The Door

by Tony Harmsworth

  ‘Won’t you be endangering us all if you upset them?’ asked Hazel.

  ‘Fact of life. Actually, they have always gone out of their way to protect us. It is one of the most puzzling aspects to our imprisonment. One person arrived with two broken legs and was treated and nursed by two of them twenty-four seven until the bones were healed.’

  John added, ‘Also, a woman with liver cancer arrived with her husband. She’d been told it was inoperable, but the aliens took her away. A week later she returned. They told her they’d put in an artificial liver. Seems fine and she seems really healthy after a few weeks.’

  Greg continued, ‘They really don’t want to hurt us. We think they see us as primitive and will not overreact to an escape attempt if it fails… but we have no intention of failing.’

  ‘Count me in,’ I said.

  ‘Me too,’ said Hazel.

  ‘We are only using men at the moment, Hazel. We want partners to remain behind to appeal for their husbands to be returned if anything goes wrong. That is in the hope they will have more compassion for a couple than single men or women. Jennifer, here is an exception. She’s a karate black belt and can kill with a single blow. Her husband, Andy, will remain behind. Another exception is Roy who is single and a special case for an unfortunate reason. You’ll meet him another time,’ said Greg.

  The assembly went on until after dark and we learned more about the detail and timing of the plan. The computer specialist, Philippe, had put a tracker on a delivery vehicle a week previously and it had returned this morning. It showed the vehicle had travelled one hundred and seventy-five miles in a straight line after leaving the dome and that suggested it went to the city from which we’d all arrived.

  The arrival cars couldn’t be used for a breakout as they were too small and the passengers would have to be hidden from the gate guards to prevent them sounding an alert. To have a fair chance of success a force of three or four was thought necessary.

  The plan would be enacted the next time a guard arrived in town with new captives.

  We removed our balaclavas but were all told to keep them with us. The gathering then became a social event – wine was opened, snacks and cheeses spread on the table, the music turned lower, and we all mingled sociably. The plan was not mentioned again that night.

  On the walk home, we stopped and looked at the heavens. The sky wasn’t particularly dark because of the galaxy in the north. The centre of it glowed brighter than a full moon on Earth and I now understood why so much of it was visible in daylight.

  The small half-moon, low in the west, cast a pale light, but it was the galaxy which provided most of the illumination. How wonderful to see such an astronomical feature without the need of a telescope.

  I’d played with astronomy in an amateur manner at home and this galaxy did have the appearance of M31 in the Andromeda constellation, but I supposed the Milky Way might look like that from intergalactic space. However, looking in all directions, the stars seemed to be just as numerous as they were back home. As my eyes became more adapted to the low illumination, I could see the Milky Way arching over us slightly to the south. That meant that the overhead galaxy had to be M31. For it to appear so huge, presumably we must be on the far side of the Milky Way, much closer to it. From Earth’s side of the Milky Way, M31 was just a smudge, smaller than the moon.

  John had said the astronomer was worried about something to do with Andromeda and this planet being in one of the other spiral arms of the Milky Way. I wondered if that was what he was thinking. I resolved to meet up with him the next day.

  I looked at the normal star fields and couldn’t recognise anything. There was a shape vaguely like Orion in the south, but no Betelgeuse or Rigel so it must just have been a coincidence. The twins – Castor and Pollux – were nowhere to be seen, nor the pole star. The framework of stars I’d noticed the previous night did bear a close resemblance to the Great Bear, Plough, or Big Dipper, but any combination of bright stars could have produced something similar. This had to be an alien planet. Nothing else made sense, especially with the stunning galaxy in the north.

  We must have been transported at least a hundred thousand light years from Earth if we’d crossed the Milky Way. What wonderful technology these people must have developed. What we’d seen so far probably only scratched the surface of it. What was the project they were carrying out on Earth? If they had the entire galaxy to play with, why be so interested in us?

  Once we reached our multi-coloured home, which we’d named Picasso, I sat outside in the garden for another hour, just admiring the unique night sky. The galaxy was awe-inspiring. It was almost worth being kidnapped for – absolutely spectacular.

  12 The Mugging

  Because we were new, I hadn’t realised how seldom the aliens visited us. I’d expected us to be carrying out the plan at any moment, but it was not to be. Three weeks passed before the first opportunity arose and, on that occasion, there were two guards so we abandoned it.

  The next opportunity came the following week, by which time my organisational experience had seen me invited to join the executive group of the escape committee.

  With John and Greg, I was to be one of the main assailants if the chance arose at our end of the town, so I spent a lot of my time reading in the front garden. It gave me the chance to keep an eye on the tunnel and gate.

  I glanced upwards and caught sight of an approaching vehicle some distance along the tunnel. A bell-jar transport appeared outside the gate, filled with mist and then vanished leaving two guards with the heavy-duty rifles. Two men this time.

  I looked down the row of houses and saw John and Greg ambling their way in my direction. I gave a nod which was mirrored by Greg. The transport slowed as it approached the gates.

  There were two empty houses along the street adjacent to ours plus three more at the other end, nearly a mile from us, and another four deeper behind the town centre. We had no idea which direction the vehicle would take when it entered the dome.

