Marie turned and walked away from the door, her hands running through her hair. She rounded the table and picked up random items on the table, observing them in silence as she bit her lip and stared off into the distance.

"Marie, it doesn't mean this is the end of the road," Lincoln finally said as he approached the table.

Marie looked up and gently set down a wrench on the table. "No? What do you call that?" she said and gestured towards the double-doors with her hand. "They're not going anywhere. We can't go through there. Can we go back? No, not really. Lincoln, we're stuck. I'm stuck!" Her eyes teared up as she spoke.

"Don't worry, I have a plan," Lincoln said, his hands raised as he walked over to the table.

"A plan?" Marie said with skepticism in her voice.

"Yes. You wait here, I'll backtrack and create a diversion. While the soldiers are busy attending to my diversion, I'll come back, and we'll get you out of here."

"You realize that sounds a lot easier than what it will be. What kind of diversion?"

Lincoln opened and closed his mouth twice while gesturing slowly with his hands. "Could be anything," he said after a few uncomfortable moments. "A fire? I don't know yet."

"So your plan is to leave me here and figure it out on the go? That might have worked on Earth, but this is different. How can you even be so sure those two would even move?"

Lincoln was about to protest when the doors burst open and the two guards Lincoln and Marie had spotted moments ago entered, their weapons drawn.

"Don't move," the first soldier tried to yell, his voice faltering. "Move, and we'll kill you." The soldier's wide eyes darted back and forth between Lincoln and Marie, the muzzle of his gun following the movement of his eyes. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, and his breathing was rapid and shallow.

"Ok, ok," Lincoln said, his hands in the air, pretending to stumble backward. Marie, across the table and immediately to the left of the soldiers, followed his example.

"Don't move," the first soldier repeated. "Gordon," he said over his shoulder, "Report our discovery to command."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Lincoln said and took a sideways step towards the table and slightly forwards.

"Why not?" Gordon said. "Our orders are to report any suspicious activity."

"That's my point exactly," Lincoln continued while he gave Marie a long stare. "We're not doing anything suspicious."

"Oh yeah?" the first soldier said and wiped the sweat off his forehead. "You shouldn't be here. That's suspicious."

"We shouldn't be here? We're part of the maintenance crew."

"This section locked down, no-one is allowed in here. Gordon, report it already."

"Benton, I'm trying, I'm trying, the bloody radio isn't working again.

"Oh, so that's what the alarm was all about?" Lincoln said, his eyebrows raised, feigning surprise. He pointed towards the access panel they had entered the workshop through while he took another step towards the soldiers. "We've been cleaning the access ducts for the last few hours. Comms are terrible in there too, lots of interference."

Gordon and his colleague both turned and looked in the direction Lincoln pointed at the same time. Lincoln jumped two steps forward, took hold of the rifle with both hands and kicked Benton straight in the gut while he pulled on the weapon. The man grunted as he let go of the weapon rifle and stumbled backward towards Gordon. They both collapsed in a heap on the floor.

Lincoln stepped up and aimed the rifle directly at the two men. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I haven't been completely honest."

"Benton-" Gordon started.

"Shut it!" Benton said and crawled off Gordon and then stood up, his hands in the air. "You'll pay for this," he hissed in Lincoln's direction.

Lincoln shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. I don't think that's for you to decide."

"What do you want?" Gordon said as he stood up and dusted off his pants with his hands. "You won't get out of here."

"I'll be the judge of that, ok? Marie, see if you can find some rope."

"You're going to tie us up," Benton said, his eyes wide.

"Yes, I'm afraid so," Lincoln said and scanned the room while keeping a watchful eye on the pair of soldiers.

"You don't have to do this," Gordon said. "Maybe we can come to some sort of arrangement-"

"I don't think so," Lincoln said sharply. "Marie?"

"I'm looking, I'm looking," Marie said over her shoulder as she rummaged through parts and drawers.

"What do you want anyway?" Gordon continued. "You know this will not end well for you. Kidnapping two soldiers at gunpoint. They'll court-martial you for sure."

Lincoln took a step closer to the pair. Benton took a step backward, positioning himself behind Gordon. "If I were you," Lincoln said, "I'd keep my mouth shut. You talk too much."

"Here, how about these?" Marie said from across the room, a handful of wires dangling in her hand.

"They'll have to do. Come on, hurry, we need to tie these two up and get you home before it's too late."

Gordon furrowed his eyebrows as his eyes jumped from Lincoln to Marie and back. "Where's home?"

"Marie, you keep them in check," Lincoln said and handed the gun to Marie. "I'll tie them up. Then, let's put them behind the access panel in the wall, just to be safe."

