The Opening (The Universal Portals Book 1)

by J. Blanes

  He looked back at Keira, who sat on the platform, looking defeated. How was he to break to her the good news about them and the bad news about Dylan? He thought about it and decided to tell her only about their situation and withhold any references to Dylan’s, or lie about them.

  “Hey,” he said softly as he sat next to her, touching her shoulder. “It’s not as bad as we thought. The aliens wanted us outside here; that’s why the ship gave us the helmets and let us go. We’re in no danger here.”

  “I know,” she replied. “I’m worried about Dylan.”

  This was what Albert had feared. She was more concerned about Dylan than about herself. He thought carefully before saying his next words. “I believe he’s on his way back to Earth,” he lied deliberately.

  “What? Why?”

  “Because the ship is too small to have gone anywhere else,” Albert replied, trying to sound convincing.

  “Do you really believe so?”

  He paused again. He detested lying, but there was nothing he could do about Dylan’s fate, and he needed her back on her feet again if they were to survive this. “I’m sure of it,” he lied as confidently as he could. He couldn’t see her face because of her mask, so he couldn’t know whether his words had produced the desired effect on her.

  She remained silent for what it seemed an eternity. Then, suddenly, she spoke again. “Are we going to wait here forever?”

  It was a start, Albert thought, relieved that her attention had drifted to their own plight. “For now, let’s sit at the edge of the platform.” He was having trouble trying to find a relaxed position for his big legs on the flat floor. “We’ll be more comfortable. I think the sunrise will come from that direction. Let’s see it, and then we’ll think about our next step.”

  Keira agreed. They got up and sat on the edge facing the direction from where the sun would rise. They already could see the clarity of the sky that veiled even the brightest stars.

  “Wow! It’s brighter than Earth’s sunrise,” Keira exclaimed, impressed by the magnitude of the sunrise that started to dazzle her. “I don’t think we could look at it for much longer.”

  They saw a first glimpse of the sun peering over the horizon. It was more than twice the size of the sun seen from Earth, and they could feel its heat hit their face almost instantly. Albert stared at it with increasing alarm, until he realized in shock what it really meant.

  “Hurry!” Albert abruptly shouted, grabbing her and quickly getting up. “Run! We must get back to the pit, now!”

  “But…” She couldn’t finish talking because Albert pulled her hastily.

  “We’re much closer to the sun than on Earth!” he panted, trying to explain as he ran. “I don’t think that even these suits could protect us from that kind of heat. If we stay here, the sun will burn us to death. We need to get to the bottom of that pit; that’s the only place where the sun rays won’t reach us directly, and let’s hope it’s enough for the suits to protect us.”

  They ran as fast as they could, climbing up and down those ladders, anxiously looking back at the ever-increasing brightness that started to hit every corner of the mother ship’s surface. All that running and climbing was too much for Albert’s out-of-shape body, and he faltered, slowing down his pace until he stopped, completely out of breath. Keira stopped next to him.

  “Come on! We’re almost there!” she encouraged him.

  “I…I can’t.” He was barely able to speak. “I need to rest. You go ahead. I’ll catch you in a moment.”

  Keira looked back, but the light was too intense, dazzling her. The pit was still a hundred yards ahead. They were almost out of time, and they had to move now. If she left him behind now, he would not be able to get there on time.

  “You can’t stop here! You’ll rest when we get there! Please!” she pleaded with despair in her voice. “I can’t go there alone. I can’t remember where the pit is.” She knew exactly where it was, but she needed him to react, and fast.

  Her ruse worked. The thought of her dying because of his weakness and lack of resolve was all he needed to spring into action again. He used all the energy he could muster to force himself into a last effort to reach the pit. If he had to die, it would be of exhaustion trying to help her get down there, not as a pathetic, defeated loser.

  After a few intense minutes, they made it to the pit’s mouth. A quarter of the sun’s circle was already high over the horizon. Even with their protective alien suits, they could feel its rays warming up their backs, and Keira showed Albert how they could descend the ladders faster. She had not done this before, so as to keep to Albert’s pace, but there were out of time. The trick, she told him, was to slide their feet and hands on the sides without using the ladder rungs. She went first, sliding down skillfully and quickly each ladder. Albert went next. He needed several clumsy, failed attempts before getting the gist of it, but he improved with each ladder, descending the next faster than the last. When they reached the bottom, they both fell exhausted on the floor.

  “We made it!” Keira exclaimed with joy.

  “Yes, we made it,” he panted. Every word he said required a painful effort, but he was proud of himself and thankful that they were safe, at least for the moment. After resting for a while in the middle of the floor, they moved back and sat against the wall.

  “It was a close call, but I think we’re safe as long as the sun doesn’t pass directly over us,” Albert reasoned.

  “Let’s hope so,” she replied. “I could already feel my ass burning up there.”

  He smiled. “Yes, the suits are good, but not that good,” he remarked. “I don’t know how I could’ve been so stupid. All this time, I assumed we were going away from the sun because we never saw it from the ship’s window, but it’s obvious that we’ve followed an orbit trajectory that got us closer.”

