He got strange looks from those on the perimeter as he swayed, ducked, and looked from various angles…he couldn’t find the portal and his heart leapt to his throat. Had the portal vanished? Would he ever see his lovely wife again?
Just as he was about to give up Jack remembered Doc’s relating of his findings…
“MAGNETISM!” he shouted and pulled his compass from his pocket.
Jack looked at the sun and faced north, his trembling hand held out the compass, and the needle swung east. A beaming smile broke out on his face as he marked the spot with a hastily carved stake. He ran all the way around the field and repeated the same steps, marked it and again and again, repeatedly. Sighting along each of the six stakes Jack began to move each stake inward until he had six stakes barely five feet apart.
Ordering six men to stand behind each stake and shine a flash light toward the center as the sun slowly sunk behind the trees, Jack slowly circled just outside of the stakes.
“THERE!” Jack shouted as he pointed and moved a stake and drove it into the ground, and another, until all were less than three feet apart. “Thank God, it’s still there.” He looked at the men and with a stern frown added “No one gets within ten feet of these stakes…no one!”
With a sigh, he had found the portal; it still existed. Just before he was ready to celebrate, it dawned on him, the portal was the size of a softball…maybe less. It had shrunk!
“Doc,” he shouted on the radio “It’s smaller…”
“Easy my friend,” Doc replied “I’m just landing at the base camp now with a team of scientists. I’ve been told it’ll be too dark to fly tonight, but at first light, we’ll be up.”
“Ok Doc, but hurry. I’m really afraid something came through one of the other portals and drew more power. If what I saw when that shim shoved all that crap into my head is right…I don’t think this thing can take another power hit.”
Doc sounded a bit too cheerful to suit Jack, but over the radio came his jolly voice.
“Easy Jack, just keep things out for tonight and we’ll be there in the morn. The good news is that we have a way to not just stabilize the wormhole, but provide what we think is enough power to keep it stable should something go through any of the other portals. Remember I said I thought each portal powered each other?”
Jack felt ridiculous as he just nodded at the radio as Doc finished “The device is the size of a suitcase and has a small fuel cell that can be attached to it to provide power temporarily. Technically one man can carry both cases, but once we have it enclosed inside of the case and plugged into one another, we can land a helicopter and fly out.” Of course Jack tried chatting more to find out whatever he could and Doc obliged whenever Jack wasn’t worrying about protecting the portal.
All night long Jack prowled outside of the stakes of the marked portal as three rows of men guarded closer to the fence.
About one in the morning a sudden burst of light came from the portal and Jack screamed in the radio to awaken Doc.
“Doc! Dammit! The portal flared a few minutes ago and before the flare died down…” there was fear in Jack’s tone “It’s now the size of a baseball Doc.”
He could hear many sounds of mumbling voices as Doc explained what had happened.
“Jack, we can’t risk coming up now where you’re at…” there was a pause and someone speaking Spanish could be heard.
“Ok…ok, I’ll tell him. Jack? You there?”
“Like I’m going somewhere Doc?”
“Silly of me old man, of course you are there. Listen Jack, Colonel Hernandez said we have one set of night vision goggles and he personally is going to fly us up. Send a squad of men to mark out a landing area with flares….he said something about landing in the clearing that they lowered supplies in?”
Jack looked at his officers that had been listening and they were already getting things moving. One held up a chainsaw and waved it. Jack grinned broadly.
“The clearing isn’t big enough Doc, but you tell your Colonel that by the time you all get your shit loaded and up here…it will be.”
A man with a heavy Spanish accent broke in “Senor, just tell them not to let anything fall where in the area I have to land on, I would like to walk away from the landing…better yet be able to fly off in the morning with the doctor’s suitcases.”
Jack chuckled “Thank you Colonel, I’ll walk every inch of your LZ (landing zone) personally, over and out!” a quick deep sigh of relief and Jack along with two dozen men dashed toward the nearby field. Sounds of saws echoed throughout the plateau’s heavily jungled surface, they were followed by the sounds of trees falling, snapping limbs, and the thud of heavy wood crashing to the jungle floor.
Each tree fell toward the jungle and within less than a half hour of starting, brush had been cleared and limbs removed…the LZ was finished.
Overhead roared blinding lights as the Colonel’s chopper deftly hung in midair and slowly landed as one of his men guided him down using hand signals. As the blades began to slow four men led by Doc, jumped from the chopper and headed toward Jack’s waving flashlight.
The Colonel joined them and the group hurried back to the field. One case was opened and Doc and another of the scientists held it upright so it faced the portal. Doc flipped a switch and glowing blue lights formed a circle about the size of a dinner plate. Carefully the two men moved toward the staked out area near the portal.
Jack began to worry as they got close to the spot it should be in. Since the last flare he could only guess. But as they approached, the portal began to glow. It was visible and looked stronger…but sadly smaller than a baseball now that he could see if clearly.
Closer they got and suddenly the portal began to drift toward the suitcase sized stabilizer. Doc halted their movement and the portal drifted into the center of the case and hovered within the ring of lighted magnetic coils and a few inches away from the magnetic plate attached to the side of the suitcase.
