The Gateway

by Steve Simons

  Chapter 12  Don't Ask

  Barry keys up the walkie talkie and sure enough the gateway appears as it has done before, all hazy round the edges.

  34 28 88 moves forward and disappears through the gateway. 42 61 25 follows on closely behind and also disappears.

  Right your turn. Barry says to Tom.

  Tom steps forward after hesitating a moment, he didn't fancy ploughing into the back of the last Realbot, those things are pretty hard. As Tom walks between the two trees, he is most surprised to find himself walking on into the woods, he had expected himself to travel through the gateway. He checks his walkie talkie and finds sure enough it is on and he was still pressing hard on the transmit key. The thought crosses his mind that the batteries may be flat, but then the light would not be on or at least it would be dim, whereas it was in fact quite bright.

  Barry asks, What did you forget.... he is interrupted by Tom as he responds, No I remembered and it looks like the batteries are OK.

  There's a pause as both boys try and figure out what went wrong. Barry suggests that Tom try the gateway again. Tom releases his finger from the transmit key and presses it again. The all too familiar hazy edge of the gateway does not appear.

  Tom suggests that Barry have a go. Try as he might, Barry cannot get a response from the gateway either.

  Tom gets the communicator device out that Aseer-Alc had given him, but finds that appears to no longer be triggering the gateway either.

  Barry, with obvious fear in his voice, asks, What are we going to do if we can't activate the gateway?

  Tom replies, We'll have to stay here. It is probably just a temporary problem and the gateway will open again later. 

  Barry says, I hope you are right. I also hope those Realbots got back to their planet OK before the gateway collapsed.

  Suddenly an old man appears between the trees, at exactly the location of the gateway.

  Tom runs back to stand beside Barry. The man looks straight at the two boys and exclaims, Ah there you are, been looking for you two!

  Barry sounding more like an owl than a boy responds, Who... who... who... are you?

  I once heard a song that had that line in it, can not remember where I heard it or who the assemblage were. Anyway, onto business at hand. You two have been causing me so much work trying to track you down. I had notification of your unauthorised entry into the guardianship corridors some days ago, not that time is much of a measure in these matters. What do you think you are doing charging around within our network without so much of a please or thank you? Spreading contaminates around wherever your wanderings, care to take your fancy, or was it unplanned idiocy and chance that traversed you through?

  There was an embarrassing silence, which clearly the boys were expected to fill with some form of explanation, but as they were totally confused as to what this man was waffling on about, they were dumbfounded.

  I see, playing the we are innocent card eh? asks the old man, as he slowly walks towards the boys.

  Tom speaks, We are s...s...sorry, that we c...c...caused you, s...s...so much trouble.

  The man replies, Trouble, trouble, that isn't the end of the tale, nor is it the beginning, there is a lot of unravelling to do and there is no doubting that.

  There is another embarrassing silence.

  Then the man smiles and says, But where are my manners? He pauses just long enough to fetch a small but tattered book from the right sleeve of his garment. Then he opens the book and appears to be thumbing through it as if looking for a particular page. He stops on a particular page and exclaims, Ah here we are.....good day to you young sirs and how fair be the day to ye both?

  Barry and Tom look at each other in disbelief, is this character for real? He appears to be reading some sort of script from earth's historic past.

  The man looks up from the book and prompts, Well?

  The boys just do not know how to respond, so there is another embarrassing silence. The man again takes up prompting the boys with, You are supposed to say, It fairs well kind sir, or..... it has been a roight bugger until now and sets fair to get worst still by the seems of it.

  The boys are really shocked at what the man has just said.

  It is Tom who again summons up the courage to reply, But that is not how we talk.

  How doest thee talk then young sir? asks the old man with a strange smile upon his face, that leads the boys to think that he is just being mischievous and that he knew all along how the boys talked and what they are doing here.

  Tom, with much more confidence now says, My name is Tom and this is Barry, we stumbled upon the gateway or corridors, as you call them, by accident whilst playing on our home planet.

  The man now curious, drops his superior air and asks, How did you manage to enter the corridors?

  Barry raises an arm and holds out his walkie talkie, With these.

  Interesting, may I take a closer look? asks the man.

  Barry somewhat hesitantly, says Y... Yes.

  The man gently takes the offered walkie talkie, turns it over in his hand and asks, How do you effect this device?

  Barry walks forward and points to the transmit key on the side and tells the man that it should be pressed into the casing. The man appears to be listening for something. Then exclaims, Interesting, an accidental harmonic side band spike of just the right tone and repeat frequency to open the gateway as you called it. Was this device made deliberately to open the gateway or was it, as you say, an accidental discovery? Tell the truth now young sir, I shall find it out.

  Tom replies, It was, as I said, an accident that we opened the gateway on the first occasion, but after that we were attempting to get ourselves back home.

