away, we would have no way of knowing where to go. This place is a labyrinth!" thought Andrew glumly. He was still wary of the old man, and didn't trust him, no matter what mystic thing Amber said. He came only because is was probably safer than the NASCAR area, which had been completely destroyed by the robot.

"Ah, the robot!", he thought, "That was one piece of work!" Andrew had thought the robot to be awesome, even if it did almost kill him. "Someday, I'm going to build something that cool!" Andrew promised himself. His thoughts were still on the machine when the old man stopped walking. Amber almost ran into him, and Andrew walked into Amber."Well, excuse you, your royal highness. I didn't know we were supposed to stop every time you got tired." he hissed. The old man ignored him and hooked a key ring off of his belt, and looked through all of them. Then, he choose an extremely large and intricate key, and unlocked the door. He ushered them inside, and what they saw made them gasp.

"What kind of office is this?!?" asked Andrew, suddenly taking a liking to the old man. The room was filled with an innumerable amount of computers. There were computers on the wall, the floor, the shelves, and even on the ceiling. It was like some sort of nerdy paradise.

"You...aren't...a custodian, are you?" asked Amber.

"Well, my job is different than you would think, but custodian fits the description better than most." answered the custodian.

"Hey guys, check this out!", shouted Andrew, "It's a movie about Rome!" Sure enough, they saw a legion of Spartans valiantly attempting to hold off an entire army by themselves.

"Those are Greeks, stupid, not Romans. Didn't we all take the same history class?" Amber asked scathingly. She continued, "Anyways, is that the movie 300?"

"No" answered both James and the custodian at the same time, although James' 'no' was a question rather than a statement. The old man turned to him.

"You may explain."

"Well, yes and no Amber...I think. Well, from what I know, the story goes like that, but this particular scene isn't in the movie. Maybe this is a deleted scene?"

"Right...and wrong", said the custodian, "The story is the same, but this, this, my friends, is the actual event." The three reeled at his words.

"What. That's impossible" James eventually said. "There is no way anyone could have footage back then. Camera's weren't even invented yet! This is the stupidest thing I have ever heard."

"Don't believe me?" asked the old man. "Then look at this screen." The three looked down at a different computer, this one imbedded in the floor. In it, a bunch of people were hurling large boxes into a harbor, where they sank.

"Is that the...Brooklyn Tea Party?" asked Andrew. "That's like the only thing I remember from second grade." The old man smiled and laughed as his friends silently cursed their 3rd grade history teacher for her lack of teaching skills.

"Close enough, Andrew. Close enough. And, now, look here!" The old man waved his hands around the room. He showed them videos of the fall of Rome, the Battle of Waterloo, JFK being assassinated, and the first Olympics. After a while, the old man stood up suddenly, and pulled a lever near the door. "I think you might enjoy this one" he said, as a computer slid out of the ceiling. The three looked at it, and gasped. On the screen there was a view of space, with an endless sea of stars in the background. But what was in the foreground interested them the most. Thousands of space ships, all different shapes and sizes, were in the middle of a battle. There were box shaped ones, airplane looking ones, streamlined triangle ones, and more. The were all either silver or red. The two sides pummeled each other with missiles, lasers, and bombs, but one of the armies was clearly winning. They watched as a sleek cruiser, metallic silver and super streamlined, turned tail and fled the battle, its engine in flames and a giant hole in the starboard flank. The old man looked sad.