World Gate

by TEBramble

The earth rumbled and the stone of mount Everest crumbled as a mighty drill dug into its side. Into the earth it dug, crushing and grinding all rock in its monstrous wake. It ground its way ever deeper until its mechanical mass broke through into a hidden chamber thousands of years old.

It fell through the ceiling and crashed hard on the floor hundreds of meters below. There sunlight shone through the clean hole to where it had not shone for aeons. All the while the machine roared and growled as it dug into the floor.

Eventually it was powered down. The grinding gears of its massive drill slowing to a halt and the engine slowing down to a complete stop. There, in the middle of an unknown chamber the machine settled and shut down.

A single mechanical monolith stood alone in an empty chamber. Moments passed as gears reactivated and the machine unfolded, releasing its crew of four. An explorer, an archaeologist, an engineer and a technician.

A flock of flying drones buzzed like busy bees as they were released from its top. Automatically they spread across the space, scanning every detail and documenting immense data. Their many lights illuminated the way revealing the remains of an ancient civilisation.

Awed and mesmerised, the human crew took the time to gawk and gasp and the immensity of their find. They were in a single cylindrical room and here they found the one thing of worth at its centre. A giant set of floating rings.

After some time one of the four crew members waved to the machine which release a single drone. One bigger than the rest. It flew right to the man and started filming.

"You recording this, 18B?" The man asked.

"Indeed, Dr William Oleson. Recording log number one-two-two-nine."

"Right!"

Oleson stepped into the camera's view and presented himself to it.

"April twenty-first, twenty-five, eighty-two..." He thrust his palms into the as if to show off his discovery. He smiled. "Victory... After eighteen months of tireless research. We. Have. Found it!" He proclaimed.

18B raised the camera to film the rings. They rotated around a central point. Utterly silent, utterly alien and advanced beyond their comprehension. It simply hung there, idle, ethereal and completely awe inspiring.

While the team got to work 18B returned to filming Oleson. He faced the camera with joy and gratifying satisfaction.

"Ladies and gentlemen... Humanity at large... I present to you..." He thrust his palm at the device. "...Earth's World Gate!" He announced.

At that moment, the rest of the team joined him with souls filled with joy and pride. They brought

out champagne and poured out on glasses.

"There's a whole new world out there!" They chanted as one and paused.

"And cut!" Oleson ordered.

18B cut the recording and the group broke into cheers and embraced each other. Yet one among their number stayed focus.

"Alright... That's enough people... We're all here now but we need to get settled in." Ordered Mark Grendel.

"Come on Doctor! Give us a moment longer... It'll be good for morale!" Claimed Oleson.

"That was it poster boy. Now move!"

Without a moment to lose the team got back to work. Setting up equipment and cabins they made a small base for themselves inside the structure. It would be here amidst these dimly lit ancient rocks where they would spend the next few years.

Oleson took 18B on another filming tour of the camp. He was a tall, thin Caucasian with sharp features, brown hair and brown eyes. Grendel was an aging veteran of archaeology and discovery. The two were so like in voice and appearance that a stranger would mistake Grendel for Oleson's father.

Then he moved on to introduced the rest. He grabbed a big guy by the shoulders while the man bent over to prepare equipment across the ground.

"This here is Tech Michael Balmer... The magician behind our mechanical miracles. All equipment here that we brought with us are all his babies."

The man looked up at the camera with a smile and waved. He was tall, bulky and bald. Dark skin betrayed his African blood.

"Hello." He said kindly.

"This man is gonna work wonders for the whole world!" Proclaimed Oleson.

His words made Balmer shakes head with a smile before he moved on. Moving to the other side of the room he walked up on a woman who sat on an unfolded chair, typing away at a laptop.

He presented her to the camera.

"And this lovely lady is Dr Alice Barona. Our resident physicist, specialist and all-around brains of our humble, little operation. As supposed to who I am which is the soul of this audacious enterprise." He said.

Barona looked up to the camera and waved.

"Hello" She said casually.

