The White Portal

Prompt for December 2016: Santa is incapacitated, missing in action, or otherwise unable to suit up
and deliver all of his Christmas gifts. Who steps up and how do they solve the problem?

The White Portal

     “Ho, Ho, Ho, Happy Holidays,” VanTan whispered as he placed his hand just above the forehead of a male sleeping in a Sleeper. The male sleeper didn’t react to the words or a light red glow that emitted between VanTan's hand and his forehead. VanTan did the same thing to the female next to the male and three other adults in the house.

     VanTan stepped out of the white portal into a luxurious living room. “I don’t really like giving up to five thousand credit reduction to the rich, but that’s what every adult gets here on Chandus.”

     “I wish I could do more than just a reduction to some families.” VanTan slowly scanned the living room he stood in. It looked like a very, very poor family lived there.

     “It’s VanTan. I just saw VanTan leaving,” a little girl around ten said right after VanTan walked through the white light.

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     “A lot of people have seen him leave through the Fire Holder.” Two adults came in a few second later.

     “That’s not what I saw, male adult. He didn’t go through the fire chute. VanTan went through a white door.”

     Kearane swiveled around in her chair as VanTan exited the white light into a large control room. “You got seen again. Only this time she saw you walk through the time portal.”

     VanTan glanced up at a large main monitor as he walked toward it. Kearane swiveled back. “Relax. They aren’t going to believe her. The family never do.”

     As VanTan took a chair next to Kearane the main monitor changed to small red flashing lights that almost filled the screen. “How many more Chandusans do I need to credit?”

     Kearane looked down at her control panel. “About five million.”

     “That’s all. I can do them in a few seconds.” VanTan got up and walked toward the frame of a door with sleeping quarters on the other side of it.

     VanTan turned just before entering those quarters. “What holiday do we go to next? How long before we get there?”

     Kearane smiled as she swiveled around. “There are only two more planets before you get to your favorite one.”

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     “Welcome everyone who could attend our Food Festive today. We had a great food production this year, and like all of you I hope it’s even bigger next year.” VanTan floated in front of about five hundred people seated around the square and round tables in a large room.

     “I can see why this field had a good crop this year.” VanTan glanced around at a large almost empty field as he floated up to a lot of people. It looked like a community feast was about to begin.

     Spinning around in a gazebo like structure VanTan spoke to several thousand. “This town did the best production-wise this year.”

     The room suddenly got quiet when VanTan floated in. He hovered above several hundred in what appeared to be a food storage facility. “I have just finished touring this place, and it’s the best one I have toured so far.”

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     VanTan sat down in the chair next to Kearane. “I’m going to die.”

     “No, you’re not. You say that every year you visit Moniv.”

     “I’m just glad this is a month-long holiday, and this month is sixty days long.” VanTan sighed.

     “It’s still hard to believe this all started after I crash landed my spaceship on Moniv and the radiation from it make their crops grow and it spread all over the planet.” VanTan continued a few seconds later.

     “What I like is that when you came out of your spaceship everyone there thought you were a god. Especially after their food started growing so big.”

     “It appeared I was floating above them because my spaceship was invisible. That’s why I must float everywhere I go on Moniv. I’m just glad it over with for this year. One more planet before I get to my favorite one.”

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     “This is the site that ended the planetary war! I still can’t believe I’m the one who ended it. Varos is one of the reasons I do what I do today.” VanTan stood on top of a small mountain overlooking a big crater and a lot of partial buildings.

     “We are here today to stop this war. It has been going on for over two hundred years. I’m here to end it. There are two ways to do that. This is the best one.” VanTan sat on the only single chair side of a five-sided table. The other four had individuals that all looked the same except for their clothing.

     “The other way is what I have done to get your attention. As you have seen I can destroy your whole world. I don’t want to do that, but I will if you don’t stop this war.”

     “Every year since the war ended the Varosans celebrated with a holiday feast, and a re-enactment of one of the battles that happened during it. I always participated in it. Usually, nothing happens to me. This time I almost died.”

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     Only VanTan’s head could be seen in a closed metal box. Kearane glanced down at VanTan then at Randull. “He doesn’t look too bad, father.”

     Randull stood before a panel of machines staring at the different displays. He tapped something on an electronic pad as he walked toward VanTan. “It’s not very good.”

     “The needle bullets shattered all the bones in your legs. They can be repaired, but it’s going to take a long time to do it.”

     “How long? I have a special planet that I want to go to in about a month.”

     “Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen. It’s going to take a lot longer than that.”

     “The only possible way you could do it is in a hover chair. There’s nothing else I can do in a month. It’s either the chair or you're going to have to find someone else to do it this year.”

