The Opening (The Universal Portals Book 1)

by J. Blanes

  The other guns were identical. Keira and Albert grabbed theirs reluctantly and prepared to leave the ship. This time, Blip would accompany them in case they needed an interpreter.

  “Where do we find our hermit guest?” Dylan asked.

  “The ship will guide me to his home. It’s a fifteen-minute walk,” Blip replied.

  The ramp lowered once again, revealing a light-orange, clouded sky, like a beautiful dawn on Earth, except for the fact that it was noon on this planet. The light painted the inside dark walls orange, creating a relaxing, tropical summer feeling that came accompanied by a gentle hot breeze that warmed their faces. The view was not so lovely, as only boulders, rocks, and some bony vegetation dwelt on the rugged, dusty ground.

  “Is the whole planet like this?” Keira asked in disappointment.

  “Not at all,” Blip replied. “This is an unusually arid region, and we’re in the middle of this planet’s summer. And it’s noon.”

  Keira looked up at the sun positioned almost vertically over them. She found it strangely similar to Earth’s sun, but it appeared redder and a little smaller.

  “It’s a small sun,” she commented.

  Blip smiled before correcting her mistake. “This star is several times larger than your sun,” he said. “But this planet is farther away from it than Earth’s is from your sun, so it appears to be smaller when in fact it is much bigger. By the way, it’s a red star, I’m sure Albert was wondering about its color.”

  Blip was right; Albert had been wondering about it. The star’s red color mixed with the atmosphere gave the planet its orange tinge. It was interesting, but nothing as exciting as the first alien plant a person had ever seen. He approached a tall, withered bush standing a few yards from the ship. From a distance, it looked like any dead bush on Earth, but as he approached, he started to notice visible differences, like a rhythmic pumping movement on the trunk and branches. Instead of bark, a translucent, smooth skin, much like that of a hairless animal, covered its surface. Suddenly, when he was only a few feet away from it, the bush deflated abruptly like a balloon that has lost its air, and shrank to less than half its size. Its branches seemed to have lost most of their stiffness and waggled like unhandled puppet extremities. Albert stopped, amazed at the bush’s reaction to his presence. He pushed it gently with his hand, and the bush moved without offering any resistance, as if made from soft rubber.

  Keira’s voice sounded behind him. “What happened to it?” She came along with Dylan, all of them as stunned as Albert by the bush’s weird behavior.

  “I have no idea,” Albert replied truthfully. “I think it sensed my presence and just…this.”

  “It’s not a plant.” It was Blip’s voice this time. He had just arrived with a smirk on his face. “It’s an invertebrate, and it reacts like this when it feels threatened. This way, animals can pass by, and even trample over it, without damaging its extremities. It does the same during storms to protect itself from strong winds.” Then, he turned around and stared directly at Albert. “And on top of that, it’s extremely poisonous, so you’d better go back inside and clean your hands thoroughly. If you even touch your lips with them, you’ll be dead in a matter of minutes.”

  Albert left in a hurry and came back in under a minute. Instead of cleaning his hands, he had changed into another suit, just in case. Then, they started their walk together.

  Most of the terrain was a boring, barren desert, with the fake poisonous “bush” they had seen near the ship as its most conspicuous inhabitant. It was perfectly adapted to this tough environment thanks to its ability to drill down into the ground until it found water, exactly as a plant would do. It got its nutrients by killing insects and small animals that inadvertently touched it as they passed by. Its sticky skin would trap them, and the powerful venom would take care of the rest.

  Albert also noticed that some round boulders and stones were different from the others, but almost identical to each other. “They’re plants, not animals,” Blip corrected him.

  “Plants that are animals and stones that are plants,” Dylan remarked. “What a nice country this is, so deceitful. Are you sure you’re not from here?”

  Blip ignored him and explained that these plants were the staple diet of most of the planet’s inhabitants. They were extremely abundant, edible even by Humans, and as nutritious as milk. Albert could not resist tasting one, and he tore a branch off to eat it.