Then Oleson took 18B with him as he walked away to a pile of building materials and directed it

at the pile to film it.

"Behold! My graceful work. Pack and unpack! As well as being the resident on Pre-Earth Humanity."

-//-

It took the team several hours but it was done. The team's cabins for the next year were assembled and all equipment was brought online. Grendel met with Oleson who carried a black cubed box while Barona and Balmer sat at consoles. They all prepared for an event long in the making.

"Are you ready?" Grendel asked.

"Of Course!" Oleson answered.

"All equipment online and ready!" Reported Balmer.

"All conditions nominal sir!" Reported Barona.

Grendel nodded.

"Do it." He Ordered.

Oleson took a deep breath and approached the world gate with the box. He stepped on an ornate stone and lifted the cube as high as he could. A beam of blue light fired from the gate and illuminated the cube.

It started to tick and move. It unfolded itself, becoming longer and thinner and round. It turned into a staff with an ornate head with strange edges. These edges were shaped like the teeth of a key but it was more than that.

Oleson was rendered breathless as he watched it unfold into its true form. Then when it was done his heart swelled within his chest as he beheld a masterpiece. A great key to unlock the greatest of locks.

He shivered with overwhelming emotion as he stepped forward slowly. Grendel watched closely while the others monitored their instruments. Suddenly the staff felt warm and both ends began to glow blue.

"Alice?" Grendel asked.

"Energy build up sir. Energy readings definitely high but all systems nominal."

"Status Will!" Grendel demanded.

"All green! Standing by!" Oleson barked back.

He stood still directly under the world gate just as various metal plates built into the floor began to move mechanically. Winds began to blow around the room. Energy gathered at the centre of the gate in a great blue fireball. The machine growled and groaned ever so loudly as it awoke from its slumber.

A distinct hole appeared in the centre of the construct and lowered the staff with its head pointing down, ready to be inserted. In that moment, he froze.

"Green light?" He barked.

"Green light! Green light! Green light!" Grendel barked back.

Without delay Oleson inserted the key and a massive discharge of energy blasted from it upwards into the fireball at the centre of the gate. With that, energy blasted out in all directions. Passing harmlessly through the team and into the walls.

The humans watched in awe as the energy permeated throughout the structure. Making glyphs glow, turning on ancient machinery and reviving lost technology. Their eyes twinkled with joy and gladness as the entire room came to life.

Then they watched helplessly as the hole they dug was closed in behind them.

"No, no, no. No!" Balmer exclaimed in his panic as he jumped onto his controls.

"No use panicking about it, Michael. The only way left for us now is forward." Grendel remarked.

"What if we run out resources eh? I did not just give up eighteen months of my life only to starve

here!"

"We'll find new worlds, perhaps new foods even! How about that! Be the first human to eat alien

steak or starve!" Oleson responded, bizarrely cheerful.

Balmer brooded in silence and anger as he returned to monitoring his instruments. All the while he was disregarded and Oleson twisted the key. A beam of energy fired back down from the

fireball at the key and it broke, shattering into a dozen identical pieces.

The force of the detonation pushed Oleson back and the pieces fell all around the key. Darkness fell and all grew silent. Oleson got back up and froze.

"What?" He exclaimed.

"We're doomed." Commented Balmer.

"Shut it Michael! Alice! Status!" Grendel ordered.

"All systems still green... However, all heat is now focused around the lock." She responded.

Grendel walked over to her and looked at her monitors. He stared at the thermal vision which

showed a massive spite of yellows and reds, focused around the lock. He cringed.

"That can't be right." He commented as he took over.

Suddenly the pieces of the key started floating and the gate flickered back to life. Soon they were flying in circles around the lock and the fireball was recreated. Then everything started back up again.

This was followed by the pieces finally assembling into a square formation that resembled a doorway. Then the earth shook as blue light lit within the doorway and swirled about. A wind picked up and suddenly in a great detonation of blinding light the gate opened.

