by Marcus Sloss
The tavers had been given trusses instead of a chair, for example. This resulted in one roofing item a day. I scoffed and we swapped back to chairs fairly quickly. The tavers integrated so well in their own little corner of our stronghold that we barely noticed them. I saw they were downing trees to build our chairs. We built a road to their nest and piled the downed trees for them. I wanted to give them trees we were yanking down to expand our kill zone.
The kill zone was now five hundred meters back. Norm said he had lots of extra seeds and asked to turn the area into farmland. I was hesitant, but he had a solid argument when he said he would keep the vegetation to a low height. We planted small trees on the top hesco barriers to have the additional cover and height, and it looked really awesome. Our defenses shored up our edges, while fortifying the river. We found enough trees long enough to bridge the river gap. We then stacked logs high. An aquatic species could still swim around our hydro turbines but I doubted a human could swim under our bridge against the current.
Even with the lack of action, there was never a lack of progress. New paths were created with river stones, solar panels were added to our grid, and we started to construct buildings for purposes other than residences. The first communal dining pavilion was constructed. We stole the benches from the parks to add under the cover. The sense of community was there.
This led to some problems. The end of the world feeling faded. The boring week of complacency resulted in seven families leaving. I was not shocked by their rationale to leave. The reality was, violence had slowed to nothing. While our sleeping conditions were improving, they were not great. Our food was horrible and the sense of needing to hide or die was not present. They left for Denver and I did not blame them. I thought they were idiots, but who knew? I certainly did not prohibit their decision. Even with their departure, we were still growing as Aspen sent excess refugees our way.
Speaking of complacency, Perci was having none of it regarding her ovulation. She continuously called me her stud. I actually felt like a stud by day seven. Perci ran the community with the others to the point that my job was only military matters, which in times of peace, meant exercising and guard duty. Willow trained harder than I ever expected. She became my super-soldier. When she started sniper training, she fell in love. The woman had a knack for hitting moving targets at range. I was super proud of her progress. Her curves were being replaced by muscle, and I ensured she knew how beautiful she was. Nancy was still on the outskirts. A dating phase of our relationship. She watched from the sidelines as she was integrating. Honestly, I was shocked that it worked. I thought the girls would have friction and Nancy would move on. Nope, she stuck by our sides and gelled into our relationship to the point that it did not feel awkward.
Those last seven days transitioned into this very moment. Three RVs with twenty five trucks and trailers. The blue sheen from the glowing portals had vanished almost an hour ago. The gate had gone gray and landed, silently. We thought it would instantly flare gold, but the simple fact the blue was gone was welcome. Our trailers were already stuffed with metal, wooden furniture, window frames, and other trinkets. We set up a defensive perimeter in case the Xgate went blue with new portals instead of golden.
Colonel Reinhardt had a convoy with a tank waiting on the other side, while Mayor Isaac had a single truck with a trailer.
“You excited?” Willow asked while holding my hand. Before I could answer, she blurted, “I am! I want to buy fresh produce. I wonder if the translator tells us what is poisonous or if we have to test food first. Ugh. I would hate that job. Could you -”
“Willow, you are nervous rambling,” Perci said. We were waiting outside the gate beside RV3. “I am hoping for new weapons. I am starting to worry about the longevity of our rifles.”
Nancy nodded, slinging an arm around Perci. “That is a good point. While I hope for both those things, I want to know what the outside world has been up to. I dropped everything to rush here. My family was all in upstate New York and laughed at my PTSD. They said the world was fine.”
“What about you, Eric?” Willow asked.
“No matter what this trade market brings, I am more concerned about our next rotation of blue portals. I am guessing we will likely get four this time. Will we get raided or will we be doing the raiding, Viking-style. If you didn’t notice, the last seven days have been awesome. I doubt many other places had that. We could be dragged into an eleven-day war,” I said with my arms crossed. I huffed out my frustrations and smiled. “With that being said. A good trading day could do wonders to help us prepare. I hope we get to acquire everything you girls mentioned. Weapons, food, and knowledge. Oh, look! So shiny.”
Xgate 232 illuminated in a golden hue. We had talked about who would step through first. Me. I placed my weapons onto the ground and ran for the golden light. When I crossed the threshold, my eyes were forced shut by the sudden brightness. The vision of what greeted me was confusing and disappointing.
A large floating triple tailed goldfish gave me an uncaring eye. I was in a drab, gray-gridded room that was perfectly square. A translator shot off a shelf with incredible speed. I tried to react in time, only to have the circular object embedded into my chest. I screamed while my skin melted around the device. My mind tormented in agony, unable to process the rationality of what was happening. My knees slammed onto the metallic floor. My mind wanted to go under as blackness encompassed my vision. I refused to surrender. A moment later, I lost the fight when a flipper touched my head and I lost consciousness.
∞∞∞
A flipper was smacking my face. My memories flooded back to me. I tried to snatch the fish, but my cybernetic hand passed through the image. Wait. It was smacking me in the face moments ago.
“Welcome, Eric Yang. Human of Earth. You are now registered to enter the grand market. Are you ready for the rules? Or would you like to use your limited time to talk first?”
