Beyond Galactic Marshal
by
Hilltopper

CHAPTER 2

I heard a noise outside and looked out a window. A ship was lowering what I assumed to be the gate. I guess that I was expecting something like those star gates in an old movie I remembered. This was nothing like that. In fact, it had a strange resemblance to a certain device I had been in 3 years ago although about ten times larger. I guess this confirms where the technology came from: the ruins. That was why Mary and I are here. It seems the ruins were built by an ancient civilization that for some reason I have a similar genetic makeup to. This allowed me to operate the devices found in the ruins and no one else, at least so far. Looking at the gate, I had a bad feeling.

Mary looked out beside me.

“Well, you were right.”

“Yeah, I wish I wasn’t. It was bad enough going through all those gadgets at the ruins. This thing brings back memories I would just as soon forget.”

Mary frowned.

“I don’t think I want you to fool with that thing.”

I nodded.

“As long as I stay outside, it should be safe. Let’s wait and see what Tinker wants me to do.”

I exited our house and walked over to Tinker and Bell who were watching the gate being lowered. Tinker looked over at me.

“It will take our scientists a day or two to setup the gate. I thought we would take a tour of the ruins to see if everything is the same as we left it.”

“Sounds good to me, lead on.”

As we entered the ruins, I thought back to the day I first came here in the alien device three years ago. Actually, I went back in time 3 years and was put in suspended animation to catch back up to myself. The memory is not a pleasant one. It has occurred to me that I probably went to an alternate universe but I have not seen anything different from what I remember. This time travel thing is not comfortable to contemplate. We entered what I call the hanger. It is a very large room. I have no idea what it was used for but it is now empty. Off to the side is a room full of various gadgets. They are why I am here.

“Our scientists have cataloged all these devices and have put them in the order they would like to investigate. Unfortunately, we have not determined what most of them are used for. That is, of course, where you will come in.”

I nodded and we continued our tour going into some areas I had not seen before. Nothing really stood out, however.

“Well, everything looks Ok. Do you see anything that has changed?”

“No, other than the emptiness of the hanger room and the fact that the devices in the side room have all been moved around.”

Tinker nodded.

“Let’s go back to your house then.”

“Sure, I’m starved.”

When we reached my home, Tinker begged off going inside.

“I need to talk with the crew setting up the gate. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Tinker walked away and I went inside. Mary looked at Tinker’s back fading away and then warily to me. I spoke up.

“It looks the same inside the ruins. I have to admit, it does bring back some unpleasant memories.”

Mary hugged me and we stood together silently for a few minutes. Finally, I looked down to her.

“How about some lunch?”

Mary smiled.

“You’re not fooling me but, OK, let’s eat.”

I decided to try a hamburger. Within a minute, it stood under the dome. The burger tasted great. I really don’t know how they do it. Tinker is not very forth coming about their technology. It is understandable considering their past with our Planetopolis. That caused me to think about the attack on us yesterday. Could it be our government behind it? There is no doubt that the alien technology is high on the minds of our leaders. I’m sure the fact I’m working with the aliens is a sore point. Still, I would hate to think that my government would come after me. I just hope they don’t find out where we are now. After eating, Mary and I settled onto our new couch. I related my thoughts to her.

“That is not something I considered. Thinking about it, I guess what we are doing could be considered going against our government.”

I shook my head.

“All we are doing is a job. It is not our fault that they have such a bad relationship with the aliens. Besides, what other job was available?”

Mary sighed.

“I just wish I knew where this is headed. I don’t like you fooling with that ancient technology. Our aliens don’t even know what all the consequences will be.”

“Yeah, I’ll be careful.”

We spent the afternoon relaxing, talking, cuddling, etc. About supper time, we received a call from Karen.

“I’m getting worried about the lack of knowledge as to what is going on with those agents we sent packing. I talked with some contacts on Broadskye and they don’t know a thing. It does not appear as if your sex change is common knowledge either.”

I related my thinking about our government. Karen looked pensive a minute.

“You know, you may be right. I’m going to go to Fledora and do some inquiring. I’ll be in touch.”

“OK, just stay safe.”

I turned to Mary.

“Well, it looks like this is bigger than it first appeared.”

Mary stood up.

“I think you should talk with Tinker.”

“I don’t want to start a war.”

“Still, we are caught in the middle. We need to know what they know.”

“OK, I’ll talk with Tinker.”

I put in a call. Bell agreed to come over. When Bell arrived, I put forth our concerns.

“Not to worry, your government can not find us here. We have no desire to have a conflict with them.”

“Still, I don’t want to be the cause of a war.”

Bell stood up.

“You won’t be.”

With that, Bell left. Mary turned to me.

“I’m not sure that was very comforting.”

“I think Bell was being truthful. No one would be a winner in any conflict.”

“I just hope the Planetopolis feels the same way.”

