Chapter 13

Loxus had, through trial and error, restored full power to the control console in the chamber with the arch - or 'gateway,' as it was apparently called. The blue orb above the table began glowing, and he feared it may be seen by the others, but they had been far enough away in other chambers.

Were this a Romulan expedition, he would have reported his success to his superiors immediately, but as it was he couldn't let his enemies know what he had found. He did not yet fully know himself, and his curiosity drove him to learn more about this enigmatic device.

Various unfamiliar, primary-coloured icons had appeared on the panels in triangular patterns. He translated one icon labelled 'activate.' It was highly unscientific of him, but he was driven by desperation - he did not know how long he'd have alone with the device - and so had pressed this icon.

Before him, the middle of the gateway then lit up with the image of a verdant field, rolling hills and clear blue skies in the background.

Fascinated, Loxus had regarded this sight with keen eyes. It must be a hologram, he had surmised. The Iconians' form of entertainment, perhaps.

It was the most sophisticated hologram he had ever seen though. The perspective accurately and instantly adjusted when he moved his head, as if looking through a window, and it was incredibly detailed, the view stretching as far as he could see. Aside from the grass fluttering in an apparent light breeze, the scene never changed either, making it a rather dull form of entertainment.

Then, as if in response to this thought, the scene had changed. A long beach was then displayed in the arch, with pink sands by a soothing green sea under a lavender sky.

Loxus had been so captivated by this realistic hologram, that he had almost forgotten to take sensor readings. When he had scanned the image, however, he found something even more remarkable.

His scanner had detected real sand, real water, real air not native to Berengaria. It must be a extremely advanced hologram to fool sensors, Loxus had thought.

Then he remembered the device's name, etched onto the control console.

Gateway.

An outlandish thought had struck him. He had approached the gateway and slowly, cautiously, extended his arm, putting his hand through the arch.

Instead of feeling the wall behind the gateway, his hand had continued into the image itself. As if it were an actual doorway to this alien vista.

What's more, he had felt the welcome rays of warm sunlight on his skin. He had quickly withdrawn again though, overcome with the potential implications.

It cannot be, can it? he had asked himself.

Taking a more scientific approach, he had crouched down and reached into the gateway once more, this time taking a handful of the soft, pink sand. Again, he had withdrawn, and the sand had come back in his hand, falling softly through his gloved fingers.

He had stood up in alarm. This was no hologram.

There was one final thing to try that would confirm his imaginative suspicion.

He had set his scanner to planetary location mode. This allowed personnel to determine their general location anywhere on Berengaria VII, relative to a beacon in the starbase, in the event that they became lost.

Once again, he had put his hand - this time clutching the scanner - into the image before him.

The scanner's screen had gone blank for a few seconds. Then, it had displayed the message: Location unknown. Out of range.

Almost instinctively, he had retreated back to the console. This was impossible, he had told himself, but his mind had continued to race with possibilities.

This gateway really was a portal to other worlds, potentially hundreds of light-years away.

This explained how the Iconians appeared in the ancient histories of so many worlds, and had been depicted as materialising out of thin air. Truly they had been powerful conquerors, he had realised.

This also explained how they had escaped from these underground chambers but still locked them from the inside. They had most likely vacuum-sealed the caverns by opening the gateway to empty space as well.

The ramifications were astronomical. If the Romulan Star Empire got their hands on such technology, they would be unstoppable. They could instantaneously transport troops or even explosives onto the homeworlds of their enemies - Vulcans, Humans, Klingons, and anyone else who dared oppose them.

For that same reason, he could not allow this gateway to be discovered by anyone else. He had realised what he must do.

He would destroy it. If his people could not utilise it, neither would anyone else.

As the view in the gateway changed again, however - this time to a cityscape of bright lights and intrusive neon signs advertising all manner of seedy entertainment - a thought had occurred to him.

