The Last Portal (5 page)

‘Cool,’ Chris
grasped, nodding slowly to himself. ‘You know… when I think about
it… that’s really cool. The portals act like safety valves so that
life doesn’t destroy itself.’

‘Exactly,’
Batarr smiled, ‘It’s a very simple but very effective way of
maintaining intelligent life in each planet since many
civilisations, at some point, will self-destruct, sometimes taking
all life on the planet with them.’

‘So who built
these portals?’ Chris asked.

‘Hmmm...That I
don’t know,’ Batarr replied. ‘These portals were left many
thousands of years ago by very advanced beings who had mastered the
ability to travel between worlds and dimensions. No one knows what
they looked like, or where they have gone. All we know for sure is
that they built the portals for a very specific purpose, to act as
safety valves for all creation. And they left behind a key with
each portal.’

At this point
there was a burst of song from Sasli.

‘Good idea,’
Batarr nodded, when the song ended.

‘Please take
out your key again,’ he instructed Chris.

Chris pulled
out the key and held it in the palm of his hand.

‘The key exists
independently of time and space and is indestructible,’ Batarr
explained. ‘It’s used to locate individuals who have special powers
and are capable of crossing through portals without being killed.
Please pass the key to Susie.’

In Susie’s hand
the key, as before, changed to yellow.

‘Now Joe.’

It changed to
blue.

‘Each colour
represents a specific power that the key holder has.’

‘What powers?’
Chris asked.

‘Powers to
control the weather, read minds, move objects, change shape and
communicate with all living creatures.’

‘And we have
these powers?’ Susie queried.

‘Yes, but until
your powers develop, I won’t know who has which power.’

‘So that’s why
you brought us here, because we have these powers?’ Chris
asked.

‘You three are
very special. You are what the builders of the portals called
‘Mytar’ and I brought you here, not to stop something happening in
your world, but to stop something reaching your world; something
that would cause the destruction of your society and the
enslavement of the human race.’

There was
another awkward silence. Chris had now convinced himself he was
having a rather confusing nightmare, and he would wake up any
minute. He looked at Joe and Susie, but their faces showed no
expression, as though their brains had temporarily vacated their
heads.

He shivered and
leant closer to the fire.

‘Five years
ago...’ There was a burst of song from Sasli. ‘I stand corrected,
it was only four, but it seems longer. Our planet was invaded by a
creature from the planet that was connected to us by portals. We
were totally unprepared. We had simply become too complacent and
never thought such a thing could happen. Well, anyway...without the
Mytar to protect us we were quickly overpowered.’

‘We’re only
kids,’ Chris said, wishing this absurd nightmare would go away.

‘You are
Mytar.’ Batarr spoke in a slow deliberate tone, as though trying to
burn the words into them. ‘You wouldn’t have survived the
transition into this world, and you wouldn’t be able to understand
our language, if you weren’t.’

‘And we’re
supposed to stop this evil creature,’ Joe said, a grin breaking out
on his face. ‘He’s not called Darth Vader by any chance?’

Susie and Chris
chuckled. Batarr, however, did not share their humour. He shook his
head slowly, his eyes narrowing on them. ‘This is not a children’s
game. This is deadly serious!’

A burst of song
from Sasli seemed to calm Batarr down. He selected a log from a
pile next to the fireplace and threw it into the fire. When he
turned back he appeared to have regained his composure.

‘Sasli is
right,’ Susie said. ‘We can’t be expected to understand what you’re
telling us.’

Everyone looked
at Susie. ‘Well, it’s true,’ she added, turning slightly pink.

‘Can you
understand what Sasli is saying?’ Chris asked.

‘Yeah... can’t
you?’

Chris shook his
head.

‘Me neither,’
Joe added.

‘Ahh...’ Batarr
was suddenly beaming. ‘It has taken me years to understand the
language of the Caan. This must be your gift. You understand the
languages of all the creatures of this world without being
taught.’

Sasli was now
watching Susie intently. A moment later he burst into song. This
time directed at Susie.

Susie smiled
broadly. ‘And it’s nice meeting you.’

Sasli continued
singing while Susie listened, occasionally smiling and nodding, or
commenting. ‘Yes... I see, I understand... that’s terrible...’
frowning more and more as the song continued.

