The Opening (The Universal Portals Book 1)

by J. Blanes

  “Where are we?” Albert asked him, wondering if they had already reached their destination.

  “I have no idea,” Blip replied. “The ship just told me that we’re going to make a short stop on a planet on this system for restocking some minerals needed for fuel.”

  “Minerals? For fuel?” Albert was surprised that an advanced ship like this would need any kind of fuel. He assumed that it had a nuclear-fusion-powered engine or something even more advanced.

  “The portal we have crossed was weak and small, and the ship used most of its energy to activate it,” Blip explained. “The ship needs the minerals to extract some elements from them and use them to generate its energy.” He also explained the reason behind the portal’s weakness and their need to use an intermediate star system instead of going all the way to their destination.

  “So, the next portal will transport us to our destination?” Keira wondered.

  “I think so. I have no more information on that matter. The ship isn’t telling me anything about it,” Blip confessed.

  “I have another question,” Albert interrupted abruptly. “What about nuclear fusion for the engines on this ship? Haven’t the Tolok mastered that technology yet?” He was dumbfounded over the possibility that such an advanced civilization like the Tolok would not have learned that technology yet. “And I’m talking about fusion, not fission, the kind that we use on Earth,” he clarified.

  “Nuclear fusion?” Blip seemed not to understand. “Let me ask the ship.” He remained motionless and silent for several seconds, staring blankly at the table. “Nuclear fusion is not allowed on ships that cross portals,” he said suddenly. “It’s too unstable. This ship works with plasma engines, less efficient, but totally safe for portals.”

  “I see,” Albert said, strangely relieved to be wrong. The Tolok had not disappointed him after all. “What minerals does this ship need to replenish?”

  “Your curiosity has no limits, eh?” Blip replied impatiently. “Look. I’m no expert on these matters, but maybe the Tolok will explain things to you when we arrive. Just ask them.”

  “OK, I will, but just answer me this one and I’ll shut up,” Albert negotiated.

  Blip sighed and nodded. “OK. This ship needs all kind of elements, but the ones it needs the most now are platinum, palladium, iridium, and plutonium. Satisfied?”

  Albert couldn’t help himself and asked another question. “Is this planet a mine paradise? How will it find those rare elements in enough quantities?”

  “Only minuscule amounts are needed from each element. Any rocky planet has more than enough.”

  “How will the ship get the minerals? Is there a civilization on this system that will help us with that?” Albert was excited about the chance to meet a new civilization, but Blip soon shattered his dream.

  “Don’t worry about that. The ship will get the minerals by itself,” he explained. “And this whole star system is uninhabited. The planet where we’re going to stop only has primitive forms of life. More primitive than Humans, I mean.” He chuckled. “Bacteria primitive.”

  “Bacteria primitive,” Albert mumbled. It wasn’t a civilization, but it was better than nothing. It would be worth trying. “I want to go to this planet,” Albert announced excitedly. “On the small ship.”

  “Not a chance,” Blip refused. “Too dangerous. This ship will never allow it.”

  “Why dangerous?” Albert insisted. “You said that only primitive life forms inhabit the planet, and we won’t get out of the ship.”

  “I said no,” Blips said again. “If the Tolok find about this, they’ll destroy me and use me for pieces.”

  “If that’s your concern, then you don’t have to worry. We won’t tell anyone. It will be our secret. Right, Keira?”

  Albert’s question took Keira by surprise. She had assumed that Blip’s negative was the last word and hadn’t thought enough about it. “I…I…” she stammered. “I think so,” she finally said without a hint of conviction. Then, she suddenly felt that seeing the planet would be a nice change after so many weeks of being enclosed inside ugly walls and the empty space. “And I want to go, too,” she volunteered.

  “See? Nothing to worry about,” Albert said excitedly. He was amazed at Keira’s unexpected reaction.

  “I don’t know. It’s not my call, the ship…” Blip was trying to find an excuse when Keira interrupted him.

