by Rob Roth
“That sounds like a good plan, only I’m not sure I can get to it, because it’s still on the TUFO base in Arizona. If Heissman ever got word that I showed up on the base, it could get nasty for me as well as Steinmacher. Anyway, it would bring a lot of heat on Davis and me if we abandoned our post here. Maybe we would do more good staying here and supporting your efforts.”
Dooley was frustrated with Severs continual reluctance and was about to tell him so in no uncertain terms. Here they were trying to save the world from a war, and Captain Severs didn't want to get involved! What’s with that? But just then the phone rang, interrupting Dooley’s thoughts.
“Excuse me for a moment…. Hello? Captain Severs here…. Colonel Steinmacher?.... What?.....” After a minute or two, Severs hung up. His face looked somewhat ashen.
“What was that all about?” asked Dooley.
“Well, that was Colonel Steinmacher, and he didn’t make a lot of sense. He was apologizing to me. He said it was all his fault, what is happening. Something about a failed experiment, and he should have said something years ago. But, he also told me to get out of here as fast as I could, because he was forced to give Heissman my location, and the General is probably coming this way to get me.”
“Well then, Captain Severs. Looks like maybe you are ready to join our little band of rebels after all,” Dooley said with a satisfied smile.
A MONTH EARLIER
General Heissman frowned as he boarded the military aircraft headed toward Melbourne, Australia. In his bag he carried the precious blue dust he had seized from Captain Severs three months ago and was anticipating this would provide sufficient power to finally open up the dimensional portal.
Damn his superiors, he thought to himself. Over the last three months he had tried to convince them to assign him full control over Project Stardust, but in the end they were unwilling to break the alliance with Australia and kept Van Dyne in the leadership role. Well, the time would come when he would figure out how to take control. And he still was frustrated that he didn’t know who Severs was working with, but at least capturing his blue dust should slow down whatever organization was pursuing similar goals.
At least this cache now gives me exactly what I was looking for, and as rare as it is, it should set their timetable back significantly. Finally I have the jump on them.
Connor Van Dyne was aware the general was coming with additional exotic material and provided a car and driver to meet him at the military runway when he arrived.
“General Heissman, sir. Mr. Van Dyne asked me to assist you with transportation while you are here in Melbourne. As usual he will be working at the Synchrotron the rest of the week, so whenever you wish to join him, just let me know and I will advise him. In the meantime, Mr. Van Dyne has a room at his estate set aside for you, if you care to stay there in lieu of a hotel. Either way, I’ll be happy to take you wherever you wish to go.”
“Thank you, driver. I believe I will take up Mr. Van Dyne on his offer. Take me to his estate. I find it difficult to sleep on a plane, and now that it is morning in Melbourne I find I am quite tired. I am going to catch up on some sleep this morning, and then later this afternoon I will meet Van Dyne at the Synchrotron.”
General Heissman forced himself to stay awake during the drive from the airport to the Van Dyne mansion, although he did not engage in conversation, as a man of his rank did not converse with those of a lower estate. Edward smiled to himself as he thought how different Van Dyne’s guests could be. This Heissman seemed just the opposite of Dr. Larkin and Mr. Marz, who also seemed to be people of some importance, but treated ‘Eddie’ like an equal.
Arriving at the estate, Heissman was greeted by a doorman and led to his nicely apportioned room, where he quickly unpacked his essentials, including the vacuum sealed bag of blue dust, and made his way to the bed for three hours of much needed sleep.
Edward drove General Heissman southeast from Melbourne to the town of Clayton where Monash University was located. Once on the campus they drove to the building housing Van Dyne’s office. Eddie then used his phone to notify Mr. Van Dyne that General Heissman had arrived, as the building was a locked facility. Van Dyne greeted General Heissman at the door.
“Welcome again to Monash University, General Heissman,” Mr. Van Dyne said cordially. “I trust you were able to grab a few hours of sleep before coming here?”
“Yes, thank you Van Dyne. And thank you for making a room available to me. A few hours was all I wished to spare. I’m eager to see if the blue dust I brought will finally enable us to complete our experiments and move into the next phase of actually navigating the portal.”
“I’m as eager as you are, general. I’m surprised it took you so long to make the arrangements to get the exotic material to us. This could be a landmark moment in history if all goes well. I just want to remind you of the wonderful potential this could open up for the exploration of space, and the search for earth-like planets that could sustain human life. I trust the U.S. government is still on board with that primary objective. Earth has limited resources and a growing population. This could represent the future hope of mankind. Any other objectives for this project are secondary and must not conflict with that goal.”
“Yes, yes, I understand all that Van Dyne. I just hope you can see my perspective as well. An interdimensional gateway like this could easily be turned into a weapon in the hands of the wrong people. I’m here to make sure we secure the technology before others with less benevolent motives do so. I assure you — the U.S. government is not looking for a military advantage over our adversaries. We just want to make sure they can’t use it against us. That means understanding it and building in the necessary defenses.”
Van Dyne was not buying that at all, but his own scientific interests overrode caution.
