You may take nothing through the portal with you. No clothing, no tools, no containers of food or water. It is ourselves alone that travel this way. On the other side, you will find a box with a few items that I expect that you will find useful.
You may wonder about the material of the box in front of you. No, it is not of a Barsoomian metal, but simply a bluish Jade. Nothing may go between but our own selves.
If you take the journey, I hope to meet you someday. My best wishes. John Carter.”
Chapter 4
The Day of Departure
So there it was. Perfectly spelled out and logical. Signed by John Carter himself. I was ready to believe.
Nothing could go through with me? So, that part was true. I remembered a passage from the manuscript,
“As an Earth man, you would at first find it unusual to go about naked. You would be forced to adapt by circumstance. Firstly, it is very hot. Secondly, clothing will make it appear to hunters that you are an animal to be killed and you will most likely be shot before you are allowed to explain yourself. Besides that, the women are very beautiful and it seems a crime against nature to cover them up as we do upon earth. The people of Barsoom are in many respects extreme in their honor and under most conditions would never consider taking advantage even though the greatest beauty stand fully naked before them. Of course, unholy wretches do exist and these must be expunged from civilized communities.”
I believed now. It was undeniable. There was some type of a strange energy anomaly, in a hidden cave, in the middle of nowhere, untouched by human foot for at least a hundred years, and a message inside written by John Carter. Yes, it could have been a very elaborate hoax; except for the swirling portal. If it was a hoax, the person who created it would have certainly tried to capitalize on it instead of hiding it.
If it had been a hoax, it would have been promoted like a ‘Mystery Spot’ in Santa Cruz, California or the ‘Oregon Vortex’, or even the ‘Thing’ right down the road. If it had been a hoax, it would have been documented after the attraction was ready for the public, not in an elaborate manuscript and subsequent obfuscating and fictionalized pulp adventure novels. If it had been a hoax, the swirling vortex wouldn’t be here in front of my own eyes!
I almost sat on the floor of the cave with my back to the wall to think it over, but decided at the last moment to retrace my steps to the outside and think it out in the fresh air and sunshine. I followed the carefully laid path back to the entrance and climbed the few feet out of the hole. What to do now?
Well, first I returned to the ATV and carefully marked and double checked my GPS coordinates. I placed a marker on the device electronically, but also wrote a pen and ink copy in my field notes showing the location of the hole on a hand drawn map… then I took a permanent marker and inscribed it on the dash of the ATV. It would be tragic to lose the place now! As I thought it over, I decided that I needed to be even more careful and removed the GPS from the ATV and walked back to the cave and stood in the hole and marked that exact location both in the device and on my notes. There was no cell phone service here, but I took out my phone and photographed the area, making sure that the GPS location tagging on the phone’s camera was on and then sent the photos to my own email address and to my son. They would be delivered as soon as I was in cell tower range.
It was tempting to just sit in the ATV or pace back and forth between it and the cave mouth, but I forced myself to be more deliberate and drove the off-road vehicle back to my encampment. Once there, I sat at my table under the canopy and thought through my options and plans.
One thing was certain: I would go through the portal. That was clear. This was my journey and there was no reason to stop now.
First I would return to the town that I had stayed in the night before and contact my son. I would tell him what I’d found and then give him directions for handling my absence.
I couldn’t take any provisions with me, but I could better secure my camp and I needed a few extra things to help me do so.
There was no reason to wait any longer. I just got back into the truck and turned back toward the freeway. The going was much faster this time. I wasn’t pulling a trailer and instead of carefully picking my way around the lower bushes, I drove straight over the top of a lot of them. I made much better time on the dirt roads as well and was soon back on the freeway. My mind was racing, so the trip seemed to take no time at all. It was just about time for dinner when I checked back into the hotel where I’d stayed the previous night.
Once in my room, and reconnected to the Internet, I opened my laptop and did more planning. The supplies that I needed would be available at the local big box hardware store and it was open until 9pm, so I had time to do other things before I did my shopping. My main to-do item was to see about buying more of the land surrounding my cave. It was all for sale, and I expected that if I offered to take a large piece of it that I could get an even lower price. I wouldn’t be here to handle the details; my son could do it all for me.
My son was one time zone earlier than where I was now and should be off work, but not yet heading out or sitting down with his girlfriend for dinner. I called him.
I said, “Son, it’s Dad. How are you?”
My son answered, “I’m fine, Dad. My fiance and I have been having a tough time with each other for the past few days, but we’ll work it out. How about you? Did you find your treasure yet?”
I said, “Son, you can’t imagine what I found. Yes, I found it… and more than I could have hoped for! Son, I believe that it’s all real. I found John Carter’s cave and the portal to Barsoom. I know that you must think I’m insane or joking, but I’m not. I found it.”
He said, “Dad, are you kidding me? No, you just said that you aren’t. What are you going to do?”
I said, “I’m going to go through it.”
He said, “But, um, can you get back? Assuming you stay alive and that it really does go to a foreign planet?”
I said, “Well, there’s one of the hang ups. I can get back, but not for at least two to three years. Minimum. And, I won’t be able to contact you. But, even then, if I do come back, I wouldn’t be able to go again for another two years. If things are good there, I might not want to come back if I have to wait that long to return. I do have an idea of how I can communicate though. We’ll have to pick a date and on that date, you go to the cave and either I’ll come back or I’ll send a message to you. If I can. Here is what I will do…”
I described my plan for sending a message. I also gave details of the land that I wanted him to buy and other instructions.
My son said, “Dad, I’ll do it, but wow! This is huge. I might never see you again. I get it though. It is who you are and you have to try. I’ll take care of everything on this end. I will be at the cave on the date we said, and a few days on each side to account for miscalculations. I’ll try again every few months. If I don’t get a message from you on one of those visits, I’ll have you declared dead 25 years from now. I sure love you, Dad. I will miss you. Are you sure?”
I said, “Well, we’ll find out. If you don’t hear from me day after tomorrow, you’ll know that I’m somewhere else. Hopefully the Red Planet of Barsoom.”
He said, “OK, Dad. Um, I hope you find a nice Barsoomian princess to marry.”
I said, “Oh, maybe. Um, what if I did? Would you be OK with that?”