  Quite so, quite so. says the man. He turns away from the boys for a moment as if he has some purpose in the action, then he turns back to face them, I suppose I had best get you back to your place of origin, before sorting out this latest mis-hap.

  Barry responds quite enthusiastically to the suggestion, Oh yes please, we are so longing to get home.

  I should think so too, by the way how is that arm of yours? asks the man.

  Barry is quite surprised at the man's question, he had quite forgotten the damage to his arm and the fact that it had to be reconstructed by a machine. Barry replies, Quite well, thanks, but how did you....

  The man interrupts him as he asks Tom, Any more of those headaches?

  Only when there are too many things worrying me. replies Tom.

  So almost permanently there then. says the man laughing after he finishes his observation. Then he says, Well let us be off and way into the corridors of fate, misery and joy.

  Both boys look at each other in a strange way. This man before them is rather strange and they cannot make out when he is serious and when he is having a bit of a joke at their expense. There is however, something quite likeable about him, you could get used to his manner, if you wanted to. That is if you didn't have so many worries pressing down upon you.

  The boys suddenly without warning, find themselves in a dark place, at least the immediate area where they were standing is dark , there is a patch of light coming from somewhere behind where the man is standing. They know that he is still standing in front of them as they can see his shadowy outline.

  The man says, You may notice a few changes as you have been away for a while. Please do not attempt to use the corridors again and certainly do not look for me, as I am extremely busy and haven't got the time to look after two young sirs like yourselves. He reaches towards Barry and hands back his walkie talkie.

  Tom asks , Just who are you and what are the corridors all about?

  Now what did I just say young sir? asks the man, but he presses on not waiting for a reply, almost as if he didn't actually expect an answer to his question. He says, I said, do not look for me. Did I not? Questions like the one you asked, count as seekin
g me and my identity out and as for questions about the corridors, that is as bad as entering them. Take heed I shall not be so amenable, should you cross my path again by way of your own efforts or actions. Now kind sirs, I must bid you farewell, I have much work to do, to undo.

  Barry says, Thank you for bringing us back home and sorry we caused you so much trouble, we didn't mean to.

  The man replies, It is my duty to return you to the place from whence you originated, after all on this occasion your entry into the corridors was but a mere accident of the accidental kind. Just heed my words of warning and fare thee well kind sirs.

  With that, his shape and form just disappear into thin air, as if they had never existed.

  What a strange man! exclaims Tom.

  What a strange adventure altogether. replies Barry, then continues, Well lets go home, I wonder what the changes are likely to be, that the man mentioned?

  Let's go and find out eh? suggests Tom.

  Both boys walk toward the light patch. It is twilight, that state of light that exists between the daylight and the night sky. They find that they are on the demolition site and have just emerged from the building that they were first playing in when this whole adventure started.

  Let's go to my house first, its nearest. suggests Barry.

  The boys set off for Barry's and soon reach the back door. There are no lights on and all the curtains are pulled. Barry tries the door handle and finds it is locked. He knocks on the door and calls out, Mum, its me Barry.

  There is no response. Barry knocks and calls out again, but still no response, not even from the houses either side.

  Barry suggests, Shall we try yours then?

  OK, perhaps yours are just out somewhere. suggests Tom..

  The boys are soon at Tom's house,. At least there are lights on and they can make out shapes of peolple as they move behind the curtains. Tom tries the door and to his surprise finds it is unlocked. The two boys enter. There are voices coming from the front room. Barry recognises his Dad's laugh.

  Hey sounds like my lot are round your house. says Barry.

  As the boys get to the lounge door they are not prepared for the noise and fuss that happens. There is a massive out pour of emotion as the boys are bombarded with you're safe and sound, where have you been? We've been worried about you. And similar questions and sentiments. The boys are hugged and passed from adult to adult as they assure themselves that the boys are really alive and well.

  Tom asks, What's with the tree?

  There's a sudden silence and then laughter as Tom's mother says, Its Christmas you dopey animal.

  Barry asks, Just how long have we been away?

  Barry's dad appears to be counting on his fingers, just before he replies, Four months, two weeks and six days. then he looks over to Tom's dad for confirmation and sees a reassuring nod.

  Tom says, Blimey I missed my birthday!

  Where have you two been anyway? asks Tom's Mum.

  We're not sure really, we were playing on the old demolition site when we fell through a hole in the wall. Tom pauses and looks at Barry as if asking whether he should tell the truth or not.

  Barry just shrugs his shoulders.

  Typical of Barry to be indecisive, thinks Tom to himself. He his prompted to resume his story when his Mum asks, And?

  We fell through a hole in the wall and .... again he pauses, looking again at Barry for advice, but a blank look meets his gaze, so he has to decide for himself whether to tell the truth or make something up.