by Mark Wandrey
“What does she mean ‘screwed up’?” asked one of the cops, a huge black man who had been talking quietly to his scared looking wife and their nine-year-old daughter. “You said we can get away from this comet, man,” he said to Billy.
“It’s a meteor,” Mindy said and the man rounded on her.
“I don’t give a flying fuck what it is, all I know is it’s about to crash on our heads!”
“Take it easy, Adamson,” Billy said and moved between them. Several of the young children were crying now but the big cop backed away. “If my wife says she can fix it, she can fix it.”
“What is it, some kind of a secret entrance to a bomb shelter?” asked one of the wives.
“You didn’t tell them?” Mindy asked.
“There wasn’t time,” he said, “and there still isn’t.” He turned to the crowd. ‘Everyone, it’s a way to survive, guaranteed, if we can just get there.” Slowly, they all began to nod their heads. The ones who knew about the Portal all looked at each other and her with worried expressions. They knew much more of the truth that the others, even Billy.
“I guess we’re in, then,” one of the police officers said, a middle-aged man dressed in the blue patrolman’s uniform and accompanied by his wife and two young daughters.
“Good, time to get going.” Billy told them. “Here’s the plan.” They all listened with rapt attention as Mindy and Billy laid out the details of their plan. Occasionally someone would ask a question, but for the most part there was quiet. When she had finished, the silence stretched for some time. “Well, what do you think?” she asked finally.
“I think you’re insane,” said the black cop in tactical gear. Outside, a group of maybe fifty people tore by on foot carrying torches and screaming at the top of their lungs. Many had guns that they were firing into the air as they ran.
“No,” Billy said and pointed toward the street, “that is insane, what my wife suggests is a way out.”
“Why are we the only ones?” asked one of the police wives, “I mean, if it’s a bunker or some secret underground shelter why not a couple thousand people? Why are we the only ones who get to live? There are so many people still in the city; can’t we help more of them?” The other women and children old enough to understand were looking at Mindy with the same question in their eyes. It wasn’t an easy one to answer in only a few minutes, especially without souring the deal. If I tell them the truth the cops will bug out, she thought.
“Here’s the deal,” she began and Billy stiffened next to her, “we don’t have the time to explain everything about this escape device. All I can tell you is: I worked on it as did all these people over here,” she said and took in the people she had worked with on the Portal Project with a wave, “and this is real.” Her friends all voiced support or nodded their head. “We can use it to get away safely, but because of this trouble with the troops and the war they’ve started we can’t get there. We need your help and in return you can bring your families.” They seemed to be accepting her excuse so she pushed on. “The only other thing is, you only bring yourselves. There is a strict weight limit and we already have that equipment waiting. It’s everything you will need so you go only with the clothes on your back.”
“But we have pictures, family heirlooms-”
“Nothing,” she repeated, “we need every ounce for survival necessities. Life after the asteroid will be hard, but it will be impossible without those items we are going to bring.” There ensued a short argument about what they could bring and what they couldn’t. Eventually Mindy allowed each person five pounds of possessions while mentally figuring on what equipment that would cost them. Then the police informed her that their weapons would be going with them for which she insisted they sacrifice their five pounds in exchange. By the time they were done fussing over the details, an hour had been wasted.
“Let’s get moving,” Billy urged them and the group moved to the exit. “We’re going in groups of twelve, each one escorted by an armed officer. Since many of you have guns, we'll split you up with the groups as well to give maximum protection. The last group will consist of four officers with Mindy, the remaining civilians, and me. Everyone be extremely careful. We need to avoid any civilian contact, but more importantly, avoid the military. This whole plan hinges on our getting into the park without being detected.” He went on for a few more minutes about details and finally they got underway. Mindy followed him out with the last group, trying all the time to remember a useful prayer from her youth.
The young corporal was scared and confused, not a good combination for a twenty-something with a gun. All afternoon, the sounds of the distant battle kept getting closer and closer, while his anxiety level got higher and higher. From his post at the northern edge of Portal City there was little to do but watch for civilian incursions and keep an eye on the cargo trucks that were loading at warehouses in the near distance. Being only a corporal, he had no idea what was going on, who was fighting against them, or even why they were fighting. He only knew that his lieutenant had said they would be evacuated before Lebowski hit. As the day wore on, it was the only thing that kept him sane.
“You doing okay there, Corporal?” asked his sergeant from an idling Humvee. He'd been so lost in his own anxiety he hadn’t heard the rumbling machine pull up.
“Fine, sir, just a little worried.”
“Don’t be, rumor has it we’ll be pulling out in about twelve hours.” The young corporal smiled and nodded. The news took away a great deal of his fear as the sergeant moved on to check another guard post. He even waved at a cute blonde woman driving one of the flatbed trucks as it went by on its way to the big central dome.
“What did you wave back for?” Billy asked the girl driving the truck. He risked a glance out the window to verify that the soldier wasn't running for a radio. .