  “And you have to come with us, too,” she said adamantly.

  Both Albert and Blip were shocked by this news. “What?” they said at once.

  “If something happens, you’ll be there to protect us,” she argued. “I don’t mean that anything will happen, but if it does, you’ll save us for sure. You’ll be my hero,” she added coyly, accompanying her words with a charming smile and a complicit wink.

  Her manipulative tactics worked faster than she expected, as Blip attitude changed radically in an instant. “Well, if that’s the case, I don’t know why not. Of course, I’ll need to be there, just in case,” he said conceitedly.

  “Great! How much time until we arrive at the planet?” Albert asked excitedly, rubbing his hands.

  “About eight hours,” Blip estimated.

  “OK, then while we wait,” Albert said, “let me ask you a question about something that’s been bothering me lately.”

  Albert was tireless with his questions, and Blip’s eyes rolled in desperation.

  “Please, have mercy,” he pleaded.

  “Only one question,” Albert said. “It’s important for me.”

  “Only one?” Blip repeated.

  “Only one,” Albert assured him.

  “OK, shoot.”

  “How did the Tolok know we would find the ship on Earth? I mean, we could’ve ignored the signal, or I could’ve come alone.”

  “That was plan A,” Blip explained, “the easiest and safest one to implement, in part thanks to you and your home lab. The Tolok compiled a psychological profile on you and your friends, and they bet on your scientific curiosity and the natural curiosity of your friends. The small ship landed on Earth months ago, and I waited on this ship for the right opportunity, which came when your friends visited you. The Tolok knew they would visit you eventually. The big ship sent the signals to your home lab, and the rest you already know.”

  “What if plan A failed? I came alone the first day, after all,” Albert reasoned. “Or they could’ve not visited me for a long time.”

  “We had plans B and C,” Blip replied calmly. “The Tolok would never leave anything to chance. I told you, plan A was the easiest and safest one.”

  “What were plans B and C?” Albert inquired curiously.

  “You don’t want to know.” Blip sharply ended the round of questions. “And you have spent your last question already.”

  A little later Blip got the ship’s approval to go visit the planet. Albert suspected that he had not needed it in the first place and that all that arguing had just been an excuse to avoid confrontations with them. It didn’t matter anyway; they would go down to the planet, the first planet not counting the moon to be visited by a human, ever! A shiver of emotion ran through his whole body. Ever!

  After a while, Dylan joined them in the kitchen, and they decided to eat something. The effects of the anesthesia were long gone, and their stomachs were empty. As always, Dylan was hungry and ready to eat anything.

  “Can you tell this ship to prepare me a hamburger?” Dylan asked Blip. “Or something solid, not these jelly tubes.”

  “What’s a hamburger?” Blip inquired.

  “Basically, grilled ground beef,” Dylan explained.

  “Beef? From another life being?” Blip was appalled and speechless.

  Dylan couldn’t understand Blip’s reaction. “Of course, from what else?”

  “Killing is strictly forbidden except i
n extreme survival situations,” Blip explained when he recovered. Then, enraged, he shouted, “Only primeval species kill for eating; otherwise, it’s barbaric!”

  “So, you’re vegans,” Dylan said calmly. “That explains a lot.” Blip’s words didn’t affect him. He knew many people thought like Blip, but he wasn’t happy at the prospect of having to continue eating jelly meals for a long time.

  “Vegans?” It was another of those words that made Blip worry about his Human dictionaries. They were supposed to be current and comprehensive, but this was obviously not the case. “I don’t know what you mean, but I can tell you that the meals this ship prepares for you are specifically designed to give you all the nutrients you need during your trip. They’re chemically engineered on the ship, along with the molecules that give them a familiar and appealing taste for you. Isn’t that enough?”

  “Well, if that’s true, what’s the issue here?” Dylan complained. “Just tell the ship to chemically engineer a hamburger for me, along with the tasty molecules that go with it.”

  Blip gave up. It was impossible to argue with such an idiot. He sighed and gave and Keira an imploring look for help. She had been eating next to them at the table all this time.

