The Gate

by Jennifer N Hibbert

  Carrol watched helplessly as the guards took him away. Zatol didn’t struggle, he followed quietly without meeting her eyes. They dragged him along the corridor and opened a tall door that led to a hall that looked like a courtroom or an interrogation hall. They placed him on a chair in the middle of the room.

  Zatol wondered what was going to happen to him. He felt really bad that perhaps he would not be able to save Carrol. The room looked like a huge theatre with a very high ceiling. A mellow light shone dimly; it only just illuminated the corners of the room. A large platform at the front of the room supported an elaborate stone throne. The armrests were sculpted into ornate wings. The surrounding platform, also carved out of rock, resembled a grotto. The minimal lighting helped to intensify the mystical feeling that was invoked by the shroud of smoke that was hovering around it.

  A long balcony stretched around the vast room, halfway between floor and ceiling. The seats on this balcony were fully occupied by all kinds of people and creatures who were sitting quietly and watching him. Zatol looked up briefly before lowering his head.

  A door opened and a flood of light blinded him. A huge man walked in with four other men following him. Zatol squinted to see who it was; his eyes darted to the hem of a dark grey cloak that swept the floor and he met the gaze of the man before looking away.

  The man looked regal, like a prince of some sort, with his immaculate cloak that was woven from fine wool and embellished with gold embroidery on the shoulders, sleeves and the hem. The four men that followed him smelled rancid as if they had never washed.

  There was total silence. Zatol thought that the man looked impressive. He was tall and carried a long staff. He wore full armour and looked fearsome; he commanded authority. His full head mask contributed to his menacing look; it had slits for his eyes and an upside-down U shape cut from the tip of his nose down to his chest, which allowed his medium-sized beard to be seen. He appeared angry even before he spoke.

  Five metal spikes protruded from his helmet like a crown. Giant, curved animal horns extended from either side of the crown. Two prominent strips of flat metal stretched from the corners of his eyes down to his upper lip; they stuck out from his mouth like a curly moustache. The long, flat, metal strip in the middle of his face covered his nose. The tip of it, on top of his forehead, was curved forward and shaped like a dancing cobra.

  He also wore a metal chest piece that stretched down to his stomach. His massive cloak swung behind him from side to side as he strode along, it was adorned with a substantial chain that hung across his shoulder and fastened under his arm.

  As he entered, all of the creatures in the balcony stood up and bowed their heads until he was seated on the throne seat in front of Zatol. Then they took their seats, as though ready for an interrogation or a court session to commence.

  When the man was ready, he propped himself up, perhaps to look more imposing. He tugged the embroidered cuffs of his sleeves. Zatol’s eyes followed his hands.

  ‘This interrogation will now commence. I, Varuk Bendy, the Lord of Vencin, will sit through this session.’

  Hearing him call himself ‘Lord’, Zatol glanced again at the man’s head and mask. He thought that the mask was so impressive, it must have a name. Bendy mask, that’s it, he concluded. He was shocked when he heard a chant from multiple voices.

  ‘Yeah, yes,’ came some voices from the balcony.

  Varuk instructed his men to bring Zatol closer for questioning. Zatol was standing about one meter away from Varuk, surrounded by Varuk’s men and the three guards that had brought him in. One of the men who’d walked in with Varuk stepped forward and started interrogating him.

  ‘What is your name? Why are you here?’ he asked. Judging by the number of medals that decorated his overcoat, this man was the assistant military commander. He looked closely at Zatol but he could not hold Zatol’s attention for long, as he ran his eyes over the rest of the men standing around him, weighing his options.

  Zatol didn’t respond. The guests in the balcony gasped in disbelief at his behaviour. Turning around and looking up, Zatol saw that on the table in front of every seat were a speaker and a receiver.

  ‘Who sent you? Where do you come from?’ the interrogator asked. He was beginning to lose his cool; he looked perplexed at the lack of response.

  Still, Zatol refused to speak.