  “But it’s true what you said; we never saw the sun. How could it be?”

  “I suppose the ship could have moved sideways, probably to avoid exposing the window directly to the sun’s rays. The fact is that, one way or the other, we’re here.”

  “You’re right; that’s not important. The important thing is that we’re safe. What should we do next?”

  “The ship’s rotation is fast; the sun will go down in a couple of hours. We wait until that happens, and then we’ll resume our search for an entrance.”

  “That’s good.” She nodded in agreement. “Let’s maintain our options alive; they’re our only hope. I’m positive we will find a way out of this.”

  Thinking about ways out of this, what bothered Albert was the alien indifference toward their death. They had almost burned alive, and their hosts could have cared less. Even at this time, when Albert and Keira were still potentially in danger, they had not given any signs of their presence, as if nothing were happening at all.

  “There’s something wrong here, something I can’t understand,” he commented. “Why would they bring us here and make us leave the ship just to let us die burned to ashes?”

  Keira thought for a minute. “Maybe we’re just an experiment,” she wondered. “To see how we react, how we think. Maybe it was their intention from the beginning, to let us believe they would take care of us with all the ship’s commodities and then leave us here to study our behavior under extreme circumstances.”

  “Maybe, but I still think it doesn’t make any sense.”

  “It does. We’re just lab rats; they don’t care if we live or die. We’re like animals to them.”

  “It’s too much trouble just for that. They could’ve done that much more easily, simply by observing our behaviors on Earth. No, I don’t think that’s the reason. There must be something else, but hell if I can figure it out.”

  “If your theory’s true, why don’t they receive us? Or if they don’t want us to see them for some reason, why don’t they leave some instructions or di
rections to make our lives less miserable?”

  “I don’t know. As I said, nothing makes sense. We’re missing something. Of that, I’m pretty sure.”

  “OK, let’s settle that later,” she proposed, still unconvinced by his arguments. “And switching to another matter, how much longer until these suits run out of air?”

  “Good question,” Albert acknowledged. “If the suit uses the same technology as the ship for recycling air, I’d say we’re pretty safe for several hours. And there’s the issue of the dots on the goggles,” he pointed out.

  “These dots at the top?” She had seen them on the right top corner but hadn’t paid any attention to them. Albert’s mentioning of them in regard of the suit’s air reserves made her realize that they could be indicating the amount of air left on them.

  “Yes, these dots. I had twenty of them when I put the helmet on,” he told her. “I counted them. Now I have sixteen, so I’d bet they correlate to the amount of air left in our suits.”

  Keira counted the dots while Albert was talking. “I have seventeen.”

  “That’s probably because I wasted more oxygen than you, thanks to my stupid bad shape, not to say my bigger lungs. Do you have your watch with you?”

  “No, I left it on the ship. Why?”

  “That’s a shame. With a watch, we could’ve calculated how much time we had left before the oxygen ran out.”

  “We’ve been out for about forty five minutes,” Keira estimated. “I lost three dots, so I’m losing a dot every fifteen minutes approximately. If I’m right, I have about four hours left.”

  Albert was impressed, but her calculations also meant that he had even less than that.

  “This means that we’ll have less than three hours to find our way into this ship,” Keira estimated again. It wasn’t much for exploring a big ship like this one.

  “Either that, or this is going to be our last sunrise together.”

  NINE

  The sun moved slowly across the sky above them. Albert and Keira constantly looked up, praying that the sun’s path would never take it directly above their heads. The suits had proven their worth against the freezing cold, but they were vulnerable against the intense heat. If the sun’s rays reached them directly, they would die scorched to death.

  It had been almost an hour since they had gotten to the bottom of the pit, and they had been lucky until now. The sun had shown mercy on them and had remained hidden from their sight, but the little dots on their goggles, which they believed marked the amount of air remaining in their suits, had diminished by four in that time. Keira counted only thirteen dots and Albert twelve, enough for only three more hours, and they would have to waste at least one of these waiting in the pit, hidden from the sun.

  “How’s your wrist?” Albert asked her, initiating a small talk to keep them distracted.

  Keira had not thought about her wrist for a long time. Four days ago, she had removed the bandages, and she never had put them back on again. Her wrist seemed to have healed completely.

  “It’s fine now,” she replied. “I don’t even think or care about it anymore.” She sighed. “I can’t believe that just a couple of weeks ago, those events felt as if nothing else mattered, as if they were the most important and sad things in my life. Oh, my God, how insignificant and inconsequential they feel now!” She mulled over those thoughts for a while in silence. “It’s funny how our priorities can change so drastically from one day to the next,” she went on. “At that time, I’d have given anything to write a great story about that night and become a famous journalist. Now, I’d give anything just to be back at home.”