I raised an eyebrow at the goldfish. I used to have a triple tailed goldfish. It was the only pet my parents ever allowed. I was raised with strict rules by a strict father. My mother rarely was able to convince him to deviate from his enforcements. The goldfish was an exception. Now, I stared at a version ten times bigger that could talk. Ha! This was a normal Tuesday.
“Mr. Alien. Can I ask questions after the rules of the grand market?” I asked, returning to my feet with a jump. I felt great. I saw my shirt was ruined and my skin was healed, yet there was no residual pain. The cybernetic hand rubbed the spot instinctively.
“Yes, I am in your mind.”
“Oh, perfect. Rules then,” I said with a charismatic smile. Goldie rolled their eyes.
“You are allowed ten entries per gate side at a time. No weapons allowed in. Your materials can be converted into their manageable base form or you can choose to -”
“Can you explain that more?”
“I see that outside the gate, you intend to trade metal poles. I can instantly convert those into small, stackable bars of metal without paint. That is the common method of most materials brought to me. May I continue?” Goldie asked, and I nodded. “Violence does not work here. Trickery does. You must convince your trading partner to accept whatever deal you propose. With that said, thievery does not work. Any stolen item will be returned here before the great market closes. While you are allowed forty entries per Xgate, you are given one booth with four sides. As most guess, if you enter from what you humans call east, then your booth is the east booth. When you are ready to sell, you step into this section of the room.” The goldfish pointed to
a rectangular elevator bay on the right side of the wall. “To buy, step on this left side. No more than one being to a booth side, and you will see why later. There are aliens, as you term them, in here who barely managed to squeeze into the gates. If I let ten of them sell items, they would eat up a whole lot of space. Questions?”
“Countdown timer is?”
“Ah, so your chest holds a translator. The device is be
yond the comprehension of your species. Even your Dr. Gepstein, who did fantastic work on your arm, would be clueless as to how it operates. Think of the countdown to golden shimmer removal. The answer will self-generate. The next golden arrival can be synced with your Gpads. Which works here. We allow groups to communicate as they shop. As you noticed, there is sixty-seven minutes before and after the golden time, in which your Xgate will be dormant. Not the worst name. No, I cannot tell you what portals will occupy your Xgate next. Nor will I guide you to specific things you seek to trade. Yes, I can read your mind.”
I huffed in agitation. Okay, this was great information. It still didn’t answer the major question. Goldie clearly could read my mind, when they next said:
“Why are there Xgates on Earth? You have been confined to never travel the stars except through portals. Your warring ways have been deemed a hazard to the peaceful races. You are therefore quarantined from the universe. But have hope. Your species can repent. If they manage to have zero aggressive behavior over a fourteen million, three hundred-thousand-year timespan, the Xgates will be removed. Yeah, that will never happen with humans. I agree. I see in your mind that you also agree. You should tell the others who are willing to get translators. It is a requirement to enter the great market. See you soon, Eric. Fun chat inside your head. I find the place spooky.”
I grunted, grimaced, and held in my anger. I stepped into the golden light instead of arguing with the voice inside my head.
The bright daylight of earth forced me to squint. When my vision stabilized, I saw all eyes were on me. I peeled my shirt off to stunned gasps. There was murmuring until I waved my hands to quiet the noise. Perci darted into the RV, jogged over, and handed me a warm shirt that smelt like a bulldog. I twisted my face in the oddness, but put the shirt on nonetheless.
“You get a translator on arrival. Hurts like a mother; it’s so bad that I passed out. You will be explained the rules that you simply cannot break. Ten people per Xgate side. We are allowed four trading booths total, one person per booth,” I said to the crowd.
Mayor Isaac hefted my discarded shirt. He was staring at my translator spot with trepidation. The Colonel stripped his armor and shirt off. I saw the man rotate around the side of the Xgate to hop into the golden light. Nine soldiers followed him in without hesitation.
“Orders, your grace?” Perci said loudly.
“Back up the trailers. Ten people into the north side and ten into the east. The rest, toss materials in. I need two volunteers to sell goods,” I said.
The unit whirled into action. Jill and Jacklyn walked over.
“Perfect, listen to the rules when you recover from the pain. You can be tricked. We have a ton of metal, though. Even more when we go to Denver, if we can. With that being said, do the best you can.”
“I hate pain,” Jacky whimpered. I wagged my finger in a no-no as she hesitated with a timid grimace. I tossed her into the golden light and she shrieked.
“Hey, that was my mom,” Willow blurted with wide eyes. She spun on me with a flaring open hand gesture of warning. “She is going to be pissed.”
“Sometimes people need a nudge,” I said with a shrug.
“I am going! Manhandle one of your wives, you brute,” Jill said in a shuffling trot to the north side.
Trailers were backed up close to the golden light. Jacky popped out less than a minute later. Honestly, I should have seen her coming. The smack across my cheek stung. The angry defiance in her eyes softened. She whispered, “Thanks... you’re still a dick.”
“Love you too, mom. Okay, five more into the west breach. Nine on the north side. Let’s go. Collect bars of metal from Jacky or Jill before you enter the shopping area,” I shouted.
