The Gateway
Steve Simons
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2008 Steve Simons
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~~~~~~
INDEX
Chapter 1 - From One Game to Another?
Chapter 2 - Painful Troubles
Chapter 3 - Where Does That Leave Us
Chapter 4 – Give And Take
Chapter 5 – Wake Up And Smell The War
Chapter 6 – From the floor the ceiling is a long way
Chapter 7 – I Can See Right Through You
Chapter 8 - Needs & Purpose
Chapter 9 – Nannybot
Chapter 10 – I Don't Want To Be Scanned
Chapter 11 – Stop Messing About
Chapter 12 – Don't Ask
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 1 - From One Game to Another?
Tom and Barry were playing around the old wrecked buildings, the ones that Tom's grandpa said had been reduced to rubble during the second world war. There just hadn't been the money to rebuild on the land, but Tom and Barry didn't mind that, it made a great play place for them. They played hid and seek, soldiers, demolition men and many more games here. Today was just like any other day, Tom and Barry were deeply involved in a game, this time it was a rescue. Tom had disappeared into what had once been a cellar, Barry had seen him enter it, so he knew where his target was. He heard the call on his walkie talkie, the call for "International Rescue"
Tom said he was trapped in a deep cave and needed urgent medical treatment.
Barry radioed back that the rescue team were on their way. He headed off to the entrance that he'd seen Tom go through.
The room was quite small but dark, there was just enough light to make out the corners of the room,
but there was no sign of Tom. Barry thought that Tom was really good at hiding, he reached into his jeans back pocket and pulled out his rather battered torch. It flickered as he turned it on and quickly died, it had never been the same since he dropped it when last playing hide and seek. Barry smacked the torch on the bottom and the light came on quite bright this time. He shined it everywhere, but Tom was nowhere to be seen.
Barry reached for his walkie talkie and pressed the transmit key, he asked Tom to let him know where he was. All that came back was silence and when he turned the squelch nob down, there was just a loud "Shhhhh" noise. Barry called again, with the same result.
Barry thought that maybe he'd been wrong and Tom hadn't come in this room after all, also the reception could be bad. As he headed towards the entrance, he thought he heard Toms voice, it was quite faint, but unmistakeably Tom's voice, it was coming from the walkie talkie.
Barry raised the walkie talkie to his ear and sure enough through the shhhhh noise, he could hear Tom describing some place that sounded nothing like the area round the wrecked buildings.
Tom said that there was a wooden stockade ahead of him, there appeared to be smoke coming from within it.
Barry wondered if Tom had hit his head on something and had become quite delirious.
No matter how much Barry tried to radio Tom back, he was either ignoring the calls or could not hear Barry.
Suddenly Barry tripped on some rubble on the floor, he found himself falling forward. Expecting to land on the hard rubble, instead he found himself in some tall grass. There was a strong smell of smoke and what sounded like crickets.
Barry picked himself up being somewhat taller than Tom, he could see over the tall grass. He could see what looked like a wooden stockade in the distance. He could also make out the outline of someone walking towards it. Then he heard Tom's voice coming clearly over the walkie talkie. He was saying that he had heard some rustling in the grass behind him. Then Tom said that he could see someone standing in the grass. Barry raised the walkie talkie and said, "Its me you Berk!"
Tom asked how Barry got there.
Barry suggested that it was probably the same way that Tom.....he added that he wondered where there actually was. Barry walked towards Tom and soon the two boys were side by side, looking at the wooden stockade.
Tom said that there must be sort of of entrance, but there was no sign of one.
Barry suggested that they move to the other side of the stockade, but use the shrubs and tall grass as cover. They are soon looking at the large impressive entrance, with towers and flags flying from them.
Sudden;y there is a lot of noise as something disturbs the shrubs and grass clumps to the right of the boys. There is the sound of a horn and the ground trembles.
Both boys hiding in the shrubs are astounded as something resembling a giant caterpillar covered in some sort of armoured covering that flapped up and down as the creature moved at incredible speed towards the stockade.
As the boys looked closer they could see that there appeared to be individuals perched on top of this giant caterpillar . They seemed to be spaced at regular intervals. They were carrying some form of weapon, it looked like a medieval lance, like those carried by knights of old.
A second horn could be heard, but this time coming from within the stockade and the entrance seemed to be dropping open. The flags were waving as if sending a message or being waved to celebrate the victory of the returning soldiers, if that was what they were.
Tom wanted to run out and introduce himself to the returning soldiers, but Barry advised caution, after all they didn't know if these were the "good guys or the bad guys." as Barry put it.
Tom headed Barry's advice and the two boys watched as the caterpillar creature approached the stockade entrance. As the creature got closer the boys could see their caution was wise as they copuld see the caterpillar was towing behind it a large ball made of branches. Inside which the boys could make out some other sort of creatures, that if they weren't dead when captured, certainly would be travelling by this means. The creatures were tumbling over and over, like a hamster in a ball kicked by a small child, or like washing tumbling in a drier.
As the caterpillar made its final approach to the gateway, it slowed up and the creature nearest its head was exchanging grunting and other similar noises with what must have been the gatekeeper.
The caterpillar went on relentlessly, into the stockade, not pausing or stopping, even when creatures from inside the stockade stepped into its path waving their weapons in celebration. It was amazing that they didn't get crushed, but they seemed to have amazing sense of timing. As the tail end was disappearing into the entrance way; Tom caught a glimpse of more of the riding creatures under the caterpillar's armour plating. It seemed as if they were riding in little cabins, which flapped up and down as the armour plates themselves flapped about.
There seemed to be no signs of life from the creatures in the large trailing ball.
The gate was quickly closed behind the ball as it crossed the entrance way.
Barry was first to ask, as peace settled down again, what Tom had made of all of that commotion.
Tom said it seemed to be some sort of returning war or hunting party.