“Just keeping up the pretense of one big happy family,” she said and poked him in the ribs. The truck trundled along the steel girder road that had been laid out between the warehouses and the Portal. Behind them dozens of their group were busy loading two other trucks while ahead still more of their team were busy unloading the first truck. Of the five temporary warehouses, four were stuffed with all the junk hundreds of politicians and military geniuses could think of. The final warehouse held the results of many hours work by Mindy, Harold and their friends. The other four warehouses still showed almost no signs of life. The military guards didn’t realize that the equipment wasn't supposed to be mobilized yet, so the sudden appearance of loaded trucks heading toward the Portal was taken for granted.
Billy pulled their truck up outside the dome and jumped down. The first truck was almost unloaded and several men quickly trotted over to examine the load.
Mindy was riding with the load and she was unlocking cargo straps. “This is going to be tricky.” she warned him. “I mean the weights have to be close, I just don’t see how we can get everyone through quickly enough not to get caught.”
“We can’t take everything,” Billy said, “We just have to do the best we can. The adults can stagger through carrying as much as possible.”
Mindy nodded. “The women will have to carry a case or two and have more thrown after them. Only the children will have to use the case relay we talked about.”
“What about all the stuff piling up on the other side?” Billy asked.
“First person through will shout to get the attention of the personnel in Ft. Eden and they will come to help.”
“Just like that?”
“Yep. It’s like walking into a top secret base and wandering around unchallenged. Once your inside, everyone figures you’re supposed to be there.”
Billy nodded his head in understanding and agreement. “Just like the warehouse. We just showed up and loaded the trucks.”
“I was surprised, too. I’d wanted to go with the first truck so I could flash my ID. Forgot all about it until they were already through.”
“Our government in action,
” Billy said with a shake of his head.
“You take charge of getting this stuff offloaded and moved inside,” she said and headed toward the Portal Dome.
“Where you going, wife?”
“I’m going to go in and try to dial home, hubby.”
“Aren’t they going to be suspicious?”
“Look around you; they don’t have time for suspicion.”
Mindy strode away from the wide concrete staging area and toward the dome. The guards had been watching them work but like the rest of those charged with protecting the area they were only casually interested in what was happening. They only perked up as Mindy walked toward them.
“Can we help you, ma’am?” one of them asked.
“I’m on the team,” she said and flashed the ID that Leo Skinner had given her. The men seemed surprised but stood aside to let her through. “I will be overseeing the first of the equipment transfers.”
“Is it true we’re all going to another dimension?”
“You could say that,” she said and stepped inside.
Nothing was changed from the previous day with the exception that the dome was now deserted. All the technicians and scientists were nowhere in sight. “Better than I could have hoped for,” she laughed and headed straight for the glowing Portal dais. As she climbed to the top step, the holographic Portal sprang to life and she was back where she left off. “Okay, here we go.”
Mindy didn’t know how long she had been working before she realized there was someone else in the dome with her. She turned and wiped sweat from her brow to see who it was. “We were afraid you had run away,” Leo Skinner said.
“Where is there to run to?” She asked and turned back to her work.
“That’s what I told Hipstitch to shut him up. I figured you had taken advantage of the lapse of security to go see your new husband and would then be back. And look at this, here you are.”
“Here I am,” she said absentmindedly. He watched her work for several minutes. The translation for the ten new symbols was indelibly etched in her mind, but that didn’t mean she had the instructions to reprogram the Portal. How did the damn woman manage this?
“How did you figure this out so fast?”
“I didn’t, it was Harold. He had the translation in his laptop when they murdered him.”
“If he had just told someone, things might have happened differently.”
“I don’t believe that for a moment.”
“You think you’re close?”
“Hard to tell, it’s hit or miss at this stage,” she said, “and you’re making it harder.”
“Sorry,” Leo apologized and fell silent.
Time again became fluid as she worked; deeply submerged in the music of the new language she was learning. After a time, she again became aware of voices and turned her head. Her husband and Leo were engaged in an animated conversation that had become loud enough to interfere with her thought train. With effort, she tuned them out and got back to her task.
The Portal only afforded a minute to look at the symbols before shutting down, forcing her to log in again. It was slow, frustrating work. She’d quickly decided against working off images in her computer to complete the sequence. She needed to be standing there with it in front of her, just like the woman did. That made it more real. After a time, it all seemed to fall into place like tumblers in a lock.
With a certain amount of confidence, she reached out and tapped one of the symbols before they all disappeared. The entire Portal flashed and the same display that the old woman had used to sweep her hand across appeared. The conversation behind her suddenly ceased as Leo gasped in amazement. Taking a deep breath, she held contact against the holographic surface and swept her hand to another point, purple light trailing her fingers all the way. With a silent prayer, she removed her hand. The Portal flashed green and remained active. For the first time, it didn’t disappear after a minute.
“My God, you bloody did it!” Leo yelled and ran up the Portal steps to stand next to her. “Is it fixed?”
