Gateway to the Stars

The Gateway to the Stars

Writer's Note: This story is a direct follow up from the Ghosts of Talverton Keep but reading that, or any of my preceding stories is not necessary to enjoy this adventure.

The chamber at the center of the abandoned hotel was exactly as it had been in the nightmare world. The rusted chain link fence, the easily kicked open side door, the mildewy carpets and then this. The shattered remains of the brazier reformed into a mental archway stretching across the middle of the room.

But no Michael.

You glance nervously over your shoulder at the metal stairs down to the pool. You know, intellectually speaking, that this is the real world, and that Daniel Quilp is trapped within a world of his own making, in a strip of the metal currently residing in a box in the back seat of your car. But it doesn't soothe your worried mind, his bloody face still seared into your memory.

But Quilp's face is not the face you seek. You slowly walk around the room. There's Michael's bag of tools, half-hazardly tossed in the corner and his workman jacket that you got him as a Yule gift at the base of the arch. You pick it up, feeling the soft patches you sewed onto the sturdy carharts.

His forge is still here - the portable propane one he uses for smaller projects, but looks like he turned it off before.. what? He jumped in?

You study the metal wedges - stacked in a perfect arch. There is so much of the alien metal here - far more than you have ever seen in one place before. If there was a whole world inside the little strip in the handle of your luggage - this... what could this be? Gently, your fingertips brush the arch.

BRRZZZZAPPPPPPP!!! The arch crackles to life with a shimmering green energy and the whole portal comes alive - a kaleidoscope of lights. You lurch forward, nearly touching the curtain of power, as if some invisible undertow was pulling you into it.

"Oh shit." You stumble and catch your feet. Michael wasn't kidding about that pull. Like all the air was getting sucked towards it. The metal arch shakes and hums with power, like standing next to a giant generator.

You take a few cautious steps back. The metal shavings on the floor pluck themselves off the carpet and fly into the portal. Your hand whips forward on its own accord. Wait - no. It's not your hand, it's Isla's bracelet!

The dull grey metal of the bracelet crackles with energy and the mounted gemstone has come alive, shifting and glowing like red ether. It pulls at you, hauling on your arm, towards the open gateway. With effort, you yank your arm back and take several steps away from the yawning maw.

You take a deep breath. This feels different. The other gateways; the city in glace, the objects in the cabin, the well house, you fell into them but this - this was not like that at all.

You stare up at the interlocking metal wedges of the arch. It was so much of the material! All that you had captured plus all the scraps here... it felt less like a piece of art and more like a turbine from an airplane.

"Well, you're not going to find your boyfriend standing here." You say to the crackling portal. You fish your phone out of your pocket and type out a quick text to Ryan and then, after a moment's thought, tuck the phone in Michael's jacket and set it in the corner. After all, it won't do you much good inside one of these pocket worlds.

Finally, having stalled enough, you step back to the edge of the room. You feel a tug at your wrist of the bracelet but you ignore it. The roar of the green shimmering energy fills your field of vision.

You start towards it, steady steps at first but then faster and faster until you are running towards the portal.

You crash into it, your face pressing through the curtain of energy.

You freeze in mid-air, suspended, as the walls of the hotel become translucent. Through them, you see the alley way but already those are becoming pale and see through, showing the city beyond and the puget sound.

The energy of the portal holds you tight, your body frozen, but you feel a great pressure beyond you. Your ears pop, and your hair begins to stand on end but you cannot turn your head.

Your mouth is open in a wordless scream although whether it is of fear or excitement or exaltation, you could not say. You feel as if your body is being stretched and compact at the same time.

Suddenly, there's a jolt, like the start of a roller coaster, and the world in front of you begins to warm. The wall, the alley way, the view of the sound, it begins to stretch and twist like someone had pulled the edges on photoshop. The crackling sound around you intensifies and then

WHOOOOOOSSHH!!!!! Like a champagne cork from a bottle, you fly forward, hurtling right through the hotel wall and shooting out over the Puget Sound. Before you can grapple with that, you have cleared the peninsula and are headed up, up, up into the atmosphere.

The blue of the sky is fading to the darkness of space and you try to turn your head, to get a glimpse of the planet from space but your body is frozen... and accelerating.

You fly past rocks and then you see a planet, Neptune you guess, before it shoots past. You must be traveling at incredible speeds but there is no resistance, no gasping for air or freezing of space, just the crackling of the portal in your ears.

And that's when the stars in front of you turn to streaks. The jump forward in a kaleidoscope of pinpricks leaving searing trails across your vision. It's too much. It's all too much.

White light envelopes you.

###

BAREEENNNNT! BAREEENNNT!!! The blaring claxon of an alarm jolts you awake as you feel the metal floor beneath your feet. A flashing purple light is mounted to the wall. BARREEENTT!!! Goes the alarm. Your knees ache as you pull yourself to a crawling position on the metal corridor.

