Their path seemed almost endless. Ian didn’t really know how long they walked or how far they traveled. He just knew it felt like they would never stop. It felt like they would never get anywhere ever.
“You’re quite lost. Though I suspect you’re far more lost than you could ever dream. That is the nature of this place after all.”
Ian and Alli both turned around at the same time. A woman stood before them. She was taller than both of them, dark-skinned with long kinked hair. And she was completely naked.
“What the hell?”
The woman smirked at Ian’s sudden shock. With a wave of her hand, dirt and sand rushed off the ground. They flooded around her frame. Over the course of several seconds, they tightened and formed over her frame. They came together and formed a shiny silver fabric that hugged her skin.
“I apologize if I disturbed you by my sudden arrival. I mean no harm. I only wish to meet the people that found their way to this dead world. It isn’t often I find strangers appear here. I only wished to welcome you and inquire how you came here.”
Ian looked to Alli. He was wary, but he knew they couldn’t overlook the woman’s sudden arrival. Any sign of life in this world would be a key to their survival. If she knew how to escape, how to find their way back to their dimension, they needed to take it.
“Thanks,” Ian said. “I’m Ian. This is Alli. And we’re not quite sure how we came here. Our friend was supposed to teleport us a few hundred miles, not to a death dimension or whatever this is.”
“Death dimension?”
The woman’s question caused Ian to look to Alli again. Turning back to the woman, he simply said, “We aren’t in another dimension?”
The woman stopped as if she was thinking about it. After about twenty seconds, she finally said, “I can’t really be sure. You’re certainly not in a death dimension though. This is a stable reality. This is just a less hospitable corner of it. Probably why I don’t get any visitors.”
“Who are you?” Ian said.
“I am just a simple entity that was trapped here a thousand years ago. I haven’t had a name for a very long time, but you may call me Phoebe.”
“Like Friends?”
“Are we friends? I do not know, Ian. You would have to tell me that.”
“No, nevermind,” Ian said. “I just—nevermind. It’s good to meet you, Phoebe.”
“It is very good to meet you both. As I said, it felt like I would never see another soul on this world. But with you here. With you here, I may finally have a chance to escape.”
“You know a way off this world?”
“There is a portal,” Phoebe said. “But it is cut off from my reach. An immortal cannot enter the cavern. Alas, my long life has become a curse here.”
“You’re immortal?” Ian looked to Alli. He was becoming used to hearing strange things. But immortality certainly wasn’t one of them.
“It happens,” Alli said. “Where is this portal?”
“It is not far.”
“Show us,” Ian said.
As they walked, Ian couldn’t contain his curiosity. “You said you’ve lived here for a thousand years, Phoebe. How did you come to be here?”
“It is a long story, Ian. And not a kind one. I was imprisoned here for crimes I did not commit. Only one other prisoner calls this world home and he is a great danger. Thankfully we keep to ourselves.”
“There’s only two people on this entire world?”
Phoebe nodded.
“And you are both immortal.”
“Indeed. The universe is a vast place. We are certainly not unique across the frontier. But immortals are rare. Immortals with great power are much rarer. This world was designed to contain us and forget us.”
“Why?” Alli said. “What could you have done that forced you into an eternal existence alone?”
“I did nothing,” Phoebe said. “But they claimed that I committed genocide.”
“Genocide?”
“It was a world a thousand light years from here. A single race of hominids populated a small corner of the world. They were wiped clean by some force. I do not know who. They claimed the energy signature matched my own. They convicted me on those grounds alone. I might have been able to fight my way free, but that would just make me the monster they claimed I was. So I let myself be damned to this place until a day I could find my way free.”
“It’s a good story,” Alli said. Ian could detect the unspoken question that went with it: but how do we know it is true?
“You do not trust me,” Phoebe said. “I suppose that is expected. If you don’t know my story, you have no way to know whether I lie or tell you the truth. You have only your own sense of trust and that is truly one of the hardest things in any world to gain.”
