Portal to the Forgotten

by John Gschwend

  The preacher pointed and yelled, “What do you want here?”

  Moon raised her hands into the air. She had large stones in each hand. Luke quickly realized they were the diamond-like stones she had hunted for—and killed to get. There was no way he would not recognize them. Suddenly, the crackling at the top of the pyramid intensified, and Luke felt an electric charge in the air. His hair rose all over his body. He saw Adams long hair begin to rise, when all of a sudden lightning bolts shot from the top of the pyramid and streamed to the rocks in Moon’s hands. Her hair whipped as if caught in a gale, and she glowed bright white and blue. Electricity and sparks danced around her in blue blazes. Luke knew she would die from this. She lowered the stones and the stream of electricity reversed itself back to the pyramid top in a zap.

  All the giants immediately went to their knees and bowed their long pointed heads.

  The preacher spread his long arms. “Who are you?”

  Moon continued up the aisle. “I am Sha-She. I am from the great lands beyond.” She pointed one of the rocks toward Adam. “He is not to be sacrificed.”

  Shevay said, “I am the one to say who is to be—”

  Moon raised the stones and the pyramid came alive again, and she was immediately charged with the blue and white flashes. She lowered the stones. “I have not come to challenge the Great Shevay, but I will be heard.”

  Shevay pointed to Adam and the two sword giants cut him loose. Adam was visibly shaken by it all, but he held his composure.

  “How is it that you know the secret of the pyramid?” Shevay said.

  Moon continued up the aisle until she was just below Shevay. “Glen Turner.”

  Shevay simply stared at Moon for a long time, and then he addressed the crowd. There was low murmuring, and they departed. He turned to the sword men and spoke a few words to them. They went into the pyramid and left him alone with Moon and Adam.

  Moon climbed the steps to the stage and knelt on one knee. “I come with respect and reverence for the Great Shevay.”

  He motioned for her to rise. “Why do you come?”

  She stood. “I’ve come to warn you of bad things to happen.” Adam moved beside her. She continued, “Other people will come from beyond and their intentions will be evil.”

  “That is a matter of perspective,” came a voice from the pyramid door, and out stepped a man in a gray military uniform holding a pistol. Moon slowly moved for her pistol in her waistband. The man with the pistol said, “I wouldn’t do that, Fraulein.” He went to her and took her weapon. He pointed to Adam. “You get down on your knees.” Adam didn’t move.

  Moon said, “Do it, Adam.” He did.

  The man addressed Moon, “Who are you?” She said nothing. “You’re an American.”

  “And you are a damn Nazi.”

  “I am a German soldier. My name is Karl Rineman, and we have a lot to talk about.” He motioned her toward the pyramid door with his Luger.

  “What about my friend?” She nodded toward Adam.

  “You have to ask the Great Shevay.”

  Shevay said something toward the door and the two sword men came and escorted Adam through the door as Shevay followed.

  Moon held both rocks in one hand, and she slowly began to raise it.

  “I want to talk to you, but I will put a bullet in your pretty head if you force me to,” the German said in perfect English, as he aimed the pistol at Moon’s face. “Drop the stones.” They fell with a clatter. “Now, move.” They went into the pyramid.

  Everything was quiet, and Luke saw no one, not a single person or giant or German or anyone. Now what?

  Luke dropped down from the tree. He tried to make sense of what had just happened, but this place was beyond any reason. An English-speaking World War II German had just captured Moon and Adam, along with a ten-foot, tall king, and went inside of an Egyptian-type pyramid that shot sparks from its peak. Yeah, Luke was ready to wake up from the dream at any minute.

  He heard talking so he slid in behind a large barrel. Two giants walked past and continued down the street. He looked over the barrel and waited to see if more came. He smelled something in the barrel, so he removed the top and looked inside. It was wine. He cupped his hand and took a few sips. It was good, but he didn’t know what the wine was made of—didn’t taste like grape.