"☌⟒⏁ ⎍⌿!" Someone is shouting in your ear but in a language you don't understand. They pull you up to your feet and then the floor lurches beneath you and the two of you stagger into each other.

The woman, and she is clearly a woman, stands a good foot taller than you, with exquisite cheekbones and a long mane of straight silver hair. Not white. Shimmering silver. She's wearing some sort of leathery jumpsuit.

"⏃⍀⟒ ⊬⍜⎍ ⍜☍⏃⊬?" She asks, a feathery eyebrow raised. Her voice is playful but over the screeching of the alarms, is difficult to make out.

"Where am I?" You ask.

"⊬⍜⎍ ⏃⍀⟒ ⟟⋏ ⎅⟒⏁⟒⋏⏁⟟⍜⋏ ⎎⏃☊⟟⌰⟟⏁⊬. ⍙⟒ ⋏⟒⟒⎅ ⏁⍜ ☌⍜!" She says and pulls at your hand, dragging you down the corridor filled with flashing purple lights.

TSSSEEEEOOWW! A bright orange laser bolt flies past your face. You look back to see two spider-like robots, as large as a golf cart, clattering towards you down the hallway. In the center of each, a smoking cannon.

TSEW! TSEW! The blast strikes the metal floor where you awoke sending up a spray of shrapnel.

"⎎⎍☊☍!!!!" The woman shouts pull you down towards the coming intersection.

You race after her, not willing to let go of her hand as she whips around the corner. She presses a glowing green button and a panel in the wall slides open revealing a narrow tunnel going down with a single pole in the middle, with metal spikes sticking out at regular intervals.

Without a moment's hesitation, the strange silver-haired woman leaps to the ladder and begins descending down the cramped tunnel.

TSEW! TSEW! The bolts whiz past you as the first robot rounds the corner. Summoning your courage, you stretch your leg to get one foot onto the ladder and pull yourself onto the metal pole. To your absolute horror, it sways slightly as you wrap your arms around it.

Down below, you hear the woman shouting. You look down but she's pointing above you. Yes, a glowing yellow button on this side. You stretch out and brush it with your finger tips. The panel starts to slide closed.

CLANG! A metallic spider leg slides in, blocking it from closing all the way.

"Oh fuck!" you shout and begin hauling yourself down the ladder as fast as you can manage.

There's a terrible rending sound of twisted metal above you but you spare not another glance as you focus on the ladder. Foot, hand, foot, hand. You try and keep rhythm as quickly as possible, not daring to risk a look down or up.

Finally, your feet touch solid ground. Looking around you see metal crates stacked in haphazard piles. CLANG CLANG!

Above you, the two metal spiders are crawling down the walls, their glowing cannons pointing straight towards you.

You look around for your savior but all you catch is a flash of silver hair vanishing through a sliding door on the far side of the room. You take off at full speed as orange bolts start to fill the air.

TSEWTSEWTSEW! They go off like twin gatling guns as you race towards the door. Behind you a crate explodes in a shower of black ink, slopping on the floor behind you but you barrel on through the door and out into another corridor, this one riddled with blast marks and debris.

Ahead you see the woman angrily punching symbols into a wall mounted keyboard. After an angry stream of alien speech, she grabs a nearby bit of wreckage, and swings the long metal pipe into the keyboard.

It smashes, with a satisfying crackle, and the panel in the wall next to it slides open about eighteen inches. A slender woman with curly brown hair, wearing a loose fitting brown top and baggy pants, slides out into the corridor. She gives you a little wave.

BOOOM!! An explosion rocks the whole space, sending you tumbling against the wall. Behind you, you can hear the relentless CLANG CLANG CLANG of the spiders feet over the din of the alarm.

"Ｗん乇尺乇＇丂　ᄃん乇ｲ" The brunette asks. The silver-haired woman points beyond the two of them to a large bulkhead - a massive metal door sealed shut. They immediately head to the nearby panel and start working on it.

CLANG CLANG. The two spiders, the tips of their legs coated in the oily black substance, come crashing down the corridor towards you. You dash after the women, but, in a moment of brilliance, squeeze yourself into the half-opened panel vacated by the brunette.

Freezing still, you wait as the two spiders clatter and slide past you towards the two women.

"⏁⟟⋔⟒ ⏁⍜ ⎎⎍☊☍⟟⋏☌ ☌⍜ ⟒⌇⟟⏃⍀!" The silver-haired woman shouts, brandishing her makeshift club at the incoming robots. The brunette keeps working, fruitlessly, on the keypanel.

"ﾉｲ＇丂　り乇ﾚｲﾑ　ﾚのᄃズ乇り！" She shouts back.