  “It tastes like bread,” he remarked with approval. Then he passed it along for the others to taste it, too. “Bread that grows everywhere, what a lucky planet! We should bring some of them with us and plant them back on Earth. It would end the famine forever,” he added exultantly.

  “Not possible,” Blip blurted out. “Interstellar exchange of life is only allowed for advanced civilizations that can understand the implications and handle the consequences of such dangerous actions. Species easily become invasive in other environments and can destroy local flora and fauna. Whatever you bring with you on the ship will be immediately quarantined and incinerated. No exceptions.”

  “OK, OK, I agree. No harm done, see?” Albert emptied his suit pockets, where he had surreptitiously gathered a bunch of the small, bread-like plants.

  “How did you?” Blip couldn’t believe it. “I’d expect something like this from someone dumb like him”—he pointed at Dylan—“but not from you!”

  “Hey!” Dylan complained. “Who’s the dumb one? You little stiff worm!” He grabbed Blip with one hand and threatened to punch him with the other, as Blip glared back at him defiantly while making some obscene gestures.

  “Look! I think we’ve arrived,” Keira interrupted them.

  “Let me go!” Blip shouted at Dylan.

  “With pleasure,” Dylan replied as he released him abruptly, letting him fall to the ground. Blip cursed before hobbling to Keira.

  A hundred yards ahead of them, a huge, slanted rock slab acted as the perfect roof for a stone house. The rock rested on huge boulders while the house’s front was sealed with carefully placed stones and a shabby wooden door. As Blip had told them, they’d arrived after a short fifteen-minute walk.

  They walked the remaining hundred yards with caution. They didn’t know whether the guest was friend or foe and didn’t want to startle or alarm him. When they were close, Albert and Dylan went ahead a few yards, pistols in hand hidden behind their backs, ready to use them in an emergency.

  They walked along a fence that protected a vegetable garden, probably against local animals. Keira stopped to look at the plants, almost all of them with brown leaves instead of green, the vegetables unknown to her. Blip quickly enumerated most of them for her, until a puzzling row of green plants with red fruits made him waver.

  “Those are not cataloged,” he confessed.

  “If it weren’t impossible, I’d say that they are tomato plants,” Keira remarked, amused at the remarkable resemblance with Earth’s plant.

  Then, everything went crazy in a second.

  She heard Dylan shout, “Look out!” and Blip screaming like a hysterical old lady. She spun around to look at the spot from where she’d heard Dylan’s shout.

  Albert was lying unconscious on the ground, next to Dylan, who was now also unconscious and with a stream of blood coming out of his head. A monkey-like animal with two incredibly long tails on his back was on top of Dylan. When the animal heard Blip’s scream, it stared fiercely at them. In an instant, it bent one of its tails into a coiled shape and used it to spring toward Keira’s position, at the same time bending the other tail end like a ball as a punching weapon. It was so fast that it took Keira by surprise, despite the fact that the strange animal was more than ten yards away from her. Blip fainted in fear at the animal’s sudden and furious charge. Keira was the last one standing, and it seemed that she had no chance against such a determined and swift attack.

  In less tha
n a second, the animal had positioned itself just a yard away from her, ready to knock her out with its formidable tail.

  In less than a second, the attack was over.

  SEVENTEEN

  The impact with the incoming animal had been so brutal that Keira fell backward, with the unconscious animal on top of her.

  It had come at her with incredible speed, but having her weapon ready in hand, she had managed to shoot it at the crucial moment when it jumped at her to strike with its tail. She had not aimed, as she’d barely had time to raise her arm when she instinctively ducked to avoid the tail hit, and so she didn’t know whether she had missed or not, as she had closed her eyes at the last moment. The impact of the animal’s body had pushed her backward, throwing both of them onto the ground. Still with her eyes closed, feeling the animal’s body on top of her, she waited for a blow that never came. When she finally opened her eyes, she saw the animal lying unconscious on her belly, its tails entangled chaotically all around her.