“It’s more than the hardest thing,” Alli said. “It’s—”
“Do you want off this world or not?” Ian’s word cut her off. “We’ve lost hours already. Think of Marilyn. If we can get back to Earth, we might be able to find her.”
“Earth?” Phoebe said. “You are from the Earth?”
“Yes,” Ian said. “You’ve heard of our world.”
“Everyone has heard of the planet,” Phoebe said. “It is an ancient world, one connected to a thousand others. It is known as the lost colony to many, a world cut off from the rest of the galaxy for reasons unknown.”
“What?”
Phoebe shook her her head. “It was another prison planet, a planet cut off from the rest of the universe because of dangerous beings trapped there.”
“What kind of dangerous beings?”
“You know nothing of this?”
Ian shook his head. “No, we don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Then we truly must move.”
Alli sent out several messages through the two-way as they followed Phoebe down her path. But none brought an answer from Peach or Smith. Ian could tell she was getting worried as they walked towards a small cliff face.
The outcropping stood maybe ten feet off the ground, but in the vast expanse of these plains, it stood out like a mountain. The opening was little more than a crawl hole, but it was the only shelter anywhere in this vast expanse.
“Is it safe?”
Phoebe turned to him. “Nothing is safe here.”
“Very reassuring.”
She gave a weak smile.
“I can’t get Peach on the line,” Alli said. “We need to find them.”
“If your communicator does not reach your friends, they are almost certainly dead.”
“I’m not willing to accept that, Phoebe.”
“Nothing on this world should block your communications. But if they walked away from you, it is possible they encountered one of the monsters that roam here. You are lucky to have found me before you encountered such a beast.”
“Why didn’t you tell us this before?” Alli said.
“You did not ask. I did not understand the concern. I mean no disrespect to you and your friends.”
Ian could tell Alli didn’t like Phoebe’s response. He couldn’t blame her. They barely knew this woman. But he knew that she was their most likely path home. Blowing up at her wouldn’t help anyone. He pulled Alli aside.
“We will find out what happened to them. But first, we need to find this portal. See if we can open it. I know we’re not exactly friends, but we have to think about Cyrus and Marilyn. We need to get back to them. Right?”
Alli nodded. “I still don’t trust her.”
“You don’t trust me either, but we’re in this together.”
“Alright.”
Ian turned to Phoebe. “Show us the way.”
They followed her down into the small cavern. The entrance was barely large enough for them to crawl through. But as soon as they entered, it was clear that the area was far from a natural occurrence. The inside opened into a full chamber with a ceiling high enough to stand. The walls were not carved rock, but some kind of plastic. It was firm to the touch as Ian ran his hand over it. He had the feeling it was far more solid than any plastic on Earth.
The chamber wasn’t particular large. It dug into the ground maybe twenty feet back. It was a simple rectangle, maybe eight feet wide at the most. The back end held what looked like a large door. It was round and a large metal iris kept it closed.
Between it and them was a large blue wall of energy.
“So that’s it,” Ian said.
“That is the warp door,” Phoebe said. “It creates a wormhole through space and time. I’m not sure how well your world understands the physics of it, but through it one can connect from this world to their home planet.”
“So it will send us back to Earth if we open it?”
“Indeed. I will accompany you to your world. Though another quarantine world, it seems almost certainly more hospitable than this one.”
“That it is,” Ian said. “But how do we know it will drop us somewhere safe. What if it drops us in the middle of the sky?”
“It cannot,” Phoebe said. “I do not pretend to understand the technology beyond the basics. It certainly runs on systems past typical knowledge of any single galactic citizen. But it is designed to drop people on where they focus. Safety protocols keep it from being somewhere fatal to the chosen species.”
“Fascinating.”
“Yeah, real fascinating,” Alli said. “We have people to help. Smith and Peach may still be out there. Marilyn could be in danger right now. We need to get back now.”
