The following day, Rick woke up early. With a worn-out piece of chalk, he drew a vertical line on the wall next to which were many lines just like it. He began to count. When he finished, he was not surprised to see that he had already spent almost a month locked up in the military prison.

  He was one of the most decorated soldiers in the army and had been on the front line of almost every undercover operation of any importance. His service record had always been impeccable, without a single complaint against him ever falling on the ears of his superiors. None of that was taken into consideration when Rick had come back alone from his last mission. No one else had survived. Four soldiers had fallen along with the dealers that they had gone to arrest. The operation’s main objective was to recover a large shipment of telio—a new mineral that had appeared on Earth after the Wave—that had been stolen from one of the army’s warehouses a few months before. They had put Rick in charge of getting it back, and if possible, arresting the thieves. But nothing had gone as planned on that mission. The telio was nowhere to be found, and it was suspected that Rick had stolen it after killing all his men.

  He heard the sound of footsteps approaching from down the hall. Rick sat down on his bed and waited patiently for his visitors. He figured it was his lawyer who would try yet again to convince him to appeal for exile, just as he had done the day before right after the preliminary hearing. “Incompetent twit,” he thought to himself.

  A middle-aged man dressed in a military uniform approached the bars of his cell and sized him up with a stern look.

  “I see you’re an early riser,” he observed.

  Rick recognized him immediately; anyone in the army would have. Major Gordon was the highest military authority in London’s Secure Zone since martial law was decreed after the last war as a way of keeping public order. Every imaginable form of distinction shone in the insignias that were attached to the front left shoulder of the shirt of his uniform. Though he was more than fifty years old, Gordon still looked like he was in shape, and only the wrinkles that scored his face gave any indication of his real age. Rick was quite surprised by the major’s visit. In spite of the fact that it was the major who had personally appointed him to all the missions classified as top secret, they had never spoken in person.

  “Leave us alone,” he ordered the two soldiers escorting him. “We have to speak, Captain,” said Gordon once they were alone.

  “I can’t imagine what you could want to talk to me about, sir,” Rick answered in a neutral tone.

  “I’ll be very direct. Have you heard about the portal?” asked the major.

  “They’re convicting me of a crime I didn’t commit,” asserted Rick, not understanding what Gordon was talking about. “They’ve probably already picked out the bullet they’ll put through my brain, so I really don’t see how what I may have heard is at all important.”

  “Your fate is not yet decided,” Gordon explained. “I wouldn’t have come to see you if that were the case. I have better things to do.”

  Rick’s life had been limited almost exclusively to army life. He had no family or friends that weren’t in the military, which made him reasonably well aware of Gordon’s conduct in situations like this. The major would not allow anyone to mar his reputation or the army’s reputation, and he didn’t want to see his influence weakened. Since not a single shred of proof against Rick existed, nor was there any witness that could refute his version of the facts, there was no way to condemn him to death according to judicial laws. But the government needed someone to take the fall for what had happened to the telio, and the families needed someone to answer for the loss of their loved ones during the operation. In Rick’s opinion, Gordon’s solution was very simple: he would blame him and have him executed. With time, the event would be forgotten. That’s why the judge had announced a closed trial. Certainly the chaos and the constant interruptions had contributed to him making that decision, but Rick knew full well that Gordon had the judge in his pocket. It was no more than a ruse so the trial would go according to his wishes without interference from anyone.

  However, the major’s last sentence had taken him aback. Why would he come to talk with him if everything was already the way he wanted it?

  “I’ve only heard rumors,” Rick answered, letting himself be guided by his curiosity. “There’s talk about having found a portal that takes you to another world.” His face portrayed his skepticism.

  “What other rumors are there?” Gordon asked.

  “That the army wants to keep it secret. Some say it’s an endless source of telio. Others believe the Wave originated from there, and they even say that the Fog came out of this other world. There are other theories but they’re all absurd.”

  “All right,” said Gordon, satisfied. “But that portal exists, Captain. And of course we want to keep it classified, but that’s going to be impossible. It was discovered in a local foundry and too many people saw it. And though it may seem incredible, it leads to someplace . . . unknown.” The major hesitated before adding the last word. “A recon expedition is going to cross over the portal and carry out an investigation. I’m here to offer you the command of that mission. You would be in charge of security.”

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  Self-control kept Rick’s face from showing his astonishment at the offer. He had expected some type of threat from the major, something that would make his freedom contingent on a confession of where he’d supposedly hidden the missing telio, but this was completely unexpected and strange. Cross a portal into the unknown in exchange for his freedom. His interest in the conversation had just grown considerably.