  ‘Very well then, take him away and extract him,’ Varuk yelled angrily. ‘Bring in the girl. Let’s see if she will talk.’

  Hearing that broke Zatol’s heart. He didn’t want any harm to come to Carrol.

  *

  Carrol feared the worst when Zatol wasn’t brought back to his cell. She knew he was stubborn and would never reveal anything, even if it meant death. The guards came in and took her into the courtroom. She was intimidated by the scale of her surroundings, not to mention the creatures within it. They brought her close to the huge man sitting on the throne.

  ‘I’m Varuk Bendy, the Lord of Vencin,’ he said. He stood up and walked over to her. Carrol swallowed hard when she saw his size, but she noticed that his eyes were soft.

  He looked down at her and asked quietly, ‘What’s your name?’ She kept quiet. He moved closer to her face and asked again, ‘What’s your name?’ Suddenly he wore a cruel crack of smile. Before she could decide whether to answer or maintain her silence, he shouted in a thunderous voice, ‘I asked you, what’s your name?’

  Carrol felt his voice rattle her ribcage. More out of shock than anything, she yelled back, ‘Carrol!’ Her heart thumped violently.

  ‘Who sent you?’ he asked, still looking at her intensely.

  ‘No one,’ she replied. She looked down.

  ‘Why are you and the dragon lizard here?’

  Carrol was surprised he’d called Zatol a dragon lizard. She didn’t want to give him any information and she started shaking uncontrollably from fear.

  Varuk slammed the palm of his hand on Carrol’s head; she instantly returned to her human form. Panic-stricken by the impact, she screamed. She caught a glimpse of her hand and recognised it as being human again.

  Sounds of surprise rose from the balcony; the witnesses wore the same horrified expressions as they had when Zatol had refused to answer the questions.

  Carol began to suffer from shortness of breath; the air was too thin for her. Varuk left her to struggle for a few moments before slamming her head again. She instantly changed back to her cartoon form and her raggedy breath returned to normal.

  ‘Now, are you ready to tell me what I want to know?’ Varuk demanded. ‘You think you have it bad? If you don’t start telling me who sent you both to this island, your friend over there will be fully extracted.’ He pointed across the room.

  Carrol looked over, thinking she would see Zatol, but there was nothing. Subdued, she still didn’t say anything. She wasn’t sure what Varuk meant by extraction and she wasn’t in a position to ask him.

  ‘What’s your friend’s name?’ Before Varuk finished his question, Carrol heard a piercing scream reverberate across the hall, dwarfing every noise in the room. She knew that it must be coming from Zatol. It was the same piercing noise he’d made in the Land of the Rooted, but this time it sounded like he was in even more pain.

  ‘Please, please, don’t hurt him. I’m begging you. His name is Zatol. We weren’t sent by anyone. We entered this place by mistake.’ Carrol paused before adding, ‘In fact, no one knows we’re here.’ She considered the possibility of the programme organisers coming to look for her but dismissed the idea; they wouldn’t know where to begin searching, even if they wanted to. ‘We don’t want to cause any harm. Zatol wanted to find his uncle who lives here on Mars, that’s all. I am one of the migrants from Mars Rothadam. I followed him because we became friends on the ship travelling to Mars. Please, I’m begging you, don’t hurt him.’

  After speaking, Carrol felt an extraordinary sense of calmness despite her fears. The room was quiet, except for murmurings among the guests
in the balcony.

  Varuk returned to his seat and sat down, seeming to breathe a sigh of relief. The guards, catching a glimpse of his satisfied face, returned Carrol to the cell. She felt afraid when she saw that Zatol had not returned with her. She wasn’t sure if she had done the right thing by telling the truth.

  A few hours passed, and Carrol had almost lost all hope, when footsteps suddenly echoed in the corridor. The guards pulled Zatol back to his cell and threw him on the ground like a piece of rubbish. Carrol looked on with horror at Zatol’s shaking body. He looked like a wreck, convulsing helplessly as though in the purest agony before sprawling lifeless on the ground; even his eyes were barely blinking.

