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Your name is JAKE HARLEY, formerly JAKE CROCKER. The Year is 1928, the place, GIZA, EGYPT. You are, in no particular order, a SELF MADE RUN-AWAY, EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD, and a BUDDING ADVENTURER! You say budding because you are presently ON an ADVENTURE right this minute!
Well, not really an adventure, per-say. It's more of a boring old EXCAVATION. Buy BOY HOWDY are you calling this an adventure in your journal! One of your FIRST! (Well, second, if you'd call ESCAPING FROM YOUR DASTARDLY MOTHER an adventure. But who's counting?)
After escaping your MOTHER'S CLAWED GRASP with your best dog HALLEY at your side, you joined aboard the LANGFORD EXPEDITION to Giza, Egypt. Because really, there was no chance your MOTHER'S CLAWS would find you out here. (Plus, it helped matters that you'd implied to your DEAR SISTER JANE that you'd instead be seeking out your fortunes in ASIA instead. They would certainly look there first.)
Right now, you're presently working as some random laborer in a dig site. Anything to get some money and work under your NEW NAME, really. One day you'll be a FAMOUS ADVENTURER and will be doing all kinds of IMPORTANT THINGS!!
Like figuring out where the hell your mother actually came from.
You see, she's an ALIEN. Some kind of sea-dwelling creature from outer space who's disguised herself as a HUMAN BAKED GOODS BARONESS. That was another reason you'd decided on EGYPT first. CROCKER CORP. had some interesting ties to the region when you were a tyke, and while they'd since dried up, the LANGFORD EXPEDITION had decided to take up the reigns and continue sifting through the sands.
Rumor was, thousands of years ago, there had been a REBELLION of some kind that had lead, for a few years there after, to the halting of the worship of the SUN GOD RA. That was what the current expedition hoped to find.
Soon, though, a large set of Cover stones are uncovered. The FINANCIER of this dig is called in once the outer edges are moved, revealing something metallic underneath. Something large- something round- something with a chevron shaped glass structure.
After the Coverstones have been completely removed, and you're working with the team to haul up the object beneath, you pause to look over at the site managers. There is the man of the hour, LANGFORD himself, and his daughter- KATHERINE, you believe her name is, though you might be wrong on the exact spelling (CATHERINE maybe? Kathran?? Katran? No, that's not it). She's a few years younger than you, but you can just SEE the budding adventurer's soul in her eyes- the same one that you saw reflected in your own mirror for years before you finally made your escape.
She's toying around with a shiny necklace likely found in the dig. You've seen about a dozen of the things yourself- all covered in the EYE OF RA and what not. It's a trinket, for sure, but it's no prize.
No, the real prize is the object at the center of this site. An object that you help fasten ropes to, and then you, and about a dozen other people, are pulling- PULLING- to get the massive ring shaped object standing on what's assumed to be the bottom (using the center stone as a guide for up and down).
The massive ring is finally pulled upright, and then you can't help but stare.
"Gadzooks..." You whisper. What a marvelous device! Why, who knew the Ancient Egyptians had such exquisite and fine Metal crafting skills! This thing almost looks... manufactured! And how incredible is that! You can almost see it now, a whole assembly line putting a device like this together.
But what does it do? Why did the Ancient Egyptians BURY it?
And that's when there's a lot of murmuring and excited yelling. Langford himself comes rushing over to see what was uncovered beneath the giant ring itself. You and your fellow workers have gotten the Ring secured for the moment, so you all run over to peer at what was discovered.
...Holy Toledo. You're certainly cooking with petrol now. Those are petrified men in bird armor! Just like in the depictions of the rebellion against Ra! They're... they're...
Flattened?? Squished?? The ground around them seems disturbed by something that wasn't that way originally. In fact, they almost look like they're fused with the ground!
That's...
How the hell did that happen??
Later that day, you're working on cleaning the dust off of the giant ring (Now lying back flat on itself, inside of the frame of a soon to be built shipping crate) when that lovely lass Katherine comes up to your site, looking around for anybody to talk to.
"Excuse me," and she chooses you of all people to talk to. "What do you think it is?"
You look at the girl, and you see that spark again in her eyes. The Curiosity, the daring drive. If only she were a few years older you might consider courting her and her family just for that alone. But you won't begrudge a fellow adventurer their curiosity, and so you honestly answer, "I think it's Alien."
"Alien?" She asks, surprised. "What makes you say that?"
"Come, feel this," you beckon to the inner track of the thing- a free spinning ring inside of the rest of it. "Try turning it left or right." With her hand on the metal, you help push it from side to side.
The other workers shoot you annoyed glances, but, quickly seeing the daughter of the man paying them, realize they should keep their mouths shut.