Through the doorway, plains of grassland and a clear sky could be seen. They watched it and were awed at the miracle they have just witnessed. Oleson felt his soul swell with joy and burn with passion as he leapt into action.

He took his helmet, put it on and moved towards the gate.

"Where do you think you're going?" Grendel asked, halting the enthusiastic man in his tracks.

"To do my job. To do what we came here for." Oleson answered defensively.

"Not without Alice's support. We've been over this... We need a scientist, not a pioneer. Watch her back while she studies the land."

Just then, Alice approached appearing just as ready as him to enter a new world. She carried He rolled his eyes and faced the gate.

"At least I'll be the first." He remarked.

With that the two took off. Into the new world they ventured. Through the gate and away from the cold stone of Mt Everest. Into the warmth of a sunny, cloudless day where rolling hills and lush, green grassland spread as far as the eye could see.

Barona whipped out her scanners and 18B followed them in. Oleson slowed to a halt as bewilderment overwhelmed him. He had to convince himself through tears of joy that he was not dreaming.

"Fields of grass. As far as the eye can see. Not a single wall in sight... Beautiful." He uttered.

"Scan shows that the air is clean. Earth nominal and free of pollutants." Barona Reported.

Without hesitation Oleson took off his helmet and took a deep breath. He smelt the sweetness of the fresh air. He felt it fill his lungs, permeate throughout his body and invigorate him. He had known known nothing of the sort.

"You know Alice... I have climbed to the summit of Mt Olympus, I have delved into the rolling storms Jupiter and camped under the acid rain of Venus but I knew nothing like this until now."

Alice Barona Looked to Oleson and saw a strange look of fulfilment in his teary eyes. Almost like he had found something here in this empty world that she missed. Unmoved, she took off her helmet and looked at him.

"You know, centuries ago, Earth was full of plains just like this one. Now it is either oceanic hell holes, forgotten wastelands or sprawling cities... Perhaps we were wrong?"

Oleson took another deep breath.

"Yes. We were so very wrong."

-//-

It was not long after they entered this green new world that the pair began surveying it. Tending to crate after crate as they were sent through the gate. As a unit they followed orders to set up an automated outpost here.

As they worked on setting their equipment, Barona could not skate her fixation on Oleson's answer. She began debating the subject in her head as she open a crate and took out the equipment. It was a cartographer, a simple tool used to scan and map out new terrain without human assistance.

It was old and familiar technology she could operate without thought and so the answer played out in her mind again and again. Eventually she had to bring the topic up and again.

"It may have been inevitable." She said suddenly.

"What was that?" Oleson asked.

"About earlier. It might have been an inevitable consequence of human existence."

"What? No... We're intelligent creatures we had every chance to make it stop and change.

Nature's death is on our hands. Nothing more."

"So what if we did? Populations would still grow... People would still need resources to survive.

Sooner or later natural life is secondary to human life."

Oleson's mood turned sour. He found the over-thought madness he heard offensive. He cringed, growled even. Barona was the smartest of all of them. She should know what he was talking about. She should understand.

"The future of mankind would have found balance if we learned to care. Not consume." He remarked firmly.

"Perhaps but with man all things are temporary."

"That is why a balance should have been implemented. At least then we could enjoy greenery such as this in our own world."

Now Barona began to flinch and cringe.

"In Twenty-One, Eighteen the first functioning colony was established on Mars. By then China was nothing but deserts and cities. The US experienced its first winter without snow and the forests were returning to the poles and World War 3 was about to begin... Tell me William... Could mankind achieve the equilibrium you covet so much?"

Oleson froze, there was no way he could say yes. It was such a cruel world.

'Perhaps Barona was right' Said his poisonous thoughts.

He shook his head as he gave in and got back to work.

Soon after Barona noticed something odd. She flinched raising an eyebrow. She searched through all the information displayed about this anomaly on her numerous tools. She gasped as a horrible reality was realised.

Without thought she spun about and reached into the portal as it began to flicker and wane. She found the key and took just as the portal collapsed behind them. Oleson pulled her back as the gateway collapsed in a mighty detonation of expended energy.