Barry suggested that nothing could survive a ride in that ball like thing. Tom agreed and said he wouldn't want to travel in it to be sure!
It was Barry who first noticed that the light seemed to be rapidly fading. He said it was lucky. He said it was lucky he had his torch with him.
The boys decided that it might be too dangerous to try and get back to the grass area where they had first arrived, so they would settle down for the night. Tom said he had a hunk of cheese and some bread that he'd grabbed from his kitchen before coming out to play. The boys settled down for their meal, listening all the while to the sounds coming from within the stockade. There was the smell of meat being cooked over an open fire.
Barry held off turning on his torch until it got so dark that the boys could barely see each other. Soon after he did turn it on, there was a very powerful beam of light shining straight at them,
coming from the stockade. It swung in a narrow arc, as if it was hunting them down. This was followed by the familiar sounds of the horns and the gateway opening. Then in due course the ground started to rumble again as the giant caterpillar creature emerged from the gateway of the stockade and it headed straight for the boys.
Barry exclaimed, "I think its time we head for home!"
The two boys got to their feet quickly. Barry shone the torch at the ground and they started to run in the direction that they had originally come from.
The caterpillar creature was fast, very fast and was gaining on them.
Barry was first to trip on the root of a shrub that was quite exposed above the ground.
Tom overtook him, not daring to stop to help Barry. He could see that the caterpillar creature was nearly on top of them. As it was pitch black , apart from the occasional flash of the very strong light, coming from the top of the pursuing caterpillar itself; Tom didn't see the shrub root that brought him down. He saw Barry's torch flickering as he ran towards Tom. Before he knew it, he could feel Barry's hand reach out and grab his, as Barry said quick get up!
Pain seared through Tom's ankle as he tried to stand. Yet he knew he couldn't give in to the pain,
it was a case of suffer the pain or be caught by whatever these creatures in close pursuit were.
Tom kind of hopped, following Barry as closely as he could. He was painfully aware that he was slowing Barry down and that the caterpillar was gaining on them.
Almost sobbing, he barked at Barry, "Leave me, I'm holding you back we won't both make it..... go go !"
Barry paused for a moment as he decided what to do.
It was too late, there was a huge flash and both boys suddenly found themselves on the ground unable to move .... unable to feel a thing.... in Tom's case it was a bit of relief from the painful ankle, but it was very frightening. They could breathe and could see what was going on around them, but they were paralysed and unable to move.
~~~~~~~~
Chapter 2 - Painful Troubles
It was too late, there was a huge flash and both boys suddenly found themselves on the ground unable to move, unable to feel a thing, in Tom's case it was a bit of relief from the painful ankle,
but it was very frightening. They could breathe and could see what was going on around them,
but they were paralysed and unable to move.
The caterpillar had come to a halt and several of the creatures had climbed down and were surrounding the two boys. The creatures grunting and signing to each other, obviously deciding what to do with the boys. Several of them grabbed the boys and dragged them over to the caterpillar creature. It was during this activity that the boys realised that the creatures, whilst quite strong, were actually shorter than the boys.
The boys were hoisted up one at a time and fastened to the armoured plates. Tom could see and smell that the armour plating was made out of some form of really dense leather.
The creatures were soon back up on or in their riding positions and the caterpillar was making its way once more into the wooden stockade.
When they entered the stockade itself they could see that it had a large fire to one side, the remainder of the space around the sides was taken up by a collection of what looked like straw and twig huts. There were lots of the creatures busying themselves with various tasks.
The caterpillar settled itself down into some sort of depression in the ground that must have been it's nest. one of the creatures tossed some food, to the head of the caterpillar, it grunted in appreciation and set about chewing its meal.
A large pot was being dragged to the fire. Once in place, some bones were thrown in and
a stream of creatures made their way up to the pot, each throwing in what appeared to be some vegetables of some sort.
Barry thought to himself, "I wonder if we are destined for the pot? Or will they invite us to join them for supper"
A rather impressively dressed creature walks up to Tom and starts grunting at him,obviously expecting Tom to understand him. Tom neither understands nor is in a position to be able to reply,
being paralysed still by whatever the creatures had shot him with.
The creature starts poking Tom with one of the lances, at the same time grunting and waving his arms with much emotion.
Barry had feeling returning to his hands and it was gradually spreading up his arms. Whilst it was good news that the feeling was returning, it was also agony, just like that feeling you get if you lay awkwardly on your arm and then move it, you get that agonising "springy" feeling. The creature standing guard nearest to him, watches in fascination as Barry screws up his eyes in agony and
makes various faces as the pains travel up his arm.
The impressively dressed creature moves over to Barry, it had given up any hope of engaging Tom.
It looks at Barry with the same fascination as the guard, as Barry's face is still very contorted in agony. The creature seems to believe that Barry's face movements are an attempt to communicate.
It studies Barry for some time in silence, then suddenly starts grunting as it did at Tom.
Barry manages to find his voice and responds by saying, "Look, sorry I don't understand a word you are saying. We don't mean you any harm, we are strangers here."
The creature looks at the guard, who grunts and starts to wave its arms up and down.
The creature then calls to some more guards who are passing by. They stop and listen, then come over to Tom, one of them points its weapon at Tom. Barry panics, thinking that they are going to harm Tom, Barry shouts, "There's no need to harm us, just because we don't understand you!"
There's a click noise and Tom falls from the restraints. He slumps to the ground, still apparently lacking any muscle control.
Barry realises its his turn, as the guard turns his attention towards Barry, its weapon pointing towards Barry's head. Barry hears the click noise and braces himself for the fall. He has regained enough muscle control that he is able to land on his feet and remain upright.