  “I understand how you feel, but for me it’s different,” Albert confessed. He stirred uncomfortably on the hard floor. “To me, all these technologies are like a dream come true, and even being here isn’t so hard for me. It’s like being stationed in Antarctica or in the International Space Station, but much more exciting. If the aliens would give me assurance that I’d be OK and could return to Earth in several years, I’d stay with them gladly. Of course, my dream doesn’t include you, or Dylan, being stuck with me, and I’ll do anything in my power to get you back safely, I can promise you that. And of course, I hate being put into dangerous situations every time they feel like it.” He smiled.

  “What about your parents, your family, the farm? Don’t you miss them?”

  “I miss them every second; don’t misunderstand me.” Albert was hurt by Keira’s implication, and he sounded irritated. “But this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn about incredible technologies and explore places that no one has ever seen before and probably no human will ever see in a few thousand years more.” He raised his voice. “I’m deeply sorry for you and Dylan. I’m worried for our families, and I’m sad every time I think about them. I miss Earth, my farm, my horse, my life. I’m pissed off that things aren’t running smoothly with the aliens, and I’m scared because I don’t know why we’re here. But since I’m already here, I’m going to make the most of it, and I’m thrilled and excited about that. I believe you can understand this, can’t you?”

  Keira hadn’t expected Albert’s rant. “It wasn’t my intention to judge you,” she said, trying to soothe him. “It’s just hard for me to believe that someone would find a single positive thing in our situation. I thought all of us wanted to go home more than anything else.”

  Albert relaxed. She was right to be shocked by his words, and he should have been more careful given their current, difficult situation. “No, it’s my fault,” he said. “What I hope you understand is that, no matter what, I’ll make sure you get back home safely.”

  “And what about you?”

  “I don’t know yet. I think it will depend on the circumstances. If they let me stay for a while, safely, and promise me they’ll return me to Earth, I’ll stay for sure. If not, if they have any other intentions, I’ll go back with you.”

  “I’m not sure they’ll give us any options.”

  “In that case, we will create our own.”

  The small talk had not been as reassuring as Keira had expected, but she had to respect Albert’s decision, although she hoped he would change his mind in the future. It was odd, she thought, that if anyone had asked her just a few days ago whom she would have wanted as a companion in a situation like this, she would have chosen Albert for sure. But now that Dylan wasn’t with them, she found Albert too cold and distant, and even with his reassurances of going back, and his confidence, she found herself missing the immature and sometimes annoying presence of Dylan. His close, warm, and joyful nature was like a soothing balm that she missed more than anything Albert could possibly give her.

  Thinking about Dylan, she let her mind wander over the events that had led to his accident, and she unconsciously touched her wrist with her hand. She felt the button on her wrist and retired her hand in haste, fearing that the suit would retreat, exposing her hand. Her sudden movement caught Albert’s attention.

  “Are you OK?”

  “Yes, it’s nothing,” she replied. “I accidentally touched the suit’s wrist button, and I panicked for a moment. I thought the suit would expose my hand, but nothing happened.”

  Albert frowned. He thought for a second and realized the flaw in the suits. If they accidentally touched one of the buttons, the suit would open, leaving them unprotected. Unless…He didn’t think twice, and touched the button on his wrist on purpose. Nothing happened. Either the suit didn’t react because he was wearing the helmet or it somehow sensed that it was dangerous to expose his hand. He smiled. There was no flaw after all.

  “Don’t worry,” he told her. “You can touch them all you want. The suit will ignore your requests.”

  “How would you know that?” she asked, intrigued.

  “I touched it already,” he replied coldly.

  “What? Are you crazy? What if it had worked?” She co
uldn’t believe his lack of judgment.

  “You said that nothing happened when you touched your wrist button,” he explained. “It would also have represented a flaw in the suit design, which is unlikely. It was not a rash decision; it was a calculated risk.”

  He looked up and quickly got up before she could reply. “Time to go,” he said plainly, and walked to the ladder. Then, as he was about to climb the ladder, he glimpsed something that caught his eye. It was a faint glint coming from a wall near one of the corners. He turned his face to see it better, but the glint disappeared when he changed his angle of vision.

  “Keira, can you please move to that corner for me?” he asked.

  She turned around and looked at the area where Albert was aiming with his finger. “There? Why?”

  “I think I saw something over there. I want to be sure it’s nothing.”

  Keira did as he said while Albert adopted the same position that he had when he saw the glint the first time.

  “OK, I saw it again.” He was now sure there was something on the wall. “Move a little to your right.” With this and other commands, he directed her toward the spot where the glint shone. “Now, put your finger on the wall, to your right.”

  Keira followed his instructions until her finger was over the glint.

  “Don’t move now,” he said before approaching her and looking at the spot on the wall near her finger.

  It was one of the darkest corners of the pit, and it was difficult to discern anything on the dark wall, even with the helmet’s goggles. “Can you see anything?” he asked.

  “I can’t. You?”

  “No, but I’m sure it was there.” He decided to try touching the wall as they had on the small ship to uncover compartments.

  He put his hand over the wall, softly, but nothing happened. Then he pushed it with force, using his whole body. The wall suddenly opened inward, and he could not prevent his own inertia from pulling him clumsily into it. He screamed in surprise before falling into the other side of the wall.