They climbed the curved staircase, which was strewn with rubble, evidently out of the ceiling, and the balustrade was missing in a few places. Hugging the wall, they got to the top without incident. The door to The Gatekeeper's office was intact, but there was evidence of someone trying to break it down and it didn't open automatically as before.
Tarafau's big fist pounded on the door. "Miriha, are you there? Are you all right?" he bellowed.
There was no handle on the door, but a small sound behind the door alerted them that something was going on in there. It sounded a lot like a moan.
"Stand back," growled Tarafau. He took a few steps back himself and launched himself at the door, his big booted foot impacting it not a bit.
"Wait," said Jenny as he prepared to try again, this time with his shoulder.
She "peeked" into the MDP and did a mental search for a tool they could use. And there it was. She pulled a large crowbar out and handed it to Tarafau. "Maybe you just need a little leverage," she said almost sheepishly.
For a moment Tarafau stared at the big metal bar in his hand, shook his head and placed the prying end under the edge of the door. He heaved it upward and there was a large cracking sound, almost like a rifle report.
The door swung open to reveal a darkened room, the floor covered with what appeared to be broken chunks of the ceiling. The only light came from holes in the egg shaped ceiling. And on that rubble strewn floor lay…
"Miriha!" Jenny shouted, at the same time that Tarafau demanded, " What happened here?" For just a moment, Jenny was afraid there would be no answer. Miriha lifted her head with an effort.
Her eyes were blackened and there was a cut on her forehead. "They're back," she said, her mental sending voice not more than a whisper and her brows furrowed with the effort. "They didn't get through to the portal room, but they told me that my people would be returned 'mostly unharmed' when I come to my senses and give them the key." This statement seemed to have used up all of her strength.
"Who's back? Jenny asked, sick to her stomach. In all of her life, she had never encountered anything like this. The destruction of that beautiful village with its peaceful and kind people. Women and children! And now Miriha lay before them on the floor of what had been the beautifully appointed Gatekeeper's office. Violence had never been a part of Jenny's life, even though her father had been a soldier.
He never talked about the time he had spent in battle. On career day at school he had simply talked about defending his country, not about shooting people or seeing people die. And he certainly never harmed helpless innocents, although she knew it sometimes happened. It shocked her to her core now that anyone could be so cruel and callous.
Tarafau lifted Miriha gently and placed her on a couch near the entrance to the gateroom. Miriha groaned as he moved her, even as careful as he was trying to be. It never ceased to amaze her how graceful and gentle this big man could be.
Jenny examined her carefully, employing first aid skills she had never thought to actually use. It appeared that her collar bone and both arms were broken, and her body was covered in bruises. Jenny knew there were likely other injuries she couldn't see. It appeared that rubble from the ceiling had struck her in several places.
Miriha didn't answer her, closing her eyes wearily. It was Tarafau who finally said, "The Groga." He said it in a flat voice that suddenly sounded tired and defeated. "I thought the Council had been hasty in assuming they would stay defeated. I regret being right about this."
Miriha's breathing had become shallower. As broken as she was, Jenny suspected there must be some internal bleeding. "What can we do for her?" she asked, setting the Groga aside for the moment.
Tarafau shook his head. "The healers in the town were taken with the rest and I'm afraid if we move her again it will kill her. I don't have the skill, do you?"
Jenny had to admit she didn't. She so desperately wanted to do something. She suddenly realized Miriha was trying to say something.
"Take the key." As she said these words the little key around Miriha's neck developed a clasp that didn’t appear to be there before. "So that's how they do it," Jenny thought. Jenny unfastened the tiny key from Miriha's neck.
"Touch it to your key," Miriha gasped, as if it took all of her strength to utter these few words.
Jenny did so and as the key touched hers, it vanished. Jenny gave out a startled "Oh!" and Miriha sighed and was still.
Tarafau stroked her hair with tears streaming down his cheeks. "Give Lizzie my love," he whispered, nearly choking on his words. "We will take it from here."
He stood and turned to Jenny. "The Groga are a radical group from a dimension called Mefluance. Not all of the beings in Mefluance are evil, but the Groga definitely fit that description without exception. They raided the dimensions like the sea pirates of old Earth history. The Dimensional Alliance has been fighting them for millennia. About 50 years ago, The Council believed they had eradicated them. Obviously, they were mistaken.
They have no mercy and no ethics. They take what they wish and delight in destruction, pain and torture. There was a man, here on your Earth, who is infamous for the number of people he had slain and the destruction he caused. Imagine if he had been given access to the portals."
Jenny cringed at the thought of someone like Hitler able to march through the dimensions inflicting terror and pain.
The big man looked so fierce as he spat these final words that Jenny was reminded of Tidbit backing that huge dog step by careful step down her driveway. She shuddered.
"So, what happened to the key and what do we do next?" Jenny asked, fearful of the answer.
"We have to get to The Council. Miriha just gave you access to the entire gateway network. This will be reflected in the gate room inside your home. You now have access to not only the full dimensional gate system, but all of the earth gates as well. You have become, by default, The Gatekeeper."
Jenny's harsh intake of breath made him look up from examining his hands.
