Quote:Qvarik (the alien "grey") studied the pork dish for a few seconds. In its strange tone, it said,
"This is the flesh of pig. Did you cook it long enough? Otherwise it might be harboring tularemia!"
At this, Sergeant Whiteman cocked an eyebrow and looked up. "Hmm. Rabbit fever from eating tainted pork ... this calls for tricky-Gnosis ..."
As always, Qvarik's expression remained, well, expression-less. It regarded Whiteman and simply commented that it did not understand.
For his part, Whiteman wished that he could somehow convey the notion of urgency to Qvarik with regards to opening the portal. Two security policemen had passed through it before it suddenly closed, and Whiteman desperately wanted to know if they were still alive ... elsewhere.
"White man." As usual, Qvarik's manner of address was off kilter.
Sergeant Whiteman looked up. Qvarik continued.
"You wonder what became of the two humans who entered what you call 'the portal'. I know where they are."
A pause ensued that was finally broken as Whiteman, struggling to remain calm, asked, "Where are they, Qvarik ?"
"They are here."
Whiteman closed his eyes and concentrated on not overreacting. "Qvarik, if they are here, why can't we see them ?"
"Because they are in the future."
"What do you mean, Qvarik ?"
"The physical coordinates of their location correspond to where we are now. But their coordinates in time are ahead of ours. One could say they are not in ... temporal phase with us.
Whiteman was stunned by Qvarik's revelation. Time travel ? And could they be brought back into 'phase' with the 'real' world ?
Tang Ping