The Empty Door

by E. R. Mason

There was no city. Markman looked down and found himself standing on thick grass. He hurriedly scanned the surrounding terrain. As far as the eye could see, there were rolling green hills, spotted with lush green forest. Cassiopia was nearby, a bewildered look on her face. They were atop a small hill, and to the right, a narrow, well-worn dirt trail led down a gentle grassy slope to the edge of a thick section of forest that overflowed with exotic plants, ferns, and trees. Markman watched Cassiopia survey their surroundings. A warm, gentle breeze lifted her long, fine hair from her shoulders.

  “How can this possibly be? This whole thing is impossible!" Markman stared at her with a disarmed look. “Wow! And so much for your street maps. We should go back, right now.”

  She continued to turn slowly, taking in the mystical land that surrounded them. Far in the distance wild horses grazed contentedly against a pale blue sky. “Let’s see where this trail leads,” she said, without looking back.

  “What? You mean you want to go on?”

  “Of course. The alternative is to give up, Mr. Markman,” she answered, hiking the strap of the leather bag higher on her shoulder. “We’ll just walk a short distance in, and then start back if we haven’t found anything.”

  “What is this place?” he asked, as he hurried to catch up.

  “I have no idea. Maybe we’ll find out.”

  He stopped. “Maybe we shouldn’t want to.” She continued on without looking back.

  The narrow, winding trail led to the forest’s entrance. The foliage and trees seemed to break away naturally to provide passage. Though the tall umbrella-shaped treetops blocked much of the daylight, colored light seemed to emanate from within the forest itself. The plant life was of a deep, rich color, and some of the red tulip-shaped forms glowed brightly. The towering tree trunks were fat and heavily knotted, forming mystical designs in the deep brown bark. There was a sound in the air like running water ringing through the strings of a harp. Cassiopia paused momentarily as if to regain her bearings. With Markman peering over her shoulder, she dug one heel into the sparkling sand. The granular surface resembled finely crushed diamonds, rubies, and emeralds. She looked back at him, shook her head in disbelief, and continued. Further ahead, the trail became a patchwork of large, ruby-colored, crystal stones, embedded in the sand.

  They walked the trail of iridescent light. The air sparkled, and from time to time tiny stars would form, brighten, and collapse around them. Soft waves of sweet-smelling breeze passed by, its incense-like odors constantly changing in flavor. Time was lost here; it had no place. The forest was an oasis from emotional want.

  Suddenly Cassiopia became distracted by something nearby. She turned as if to say something but froze, pointing to the trail’s edge, her hand close to her heart. On her left was an outcropping of light blue flowers, similar to roses. Hovering and darting around them was a hummingbird that looked as though it were made of glass. Colors from the forest were visible through it, including the soft blue hue of the roses when it passed in front of them. It moved in complete silence, stopping at each brilliant petal to collect tiny beads of colored light. In a flash, it disappeared into the forest palette.

  They stared at each other in astonishment, but neither spoke. Cassiopia pushed on with Markman following close behind. She dug in her satchel for the camera and stopped again to set it, took several pictures, then resumed her quest.

  Light now beamed up through the ruby crystals below their feet. Some of it was faint, but every ninth or tenth stone emanated a soft, reddish ray that reached up to the forest ceiling, illuminating the treetops. In a few places, it reflected back down in miniature rainbows of vibrant, changing color.

  Cassiopia slowed. Rounding an abrupt turn, she stopped and gasped. Markman strained to see around her. Before them was the source of the forest song: a stream of tiny diamonds, forming a small cascade that splashed along a border of crystallized stones of varying shapes and sizes. The shapes of the flowing diamonds seemed to be constantly changing. Some would strike the crystalline rock and dissipate into beads of light, only to coalesce further down the brilliant stream.

  A cliff wall of wet, black rock rose up on the opposite shore. A cave entrance sat within the pointed, yellow ferns that bordered it. Amber light glowed from within. It was tantalizing, but there was no time to continue. Cassiopia snapped pictures and briefly recorded the music of the rapids. She turned to Markman, nearly breathless. “It’s improper to disturb any part of this, but I must take some samples. I’ll return them if I can.” She knelt by the stream and collected three walnut-sized emeralds and placed them in her sack. “We should start back. We’ve been here long enough.”

  Markman looked back at the colorful tangle of forest in the direction from which they had come. “It’s a good thing there’s only one path. It would be easy to get lost in here. Maybe that’s what happened to your father.”

  Cassiopia was momentarily taken aback. “You’re right. If the Dreamland environment is as unpredictable as this, it’s not safe to make these trips without better safeguards. We need a better method of finding our way back to the door. If that’s how my father became lost, we can’t let it happen again.”

  “We could have marked the trail. It would have given us something to follow.”

  “We’ll need something better than that, Mr. Markman. Breadcrumbs will not do. We need a homing device of some kind that will show us the way back, no matter where we are.”

  “No problem. I can get that.”

  In silence, they followed the trail back to the forest’s end and climbed the steep hill. The SCIP door was waiting. After a long, last look around, Cassiopia stepped through. Markman also paused to take a last, affectionate look at the most beautiful place he had ever seen. He pushed through the silver surface of the mirror and breathed a sigh of relief at the familiar sight and hum of the Professor’s laboratory.