When Sasli had
finished, Susie remained silent, a troubled expression on her face.
‘Horrible things have happened to this planet,’ she said, her voice
now as serious and grim as Batarr’s.

‘Like what?’
Joe asked.

‘Many towns and
villages have been attacked by creatures no one’s ever seen
before.’

‘You mean like
us?’ Chris asked.

‘No,’ Susie
shook her head strongly. ‘Not like us... insect-like creatures,
huge flying snakes, creatures with claws for hands… things of
nightmares.’

‘And they came
through a portal, like us?’ Joe asked.

‘Yes. This
planet was once peaceful. There were no wars, or starvation. Now
everything’s changed. The population is being turned into an army
to attack the next planet linked to this one.’ She looked across at
Chris and Joe. ‘Us. We’re the next target.’

Confirmation of
Batarr’s story, coming from Susie, somehow seemed far more real to
Chris. He looked over at Joe. The levity and disbelief of a few
minutes ago was gone, now replaced by a growing look of horror.

‘On every
planet with intelligent life there is a group of Mytar with these
powers,’ Batarr said.

‘And how many
Mytar are there?’ Chris asked.

‘There are six
in a group,’ Batarr replied. ‘Mytar are no different from any other
people on your planet. For thousands of years they have lived
normal lives. Grown up, had children, aged and died, never knowing
they were Mytar. Because they are mortal, a new group of Mytar is
born for every generation of a species. For humans this is twenty
years. This is to ensure that at any one time there will always be
a group of Mytar of fighting age.’

‘Fighting age?’
Chris didn’t like the sound of those words. ‘Fighting what
exactly?’

‘In your case,
Zelnoff.’

‘And who’s
Zelnoff?’

‘He’s a
creature from another dimension that now controls most of this
planet. No one has ever seen him, but we know he has the power to
project his will over vast armies, and has already used these
portals to conquer untold worlds in this dimension and others.’

‘So he has a
huge army,’ Chris said.

Batarr shook
his head. ‘He will build an army to subdue your world, but he
doesn’t rule by brute force. Instead, he feeds off people’s fears
and insecurities and turns friends against each other. He can turn
the strongest army against itself by seeding lies and mistrust
amongst its members. He rules by mistrust and fear and his spies
are everywhere, which is also why we had to reach a safe place
quickly when you arrived. If any of Zelnoff’s spies saw you and
realised who you were, soldiers would soon sweep down, burning and
slaughtering every living thing in this whole region.’

He paused,
watching the growing horror on their faces. ‘There are seven
portals into your world,’ he continued. ‘To the best of my
knowledge, four have already fallen to the forces of Zelnoff and
their Guardians have been killed. Three, including this one,
remain.’

‘And what
happens when the remaining three portals fall?’ Chris asked, not
sure whether he wanted to hear the answer.

‘Then he has
won. Zelnoff is free to invade and conquer your world and nothing
can stop him.’

‘So you’re
saying,’ Chris continued, ‘that it is basically all up to us?’

Batarr glanced
at Sasli. ‘Yes,’ he nodded, ‘it is.’

‘But we’re too
young to fight,’ Chris said.

At this
question Batarr shrugged. ‘You are young, I admit. But you’re the
only group I have been able to find in over a year of searching the
dreams of your people. I have found no trace of the older
groups.’

‘How come?’ Joe
asked.

‘There is a
distinct possibility that Zelnoff has already found them. In which
case, they are certainly dead.’

‘I wanna go
home,’ Joe said. ‘I can’t even stop anyone bullying me at school.
How can I stop an army invading Earth?’

‘You have more
strength than you realise,’ Batarr said, trying to calm things
down.

‘Everyone kicks
me around!’ Joe said, shaking his head miserably. ‘My family will
miss me. My mum will miss me. She’s probably looking for me now.
I’ve got to go.’ He climbed to his feet and walked past Batarr
toward the stairs as though expecting Batarr to immediately escort
him back to the portal.

‘When this over
I will take you all back to the exact time you left your world. No
one will miss you,’ Batarr said, watching Joe curiously.

‘Maybe we can
go back with the key and find the other Mytar,’ Susie
suggested.

‘Yeah.’ Joe’s
face lit up. ‘Then there would be six of us against Zelnoff’s
massive invading army, instead of only three.’