“Well as long as we have this common understanding, let’s not delay any longer. Why don’t we see what this additional dust can do.” replied Van Dyne. “Dr. Williamson, if you would be so kind, please fill the glass containment vessels with the blue dust and add them to the other containment ring.”
It took Williamson about thirty minutes to prepare the glass vessels and connect the three containment rings together. While he was just as excited as the others, he also knew the mathematics behind the quantum calculations was uncertain at best.
Uncertain...that made him smile, when he thought about it. It seemed like the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle was always in the way, frustrating scientists like him who preferred unchanging, predictable outcomes to their scientific methods. In the quest to understand all the rules of nature that govern the universe, it almost seemed like some hidden force of nature was always there frustrating their plans.
“Ok Mr. Van Dyne. Everything is now in place,” said Dr. Williamson in spite of his concerns. “Are you ready to fire it up and see what happens?"
“As ready as we ever will be, Williamson. Go ahead and draw out the beamline.”
Williamson flipped a switch that turned on the beamline, then began rotating the dial controlling the exotic containment field intensity. As before, a dim, dark portal began to form. However, as he continued rotating the dial, the portal became sharper and clearer. The backdrop inside the portal still showed a dark sky with the outline of buildings, but something in the foreground began to resolve.
“What is that…?” wondered Heissman out loud. Slowly a figure began to come into focus, almost like a person coming forward through a smoke-filled scene. Or more accurately, like the smoke was being blown back revealing the person. And it was a person.
“My God…. it’s human-looking. He's human looking,” said Van Dyne. “Other than the shimmering material of that robe-like thing he is wearing he could be from here! This could well be a viable planet capable of supporting human life!”
The person was staring straight at them.
“He can see us!” exclaimed Heissman. “This must be a two-way portal! Look at him… physically he looks to be in pre
tty remarkable shape… tall and well-built. And his face...he's… he looks very dignified… I’d say he has a wise-looking and friendly appearance… clearly an intelligence there… almost a fatherly looking expression as if he wishes good will toward us…”
"Williamson, how are we looking?” asked Van Dyne eagerly. “Is the portal stable?” Are we able to attempt a cross-over?”
“Are you serious? This needs a lot more testing before we ever try a cross-over! We need to take small steps! Honestly, based on the measurements I think we are still just under the power requirements. We may need one more containment ring of exotic matter to stabilize the gateway.”
Van Dyne in his excitement extended his hand toward the portal, and as his fingers came into contact, he felt resistance. He pushed harder but it was like pushing a rubbery wall where the harder one pushes the greater becomes the resistance… until it soundlessly popped, and the portal vanished.
“The force exerted by the exotic material pulling the portal open was not quite strong enough to establish the quantum equilibrium between the two Schrödinger spaces,” stated Williamson.
“Damn!” shouted Heissman. “We are so close! We have to make this work. Everything is riding on this, Van Dyne. My career is riding on this. Your ongoing funding depends on this. Failure is not happening on my watch!”
“General, you saw we were almost there! We just need a small additional amount of exotic material. I promise you we can make it work with one more ring,” said Van Dyne.
“Ok, ok. Let me think…” said Heissman. “Alright, the only available source I can think of, is from wherever Captain Severs got his blue dust. I can squeeze him… hard… and more than that if necessary. By God, he will get me more blue dust, I swear, if I have to squeeze it out of his veins! I heard through the grapevine that Colonel Steinmacher has Severs secluded in a secure facility somewhere. He'll tell me where, or I'll have him in front of a military tribunal!”
“I really have no idea why Heissman would be coming for me,” Severs said. “He got everything he wanted during our last encounter. But as a general, he has a lot of leeway, and I've already seen how he is even willing to go beyond that. I don't wish to experience another interrogation by him. If Colonel Steinmacher felt he needed to warn me to disappear, he must anticipate a bad situation. So yes, I guess I'm with you all the way.”
“Ok, then,” replied Dooley. “Allie, how do you propose we proceed? I have some thoughts on this matter, but you also have good tactical experience.” Dooley decided he better show Allison he didn’t assume he had all the answers. Even if he did.
“We have several leads to follow, so I'm thinking we should continue operating like two teams. But we need to stay in communication. I can get us some military phones that are encrypted and without GPS transmission, but someone trying to track us could still triangulate calls so we will need to use them infrequently. I can also get us on an Australian military flight out of Kangerlussuaq to just about anywhere, but we need to get there somehow.”
“I can use the Medevac to get the four of us to Qaanaaq,” said Severs. “I can also time it so we can catch the weekly Air Greenland flight from there to Ilulissat and on to Kangerlussuaq. But we will have to move fast before our absence is noted.”
“Ok, it sounds like a good escape plan,” said Dooley thinking to himself how good those plans were and maybe he didn’t quite know everything. “Any ideas as to what next actions we take once we get out of Greenland?”
"I for one need to get to Steinmacher. He said this was all his fault due to something that happened years ago. We definitely need to know what that was all about,” Severs said.
“And I think Allie and I should get to Van Dyne and see what the current status of Project Stardust is,” Dooley said. “I'm hoping that since Heissman is coming for Severs, the blue dust he had wasn't successful. Or maybe it was, but they need something else. Either way, we need to see if we can stop it somehow… maybe destroy it."
