Overture (Earth Song) (8 page)

“
Now
that
is the kind of decisive thinking I’ve been begging to get for weeks! What took you so long?”

“
And you could have done better?” scoffed Osgood.

“
Absolutely not, that’s what I have you for!” he laughed. They all scowled back at him, offended, but none of them said anything. Volant snorted dismissively and stepped to the top of the dais. The Portal image sprung to life and he leaned close to try and get a better look at the cryptic markings in the small circles around the edges.

“
What are those anyway?” he asked and pointed at one of them.

“
We haven’t a clue,” Osgood said and stepped up to stand next to the agent. “Some of them seem quite obvious, others are a mystery.” He pointed to some of the images. Volant leaned still closer, eyeballing the glowing white thing suspiciously. Osgood noticed his reluctance and enjoyed a little sport. “Come take a look at this one; I think it’s pretty obvious.”

“
Are you certain we should be standing on this thing if it’s made of pure energy? I mean, if what he says is true, your kneeling on more energy than was released by the bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.” Osgood knew from weeks of working with the agent that while he was no scientist, he was also no fool.

“
Well, if we couldn’t scratch it with a one half megawatt laser, I think walking on it is probably safe.”

Volant
grunted and stepped up without further hesitation. The laser scientists were impressed and climbed up to create a crowd on the dais top.

“
So why don’t you know anything about the markings?”

“
Well,” explained Osgood, “concentrating on these markings while we didn’t even know what this was made out of seemed rather like taking time to read a Chinese instruction manual on a rocket ship when the most advanced thing you’ve ever seen was a horse and buggy.”

“
Cute.”

“
You’ve seen these images, I’m sure,” Osgood pointed. “I would think the meaning is difficult to misconstrue.” The picture showed the Earth, its continental layout obvious, being destroyed by a celestial impact.

“
But is it a threat, or a warning?”

“
Well, this might have something to do with it,” said another of the scientists who walked around to the other side. “These are the only items that have demonstrated any life at all.” Everyone came around to that side. “These lights that circle the dais perimeter: there are one hundred forty-four of them. This one here is glowing, you will notice, the one next to the base on the right side. Now back on the other side-” The scientist turned and took a step to point, and that’s when he made a big mistake.

His
team had only been in the bag for two days, arriving for the laser experiments. Like all the other new technical teams they were given the standard warning about what
not
to do around the Portal. The most important was not to interact with the center of the Portal itself, the ghostly disappearing archway. Objects tossed through it landed unharmed on the other side, but it had not yet been tested with a living person. Too many questions still remained unanswered.

The
scientist who had been talking was completely wrapped up in the favorite hobby of all scientists, demonstrating how intelligent they are. The man was having such a good time he forgot the rule about interacting with the Portal. He casually took a step sideways to demonstrate the lack of lights on the other side, and stepped through the center of the archway. Mark Volant was standing edge on to the glowing portal projection, maybe a fraction of an inch thick from his view. The scientist stepped in one side, and not out of the other.

The
dais gave a deep base hum, like plucking a cord on a cello, and the entire structure under their feet glowed purple for a second. Everyone on the dais scrambled to get off as fast as possible, led by Volant who performed a spinning backwards leap that would have made any Olympic gymnast proud. The dozen other scientific staff in the dome all yelled and at least one person screamed.

When
Volant and Osgood regained their senses they both ran around the dais to be sure the man hadn’t just fallen over the side. The hovering Portal stayed in place, something it had never done before once the top step was vacated. Clearly visible in the window of the Portal archway was a wooded clearing lit by subdued starlight, not the glaring dome illumination that should have been there. Also visible was a surprised and frightened-looking scientist. He was looking around, obviously as amazed as those looking at him from the other side.

“
Are you getting this?!” hissed Dr. Osgood.

“
We’ve had this thing on continuous record since we got here,” someone replied.

“
That particle target just had a shit-fit,” someone else said. “Real spike in neutrino and neutron emissions.”

“
Any danger now?”

“
No, it was only about half a second. Maybe two or three rads total ionizing radiation. Nothing to worry about. Unless it fires up again, of course.”

Osgood
nodded his head and boldly climbed back up to the Portal. The ill-fated laser scientist could be seen talking, but not a sound came through. Osgood gestured for the man to step back through. The scientist nodded that he understood and stepped forward only to collide with an invisible wall.

“
One way trip,” Mark Volant said from the ground. A pair of technicians came running up with handheld cameras, taking pictures of the scenes on the other side.

“
It’s a dynamic image,” one of them said.

“
Not a picture,” the other agreed, dropping to his knees at the extreme edge of the Portal and aiming his camera up to see the top of the other side of the Portal. “You can see sky on the other side. Wow, look at those stars!”

Meanwhile,
the marooned scientist turned behind him. There was little light yet some trees were still visible. The terrain looks like virgin wilds. He turned to look back and there was panic in his eyes. “Help!” they could see him mouth.

“
Quick,” Osgood said, “someone toss him some food, or matches or something! Anything!” There ensued a great disorganized scrambling.

“
Fucking eggheads,” Volant snarled and reached into his pocket to fish out a piece of Government Issue equipment. With a quick toss he lobbed his Swiss Army knife through the Portal where the man on the other side caught it. He looked down at the gift he’d been presented with and looked back up, his face conveying dismay. An instant later the starry view swirled and disappeared, letting the bright glare of lights from the dome flood back through.

