Missions of the Retrieval Team - A Kilt By Any Other Name

[davedove]

Scene 3

Media Room, Great Hall of X Marks the Scot

Dee led us into the media room, where most of our briefings were held.

“Go ahead and take your seats,” he said. “The others will be here shortly. If you want any coffee or tea, there’s some on the table.”

We all grabbed a cup and sat down to wait for the others. Arlen and Dee took seats along one wall while my team sat in the front.

We didn’t have to wait long until the Moderators arrived, all the Moderators. I was surprised as it wasn’t often that they all were in the same room. All except David that is, but I knew he was the reason we were here. Even Hank, the often-absent leader of the League was there. They all took seats at the front of the room.

Jamie was the last to arrive and he came in with a gentleman I didn’t recognize.

“Good,” said Hank, “It appears that everyone is here. Did you all get some refreshments?”

When we indicated that we had, he continued. “Okay, Jamie, would you introduce our guest to everyone?”

“Of course, Hank,” he answered. “Everyone, I would like to introduce Jerry. Some of you don’t know him, but I’ll bet you all know who he is. He is from the little hamlet of Stillwater in Minnesota and is a supplier of Scottish apparel.”

Ms. Starling spoke up, “Yes, I think we all know him. He’s the inventor of the Sciuropterus Delivery System.”

Jerry smiled and answered, “Yes, that’s who I am. I see you’re familiar with my work.”

Jamie interrupted, “And it is that work which brought him to our hall and is, unfortunately, responsible for our predicament. Jerry, would you please explain our situation.”

“Of course, Jamie. Several weeks ago, David contacted me. He was interested is adapting the technology of my system to the use of the League. Now, since I am a staunch supporter of the League, I readily agreed. So, for the last two weeks, David and I have been working to develop a system to transport the members of the League quickly and safely.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“Two days ago,” he continued, “We managed to get a visual on our portal. It clearly showed the valley at the base of the mountain. David recognized some of the rock formations. The picture only lasted for about three seconds though before it vanished.”

“You can imagine that we were excited. You see, the portal itself is an open object, much like a doorframe. We had turned it into a viewing screen of a location where there was no camera.”

“Amazing,” was all Ms. Starling could say.

“Amazing indeed,” Jerry continued. “We had managed to view a remote location without a camera to send us an image. Unfortunately, the power drain was considerable, which explained the short duration. The equipment just couldn’t remain active very long.”

“We also found that the activation of the portal nearly drained David’s reserve batteries in his lab. It would take nearly a full day to recharge them before we could activate the portal again.”

“David and I decided to try a little experiment. Yesterday morning, we were ready to activate the portal again. David had wadded a sheet of paper into a ball. When I activated the portal, David tossed the ball into the portal. Just before the portal closed, we both saw the ball bounce into the valley shown in the image.”

“The ball was transported?” I asked.

“So it would appear. Since the portal is just an open frame, we mostly expected the ball of paper to pass through the image and onto the floor on the other side. There was also the possibility that the energy field inside the frame would burn or damage the ball in some way.”

“I think I see where this is all going,” I said. “You’re going to tell us that David,” I paused, not wanting to say what we were all thinking.

“Yes,” Jerry finished for me. “This morning, David went through the portal.”