Suddenly Barry feels a sharp prod in his back, thinking 'Oh no here we go again!' He is quite surprised to find that it was one of the other guards, that had simply prodded Barry with the end of his weapon. Barry understands the message behind the action, 'move!'. He looks at Tom and realises that the creatures are waiting for him to regain muscle control.
The creature behind Barry prods him again and grunts. Barry reluctantly starts walking forward. The creatures in front of him move out of the way. The creature behind, keeps prodding him in the left or right shoulder as it wants Barry to change direction.
Barry soon finds himself being pushed into one of the huts along the side of the stockade. After entering the door is slammed shut and secured somehow.
Barry wishes he could see what is happening to Tom, especially when he hears weapon fire and
a lot of excited grunts coming from the creatures outside.
Barry thinks, 'They must be torturing Tom. Taking advantage of the fact that he is defenceless.'
Suddenly there is weapon fire near the hut that Barry is in. He hears noises as something sounds as if it is attempting to unlock the door. There is much noise and more weapons fire. It sounds as if something is climbing the outside wall of the hut.
Then Barry hears Tom's voice saying, "Well are you coming out dorky, or do I have to take this lot on my own?"
Barry takes a chance that the door is unlocked, kicks it and darts into a corner in-case it is a trap and there are creatures waiting for him to emerge.
The door is wide open now and all he can see in the dim light of the fire, is a load of creatures laying on the ground.
"How the.....!" exclaims Barry as he emerges cautiously from the hut. He is taken by surprise as there's weapon fire nearby and he hears something fall off the roof. He fears that Tom has been hit until he hears Tom say, "Well watch out doofus, you're going to be hit and I don't fancy carrying you around."
Something flies past the door, Barry darts back inside just in time as one of the creatures rolls through the entrance, hitting the rear wall with a rather loud 'Thwack!'against the wall.
Just as Barry is about to cautiously emerge again another creature rolls in and joins it's friend in a painful 'Thwack!' against the same wall as the last creature had hit.
Suddenly a hand reaches in and drags Barry out of the hut.
"You going to stay in there all night?" asks Tom. Barry realises the hand was Tom's.
Both boys nervously look around, but there isn't any sign of movement. Barry take another opportunity to scan all the creatures lying around on the ground.
"How the..... did you defeat this lot?" asks Barry.
"Element of surprise" replies Tom, then continues, "Those self defence classes came in handy after all."
"But....but..... you were defenceless on the floor, still paralysed." replies Barry, still stunned.
"Ah that's where you and they were fooled. I came to about the same time as you, however you attracted their attention with all your contorted face movements. I managed to conceal the pains and only made small movements as feeling came back into my limbs."
Barry replies, "But I saw you collapse on the ground, you had no control of your muscles at all."
"All an illusion, which not only fooled you, but also...." Tom pointed around, "....them. So when they attempted to poke me, like they did you. They were not expecting the coiled spring reaction they got. I was knocking them over before they even had a chance to recover from their surprise and attempt to raise their weapons. By the time they went on the defence, I'd taken a fair few of them out. When they did start firing at me I was darting all over the place and confusing them left right and centre. A fair number of them hit their fellow creatures, actually helping me out."
Barry bend down and picked up one of the creatures weapons.
"Be careful" warned Tom, "We've no idea what those things are capable of."
Barry turned it over and over in his hand, but there was no sign of any buttons or indentations, the shaft of the weapon was completely smooth.
"How do they operate this thing, there are no controls!" asks Barry.
Tom replies, "Perhaps its some form of mind power control."
Barry drops the weapon and it suddenly goes off, causing a yelp from the caterpillar creature that had remained perfectly still whilst all the commotion was going on.
Tom suggests, "Why don't we grab some form of trophy that we can take back home with us as proof that we've been here."
"Well we sure aren't taking one of those weapon things, its too dangerous." replies Barry.
Both boys look around for anything small, yet unique that they can take back with them.
Barry spots it first, he sees a belt with a strange buckle laying by one of the creatures, it is has same strange writing on it.
"How about this?" asks Barry.
"Perfect.... and I'm sure they can't miss it. Well we'd best get out of here before this lot start waking up.
The boys set off back in the direction that they had originally came from. Barry's torch was a bit temperamental, it kept going dim, then with a quick whack, went bright again. They manage to get back to the tall grass again without tripping. Throughout the journey the boys expected to hear the thumping of the caterpillar creature.
Either the creatures were still knocked out, or had decided against pursuing these very dangerous boys.
"We arrived somewhere around here." says Barry.
The boys walked around and around, but nothing happens and they find nothing out of the usual, well at least for this place.
Suddenly Barry says, "Hey I just thought, when I tripped I had the walkie talkie on, perhaps it acts like some form of electronic key."
Both boys turn on their walkie talkies and walk around the grass patch, but still find nothing.
"Perhaps we have to be transmitting." suggests Tom, as he takes his walkie talkie off his belt and presses the transmit key. He carefully walks forward and Barry is astounded at what he sees, one minute Tom is in front of him then the next he's gone, just as if he stepped into fog.
Barry follows Tom's lead, presses the transmit key of his walkie talkie, carefully walks forward. Suddenly he notices that he is no longer walking through grass, but on rough ground.
He is about to take another step when he hears Tom call out, "Stop! or you'll fall over this..... uh!..... cliff."
Barry smacks his torch and is surprised to see Tom's hand gripping the edge of the rocks in front of him. Barry kneels down and carefully looks over the side of the cliff in front of him. He can see it is very steep and a long drop. Tom is supported only by the one hand. Barry suddenly remembers the belt he has in his hand. He unravels it and flicks it over the side.
Tom shouts, "Ow! What are you trying to do .... kill me?"
"Grab the end with your free hand!" exclaims Barry.
Tom swings his arm around searching for the belt, when suddenly he finds it and grabs it.