"Me? Shouldn't this pass to someone who has completed their training?" she asked hopefully.
Tarafau regarded her soberly, once again catlike in that golden stare. "It doesn't work that way. Traditionally the key is passed to someone more experienced, it is true, but regardless, when it is passed, the recipient cannot pass it to another except when their body is failing, or they are dead and then only if the recipient is already a Guardian.
You have been given a great responsibility. But we will go to the council. They have dealt with unusual transfers of Gatekeepers in the past. For now, the gates on this planet, in this dimension will seal when we depart. Only The Council will be able to reinstate them. We need to leave."
"But what about Miriha?"
Tarafau looked troubled, then his face cleared. "I will seal her into the gate room, a fitting tomb for such a hero." He put words to action, lifting Miriha tenderly once again. Jenny stood before the gateway to open the door.
Tarafau gently placed the body on the floor of the passageway. "Rest and rise," he said. Then he did something strange. He placed his hand on Miriha's diaphragm and pressed gently. A last puff of air escaped from her lips. Tarafau reached out with his large hand as if catching that last breath, clenched it into a fist and placed it on his heart.
"My honor. I will avenge your death and restore your people, dear one. This I swear."
Rising he turned to Jenny. "We must go."
He moved through the gate. "Tell it to seal," he instructed her grimly. Jenny sent a thought to the door. "Seal," she commanded, and the door glowed and disappeared as if it had never been there.
"No one can enter that again without your express command." Tarafau rumbled with barely concealed emotion. He moved toward the outer door, but something made Jenny stop and look around one last time. On the desk was a small figurine nearly glowing in the part light. She grabbed it and put it into her MDP. "I won't forget you, Miriha," she said blinking tears from her eyes. "I will not fail yo
u." She imitated Tarafau's gesture, with her fist to her heart and followed Tarafau out the door.
As they navigated the rubble strewn streets of the beautiful little village, Jenny gave in to tears. She had no clue what she could do about any of this. She was barely trained in the absolute basics of her calling. She hadn't even met the other Guardians on Earth, much less the members of The Dimensional Alliance Council. She was nobody, a thought that had never occurred to her before now.
This was all too much. Then something even more disturbing came to her. "Can these Groga get access to Earth?" she asked, nearly panicking as she thought about the destruction that lay all about them as they approached the path to the beach where the Inklings had gone completely silent. This was even more eerie than their plaintive siren-like cries of earlier.
Tarafau shook his head. "I really don't know. The gates to your dimension are relatively new, in the scheme of things, and have only had active, trained Guardians for a couple centuries. It is hard to say how they got access to the portals here." He looked up. The branches above them were deserted.
"They will have migrated to a populated area up the coast, assuming the Groga haven't decimated the rest of this planet already. But we have no time to investigate," he continued, shrugging his broad shoulders. "We must get you to The Council right away."
They walked down the beach in silence, feeling the weight of these events and what they might mean like blocks of stone on their shoulders. As they passed through the gate, Jenny thought, "Goodbye, Miriha. Rest and rise. Seal."
Chapter 13: Under Fire
It was surreal to step from her gateroom through the gate office and into her quiet house. She realized she was trembling. Tidbit looked up at her. "You've already made arrangements, but we may not be back here for a long time. Consider what you will take with you and get it into the MDP as quickly as you can.
Also, use the app on your cell to send out an alert to all the other Guardians on Earth. Your new status as the Gatekeeper will have added them to your 'contacts list'. They will see your message on their cells as an official message."
"What should I tell them?" Jenny asked, her stomach still roiling.
"Tell them that Miriha's portal has fallen and her key was transferred to you under emergency circumstances. Tell them…" he paused and made that odd sound he had made when attacking Cinder. "Tell them that Miriha is dead and the Gatekeeper village is destroyed. Let them know that The Council will be in touch as we know more."
"Won't the others be resistant to taking orders from someone like me? I'm only a trainee, after all."
The cat gave a querulous "mrrrreow" and Tidbit replied, "They know how this works. As long as you don't try to appear to be something you're not, they'll be willing to work with you. And besides, they know you have me." This last was said as if it was a long-standing joke.
Jenny sent a brief message, per Tidbit's instructions, and bustled through her house, which had already been put to rights when she thought she would be getting her first assignment. She had been so excited. Was it really only hours ago?
She had already taken most of what she would need. She looked longingly around at her lovely little house. Her aunt had done what she was doing for many years. Had she felt as Jenny felt now? She knew she would possibly not return for quite awhile. Bob would get her mail and Ted would tend the garden. All would seem normal and quiet on Infinity Loop.
Or would it? Tarafau had been somewhat evasive about the potential of these attackers finding their way to earth. She tried to picture this beautiful little street ravaged and the people, her neighbors, dead, dying or taken who knows where to be enslaved and tortured. Her heart raced as rapidly as her thoughts.
She paused before the door that no one could see but herself. With one more backward glance, she entered with Tidbit at her heels.
"The yellow door," Tidbit directed her.
