[Okee, here we go again... any more comments? Phoe... is this 
better?]

VRDET Op: The Marraketh Connection
Seg #3: Watch that first step...
By: nexxus 3 kline
==================================

       "Which way did he go George, which way did he go?"
					-Bugs Bunny

	No ammount of training, knowledge or skill can prepare 
you for the inevitable realization that you're not in Kansas any 
more... or Colorado, as the case may be.

	Dimensional travel comes in many forms, and for every 
individual soul there's at least a million ways a person can 
percieve what's happening to them when they take that first step 
towards what's behind "Door # 3". Nex had gotten into the habit 
of taking no notice, except this time. For someone who travels to 
dimensions without the aid of high-tech gadgets, artificial gates 
offer up a virtual 'Pandora's Box' of feelings, sights, sounds 
and smells. This time the feeling was that of putting on a 
sweater with a bad case of static cling, and thinking back on the 
whole affair, it sounded like it too. There was a faint 
electrical buzz once you left the platform and generator behind. 
For being such a bright looking entrance way, it sure as hell was 
a dark couple of steps to the other side. The smell was't exactly 
pleasant either... it reminded Nex of ozone and burning, wet, dog 
hair. She made a mental note to hold her nose on the way home.

	She shook off thoughts of holding her nose as the others 
began to appear behind her. Stepping to the side, she scanned the 
immediate area for anything that could be considered a threat and 
finding none, set about taking a mental roll-call. So far, so 
good. No one was missing... yet.
	"Cal, better get the communications equipment set up." 
she said, giving him a whole second and a half to adjust to the 
surroundings as he stepped out of the bright light. He nodded, 
like he always did, and snagged a rather suprised Phoenix as he 
stepped from the gate to the sand. "Everyone, stay in the 
immediate area. As soon as everyone has made it through the gate 
we'll set up a scouting party. In the mean time, we don't need 
anyone wandering off and getting eaten up by the local animal 
population." she half ordered, half joked.
	Five minutes later....
	The natives were getting restless. "Where the hell is 
everyone else?!" she said in a worried/impatient voice. It had 
been too long since the last person had stepped through the gate, 
3 people were still missing. Aris, Selvane and Sebastian had 
failed to step through. The others in the group were beginning to 
look worried, a few had begun to whisper amongst themselves. "Ok, 
no panic, it's probably just a small delay, someone probably 
freaked out and they'll be here any minute." she rationalized.
	"I wonder if the gate's stable." Phoenix walked over. 
"How long can Mal hold it open?"
	"Come on, we haven't got all day!" she exclaimed with 
impatience.
	As if to answer for her, the gate shifted slightly and 
disappeared. Before anyone could react, she turned, ran towards 
Cal and asked, "Cal, can we get a confirmation on their location? 
Are they still at HQ?"
	"That's a negative." he replied almost instantly. "The 
connection with head quarters was severed when the gate shut 
down."
	"AIIEEEE!!!" Nex screeched. "Phoe, you come with me," she 
directed. "Everyone else follow through with the plan, Calculus 
is in charge. Stick together and avoid running into any more 
people than you have to. Phoe and I will start looking for the 
others, assuming that they are here and not dead or stuck in 
limbo somewhere." With that, she snatched up her equipment, 
motioning for Phoe to do the same and headed off down the beach, 
leaving the bewildered group behind. Phoenix, following her lead, 
did the same. As he caught up to her she turned and said, "We 
have to find them." Phoe just nodded. "Before something else 
finds them. It's not safe for them to be here wandering around."  
	"How are we going to locate them *here*?" Phoe questioned.
"We don't know the first thing about this place. We have *no* 
maps, who knows what kind of wildlife is wandering around... this 
place is huge, it'll take years to cover it on foot. We can't 
exactly go trekking around out in the open calling for them 
either and that's all based on the assumption that they are 
here."
	"Simple, we won't look for them on foot. We're going to 
cheat." she grabbed his hand as she said this, placing her other 
on her neck, over her medallion. "What ever you do, don't let go 
of my hand." she told him.
	"Ok..." he replied with a strange look. He wondered if he 
should ask what she was up to.
	"Don't worry!" she said, it'll all be over in a minute." 
and with that she smiled, closed her eyes and shouted, "Return!"
	Ten seconds later they were standing just outside the 
gates of a rather large city. The gates were constructed of a 
metallic type material, stood about as high as a 4 story building 
and looked very much like they could withstand anything short of 
a full-scale nuclear war. The attached wall was equally imposing, 
being constucted of the same material only with 12 ft. spikes at 
the top. The guards at the gate had spotted them immediately and 
were watching impatiently, waiting for them to approach.
	"You can let go of my hand now." Nex said impatiently, 
shaking her hand free from Phoe's death-grip. "Welcome to 
Chi-Lin. This is where I grew up."
	"Fascinating, absolutely fascinating!" he exclaimed, 
already having found something that interested him.
	"What are you on about?! It's just a damn gate!" Nex 
exclaimed with exasperation. "You can come back and..."
	"No! Not the gate," he interrupted. "That!" and pointed 
at the sign hovering above the entrance gate to the city. "It's 
hovering! There's no obvious support for the sign..." he began 
excitedly, walking quickly beneath the sign to look up at it.
	"Yeah, whatever. It's just one of those 'Welcome to
Chi-Lin' signs, every town in America has one of those. Can we 
*PLEASE* get on with it?! You can look at the sign later!" Nex 
cut in angrily.
	"Nex! NO town in America has a sign like this one!" he 
began. "This sign is suspended with anti-gravitational equipment, 
I haven't seen technology like this since..."
	"Yeah, yeah anti-gravity," she replied. "big deal. Now 
can we *please* get on with it?! We haven't got all day, you can 
take a trip down memory road some other time." she was standing 
close enough to grab him by the arm now and did so, his brain was 
day-tripping. Nexx had never bothered to think about things like 
anti-gravity, it was just an everyday concept in the technology 
she grew up with. She began dragging him by the arm towards the 
gate. Phoenix was not registered with the Chi-Lin authorities and 
would have to get an ID badge before he could enter the city.
 
	nexx