Barry pulls on the belt as hard as he can. Tom manages to rise up enough that one of his feet finds a rock. He attempts to lift himself up further, but unfortunately the rock crumbles and his leg swings free again. The sudden load on the belt slips through his hands, swinging down and slapping Tom on his right leg.
"Ow.... you're determined to make me suffer aren't you?" complains Tom as he swings around again supported only by the one hand.
Barry shines the torch around him in the vein hope of finding something else that he can help rescue Tom with. But he is frustrated, there is nothing.
Suddenly both boys hear a loud strange noise, as something with strong lights approaches, lighting up a large section of the cliff face.
Tom struggles to hold onto the cliff edge. He's tempted to turn around to see what is making the noise, but he knows it would be fatal to do so. He looks up at Barry's face, but there's no reassurance there, as Barry stares open mouthed at whatever is behind Tom. The pain build up in Tom's arm is too great, he can feel his grip loosening on the rock edge. He tries to re-establish his grip, but it is useless as his body tells him, in its own way that he has run out of strength and can no longer hold on.
Suddenly Tom feels himself falling, he hears Barry scream out his name.
~~~~~~~~
Chapter 3 - Where Does That Leave Us
As the cliff rushes rapidly past him, Tom struggles to see anything to grab onto. Suddenly he sees some sort of shrubby tree coming up. He reaches out in the hope that he can grab one of the branches. But he is just too far away from it. Thinking that he can't have much longer before he smacks on the ground, he suddenly comes to an abrupt yet soft stop. He looks around to see what he's landed on, he can see that he's still some considerable way off of the ground. To the left he sees some sort of metallic tube that looks somewhat like the flexible neck on his Dad's desk light at home.
Suddenly, Tom hears a rather echoy voice say, "Still you.... fall will you... save life you... still you."
Tom decides that before his luck runs out, he will heed the advice. Tom feels that he is rising again as if in a lift made of glass. Carefully he glances at the cliff face and his eyes confirm that he is rising back up to where Barry is. He can just make out Barry's terrified face.
As Tom reaches the top of the cliff, the voice can be heard again, "Away you keep....land will we...danger much you... away you keep."
Tom saw Barry nod in acceptance of the commands. Barry makes no attempt to get up,
but watches carefully as Tom and the craft pass him by and land a safe distance from the cliff edge.
Tom tries to stand up, but finds himself invisibly restrained. There is a sound as a door opens in the craft. After a short pause, Barry and Tom see something emerge, it has two arms, two legs and a head. It's carrying some sort of weapon and seems to be wearing some sort of futuristic military uniform, like a star wars trouper, totally matt black and very flexible. Another of these things emerges from the other side of the craft and Tom's not aware of his presence until he hears some scuffing sounds as it moves over the gravel to his right. Tom quickly looks round and sees that the thing is quite close to him. It is also carrying a weapon pointing straight at Tom. It speaks, “Throw over the cliff, you why?”
Tom totally confused asks, “What?”
The thing simply repeats the question., “Throw over the cliff, you why?”
Tom replies, “I didn't throw myself, I fell over the cliff, it was dark you see and I didn't know the cliff was there.
The thing then asks, “Doing Restricted land , you, what?”
Tom wasn't sure if they were some sort of robots or human beings from the future, anyway back to the question, he could see that the thing was getting rather agitated at his silence. Tom replies, “Sorry I... we .. didn't realise that this was restricted land”
The thing that had been asking the questions, looks at its partner and says, “Speak these intruders strangely? Make you out what it say?”
The partner shuffles around a bit as if trying to find a comfortable place to stand. Then it replies, “Say it think I not know it this restricted land, not notice it signs and beacon how? Not know I ask it.”
Tom looks over to Barry and shrugs. Barry not knowing whether it is safe to move or speak, takes a chance that he wont get shot and says, “Tom I've got it, they can't understand why you don't speak like them and how we got onto this restricted land, or what we're doing here, tell them that we are travellers and came here by accident. Their way of speaking is to use doing words, followed by labels or peoples names and then some sort of description.”
Tom replies, “If you understand it so well, you tell them, I'm still confused.
The first thing authoritatively says, “Not speak you without question.”
Barry confidently replies, “Speak me for us.” then he pauses to see if he gets any reaction, as he doesn't he decides to go on, “Travel us here by mistake.” He pauses as he wonders what to say next, he remembers early episodes of Star Trek, “Come we in peace, no harm mean we to you.”
The thing nearest Barry asks, “Know we how, not intruders you?”
Tom has a bright idea, “Ask them why an intruder would want to throw themselves off of a cliff if they meant these... these things any harm?”
Barry says, “Throw ourselves off cliff why, if mean to you harm, make this no sense?”
Tom can't contain his enthusiasm, “Hey you're good at this Barry, I'm impressed.”
The thing closest to Tom says, “Make you sense with this statement, how get you on this land?”
“Travel and land here by mistake.” replies Barry.
“Travel you how, no craft have you?” asks the thing nearest Barry.
Barry turns to Tom and asks, “How do we answer that one, when even we don't understand it?”
Tom replies, “We'll just have to tell them the truth that even we don't know how.”
Barry replies to the things question with, “Not know us travel how we.”
The thing nearest Tom says, “Take in these, suspect these lie.” Then it says to Barry, “Take you in for questions, you further.” Then Tom feels the end of the weapon touch his head as the thing says, “Move you now to the levicraft.”
Tom replies, “I just want to get home safely, I'm fed up with being taken prisoner, it seems more fun when its a game, but no fun when its for real.” Tom obediently stands up and finds that he's no longer restrained, but the end of the weapon is encouraging him to move.
The other thing says to Barry, “Move you also, fellow friend now.”
They all climb into the levicraft and it takes off. The journey does not take long. The building they end up at is large and laid out in a rather complex way. It looks like a collection of cylinders joined together by smaller cylinders. There appear to be no colours to this building, but maybe this is because it is night time.
