A Portal Opens

In a violent storm at sea Captain Deng Tougher clutches his golden compass. The South Pacific Ocean swells lifting the yacht 20 feet in the air before sinking 10 feet below sea level. The raucous roar of thunder, the perennial parade of lighting, and the endless inundation of rain, were not enough to tamper the spirits of this seafaring hero.

His eyes steadfast on the horizon searching for a foreign coastline that harbored one of the greatest secrets of mankind, so legends told.

Could Captain Deng Tougher be the first to discover what writers had made myths of, or would he, like others before him, find his efforts fruitless in the cavernous jungle that awaited him?

333

Captain Deng Tougher’s feet stomped in the mud after a jump from a ledge, and he began to run.

Struggling through the water with a backpack, and dressed like Indiana Jones, the need to continue moving forward drowned all doubts in his mind.

Gunshots, and murderous yells from the bushes behind him. A pirate mob had claimed his yacht in the port of the village. They now wished to claim his head and whatever else could prove of value.

Green leaves smashed against his cheeks as he pushed forward blindly into the unknown. Under more prestigious conditions he would be swinging a machete, walking a new path. Now he only hoped to conceal his location in the dense foliage.

However, it would be nice to have a machete for close quarter combat if the need were to arise. Yet he found himself with only a couple of sticks of dynamite. He’d been lucky to get them in his backpack.

And he continued to run . . .

333

Panting for breath, and almost in tears, Captain Deng Tougher did his best to remain silent in a cave entrance while a mob of castaways still hunted him.

His journey to discover the Timeless Portal of fable began as a fairy tale. As a playboy billionaire he’d been on countless adventures around the globe and made breathtaking archeological finds that made him famous in the scientific world.

Now gulping for air, scared out of his wits, with his eyes bulging from his skull watching the jungle for a group of armed men that meant to kill him; never had a journey of his gone so wrong. Not even close. Maybe he’d been picked pocketed in a small island town on a port call by some poor local.

A wild crowd of thugs intent on inflicting death not the norm for this humanitarian.

Finally he felt calm to a degree. Adrenalin filled veins causing his entire body to pulsate with the rhythm of his breath. He needed to make a muffled plan.

“American!” A call echoed through the large green leaves of the jungle. Somewhere out there the green eyes of a Jaguar had found its prey; this environment as familiar to these locals as their own house, because most of them were probably homeless, finding food and shelter in this savage palace.

“American,” again the call through the rain forest trees and the sound of people closing in on his position from every direction, some slapping their hands on their machete, some breaking branches purposely, others stamping their feet and giving out a guttural war cry, while all moved toward him.

Captain Deng Tougher knew that returning to the yacht would not be an option now. He would have to enter the cave and pray for a miracle if he were to survive today.

333

Captain Deng Tougher stumbled in the darkness of the cave without a flashlight. Another item he’d not had time to find since this chase began. All hope of finding the Timeless Portal lost.

Orange torch lights a good distance to his back as his arms and legs clawed forward. A gunshot rang out chipping the rock walls.

“American.” The voice then turned into a garbled local language. Finally the coastal greeting party retreated leaving Captain Deng Tougher alone in the pitch black.

333

Hours had passed. He’d found a lighter in the knapsack. The silence made him feel safe enough to use it in order to illuminate the rock walls of the cave of which he found himself caged.

A gunshot, voices, a flashlight, and the jingle of falling pebbles on rocks like sand in an hourglass alerted Captain Deng Tougher that the time to flee deeper into the rabbit hole had arrived.

He made his move without the aid of the lighter, crawling deeper and deeper into the unknown depths of this mysterious cave, not even a name on a map.

Captain Deng Tougher simply existed in the moment between life and death this tale never to be relayed to his colleagues while sipping martinis in a marble ballroom with a glass ceiling draped in the stars of the night sky.

Feeling trapped in desperation, he lit the two sticks of dynamite and threw them towards his pursuers.

333

An entire day might have passed in the darkness, as Captain Deng Tougher came to terms with the fact that this could be the rest of his life. With the collapse of the cave his body probably wouldn’t be found by searchers. If the pirates sailed his yacht, it might increase the search radius to thousands of square miles.

Captain Deng Tougher never imagined his search for the Timeless Portal would end like this and so he went forward with his lighter making it a bit brighter as he descended into the abyss of this endless cave.

He had a couple of water bottles and protein bars, meaning he could survive for days, and so he meant to follow this path to the center of the Earth if need be.

333

The concept of days and nights ended. To Captain Deng Tougher life now determined by being awake or asleep. The lighter had run out of fuel. Perpetual darkness; conscious or unconscious.

He crawled along the uneven rocks feeling his way.

Somewhere ahead he made out a faint green glow, something to believe in. Hope sprang anew.

Soon Captain Deng Tougher found the source, a phosphorescent clear green pool with stalactites deep below red from an algae grow. He took off his backpack and clothes and dove in.

Then slipped across a marble floor wet and naked.

“Nice entrance,” said a woman wearing a navy blue evening gown. A white pearl necklace curled around her tan silk neck.

Captain Deng Tougher stood on what resembled a highway road, only with a finer marble finish. The vastness of space encircled them. Electrical charges bursting spontaneously from the ether. Turning around he could see a clear green pool of water with stalactites deep below red from an algae grow.

“Have I found the Timeless Portal?” Asked Captain Deng Tougher.

“Yes and no.” The elegant woman answered. “It’s a bit of a misnomer. The few that have entered without any knowledge of the Milky Way Federation thought it a time portal for planet Earth. It’s really a gateway for travel between planets populated with intelligent life. We’re waiting for your civilization to develop more before opening negotiations for incorporation into the Federation.”

“What?”

“Just follow me. We’ll get you some clothes and show you around. We might have some work for you on planet Earth. You’ll be given a chance to return to your normal life.”

“I destroyed the cave with dynamite.”

“There are other portals. That one had begun to attract notoriety and needed to be decommissioned. You’ve completed your first mission for the Milky Way Federation Captain Deng Tougher.”