As Doc slowly closed the case lid, Jack noticed a concave magnetic cover that closed over the coils in the case. Doc clicked the two latches shut and the case was lowered to the ground.
Jack looked at the case that was securely locked as Doc laughed.
“Yeah, it was made from the average solid metal bodied travel suitcase. Of course it’s beefed up a bit, has many batteries and an external hookup for the power cell.”
“It’s going to be moved?” Jack muttered.
“Oh! Sorry, I forgot to mention that we can now move it back to a special lab that is now in the process of being set up in New York City. This way the international committees can look over what we do and hopefully come up with some sort of rescue.” Doc’s smile vanished and Jack knew there was more.
“Ok Doc what aren’t you telling me?”
“From my studies and the math the computers are spitting out…” he slowly shook his head “we think the portal will collapse with one more use, and we aren’t sure if it can allow anything very big through anymore.”
“But you said you had a power cell and…”
“Jack I said it would make up for power loss from other portals. Anything going through from this world would cause it to expend all of its power, even if we hooked it to the national power grid…it used much more power than that to allow something to pass through, Jack. That’s how much power the other portals supply to each other. Right now we can stop it from closing if the other portals let something through…if more than one portal has something pass through, all could be lost…there is not enough power in existence that could keep it open if more than one portal is activated at a time.”
The other scientist nodded sadly “We believe that there is a good chance that some of the other portals have already closed.” he sighed “If they all close, then we think this one will close as well.”
Doc nodded and sounded like he wanted to cry for Jack.
“And the world we knew, with all our friends, will no longer be reachable.”
/> “And Coi.” Jack muttered solemnly.
Doc sighed “And Coi.”
Chapter 28.
More months flew by and then another and Jack grew more frustrated with each passing day. Not one more theory had been put forward, not one more clue as to how the portal worked. Eventually even the overly patient Doc grew frustrated as he called Jack and asked to meet.
They met at a nearby restaurant and Doc laid it out on the table for him.
“We argue in seven different languages Jack. We’re all afraid to open the case lest the smallest of particles fall in and collapse the portal. Every government wants the technology and are pressuring the scientists to do what they want, instead of what they should be doing. Of course the scientific community had refused so far, but to be honest Jack, some governments are putting a lot of pressure on the guys working on this. I fear that if it wasn’t for the fact that only I by myself, or four others at a time, can access the case. That fact alone has probably saved the portal from extinction.” he sighed “Guess no one figured I had any agenda other than saving those in the portal…but to be honest Jack, there are those in the government that are beginning to pressure me, and there is talk about taking away my access to the case.”
Jack was stunned, but at least it explained the nearly yearlong delays since their arriving back in their reality. Seeing the usually calm Doc so annoyed, gave Jack cause for concern.
“The problem is we all think the portal is going to collapse the first time someone probes it, maybe even after the magnetic field is turned off. And not one scientist is talking about finding a way to get all those people that want to return to their realities, or a way to do so.” he looked sadly at Jack.
“Dammit Jack, the only reason they put me in charge, is because I am not a real scientist, just a doctor and hobbyist physicist. No one thinks I know what is going on, all the behind the scenes meetings, the governments pushing for their own agendas…and worst yet, the corporations are pushing for their cuts of the science.”
“I don’t understand?”
“I had one company try to bribe me into steering research toward teleporting, another scientist was pressed for a new source of power, and so forth…” he sighed “some are starting to buckle under the stress…or greed… Jack,” Doc paused as if something heavy was on his mind “here!” Doc shoved two solid state hard drives in Jack’s hand.
“This is the total of what little information we’ve garnered from the research, and of course the backup. It’s not much, but they want to open the portal Jack. I am to preside over a meeting in the auditorium in ten minutes…the reason is to vote on what line of research we are going to do from now on and it’s not about saving our friends anymore. Christ Jack, now they’re talking about trying to create another portal by using the excuse that if they can make another, then we’d better understand it. They don’t care about what they might do to other realities, or the people in them.” Doc paused and gave Jack a weak smile “No one is allowed to take notes, only log on to those hard drives…” Doc twisted to one side and raised a cover on a huge wheeled suitcase that he had pulled along behind him as he moved to the table Jack was sitting at.
“Good God! Is that…” Jack gasped as Doc zipped the bag back up and laid the old blanket back over it.
“The portal’s container. Do what you have to do Jack. Try to go back if you will, just don’t ask me to go.” Doc grinned “I’d rather go to prison than go back to that dinosaur hell.” he grinned “Awww, they won’t do a thing to me my friend. Sure I stole all this, but risk telling the world about the greed and politics when everyone is expecting us to save our friends.” Doc chuckled and walked out the door leaving Jack with the biggest decision of his life. Doc’s head popped through the door and with a concerned look added “Honestly Jack, if the other portals have closed as we suspect there might not be enough power to pull you back through and if it did, I’m sorry my friend, there is no telling where you might wind up. It could be back with our friends, or it could be somewhere in the darkest reaches of space, another time, another dimension. A portal this weak is extremely unstable, you could wind up on Mars…no promises Jack.” and out the door he vanished to attend his meeting.
