Fire - Betrayal

by Amelia Grace

  “As if by magic” kept repeating itself in his head. Magic… What was magic? It was trickery, quick hands tricking the eye and mind. It wasn’t magic at all. It was something that was tangible. Ben kept seeing the disappearing object trick and the hand outstretched showing that the object was gone.

  Thrusting his eyes open, Ben sat bolt upright in bed. Like a microchip, the heptagon could be inserted under the skin on the hand. It would never be lost. There were like a million of the heptagons that appeared that day when he accidently dropped The Magnificent Tree opal seed. There was plenty for every Terrean, and heaps left over for when the population increased.

  Then he settled into a short but deep sleep. Sleep that his body so desperately needed.

  He woke at the rising of the sun, as always, although it was not like the rising sun on the Earth. Under the water in the pod, the rising sun was muffled, and its rays splintered into a zillion specks, filtered by the teal colour of the ocean. It was an amazing sight to awaken to.

  But, immediately his thoughts turned to Cate, as they did every morning.

  He closed his eyes and tried to remember her beautiful face. He tried to remember the electric jolt he would get when he touched her. He tried to remember the smell of her scent, the feel of her full soft lips on his. He tried so hard to remember.

  Then he put his hands to his chest to hold the pain in his heart. Being apart from her was unbearable, and it ripped into him.

  Breathing deeply, Ben arose and left his pod. He went via the Café de Déjuener and got food supplies for the day. Then he went and woke Julia.

  He handed her food as they walked, and she listened to Ben explain his plan with the heptagons. Julia was a very deep and intelligent woman. She considered his theory for some time, going over it in her head and visualizing the process.

  She looked up at Ben and nodded her agreement, and mind communicated to him that she would be the one to trial the experiment.

  Before the others had arrived at the hanger, Ben had inserted the heptagon under the skin of Julia’s hand. It was hardly noticeable, except for the small cut. Ben closed his eyes, and lightly ran his fingers over the cut, instantly healing it. Julia pocketed another heptagon to take on their journey today, in the case that the plan did not work.

  As soon as the Warrior’s team appeared, they were off. Ben wanted to complete the mission quickly, and be released from Une Autre Terre to return to Cate.

  They walked quickly through the dense rainforest to the powerful cascading waterfall, and then followed their path next to the stream to the fallen wide tree trunk over the deep ravine, and into the cave hidden by the waterfall. At once they were in the dome, looking at the seven vortexes that led to the seven portals.

  They did not hesitate as they entered the yellow vortex first, following the tunnel to the portal at the end.

  They knew the routine well, grabbed the opal seed Earth portal frame, and lined up with Julia in the middle. Today would be more significant than yesterday, with the testing of the heptagon inserted under Julia’s skin.

  Julia looked at Ben, and waited for him to signal to enter the portal. Nervously, he nodded. Nervous because of two things – one, where would the portal be on the Earth, and two, would the new plan with the heptagon work?

  Slowly, Julia held her arm out stiffly, and pushed it into the centre of the Terrean portal. The rush of wind came from behind, and the mist expanded and swirled around them, and then they were sucked through the portal. Joy entered Ben’s heart, his plan conceived at the thought of a magic trick worked, perfectly.

  They were thrust out into freezing cold temperature and a bare rocky ground. Behind them was an immense, colossal mountain, covered with snow and clouds that effortlessly floated way below the peak of the mountain.

  The Terreans immediately looked around for humans, and to their relief found none. They busily got started on fitting the portal frame around the portal, while Ben frantically worked on the information and the GPS land marking for the portal and the computer. They were at the base of Mount Everest.

  In a rush, they gathered their belongings, and then lined up again to transport back to Une Autre Terre. Julia raised her hand again, and in an instant they found themselves on their own side of their world.

  Returning to the dome, Julia and Ben mind communicated about the success of the heptagon chip in her hand, smiling and nodding at each other, and laughing that the others hadn’t caught on, or even noticed that Julia didn’t hold up the heptagon. They wondered how long it would take for them to notice.

  Without delay, they all entered the green vortex, stopping at the portal to go again. It was all so much easier now, and their confidence had grown abundantly. Everyone knew exactly what their roll was, and in what order to perform their task. They worked perfectly as a team together.

  Propelling forward from the portal, they discovered that they were facing a super massive waterfall. The Terreans stood in awe. They felt so insignificant. The watched as sheer volumes of water cascaded from above, mesmerizing them, and then their eyes were led to a perfect rainbow that arose from the spray of the water that plummeted to the chasm below.

  Ben extracted his attention away from the waterfall to look for humans, and found that they were in a very secluded spot opposite the wondrous sight. He pulled his team together and guided their attention back to the portal work, while he again located where they were on GPS and entered all of the data into the computer. Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe lit up on his world map. It was also known as Mosi-oa-Tunya (the Mist that Thunders) to the indigenous people, and was located in southern Africa on the Zambezi River between the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe.

