The Archangel Chronicles Part Seven: Tumbling Toward Purgatory

The portal stared at them like it was the eye of God. A God Daniel did not believe in, a God whose creation at present did not make a great deal of sense. This circle, this eye, had pulled them through automatically before, but before Marin had led them, and perhaps something in his symbiotic relationship with the Stone had caused the eye to open, and upon sighting them, pull them through.

Whatever it was, Daniel did not know how to make it happen.

He sent the full measure of his Potiphar sensors at it. His vision went red as the world became nothing but patterns of energy, lines of power and communication. Siouean stepped between him and the portal, a black form in the middle of the red. The same non-energy that made up his suit pervaded the portal. Something was there, but the Stone’s shielding prevented his sensors from examining it. It registered as nothing to him, and his vision went full-black. He could not even get a clear understanding of the workings of his own suit. It passed beyond the boundaries of all Union technology, which meant it was something they’d want him to take back to them.

He’d have to think about it.

"How did we open this portal before?" Siouean asked. "I do not remember."

"We didn’t. It opened for us, or it opened for Marin. We may only have been brought through because we were with him."

"Then how will we get back to your ship?"

"Marin?" Daniel asked. "Are you going to open this or not?"

"Walk toward it," Marin said. "It won’t do you any good to get bounced around on these walls before you are sucked outside." As he said it a dull throb echoed through the corridor, and their Golem guides hurried backward, away from the portal. Daniel turned to watch them as a thin sheet of liquid cascaded from the ceiling, hiding the Golems from view.

"I hope you’re doing that," Daniel said as the liquid solidified. Becoming a thin, rippled stone wall. He walked to it and touched it, finding it just barely pliable, like the substance of the corridor floor.

"I am," Marin said. "This room is about to become the equivilant of an air-lock. When that door opens, you’ll need to point your feet toward the surface of the stone. When the air pulls you through, you should land upright on the outer hull."

"Should?"

"Should. I’m doing all I can, Daniel. You know there are no guarantees."

"I know," Daniel said. "Anything else we need to do, or should we just concentrate on becoming flotsam."

"Like I said, keep your feet pointed at the Stone. It will provide the bit of attractive pull you’re likely to need."

"Magnetics?"

"Not exactly, but something like that. It’s hard to explain."

"Of course it is."

"Please, let us continue," Siouean interrupted. She stood just before the circle, her hands clenching and releasing as she waited for it to open. Daniel joined her, grabbed her arm.

"It’s best if we don’t get separated," he said.

Through the glass that covered her face, she gave him a grateful look.

"Ready?" Marin asked.

"Just do it, Marin," Daniel replied.

The eye opened, expanding like a pupil in the new darkness. The air rushed around them, pushing at them. Daniel jumped to give them an extra push, pulling Siouean up with him. The air carried them out, through the portal, and the motion pulled at Daniel’s gut as they left the comfort of the surrounding stone. He hoped he wasn’t about to find out what it was like to vomit in this suit.