CREAK! The massive door lurches, opening just a finger's worth and then freezing. The two spiders begin charging their cannons, the smell of burned hair and fried circuits filling the air.

The silver-haired woman gives a war cry and leaps forward, smashing her makeshift club into the leg joint of one of the spiders. It stumbles for a moment, flicking it's forearm, sending her hurtling towards a nearby wall.

With a fierce gesture of her hands, the silver haired woman changes trajectory, shooting up towards the ceiling the corridor and landing, catlike on all fours, on the ceiling. She pauses for a moment and then flips down, wrestling the cannon on the wounded spider.

The unmolested spider aims squarely for the brunette, still frantically working to get the door open.

You leap from your hiding spot and hit the ground running, dashing towards the robotic spiders. You snatch up a piece of debris, a knobby metal strut and swing it with all your might.

CLANG!!! Your teeth clatter as your whole body reverberates. Gritting through the pain, you pull back and wail again on the leg. CLANG! CLANG! The brunette looks back, grateful relief washing over her face and then redoubles her efforts on the panel.

You hear twisting metal as the silver haired woman has wrenched the metal cannon on the damaged spider, releasing a shower of dangerous sparks.

In the moment you look away, the robotic spider in front of you slams its leg into your stomach, knocking the air from your lungs - but your attack had made an impact. The spider robot sparks, wobbles unevenly on it's damaged legs.

You pick yourself up and charge at the robot. CLANG! You hit it again and again, your shoulders aching. It's lazer head turns, glowing hot with cracking red energy. You drop the metal strut and run forward between the legs. The spider tries to dance backwards to get a clear shot but it's damaged leg caves out beneath it and it crashes to the ground, a foot over your head.

BRRRZAPP! The blast goes off, gouging a burned gash in the wall.

The short brunette gives a triumphant shout, her panel bleeting with red alarms. The door groans and lifts up... and then stops only a foot and a half above the ground.

"⎎⎍☊☍!" The silver haired woman grabs it and pulls up but to no avail. The robot spider charges it's cannon. The brunette scrabbles underneath the metal gate, riggling to squeeze into the gap. The silver haired woman is still tugging uselessly on the gate. The robot spider wheezes, it's red eye crackling with energy.

CRUNCH! A metal hand slides under the gate from the other side and wrenches the barrier up.

Attached to the robotic hand, is a man.

He is shirtless with dark black work pants, his firm jaw set. He's a handsome man with short cropped brown hair. His chest is scored with a handful of spidery scars but all you can see is his arm.

His right shoulder and arm is entirely constructed gleaming silver metal, sculpted with muscular definition and currently whirring loudly in protest as he strains to hold the metal gate.

"☊⍜⋔⟒ ⍜⋏!" The silver haired woman scoots underneath his arm - shouting over her shoulder, waving you past him. "⋔⍜⎐⟒ ⊬⍜⎍⍀ ⏃⌇⌇! ⋏⍜⍙!"

Needing no further encouragement, you chase after her and the slender brunette, her loose dark pants swishing like a dancer, towards a blue and silver spaceship. An honest to god spaceship! Your breath catches in your throat. The sleek metal, the engines already roaring with an ultraviolet light that hurted to look at.

Oh you wish for a brief moment that you had brought your phone, if only to snap a picture. A real spaceship. You can't wait to tell Ryan. He is going to absolutely lose his shit.

You hear a voice - a young man! You spy him on the open ramp at the base of the ship, wind whipping around him from the engines. He's shouting at you all, a big goofy grin on his face as he waves you towards him.

ZZSSssssss.... you glance back to see your muscular new friend with the robotic arm beating a hasty retreat after you, the metal gate behind him sizzling under the metal spider's lazers. The four of you all scramble up the ramp - and haul yourselves inside in a mad tumble.

The silver haired woman immediately begins barking orders and your new friends dash off in all directions. The young man races up the ramp and yanks on a fire alarm looking lever. WHOOOSH, the air begins whipping past your head and you lurch forward, catching yourself on a nearby metallic crate, fumbling till you grasp the seatbelt sort of strap attached to the wall. The strangely spongy material holds as the ramp seals shut.

You feel a heavy hand on your shoulder. The muscular man with the metal arm pulls you a little roughly down a narrow hallway before pausing to pull out a large square drawer. He mutters under his breath as he rummages inside, removing in a short order; a spring made of yellow cord, a half-eaten fruit that looks somewhat like an oversized bright blue fig, and a small gizmo attached to a yellow frog leg.

He gives a brief shout of triumph as he plucks a slender blue vial from the drawer. He hands it to you, thumbing open but not removing the top. You peer it at it suspiciously. Inside, you see what looks like thousands of mites or dark black insects, hoping and crawling around.