“You’re right,” Ian said. “How do we get through the field?”
“You must only walk through,” Phoebe said. “It will not block a mortal. Once you’re through, you may open the iris with simply a touch. Contact should bring the field down and send us back to your world.”
“Sounds easy enough.”
Ian started towards the glowing blue energy. It felt like he was getting ready to walk into a wall as he stepped forward. But Phoebe said it wouldn’t make a difference. It would be easy.
He closed his eyes to get the thought of the wall out of his head. He took a step into the field.
Lightning shot through Ian’s body. It didn’t feel at all like walking into a wall. Instead it felt like every ounce of his body was on fire. He wanted to scream, but his body wouldn’t let him. He could only smell burning and wonder if it was his own skin.
He felt his body fly backwards. He struck the ground just inches from Alli’s feet. He could see smoke rising off of his body. He ached all over. But he was still very much alive.
“I don’t understand. I thought I was supposed to be able to just walk through. Why did the field stop me?”
Alli turned to Phoebe. “What kind of game are you playing? Are you trying to lure us into some trap?”
“I mean neither of you harm,” Phoebe said. “You must believe me. I do not understand why your friend could not go through the field. It only works against immortals. I have seen it in action before. The only way he wouldn’t pass is if he did not age. He too would have to be an immortal.”
Alli turned to Ian. He could feel the thought projecting from her head. It was the same thought he had. He remembered the news articles they found, the history of Ian Page from decades before. Maybe it wasn’t some other Ian. Maybe it really was him.
One more unanswered question, he thought. If only I could remember something. Anything at all.
“I don’t remember my past,” Ian said. “Not even that. Could it be possible?”
“I do not know,” Phoebe said. “My knowledge of such things is quite limited.”
“There’s one way to check,” Alli said. She looked back at the field.
“Alli, the pain—you don’t have to do it.”
“Yes I do, Ian. I don’t have a choice. We’ve got to go back. We have to find Marilyn.”
She looked towards the field. With a deep breath, she took a step towards it.
Alli passed through the energy with no trouble. She didn’t even recoil as she tried. Ian envied her confidence. If he saw what the field could do, he would never have tried. But she took the walk with a calm and grace.
She turned on the other side and looked at them. “I guess that answers one question.”
“The iris,” Phoebe said. “Open the iris.”
Alli turned back towards the gate. She walked up to it. Ian clenched his fists as she examined it for a second. With the same confidence she showed before, she reached out and touched the metal gate.
The field flickered in front of Ian and Phoebe. A second later, it was gone. The black woman, this strange immortal figure, smiled a broad grin. She seemed ecstatic, but her demeanor did not let her express it in any way past the simple grin. Ian thought if he had been imprisoned for a thousand years or more, he might show a bit more excitement.
The iris started to telescope back into its recesses. Ian walked past the field, Phoebe at his side. The iris fully opened, but only blackness showed through the gate.
“Is it ready?”
“It’s ready,” Phoebe said, stepping towards the opening.
Ian looked to Alli. “You ready for this?”
“Let’s get home.” She put the two-way down on the floor of the room. “Hopefully Peach can find her way to it as well.”
“I hope so.”
Alli looked back at the other end of the strange chamber.
“I feel bad leaving them behind. What if they’re still alive out there?”
“We have to choose between them and Marilyn. What do you want to do?”
“We need to go.”
She turned and stepped into the blackness. Phoebe stepped up to the aperture next. Ian watched her slowly walk up into the path.
“No! Stop! Don’t let her through.”
He turned and saw Smith and Peach running towards them.
“No, she’s dangerous! You can’t let her escape. She has—”
Something grabbed Ian from behind. He felt a tug from the gate and he fell backward through it. He caught just one more glimpse of Peach charging towards him, her hand out. A moment later, the blackness consumed him and he didn’t see anything at all.
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