  He didn’t open his eyes for the next four days.

  CHAPTER 25

  KEVIN BECOMES THE GATE

  At Mars Harrogate, Kevin’s final transformation was complete and he was finally awake.

  On the east side of Mars was the old town. It was separated by an invisible wall, so that it could not be accessed by the new citizens living in Mars Rothadam, which was located on the northern side. The air quality in the old town was not conducive for breathing by humans, unless the person had undergone a transformation. No human had ever lived there.

  When Kevin opened his eyes, he was pleased to find that no light was pointing in his face as it had been the two previous times he had woken on Mars. He felt much calmer this time; he was familiar with his surroundings and the people in the room. It was reassuring to know where he was but, most of all, he was glad to know who he was.

  He looked around, sat up, slid his feet down from the metal bed and continued to sit on it. He looked at himself and saw he was wearing trousers and a shirt. As soon as his feet touched the floor, the siren from the robot Podigrode began. It moved closer to Kevin and started scanning him, as it had done before. Then it announced, ‘Attention, the transformation of GTP100-001 is now complete. The Gate has been created. The subject is in good working order and ready to be deployed for duty.’

  Everyone in the room applauded. It was official: Kevin had become the Gate, which was a transformation carried out by combined technological and supernatural processes. His physical appearance had not changed but all of his senses were heightened, and he now knew things he didn’t know prior to the transformation.

  Two other men, Dambon and Adorous, and a woman called Clafy had joined the others in the room. Kevin hadn’t met them before but he knew who they were through his new senses. A total of eight people in the room, plus the robot, and the lizard called Tobus, Calbas’s assistant, gathered round to congratulate him and welcome him to the team.

  He was in good spirits. He smiled at Calbas, who cleared his throat to begin a formal introduction. ‘Well done to everyone for working so hard to complete this project. We are now happy to welcome our newest member of the team, the Gate.’ Everyone clapped again, exchanging cheerful smiles.

  ‘We have chosen to retain the name “Kevin” as a disguise for when you’re out and about fighting crime. We cannot call you “the Gate” publicly, as it may draw attention to you – unless it’s absolutely necessary,’ Calbas explained. ‘I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you the names of everyone in the room. You are now experiencing the ability to know things supernaturally, right?’ His voice was proud.

  When Kevin nodded, Calbas patted his back. ‘Then why don’t you do the introductions?’

  Kevin was instantly on his feet. He seamlessly introduced everyone in the room, starting with the man standing closest to him on the left. He stood in front of each person as he announced their name and skill specialty.

  Kevin stepped in front of Dambon and looked straight into his face. He called out, ‘Dambon! Son of light. You work with illumination: the sun, moon and stars. You have power over daylight and can use it whenever and however you want. The science of electricity is not hidden from you.’

  As if on cue, Dambon spun around and raised a hand into the air. Darkness suddenly fell upon the room; not a single light could be seen – not even Podigrode’s light. Then he opened his fist, and a flashing light streamed from his palm, flooding the whole room with blinding light as bright as the sun. When he closed his fist, everything went back to normal.

  Kevin moved over to Adorous and called out forcefully, ‘Adorous! Son of thunder. You work with the sound, wind, darkness and night. You are gifted with the power and science of all communication.’

  Adorous waved his hand and a database opened in front of him in the form of a webbed line of interconnected lights. He punched a finger at a section and it started playing very quickly, starting with various languages spoken by humans, animals, mythical creatures and cosmic beings. Then communication through the airwaves began to display, starting with radio, television, computers, and radar, until various futuristic communicators flashed by. He closed the database by closing his hand.

  All at once, an earthquake swept across the room and everything vibrated. It roared for a few seconds before calming to a whisper and then stopping.

  Kevin walked to Ai and announced, ‘Ai! Son of steel, rocks, elements, compounds and minerals. You have built many wonders using your wisdom about technology and computers. Some of your work includes skyscrapers, aeroplanes, computers, even the smallest houses for humans.’