The man pantomimes drinking it and at your look of horror, gives you a not-at-all reassuring smile that looks awkward and foreign on his face.

"Fuck." You glance back at the test tube of creatures. "Fuck. Fuck."

The ship lurches to the side and you and the man tumble into the wall, drawers sliding halfway in and out on their metal grooves. The yellow light in the corridor starts flashing a neon green. The man gives you a direct shout, pantomimes drinking and then takes off down the corridor towards where you saw the women run.

Not willing to be left alone, you take a deep breath and throw it back like your best vodka shot. You breathe in and you feel a buzzing tickling sensation in the back of your throat and continuing into your lungs.

You cough as the tickling sensation intensifies, stumbling after the man. You seem him hauling ass up a ladder as the corridor deadends. You are seized by a vision of thousands of tiny creatures chewing on the inside of your lungs all at onces but you swallow away your panic as you reach the cockpit of the ship.

".. 丅ᕼᗴ ᔕᗴᑕᗝᑎᗪ ᗷᗩ丅ᑕᕼ ᑎᗴᐯᗴᖇ ᗪᗴ丅ᗝᑎᗩ丅ᗴᗪ?" The silver-haired woman shouts as she frantically tries yanks at a busted electrical panel.

"ዘዐሠ ሠልነ ጎ ፕዐ ጕክዐሠ ፕዘቿሃ ዘልዕ ነየዪሁክኗ ቻዐዪ ፕዘቿ ዐየጎል ዕቿረሁሸቿ ነቿርሁዪጎፕሃ የልርጕልኗቿ?" The slender brunette is seated in the pilot's seat, punching buttons and pulling at the curved throttle stick. "ፕዘቿሃ ዕጎዕክ'ፕ ዘልሀቿ ነዘጎፕ ሠዘቿክ ሠቿ ዕጎዕ ዪቿርዐክ!"

"ῳɧყ ᗩཞєŋ'ɬ ῳє FƖყıŋɠ" You look at the muscular man in delight. You could definitely understand that. In fact, all of their voices start to clear, as if gently coming into focus.

"ɮᵉᶜᵃᵘˢᵉ ȶʰᵉˢᵉ ᵃˢˢʰᵒℓᵉˢ ϝᵘᶜᵏᵉᵈ ʷⁱȶʰ ᵒᵘʳ ˢʰⁱᵖ, ᵃʳᵛᵉⁿ!" the brunette snaps back. "ȶʰᵉ ɠʸʳᵒᵈʳⁱᵛᵉ ⁿᵉᵉᵈˢ ȶᵒ ᵈᵒ ᵃ ᶜᵒᵐᵖℓᵉȶᵉ ʳᵉɮᵒᵒȶ!"

"My ship." The silver haired woman corrects her, lashing together three wires with a purple paste. "Punch it, Esier!" The engines whine and the whole ship shudders. The silver-haired woman reaches directly over your head and pulls down a drinking horn looking device connected by a hose to the ceiling. "Chet! Tell me we've got that gravity well spinning."

"It's running - we won't be able to make a long jump but it should be good for a getaway." The young man's voice can barely be heard above a whoosh whoosh behind him.

Outside, see the docking bay spin outside the windows, the dark foreign architecture illuminated by the occasional red laser flashing from the spiders below. The silver haired woman gives you a coy smile.

"You might want to hold on to something, this part is about to get messy." She grabs a yellow strap from the ceiling and gently places one long fingered hand on your hip to steady herself.

You grab a metal handle near the ladder as the ship tosses left, then right. In the pilot's chair, Esier the slender brunette, works the controls with a maniacal energy, jamming the throttle stick left, then right as the ship swoops and swerves through a labyrinth of twisting pipes and corridors.

TSEW TSEW! The ship jolts and a third of the lights in the cockpit blare alarming green.

"They've got a chug-gun!" Arven, the muscular man with the metal arm, shouts, peering throw the porthole at the bottom of the cockpit.

"I see it, I see it." Esier jams a handful of buttons on her right and the ship swings wide, causing the silver haired woman to briefly press her athletic frame against yours before the engines roar and the ship jumps forward towards a narrow opening. Beyond the hatchway - stars.

Beyond the rapidly closing hatchway. Already it looks narrower than the ship and it is closing fast.

"Esier..." the silver-haired woman says. The engines whine in protest you feel the acceleration in the pit of your stomach. Esier is pulling at the yoke, on foot braced on the controls in front of her, muscles straining.

"ESSIER... " the silver haired woman wraps the strap above you one more time around her arm.

The ship hurtles towards the opening but it doesn't seem to move closer, only narrower and narrower. You hear Arven muttering some sort of prayer or chant beneath his breath. Esier twists at the throttle - teeth gritted.