Jeremy climbed into what they assumed was the rear hatch of the vessel. The ship was so badly damaged, the excavation team wasn't sure which part of the ship was the front and which was the back.
Moving through one of the narrow corridors, Jeremy noted how stark the inside of the ship was. Apparently, whoever owned it wasn't much into interior decorating. Not that it mattered, though. He had no intention of spending the rest of his life there.
"Hey, Jeremy," Sarah said, walking up behind him.
He jumped at the sound of her.
"Did I scare you?" she asked, slightly amused.
"It's a dark place," he explained. He took a deep breath, then asked her what she wanted.
"Lizzy and Seth found something in one of the cargo bays. At least, we think it's a cargo bay."
Jeremy followed her down another corridor, which led into a large room with a high ceiling. In the middle of the room was a strange rectangular-shaped object, which Jeremy could only describe as a giant picture frame, only one made of metal instead of wood. The reason he thought of a picture frame was the fact that within the "frame" was a picture. A moving picture, actually.
"What is it?" he asked.
"This is amazing," Seth said, clearly excited by his discovery. "It's a portal."
"A portal? You mean like a gateway?"
"Exactly."
"Where does it go?" Jeremy asked, walking closer to the contraption. The moving picture showed a deserted island with palm trees. The surface of the picture seemed to ripple, as if it were liquid.
"Apparently, anywhere," Lizzy said. "Look at this."
Jeremy walked over to what looked like a display screen. On the screen were pictures. Lizzy touched one of them. "There's a whole database," she said.
Immediately, the portal's "picture" changed, now showing a never-ending desert. It almost looked like the Sahara, except the sky was a deep red.
"Are these alien worlds?" Jeremy asked.
"Looks like it," Seth said. "Isn't this amazing? I can't believe how lucky we are to find something like this. It's like ... like ... I don't know ..."
"The military probably wants to get their hands on this," Sarah said. "I've seen enough sci-fi movies to know that. They won't leave this in civilian hands, no matter if we found it first or not."
"You're probably right," Jeremy said. "But for now, it's ours." He turned to Seth. "Can we use it?"
"I don't know if that's such a great idea," Lizzy said. "I'm as excited about this as the next person, but what if we can't get back? Or something worse happens?"
"If I'm reading this correctly," Seth said. "There's a time limit integrated into the system. We can go through, check it out, then be back. It's a piece of cake."
Jeremy thought about it for a few minutes, weighing all the risks. But in the end, he figured it was worth it.
"Okay, but only for a few minutes."
Seth smiled. "Okay, then. Where do you want to go?"
Lizzy moved her hand over the display screen and touched the picture showing ...
