Rachel Finster was very lost and very worried, but at the same time was entranced by the beauty around her. It was like a Yellowstone luxury resort resort experiment gone wild. She was surrounded by streams, pools, cauldrons and small lakes of nearly any possible color and description - a surreal fantasy. Thing was, if this was Gateworld, there was no Gate anywhere in sight.
Aside from the spectacular geology, it looked like Gateworld - barren of life and that exact same smooth, featureless Sun - which was going to set soon and leave her in total darkness with no supplies of any kind.
How it happened was no real mystery - she hadn't been able to create a new Gate for several days, so she had been playing around with the instructions. Nothing had worked, and maybe she had drained out just a bit too much blood with her various attempts. In any case, she was pretty sure she had fallen asleep inside a double circle after a few hours of it doing nothing - and then had woken up here.
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For Dan Vogt, his plans to be fully independent just weren't working out. He had a decent ecology going, but he couldn't get a few of the larger animals he intended to breed - he especially wanted goats. And he wasn't sure if he wanted a predator larger than a cat. He considered dogs, but was worried about a future with feral wolf packs.
His other big problem was power - there just wasn't a long-term solution he could afford, and even those he COULDN'T afford were now mostly sold out, or had endless delivery times. He had found a small hydro-power rig, but for some reason it just wasn't providing anywhere close to the advertised output.
And lastly, he had to admit, he'd become addicted to internet - and that just wasn't going to be coming to remote Gateworld outposts for a LONG, LONG time.
For now, he just put up large "Biohazard" signs around his Earth-side property and lived almost entirely in Gateworld while constantly browsing the internet for the next step. He got a glimmer of direction for his next project when he learned that if he created more Gates, they wouldn't be so far away. He set aside one day a week to make more Gates - in the most wild, life-dense patches of wilderness he could find - he had theories to try out.
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And "Biohazard" was exactly the word most remaining on Earth were using to describe anything coming back from Gateworld now. Not only were Gateworld mutations frequent, but they tended to be enhancements of one kind or another. At first it was only noticed in bacteria, but now it was being seen in all manner of fast-breeding life. In fact, large regions of the once-bare Gateworld rocks now had lichen colonies, and endless varieties of new weeds were springing up in the lush new farmlands.
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Many states, and some nations were now calling for airlocks around all Gates, despite the near-impossible enforcement challenges. In fact, unauthorized Gates were popping up everywhere - parks, schools, highway rest stops, below overpasses, in airport terminals, even in prisons. Someone had even made a series of Gates along the Pacific Crest Hiking trail, and there were reports of a Gate at the 25,000 foot level of Mt Everest.
Perhaps fortunately, no Gate would open on a floating structure, and if created on a large moving platform, the Gate would not move when the platform did.
The Amish had taken a vote and decided to view Gateworld as a gift from God and put it to use - but were taking it very slowly and methodically. Those opposed to the plan were given title to most of the Earth-side lands and assets.
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Cindy's tea parties had slowly moved to the lakeshore, and were now attended by several real frogs, in addition to her stuffed toy Frikzel, and a rabbit and kitten sometimes came. Cindy showed the frogs Naruto episodes and told them stories of the great heroes they could someday become. After a week of pestering, her brother Will finally took her to see the Cascade of Dreams (while complaining about her taking along her dumb stuffed frog) - she stared in amazement and started telling Frikzel of how frog explorers would one day venture to the top of the Cascades to found their new civilization.
Will took note that grasses and mosses were already spreading up the falls, as well as down the creek, and he observed several other spots along the shore where grass, weeds, or lichen had made homes for themselves.
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In the Korean Empire, something never before known to the population was happening - there was starting to be enough food! With that, loyalty and dedication to their great Leader who had led them through the Gates skyrocketed. Due to the constant threat of disease, only a skeleton crew were left Earthside, along with most of the military, of course, to deter invasion.
Free of fear of retaliation, their nuclear weapons were being smuggled into place for launch against their great demonic enemies back on Earth. Their scientists had proven the treachery of the West behind their recent plague and they were out for revenge. They would wait for the right moment - but the evil ones would pay!
South Korea was aware of a gathering threat and was conflicted in many ways - mostly because several nasty bio-weapons had spilled over and were now wiping out large numbers in Seoul, and their scientists also found fingerprints of US design in the new diseases.
S. Korea already knew that sending people through to Gateworld would probably allow most of the infected people to survive, but they didn't have any real infrastructure set up there, and didn't know how long it would be before they could safely return.
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Along his seawater stream, Shane was lugging yet another awkward pack down to Salt Lake. Strangely, it was starting to get easier. Shane was no athlete, but he knew it was harder than this to get in shape. He decided it must be connected to whatever boost Gateworld had been giving to people's immune systems.
The other mystery bothering Shane was that Salt Lake has taken on a faint glow at night. He would never have noticed if it hadn't been for the total darkness of the Gateworld nights, and he hadn't seen it the first two nights, but now it was obvious - the lake water gave off a misty pale glow that seemed to strengthen each night that passed. But last night, when he went to the shore, he could see the faint glowing mist slowly flowing - directly towards him!