The craft landed at a marked area, obviously near an entrance.
~~~~ Later ~~~
It seemed as if Barry and Tom had been in this small locked room for hours. They knew there was no chance of escape, as they had seen the guards posted outside the door as they had walked down the corridor and there were no windows or other obvious escape routes. The air vent was too small to climb through and the ceiling looked like a single sheet of metal. The light panels in the walls were far too small to crawl through. There was nothing for it, but to wait for someone or some thing to take them out of this room and hope there would be an opportunity to make a dash for it. Although quite where 'it' was neither boy knew now, as it was rather dark when they were brought to this building . They didn't have a chance to get any bearings. It was a bit like being in one of those games where you are blindfolded spun around and by the time you stop you haven't a clue where you are or what you are supposed to be doing.
Barry and Tom discussed what had happened to them and whether the things that had captured them were robots or people, what was possibly going to happen to them and possible escape plans; all this in low whispers in-case the room was being bugged. Conversation exhausted, they sat in silence, staring at the walls waiting for their captors to make the next move. The time was passing so slowly, neither boy had a watch and it was impossible to judge the time.
Tom suddenly exclaims, “I must get watch for my next birthday.”
Barry looks at Tom wondering where on earth that comment had come from. What prompted Tom to think it, let alone say it.
Suddenly the door opens, both boys stand, more out of shock more than anything else. The armed guards are standing either side of the open doorway.
“Move you out of the room.” says one of the guards. Due to their face masks, ist impossible to tell which one of them had spoken.
The boys reluctantly obey. They are directed which way to walk by pokes in the back by a weapon.
Tom starts to ask, “Where are you....” and then remembers their strange way of speaking and then tries to remember what Barry had said, oh yes it was doing words, names and descriptions or something like that anyway. Tom tries again and asks, “Taking us where you?”
“Not speak you unless questioned. “ replies the guard to the right, then continues, “Move you quickly.”
They arrive at another door that starts to slide open as they approach it, “Go in you.” Prompts the guard.
As they enter the room they see two things, one appears to be a person or another one of these robots, her face is clearly visible and she appears to be wearing almost normal clothes, although some what futuristic 1960s style, but none-the-less not military like the others the boys have seen. The other thing is a military dressed robot or person., the latter says “Sit you please.” and it indicates a pair of chairs in front of the desk that is before the pair of them.
Tom mumbles, “First use of the word please that I've noticed in this place.”
The thing nearest Tom laughs, it obviously heard Tom. It removes its helmet.
The boys are quite shocked to see that it also looks human. It asks, “Get here how you do?”
Barry replies, “Not know us exactly.”
“Know you what then?” asks the military looking one.
“Travel us through some invisible gateway.” replies Barry.
The female one asks, “How do you trigger the gateway.”
“Think we these act as key.” replies Barry holding up his walkie talkie.
Tom nudges Barry in the side and whispers, “Hey did you notice that she spoke English then?”
It was the ladies turn to laugh, then she says, “Yes we have met travellers like yourselves before. Although, none have grasped our language as well as you two have. I must admit, I am impressed.”
Tom asks, “So you believe we are telling the truth then?”
“Yes.” she replies, “Although you could have been in serious trouble, had it not been that others have visited before now. This what do you people call it, top secret military place. Normally we shoot on sight, but luckily our boundary people spotted that you were dressed strangely and suspected you were gateway travellers. That device that you held up just now, as being the key, is it a comms device?”
Tom and Barry look at each other, wondering what she meant, then Tom said, “Oh Walkie Talkie, yes it is a comms device.”
She asks, “What mode does it operate?”
Barry replies, “I don't know.” he unclips his walkie talkie and holds it out for inspection, “But you're welcome to look at it provided you don't break it.”
She gets up and takes the walkie talkie and leaves the room, before Barry or Tom have a chance to react.
~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 4 – Give And Take
As the door closes Barry asks the man left in the room, “She will bring that back won't she?”
The man looks at Barry with an emotionless stare and in a calm voice says, “Look, KT, bring back, Aseer-Alc, State-in know not I.” Then he sat back looking straight at Barry as if watching for his reaction, he seemed to be enjoying Barry's discomfort at having his only link to home being taken away.
Barry's chain of thought is broken as he hears Tom ask, “What did he say?”
Barry replies, “He didn't know what state the walkie talkie would be in if she does bring it back”
“What was that Asseer word about?” asks Tom.
“A name, probably the lady's.” replies Tom.
They sit in silence, the man still staring at them without emotion, as if he were a robot devoid of power.
Suddenly Barry asks the man, “Tell me please your name?”
The man in turn asks, “Say you what?”
Barry points to himself and says, “Me Barry”, then points to Tom and says, “Him Tom, tell me your name.”
The man says, “Understand me now, me Dar-Reg.”
“Got it!” exclaims Barry to Tom, “Its backwards.”
Barry notes that the man's face adopts a curious look as Tom asks “What's backwards, the way they talk? We know that already.”
“No, their names are backwards, the lady's name Aseer-Alc, that's Clarisa. and Dar-Reg is Gerrard.” replies Barry excitedly.
Tom now equally excited, replies, “Oh yes so it is.”
Dar-Reg suddenly interjects, “Mot.” he points to Tom, then points to Barry as he says, “Yarab, got I friend, Mot.”
“There you go.” replies Barry, “He has a friend called Tom.”
The door opens and the lady enters, but is without the walkie talkie. The boys look at each other, the fear in their eyes quite unmistakable.
“Where's my walkie talkie...er communications device?” asks Barry.
“Oh don't worry our Know Tech team are looking at it to see if they can work out how it triggers the gateway. So far they have not had much luck with ones they have seen before.” replies Aseer-Alc.
“They won't break it will they?” asks Barry nervously.
