Arrival

Today is my 40th birthday. It's also my last day on Earth. I get to do anything I want today, within reason, as long as I make it to the portal before my time is up. What I want is to spend the day with Cara and my two young children. I don't know what awaits on the other side of the portal, I only know that certain death awaits me here if I refuse to go. Some light adult content 14,600 word short story/novella

Planet Earth was in trouble, the careless ways they had chosen to live upon their planet had now reached a dangerous level. The Aeonian's, an advanced race that had now enjoyed many millenniums of peaceful existence had realised there almost unique good fortune took it upon them-selves to give a helping hand to those civilisations that were in trouble. One of those planets they called Blue. The inhabitants of that planet knew it by another name, they called it Blue.

"Countdown" is a companion story to "Departure." Andreada is only 20 and looking forward to the second half of her life before she has to step through the portal into the unknown. She's young, in love with Navine, and leads the typical care-free life of those who reside in the city. After a terrible mistake, she is left with only two choices: step into the Justice portal reserved for criminals and misfits, or flee to The Bower district, a lawless undercity with no rules, no laws, and no place for a scared young woman on the run from the authorities.

The Aeonians were an advanced race from a distant galaxy that had now enjoyed many milleniums of peaceful civilization.They began to realize that in that respect they were quite unique. Perhaps they could share the secret of their success with others? They chose a planet they called Blue upon which to share both their milleniums of advancement and achievements. They called the planet they would approach Blue. The inhabitants of the planet knew it by a different name, they called it planet Earth.