Memory Traffic

Chapter 4: The Gate

"Please," Catherine indicated the tea, "help yourself. There is no need for guests to wait."

I meandered into the room, taking the seat beside Baines. British high tea wasn't really my thing, but I could make nice. As I sat, I heard footsteps followed by a door opening. I leaned back to look down the hall and saw a tall, gaunt man in a lab coat with wild hair having to stoop to get through the low door at the top of the basement stairs. He scratched his head as we walked down the hall, the other hand tucked in his coat pocket. When he entered the room, Baines stood and held out a hand, which he took and shook.

"Dr. Müller, so good to see you again," Baines said.

The older man grunted and sat. Catherine placed a scone in front of him while Baines poured his tea. "Baines, did you bring that idiot agent with you?" he demanded.

Baines tried to hide a smile but failed. He wiped his mouth. "Yes, Dr. Müller." He gestured to me. "Agent Johnson is the one who retrieved the key."

Dr. Müller's gaze pierced me. "What did you do to the key?"

My eyes narrowed. I didn't appreciate the implication that I'd done something to the key on purpose after all my partner had sacrificed to get it. "I pulled the stem, turned it, and observed the different faces as the symbol changed. When it returned to the face it started with, I pushed the stem back in and stored it away."

The man scowled, slathering jam on his scone. "Did you wear it?"

"No. I held it, but I didn't put it on."

"Good. Then we have the opportunity to reprogram it, perhaps."

I narrowed my eyes. "Why would we need to do that? If you need an agent on your team..."

He waved a hand. "We have plenty of seasoned agents."

Son of a... "Seems to me that, so far, my partner and I have risked the most. He cannot carry on. It seems only natural that I would."

The doctor slurped his tea, watching me over his teacup. "Well, in the end, it is up to the key. The fact that you could program it at all might lend merit to your expectations of being involved." He sipped again. "You will come to the lab after tea. We will run some tests."

I knew I wouldn't get a better invitation, so I resigned myself to the knowledge that my involvement was merely a possibility instead of a foregone conclusion. I ate strawberries and sipped tea while I listened to the inconsequential chit-chat around me.

~~~

The gate was not what I expected, and yet it was. In some part of my mind, I had imagined a large circular structure with chevrons like the gate from that Stargate SG-1 TV show. Instead, it looked like a door. It was red on one side and blue on the other. When you turned the knob on the blue side, it swung inward. It was mounted in a simple metal frame on an insulating mat. Electrical conduit running along the ceiling shielded the wiring to power it. Beyond what I could see, I had yet to learn how it worked, so I asked.

Dr. Müller sighed. "To be honest, we don't really know. The gates manipulate the space-time continuum in ways we don't quite understand. In fact, most of our physics says they shouldn't work. And yet, they do." He stared at the door and scratched his head. "Well, at least this one is supposed to. Only, we can't get the key to activate it."

I looked up as I heard the door at the top of the stair open, and two sets of feet stepped down into view. One of the agents that had verified my identity, and one of the women who had helped with tea, descended.

"Ah. Mia and Noah. Very good. You can help us rerun our tests with Ethan operating the key."

"Yes, Sir," Noah said.