“Oh no they did break one once, but they will be very carefull.” replies Aseer-Alc.
Dar-Reg takes them all by surprise as he says to Aseer Alc, “This Mot name and this Yarab name, know they our names.”
There is a pause as Aseer-Alc works out the names, then she says, “Tom and Barry, no?”
“Quite correct... er yes.” replies Barry.
Aseer-Alc asks, “How many places have you been through, the gateway so far?”
Tom takes everyone by surprise as he answers the question, “Two so far, here and the first place we went to.”
“What was the first place like?” asks Aseer-Alc.
“Rather strange, well the place wasn't, but the creatures were.” says Tom.
“In what way strange?” asks Aseer-Alc
“Well there was this giant caterpiller for starters....that was their transport and the creatures themselves, they were shorter than us, but very strong. We think they had either just returned from some battle, or a hunting trip.” replies Tom.
Aseer-Alcs eyes, go wide showing great interest as soon as Tom had mentioned battle. It is Dar-Reg who asks, “So had, they, weapons. What they like?”
Before Tom has a chance to reply, Barry says, “Just spears, nothing special.”
Tom looked really surprised and is about to correct Barry, when Barry kicks him under the table. One look at Barry's face confirms that he should keep quiet, so he does.
However, Dar-Reg had spotted Tom's reaction and asks, “Say something, you, were about to?”
“Oh nothing really.” replies Tom.
“No you, say please.” prompts Dar-Reg.
“Well, I was only going to say that the spears were decorated with colourful feathers and the like. Replies Tom.
Dar-Reg still views Tom with suspicion, but his attention is diverted to Aseer-Alc as she asks, “And what about your world, what is that like?”
There's silence, as Barry and Tom look at each other, wondering who should speak and what they should say. Tom breaks the silence and says, “Well from what we have seen of your world so far, pretty much like this actually, except we dress and speak slightly differently as you can see.”
Dar-Reg, ever the one to get straight to the point asks, “Weapons, you, have?”
Both boys look at each other again as if to say, “What is this guy's obsession with weapons?”
Barry shrugs his shoulders as if to say, “What do we tell him?”
After what seemed like a long pause, Tom replies, “Well we have some weapons, they look totally different from yours.”
“Work they how?” asks Dar-Reg.
“We are only children, we don't know how they work.” replies Barry.
It is Aseer-Alc's turn to give Dar-Reg a strange look.
“Know, they, might have.” responds Dar-Reg Defensively.
“What sort of food do you eat?” asks Aseer-Alc, then seeing their questioning look, she continues, “Only you must be getting hungry and thirsty now.”
Tom, without hesitation replies, “Well I don't like fish.”
Aseer-Alc is most confused by this and asks, “What is this fish much?”
“Creatures that live in water.” replies Tom.
“Does sound Yuck!” exclaims Aseer-Alc and her reaction and expression of feeling makes the boys laugh. It seems really out of character.
The boys are lead out of the room and down a corridor. They are followed by two security guards. They soon enter another room where there are several other people eating meals, they stop the instant the group enters.
Dar-Reg says, “Not harm you, safe they.”
The boys are lead to the serving hatch by Aseer-Alc. It all looks like a school dinning hall, only considerably smaller and a heck of a lot quieter. The latter state does not last long, as really loud wailing noise deafens everyone in the room.
“Quick we must get to the shelter.” says Aseer-Alc, as she heads back out of the room.
Above the noise of the alarm, Barry can hear Tom wistfully say, “Brunch, so temptingly near, yet snatched out of our reach.”
There was an explosion and half of the wall was no longer there. Barry looks back over his shoulder and is shocked that Tom is no longer to be seen. He looks down to see Tom laying on the floor, half covered by a segment of wall and pieces of furniture.
Barry, Aseer-lc and Dar-Reg rush to Tom's side and immediately start to remove the things piled on top of Tom. There are no signs of life. Aseer-Alc calls out Tom's name and hurriedly check his body for life signs.
Barry and dar-Reg continue to remove what they can. Others have joined in the rescue. They all attempt to lift the segment of wall and at first it shows no sign of wanting to move. There are too many other things holding down the corners.
“Get us lifting gear we need.” says a voice amongst the helpers.
“No time, lifting gear, building other side.” replies another voice.
More help arrives and they remove the pieces of collapsed wall, pinning the larger segment down.
Soon they are even lifting the large segment off of Tom. Just as they are moving it away from Tom, it splits. Most of the parts missing Tom altogether.
Aseer-Alc rushes in to check Tom more carefully. After what seems like an eternity, she announces that there is a pulse and that he is breathing, although only shallow breaths. Two mean with some sort of stretcher arrive and carefully lift Tom onto it. Before Barry has a chance to blink they are heading through the door and away.
“Where are they taking Tom?” asks Barry rather frantically, “Is he OK?”
Aseer-Alc replies, “He is in a bad state and they are …. taking him to the medical unit to assess and treat him, I will take you there shortly.”
Aseer-Alc can see that Barry is suffering from shock at what has just happened to his friend but also to himself. Aseer-Alc talks to one of the canteen staff, who dashes off to fetch something and soon returns with a cup, which Aseer-Alc hands to Barry and she says, “Drink this it will help you.”
Barry rejects it at first, but Aseer-Alc assures him that the drink will help him. Barry can hardly keep his hands steady. He asks what the drink is. Aseer-Alc pauses for a moment to think how to describe it, she answers, “Plants that soothe and calm you. You have had quite a shock and need such as this. It is safe and will not harm you.” Barry sniffs the drink and sure enough finds the smell quite comforting, he cautiously sips it and finds it actually tastes nice too.
Aseer-Alc continues, “You see, in our world, we are in a battle as you call it. We have been in this for some time. That is why Dar-Reg is interested in weapons in other places, for we need something more than we have, to stop this battle.”