“I can’t be sure. It looks like there are ten possible destinations. This is the only one that made sense in the translation.”
“Do you think it might be the right location?” Leo asked.
“Could be, I started at the point that translates as ‘beginning’ and finished where the woman originally started. It makes sense, I guess. I just dialed backwards.”
“Well, we need another volunteer,” said Leo, rubbing his hands together.
“I’ll volunteer,” a man said from the doorway. It was one of Mindy’s friends from the Portal Project and Leo recognized him right away. She held her breath as he looked at the man but he only nodded and said that would be fine.
The man quickly moved to the Portal and Mindy pointed to a big stack of backpacks and equipment that Billy’s cops had moved in. “If you would take several of those with you; they all contain equipment that I’m sure we’ll need.” The man nodded his head and began picking up as many of the packs as he could and moving them in front of the still glowing Portal.
For the first time, Leo noticed all the equipment and more being moved in every moment. His face registered his surprise at the same time he saw all the people outside unloading trucks. “Maybe we should get a soldier in here,” Leo said suddenly looking confused.
“No time for that,” Mindy said, almost too quickly. “I mean, if this isn’t the destination we’ll need to keep trying until we get it right. You bring in that general and he’ll drive us crazy every time we’re wrong.”
“You have a point. Okay, young man, go ahead.” The man turned his head and gave Mindy a covert wink before shouldering as many packs as he could and staggering through the Portal. It flashed purple and the man was suddenly standing in the twilight of Ft. Eden on Bellatrix.
“Yes!” Leo said and pumped his fist in the air. “I’ll go call Hipstitch and get the show on the road!”
“You do that,” Mindy said with a glint in her eye. On the other side of the Portal, the man dropped his bags and turned around. Seeing Mindy he gave her a huge smile and a thumbs up. Behind him she could see a pair of tired and dirty soldiers running toward him, waving and smiling. In the background was a wooden palisade, like they used to use in Old West frontier forts. Mindy tossed duffle bags until one bounced off the Portal, then she settled back to wait. She had a second to wonder why the men greeting her volunteer had several bloody bandages on their limbs before the Portal swirled and went blank. Mindy turned to her husband and smirked at the awed look on his face. “You act like you’ve never seen someone travel to another planet before.”
“Right, I guess I do. What now?”
“Now we get to work,” she said and headed for the doorway. “Hipstitch is in his command center, the old NYC disaster bunker. With the city in chaos, he’ll probably take several hours to get here.”
“We won’t be done by then, will we?”
“No, that’s why your men have to help hold him off.”
“We can’t hold off an armored attack,” said Billy with authority.
“You won’t have to. Hipstitch isn’t expecting to have to fight his way in. He’ll probably show up in cars or Humvees. By the way, what were you and Leo arguing about while I was working on the Portal?”
“How much of an asshole he is.” She turned her head to give him a dark look. “I’ve been married to you a week and we’ve only slept in the same bed once, and he’s largely responsible for that.”
“He was working under the same orders as the rest of us.”
“If you really believe that, then I’m disappointed in you.” She gave him another dark look and opened her mouth to say something but they’d reached the staging area outside and everyone was crowding around them.
“Did you do it?” asked one of her friends.
“Bet your ass she did,” Billy said and gave her a squeeze. She was still upset at his attitude, but everyone was cheering and the men guarding the Po
rtal Dome jumped in surprise.
“Time to get to work,” Mindy said. ‘Let’s start moving all the crates highlighted with a green band.”
“Hey, what are those kids doing in that truck?” yelled one of the soldiers standing guard next to the Portal Dome entrance. Mindy turned from the man to where he was pointing just in time to see a couple small heads duck out of sight.
“Damn it,” she cursed, “I was hoping to get most of the first wave of gear in and the kids across before they figured out what we were up to.”
“No problem,” the big black cop said and got the attention of two other officers. “We’ll find out!” he yelled to the soldiers who had just begun coming in their direction. The soldier stopped and nodded as the cops went to the truck and climbed up inside.
Mindy was close enough to hear the loving words of the officers speaking to their children, encouraging them to keep their heads down. As they left the trucks, the kids stayed down while their parents headed for the guards.
“What are they going to do?” Mindy asked, remembering how her husband dealt with the rape gang.
“What has to be done,” her husband said and watched them go. “They’re all from SWAT; they’ll handle it okay.” Mindy held her breath as the three men casually strolled over to the two soldiers. They spoke in hushed tones for a second, then one of the soldiers yelled and clawed at the assault rifle slung over his shoulder. All three police officers pulled their guns with practiced moves. The soldiers froze before they could ready their weapons.
The cops held their guns steadily and waited for the soldiers to make their move. First one, then the other let his rifle slide to the ground. The cops retrieved the weapons but never took their aim from the soldiers. In a minute, the soldiers were bound with plastic stripper cuffs hand and foot. They were carried to a nearby office and locked inside.
“Okay,” Mindy said when the drama was over, “let’s get rolling. The green marked cases inside as fast as we can, please!”