nbsp; The road twisted and turned until we came to a stop. “Wait here,” my father said. Near the edge of a cliff was a chain-link fence, adorned with barbed wire and armed guards. In the center stood an outpost tent, but a few MPs stopped us before we could enter.
“Walter Hathaway?” One of the soldiers shook his hand and guided him toward a dirt lot. “We’ve been expecting you. You’ll never believe what we found out here, sir.”
“Is the gateway secure?” my father asked.
“Well, you might want to just take a look,” the man suggested.
My father tickled the back of my ear and whispered, “I know it’s going to be hard for you, but I need you to promise me one thing.”
I nodded. “Okay, Daddy.”
“Stay out of the way. No opening any doors. No wandering around. Do you hear me? This is a government facility. If word got out you found a way inside, I wouldn’t just lose my job. I’d lose a limb.”
The image horrified me, so I agreed. “Daddy, I won’t.” But I needed to know.
He smiled and nudged my chin with his thumb. “Someday, you’ll be in my position. You’ll come to understand everything there is to know.”
Another man leaned in the window. He had a bright smile, but I could tell he was putting it on for me only. What was he trying to hide? “Beautiful, why don’t you stay in the car while your daddy has a talk with the big boys?”
I watched as the men walked away, leaving me with one young soldier, a man who had no idea what to do with me. Technically, I wasn’t allowed here at all, but I wasn’t afraid of breaking the rules. My dad was kind of a big deal around the facilities.
For an hour, I stayed seated in the old family Ford. But, as time dragged on, I couldn’t sit still. I wanted to see what my dad was so interested in. Most of all, I wanted to see an alien up close.
I wondered why he even took me on the trip to begin with. I was too young to form a compelling argument. I was also a girl, which meant no one took me seriously here.
As I watched the doors slide open to a brightly lit hallway, I saw all sorts of personnel and life-saving electronics. I was hooked. But, without a personnel badge, they weren’t going to let me through the facility’s doors.
The curiosity took over. They should’ve known better. I was my father’s daughter, after all.
I sat inside the old Ford, pretending to be on my best behavior. Keeping my focus on the MPs, I smiled and even waved, pulling out one of many comic books I had thrown into the back seat throughout the years. The crunchy noise of radio waves came through on the MPs’ walkie-talkie. His focus fell onto other matters, as I didn’t seem to pose any immediate danger.
“You’re fucking with me,” he said. “A malfunction? How does an artifact malfunction?”
Someone’s voice echoed through the device, “The power source, idiot. I need you to help me with the breaker.”
I perked up, listening intently without giving myself away. Clearly, they had kept their own employees in the dark, which made sense. Continuing on, he shook his communications device and groaned into the air. “Okay, okay. I’ll be there in two-seconds, but it’s got to be quick.”
I lowered my comic book and scanned the horizons from the vehicle. There was no one guarding the front entrance anymore, but there were a few guards at the top of the towers. I took a deep breath and lifted my open comic book before my eyes again. Walking forward, I ducked behind another official, just barely able to keep up. No one reacted to me. I was just a little girl. I wasn’t a threat.
Except, they didn’t know the threat might have been closer than they were willing to admit.
As soon as I stepped in front of the automatic doors, I expected alarms to go off but, when nothing happened, I walked right through into a white hallway. The whole place reeked of importance.
Luckily, the crowd of scientists in the hallway largely ignored me. I roamed the halls and gazed up at the glowing electronic systems, so impressive and foreign to my knowledge. All of this was so new. This was science. Real science, not the boring stuff kids had to learn in school.
As I walked, the crowd thinned out. Still, no one said a word. It looked as if the hallways stretched for miles. Eventually, there wasn’t anyone in sight, and the lights were dimmed enough for low visibility. The air around me turned into a buzzing silence. Where was I headed?
The more I knew I should turn around, the more I wanted to see. I dropped my comic book as darkness thickened around me. The lights dimmed, in and out, an electrical problem. Underneath my feet, the floor vibrated. In front of me was the end of the hallway, and I just knew I had to open that door.
Without thinking of the consequences, I placed my hand on that golden knob, softly turning until the inner mechanism clicked. I let go, but the door creaked open eerily, leaving me staring into a dark and empty room. In the center, a crystal emanated a red glow.
Its gravity pulled me in. It wasn’t just curiosity guiding me anymore but some deep and longing obsession. Like I was meant to know what powers it contained.
I reached out and touched the smoky air around the sharp edges of crystal. My hand distorted as soon as I did it, so I immediately pulled back, collecting my calm before trying again. This time, I grabbed hold of the glowing rock and squeezed. A flash of electricity paralyzed me. I was shocked. For a split second, reality shattered into a multitude of pieces. I was floating through time and space itself, floating through a dreamscape.
Another world, a reflection of our own...
“Adeline! What are you—” My dad ran into the room, freezing up once he had seen what I had done. “My God, you’ve touched the artifact. You’ll disrupt the connection...”