Snippet

Through Portals and Pathways  

So, we were right. Black holes are portals, if your pressure suit is strong enough to resist the spaghettification. Too many had failed, so many had died, but here I was a final survivor. I had to get back to earth, I had to tell them all  what I’d discovered. 

It was the year 4,998,997, the final days before the sun would destroy us, our home. It wouldn’t be long before it became the Red Giant that ruined planets.  

My breath was heavy and labored as I trudged through the portal, my pressure suit resisting my every step. 

I turned to leave, my home world didn’t have long now. A vine reached out clutching my foot in its steel grip. I shrieked trying to break free, it didn’t lose. Frantically, I grabbed the vine with both my hands and tried to tear it off, to no avail. In a matter of moments my feet were locked in place. In the shadows a silhouetted figure took shape, its massive bird wings and long, metal feathers, dragging on the ground. It sounded vaguely like a vacuum. I tried to throw myself out the portal. If I could just get half my body through, the gravitational field would pull me back, but I couldn’t move. 

Fear and panic clutched at my heart, filling my veins and pressing itself like a gun against my heart. The shadowy figure brought forth a long, alien rifle. Blue light streaked the sides casting an eerie shine on the creature’s bird-like face. 

It leveled the gun at my head, and I shrieked as it pulled the trigger. The bullet whizzed through the air smashing into, and shattering my helmet. The air from the alien world filled my nostrils, and I gasped. I didn’t know if it was toxic to people! 

My eyes began to water, and I could feel the rapidly growing sensation of my throat swelling. I pushed all the air I could from my lungs and held my breath. I couldn’t last long like this, my body had nothing to rely on. My lungs screamed immediately, but I couldn’t breath, it was going to kill me, not that I had much hope of survival anyway. 

My thoughts raced back to earth. They didn’t know I made it through. They’d think the pressure suit failed and try again, but there wouldn’t be time. If I couldn’t get back, the whole population of earth would die. With a flash, what my senior officers had told me came back. Pry the disc from your helmet and throw it through the portal if you make it, but need help coming back. I wouldn’t be coming back, but they needed to know that the suit could get them through. 

I slammed the heel of my palm into the glass surface around the disc, pulling it from its place. I threw it with everything left in me through the portal. Just as the bird creature re-leveled its rifle, my world went black. 

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    That is a snippet from a story I'm considering writing. Let you know in the comments if you think I should or shouldn't turn this into a full story.

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