tables with a radio playing in the background. "Look at that, Buddy," observed Nick. It appeared to be a mother, father, two children and a grandfather. "That's the beauty of camping. Nobody's punching a clock here. They're not having breakfast or lunch, it's whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it... wonderful. Heck, it could be barbeque leftovers from last night or who knows what," as he waved to the happy family.
Then the camper father and wife stood up and made hailing motions for the two hikers (them) to come on over. Nick cocked his head and commented to Glenn, "Okay, but for only a few minutes, we've got to get it going."
The campers were very nice and said they had prepared more ribs and chicken than they could eat or store, another family who was to join them had called and canceled out last night after they had already started cooking. "Would you boys please take some with you?" Both men had brought only one bottle of purified water and two protein bars. The offered 'bagged' lunches were already packed and ready to go.
Nick and Glenn gladly accepted and were soon back on the trail. "How about that partner?" said Nick. "Say Glenn, didn't his wife kinda resemble your older sister?
"Some for sure and the grandfather compared to my wife's grand-daddy," he added.
"Oops, this is where we make our turn here for the crossover," stated Nick. "The ground's pretty clear and the foliage isn't too dense. Still, watch your step if you see wet leaves and cob webs especially those shoulder high. We'll find the best orchids attached to pine trees at ten to twenty feet high. And... that just happens to be the reaching limit of my home-made telescoping tree trimmer I'm carrying in this gunny sack," he displayed proudly. "It has five interlocking sections with an attached trimmer. "Pretty cool, huh?"
They had traversed at a slow pace - being through, for less than a hundred yards when Glenn while scanning upward at the passing pine tree trunks, noticed something strange. He stopped as did Nick - keying on his partner, who reasoned his buddy had spotted their first good specimen. "Hey, Nick. Check out the sky above us. Are my eyes playing tricks? I swear it looks light green instead of blue, even the clouds. Does that happen because of the humidity here in the forest?"
Nick peered through the openings in the tree canopy and answered, "Yep, it's sure enough green. Now that I think about it, I observed this once before about five years ago but it wasn't directly overhead like this one. I've read some scientific publications regarding this phenomenon. This display is usually seen in a relatively small, elongated swath of sky which covers approximately one/twentieth of your total visibility from one horizon to the other. The color distortion is not caused by humidity or foliage density. The occurrence appears all over the world even in arid terrain. The event lasts three to five minutes then disappears. Scientists think... rather guess, it's relative to a moon reflection being interfered or interspersed by another planet crossing a part of Earth's orbit. Horse-hocky I say. The scientists have always blamed the moon for everything they don't understand for three thousand years. The state of Florida and due south seem to have more incidents than most places, maybe one every two or three years... even so with all their so-called technology they go undetected." Before Glenn could get into the discussion the color faded away. "See that, Bud? You gotta look fast. You were lucky; you may never observe another spectacle as such for the rest of your life. Oh, by the way that freak of nature we just witnessed is called, The Green Flash."
They travelled just a little further and were confronted by an even more bizarre sight. There, a mere fifteen yards dead ahead was a patch of light-green, slow swirling mist. It was positioned between two pine trees, floated six inches above the ground and formed a square eight foot high and wide. The mist was too dense to see through and appeared to be about one foot thick in depth. "Nick, do you see that green smog? It seems to be the same color as your Green Flash."
"Yeah, weird," agreed his partner. "It'll probably fade away pretty soon." It didn't and they drew closer. Nick stood in what he perceived to be the enigma's front and Glenn was positioned to the right side where he could see the rear when a darting dragonfly accidently flew into the green gas. It didn't exit the backside! "Whoa," remarked Nick. What are we dealing with here? This thing could be dangerous."
"Do you think the bug got nuked?" asked Glenn.
"I have no idea. It could be poisonous gas but I think one of us would have seen the dragonfly drop to the ground so I'll agree to your nuke theory for the moment. Don't get any closer until I run some field tests." He was a Environmental Restoration engineer and knew a few simple tricks. "Let's find something alive such as a frog or a lizard, put it in there for a minute and see what happens."
"Er, okay," answered Glenn. "Where are we going to find a test subject?"