They both hit the grass hard, flat on their backs. Barona's heart filled with gladness as she felted the weight of the key press down upon her body. It was precious now, she gripped it with all her might as felt hope be preserved.

-//-

"Alice? What was that?" Asked Oleson.

"The energy build up from earlier it just spiked a moment ago. Would've destroyed the key. I can only hope the others are OK."

Oleson got up and froze as stared into the empty space where there should be a portal. Fear crept up from his churning gut.

"What do we do now? Where the hell is another gate?"

Barona got up and consulted her instruments. Nothing was showing. All the while Oleson looked through his own instruments. Time went on as they looked and looked and after what seemed like more than an hour Barona found a familiar signature.

"There! Thirty miles northeast of here." She exclaimed.

"That's quite the hike." He comment watching her screen.

"Its best we get moving. Hopefully we'll find cover there and a way home."

Oleson conceded to Barona's argument. The pair only took what they needed and set 18B to guard what was left as the equipment studied the surrounding world.

Days passed as they struggled to reach the sanctuary of another world gate. Putting one foot ahead of the other they persevered. Isolation and the desperate focus on survival drove the two to almost forget the beginnings of a passionate debate.

Days silence followed as worry and work occupied their minds. Here cooperation became necessary. Here they survived on whatever Barona could find edible. Were it not for the constant threat of the many strange and unknown wildlife this would be quite the adventure. In a way Oleson enjoyed it all.

They crossed from grassland into forest. They found crystalline beetles, dodged snakes with jade scales and battled blue feathered boars amidst the lush undergrowth. Under the cover of great hardwood trees the world was wild with life in all shapes and sizes.

The flora itself were alien wonders of browns, greens and yellows. All the while the infamous Red Bushes, as Oleson called them by their bright royal red heads, crept in every corner like a titanic snake. With its flower-like head and innumerable tendrils it slaughtered, crushed and ate all in its path.

This place was a perplexing mixture of horror, excitement and awe. A wonderland for explorers, unsullied by human expansion and free. A wilderness of wild unbridled glory of the flesh and the fittest.

Soon, like how all good things must come to an end the explorers reached the centre of the forest and there a world gate was waiting for them. Ever the eagle-eyed soul, Barona was the first to spot it underneath layers of overgrown vegetation.

It was a poor, neglected old thing of grey stone and metal. Overgrown plants and weeds carpeted every inch of the structure. It was as if they wished to cocoon it in their roots and vines for some mysterious reason.

Oleson and Barona had to cut their way through to enter the structure. There was little talk between as they drove ever further into the ancient facility. The story its ancient, scar ridden walls told was a tragic one.

It did not take an archaeologist to understand the ancient cuts of advanced swords and great craters of plasma blasts and bullet impacts. The floor was littered with bones and dust. War had once gripped these lands and it seemed like there was no victor.

Oleson found it an eerie reminder of his debate with Barona. He tried to focus but could not help wondering whether or not this was the fate of humanity. Knowing the scientist he would not be surprised if she was complacent on the matter.

Eventually he happened upon a bright blue light. Looking into its chamber he found its source. It was an open gate, ready and waiting. Feeling the blast of hope in his beating heart he sped to it and got his key out.

"Alice! Come here! I found the way out of this place!" He barked.

Barona rushed to the room only to hesitate at the sight of an active world gate. After a brief pause she spoke.

"I am not going through another gate until I'm sure it leads to a way back home." She declared.

"We have no time for that. Let's go!" Urged Oleson.

Barona took hold of the back of Oleson's collar and pulled him into a halt.

"We collapsed a world and our only way back the first time. It is likely that this will be a repeat of those events."

"First off! No this isn't because for one thing, I did not open this one. Secondly. This is a working world gate for crying out loud! I'd rather take my chances on the other side than be eaten by some red bush on this side of the gate."

"For all we know it could be worse."

"Ha! If we followed that logic none