Two corporals were on gate duty, accompanied by a heavily armed squad, eight in all. They watched with interest.
“Promise me, de Coeur, for my—and Trench’s—peace of mind, promise me—no wild adventures on the side, eh? At least experience the test run the way we have planned before trying to tackle anything else. Now remember, if it glows pink, step back. It means someone is in transit. If it glows blue, you can enter.”
“I think this is one situation where I’m willing to be guided by the advice of more experienced travelers,” reassured Steg. He was nervous and had no inclination to experiment. He indicated the waiting portal. “Shall we—?”
“Very well. Step up here, onto this pad. Now watch me key in the destination for the closest dreadnought, ss
Xuotang
. She’s a hundred kays away, straight up, directly above us. Ready?”
Steg nodded, his mouth dry.
“Step through—now.”
Steg calmed his mind, soothed his racing thoughts and relaxed. His destination was firmly fixed in his conscious awareness. He watched Denke key in the destination code and felt the tap on his shoulder. He stepped into the portal. He was surrounded for a timeless moment by vivid blue light. The transit was breath-gasping cold and he was bereft of all other sensations. He completed his step and stumbled, almost falling as he jarred back to reality. He was on the portal deck of the dreadnought. A young, serious corporal caught his arm and tugged him away from the portal.
“Excuse me, sir,” the corporal apologized. “You must stand clear immediately you arrive, otherwise following travelers will collide with you. Also, it’s very dangerous to fall back into an uncontrolled portal.”
“Thank you, Corporal—Elsteen?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Don’t apologize. My mistake. I’d been briefed—this is my first portal trip.”
Denke followed through, arriving just seconds after Steg. He smiled with relief when he saw Steg standing beside the corporal.
“Excellent, de Coeur, excellent. Now back to base. Ready?”
Steg did not hesitate. He stood before the portal and as before stepped through the shimmering blue gate when Denke tapped him on his shoulder. This time he was ready for the sensations of transit as the portal network caught him and projected him across space. He stepped out without stumbling and moved aside to clear the way for Denke. He panicked for a moment and then quickly regained control. The small room was empty.
He looked around carefully, reluctant to step further into the room. Behind him, the portal hummed and glowed softly with its vibrant blue color. He waited, more and more anxious as the minutes passed. Denke did not appear. At last Steg reluctantly concluded that he had somehow miscued as he stepped into the portal gate. He explored the small room; it was dusty and apparently had not been used for some time. His were the only footprints in the dust on the floor. The room had not been disturbed for years, perhaps centuries. Yet the portal functioned. He considered his options. He decided his thoughts must have wandered as he stepped through the
Xuotang
portal.
Steg groaned aloud as he realized his error. For a brief instant he had visualized the portal system and its continued operation through the centuries. That was it, he decided, he was on Jochum, but back in time. That had to be the answer. He examined the room again. It was carved out of marble, the same as the room he had started from; however, it was empty except for layers of dust. Nothing here proved his hypothesis. He was torn between exploring further and attempting to return to his real time on Jochum. He decided further exploration could wait. He would first return to the dreadnought and then to Jochum, selecting the correct time. He approached the portal with a high level of apprehension. He halted and stilled his mind, relaxing. He keyed in his destination and stepped into the portal.
He stumbled into the arms of the shocked corporal. “Sir, we just heard the alarm, you didn’t arrive on Jochum. Are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m all right. I think I miscued the transit. It took me a few moments to work out what went wrong. Now I daresay Denke’s in a state, so I’ll try for the base again.”
Steg keyed in the destination code for Jochum. This time he did not miscue. He stepped through into the now familiar marble room. Denke tried to not look relieved.
“de Coeur, I told you not to experiment—”
“Listen, I miscued accidentally. How quickly can we get to see Colonel Boston?”
Denke raised his eyebrows in silent interrogation, but Steg remained silent. “You want to see Henry?”
“Yes. Just you, me and the Colonel.”
“Come on.” Denke turned abruptly. Steg did not speak as they made their way to the colonel’s office.
The desk sergeant objected, but Denke strode past the man. He did knock on the colonel’s door before opening it. Boston was alone, working intently. He looked up, frowning, as Steg closed the office door.
“Yes, Denke? You have a problem?”
“Henry, it’s de Coeur’s problem.” They both turned to Steg.
“Sir, is this room secure? I mean, totally secure?”
“Yes, I have the security team sweep it every morning and I have a monitor running continually.” He indicated the machine.
“My next question may sound very strange.” He had his hand on his sidearm, a Special Forces issued stunner. “Are you totally certain of Denke’s loyalty?”
“I trust him completely, personally and professionally.” The colonel had no hesitation.
Denke looked totally dumbfounded. “de Coeur,” he exploded. “You’d better have a damned good reason for this—”
He stopped at a signal from Boston.
“Denke, I’m sorry, but I had to ask. If the colonel’s response had been otherwise I would’ve been extremely surprised.” Steg took a deep breath. “I don’t mean to appear totally melodramatic, but I think I can explain a function of the portal network. Denke, I accidentally caused a miscue when you keyed me from
Xuotang
to Jochum. Yet I arrived at the keyed destination.”
“What do you mean? I arrived five seconds after I sent you through and you were missing. Then you arrived, one—two minutes later.”
“Go on,” instructed Boston.
“Sir, I arrived on Jochum. It was the same room, it was Jochum. The floor was covered in dust.” He paused to moisten his lips. “It was the same room. It was in the past. The miscues are time cues.”
Denke was stunned. “But—that’s impossible, de Coeur.” Colonel Boston looked very thoughtful.