  He went to the stage and spotted the stones on the floor. He picked them up and dropped them into his pack, hoping the pyramid didn’t shoot an arc at him. He looked in all directions—still clear. He went to the big door of the pyramid. It was fifteen feet high and eight feet wide, solid stone. He knew he wouldn’t be able to open it—way too heavy. He pushed on it. It moved. It moved so easily that a child could have opened it.

  He pulled his tomahawk from his belt. He had expected it to be dark inside, but it was light enough to read by. He looked up to see some type of mirrors on the ceiling. They were reflecting light from somewhere. He eased along, listening as he went. There were drawings and paintings on the wall, somewhat like Egyptian, but yet different. This was not Egypt.

  He stopped. He heard Moon’s voice. He kept moving down a long hall. Her voice grew louder as he moved closer. There were steps that went up to some sort of balcony over the room where Moon’s voice was coming from. As he sneaked up the steps, he saw more mirrors; they spiraled up the walls. He reckoned they were picking light up from somewhere high and progressively reflecting it all the way down to the ground floor. From the balcony he could see a room below. Shevay was sitting on a throne, and the German was standing beside him with that damn Luger pointed at Moon.

  “Did I hear you say your name was Sha-She?” Karl said. Moon said nothing. “You will talk.”

  “I don’t have anything to say to you.”

  Karl pointed the Luger at Adam and shot him in the arm. The room echoed from the loud report. Adam reeled, but regained himself. Blood trickled between his fingers as he pressed his hand against his wound.

  Moon went to Adam and moved his hand. “Let me see.” She inspected it, tore the tail of her shirt, and wrapped it. She turned back to Karl. “You Nazi pig, the war ended over seventy years ago.”

  Karl stood silent for a time and then said, “How did it end?”

  “You lost.”

  “I believe you,” he said, as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Seventy years?”

  “That’s right. Germany is now at peace with the world. That piece of crap Hitler killed himself.”

  Karl seemed to ignore Moon, or didn’t care about it. “So where have I traveled to? Where is this place?”

  “You are in another dimension.”

  “Verdammt!” Karl pumped his fist. “He was right.”

  “Who was right?” Moon said.

  “General Kammler’s man.”

  “Die Glocke,” Moon said.

  Karl cut his eyes toward her. “How do you know that?”

  “I told you, you ass. That was seventy years ago. I know about the bell. I know about you, Captain. You got into the damn Nazi time machine and disappeared, and now here you are. You know what? You never came back.”

  Karl said nothing as he stared at Moon.

  “You never will go back either,” Moon said.

  Karl aimed the pistol at Moon. Luke had had enough. He pulled the arrow to his cheek. Karl had his side toward Luke, so Luke concentrated on a spot right under the shoulder. The arrow went high and hit Karl in the shoulder. He dropped the gun and Moon came up with it, aiming it at Karl.

  Blood poured down Karl’s arm as it hung by his side with the arrow protruding from it.

  Shevay stood and shouted something and then turned to Moon. “This nonsense has gone on long enough.” The place quickly filled up with soldiers—they weren’t giants. They were like the one who had jumped Adam and Luke. They seemed to come through the cracks of the walls. In fact, they came from small doors that appeared to be everywhere, even behind Luke. He was surrounded with spears only inches away.

&nbs
p; They escorted Luke down with the rest of them. When he got down to the others, Moon was tying a bandage around Karl’s arm. She had torn more of her shirt and now her navel was showing. Adam was holding his arrow. “Good shot or bad shot?” Adam said as he handed the arrow to Luke. One of the soldiers snatched it from Luke.

  “Bad shot.” Luke said.

  “Well, Constable, here to make an arrest?” Moon said with that beautiful smile Luke had grown so fond of.

  Karl shook his head. “Cowboys and Indians just like Hollywood. And you Americans really won the war?”

  Shevay waved his hand. “Enough!” He pointed toward the exit and said something. Immediately there was a spear poking Luke’s back. The others fared no better.

  “Everyone listen to me and do what I say, and maybe we will survive this,” Moon said. “Adam, don’t try to fight them.”

  Karl turned to Shevay. “I told you my Fuhrur will give you powers you can only dream of.” Shevay ignored him.

  “You don’t hear too good, Mein Herr,” Moon said. “Hitler has been dead over seventy years, and that damn bell will never leave this place.”

