Chương 65: The Lies We Tell Ourselves

"Sir, my scanners are detecting an interdimensional disruption," Malina called out, watching the anomaly form on the monitor. Jasper rushed over and stood behind her, his eyes fixed on the monitor. The faint shimmer of particles began flickering, like dust catching light. Slowly they gathered together like metal shavings drawn to a magnet. He watched, fascinated, as the mass became more solid and defined. Stabilization was now imminent.

The barely visible membrane solidified, creating the threshold to the doorway between realms, the bridge was now complete.

"Do we have the coordinates to determine where it came from?" Jasper called out to the room as it became a flurry of activity.

"Working on it, sir," a young man called out.

"Send an armed team to the formation point," Jasper commanded, a sense of urgency in his voice.

"Sir, it's dissipating," Malina said, confused. Jasper returned to Malina's station in time to see the doorway collapse into a flurry of particles before becoming undetectable. Jasper began rubbing the back of his neck. Staring at the now blank monitor, his mind trying to reconcile what he just witnessed.

"Sir, the anomaly was right outside Fairy Central. The coordinates suggest it formed in the park. A team was sent to its location, but there is nothing there."

"Alert Security, no one in or out of the building without identification and scan," he called out, then returned his gaze to Malina.

"Portals are stationary, correct?" he asked.

"Yes, sir, our portals are. They are fixed points once the connection between realms has been established. While this appears to be similar to our technology, it is vastly different," she said, trying to understand what just happened.

"My understanding is that it remains a stationary point. There is no way to physically sever the connection. Even when a portal has been deactivated, the connection is still there and could, at any time, be reopened… but this…" She paused, her eyes furrowing in confusion.

"This is like it never was. There is no trace. No residual energy. No signature. Nothing." If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Jasper looked at the monitor, then back at Malina. Malina took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She turned to face Jasper.

"There is one more thing that I'm not sure you are aware of," she said, the color draining from her face.

"The study of portal technology only extends to the theory of how they work. Not on how they are created." Jasper looked at her confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," she sighed.

"We never figured out how to make one. We have been using the same portals throughout our history. We don't know where they came from or how they were created. We have no idea how old this technology truly is. We have basically been the gatekeepers of the pathways to other realms, but no one ever questioned who created them or why." Jasper looked at her, his jaw clenching.

"So, what you are telling me here is, we have built an entire society around being gatekeepers to a technology we do not fully understand or why the technology was necessary in the first place?" He sighed.

"Over time, we basically just mandated ourselves to be inter realm police because we held the keys."

"Is it possible that whoever, or whatever, is creating these new portals, is from the realm that created the technology in the first place?" Malina asked.

"Who else could have the technology to establish a new connection?" she said, reeling from the implications. Jasper sighed and shook his head.

"It's possible, but we have no way of knowing who or what is behind this," he said, his stomach in knots.

"This means that we are potentially dealing with someone or something that is far more advanced than we are. Up until now, we believed we were the superior realm. We have access to technology that no other realm possesses. We believed we were the most advanced species. We were superior in our infrastructure and intelligence, when in reality, we potentially hijacked another species' creation."

"The part I can't seem to understand is, why now? What happened to make them come back?" she asked, her mind racing.

"Why not just come forward? Why all the secrecy and violence?" she asked, turning toward the monitor.

"It just doesn't make any sense to me."

"Thank you, Malina. Your insight and the information you provided have truly been invaluable. You pose some very legitimate questions that unfortunately I do not have the answers to," he began rubbing his neck again.

"Until we are able to get answers to those and many more questions, we have no choice but to view them as hostile and must do whatever we can to protect ourselves."