It was clear
Batarr didn’t know whether to take this suggestion seriously. ‘It’s
not possible,’ he answered at length. ‘I can’t risk opening the
portal again on the chance you may be able to locate the remaining
Mytar.’

‘You’ve
kidnapped us!’ Joe exploded. ‘And now we’re going to be sacrificed
in a hopeless cause.’

‘How do you
know this Zelnoff wants to invade Earth anyway?’ Chris asked. ‘He
may have no plans at all.’

‘Haven’t you
been experiencing unusual weather patterns, droughts, floods,
disease, earthquakes? Your planet is out of balance. This has been
caused by the advance guard of Zelnoff’s army crossing over to your
world and destabilising the balance between these two dimensions.
His spies are now working to stabilise your planet. When this is
done the next wave of his armies will invade and conquer your
Earth. Even now, this same advance guard is gathering information
on how to immobilise your defence capabilities so your planet’s
armed forces, and all their weapons, will be paralysed when
Zelnoff’s armies cross over.’ He shook his head firmly. ‘No, there
is no doubt Zelnoff will invade your planet, as he has countless
others.’

Chris watched
the dejection on the faces of his friends. This was real. They had
been kidnapped and thrown into someone else’s nightmare.

‘I don’t have
all the answers,’ Batarr continued solemnly. ‘First we must wait
until your gifts become more obvious. In this world your powers
will develop rapidly. When we understand your gifts more, we can
formulate a plan to stop Zelnoff.’

‘So you don’t
even have a plan,’ Joe said, making no attempt to conceal the
disgust in his voice. ‘You’re just hoping an idea will pop into
your head.’

‘You must have
faith in yourselves,’ Batarr offered, ‘and faith that a path
through this crisis will be found.’

‘All you really
have then, is faith,’ Joe concluded.

‘And you
three,’ Batarr said quietly, a clear note of resignation in his
voice.

‘You’re a
lunatic!’ Joe accused.

‘A maniac,’
Susie agreed, with a consenting nod from Chris.

‘You have to
face up to your responsibilities,’ Batarr countered.

‘You sound like
my mother,’ Joe snapped.

‘Luckily, I’m
not!’ Batarr replied angrily.

‘Well, I want
to go home now!’ Susie demanded, folding her hands across her chest
defiantly. ‘You had no right to kidnap us like this.’

Chris and Joe
nodded their agreement.

‘And when you
take us back, don’t ever come near us again,’ Joe added for good
measure.

Batarr looked
at their sullen, defiant faces, then threw his hands in the air,
spun around and abruptly walked out. Susie burst into tears. Joe
crawled into a corner of the room and curled up into a ball against
the wall. Chris slumped further down into his chair.

Throughout the
conversation Sasli had been watching them in silence. Presently he
hopped up onto the table and burst into song. But this song was not
like his previous songs. The notes seemed to rise and resonate
around the room. The melody lifted Chris up and made his mind soar.
It swept away all of his troubles in an instant and replaced them
with visions of strength and triumph. He felt he could achieve
anything, endure anything, overcome anything. Susie had stopped
crying and Joe rose from his foetal position in the corner of the
room.

‘What’s he
saying?’ Joe asked Susie.

‘It’s not
words,’ she replied, her eyes transfixed on Sasli. ‘It’s just pure
notes and melodies.’

Chris realised
how beautiful this planet must have been, how beautiful it still
was, and how desperate Batarr must be to even attempt to stop
Zelnoff with the likes of Joe, Susie and himself. He felt ashamed
of all the things that had been said. This situation was not
Batarr’s fault. He was just playing the only cards he had left.

Mind Over Matter

Days passed. The
hysteria of their first meeting gradually faded as everyone
realised their situation wouldn’t change - no matter how much they
complained. Susie spent long hours locked in conversation with
Sasli. When these sessions ended, she would relay some of the
history of Cathora to Chris. This planet was like Earth in many
ways, but in others, totally alien. At some point in the planet’s
history, the different hominid species had managed to communicate.
This had broken the inter-tribal and inter-species conflicts that
had so marked human evolution. Consequently, seven different
hominids species now co-existed peacefully on Cathora. Each had
their own unique geographical location, but communities containing
a mixture of species were also very common.