  A large screen appeared in the middle of the room showing all the skills Ai possessed. It showed humans and creatures building various things with materials that Ai produced and controlled. The screen broadcast his knowledge for a few moments before switching off and disappearing.

  Kevin approached Wood and called out to him, ‘Wood! Son of the earth. You work with sand, wood and trees.’

  As he finished, the gigantic door of the lab swung open in a gust of wind and they were all driven outside by its force. Instantly, an impressive parade of plants and trees bowed as they blew through. When the wind calmed, the plants turned and marched away like soldiers in a chain of command, with the smaller plants in the front and the larger ones falling in behind.

  Heaps of sand assembled before them and rose into the shape of a city, which was finished in an instant. A section of sand rose and formed a giant hand, which slid over to hover in front of Kevin. He smiled and received the handshake. The hand retracted and the sand city crumbled before the wind swept it all away.

  Kevin stepped over to Clafy. ‘Clafy! Daughter of the rain. You work in the rain and the snow. You move around in the shadows; your home is within the heart of the volcano, so that you can control fire. With your shadows, you can be in many places at once.’

  A huge volcanic pit appeared before them. They all saw Clafy running down from the volcanic mountain, dripping with liquid fire. As she approached its base, the flames continued to burn fiercely. She released two more shadows of herself. One transformed into a snow person, sprouting frozen snow spikes and one long, spiky finger. She wrote boldly in the snow that now surrounded them all: ‘Welcome! The Gate!’ Another Clafy was standing under a heavy rainfall, like a clear liquid in the form of herself. Then it all stopped and she was standing with them again.

  Kevin continued along the line. ‘Naffata! Daughter of waters, liquids and clouds. You manage the overall temperature of the universe. When angered, you rage like a tempestuous, stormy wind. You travel with the windstorms and your home is in the clouds.’

  A gigantic pillar of water appeared and stood before them; Naffata jumped on its back and started riding it like a horse up into the air, where it transformed into a fluffy cloud. She lay down and it glided gently across the air, like a surfboard over the sea. She slammed her hand on the fluffy cloud; it turned back into a pillar of water and stood to attention, awaiting her command. She slid down its side to the ground and the water disappeared.

  Kevin moved to the computer robot, which stood low to the ground on its four animal feet. ‘Podigrode!’ he called out. ‘You are a fine machine, the best of your kind. A champion analyser, you map out accurate plans without fail.’

  A
t this, Podigrode dotted a light in mid-air in front of them. The little dot unfolded into a black screen and Podigrode projected a huge image onto it. It mapped out a section of Earth that the scientists recognised as the street where Kevin used to live on. Podigrode gave an accurate measurement from their current location to Kevin’s old house down to the nearest millimetre on the screen. Kevin smiled and nodded when he saw it.

  Kevin moved on to Tobus. ‘You have multiple powers and you are a force to be reckoned with. You are a weapon in yourself, carrying balls of fire and shooting flames at will. You move at the speed of wind and are a source of transportation. You are also a shapeshifter.’

  In a flash, the bag on Tobus’s back opened wide. He dropped to all fours and bounced up and down before promptly turning into an enormous spaceship. That became a boat just as quickly, before shifting into different transportation vehicles of various sizes with increasing speed. Abruptly, the bag collapsed into its original form.

  There was silence for a few seconds but Kevin didn’t move on: he knew the show wasn’t over. The bag spread out wide like a carpet on Tobus’s back, the four corners attached to his arms and legs. The carpet hovered above the ground and moved closer to Kevin, beckoning him to climb aboard.

  Kevin held on tightly to Tobus’s back as the carpet took off, soared around and shot off to the sky. After a few seconds, it glided down to the ground and stopped. Kevin jumped down and Tobus returned to his normal form.

  Finally, Kevin walked over to Calbas. He bowed low and said, ‘You are Calbas, the overseer of all things.’