“Denke, Colonel. I’m certain I was in the same room. I returned to
Xuotang
, arriving one minute after I departed. Then, after a brief discussion with the portal corporal, I cued for Jochum again, current time. I arrived less than two minutes behind Denke. However, I was in that room for nearly ten minutes.”
The silence grew as each man considered the implications of Steg’s travels.
Colonel Boston looked at Steg. “You asked if Denke could be trusted. What about me?”
“Sir, you are the Special Forces, at least for this project. However, if we had any doubt, we would act—now, if necessary.” He raised his small hand weapon.
“I thought as much. Denke, are you satisfied?”
“Yes, Henry,” Denke replied without hesitation. “Also, I agree with de Coeur. We would have acted if necessary.”
Steg lowered and holstered his weapon.
“Hmmm. I don’t think I‘ll issue any challenges.” The colonel smiled a bleak smile. “de Coeur, you’ve raised more questions and issues than you might realize. As you imply, this information cannot be released, not even within the Specials.” He rubbed his temples. “The first step is to verify your hypothesis. Then we’ll need to consider how to proceed after that.”
“Henry, even experimenting with the time cue will cause comment,” cautioned Denke.
“I know, I know,” acknowledged the colonel with a wry smile. “Here we have potentially the greatest news since portals were first discovered and immediately we’re filled with gloom. We should be shouting from the rooftops.”
“Imagine—say—House of Aluta—with this under their control.”
“Aargh,” groaned Denke. “Don’t even think about it. All right. Anyone without a totally unblemished record, who does not have a top security clearance, who’s not known to us, will have to be excluded from direct portal network research—and use. This is going to create havoc.”
“We should transfer all the portal network research to Jochum II, and keep Jochum for routine Special Forces operations. We cannot even brief the Strategy Panel on this; it has some members I wouldn’t trust with my lunch money.” Colonel Boston rubbed his temples. “I’ll have to consult with the Emperor; I need his authority for what we must do. Leave those problems to me. Denke, see if you can duplicate de Coeur’s time cue. Then think about your technical support. In the meantime I’ll start the process to bring Jochum II online. Return here immediately you can confirm this thesis.”
Denke ordered the portal security team to take up position outside the marble portal room. Corporal Elsteen was in charge and Millie was also in the team. She had joined as a security team section leader and her camouflage grays had ’civilian’ stenciled in small letters on both the front and back of her jacket. She stood with Denke and Steg as they considered the next step.
“Very well, de Coeur. If this doesn’t work, color us both embarrassed red. Then we’d need to look for our firing squad.”
“You don’t have to remind me,” Steg grimaced. “Every time I think about the miscue I wonder if I was mistaken, and I break out in a cold sweat.”
“Let’s transfer to
Xuotang
.”
They transited successfully, Steg first, then Denke. Once on board, Denke cleared the room, again posting a security team outside the door with instructions to prevent any further access to the portal.
“Now for the big step,” declared Denke.
“I’ll try to repeat my miscue from last time. I’ll then return. After that, you can try.” Denke nodded his agreement and watched as Steg approached the portal. Steg keyed in the Jochum destination code and stepped forward, adding a mental time cue to the destination target. He was immersed in the now familiar wash of blue light and the sensation of intense cold. At last he stepped out. The small room was empty, bare of equipment and personnel, with only his footprints appearing in the dust on the floor. He did not hesitate. He spun around and stepped back to the portal, keying in and time cueing for the portal on
Xuotang
. Denke was waiting, an anxious expression on his face.
“It worked,” Steg exclaimed. “Come on, your turn.”
Steg stood by while Denke keyed in the destination and as he stepped forward, Steg added the time cue. Immediately after the portal cleared, Steg also stepped forward, cueing the same destination and time combination. To his relief, Denke was waiting patiently for his appearance.
“Damn it, de Coeur,” Denke thumped Steg on the back. “I half hoped I was dreaming. You’ve really done it, this time. Let’s do a quick check.”
Denke struggled briefly with the door out of the portal room, fighting its age and non-use. The door swung open and they stepped cautiously out into the corridor. On Jochum, access was via a modified natural cave network, and here the corridor led to a carefully concealed entrance into an identical cave structure. They made their way out to the planet surface, alert in case they were detected by whoever might currently inhabit the area. Denke looked around, examining the immediate countryside.
“This definitely is Jochum,” confirmed Denke. “There are some minor differences of course. However, the more significant topography matches without doubt. Of course, we need to get a team here to take star shots for confirmation.”
They returned to the portal room and in turn, transferred back to
Xuotang
and then to Jochum in real time. They quickly headed to Colonel Boston’s office. The colonel listened intently as they described in detail their experiences.
“Like Denke, I also thought it was a dream—a nightmare,” commented Boston. “This requires a meeting immediately with the Emperor. You two will have to come with me, I’m afraid. Right now. He’ll see us; I flagged this as an emergency.”
Steg only had a moment to explain to his Fain companion as they headed to the portal. “Just Denke and I, with the Colonel, are taking this portal trip. Don’t worry, we’ll be back either this evening or tomorrow morning. Boston is locking down the portals; he thinks network exploration should stop until we have a better idea of what we’re dealing with.” Millie gave him a quick hug and stood back, as the Colonel and Denke joined Steg.
The portal network delivered them to the Special Forces office in the Emperor’s palace. Security was intense. They were swept up by a combined Special Forces and Emperor’s Own combined squad and delivered to a nondescript office in the depths of the palace building. All their weapons were surrendered to waiting guards. They needed to further convince the Emperor’s chief secretary of their need to meet with the Emperor. That task was quickly addressed and they were shown into a large, informal office which included a working desk and a larger conference table. The chief secretary allocated them to seats around the table. They didn’t have to wait for long.