  Each of us pulled on our balaclavas. It was a worry they might read our intent before we could act. Elsewhere in the town, similar reception committees were preparing in case the chance fell to them.

  The car entered the dome. The road went towards the town centre before branching in other directions, so it was hidden from view by the curve of the street for a short while. If the car reappeared it would be coming towards us.

  ‘Ready?’ asked Greg.

  I gave him the thumbs up.

  It should be reappearing any second if it was coming our way. Why is it that when you are anticipating action, the time seems to pass much more slowly?

  There it was. Approaching at a leisurely speed. The mugging was going to be down to us. The three of us walked casually to the closest point to the next house. My heart began to race. We knew what to do, but it was very nerve-wracking. There was real and unknown danger involved here. If someone had told me I’d be part of an espionage team a few weeks ago, I’d have laughed at them. Now, here I was, preparing for a violent attack on an alien creature.

  If the guard stood outside the car in the way our captor had, then we’d be just four or five yards away. I noticed Greg’s hand in his right jacket pocket. He had one of the captured pistols ready to use. We’d rehearsed this on many occasions.

  The vehicle slowed as it approached and pulled up exactly where expected. The vehicle’s side wall vanished and a man, woman, and tearful teenage girl emerged. The guard stood in front of them facing towards us, exactly as we’d hoped. So far, so good.

  The family were asking questions and getting the same type of brush-off answers Hazel and I had experienced. I stepped forward.

  ‘Excuse me,’ I said to the guard, as I continued to walk very casually towards the group, ‘can I help them settle in to their house?’

  I didn’t need to turn around to know that Greg and John would be moving the same way, but even more slowly so as not to appear threatening.

  The guard,
a man this time, looked towards me. ‘Keep your distance,’ he said. I felt the force field attempt to grip me, but far weaker than previously.

  A blue jet of what looked like water, shot past me and impacted the guard’s chest. He crumpled.

  ‘What the hell is going on?’ asked the man of the family, trying to shield his wife and daughter. In our balaclavas, we must have looked like terrorists and, I suppose, that is exactly what we were from the aliens’ perspective.

  ‘We’ll explain later. Stand away,’ I shouted.

  In a flash, John was on the guard and pulled one of the heavy-duty balaclavas over his head.

  ‘Quick. Into the house,’ said Greg as he took the guard’s arms and John took his legs.

  We ran into the empty house, leaving the family standing open-mouthed in the street. As we manhandled our captive into the sitting room, I knew Hazel would be inviting the newcomers into our house to explain what was happening.

  Now we had to wait for the guard to return to consciousness. It took ten minutes before we saw some movement.

  I felt the force field try to hold me, but it was extremely weak and I could just shrug it off.

  ‘Stop resisting. You can’t immobilise us any longer,’ said Greg.

  ‘What foolishness is this?’ the alien asked.

  ‘It is our turn to ask the questions. Stop trying to immobilise us or we will hurt you,’ said Greg.

  ‘You cannot escape.’

  ‘No. At the moment it is you who can’t escape. Stop… using… the… force field!’

  As Greg delivered the last four words of his sentence, John shook the guard on each word to show we were not immobilised. I felt the field relax its hold on me and I was now completely free of it.

  ‘Good boy,’ said John.

  ‘What do you want from me?’

  ‘Firstly, where are we?’ asked Greg.

  ‘On our world.’

  John shook him again.

  ‘We know that,’ said Greg. ‘Where is your world?’

  ‘It would mean nothing to you.’

  ‘Give me a name or I will most certainly hit you?’

  We knew there was some vision possible through the knit owing to the size of the weave and the guard cringed backwards as he watched John’s fist threaten him. There was a real fear of pain in him. That was good. We knew our leverage was effective. The guard tried to remove his balaclava.

  ‘Don’t!’ said Greg, firmly slapping away the guard’s arms.

  The alien’s hands dropped back to his lap.

  ‘The name is unpronounceable for you.’

  ‘Okay. What is your name?’

  ‘It will be difficult for you. I am called Sltzkyzi.’

  ‘Good grief,’ said John.

  ‘Okay, whatever that was, we will be calling you Ski. Do you understand?’ said Greg.

  ‘Yes. You cannot escape.’

  ‘We’ll be the judges of that. Why did you bring us here?’

  ‘You stumbled on our project.’

  ‘What is your project?’

  ‘I cannot say.’

  ‘Listen, Ski. If you do not answer our questions, I will let my friend pull out your teeth. Show him the tool.’

  John raised a pair of metal pliers and held them in front of the mask. Again, we saw the guard shrink back into the sofa.

  Ski was rangy in appearance, some six foot four inches tall and had the usual swarthy Middle-Eastern skin colour. Pulling his teeth would likely be very painful as they were unlike ours. One of the few outward differences to us, they were larger, in that they appeared the size of several of ours. Whereas we had individual teeth theirs were in blocks. The front teeth were a block the width of four of ours with two more blocks on each side. They were mirrored in the lower jaw.

  The aliens were also hairless and had no fingernails. Their thumbs were wider than ours, about double-sized, but opposed in the same way.