"That's... incredibly smooth!" Katherine gasps. "It's like it's been oiled just recently!"
"We've done no such oiling," you say, smiling as you point to one of the chevrons. "Try tapping that."
She does so with gusto. The chevron makes a sort of weird sound between glass and gemstone. Katherine gasps. "My word! What is this?"
You shrug. "It's unlike any mineral I've ever seen in all my life. And the metal," you now point at one of the engravings, "feel the edges of it!" She does so- gasping again.
"It's smooth! How is it so smooth?"
"That's the real question, isn't it miss Langford?" You smile. "And that, is why I say it's alien. For how old this must be... we've seen no other objects quite like it."
"Incredible," Katherine begins walking around the perimeter of the Ring, touching it here and there where it's been cleaned, and then, spinning around so fast her skirt twirls through the air, she faces you and asks. "What's your name?"
"Jake Harley, ma'am," you say with a smile.
"Well, Jake Harley, if I ever figure out what this thing does, you'll be one of the first people to know!" She grins, and gosh, you could only hope so.
Later, you'd find out her name was actually spelled CATHERINE.
Your name is JAKE HARLEY, the year is 1945, and the location CLASSIFIED. In no particular order, You are 35 years old, are a BUDDING INVENTOR, KNOWN ADVENTURER, and a SECRET CONFIDANT to the experiments revolving around the device currently called "The Stairway to Heaven."
"If Harley's math is right right," LANGFORD says, observing the room, "this will be our first successful experiment with the device."
There's a system to this device. You're sure of it. You're so close to figuring it out.
CATHERINE LANGFORD's fiance EARNEST LITTLEFIELD stands next to you at the ready. LANGFORD himself stands nearby, looking tall and imposing.
"Activate the Stairway," the man orders, and so you begin powering the ring.
The team begins spinning the inner ring around the Stairway, coming to the first symbol, lining it up at the top chevron.
CHUNK-THWUMP.
The first chevron immediately to the Stairway's left, your right when facing it, lights up as the top one moves. As observed many times before, the ring suddenly resists turning the way it had been, and so the team rotates it the opposite way, getting to the next symbol.
CHUNK-THWUMP.
The energy in the room feels like it's building- not just literally, as the Stairway itself seems to be a very powerful super conductor, but metaphorically as well. The team is excited. They're so gosh-damned excited.
CHUNK-THWUMP. Third is locked. CHUNK-THWUMP- and then the fourth lights up opposite the third, skipping the bottom two most chevrons entirely. What could THOSE be for, you wonder? Alas, a Mystery to solve later. CHUNK-THWUMP- there goes five- further than any test done so far. (The generators failed the last few times you'd tried this.)
The room begins to shake, the Stairways begins to whine.
CHUNK- there's a pause as the Stairway tries to process, then- THWUMP. Six is locked.
And now comes the moment of truth.
What happens when a seventh symbol is put in?
You'd picked this one particular glyph at random. It looked good- honestly! A Pyramid with a Sun. It seemed... HOPEFUL!
The pyramid with a circle on top came into position in the seventh chevron, and then-
CHUNK- THWA-CHUNK!
There's a pulse of electricity racing through the air, and then-
The ring's loud cry of -WAAA WAAAA- is your only warning before the KAAAAWOOOOOOOSSSSSSH happens.
A massive wall of water shoots out of thin air, expanding outwards like a bubble before collapsing back down into stability.
And there it is. The Stairway stands active before you all, a miraculous puddle of water staring back at you in protest of Gravity itself.
"Holy Hannah," someone whispers, "it worked."
LANGFORD makes a decision to send someone through, you go to volunteer, but then the man makes the oddest choice. "Littlefield! You're up."
The Doctor suits up, and then travels towards the portal standing before them.
Then, at LANGFORD'S orders, he steps through the portal of water. That's when everything goes wrong- and the generators explode.
The power is cut to the device, and the portal of water evaporates before your very eyes, leaving only a severed breathing cable behind.
LANGFORD lies to Catherine, says Earnest died in the generator explosion.
You tell her the truth. She deserves better than that.
LANGFORD, of course, doesn't take too kindly to that betrayal. You're kicked from the research team, and any hopes of possibly getting Earnest back in one piece is scraped when you hear that he's selling the damned thing to the Military.
Catherine once more promises to keep you in the loop, though. One day she'll get control of the Stairway again, and be able to continue the research on it.
If Earnest is still alive in any way, you'll get him back.
Your name is JAKE HARLEY, and the year is 1969.
You are, in no particular order, FIFTY NINE YEARS YOUNG, a MILLIONAIRE INVENTOR, INHERITED CEO OF CROCKER CORP., and a WORLD FAMOUS ADVENTURER.
