Gate Keeper (on hold)

4. History

"Hundreds of years ago some people had discovered an abnormality in human genetic structures. This abnormality is commonly called Heterochromia Iridum. At first it was believed that the only side effect of this mutation was different coloured eyes, but in 1980 C.E.R.N. managed to 'accidently' transport a young woman to another dimension. I don't understand how something like this happens but apparently it does. Anyway, they attempted to do tests on what can be transported through these portals, these Gates, and the found that virtually everything in the world could be transported. Only people experienced problems when trying to be transported.

"It is around this point that things begin to go bad. C.E.R.N. continued to look for ways to transport people without Heterochromia Iridum to other dimensions, but in all dimensions that we have visited, they have failed. All but one, that is. In the dimension C-7, C.E.R.N. managed to find a way to transport people using Anchors. Anchors are any substances unique to a specific dimension. Let's say that in every dimension frogs had 3 feet but in this dimension frogs have 4 feet, then all frogs from this dimension would be anchors. By using Anchors people without the gene mutation are able to travel through dimensions.

"Even people with the gene mutation can benefit from using an anchor. If they were to be in contact with an anchor, they would be able to open Gates without the use of a key." Marcy paused for a moment as she began going through her pockets. The whiteboard currently looked like the most complicated mind-map, with lines connecting everything to everywhere. The words C.E.R.N., 'HETEROCHROMIA IRIDUM', and 'GATES' had the largest circles, excluding 'HISTORY', which had so many lines crossing it that it barely looked like a word anymore.

"This is a key," said Marcy as she took out one of those bronze disks, Chase had seen earlier. "These used to be the size of fridges when Dimension Travelling had first been discovered, but thanks to the work of some spies we have in C-7 the size has been greatly reduced. Think of this kind of like a big watch. The gears on the key are used to select the co-ordinates of the dimension you wish to travel to. The smallest gear selects the letter. It goes up to the letter AQ. The larger gear selects the number. It goes up to the number 65. There are more dimensions, but we have only explored this far and not all of the dimensions are on the grid.

"Currently, the only dimension we know of that is off the grid is this one. The dimension was found by accident, during one of our earlier tests with keys. We decided that this would be a great planet to make our home, especially due to the difficulty of coming here if you have never been here before, as well as the ease at which previous occupants can return here. On more than one occasion, Gate Keepers have had to jump to this dimension to avoid being captured by organisations and governments. Virtually everything in this dimension is an anchor, however not all of the anchors here are for this dimension. Some are from other dimensions which have led some people to believe that this is pretty much the default area where gates that have no destination lead to. Nobody has been willing to test that theory, however.

"Now Wendy, Chase, how old do you think this place is?"

"Uhm... 80 years?" guessed Wendy.

"And you Chase?" asked Marcy. Chase thought for a while. The place was pretty big. He could only imagine how long it had taken them to dig up all the earth. A lot of the buildings also had really old architecture...

"Over 100 years," replied Chase.

"Well, you're both wrong. This place is only about 30 years old. There are currently over 10 000 residents, 8 000 of which are under the age of 30, meaning they weren't even born when this had been founded."

"Marcy," began Wendy. "Who founded all of this?"

"To be completely honest, I do not know. Apparently a man who worked for C.E.R.N. in one dimension and a lady who worked for them in another, managed to meet during the early stages of Dimension Travelling. They died roughly 13 years ago. They were killed by agents from C-7." Marcy wrote the word 'C-7' onto the whiteboard.