  Ben was seeing a pattern occurring with each of the portals. They had been transported to four of the seven natural wonders of the earth so far, so he predicted that the remaining three portals would lead them to the three remaining natural wonders of the world. It made sense. Une Autre Terre was a world rich in vegetation with amazing landforms, and that was where the portals were located on earth, near the amazing landforms that were beyond words.

  They gathered together and returned to their world.

  Collectively they sat in the dome, to have a round table conference about the events of the day. Again, no-one had noticed the fact that Julia did not hold up the heptagon. Ben decided not to bring it to their attention yet. He wanted to test it further. He wanted to insert one under his skin, and then be the person in control of opening the portals instead of Julia.

  As soon as they returned to the village, Julia accompanied Ben to the hanger, where they carried out the same procedure with another heptagon on him.

  Summoning his team together early the next day, Ben led them through the blue vortex, to the end of the tunnel to the portal.

  Lining up, Ben stood in the centre of the line, and raised his right hand and placed it in the centre of the Terrean portal. The mist swirled and the wind rushed from behind them pushing them through instantly.

  They landed with a splash!

  Laughing, and standing in ankle deep water, the Terreans were totally surprised by where they found themselves this time. But at once they got to work with the portal frame.

  The Great Barrier Reef in Australia was the GPS location on the global tracking device. It was one of the seven wonders of the natural world, larger than the Great Wall of China and the only living thing on Earth visible from space.

  Regrouping after working, they assembled around the portal while Ben placed his hand central to the portal above the water.

  Nothing happened.

  Panicking, Ben looked at Julia, who retrieved the heptagon from her pocket. He took this and held it central to the portal above the water.

  Again, nothing.

  Their minds worked furiously, retracing every single step that they had made here on this little island in the Great Barrier Reef. Everything went smoothly to plan. They had done exactly as they had done with every other portal so far.

/>   Perhaps Ben’s hand was too far away from the portal to activate it. He ordered his team to assemble again. This time, Ben placed his hand in the water close to the portal. At once they fell into the island and landed on the other side wet, with water dripping into the tunnel. This portal to the Earth was so vastly different to the others that they decided to give it a name - the Portail d'Aventure – the Adventure Portal!

  Heading back to the dome, the Terreans were starting to question how Ben could be opening the portal, and what had he done to allow himself control?

  Loyally, they followed him into the indigo vortex running to keep up with him, and then stopped at the portal.

  The team quickly gathered their supplies and the portal frame and lined up with Ben centre again. At once they were blown through the portal, landing high on a mountain. They looked out, and saw an amazing view of a bay guarded by spectacular shaped mountains.

  Then they looked up, and got the shock of their lives. Above them was a huge statue of Christ – all 38 meters of him. They were puzzled. This was definitely not a natural wonder of the earth. This statue of Jesus was man-made. Why were they here?

  Putting their question to the back of their minds, they hastily worked on placing the portal frame into position. This portal was far too close to tourists for their liking, so they had to work fast, and get out of there.

  Ben took them back through the portal, and out of the vortex to the dome, and then sat and pulled up the data on his laptop computer.

  They were in Rio De Janeiro – Brazil, which was as a natural wonder of the world because of the amazing harbor, and the giant mountains that helped to deceive your eyes to make the harbour seem like a lake.

  They had completed two portals today, but their day was not finished. Firstly, they must have the analysis of their journeys for the day, and then throw up any ideas or questions that they may have.

  And secondly, Ben planned to implant the heptagons into each one of their hands to test that they would work on any Terrean.

  “Ben, I want to know how you suddenly gained control of the portal activity, “said Jack, “and I know that this is the question in all of our heads.”

  Ben smiled at them.

  “I came up with the crazy idea of placing the heptagon under the skin of our hands, so that the heptagon could never be lost and picked up by a human, and so that Terreans always had control of the portals where ever they were. Julia volunteered to be the first guinea-pig of my experiment, and it worked exceptionally well, so well that you guys didn’t even notice that she did not hold the heptagon in her fingers anymore. Then I tried it, and more success. Today, my plan is for all of us to have the heptagon implanted under the skin on our right hand, and tomorrow we test them. I am very happy to report that we have almost completed our mission, and probably the next big step will the process of implanting the heptagons into the population of Une Autre Terre, and then educating them on the whereabouts of the portals, and what to expect if they find themselves there and survival tactics, and safe return to our world.”

  The Warrior’s partisans were thrilled about the progress of the mission.

  Swiftly, they moved to their hanger, where they all underwent the quick procedure, with Ben tracing his finger over the incision line to heal it.

  They agreed to meet early tomorrow to complete the last portal, and then in pairs, to test out their implants.

  Greeting the new day with enthusiasm, they met at the dome, and entered the violet vortex, the last of the portals to be manipulated.

  Josiah was the centre of the line for this one, and at Ben’s signal, opened the portal.

  They found themselves catapulted out onto snow again in the darkness of the night. The temperature subzero. And when they looked up, they saw some amazing colors in the night sky.