  “Before giving you an answer I’d like to hear the details,” said Rick calmly. He still needed to discover the motive concealed behind the offer. He wasn’t so na?ve as to think there was no hidden agenda.

  “I’ll inform you of everything once you accept the mission. You know the protocol. No one outside the operation can know anything about it.”

  “It’s not that I haven’t been fine with secret operations in the past,” replied Rick. “But you can’t expect me to accept without knowing what I’m getting myself into . . . Things have changed.”

  “Actually, that’s exactly what I expect. Especially taking into account your alternative,” Gordon pointed out.

  “With all due respect, sir, don’t take me for some stupid rookie. It goes without saying that you’ll drop this telio matter—and clear my name—because it’s a given that, unless you do, I won’t cooperate. And I won’t allow myself to be conned again. I want answers to two questions or we can go back to that farce of a trial you’ve orchestrated. Why exactly are you offering the mission to me?”

  Rick did not doubt in the least that there was a specific reason why they wanted him; it was essential to find out what that was. And the fact that the trial was going to end with him being sentenced to death afforded him leeway to forget his rank when addressing Gordon. It was the blatant disregard of protocol one would expect from someone who had nothing to lose.

  “The risk is high, almost as high as the operation’s level of importance,” answered the major, speaking quickly. “We need the best man we have and it’s no secret that you have made it successfully through the most combat situations. The second question?”

  Rick immediately rejected Gordon’s explanation, considering it a bold-faced lie. A person’s military abilities alone did not make him indispensable. If that were truly what he thought, Gordon would have opted to send more soldiers and more weapons, or he would have tried any number of other options before negotiating with someone who was, according to popular opinion, considered expendable. The most disturbing thing about Gordon’s response was that it made it clear that he was not going to reveal the real reason. Rick would have to rely to his own assumptions for the time being. What he did know was that Gordon had taken a mysterious interest in him. And it had probably been Gordon who had gotten him a lawyer; he hadn’t bothered to retain one considering the way things had been headed with his trial.

  “The second thing I want to know is what guarantee I have that after I finish my job you won’t lock me up again and resume the trial.”

  “You have every guarantee, Captain,” said Gordon with a look on his face that was the closest thing to a smile one could hope for from him. “Your service record will be wiped clean. I’ll have it for you in writing. I’ll deliver it to you myself in front of witnesses if that’s what you want. I’ve already told you that the operation is extremely important. I don’t want you to accept it and then be spending energy thinking about fleeing. You have to be focused or you’ll be of no use to us. So you can relax.”

  “That seems reasonable to me,” Rick admitted. “Is it true that the portal leads to another world?”

  “Am I to understand that you are accepting the mission?” Gordon stared at Rick. Rick nodded. “It’s a very real possibility. We don’t have confirmation of that but it’s what our scientists believe.”

  “Is it related somehow to the Wave?”

  “That’s what your expedition is going to find out . . . all right, all right” conceded the major when he saw Rick’s expression of disapproval. “We can’t possibly know that yet. There’s no point keeping from you the fact that a considerable percentage of the people involved in this believe it does have something to do with it. They think it may even have originated there. At the very least they believe that the answers to its mystery lie there, but you should know that it’s all conjecture. None of it’s based on any solid data.”

  “I’ll need time to get up to speed on the details.”

  “You don’t have much. Entertain yourself with this.” The major dropped a folder through the bars and Rick picked it up off the floor. “It’s a preliminary report with some general data. This afternoon you’ll attend a meeting in which you’ll be able to ask about everything required to clarify your role.”

  “This afternoon?” asked Rick, astonished. “I won’t have time to get through a report of this size by then. There must be at least a thousand pages here.”

  It bothered him that it had all moved forward so quickly. There wouldn’t be time to change something if he saw any issues, and the fact that they had set up a meeting in just a few hours told him Gordon had already counted on him accepting the assignment. Even the paperwork for his transfer would no doubt already be completed. And he was the last one to find out.

  “Well, make an effort. The expedition will leave in two days, so you have no time to lose.” Gordon turned and began to walk away.

  “Hold on there! One fundamental detail is missing,” Rick called out after him. Major Gordon turned back around and looked at him impatiently. “I want to make one thing perfectly clear. I’ll fulfill my obligation. I’ll comply with your orders and will do everything in my power to take care of security, but if I cross that portal and come back in one piece, we’ll be even and all charges against me will be dropped. I don’t care whether or not we find answers about the Wave; that’s your issue. This is the price I put on my life. Agreed?”

  Without answering Rick’s question, the major disappeared down the hall. Rick listened as his footsteps faded away.

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