After a few minutes, Barry has stopped shaking so much and notices that the people moving around the room have changed and are mostly repair crew, trying to fix up the room again.
Aseer-Alc asks Barry, “Are you alright enough to go and see Tom now?”
Without hesitation Barry replies, “yes let's go straight away.” He carefully places the now empty cup on the nearest undamaged table. There is a loud explosion, Barry and Aseer-Alc are thrown to the floor. Neither aware of the bits of wall and furniture piling up on top of them.
~~~~~~~
Chapter 5 – Wake Up And Smell The War
There is frantic activity as the rescue team and others rush to remove the all the debris off Aseer-Alc, Barry and the others affected by the blast. Soon the casualties are being taken to the medical unit.
Dar-Reg is standing t the entrance to the canteen, looking over the damage. He mouths, “They will pay for this.”
~~~~ Later ~~~~
A nurse checks readings on the monitors and is quite startled as Dar-Reg moves, his arms stretch outwards and he yawns. The nurse quietly says, “Disturb you sorry, to do, me not intend.”
“That's OK sleep me too long anyway.” replies Dar-Reg.
“Been here you many days?” asks the nurse.
“Er.... three or four, count I lose.” answers Dar-Reg.
“Doing well, they are, waking signs two have.” then she points at Aseer-Alc and Tom.
“At last!” says Dar-Reg and then realises that it sounded quite mercenary.”
“These two your children?” asks the nurse.
“No, visitors they here, when explosion, they injured.” replies Dar-Reg.
The nurse looks sympathetically at the boys, “Thought I, they too young to be here based.”
Just then Aseer-Alc stirs and utters the predictable phrase, “Where am I?”
The nurse replies,”Safe you be in the medical unit.”
“In here how long I be?” asks Aseer-Alc.
Dar-Reg takes up the conversation with, “About four days, fell on you bits of wall, after explosion cause.”
“Another one?” asks Aseer-Alc, then she asks, “How boys, alright?”
Dar-Reg nods at the nurse, who takes over and says, “well doing, the boys, well.” she points to their beds and bang on que there's a moaning coming from Tom.
“Get up can I?” asks Aseer-Alc.
“Why?” asks the nurse.
“Re-assure Tom, that he alright, must I” replies Aseer-Alc.
The nurse assures her, “Do that, I can.”
Aseer-Alc replies, “Speak they, not the same as us though.”
“Get I lead medic, check you over.” says the nurse, then she heads off out the door.. She returns shortly afterwards with another woman, she looks at the readings on the monitor and asks Aseer-Alc and asks some questions. Then she gives Aseer-Alc the all clear to get up and attend to Tom.
Meanwhile, Tom appears to have one humdinger of a headache, judging by all the moaning that he's doing. The medic turns her attention to his monitor and then to Tom himself. She then confirms to Aseer-Alc that Tom has a headache and instructs the nurse to increase Tom's pain affectant. She turns back to Aseer-Alc and tells her that the headache should wear off quite quickly, but also warns her that because of Tom's injuries he was likely to have lost memories of the explosion and what lead up to it.
A few moments later, Tom opens his eyes and asks where he is and further asks if this is a hospital.
Aseer-Alc replies, “This is a medical centre in a military centre.”
Tom asks, “Am I abroad? Why are they speaking strangely?” He nods towards the lead medic, then adds and why am I in a military place?”
“I do not know what abroad is.” replies Aseer-Alc, then continues, “but you are in Eurosector and as for the military center, you came through the gateway and ended up on restricted land.”
“Oh the gateway thingy, yes I remember the wooden stockade, then the escape and …. oh yes the cliff.... a helicopter thing, then its all hazy from that point.” says Tom, then remembers Barry, “Where's Barry, is he alright?”
“Yes, he's right beside you, he is still not awake. You were both in an injury, an explosion.” reassures Aseer-Alc.
The nurse takes Aseer-Alc to one side and whispers to her, “Warn you better had I, injury other boy, to arm, is quite serious , part of arm missing, repair him almost complete, still him must keep arm though; attached him, still is regen equipment.”
Aseer-Alc thanks the nurse, then turns her attention back to Tom. She says, “Apparently Barry had bad injury to arm, but it is almost completely repairs. We have equipment that cause re-growth of bone, skin and things. Barry have one of these equipment on his arm, he must not move it until his arm fully repair finished.”
Tom takes Aseer-Alc by surprise when he asks, “Whereabouts in Europe are we?”
“Eurosector, not this Yur rope that you speak of. Replies Aseer-Alc.
“Are we still in England?” Tom asks.
“I know not how this gateway works.” replies Aseer-Alc, the continues, “whether you travel to exact same location, but in a parallel place or what. I suppose you could be in the place that you named, but in a different.... what would you call it?
Barry replies, “Parallel universe, and what was that about my arm?”
Aseer-Alc glad to hear that Barry sounds well, turns her attention to him and replies, “Your arm was damaged in the explosion, but is being repaired. You have not to move it, as you have equipment on it doing repair. And movement may.....”
The lead medic interjects, “affect repair, move arm, you, then repair not good.”
Barry asks, “Where are we Tom? Why am I hearing things backwards?”
Tom replies in quite a knowledgable tone, “Oh we're in a parallel universe and this is somewhere in Europe, possibly England and don't you remember, these people talk doing words, er... labels or names and then something else; can't remember what you said it was now.”
“What I said? I don't remember ever saying any such nonsense. Why am I in hospital?” asks Barry.
“There was some sort of accident and we ended up here and you've got to keep your arm still as it is being repaired.” replies Tom.
“It was an explosion.” says Aseer-Alc.
Barry in a stern voice asks, “You haven't been playing with matches again Tom have you?”
Tom goes bright red and replies, “Of course not!”