  She pushed the animal aside and leaned forward. Albert and Dylan were still motionless on the ground. She saw as Blip subtly opened an eye to see whether the danger was over or not.

  “Very brave,” she mocked him.

  “Are you OK?” he asked, ignoring her comment. He was truly concerned about her.

  “I’m OK. I managed to shoot it before it could hit me,” she explained before getting to her feet and hurrying to her friends’ side, kneeling over Dylan.

  “Dylan!” she called as she examined his head wound. It was still bleeding, but it wasn’t a serious injury. It seemed that he had hit a small stone when he fell, and she sighed in relief.

  Next to her, Albert groaned in pain, putting a hand on his head. “What happened?” he whispered. He opened his eyes and leaned forward.

  Almost at the same time, Dylan woke up and looked around. When he saw that Keira was covered in dust, he was worried. “Are you OK? Did it attack you, too?”

  “It did, but I stopped it,” she said proudly, pointing at the unconscious animal lying behind them. They turned around to see it and then looked at her in amazement and admiration.

  “But how?” Dylan asked, incredulous.

  “First, let’s go inside,” Keira replied. “I think we can safely assume that our resident isn’t home if he hasn’t come out already with all this commotion.”

  She was concerned that more animals would come, and if they were just as dangerous as this one, they would have no chance of survival here in the open. The others understood her concern and got up, but as they were about to enter the house, Blip called them back.

  “We can’t leave this animal here! It’s defenseless and easy prey for others. We should bring it inside with us.”

  “Are you crazy?” Dylan snapped. “It almost killed us, and you want to bring it inside with us?”

  “It won’t wake up for hours, and it’s the right thing to do; we’re responsible for its current state. Come on, don’t be so Human,” Blip pleaded. “Put aside your rancorous nature and bring it in.”

  “Rancorous? Look who’s talking, Mr. Resentful himself!” Dylan blurted out.

  “Blip’s right,” Keira interrupted. “We can’t leave it here to die. It attacked us, but it’s not its fault; it’s just an animal trying to survive.” She got on her feet and came close to the animal. It surprised her how inoffensive it looked now. It was completely brown and had the face and body of a big, stuffed teddy bear with big eyes. However, its legs were longer and looked very strong and muscular. No wonder it had been able to move so quickly during the attack. On each side of its body, two short, stumpy arms were shadowed by the two long tails that emerged from its middle back. They were about one inch in diameter, and Keira estimated that each one measured at least six feet long. She had witnessed how the animal could instantly bend them into any shape it desired, and she was sure that it had no use for its arms with such versatile and powerful extremities. In all, it was a wonderful and admirable animal, and dangerous, too. She knelt to grab and carry it to the house.

  “What are you waiting for? Open the door; it’s not light as a feather, you know!” she shouted at her hesitant friends.

  They obeyed, and Albert opened the door, which was unlocked. Inside the house, Keira left the animal on the ground in a corner near the door. It wasn’t necessary to tie it up, because as Blip said, it would sleep for many hours.

  The house consisted of a single, almost empty room. Ragged sheets on the floor next to the right wall served as a crude bed and, beside it, a dried wooden trunk as a crude bench. It was the only furnishing in the whole room. A soot-blackened wall and some stones on the floor near it, aligned in a circular formation that enclosed some extinguished ashes, indicated the presence of a very simple hearth, much like a campfire. An open crevice between the rocks on the back wall allowed for smoke to escape. Two simple wood-and-stone tools rested on the wall, probably used to tend the outside garden. Several clay pots beside them, clearly handmade, contained some herbs and seeds, and a big one had some water in it. Among these rudimentary things, many flowerpots with some beautiful red flowers planted in them, organized by size, gave a warm, pleasant touch to the room. Whoever resided here led a very humble and difficult life.

  Keira and Albert sat on the trunk, and Dylan did the same on the floor, leaning on the wall in front of them. Blip jumped onto Keira’s lap.