  John lifted the balaclava to expose Ski’s mouth and held the pliers in readiness.

  ‘What is your project?’ demanded Greg.

  ‘You would not understand.’

  ‘Try us.’

  ‘We are trying to induce some special scientific principles into some of your scientists.’

  ‘What does “induce” mean?’

  ‘We want some of your scientists to discover something which we have only just discovered, but which is too late to save our ageing world.’

  My goodness, I thought. That was almost a lecture.

  ‘Why are you doing this?’

  ‘We want you to have time to save your own world from the same fate. It will take a long time for your scientists to understand, develop, and make use of what we are trying to give them.’

  ‘What is this discovery?’

  ‘If I tell you, then it will be impossible for you to ever return home.’

  ‘That doesn’t make sense.’

  ‘The discovery must be made by your own scientists. If we tell them exactly what it is there could be serious consequences for your world and ours. The same if we told you. They must discover it themselves, but we are able to help, and that is the project.’

  The three of us looked at each other.

  ‘Conference,’ said Greg and gave John the nod to bind the guard into one of the dining chairs. ‘Nip out and get some backup please, Henry.’

  In the kitchen area, four more of our team had arrived and I filled them in on the lack of progress. Two of them came back in with me.

  ‘Can you two stand guard?’ asked Greg. ‘We need to discuss something.’

  John, Greg, and myself left the lounge and went out into the back garden where we found the other three members of the executive committee. The ordinary members, meantime, waited in the house to provide support if it was needed. The six of us sat on chairs around the patio table.

  ‘What do you make of that?’ asked Greg.

  ‘We know he’s afraid of pain. We could bludgeon the information out of him,’ said John.

  ‘He seems seriously concerned that it is not in our interests to know what the project is all about,’ I said.

  ‘When I’ve been captured, imprisoned, transported to another world, and imprisoned again, I am none too worried about what he thinks might or might not be in our interests!’ said John forcefully.

  ‘So far, we’ve not been harmed and he did seem in earnest about the reasons for not opening up to us,’ I said. ‘What worries me is the threat that we can never go home if he tells us. Is it one of those situations like, “If I told you, I’d have to kill you”? We’re dealing with the unknown here.’

  There was general agreement that we didn’t want to be imprisoned here for life but needed to know more. John, Greg, and I returned to our prisoner. The rest of the executive committee followed us and stood around the wall. John freed the alien’s restraints.

  ‘We have more questions,’ said Greg.

  ‘I will answer what I can, but I cannot talk about the project even if you harm me. It is too important.’

  ‘How do we know the project is not harming the Earth?’

  ‘Your world is threatened with the same problem as ours and we have discovered a solution. It is too late for us to save our own world, but the solution can save yours. It is a philanthropic gesture.’

  ‘If you cannot tell us the solution, explain the problem.’

  ‘Our world is dying. The atmosphere has been leaking away into space. If we were to go outside the domes today, we would die within a minute. It is extremely cold, there are harmful radiations, and very little air.’

  ‘And what caused this? A nuclear war?’

  ‘No. We managed to avoid that catastrophe. The problem is caused naturally by the planet ageing and the sun expanding and cooling.’

  ‘If you could have stopped this, why didn’t you?’

  ‘As I said before, we were too late. Our planet is too old.’

  ‘So, you thought you’d take ours?’

  ‘No. We want to h
elp you save your world.’

  Peter, the astronomer cut in, ‘Excuse me, but our world probably has another four billion years available in its life cycle. How old is your world?’

  ‘Our world is about nine billion years old. It survived the star’s first expansion, but that cost us our atmosphere and drove us into controlling our environment. Another expansion is about to begin and our planet will be swallowed by our sun.’

  Greg said, ‘And rather than you all being destroyed, you thought you’d come and live on Earth.’

  ‘No, no, no. You don’t understand and I can’t explain.’

  ‘How long does your world have?’ asked Peter.

  ‘The expansion is happening now. It is imminent.’

  ‘And you will all die?’ Greg said.

  ‘We are trying to avoid that.’

  ‘How can you avoid that if you are not going to move to our world?’ said Greg.

  ‘That is the purpose of the project, but it does not mean taking over your world. I promise you.’

  Greg waved us to leave the room and some of the others came in to stand guard. ‘Don’t tie him, but be sure he doesn’t remove his balaclava,’ he said.

  We walked out into the garden.

  ‘We’re not getting anywhere with this,’ Greg said.

  ‘Let’s just go on with the original plan,’ said John.

  ‘All agreed?’ asked Greg.

  ‘Yes, but his refusal to mention the nature of the project means we will have difficulty back on Earth telling the authorities what is taking place… if any of them believe us anyway,’ I said.

  ‘Well, hopefully John’s position as a police inspector will work to our advantage, and my MP status should help,’ said Greg.

  We visited the front garden and looked at the tunnel gates. The two guards were seemingly in conversation. They didn’t look towards us and did not show outward signs of concern.

  ‘Is Roy here?’ asked Greg of some other members.

  ‘There. He’s just arriving,’ John said.

  A fit-looking, but elderly man made his way towards us.

  ‘Nice to see you, Roy,’ said Greg and the rest of us made welcoming noises.