“
Fuck!” said the head laser scientist.

“
Well put,” agreed Dr. Osgood. Mark Volant duly noted that the little flashing light the unlucky man had shown them was no longer flashing white it was glowing purple. The next one in line was now flashing white. He left the babbling scientists behind and headed for his trailer. After three steps he broke into a loping run.

Mindy was about as uncomfortable as she could remember. To be sitting in a cabin more than a hundred miles from work on a weekday was unthinkable. She hadn’t taken a day off since she’d started her current job. She’d told herself it was just dedication. Throwing herself into this new career and pushing hard was the best course to success since she was starting relatively late in life. Taking her first vacation in five years was bringing an ugly truth to the surface. It hadn’t been dedication, rather a hollow attempt to bury the pain.

Just
a short time ago she and Jake had made love and it had been as good as always. Afterwards she’d come out onto the deck. The cabin on the western slope of Mt. Hood had taken weeks to get a reservation. The weather in southern Washington State was always wonderful in the spring. She'd looked forward to the vacation as an excuse to get away from the memory of her IM conversation with that old friend. Unfortunately they were here, and so were the stars. Jake was sleeping the sleep of the dead inside on the luxurious feather bed while she sat outside wrapped in a comforter and staring up at those stars.

The
tears came uninvited, and when they finally did arrive they came in torrents. She found herself kneeling at the edge of the deck, the valley below lit by the sparkling starlight and the white wispy haze of the Milky Way spread out above her. She missed the stars so much it felt like a piece of her soul had been torn out years ago, and only now was she realizing how much of her had been missing. She pounded the railing but the pain in her hand didn’t take away the pain in her heart. She fell back on the deck and let the sobs rack her chest under the great umbrella of the heavens.

Finally
the tears slowed and stopped. The pain was gone and as she got back to her feet she knew what she had to do. Back inside the cabin she fished her computer out of the bottom of her suitcase.

The
laptop’s cellular Internet link came up, even out in the woods. Mindy activated her instant messaging and was not surprised to see an old friend on line. “Got a minute to talk?”

“
Always for you,” came the quick reply.

“
How you coming on the code breaking?”

“
Slow and sure. We’d be making a lot more progress if we could land that funding I talked about.”

“
I know, that’s why I contacted you. I hear your looking for a person to help line up funding, fix computers, stare at the stars, and all that?”

“
You teasing me, Mindy?”

“
Not since we were lovers in college, no.”

“
I thought you had a job, a career...a fiancé.”

Mindy
stared at the computer and took a deep breath before answering. Two hours later, she was walking down the wooden steps from the lodge to the road. It was a two mile hike down to the highway but the cab she’d called on her cell phone would be arriving about the time she got there. A handwritten note stood peaked on the kitchen table, her goodbye to Jake and what she hoped wasn’t as lame of an apology as she felt it was. As she walked away from her temporary life, a figure stood in the shadows of the cabin’s window and watched her go.

Victor sat in the small diner listening to his friends. More than friends, these five people were his disciples. For weeks now he’d been preaching on street corners in Queens and the Bronx to any who would listen. After Duke had joined in jail and the huge man was released on a technicality, two women and then two more men answered his call. There were hundreds who sought him on the streets. Some wanted to hear his story about the angels and the Portal to Heaven. Some were believers, some were curious, some were just bored. But there were more and more every day.

“
We have to get a place to call our church,” Duke insisted yet again. “Damn Victor, we almost got arrested yesterday for stopping traffic for two hours!”

“
I agree with you brother, but even in this heaven-forsaken place a church is going to cost bread. We’re having a hard enough time feeding ourselves.”

“
Then we need to ask the faithful to turn out their pockets,” said Mary. She was the first to join him after Duke. Mary was the only white person among his flock of disciples, and the best educated. She had been a crack whore only weeks ago, selling her body to feed her habit. Once she had been a college-educated stockbroker.

“
Many of them can’t feed themselves either,” said Paul. Paul was the most humbling of his disciples. He'd once been a Catholic priest, but didn’t talk about his fall from grace. You didn’t have to think too hard to guess what might have happened.

“
There are those that would not want to see a permanent presence from our ‘church’ either.” This comment was from Gabriel. Of his flock, Gabriel had fallen the farthest, having been a police officer. He’d gone dirty, taking bribes, supporting the Mafia, anything for a buck. Then one of the people he’d double crossed turned and ratted him out. The mob tried to kill him to close a loose end and Gabriel spent six months in the hospital wing of a prison. He’d been wandering the streets since he got out, until Victor had brought him aboard.

“
You know the society of the streets better than any of us,” Victor said to Gabriel. “I’m certain that amongst the street ministries we are considered less than legitimate.”

“
You could say that. To them we’re just an overnight cult. Damn, Victor, why do you think I was casing you out? Hopes of a buck were the biggest reason. Then I started listening to what you were saying.”

“
Our word must get out, and to be heard one must sit to listen.” They all turned to the newest member of their group. Known only as Kadru, she was a lovely Indian girl who’d joined just a couple days ago. Victor didn’t know a great deal about many of his disciples, but of Kadru he knew the least. “People can’t listen to the words of the Avatar while standing in the streets and being watched by non-believers.”