Marie nodded and kept her eyes on the pair while Lincoln took the wires Marie had found and quickly tied up Gordon and Benton's hands behind their backs. He then pushed them towards the access panel into the maintenance ducts and gently put them down on the floor facing each other, their backs against opposite walls. Lincoln tied together their legs before he dusted off his hands and stepped out of the duct.

"You can't leave us here," Benton said with a high-pitched voice. "I don't like confined spaces."

"Claustrophobic?" Marie said while attempting to suppress a grin.

"I am truly sorry," Lincoln said, "But it can't be avoided. I'll make sure someone finds you."

They stepped out of the duct and Lincoln replaced the cover.

"How is anyone going to find them in there? Are you sure this is a good idea?" Marie said, concern clear in her voice.

"We can't take a chance that they'll try to scream for help. They'll be ok. There's no need for you to worry about that. Now, let's get you home." He stretched out his hand towards Marie with a smile. She returned the smile, and they walked together towards the door to the portal area. Lincoln double-checked that no-one else was present outside the doors before they exited the workshop and closed the doors. Behind them, they could hear the barely audible yells of the soldiers.

Lincoln saw the concern on Marie's face as she looked back towards the workshop. "Don't worry, they'll be fine, I promise. Come on."

Marie looked back at Lincoln and nodded with a faint smile. Together, they stepped out into the portal room. Circular in shape, the center of the room was taken up by two large pillars that rose from the floor to the ceiling with a space between. Lincoln estimated the area to be about ten yards across.

"What is that?" Marie said and pointed.

"That's the portal, that's what you came through when you came here."

"I don't remember it being so tall."

"When it's active, the portal appears between the pillars. When you come back, you're usually so disoriented that you notice little around you. Come, we need to go up there to activate the portal," Lincoln said and pointed up towards a row of floor to ceiling windows stretched along the curvature of the room two floors above them.

Lincoln took the lead and entered a door with a large warning sign posted on it. Inside, an elevator and a set of stairs led up towards the control room. They climbed the stairs two steps at a time, and within 30 seconds they were watching the portal through the windows of the control room.

"Now what?" Marie said, her eyes on the two pillars.

"We activate the portal," Lincoln said and turned to walk over to a bank of controls on his left, directly in front of the portal. He tapped a few buttons, and the controls and several screens came alive on the panel.

"Do you even know what you're doing?"

"Believe it or not, we were all trained on how to use the portal, in case something ever went wrong, and we had to go back through the portal right away. I know how to set the destination, power it up and open it. That's all we need to get you through."

"If you say so," Marie said, her hands on her hips as she watched Lincoln's hands fly across the various controls. He paused and looked up at her with a smile then pointed to a circular blue button.

"Go ahead, press it."

"What does it do?"

"It starts the portal opening. Press it and watch," he said with a smile.

Marie reached for the button, hesitated a moment with her finger on it as she glanced up at Lincoln. He nodded, and she pressed the button.

At first, it seemed as if nothing was happening but then, from within the portal room, they could hear a quiet whine that increased in intensity. The sides of the pillars facing each other glowed an intense white that stretched from the floor to the ceiling. The air around the pillars looked like it was vibrating and both Lincoln and Marie could feel the electricity in the air. Then, the white glow of the pillars reached across the void between them and then, in an instant, a white flash lit up the room, temporarily blinding Lincoln and Marie. They both covered their faces with their arms and Marie ducked behind the control panel.

The light faded a few seconds later, and as they dared look at the pillars again, they saw a shimmering, semi-transparent surface stretched between them from the floor to the ceiling.

"That's it?" Marie said and stood on her toes to see better above the edge of the control panel.

"Yes. We have to hurry. The portal can only stay open for a limited time. It's a huge power drain, and it will be noticed elsewhere."

Lincoln took Marie's hand and together they ran back down the stairs and into the portal room. They stopped a few yards from the portal.

"So, this is it, huh?" Marie said and turned to face Lincoln. "What will happen to you?"

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. The important thing is that you get back to your timeline and continue according to plan."

Marie sighed and looked down, then at the portal. When she looked back at Lincoln, a tear was rolling down her cheek. "Will I ever see you again?"

Lincoln locked eyes with Marie, put the rifle over his shoulder. He pushed a wild strand of hair from Marie's face back behind her ear and traced the contour of her face with his finger, taking in every feature of the face in front of him.

"Marie, I-"

She put a finger on his lips and shook her head. "Don't say anything. I know." She reached up and placed her lips on his and then took a step towards the portal. "Thank you for everything." Then, she turned and stepped into the shimmering surface of the portal and disappeared with a last glance over her shoulder.

~~~

Marie is gone, returned to her timeline through the portal. Is this it? What do you think will happen to Lincoln? Will they ever see each other again?

Thank you for reading this chapter and sticking with this adventure. I'd love to hear what you think about the story so far, and by all means, please do VOTE if you like what you've read.