  It hit Luke—so that is why she is here. She is here because of the German. Luke didn’t understand what was happening, but be believed he was onto something.

  Shevay took the Luger from one of his guards and handed it to Karl. “Take your strange weapon.”

  “Danke,” Karl said.

  “You remember you are my guest, but that could change,” Shevay said.

  “Give me my gun back,” Moon said.

  Shevay ignored her.

  “His kind are evil. They murdered millions,” Moon said.

  Shevay looked down on Moon. “So have we. Soon it will be three more.”

  Karl moved beside Shevay as the soldiers pushed the other three before them and out of the pyramid.

  Chapter 13

  Luke looked down from the cage they had thrown them in. It reminded him of a bird cage, a bird cage atop a tall building. “One thing about it,” Luke said. “We can see the entire city from here.”

  Adam snatched and jerked at the bamboo bars. “Save your strength, Adam. We will need you later,” Moon said, as she sat with her back against the bars. “How’s the arm?”

  Adam seemed not to hear her or simply ignored her.

  Luke sat beside Moon. “If you cut your shirt again, you won’t be decent.” She blushed just a little. Luke pointed at her. “Aha. I know how you feel.”

  She patted his knee. “What an adventure, eh, Constable.”

  Luke turned and squared himself with her. “Okay Moon, why don’t you finally level with me? What exactly is your mission here?”

  “I’ve already told you—”

  “Fine then.” Luke shook his head. “I guess I can just quit.”

  “Okay, Luke…okay.” Moon pulled down on the front of her shirt, but her navel was still revealed. “I owe you the total truth.” She gave him a forced smile. “I really am Special Agent Moon Serling, and everything else I told you is true, mostly. The reason I am here is to stop that German from returning to our world.”

  “How did you even know he was here?”

  “You know about Die Glocke?”

  “Yeah. Well, I think so.” Luke said. “I saw it on TV. It was a machine that looked like a bell that the Nazis built during the war, one of their super weapons.”

  “It was more than that. It was built for time travel.”

  “You know, if we weren’t sitting right here in another world, I would say you are crazy. When I saw it on TV, I thought it was a crock of crap.”

  “No, it was real, and it is here somewhere.”

  “How could you have possibly known it would be here?”

  “A man named Glen Turner escaped from here back to our world and informed the agency.”

  “How did he escape?” Luke felt hope. “It could be our ticket out of this crazy place.”

  Moon stood. Luke’s eye went to her navel. She pulled on her shirt, and he felt embarrassed. “Now who’s red?” Moon said.

  “Come on, Moon, keep talking.” He pulled her back down.

  “Luke, this is hard to follow.”

  Luke cut his eyes at her. “You think? Give me a try. I’m getting good at this other world stuff.”

  “Okay, you’ve met Orion, and you know how he came from the 1800’s, yet is, what, about eighty or so?”

  “Yeah, about that,” Luke said.

  “With time travel through these traversable wormholes, we know when the rat goes in, but we don’t know the time in history he comes out.”

  “I think I follow.”

  “Glen Turner was a CIA agent in the sixty’s. In 1965, the agency had heard of a strange hole in the side of a mountain in Tibet that the monks were using in their worship. A long story short, he found the hole and went in. The agent with him said as soon as he went in, the hole disappeared, and so did Turner.”

  “Sounds familiar,” Luke said.

  “That’s how Shevay can speak English. Turner was here for ten years or so.”

  “Where is he now?”

  “He escaped back through a portal three months ago, and found his way back to the agency.”

  “The hole opened back up in Tibet?”

  “No. He was spit out in a cave in West Virginia.” She put her hand up. “We can’t find a portal or anything in the cave. We used all the latest technology, but nothing.”

  Luke tried to get it all straight in his head, but it was beginning to jumble. “You said he was here in this place for ten years, but your math is wrong. From 1965 to now is over fifty years.”

  “He went into the hole a thirty-year-old man; he came out a forty-year-old man. He first tried to go home before reporting back to the CIA. It didn’t work. His wife was dead, and his ten-year-old son, who he expected to be twenty, was a sixty-year-old grandfather.”