  While they worked diligently fitting the portal frame, Ben plotted the portal on his computer map and googled night lights.

  They were in Alaska, and witnessing the amazing sight of the Northern Lights.

  Endeavoring to keep warm the Terreans were gob-smacked at the dancing lights in the night sky. But, they wanted to get out of the deep freezer. They were not clothed for weather such as this.

  This time, Jade was in control of the portal, and, success again.

  Returning to the dome, Ben instructed them to go in pairs and really test out their heptagon implants. He would remain in the dome, and they were to report to him whenever they re-entered their world. If they could not return, he would come to track them down and return them safely back home.

  Following the Great Warrior’s instructions, the partisans thoroughly tested out the devices for the control of the portals. Their design and construction at each portal had been executed with precision, and was declared fail proof.

  Ben instructed his team to take the rest of the day off to celebrate, while he went to the Council of Elders to report on the progress of the mission.

  As he walked through the thick green rainforest, Ben formulated the next plan of attack, and hence, another step closer to breaking his bonds of duty to Une Autre Terre.

  Then confidently, Ben stood before The Council.

  “Our Great Warrior, we have not heard from you for a while. We sense that it is good news that you have come to deliver to us,” said the Highest Elder.

  “Yes, I stand before you to deliver good news. With the help of my partisans, we have successfully gained full control over the opening and closing of the seven portals. I have identified them on a world map of the Earth, and added a GPS tracking system. We discovered that a particular shape cut from the opal seeds of The Magnificent Tree of the Earth, allowed us to open the portals at our own free will. That shape is called a heptagon. It is a seven sided polygon. After a while, my mind was led to the thought of inserting the heptagon under the skin of the right hand. That way, it could not be lost, and could not be misused in any way shape or form by Earth humans. Nobody can enter or leave a portal without the heptagon. Therefore, no human from the Earth can ever accidentally fall into one of our portals ever again, “ Ben reported with authority.

  “Ben, do you have a heptagon implanted into your hand, and, if so, may we look at it and feel it?” asked the older woman Elder.

  “Certainly,” replied Ben as he walked over and let them explore his hand.

  “Impressive.”

  “I sense that the mission is not completed yet Ben. In your wisdom, what do you believe needs to be done next, to further ensure the safety of our world and our people?” asked the Highest Elder.

  ”In my opinion Your Highest, I believe that every Terrean must have the heptagon implanted into their right hand. It is a very simple and painless procedure. It may save their lives one day. They also need to be educated about the seven portals, where they are, what they will see if they find themselves there, and what to do to return to Une Autre Terre, including how to survive in the Earth world. Once these things are instigated, them my mission is more than completed. Une Autre Terre is safe from invasion, and our people have been educated to survive,” Ben explained.

  “You are very thorough Ben, and your Earth knowledge has served you well. When do you plan on starting the heptagon implants?” asked the Highest Elder.

  “Within the next couple of days, I will inform our people through a hologram, explaining everything in detail that has occurred, and reassuring the people. If you would approve of this plan,” said Ben, bowing his head.

  “Granted. You may leave now Warrior.”

  Ben exited the Council of Elders room, and set to work at once. He wanted to set the plan into action quickly so that he could return to the Earth to find Cate.

  As Ben predicted, the heptagon clinics were up and running in two days. He was helped by his partisans and many others who had the gift of medicine and healing. After two weeks, all Terreans had been implanted with the heptagon, and many workers were knowledgeable on how to insert the heptagon under the skin.

  Education was
the final frontier in his mission. He utilized their own technology to inform the Terreans of the portals, and survival. He created holograms that could be projected anywhere they were needed. He even designed a simple thin pocket guide that they could use, that would be at their disposable at all times.

  Exhausted, Ben lay on the bed of his pod and reflected on everything that he had done. He was searching for loopholes in his work from the beginning to the end. He was ensuring that everything they had done was fail proof.

  After considerable deliberation, he was confident that the mission was absolutely and infallibly completed. His Warrior mission had been executed and accomplished.

  The chains that bound him to Une Autre Terre had now been broken. He was free, after he reported to the Council of Elders for the final time.

  Now without burden, Ben fell into a deep sleep that would last for two days, during which his body regenerated new cells and new nerve connections, and healed.

  Chapter 30

  Attraction

  It wasn’t the bright moonshine flooding my room keeping me awake, nor the familiar ache in my heart as I pined for Ben. It was because of Nic. He had stirred something inside of me…in a good way, and it made me nervous.

  Excitement and guilt dwelt in me at the same time. Excitement at the connection that I had felt forming that night, but guilt that I was being unfaithful to Ben, by liking another man.

  It was impossible to remove Ben from my head. I loved him so, so deeply. Although I knew that we could never be together again. I had to tell myself it was okay to move forward with my own life. I was entitled to happily ever after, wasn’t I?

  Ben. I sighed and held the pain in my chest, sadness creeping over me, and I wished that sleep would come. But it did not.