  “We need to wait,” he said, stating the obvious. “The ship won’t leave if we don’t come back with him.”

  Keira looked at Dylan’s blood on his face. He had tried to wipe it away but had only managed to spread it more. “What happened out there?” she asked finally.

  At the mention of the attack, Albert rubbed his head again. “It came at us with lightning speed from the roof,” he recalled. “I had no time to react at all. When I registered what was happening, it was already too late. The only thing I remember, after seeing it flying at us, is a brown ball coming from nowhere and hitting my head. And then, nothing.” He gave the unconscious animal an annoyed look.

  “It hit us at the same time with both tails,” Dylan added. “You know, one tail for you, one tail for me, that simple. It was so fast that my arm and gun were still behind me when I fell.” He moved his arm behind him to show them. “What about you? How did you defeat it?”

  Keira stirred in her seat. “I still don’t know exactly,” she replied. “When I heard your warning and turned to look at you, you were already on the ground. The animal was on top of you when Blip’s screams caught his attention. It attacked me, and I shot it with my eyes closed. I was lucky, I suppose.”

  “It’s incredible how quickly it attacked us,” Albert remarked in wonder. “And the way it bends its tails as weapons, it’s fantastic.”

  “And that’s not all,” Keira interrupted. “It also bent one of his tails like a coil to help it jump at me. I think it can make any shape it wants with them.”

  “Really?” Albert couldn’t hide his admiration. “That’s really cool!”

  Several minutes passed in silence. Keira looked around, trying to understand the kind of creature that would live there. She could not pinpoint it, but the place had a strange feeling of familiarity.

  “Is it me or does this room feel familiar?” she commented. “I mean, look at the hearth, the pots and the flowers, the tools, even the door—don’t they strike you as something a person would do?”

  “I was thinking the same,” Albert agreed. “This alien lives like any person would in the same circumstances. And the flowers, do the aliens decorate with flowers, too?” This question was directed at Blip, who had buried himself comfortably in Keira’s lap, eyes closed, arms behind his head.

  “Beauty is a universal concept, at least for those species with the ability to see in colors.” Blip answered without moving at all, not even opening his eyes. “Nothing odd about the flowers.”

 
; As Keira continued her visual inspection of the room, something caught her attention under the bed sheets. She stared at it for a moment and got on her feet to look closer. She had forgotten about Blip, and he fell to the floor. He complained bitterly, but she ignored him, her eyes fixed on the sheets.

  “What’s wrong?” Dylan asked.

  Keira knelt over the bed and moved aside the sheet to uncover a worn, thick book. “Look, it’s a book!” she gasped excitedly at the others, who sprang to her side.

  “A book?” Blip’s voice came from the floor behind them. “Now, that’s strange! Most species don’t use them, ever.”

  The cover had nothing on it that could reveal its contents, so she opened it slowly with anticipation. The text was gibberish to them, but the pictures clearly depicted animals and plants. It was easy to guess that the text described each picture in detail. Other pages contained series of pictures detailing procedures, like cultivating some kind of plant or collecting some juice from another, and even making hunting traps for small animals.

  “It looks like a survival guide,” Albert remarked. “Probably survival on this planet. It was clearly not printed here, so he must have brought it with him when he first came here. It must be a valuable possession for him, probably his lifesaver.”

  “May I see it?” Blip asked from the floor. Keira crouched and showed him the book.

  “I can’t believe it! These are archaic Pakma symbols!” he exclaimed in surprise.

  “What’s wrong with that?” Keira asked, intrigued by his reaction.

  “The Pakma are one of the most advanced civilizations in the whole universe,” Blip explained. “Why would they write a book? I mean, they have the ability to store huge amounts of information in their minds and shared memory systems. They could learn the information contained in this book in less than a nanosecond, and not by reading it. These symbols were used and preserved in their most cherished and primitive texts, but I’ve never seen them outside that context.”