  Luke shivered. What if he did find a way back to Arkansas; would he find the same thing Glen Turner did?

  “When Turner first arrived here, he was taken to Shevay to be sacrificed.”

  “The Scrains took him?”

  “This is what I don’t understand,” Moon said. “Turner described a different race of people other than what I know about.” She stopped talking for a time, thinking. She resumed, “Never mind that right now. The point is he was taken to Shevay, and somehow they became friends. Turner eventually had the run of the place.”

  “Doesn’t sound like the Shevay we fondly know.”

  “One day Turner was out on the prairie hunting with the Reeze,” Moon said. “He said he enjoyed hunting buffalo with the Reeze. He had befriended them and was then able to keep the Giants off the Lessers, as he called them. While hunting, there was an explosion—a sonic boom, and this bell object suddenly appeared on the prairie. He said he instantly knew it was Nazi, because the portal was swirling and all manner of debris came in with the bell, and there was a large, red banner with a swastika on it. He figured the bell came from his world, so he went for the portal before it could close.”

  “Why didn’t Turner land back in 1940’s Germany? That’s where the bell came from.”

  “I don’t have an answer.”

  “Maybe the portal is still open.”

  Moon turned away for a time and then turned back more composed. “No, Luke, it closed. One of the Reeze, a woman friend to Glen, jumped through the hole with him. Only…”

  “What?”

  “Only it closed on her.” She paused for a time before continuing. “She melded into a stone. It was horrible and Turner had to put her out of her misery. He had to kill her with a rock.”

  “Damn!” Luke felt as if he had been hit with a bat.

  Moon took a deep breath. “Anyway, Turner saw the bell, and he knew exactly what it was, and the Nazi banner confirmed it.”

  “So you are here to make sure this damn German doesn’t change the course of history. Your agency knew you were from here, so they reckoned you were th
e best one to get the job done.”

  “No, Luke, I volunteered.”

  “How long have you been searching for a portal?”

  “A few months now, since he came back.”

  “How did you even know you would come back at the right time in history?”

  “I didn’t. But we hoped there was a chance. When Turner spoke of Shevay, I knew Shevay was the ruler of the giants when I was a girl. We gambled I would hit it close.”

  Luke stood. “This is so hard to believe, but I know it’s all real. I mean, look at me. I’m here.” He dropped back down by Moon. “Why risk your life to come back here? What could that German possibly take back to our world that would change anything? You don’t even know what year he would return to, if he’s even able to return.”

  “There are powers here that you don’t know about, Luke. There is much more here than I even know about because we stayed away from the giants, and they are the ones with the technology.”

  “Hell, Moon, I admit that pyramid is pretty awesome, but Tesla could make electricity do that. They don’t have cars here or planes or trains. Crap, they don’t even have horses and wagons.”

  Moon closed her eyes for a few minutes. When she opened them, she looked straight into Luke’s eyes. “How well do you know history?”

  “What does that hav—?”

  “You know nothing about history. You think the Egyptian pyramids are ancient, don’t you?”

  “Aren’t they?”

  “It depends on what you compare them to. What about the lost Mayan Empire?”

  “Moon, I don’t know what you’re getting at.”

  “There were civilizations thousands of years before them—thousands.” She got up, walked to the bars, and stood by Adam. “This civilization is one of those older civilizations.”

  Luke shook his head. “You’ve lost me. Remember, I’m a simple man from the backwoods of Arkansas.”

  “Archaeologists are just scratching the surface of the ancients. Every time they think they have the first civilization discovered, they find something older. They say the Egyptian civilization began around 3000 B.C. They also believe Stonehenge was built about that time. Pretty old, right? Well, now they have discovered a temple in Turkey, Gobeklitepe, from about 10,000 B.C. It was preserved because the builders covered it with sand when they abandoned it. The weathering on the Sphinx in Egypt is from rain erosion. The last time it rained enough to cause that was over ten thousand years ago. Historians had originally declared man was living in caves then and existing like animals. They were wrong. They are still wrong. These giants here prove it.”