Jack looked at the SSD drives in his hand and then at the containment case and sighed. Now the thought that ran through Jack’s mind was, he had to let people know. If the world knew, maybe the masses could do something to stop them from going down the road they were on…but first he had to make a few stops.
**********************
Doc stepped on stage to light applause and put on his wireless head mike and began to speak. As he paused he noticed there were many murmurs coming from the left side of the three hundred scientists in the audience. He glanced to his left to see Jack slowly walking out on stage. All the television cameras quickly turned to watch the intruder.
Over Jack’s shoulder was his old leather satchel that dangled at his waist and in both hands was the portal’s case.
Two security guards started toward him, but Doc and several other scientists shouted at them to send them back off stage in fear that a tussle could cause the portal to prematurely end its life. All their research depended upon copying the resonance of the portal as it collapsed, here in the auditorium that had no such gear and without it all portal research would end.
As Jack held the case in one hand, he put on a head mike with his other and slowly began to speak.
“Doc and I came here…to the world asking…no pleading for help to return stranded peoples to their own worlds, their realities.” He turned to the scientists and the cameras “Instead you argue like children over a ball. You sneak around and make behind the scenes deals with big business, you cave in to the pressures of your governments. You lie to the world, to each other, and fail those that expected you to help.” The hall fell silent.
“SHAME ON ALL OF YOU!” he shouted “Shame on you for failing science.” Jack raised the case and with a flick of the two locks the front lid dropped open as he held it up for all to see. For the first time Jack really noticed television cameras and knew people didn’t care, new technology was soon going to be available…this meeting was a showcase to let the world know what they really intended and his heart sank as it finally dawned on him what Doc was trying to tell him. There was no stopping the scientists, no one cared about those trapped in another reality.
Doc stepped a few steps forward “Jack…”
Jack swung around had shouted for Doc to step back…or else! Jack dangled the case in front of him precariously.
“Sure would be a shame if I dropped this and all these asshole’s plans went out the window.” He turned back toward the audience “I’ve been told this portal…” he waved his hand in front of the blue lit case and the glowing portal inside “will float away if I turn off the magnetic field. The slightest of breezes could cause it to move, any contact with anything would cause it to expend its last ounce of power.”
One guard started sneaking up to Jack’s rear, but Jack quickly spun and shouted “One more step and it’s all over…everyone but Doc leave the stage…NOW!” he looked at Doc and smiled.
“I stole all your records, the portal, I’ve packed my satchel full of microfilm and several lenses.” he looked at the audience “Everything on how to grow a society, engineering, chemicals, mineral identification, structural limits, smelting…” he grinned “everything I could think of. We can write it all down make copies, libraries, build a new civilization. Would you…any of you deny us that?”
One of the scientists stood and looked around the room, and then to Jack. He pointed at the portal and the case.
“You’re a fool Mister Porter if you think that is powerful enough to send you back. Ask your friend Doc, he knew that portal can’t pull you through. At best half of you would be left there on the stage.”
Jack shrugged and switched off the field and the portal stayed right where it was as he slowly removed the case and tossed it behi
nd him as parts flew over the rear of the stage.
“What do I have to lose? If I’m to see my wife again…if you bastards have your way it would be never.”
Another scientist stood and shouted “We can work something out, don’t be foolish!”
Jack stared at the small fading orb in front of him and smiled as he looked through it to the group of scientists.
“Never was accused of being smart, never cared about being called stupid. He reached his finger toward the golf ball-sized portal. It was obvious that without the magnetic field to energize it, it was fading and perhaps vanishing for good.
“STOP! One scientist screamed “You are destroying our future!”
Another shouted “Think of all the knowledge we can learn from the…” he fell silent as Jack moved again.
Jack pulled back his finger and looked over the darkened hall.
“From what I’ve seen this last year…mankind will be better off without knowing portal technology. You see the shimmers pushed all this crap into my head, the one thing I can’t shake is the sensation of deep regret they felt. They left our world for an alternate world while their people perished. Their race that remained behind perished and we mammals survived on the land somehow and became what we are today…” he paused and looked around “self-gratifying parasites that abuse every good thing science creates. Until we learn that his world is just an island in space and once we destroy it, we’re done, over, fini! No we’re not ready for this technology…and God help us all and may you never discover it.”
Doc stepped forward and shouted “DON’T DO IT JACK!” and as Jack waved him back Doc stepped back to where only Jack could see his face, gave him a little smile and a wink.
Jack quickly reached toward the portal “I don’t know where I’ll land, but it sure has to be a damned sight better than where I am now.”
As soon as Jack reached the portal it appeared as if Jack had turned to smoke and he was pulled into a now quickly growing portal…and vanished. The portal was expanding rapidly, but not absorbing anything it touched. As they watched the portal rose toward the high ceiling of the auditorium and expanded to cover most of it as it faded. In the final moments of the portal’s life all they could see was only the blackness of space and millions of stars twinkling as if to greet Jack.
Jurassic Portal Page 19