  “Dylan, stop nagging him and leave him alone,” she reprimanded him. “We need him sharp and focused to accompany us later.”

  “Accompany where?” Dylan asked. He still didn’t know about the conversation Albert and Keira had had about the trip to the planet.

  “We’re going to visit a planet on the small ship while this ship replenishes its minerals or whatever,” she explained concisely.

  “A planet? Here? What’s down there? A city?” Dylan had the same thoughts as Albert. The prospect of visiting an alien city really excited him.

  “Not at all, it seems that there are only rocks and bacteria down there,” she replied uninterestedly. “And we won’t leave the small ship.”

  Dylan didn’t hide his disappointment. “Why go down there then?”

  “Just for distraction,” Keira replied before letting Albert express his opinion.

  Dylan thought that his friends had gone crazy. “Bacteria? Isn’t that dangerous?”

  “Maybe, but Blip will take good care of us,” Keira said as she smiled and winked at him.

  “Putting our lives in his hands? Not me!” Dylan blurted out.

  “OK,” Keira said with indifference.

  “Aren’t you going to persuade me to go?”

  “Me? Why?” She gave him a confused look.

  “Because that’s what you always do.”

  “Really? I hadn’t noticed. In any case, not this time,” she said as she resumed eating her meal.

  Something was going on, Dylan thought. This was not her normal behavior. Were they hiding something from him? He needed to find out. “You know what? I changed my mind. I’ll go with you. I don’t trust him, and someone needs to keep an eye on him.”

  “Sure.” Keira looked down at her meal and chuckled.

  Hours later, Blip guided them to the small ship. He told them to wait for him inside, and left. They sat at the table and waited in silence. A nostalgic atmosphere prevailed in there, because the small ship reminded them of Earth. Less than a month had passed since they left, but it seemed like a lifetime ago. The hit-and-run, Dylan’s accident, the days at the farm, all of them felt unreal now. Keira’s wrist was completely healed, and the only constant reminder they had from those days was the visible scar left by the bullet on Dylan’s cheek.

  “They surely think we’re dead by now,” she suddenly said.

  Albert and Dylan gave her a puzzled look. “Who?”

  “Our families, Detective Powell, everybody.”

  “Our families will never give up unless the bodies are found,” Albert disagreed, “and that will never happen. So instead of being sad for them, think of how happy they will feel when they see us alive and well. Use it as an extra motivator to find a way to go back.”

  “What’s with the mourning faces in here?” Blip interrupted. He had just arrived, startling everybody. “Aren’t you happy to visit the planet?”

  “It’s only a temporary case of homesickness,” Dylan told him. “Nothing to worry about. Right, Keira?”

  “Yes, nothing to worry about,” she said unconvincingly. “We’re very excited with this trip.”

  Blip felt sorry for them. He had never had a family, but he knew about the strong bonds that hold a family together and how hard it was for them to be so far apart. But maybe the information he was carrying would help to lighten their mood.

  “I have good news,” he announced happily. “The ship found a perfect landing spot, and you’re allowed to explore the surroundings. What a better proof that we’re really in another star system, eh?”

  “Do you mean we can get out of the small ship and walk on the planet?” Albert asked incredulously.

  “Yes, that’s what I meant,” Blip confirmed as he nodded. “But only if you follow my instructions to the letter,” he warned them. “At the first sign of trouble, I’ll cancel the trip.”

  “No problem, we’ll behave. When do we leave?” Albert couldn’t contain his excitement and almost cried from emotion. Walking on a planet, in another star system, it was too good to be true; no one had done that before, a first for mankind! A feeling of pride overwhelmed him, and he could already imagine the headlines: Albert Blake, the new Neil Armstrong of space exploration…

  “We’ll leave as soon as you’re secured in the seats.” Blip’s voice interrupted his dream.

  They sat as instructed, and Blip told them to remain there until further notice.