“Ok team, I think we have a plan. I'll confirm the Air Greenland flight schedule, and Miss Trask and I can line up the connecting flights,” said Severs.
"I’ll route all of us to Denver. That puts Captain Severs and Davis right close to Arizona, and it's too far for Dooley and me to go from Greenland directly to Melbourne. Dr. Larkin's house makes quite a pleasant spot for a layover, I must say," Allison said with a smile.
The newly formed team of four needed a few days to arrange the right flights so the appropriate aircraft would all be in the proper place at the proper time, assuring a rapid getaway. Consequently, it was several days before anyone became aware that Captain Severs and Davis were not spending a few days in Qaanaaq to perform a health and security check, as coworkers were led to believe.
By the time their absence was noted and properly reported through channels, an Australian military craft carrying four unmanifested individuals was just landing at the Denver airport. Since military flights avoided the usual passport protocols, the four departed the airport without difficulty.
“Well, it’s good to be home,” said Dooley, as the rental car registered under an assumed name came into Golden, Colorado. “Have either of you two ever been here before?” he asked Severs and Davis.
“I’ve been to Colorado Springs at Peterson air force base on business with NORAD, but never had the opportunity to come to Golden. I love that arch coming into town. This place has the feel of an old frontier city,” Severs said as they drove through the downtown section.
“Yep. It’s a friendly town and a fun place to walk around visiting shops and eating in some of the interesting restaurants. Hey, you just gotta try the pizza at Woody’s,” said Dooley.
“I was here once,” said Davis. “I was actually stationed at NORAD for a while, and some buddies of mine and I came over to tour the Coors factory. But I didn’t have much time to explore the town.”
“We will definitely have to fix that situation,” said Dooley with a smile. “A hike up Table Rock mountain is definitely worth the trip if only for the view. Especially if we take some Coors up with us."
Soon Dooley turned onto a road that led up the hill to the subdivision where Jace’s house was located. After parking the car, they were able to bring in their baggage to the living room, thanks to Dooley having a spare key.
“We could spread out into three rooms I suppose, but I feel kinda funny us taking over Jace’s bedroom. Captain, Davis, you guys can share the larger guest room. It has two doubles in it. Allie, you can have the smaller guest room. I’ll use the sleeper sofa. I imagine you all are as tired as I am, so I’d suggest we turn in early and try to sleep as late as we can. Given the time zone difference we should feel much better tomorrow morning if we can force ourselves to stay in bed until 7 or 8 am. We’ll get acclimated to the new time much more quickly that way.”
TWELVE
Jace knew he needed to return to his own world soon, but the beauty of the Pristine Lands had him under its spell, and he kept delaying his decision. The beautiful pinkish-white palace that was Elysia’s home offered so much to see and do that it seemed he could always come up with an excuse to wait one more day. The gardens were almost magical, with plants and flowers of such a diversity of color, shape and size that it inspired wonder wherever he looked. It reminded him of the Royal Botanical gardens in overall size, but beyond that it paled in comparison to the appearance of Elysia’s gardens.
And then there were the fantastic living things that dwelled within. Many looked similar to birds and butterflies, although with transparent or translucent wings. Others looked like fairies or pixies, but they moved so quickly it was hard to be sure. The ponds had fish-like creatures, but more spherical and multi-colored like one would see in an ocean, not in the glassy clear ponds that abounded within the gardens. And other creatures looked somewhat like large blue bullfrogs, although they made chirping and singing sounds.
At sunset, the people living in the palace, of which there were many, gathered on a very
large open-air terrace that was half-way up the palace main. There they admired the beauty of the land and skies as the sun went down, and gave thanks to Eld, the provider of their many blessings. Beautiful musical instruments were played — flutes and stringed instruments — and joyful singing and balletic dancing was performed.
People worked at the palace during the day. Many tended the fantastic gardens, others gathered fruits, nuts, and vegetables from nearby fields and then concocted fabulous foods that were decorative as well as delicious. Other inhabitants were teaching a multitude of laughing and happy children or working to maintain and even improve upon the beauty of the palace by building furnishings or creating art or weaving rugs. But what amazed him the most was that everyone seemed happy and appeared to be doing exactly what they were meant to do — that which brought them the most joy by exercising the skills they were blessed to possess.
But more than anything, Jace loved simply spending time with Elysia. He often followed her around as she performed her daily responsibilities running the palace. Jace was amazed at her wisdom and patience in dealing with those charged with the day to day administration of Crystal Lake Realm. Many people came in to consult with her, or seek her approval, or ask for her advice. She had the ability portray grace and charm even to those with whom she disagreed. Jace had gained some fame as well, as the one who helped seal the breach. Alysia often asked Jace to state his opinion on various matters before she rendered her final decision. Both Elysia and the people respected Jace's perspective, which they saw as being fair and unbiased, and welcomed him as one of their own.
“I truly love the Eldoni and am honored to be the ruling Eldian at Castle Lake Realm,” Elysia confided to Jace one morning, after rendering opinions on a particularly large number of petitions brought before her. “But I swear, you would think these people could make the right decisions on their own!” she finished clearly frustrated.