But none of that matters beyond the fact that you're only CLOUD NINE after a SUCCESSFUL PROPOSAL to the wonderfully radiant, MISS CLAIRE.
You're so happy, in fact, that you nearly miss answering the IMPORTANT PHONE that only three people in your CLOSE CIRCLE OF FRIENDS know about.
One of them happens to be calling right that minute.
"You'll never believe what just happened," CATHERINE LANGFORD begins with a humored tone to her voice.
"Oh?" You ask, "What will I never believe?"
"A nice young German man came to visit a while ago, asking me about The Stairway," Catherine begins. "I thought it curious, but un-noteworthy. I've had visitors asking about it before, after all... But he asked about where it was being Kept. I didn't realize how important that was until just this morning, when I got a call telling me that the Washington D.C. armory where The Stairway was being kept was raided by a group of spies who were last seen escaping custody from a base in Colorado, after having somehow appeared magically out of thin air inside the facility itself not too long ago!"
"How curious!" You say. "Did they take the Stairway?"
"No, Jake," Catherine says, "they used it."
"They did what now?" Now you're paying full attention.
"Rigged up several cars to the Stairway, ran the engines to full power, and activated it." Catherine sounds breathless. "The Military reported seeing the spies escaping through the damned thing before it shut off just as you say Earnest did."
"It's not a death trap," You breathe out, theories vindicated. "It's Not a death trap! People knew how to use it! Sought it out even, you say?!"
"Yes," Catherine chuckled, entertained. "Also, you'll never guess what else just happened."
"What?" You ask.
"There's talk of them having me run a new program into figuring out how the hell the damned thing works." Catherine laughs, and oh is it a melodious laughter, one full of HOPE. "They haven't sorted out the clearance levels for it yet, or even if I will be running it, but... apparently this is now a top priority to figure out."
"Gadzooks!" You say, feeling the Hope and taking a PAGE right out of Catherine's book. "This is incredible. This, oh my this is...! I think I might need a towel, I'm sweating so much all of a sudden!"
"If I can convince the military to bring you in," Catherine says, "I want you heading this project."
"Where are we setting up shop?" You ask.
"If I can swing things right? The same place where the spies appeared in the first place," Catherine sounds amused. "I figure, it's only appropriate, after all."
The year is 1980, the day, MARCH 5th.
Your name is JAKE HARLEY, and your darling wife has given birth. You and she have a DAUGHTER.
You are now a FATHER. Oh Great Caezar's ghost fighting with the spirit of John the Baptist, you're a FATHER. She's a MOTHER. You are SOMEWHAT STILL IN AWE that this even worked out. That this happened. (You suppose how young you look for your age had something to do with that, though.)
This is the happiest day of your life.
Your darling CLAIRE holds you daughter in arm, and she smiles, saying, "She should be named Joey."
Joey Harley.
You couldn't agree more.
It's as you're dealing with the last bits of paperwork for the hospital that an OLD FRIEND comes to visit.
"Hello, Jake," it's Catherine, smiling. "I'd heard you'd become a father. I thought I'd come and visit."
And with a million watt smile, you take Catherine to introduce her to your darling wife and daughter.
A wonderful few hours pass before you and Catherine get a few minutes alone again.
"So... Pleasantries aside," you begin, "I'm assuming you didn't come all the way from Colorado just to see my daughter."
"Of course not," Catherine says. "I've finally gotten permission to run the program in the Mountain. The Stairway is being moved there as we speak."
"It's been years now," you say, "what took so long?"
"Apparently the Air force thought they could handle it on their own," Catherine admits with a shrug. "But it seems they've given up now, and are wisely turning to the only people who have actually any idea on what it is."
"Did you mention the older experiments?" You ask.
"Not that you successfully activated it," Catherine says, "I was never officially part of that, after all. Plausible deniability and all that."
"The Military does seem to be stuck in their ways," you say, remembering all the times they've gotten in your way.
"Indeed," Catherine nods.
"So..." You say, "are you offering me a job?"
"I am," Catherine nods again.
"...Damn it, Catherine," you say. "If you'd asked me a year sooner..." You shake your head. "I can't, not right now."
"It's a standing invitation," Catherine says, smiling. "I understand how things change. Earnest and I... I'd hoped we could have had this, one day. I'm glad that you've found what I couldn't."
"I'll check in whenever I can, Catherine," You say.
"I'll keep you in the loop, Jake," Catherine answers. "Now go, spend some time with your family."
And so Jake Harley did.
Catherine Langford would have no way of knowing that within a few short years, disaster would strike the growing family, and Jake would be coming to assist her in her new Program to figure out the Stairway out of grief, rather than genuine interest in the project.