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     His face wrinkled up in pain as VanTan crouched to place a wrapped box under a decorative tree. VanTan reached into the large bag next to him and pulled out two more boxes. He placed them under the tree too.

     Exiting the white light VanTan entered a beautifully decorative living room. VanTan walked over to the tree very slowly. Once there he placed about ten boxes under it. After the last box is placed VanTan got up and walked even more slowly back through the white light.

     VanTan suddenly jerked his head toward a closed double door then at the ceiling as he heard footsteps. He grabbed the edge of a fireplace and tried to get up. The footsteps got closer. VanTan tried to get up using a table. He crawled over to the white light and barely got through it before the double door opened.

     After VanTan finished eating a cookie he reached for a glass of milk, but instead of grabbing it he knocked it onto the floor. VanTan jumped up and slipped on the spilled milk. As he started getting up he barely heard children’s voices from the ceiling.

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     Randull and Kearane walked on both sides of a hover chair VanTan sat in. They walked down a short curvy corridor. “I told you this would happen. Now you have no other choice. It’s either the hover chair or someone else.”

     “There’s nothing to worry about,” said Kearane. “You have done this before. The children will never know it’s not you.”

     “I will, but you’re right. There is no other choice.” VanTan, Kearane, and Randull suddenly stopped. As they turned toward a double door it slid open to let them enter a large room.

     Randull used a hand device to lift VanTan out of his chair and place him in a metal box. It had a human form shape in it, but it didn’t have any top.

     After placing VanTan in the open box Randull started pushing buttons on a control panel between VanTan's box and a closed one. A few seconds later a white light encased VanTan. It lasted about a minute. When it disappeared Randull pushed another button and the closed top slid open so VanTan Two could step out.

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     Looking at the list in his hand VanTan Two put it behind his black belt. Then he reached into his bag to pull out a wrapped box. “Another teenager. That’s all there are in this house but on this world, they are considered children too.”

     VanTan Two placed a box under the stocking of Billy hanging on the fireplace. Sarah and Linda also had boxes under their stockings. “Three children in this house.”

     After placing a box under the tree VanTan Two tapped his belt buckle. VanTan Two started walking toward the white light. Then he suddenly stopped and glanced back at the boxes under the tree. “I almost forgot the adults again. The parents don’t really expect them, but the children think they do.”

     A baby started crying. VanTan Two looked up at the ceiling. “I love babies, but this is a bad time for them to wake up. Especially with four other young children in the house.”

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     One child slept on a couch. Another one in a chair in front of the tree and fireplace. “Two more children waiting up,” said Kearane.

     “Use distraction one,” said VanTan who hovered next to Kearane. “That usually works. Also, warn me about it.”

     The image of the two children on the main monitor disappeared to reveal a sled with eight reindeer landing on the roof. A few seconds later a, “Ho, Ho, Ho,” could be heard.

     Just as it switched back to the two children they woke up, said something and ran out of the living room. “Contact me and tell him it’s safe now. Also, remind him to do it quickly. That distraction usually doesn’t last very long.”

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     “This family needs, what do they call it here? Oh, yes, money more than they do toys and gifts.” VanTan Two face saddened as he scanned an old rundown living room with no tree, stockings, or decorations.

     “Two boys and two girls live there.” VanTan Two mumbled as he read his list and took wrapped boxes out of his bag to place under the tree.

     “I don’t hate rich children, but I don’t like the way most of them act. Especially when they become teenagers. They always want the most expensive toys and gifts.” VanTan Two pulled a small box out of his bag and tapped the top of it once. A second later it grew into a huge one.

     “Only two children at this house.” VanTan Two picked up the boxes from under the stockings of a boy and girl. Then placed them under the tree.

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     “Tell me to portal through the fireplace chute this time.” VanTan adjusted his hover chair so he could look at an empty living room too.

     “He can’t do that. There’s a child walking down the stairs. She will see him.”

     VanTan smiled. “I know that. That’s why I told you to tell him to use the fireplace. It’s good for me to be seen every so often.”

     “When I first started coming here every house had a chute. So, it wasn't hard if seen but as they advanced it became more difficult. That’s why we created all these distractions. True, it doesn’t solve all my problems, but they help a lot.”

     “My biggest problem is how do I get into a place that doesn’t have a chute. There are numerous thoughts about that, but the biggest one is that the parents leave the door open for me. There’s even one that says I don’t even really exist.”

     “What I always wanted to know is why you have so many of yourselves during this holiday. They’re everywhere. Especially toy and department stores.”

     “I don’t. They do that all on their own. It’s a big part of their holiday season.”

Word Count = 1,990