Infinitium

December 31st, 2032

Johnathan walked quickly to the scrub room. His conversation with Admiral Ainsworth had taken a little longer than he’d expected but he thought it had gone well. Johnathan was sure that the Admiral didn’t really understand how far ahead of everyone else he was, but the crucible would come shortly. Johnathan put on his pressure suit. It wasn’t bulky, nor did he have an air supply installed. His nanites made sure that he’d never need one. The suit was made from a single piece of composite fabric and had nothing on it except the words “Portal Inc.” on his left upper chest area. As he put the gloves and helmet on, his nanites reattached each glove and the helmet to the rest of the suit. While he didn’t need the suit to survive in a vacuum. It made keeping him functional a lot easier for his nanites. Checking the suit's pressure and temperature controls he was ready.

Johnathan stepped from the scrub room. He walked to the center of the room and faced the Observation room and the cameras before he began talking, “Good evening Everyone. My name is Johnathan Bennard. Portal Inc. and I are about to make an announcement. First, though, I’d like to offer the four major news agencies that showed up to cover this event an exclusive and a gift. The exclusive is simply that each of you is about to record something that has never happened before. The gifts,” Johnathan said as he made a gesture toward the camera and four of his employees in simple blue jumpsuits stepped into view and walked over to the four silver wheeled carts with boxes on them. Each opened the boxes on top and rolled a cart towards the back wall with coffee cups, Pens, and notepads with the Portal Inc. logo printed on them.

The reporters in the observation room looked on as four circles appeared between the carts and the wall as a similar portal opened on each Television screen on the wall behind the reporters. Through the portals they could see the faces of each attendant, as they looked out of the portal into the studio cameras, pushing a cart towards the portal. A reflection of images that repeated themselves over and over as they got smaller and smaller. The attendants pushed the carts through each portal and in unison said “Courtesy of Portals Inc.” The attendants stepped back from carts and through the portals which all closed as pandemonium erupted at each news desk.

“What the hell?”

“Where did that come from?”

“Who was that?”

As the News desks erupted the attendants made their way out of the test chamber, the door sealed. Johnathan allowed the atmosphere to be removed from the room while the reporters in the studios composed themselves and talked with their editors by phone. As the hissing of the air being withdrawn drew their attention they quieted down and the reporters in the observation room looked on silently. When the room was turned into a vacuum Johnathan looked into the cameras and spoke: “Again, my name is Johnathan Bennard, and I am the CEO of Portals Inc. Our big announcement tonight is that our company has successfully created, tested, and utilized point to point transportation through space utilizing wormholes, what we simply call portals. A minute ago, you witnessed four portals being opened, one each, to the studio of the news agencies recording this demonstration. As you saw, the News agencies were not informed of that part of the demonstration ahead of time. What they were informed of and what I will now show you is a portal to the moon.” The images on the TVs against the far wall changed to a scene of the Air Force Academy Church seen from 100 feet above. The image panned until the moon came into center focus. “The televisions behind me just showed the image of the Chapel at the Air Force Academy from 100 feet up” which was being rotated to look at the moon. “Watch me but keep an eye on the Moon.”

A portal opened behind Johnathan, and he stepped through onto the sandy gray crater-strewn plain of the Moon. Turning to the Portal Johnathan waved and the portal closed which caused everyone in the Observation room to gasp. All eyes turned to the TV screen and noticed that the image of the moon now shared an image of the ball dropping in New York City. As the timer counted down to “0” A bright white light appeared in one of the crafters near the center of the Moon at exactly midnight Mountain Standard Time. (MST). The view from Times Square switched to people kissing and singing “Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind…” The TV and view of the moon went dark as a new Portal opened and Johnathan Bennard stepped back into the test room from the Moon. The Portal closed and Johnathan had the room refilled with atmosphere.

Once that was done he looked at the stunned faces of his audience and spoke: “I believe this demonstration of our product and new technology speaks for itself. I would offer refreshments and such, but it is New Year's Eve. Instead, I will offer each network immediate travel to your studios where you can join your friends and family to celebrate this new year. As for myself? I think traveling 477,800 miles deserves a rest, even if I only took two steps.” A black disc appeared between the observation room and Johnathan. To those in the Observation room, it was a black disc that blocked any view of Johnathan. To Johnathan, it was a Portal that led to his office. Johnathan stepped through and allowed the portal to close. He had the nanites remove his pressure suit as he picked up a glass, made a toast, and clinked his glass with Amanda’s “Happy New Year Amanda!”