Perci, Willow, and Nancy went into the east gate. I loved watching their shimmering transitions from up close.
Mayor Isaac approached while I oversaw my team chucking road sign poles with concrete into the gate. Jacky hopped out again, holding a concrete brick. I halted Isaac from talking as Jacky handed me the brick.
“There is a factory conversion allotment. Yup, you heard me right. She will process material for us,” Jacky said with thrilled eyes. “There is a limit which, seems to be large enough for a hundred thousand people, not a thousand. She said it was a hard number to quantify.”
“She?”
“Oh, the fairy godmother of course. Did you not see her?”
“I got a goldfish from my childhood. A little bit bigger with holes in the bricks,” I said, indicating the brick. I stopped Jacky from returning. “Stop throwing stuff into the portals for now.”
I dialed Gary. “Hello.”
“Gary, I need you here at the gate. We can convert a sidewalk of concrete into bricks. I need you to manage what comes in and then spit it back out. Unless you want odd-shaped stuff, I have Jacky designing that -”
“On my way. Fucking aliens,” Gary muttered the last bit before closing his Gpad.
“No more tossing. We have enough to shop with to learn what has value,” I said and turned to Isaac. “What can I help you with?”
“There are only five of us going in at a time. Feel free to use our other slots on the south portal,” Isaac said with a friendly smile. He ingested a large lungful of air and then blurted, “Toss me into the portal.”
I had a hearty laugh with him while we walked around to the south side. His eyes shot up to gaze at the insane height of the Xgate. Even I felt tiny when this close to the shimmering light. A light shove and he was gone. His buddies chuckled while happily hopping through the golden shimmer on their own. I rotated to the east side, where my convoy waited.
“Torrez, check the Colonel when he returns. If he passes on the slots, take them,” I said to my friend, grabbing an old computer.
“You winging everything for now?” He said with a smirk, pointing at the outdated PC in my hands.
“Yup, we got twenty two hours. I know people are antsy to get in. I promise to hopefully give everyone a turn. At the same time, this may be our hardest workday yet. If this portal is a material re-shaper, then holy shit, our base is going to kick -”
Maria covered the outer ears of Mary and Jasmine. Failing to fully protect, them she got me to shut up with a momma glare. I smirked, waved, and fell backwards into the portal. Yeah, that was dumb. I slammed into the hard floor inside the gray room. The computer floated and the Goldie looked down at me in amusement.
“Oh, this is interesting. There are rare alloys in this machine. Bars for the alloys. What about the plastic?” Goldie asked. I saw other people talking to the air. Okay, that answered if other people could see Goldie.
I thought about what we could use the plastic for. I pictured spoons and forks like the finely detailed decorative pieces the mansion had.
“So, let me clarify something, Eric. This conversion was meant to help you survive without the infrastructure to build spaceships. The goal is to keep you planet-bound through conflict, while being compassionate enough to let you still live. With that being said, your request for spoons and forks comes into contention. There are aliens who craft eating utensils to sell. That goes beyond using the conversion as a utilitarian purpose. Almost into an art purpose. I can make plain forks or spoons. The same goes for your concrete conversion. I cannot build a statue, or a tank for you. I can supply the flat, round, or square pieces. That is it? I hope that was clear. Would you like plain plastic spoons and forks?” Goldie asked.
I nodded and a back shelf materialized the old personal computer into spoons, forks, and little bars of metal. I scooped the utensils up and left the golden light. The transition from the portal back to Earth was so smooth I might as well have walked through a regular open door with different lighting.
I handed the plastic to Maria. She looked at them in shock. We had been out of silverware for a while. It had simply not been a priority. The ramifications of the things we could transform became wild. Maria ran into the RV. She returned with a large sippy cup.
&nb
sp; “Turn this into two small cups with no tops please,” Maria asked. “Do this!”
I inspected the cup and walked into the golden portal. The transition was much smoother. I thought of two cups. Goldie smiled and put two kids’ cups on the shelf. They were decorated with mermaids. Yes! I was going to be a hero.
“So, Goldie, is there a limit to how much I can convert?”
“Yes, I did not mention the limit because you are nowhere near it even with the items you are hauling. Ah, no. It is not number-based, but weight-based. Adding a thousand miles of a concrete sidewalk is about your limit if you need something to reference. Exactly, that is why I didn’t mention it. But it is a rule. Ah—”
“Thank you. I do not like one-sided conversations at all. Why does the market exist?” I asked with a shrug.
“Part of the compassion project. The powers in charge decided that, while violent species should be regulated and controlled, we could show some compassion. Humanity has lost forty seven percent of its population over the last ten days. The estimate would be ninety-two percent if this market did not exist. The ability to trade gives balance to the process. It also allows for a more interesting viewing experience.”
“Hmm. Figured as much. What is better than watching the proverbial ant burn under your magnifying glass?”
“Exactly,” Goldie said, smacking sarcastic lips.
I felt a tap on my shoulder. Jacky stared at me and I realized half the room had left to go shopping.
“The fairy godmother gave me a hint. The rarer the component, the more valuable -”
“Mine said something similar. What were you thinking?” I asked as Perci stepped up closer.
