Spaceception

A little short story I just wrote -- May expand it some in the future

....

Where's the spoiler thingy?

Anyway:

October 11^th, 2078

            It was a chilly night. Tarique shivered slightly as a small breeze brushed over the bare of his neck. He turned a corner, and walked down the lamp brightened street alongside a massive building complex. He pulled up his keycard, and went inside the sprawling lobby where dozens of scientists worked.

Almost forty years before, when humans were still figuring out crewed interplanetary travel, a team of scientists figured out how to cheat interstellar travel. Unfortunately, they required a portal around the destination first; something they couldn’t do without decades in space. So they sent out radio beacons all over hoping one was lucky enough to stumble on a technological civilization.

Tarique walked by a couple of them, nodding politely, and walked to the elevators that led to the machine. He pressed a button, and dropped down deep underground.

When he got to the bottom, a couple scientists stood up and left after him, leaving him with his coworker, and the machine – It was almost five meters across, and powered by a nearby nuclear fusion plant. The portal was always on, in case someone built its pair. He walked over to his small desk, and began working. Taking notes, doing observations, and glancing at the energy field of the portal every so often.

He mostly read books during his shifts, sometimes, he, and others would feel a jolt of excitement whenever the energy field spiked over the last few months, but alas, the feeling had worn off.

“Anything happen while I was gone?” he asked his coworker, Jackson, who was reading a dog-eared copy of some old sci-fi book.

He shook his head, keeping his eyes on his book, “Nah, there was a brief spike, but it only lasted a second,” he replied.

“Ah, alright,” said Tarique, leaning back into his chair and picking up a book. “How’s your daughter?”

            “She’s fine, oh, she really liked the present you gave her last Friday,” he added. “Hasn’t stopped playing with it,” he said, grinning.

            “Great, glad she’s feeling better after that surgery,” he said, taking out the bookmark.

            “Yep, really sucks she had to be in a wheelchair for her birthday.” He said, slightly awkwardly. The two fell silent and focused on their books.

            Almost an hour passed, before the computers beeped. “Oh, just another spike,” Jackson said. Tarique looked up, there were three spikes of energy.

            He was about to go back to his book when another spike of energy shot up, but didn’t go back down. He looked over at the portal, it didn’t seem any different. Jackson put his book down, and looked at his screen. A few seconds later, the alarm started blaring, for the first time since the portal was opened.

            The portal didn’t look different, but as scientists started clamoring down the elevator, it glowed even brighter than it ever had before. He felt his breath catch, and watched apprehensively, waiting for something to happen.

            A moment later, something inside started moving, Tarique couldn’t tell if it was real, or his mind playing tricks, but whichever one it was didn’t matter as a tall figure stepped through the barrier.

            His eyes widened, and his heart started beating furiously. He tried talking, but the words wouldn’t come.

            The alien was tall, clearing at least a foot above him. It looked around, and stepped forward, its feet were big, and its arms were long. It moved slowly, and was thin, but still looked like it could easily pick someone up.

            Tarique and a couple others stepped forward, slightly tripping over themselves in the process. “Hello,” he said in a low, raspy voice. The alien looked at him, and Tarique was about to speak again, in case it didn’t hear him, but the alien opened its mouth instead.

            “Hello,” it said, almost clearly, “We received transmissions from you a long time ago. When we finally finished it, we were worried you weren’t around anymore. I was the first to volunteer to come through.” Everyone simply looked at the alien in shock, oblivious to the still blaring alarm.

What do you think?