  “What happened?” demanded Cassiopia irately.

  “What do you mean? That was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. It reminded me of the gardens of Tibet. Only the colors were more intense.”

  “Where were you? Where’d you go? We were supposed to stay together!”

  “What are you talking about? I was with you the whole time.”

  “Me? I never saw you. You never came through the door.”

  Markman stared in confusion. “I stepped through the door. You were there waiting. We explored one of the most incredible places imaginable. You were with me the whole time.”

  “My God,” she mumbled as her look of anger turned to astonishment. “I stepped through into a desert. You never came. I waited a few minutes and came back, but you weren’t here either. I thought, ...I thought something had happened to you.”

  “I guess it did,” he answered calmly “I’d swear we just spent more than an hour together.”

  “You were gone fifteen minutes,” She stared blankly as the realization of what had happened set in. Before either could speak, the robot interrupted. “Cassiopia, someone is at the front door.”

  Confusion gave way to concern. They looked at one another like delinquent school children about to be caught.

  “How can it tell that?”

  “Sensitivity you and I do not possess. It must be one of your associates.”

  “I don’t have associates. Wait here, and I’ll check it out.”

  “Tel, disengage the SCIP transformer, please,” Cassiopia said dejectedly as Markman headed for the exit.

  “Yes, Cassiopia.”

  Markman hurried upstairs to the hallway and went cautiously to the front door. He remained carefully concealed as he peeked out from behind the curtains on the door.

  No one was waiting. A black Mercedes Benz that had been parked in front of the house pulled slowly away from the curb. There were three dark figures in it, though none were clearly visible. The license plate was soot-blackened and unreadable, but it looked like a consulate tag. He watched the car creep out of sight around a corner and then returned t
o the lab.

  “Know anyone in a late model, black Mercedes?”

  Cassiopia turned in her seat at the Drack controls and stared back with concern. “No, what did they want?”

  “They left without saying. Could they be associates of your father?”

  “No one I know.”

  “There was something wrong with them.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s an instinct I have for danger. I’m not sure why, but those guys were trouble. Trust me. I’m never wrong about this.”

  Cassiopia quietly worried. She felt a great relief in having Markman nearby and did her best to conceal that by avoiding direct eye contact with him. Between the dynamics of the mirror and the uncertainty concerning her father’s expensive acquisitions, she suddenly realized that danger might exist on both sides of the electronic door. She sat with her hands in her lap and tried to act unconcerned.

  “What would you suggest if they return?”

  “I’ll handle them. You’d better keep at what you’re doing. This whole thing is giving me the creeps.”

  “I guess I never really thought much about the problems I might create, Mr. Markman. Is there a chance I could be in danger of losing your services?”

  Markman smiled wryly. “Not really. Not with the deal I’m getting.”

  “But, I thought I was the one who made the deal?”

  “And so you did, Ms. Cassell. When you tried to hire me, it was kind of impulsive, at least for you. But, there’s a lot you don’t know about me. Right now my job is to find your father. Probably the only person in the world that could help me do that is you, and you want to pay me! Did you know that in some parts of Africa, the money they use is actually small bits of a certain kind of bone? Where I grew up the major exchange was Yaks, grain, and butter. Here in the states, it’s carefully cut strips of paper. Sounds kind of silly, doesn’t it? Money never did mean much to me. You can keep yours. I’m here for other reasons.”

  Cassiopia sat quietly reappraising him once again. “Thank you, Mr. Markman,” she said with a softness he had not heard before.

  “My pleasure, Ms. Cassell, but I can’t say it looks too good. You have no idea what’s happening in there, do you?” He nodded toward the SCIP door.

  “I do know what I’d like to try next.”

  “I’m almost afraid to ask.”

  “Let’s try it again after I’ve had time to review a few more files. Believe it or not, I do have a basic idea of what might be happening. I think I know now why my father calls it Dreamland.”

  “That I’d like to hear.”

  “Not yet. It’s too radical, even after what you’ve already seen. But tomorrow, with luck, I’ll be able to prove something, one way or another. Will I have time? Will the school become more involved?”

  “I doubt it. One missing eccentric is pretty low on the priority list right now. I’ve got to stop in at the university when I leave here. I’ll be able to get an update on what’s happening there.”

  “Maybe I can help with them a bit also. I’ll call them. But, come as early as you can tomorrow. We’ll do things differently this time.”

  “Okay, I’ll pick up a set of high-frequency direction finders. If we get separated, we’ll both have one to find our way back.”

  “You have such things?”

  “It goes with the territory.”

  “What territory is that, exactly?”

  “From time to time I take jobs from people who for one reason or another have no other options.”

  “I’m not sure what that means, but the direction finders are a great idea.”

  “I can’t take the credit. You thought of it.”

  “I thought of it? What do you mean?”

  “Your imposter came up with it on that last excursion.”

  “That’s amazing.” Cassiopia paused thoughtfully. “So we’ll be able to find each other in dreamland, and we should be able to find the door, right?”

  “Let’s just keep the trips short, okay?”

  Chapter 11