She turned the handle and stepped out onto a promontory overlooking a valley with a fairly large city cuddled into green fields. Two suns hung high in the nearly violet sky. In this case, instead of the portal being disguised as some kind of building, the door just stood on its frame, seemingly built onto nothing besides the cement block on which they stood. About six inches in front of them appeared to be a curtain of liquid glass. It hung unsupported in front of them. Jenny looked at Tarafau
He nodded toward the shimmering curtain and walked through. Jenny followed. Only the slightest tingle tickled her from head to foot as she stepped through. "Scanner?"
"Yes, it is different at every gateway. None of them are harmful and most have been in place for longer than we know."
Taking a deep breath and stepping down she turned to Tarafau. "Well?" she inquired. "What now?"
"Come with me," Tarafau said, taking the lead down a curving path that led around to a gentler slope down the hill. As they rounded the bend the city came into sight. Unlike Miriha's little village, this was definitely a city and an extremely modern one. Tall glass buildings, reminiscent of New York City as portrayed in super hero books, soared above wide streets, and wheel-less vehicles went along their way. There were no traffic lights, but the traffic flowed smoothly along the broad avenues.
They walked about two miles before they encountered the fringe of the forest and the edge of the city itself.
The valley seemed very earthlike. Trees with green leaves, birds (albeit no breed she recognized) and sounds around the path that might have been some small creatures, made it feel familiar, like one of her hikes with her hiking club. White clouds scudded across the violet sky. After what they had just witnessed, it seemed so normal. Like having a nightmare and waking up in your bed at home, safe and secure.
Jenny wished that this had been only a nightmare. She was glad for the calming effect of the forest on either side of the path. She had always felt an affinity for ancient trees and these were huge, even compared to the Sequoias at home.
At the end of the path they encountered two "beings.” They had a mostly humanoid shape, but their skin was very pale, and they had a third eye in their forehead. As Jenny and Tarafau approached, Jenny realized they must look pretty grim. One of the beings held up a long-fingered hand with claws rather than nails. "Guardian, we greet thee," he sent in mindspeech. "Tarafau, my friend, what is amiss? I sense you are troubled."
Tarafau stepped forward, placing his right hand on the guard's shoulder. "Alas, my friend, we are here to warn the council. The Gatekeeper is dead, and her gate city decimated. Her people have been carried off. Jenny, (Tarafau nodded his head toward her) is now The Gatekeeper. She must consult with the council at once."
The guards were open-mouthed. "Right away. Come," the first one agreed.
They escorted Tarafau and Jenny to a car with no wheels. It hovered about a foot above the ground. They motioned for Jenny and Tarafau to step in and seat themselves. When she did, she noticed two things. One, there was no steering wheel and two, there were no safety belts. Both of these things made her a bit nervous. However, Tarafau seemed unconcerned.
The little two seated vehicle was roomier than it looked, accommodating Tarafau's large frame with no problem. The guard said to Tarafau before he closed the door, "Hama and I need to stay here until our replacements arrive. I'll see you at your suites in the council building." Then, apparently to the car, he said, "Council Chamber. Priority One."
As he closed the door, the little vehicle smoothly rose an additional 6 inches or so, making a faint humming sound and moved forward onto the broad avenue before them. The street was lined with trees, younger than their forest cousins by the look of it. Hover cars like the one they sat in hummed along through the streets. The little cars smoothly avoided one another, despite the lack of traffic lights, never coming close enough to do any harm. It made Jenny nervous nevertheless.
Jenny knew there were experiments with self-driving cars being conducted in different places on Earth, but they hadn't caught on, yet. They probably wouldn't be practical until t
he human element was removed completely. But people loved their cars and loved to drive them. Jenny wasn't sure they would ever all be convinced to change.
It all seemed so peaceful here. As they hummed along in the little car, she began to notice people walking along the boulevard. Well, maybe, as Tarafau had said, "beings" was a better word, as few of them actually looked more than marginally human and many of them bore no resemblance at all.
Tarafau, seeing her consternation, told her, "As the official gathering place of the Dimensional Alliance Council, we have beings from all through the dimensions. You'll notice some of these beings wear a small pack on their backs. Not all of them can survive in an oxygen rich atmosphere. All Guardians are equipped with a pack that coincides with their species and planetary breathing requirements. Those who live and work here are all dedicated to the continued peace among dimensions. There are disagreements, to be sure, but none you will meet here will harm you."
Jenny just nodded. It was all so much to take in. She had imagined going to The Council many times during her training, but she hadn't imagined being the bearer of really bad news. She had thought she would be coming as a humble trainee, not worth being noticed. Now she would be thrown into the middle of all of it, with only her initial training, the LizzieAI and Tarafau. Surely the council would take one look at her and tell her to go home and they would take it from here, passing the title of Gatekeeper on to someone much more qualified.
"Did you know those guards?" Jenny asked, hopeful that this would divert her from her current train of thought.
"Yes, we've served together before, long before I was paired with Lizzie."
Long before? Once again Jenny wondered, how old was Tarafau? Lizzie had been her own age when she had begun as a guardian, but that was over 70 years ago. Jenny kept that thought to herself, not sure if Tarafau would be offended by queries about his age.
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