The Portal Effect

Chapter 23

About a week after the little entertainment fights, I started seeing new people coming into the base. They weren't NASA or Air Force personnel. When I got a close look, I saw that they were CIA.

"What's the CIA doing here?" asked Jessie when I brought up over dinner.

"Maybe they found out and want to keep an eye on it. After all, there are portals out there and beasts are escaping their dimension." Leo pointed out. I shrugged, not entirely convinced. We discussed future missions and about the Rift Gate before turning in. Instead of walking to our rooms with the rest of them, I told the others I needed to take a quick walk. Quite suddenly, I had an urge to see the Rift Gate. Alone.

I walked absentmindedly through the halls and out the doors. My feet seemed to know where the Rift Gate was by heart. As quickly as the feeling had come, I was there, standing at the doors that led to the room. I stared at it for a good five minutes before waving my identification badge in front of the scanner. It buzzed and let me in.

The Rift Gate stood in the center of the room, only flood lights illuminating its now shiny steel grey plates. All the other lights were off, and no equipment meant to study it was present. Everything was gone. I looked at the monitors as they beeped and recorded. The computer measuring the energy levels seemed to be the most active.

I walked over to it and watched as the digital spindle bounced slightly. For right now, it seemed to be sitting at a plateau. The last spike was three days ago and had dropped halfway back down before settling.

Looking back to the gate, I felt a strange pull to go into the room. It was calling to me, willing me to find a way to open it.

And somehow, I knew where to go to enter the Rift Gate room. My feet simply walked to a panel, and I pushed it open. Closing it behind me, I walked down the flight of stairs and entered the room. Nothing made a sound, so I walked to the Rift Gate and touched it.

"You feel the pull too, don't you?" said a voice behind me. I jumped and looked around before I saw Riley sitting on a desk.

"The hell, man." I grumbled, leaning back against the frame of the Gate. He shrugged and looked around the room. Suddenly, I realized that the moment he had made himself known, the feeling from the Gate had vanished. All that was left was a nagging feeling of unease.

"It started when the machine first sparked. And it grew. The spell is only broken when you become distracted." Riley explained.

"But why now? And why just us? The others don't feel it like I do." I sighed.

"Me, I have a history with the thing. But you, I have absolutely no idea why it attracts you." Riley admitted. I snorted. But when I looked back at him, he had a strange look on his face. Like he was thinking of something.

"Riley, do you ever get the dreams that seem to invade my sleep?" I asked suddenly.

"Yeah. Once. It's always the same one, and it hasn't happened yet. I hope it doesn't" Riley said. "How many have you seen?"

"Two, I think. But I saw a third. And it makes even less sense, as for the first time, it went to the past as well." I replied. I looked back to the portal

"To the past?" Riley asked suddenly as the words sank in. I then realized that I'd said too much. But it was too late to go back now.

"Yeah. And they're centered around you." The dream came back, both parts vibrant as if I had actually been there.

"Harley, what are you thinking?" he asked.

"I saw them take you from the house. They burned it and took your daughter somewhere. Conan was the man responsible. And he had you thrown into the other dimension." I said.