FIRST LOOK: Mark Porter of Argoron: A Prodigious Worlds Story
Here is the first look at Mark Porter of Argoron, an upcoming sword and planet/space opera story. Below is Chapter 1. Story structure and details are subject to change as it progresses.
CHAPTER 1
United States Army Lieutenant, Mark Porter is currently on a mission to Roswell, New Mexico. Traveling alone, listening to music. As he drives, his cell phone rings and he answers it.
“Lieutenant Porter.” he said.
“Porter, this is General Dunlap.’ the caller said. ‘How far are you from the site?’
“I’m looking at it as we speak.’ Porter said.
Porter drove himself to the entrance gate, where two soldiers stood. They opened the gate for Porter and he drives through. Porter realizes the location, still speaking with the General on the phone.
“General, what is this place?” Porter asked.
“This is Area 51.” the General replied.
“Area 51.” Porter said. “I never thought I would be here.”
“See you inside, Porter.” the General said.
Porter hung up the phone and drives to the front entrance of the buildings. Area 51 has the appearance of a small city, with dozens of people throughout it. Most of which are military soldiers and scientists. Porter gets out of the car and walks toward the front doors, which are made of bulletproof glass. He walks in as he’s greeted by soldiers and scientists. Porter makes a left turn to the elevator. He walks in and standing beside him are two scientists.
“Excuse me, but are you Mark Porter?” one scientist asked.
“Yes I am.”
“It’s an honor to meet such a well-known Lieutenant.” the other scientist said.
“Thank you.”
The elevator door opens and Porter is the first one to walk out, only to avoid the two scientists. Porter walks down a hallway and in the distance, he spots General Dunlap. Porter begins walking toward him. General Dunlap spots Porter coming down the hall near him.
“Porter, right on schedule.” General Dunlap said.
“Yes sir, General.” Porter replied.
Porter and General Dunlap walk toward another room. As they walk, General Dunlap begins telling Porter a few rules regarding him being there in the first place.
“Porter, there are some rules that you must obey, since you’re here.” Dunlap said.
“Ok, General.” Porter replied. “What are they?”
“You must not tell a single soul what you’re about to see in this next room.” Dunlap said. “If you do, we will have no choice but to rid you of the world.”
“I see. Must be something very important.”
“Important?” Dunlap said. “Try highly secretive. If anyone found out about this, the world will turn for the worst.”
They reached the room and the metal door slowly slides open. They walk in and the room is covered with military security and is dark with only little light inside. Porter looks around and sees scientists doing autopsies on unknown beings.
“General, what is going on here?”
“I’ll tell you once we’ve reached our location.” Dunlap said.
They passed the security and walk into another room. This room has plenty of light and isn’t dark like the other one. Inside the room is a long table, with a device sitting in the middle. Porter and Dunlap walk over to the table and look at the device.
“Porter, this device you see here is able to transfer beings such as us to other worlds.”
“How is that possible?” Porter asked. “Has it been tested?”
“Not yet. We’re still awaiting answer from the President.”
They walk around the table, looking at the device from all angles. The device is shiny and ejects a blue light that points into the air. Porter slowly puts his hand over the device. Dunlap snatches it from getting closer.
“Porter, you don’t want to do something that you’ll regret.” Dunlap said.
“Sorry, sir.”
As they stand, looking at the device, an alarm goes off. Porter and Dunlap look around. Dunlap walks toward the doors, asking the security what triggered the alarm.
“What the hell’s going on?!” Dunlap yelled. “What triggered the alarm?!”
“The base, sir, its under attack!” a soldier yelled.
“Porter, stay where you are.”
He pulls out his pistol and looks outside the door. From the outside, he sees soldiers and scientists being attacked by an unknown force. They appear to have tentacles, but are wearing white robes with long white hair. Dunlap stares out of the glass window of the door, looking at them and watching them kill the soldiers and scientists. Gunshots are heard from the outside, but they’re dying left and right.
Porter walks toward the door, but is stopped by Dunlap, who commands Porter to stay by the table.
“General, what’s going on?!” Porter asked while yelling.
“Sit tight, Porter. We’re in for a show.”
Dunlap backs from the door as it bursts open. He begins shooting at the beings, but the gunshots have no effect. Porter takes out his revolver and shoots one of the beings in the head, which kills it. Dunlap looks at Porter, astounded.
“Try that, General.”
“I surely will.”
They both begin shooting the beings that are coming into the room through the damaged door. They aim for the head and shoot them directly there. They’ve killed the beings and look at each other. Both astounded and calm.
“Good job, Lieutenant.”
“Same to you, General.”
They shake hands, but from the ceiling a bright light shines down on them and Porter pushes Dunlap out of the way and a loud bang is heard with a large flash of light, nearly blinding Dunlap. The light fades away and Dunlap looks around for Porter.
“Porter?” Dunlap said. “Porter?!”
Dunlap looks around and realizes that Porter is nowhere in sight, but he also realized that the device’s light is now dim, which before it was bright. He now knows that someone has happened to Porter.
Porter, who’s opening his eyes, realizes that he’s in a desert. He looks and stands up, brushing the dirt off of his uniform. He walks around the area, looking around at it surroundings.
“Where the hell am I?”
He continued walking, but realized that he can move faster and jump higher than usual. He now knows that something isn’t right. He continues to move ahead, but in front of him, he sees something running towards him. He tries to get a closer look and he sees that they aren’t human. He begins running the other direction, but is shot down by a bow and arrow. Porter lays on the ground as the beings get closer to him. He now hears silence, but the beings are surrounding him.
The beings appear to be sixteen to seventeen feet tall and slim with pale green skin. They have no hair and only nostrils. They also have two eyes, four arms, and two legs. They look down at Porter as he looks up at them. They speak in an unknown language that he can’t understand. He stands up, while staggering from the arrow shot, backs up from the beings and points to the one that’s wearing white fur, who looks to be the general.
“You, where am I” Porter asked. “Tell me where the hell I am?!”
The being stared at Porter, looking at him as if he’s not from this world. The being walks over to Porter and looks at him from all angles and stands back with his group. Porter stares at the group, reaching for his revolver, but he doesn’t have it. He looks at the general being and it has his revolver.
“How did you get that?!’ Porter asked with rage. ‘Where am I?!’
Porter walks over to the beings, but he is knocked unconscious by one of their punches. They drag him back to their location and lock him up. Hours later, Porter awakens in chains, thinking that he may not be on Earth anymore. He know believes that he’s somewhere else, somewhere unknown.
Mark Porter of Argoron releases in 2021.