"Not a problem," advised Nick. "This is the forest, they're everywhere." He spied a small, fallen log. "Let's roll this puppy over; I'll bet someone's sleeping under it." Sure enough, they captured a small, harmless toad. Nick quickly fastened it with twine to the end of two connected four foot sections of his orchid trimmer. "See, he's not hurt at all. You watch the backside as I slowly insert this fellow. We'll find out what's going on." He poked the specimen in and Glenn didn't see the pole or frog exit the rear. Nick withdrew his tool, examined the bewildered creature then let him go. "Let's watch him for a moment." He was fine. "What the hell do we have here?" mumbled Nick. He paced silently about then announced, "The mist appears harmless. I've got see for myself."
"What!" sputtered Glenn. "Sounds risky to me. Suppose this frog hops away and dies tomorrow? We won't know if it's truly dangerous unless you keel over."
Nick frowned, "Yes, that could happen. But what if it's safe, the possibilities are profound. I'm going to do it. Will you help me?" Glenn grunted a reluctant, yes. "I have plan. I'll show you what I want done." First, Nick stuck his hand in and out then proclaimed, "I didn't feel any discomfort," as he examined himself closely.
For his next test, The Big One, he had his wrist tethered to a twelve-foot section and stood in front of the swirling mist. "I'm going to hold my breath and wear these safety goggles" which he had extracted from his gunny sack and donned. "I'm ready, Glenn. Count off one minute on your wristwatch, give me two tugs and I swear I'll hurry back. Drag me if you have to."
Nick stepped into the mist; Glenn started his countdown and wondered how they went from collecting orchids to being nuked? "Fifty-nine, sixty!" and yanked hard twice on the pole. Nick returned from the abyss and Glenn wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead.
With his eyes as big as saucers, Nick gushed, "You're not going to believe this!"
Nick's exuberance was overwhelming. Glenn had to take a step back to give the man room for his near-spastic jumping and waving of his arms. "Glenn, Glenn, you've got to see this!"
"See what, Nick? You were only gone a minute into that green haze. What do you mean?"
Nick ripped his goggles off, grabbed his friend's shoulders in an iron vise and stared deep into his buddy's eyes. Glenn, there's another world on the other side. This is a portal to another world!"
"Uh-hun,' responded Glenn - confident the green gas was hallucinatory and told him so.
"No, no!" bellowed Nick. "It's real. I'll show you. I can lead you safely," he declared with imploring eyes set in a face of desperation. "I'll lay out my trimmer to its full length so we'll be able to find our way back just in case," then quickly connected the sections and pushed the tool through to where there was only two feet of pipe left on their side. "Take my hand and we'll pass through together."
"What about poisonous gas? I'm overweight and can't hold my breath for more than thirty seconds."
"No problem, the other side's entrance is the same as ours, one foot thick. And... I confess. I cheated a little bit." Glenn raised his eyebrows, 'How'? "After seeing a natural habitat, I took a breath. It was an oxygen/nitrogen composition almost exactly as ours. Of course only a lab test can confirm this but I feel we'll be fine as long as we don't stay more than a coupla' hours. Trust me. I
know about these things," and Glenn conceded he did because of Nick's vocation.
Okay, let's go!" and they both stepped into the gateway as Glenn closed his eyes and gritted his teeth.
The Other Side
The two men surveyed their surroundings in a different degrees of wonder: Nick with an engineer's scientific evaluation and Glenn with more of a "What the hell is this?"
"Let's explore," declared Nick. "We won't wander out of sight of the portal, I promise."
"Er, okay" agreed Glenn, "but I'm going to leave a trail of bread crumbs," he joked.
Their 'new' Earth surrounding's appeared as if they were on the outside edge of a struggling, thinning patch of forest. The sky appeared a very pale pink and a badlands loomed before them. "Ow. I looked up at the sun and it stung my eyes," informed Glenn.
"We'd better put on sunglasses and hats," advised Nick. "We don't know the true density or composition of this stratosphere. My eyes tingle slightly and it feels a little too warm for this level of sunshine. Yep, I'm pretty sure this atmosphere is thinner than ours."
They advanced a couple hundred yards away from their entry point - keeping it within sight at all times and soon discovered a road crossing their path as they entered the badlands.
"Look at