  “Where will you be?” There were no secure seats adapted to his little body, and Keira wondered how Blip would protect himself from the ship’s abrupt accelerations.

  “I have a special place for me on the front,” he replied before heading toward the control room. As soon as he left, the lights went out, and the room sealed itself, leaving them in the dark except for the familiar blue, glowing lights.

  Seconds later, they felt a slight vibration, but nothing that indicated that the ship had initiated its takeoff. They felt they were going up; Albert thought an elevator was transporting them to the ship’s surface, and he informed the others about it. When the vibrations stopped, he also told them to be prepared for immediate takeoff.

  The suffocating acceleration was more bearable this time, thanks to Blip’s skilled handling of the ship. The ship soon started to shake as it entered the planet’s atmosphere, as they knew from their last experience. However, the shakings were brief and sporadic, and they ceased almost immediately, giving way to a pleasant and smooth flight.

  At that moment, the lights turned on, their seats released them, and the door to the control room opened. They rushed into the room, eager to see for themselves.

  Blip was standing in the middle of the room, leaning on a column, slightly taller than him, anchored to the floor. Two cables attached to the column connected to his back, giving him control of the small ship. But they didn’t stop to look at him, as the view from the window rapidly got their attention.

  The sky was not blue but a pale gray, and it had no clouds. A tenuous haze permeated the surface as far as they could see, hiding the surface details from them but at the same time giving it an attractive aura of mystery. As appealing as they found this, the most striking view in front of them came from outside the planet, because instead of one sun, there were two. One star was the size of our sun, and the other was about half of it. Albert had long known about binary stars, two stars that orbit around each other, but being so close to one of them was beyond incredible. He felt like his heart would burst out of his chest.

  “Binary stars,” he mumbled in awe. “Incredible!”

  “They’re beautiful,” Keira said sincerely.

  “It’s like seein
g double,” Dylan commented.

  Blip interrupted their mumblings when he announced that they were about to arrive at their destination. The ship lowered its altitude, and they could gradually discern more details about the planet’s surface. It was surprisingly white and flat, with a few scattered rocks, and from time to time they could glimpse some white, trunk-like structures like dead, branchless trees, some upright, some broken in pieces, and others lying on the ground.

  “Is this snow?” Dylan wondered about the pervasive white color.

  “I don’t know what it is, but it’s not snow,” Blip answered. “It’s probably because of the huge amount of calcium that the ship detected in this area.”

  “What about those trunks?” Keira asked, intrigued by the mysterious formations.

  “Ah, those! You’re going to see a forest of them,” Blip announced. “I’ll explain more when we land. Now, you need to go sit down again; we’re landing soon.”

  They did as instructed and waited for the ship to land. When it stopped, Blip appeared in the room and told them to grab their helmets and meet him in the kitchen.

  “Listen to me carefully,” he said with a somber face as they huddled up. “This planet’s atmosphere is very corrosive, so you must be careful to avoid touching anything; it could cut through your suit and cause severe burns or worse. In addition, you can stay outside only twenty Human minutes at most; the suits won’t protect you any longer than that. Therefore, when I call you, you must hurry back to this ship. Understood?”

  “Yes!” they shouted.

  “There’s also the matter of gravity. This is a small planet, smaller than your moon, so its gravity is weak. You’ll need some time to adapt yourselves to it; do it carefully. There’s no ship gravity out there to help you.

  “Now, we landed here because it’s relatively safe and near one of the few interesting places this planet has to offer. The trunks you have seen are made by colonies of microorganisms, much like the coral reefs on Earth. A few hundred yards from the ship, there’s a forest of them. They’re hollow columns that slowly grow from the ground up for millennia,” he explained, “and gradually bend down because of their own weight. At some time, the free end touches the ground again, and the whole trunk forms an arch. Then, the arch snaps in the middle, forming two separated trunks, and the process repeats itself. That’s how they reproduce. They’re also bigger than they appeared from up there, and can reach extremely high altitudes. Any questions?”