Aseer-Alc comes to Tom's defence saying, “No no it was not Tom's doing. We are in the middle of a what did you call it, a battle in our universe and it was our enemy that caused the explosion. Tom had fallen over a cliff and was hanging on...”
Tom interrupts asking, “What was I doing hanging onto the side of a cliff?”
Aseer-Alc resumes, “You had just come through the gateway and in the darkness of night, fell over the cliff not knowing it was there. Our people saw Barry trying to rescue you and came to your aid, whilst also trying to investigate what you were doing on our restricted …... military land.”
Tom asks, “Why did you leave the gateway open if you didn't want people on your land?”
Just then someone else walks in, and interrupts the conversation. He speaks directly to Aseer-Alc but his voice can be clearly heard by the boys as he reports, “Good news Mam we successfully replicated the comms device and two of our security people have successfully opened the gateway and gone through it. They have been gone for 14 hours now.”
Aseer-Alc asks, “Do we know where they have gone?”
It is Barry who answers, “No.... there is no way of telling where they have gone, nor any guarantee that they will come back either. Were they armed?”
The man does not answer, but instead looks over at Dar-Reg as if seeking authority to speak.
Dar-Reg nods and the man replies, “Yes they took tactical weapons with them.”
“Are they likely to use these in anger?” asks Barry
Both Dar-Reg and the man ask, “What you say?”
Aseer-Alc says, “Oh yes I see what you mean, are they likely to use the weapons without being fired upon first.”
“That's right.” replies Barry enthusiastically.
The man s somewhat thrown by Barry's response, so there are a few moments silence before Aseer-Alc prompts, “Do answer, you, the question, use weapons, they, without being fired upon?”
The man pauses before answering, “Possibly”
What brief, they, given?” asks Aseer-Alc.
The man somewhat awkwardly shuffles his feet before replying, “To secure weapons they were to do.”
Barry exclaims, “Oh great, not content with starting a war on your own planet you've gone somewhere else, possibly even our home planet to start one there.” He looks over at Tom and says, “Well we might get home, but goodness knows if there will be much left by the time we get there and these..... these.... people have finished with it!”
~~~~~~~~
Chapter 6 – From the floor the ceiling is a long way
"Oh great!" exclaims Barry, "Not content with having a war on your own planet, you want to start one elsewhere too.... possibly even our home planet!" Then he looks at Tom, "Well we might get home Tom, but I don't know if there will be anything left when these..... these..... people have finished with it."
Dar-Reg, who has so far remained quietly in the background asks, "Does your observation indicate, have not, your people sophisticated weapons and at mercy of our security people?"
Aseer-Alc turns towards Dar-Reg and with much anger says "Be quiet you, find we out soon enough what weapons have these people. Suffer enough these children without further questions and.... stupidity."
Dar-Reg, quite enraged now says, "Approach you would differently, after discovery ours of how to open gateway, we succeed?"
"Well I wouldn't go through the gateway with blazing weapons and apparent aggressive intent. If these children's people have sophisticated or powerful weapons we could have created yet another enemy, rather than an ally." replies Aseer-Alc.
Dar-Reg still seems pretty mad at Aseer-Alc's protest, but manages to suppress his anger as he says, "No attacks Gaganeyannes since explosion food servery damage."
"Bring you that news is good." Replies Aseer-Alc, then to Barry and Tom, she says, "The Gaganeyannes are our enemy and Dar-Reg has just told me that they have made no further attacks since our.... explosion."
"Perhaps they got wind of your success of travelling through the gateway and are planning what to do should your people bring back superior weaponry." suggests Barry somewhat sarcastically.
Actually, you may have a good point there replies Aseer-Alc, "But what is this wind they will have acquired?"
"I was joking actually, the wind part simply means, they have found out, as in sound carried by the wind." replies Barry.
There is a loud knock on the door, making them all jump. Dar-Reg responds, "Come in you."
The door opens and in walks one of the security people complete with face mask, but no weapon. he quickly takes off the face mask.
Dar-Reg asks, "Report you what?"
The new man replies somewhat breathlessly, "Return security team or at least one from Gateway." He had obviously run straight here to make this report.
Dar-Reg, somewhat shocked asks, "Happen what to other member of team?"
The man replies, "Eaten.... he was by large creature, size creature about four to five times height of us. Startled team and chased them, caught Yarag Notslleh and ate him. Escaped Di-Vad senoj."
"What happened?" Asks Barry totally confused.
Aseer-Alc reassures Barry, "It is OK..... one of the team that went through the gateway has been killed by a large creature, the other one has made his way back safely. Do you have any large creatures about 4 to 5 times the height of a man? In your place?"
"Only a giraffe, but I don't think even that is about four times the height of a man." replies Barry.
"They aren't that tall," interrupts Tom, "Sounds more like a dinosaur, perhaps its a parallel world where dinosaurs didn't die out, but continued to inherit the world."
"Hey I suppose that is feasible." remarks Barry, getting quite excited at the possibility. He had always been interested in dinosaurs and often wished he could see a real living one. then Barry says, "Hey that is fitting, you go in search of weapons and instead end up being the prey of a pretty unsophisticated monster creature, who's only weapons are its arms, legs and teeth."
"Good thing that creature did not come back through the gateway, we would have then had two enemies for sure!" replies Aseer-Alc. Then she turns to Dar-Reg and says, "Where is Barry's comms device?"
Dar-Reg somewhat confused replies, "In bedside lockers device is of these children, why you ask?"
"Make I sure these children assured of safety and way back they to their place." says Aseer-Alc.
"Why concern you of this now?" asks Dar-Reg.
"Do job I properly, go through gateway without war starting." replies Aseer-Alc.
"Take us children why not?" asks Dar-Reg.
"Safer they on their own probably. Instructions we must leave for their safe escort to gateway, when they well. Go us soon through gateway before another war like approach." says Aseer-Alc.
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