Watch that first step...
by Nexxus 3 Kline
"Which way did he go, George, which way did he go?"
- Bugs Bunny
No amount of training, knowledge or skill can prepare you for
the inevitable realization that you're not in Kansas any more...or
Colorado, as the case may be.
Dimensional travel comes in many forms, and for every individual
soul there's at least a million ways a person can perceive what's
happening to them when they take that first step towards what's behind
"Door #3." Nex had gotten into the habit of taking no notice, except
this time. For someone who travels to dimensions without the aid of
high-tech gadgets, artificial gates offer up a virtual "Pandora's Box"
of feelings, sights, sounds and smells. This time the feeling was that
of putting on a sweater with a bad case of static cling, and thinking
back on the whole affair, it sounded like it too. There was a faint
electrical buzz once you left the platform and generator behind. For
being such a bright looking entrance way, it sure as hell was a dark
couple of steps to the other side. The smell wasn't exactly pleasant
either...it reminded Nex of ozone and burning, wet, dog hair. She made
a mental note to hold her nose on the way home.
She shook off thoughts of holding her nose as the others began
to appear behind her. Stepping to the side, she scanned the immediate
area for anything that could be considered a threat and finding none,
set about taking a mental roll-call. So far, so good. No one was
missing...yet.
"Cal, better get the communications equipment set up," she said,
giving him a whole second and a half to adjust to the surroundings as he
stepped out of the bright light. He nodded, like he always did, and
snagged a rather surprised Phoenix as he stepped from the gate to the
sand. "Everyone, stay in the immediate area. As soon as everyone has
made it through the gate we'll set up a scouting party. In the
meantime, we don't need anyone wandering off and getting eaten up by the
local animal population," she half ordered, half joked.
Five minutes later...
The natives were getting restless. "Where the hell is everyone
else?!" she said in a worried/impatient voice. It had been too long
since the last person had stepped through the gate; three people were
still missing. Aris, Selvane and Kapella had failed to step through.
The others in the group were beginning to look worried, and a few had
begun to whisper amongst themselves. "Okay, no panic, it's probably
just a small delay, someone probably freaked out and they'll be here any
minute," she rationalized.
"I wonder if the gate's stable." Phoenix walked over. "How
long can Mal hold it open?"
"Come on, we haven't got all day!" she exclaimed with
impatience.
As if to answer for her, the gate shifted slightly and
disappeared. Before anyone could react, she turned, ran towards Cal and
asked, "Cal, can we get a confirmation on their location? Are they
still at HQ?"
"That's a negative," he replied almost instantly. "The
connection with headquarters was severed when the gate shut down."
"AIIEEEE!!!" Nex screeched. "Phoe, you come with me," she
directed. "Everyone else follow through with the plan, Calculus is in
charge. Stick together and avoid running into any more people than you
have to. Phoe and I will start looking for the others, assuming that
they are here and not dead or stuck in limbo somewhere." With that, she
snatched up her equipment, motioning for Phoe to do the same and headed
off down the beach, leaving the bewildered group behind. Phoenix,
following her lead, did the same. As he caught up to her she turned and
said, "We have to find them." Phoe just nodded. "Before something else
finds them. It's not safe for them to be here wandering around."
"How are we going to locate them *here?*" Phoe questioned. "We
don't know the first thing about this place. We have *no* maps, who
knows what kind of wildlife is wandering around...this place is huge,
it'll take years to cover it on foot. We can't exactly go trekking
around out in the open calling for them either and that's all based on
the assumption that they are here."
"Simple, we won't look for them on foot. We're going to
cheat." She grabbed his hand as she said this, placing her other on her
neck, over her medallion. "What ever you do, don't let go of my hand,"
she told him.
"Okay..." he replied with a strange look. He wondered if he
should ask what she was up to.
"Don't worry!" she said, it'll all be over in a minute." With
that she smiled, closed her eyes and shouted, "Return!"
Ten seconds later they were standing just outside the gates of a
rather large city. The gates were constructed of a metallic material,
stood about as high as a four-story building and looked very much like
they could withstand anything short of a full-scale nuclear war. The
attached wall was equally imposing, being constructed of the same
material only with twelve foot spikes at the top. The guards at the
gate had spotted them immediately and were watching impatiently, waiting
for them to approach.
"You can let go of my hand now," Nex said impatiently, shaking
her hand free from Phoe's death-grip. "Welcome to Chi-Lin. This is
where I grew up."
"Fascinating, absolutely fascinating!" he exclaimed, already
having found something that interested him.
"What are you on about?! It's just a damn gate!" Nex exclaimed
with exasperation. "You can come back and..."
"No! Not the gate," he interrupted. "That!" Phoe pointed at
the sign hovering above the entrance gate to the city. "It's hovering!
There's no obvious support for the sign..." he began excitedly, walking
quickly beneath the sign to look up at it.
"Yeah, whatever. It's just one of those 'Welcome to Chi-Lin'
signs, every town in America has one of those. Can we *PLEASE* get on
with it?! You can look at the sign later!" Nex cut in angrily.
"Nex! NO town in America has a sign like this one!" he began.
"This sign is suspended with anti-gravitational equipment...I haven't
seen technology like this since..."
"Yeah, yeah, anti-gravity," she replied. "Big deal. Now, can
we *please* get on with it?! We haven't got all day, you can take a
trip down memory road some other time." She was standing close enough
to grab him by the arm now and did so, his brain was day-tripping. Nexx
had never bothered to think about things like anti-gravity; it was just
an everyday concept in the technology she grew up with. She began
dragging him by the arm towards the gate. Phoenix was not registered
with the Chi-Lin authorities and would have to get an ID badge before he
could enter the city.
To be continued in:
"Chance: Go directly to jail, Do not pass 'Go', Do not collect $200"