Lee Carter had never been so frightened in her life. If it hadn't been for the incredible, rampant euphoria caused by the Heart of Tiamat's power surging through her body she might have run for it, but under the influence of the mysterious living jewel she would dare anything, even the endless ranks of the dreaded Aqrabu through which she now strode.
Behind her, the rest of the Banshees followed, though with considerable more wariness and trepidation on their faces. Behind them marched the Breen with disruptors drawn, but their emotions, assuming they had any, were hidden behind their refrigeration masks.
Carter led the procession through the Mountain Gates, past countless now-docile Aqrabu, into the enormous cavern beyond. This new cavern had been the domain of the Aqrabu, but Carter's feet led her not into the main cavern but off to the side where a smaller tunnel bore into the cavern wall and could be seen angling steeply upward into darkness.
With growing hope, Carter ascended the tunnel, and after what seemed like hours but was only minutes, emerged into the utter blackness of the Kurnugian surface. A chill, sulfurous wind blew across her face and tousled her short brown hair, but after two weeks in the fetid dungeon below, it was the best thing she'd ever felt.
Carter looked up. The black dwarf star still hung impossibly close and dark over their head, like an enormous hole in the starless sky, and the nearby super-volcano still spewed molten fire, dimly illuminating the rocky plain on which the Banshees found themselves in its inferno light, but anything was infinitely better than solid rock overhead.
There was a faint trail under her feet leading off across the plain. "This way," she said before setting out.
After hiking another hour, they rounded a tall rock outcropping and stopped dead in their tracks by what suddenly lay before them. Dexter Gray was the first to regain his voice.
"It's the Guardian of Forever!" he exclaimed.
Jo Schmidt stepped forward. "Not quite, but it's part of the same huge network the Guardian and the Black Gate are part of," she explained.
"Who cares!" said Max. "It's our ticket out of here!"
Matthew Cross turned to Jo and said, "Time to put your knowledge to work, Lieutenant."
"Aye, sir," replied Jo. She resumed walking towards the upright, lopsided, stone ring that was the 'Stairway to Heaven', but as an afterthought, turned back and called, "Dex, I could use your help."
The youth smiled and jogged ahead to catch up with Jo.
Carter stepped over to where Matthew Cross stood and said. "I'm glad to see that Jo seems to have worked out whatever problem she was having with Dexter."
Cross nodded. "Seems like dying lends a person wisdom and maturity."
"You oughta know," replied Carter, smiling sideways at Cross.
"All right, knock it off, you two," grumbled Max as she walked past them. "Schmidt is waving us over."
Carter and Cross joined the other Banshees near the Guardian. Jo and Dexter were standing beside a broad pedestal with slanted top adorned with carvings and four large glowing hemispheres, three smaller ones set into a grooved track encircling the fourth, larger, central hemisphere.
"What have you got?" asked Cross as he stopped beside Dexter.
Jo answered. "This is the control device for the Stairway to Heaven." She pointed to the upright torus behind them. "It sets the destination of the wormhole."
"Why can't you just tell it where you want to go?" asked Alex.
Dexter answered. "This gate works differently than the one on the Time Planet, though they were obviously both built by the same ancient people billions of years ago. This one uses a control device." He pointed at the pedestal.
Jo took up the narrative. "These orange hemispheres slide around the big one in the middle, and also rotate in place. That's how you set it. I learned how while I was in the Library -- while you all thought I was dead, and vice versa."
"The arrangement is just like the Trojan planetoids back in the Serenity system," interjected Dexter. "Three hemispheres around a fourth -- three planetoids in orbit around the Black Gate. Their positions determines the gate's destination. We were just unlucky enough to fall through when the destination was this place."
"Never mind the science lesson!" yelled Max. "Just dial the stupid thing so we can go home!"
Jo looked apologetically at Carter. "This gate has to have a destination gate in order to work, and I only know one other gate we can use."
"The Guardian of Forever on the Time Planet," guessed Carter. "That's fine. There's a Federation science team permanently stationed there."
"One of us better go through first," suggested Max. "No telling what they'd do if a bunch of armed Breen suddenly showed up in the middle of their camp with no explanation."
"Good idea," said Cross. "And as soon as we're sure everything works, we can start bringing the Kurnugians through. The Aqrabu too, unless they know the dialing coordinates for their own part of the universe." He addressed Jo. "Start dialing."
Jo began sliding and turning the orange hemispheres around the top surface of the control device.
Cross noticed that Lee Carter had a frown on her face. "What's the matter?" he asked. "This is a happy occasion."
"Oh I know," replied Carter with a sigh. "It's just that I realized that the gate is only about a dozen feet across."
"So?"
"So I'm dreading all the paperwork I'll have to do for losing an entire squadron of starfighters!"
THE END
of
'THE BLACK GATE'
back to TOC