He may be able to bring this bounty to his people after all, and be revered as a hero of the Empire. He just had to take as many scans as possible, then figure out how to deliberately select the gateway's endpoint. He would set the console to self-destruct and flee, his identity as Sylor coming to an end in an assumed cave-in. Scientists on Romulus could then hopefully back-engineer the portal technology based on his readings.

For months now, he had been gathering data on Humans and their allies, hoping that, once he'd accumulated enough tactical information, he could procure a vessel and head for Romulan territory. But the unjust establishment of the Neutral Zone and its monitoring outposts meant that such a journey was not likely to go unnoticed, unless he wanted to add years by going around said Zone.

Now though, this could be his opportunity to return home earlier than he ever thought possible.

And so, he had studied the controls more intently than before, but to no avail. Hours had passed, and still he was no closer to determining the gateway's precise operation. There was simply too many gaps in his knowledge of the language, and he didn't want to blindly press controls for fear of damaging the device. It wouldn't be much longer before the others came looking for him.

He had eventually resorted to watching the scenery in the arch randomly change, hoping to see somewhere close to home.

A wide variety of locations had appeared through the gateway, in every imaginable environment - and a few unimaginable ones - as well as some interesting sights. Some of these sights included lifeforms who were obviously unaware that they were being observed, indicating that the view was one-way.

He saw things such as the bridge of a Klingon battlecruiser, where two of the crew fought each other with their triple-bladed daggers in a barbaric display, their comrades cheering them on like the savages they were.

A primitive village of huts, with an inverted obelisk at its centre, about which several gangly aliens were assembled, while a bright light shone down on them.

A shimmering golden ocean, with no land in sight, under a dark sky. A humanoid was sinking into this ocean, and appeared to be composed entirely of the same viscous substance.

An endless row of alcoves, each housing an upright grey-skinned figure, eyes shut as if sleeping. Their bodies were almost completely covered in implanted technology.

A planet of multi-limbed living crystals scurrying to and fro, where the heat was so intense the very air rippled.

Two small-bodied beings with large, purple, porcine-featured heads tending a field while a giant arachnid roamed freely in the background.

An underwater city consisting of several low, wide, bronze domes, with green-skinned people swimming around them.

Two men standing over a third on a table, performing a highly questionable surgical procedure of some sort. The standing men's skin seemed to be made up of a patchwork of different colours and textures.

But, alas, no signs of Romulus, Remus, nor any Imperial colonies or vessels.

A few minutes ago, the caverns had started shaking and collapsing. With resignation, he had accepted that he may not find a way home so easily, and would have to destroy the gateway, as originally intended. It had been a fanciful dream to begin with anyway.

Sure enough, he soon heard Captain Thorpe calling his name - Sylor's name - bringing him back to harsh reality.

He quickly deactivated the gateway, pressing the same control which had awoken it in the first place, and went about setting up an overload of the console. He had deciphered enough to determine how to do that, at least. Even at minimal power, the console had been storing minute amounts of geothermal energy, moderated by safety protocols. Loxus had only to release those protocols.

Given the damage being caused to the caverns, it would be assumed this chamber had simply caved in. He placed his scanner onto the table, intending to leave it and the secrets it contained to be destroyed as well. Simply erasing it may raise questions, and he could claim to have dropped it if asked.

The console started to whine as he triggered the overload, and he hastily climbed over the debris in the doorway to the corridor.

Thorpe saw him from the other end and jogged over. "Sylor! Where've you been? I ordered an evac."

"Apologies, Captain," Loxus replied, back in his calm Vulcan persona. "I found more ancient text and was attempting translation." Thorpe would think him just another scientist blinded by discovery.

"No time for that now, come on!" The Human officer jogged back down the corridor with Loxus following.

They heard a loud rumble as the chamber behind them collapsed in on itself, making them pause and look back. The overload had worked.

"See? That could have been you," said Thorpe, then resuming his pace back to the central hub.

Loxus kept up with him, and noted with surprise that he felt a slight swell of relief that he had not found Romulus in the gateway.