We soon went to bed. I expected an early start tomorrow. At least I would be doing something again. I thought back to our conversation about our government. Could I be a traitor by working for the aliens? I didn’t see it that way but who knows what the Planetopolis felt about it. The fact that they were looking for me did not bode well for the future. We were well outside Planetopolis territory but I knew from my experience as a marshal that distance and lack of jurisdiction did not stop the long arm of the law when the powers that be wanted someone bad enough. The fact that I had been located even though I was now a woman proved that whoever was looking for me had a lot of resources. I finally went to sleep and morning came early as I expected. I was awakened to the voice of Tinker.

“Please meet me outside in 30 minutes.”

This was repeated 5 times. It seems we have an intercom system in our new home. Great!

“Well, Mary, it begins.”

She laughed.

“So it does.”

We ate and I got dressed. I didn’t know for sure what I’d be doing so I wore shorts and a top. I opted for comfortable flats. Being a woman was a lot harder than it looked. It was about 40 minutes after waking up that I went outside. Tinker did not look happy.

“You are late. We need to hurry.”

“What’s the big rush?”

Tinker did not answer. For a little fellow, Tinker moves fast. I hurried along behind. The gate was set up inside the hanger room. To put it mildly, it is awesome and a bit scary. A technician came up to me and pointed at a suit near by. I frowned.

“Hey, that looks like a space suit.”

Tinker nodded.

“It is just a precaution.”

“A precaution for what?”

“We think this gate will transport back to our planet but we could be wrong.”

I frowned harder.

“I thought you only needed me to turn this thing on.”

“No, we have been able to power it up and do lots of testing. However, we have been unable to actually operate it.”

“You mean send something, right?”

“Yes and that is why we need you.”

“What about all those gadgets in the next room?”

Tinker shrugged.

“Unimportant for now. The gate is our primary concern. What we plan to do is send an inanimate object through. We have a team waiting on our planet to receive it.”

“OK, so why the suit?”

“Uh, you must go inside the gate to operate it.”

“Yeah but wouldn’t that send me then?”

Tinker hesitated.

“We don’t think so. The object will be put in the center. You should be able to send it alone.”

“You’re assuming I know how to operate that thing which I don’t!”

“It seems to be pretty straight forward. There should be no problem.”

“I say again, why the suit?”

“As I said, it is just a precaution.”

“Hmm, OK but let’s take things slowly.”

“We won’t do anything until you are ready but our people are standing by.”

I walked over to the suit. With the techs help, I put it on. I have worn many space suits in my time with the marshal service but this one was a beauty. It hardly hampered my movements at all and was very light weight. Tinker came over with a display screen.

“This is a picture of the control center inside the gate.”

I looked at it. To say it looked foreign was an under statement. There were no switches or knobs just strange symbols and depressed areas.

“By applying current in various places, we have been able to power up the control center and work through what some of the depressions control. We can not translate the symbols, however. Without the gate becoming operational, we could not determine a check list to send anything. So, what we want you to do is use this guide and operate each control to see the effects. Once you are comfortable with the operation, we will send the test object to our planet.”

I looked hard at Tinker.

“I’m not comfortable with any of this.”

Tinker just nodded and pointed to the gate. I sighed heavily and put the suit helmet in place. The tech checked all the gauges and gave me the go ahead. Hesitantly, I walked into the gate proper. As soon as I entered, it powered up. Tinker spoke up.

“This proves our theory. We never got it to power up so quickly or completely.”

I looked toward the center and a three foot cube was setting there.

“I take it that this is what you are sending.”

“Yes, we wanted to keep it simple but have the density of a person.”

I shook my head and walked over to the control panel. I could feel a tingling inside my head. It was as if the device was mentally trying to communicate with me. I went through the list of controls that Tinkers pad indicated I should try out. I got a picture in my head of what was happening with each one. It was an eye opening experience and very disconcerting.

“Tinker, I think I should come back out so we can discuss what I have learned.”

Tinker talked with several scientists while I stood in place.

“They want to know if you can send the cube.”

“I think so but there is a lot to this that I am not sure of. It would help if we could read these symbols. I’m getting feelings in my head as to how to do things as if the gate is in communication with my brain but it is hard to know whether I’m doing anything right.”

“That is why we want to send something simple at first.”

“OK, I agree but I still think we should go over what I have experienced before we do that.”

I really had a bad feeling about this. Mary will kill me if I die in here. The scientists huddled and then Tinker gave me the dreaded command.

“Just send the cube and get out. We will take whatever time is needed to confirm the results before we take things to the next step.”

I could feel what I needed to do to send the cube but I had no idea about the other information that was bombarding my brain. With a final sigh, I placed my hand into the depression I felt was the send button so to speak. A huge whine built up and I could feel a lot of power. Before I could turn toward Tinker, everything went black.