Free Ascension: Invocation by Brian Rickman Page A

and light headed. He felt like he was going to throw up. Then, an incredible high pitched shriek rang worldwide. Graham felt as if his ears would bleed. A massive flash of white light covered the planet for a second and then all electricity in the building went out. Graham heard the generators outside kick on, and the emergency power was thrown. Just as quickly as they fired up, however, power returned to the building, and they shut down. The hum in the air continued as Graham heard screams coming from the hallway. “Oh my God!” he heard the receptionist yell.
    Graham forgot that he was still on the air. “What the fuck was that?” he said to thousands. Realizing his mistake, Graham immediately tossed the show back to the network. He stepped outside the studio and saw that the front door of the building was open. The entire staff had collected on the front lawn. Graham joined them outside and saw that everyone's gaze was fixed on the sky. He looked up and saw a massive black hole that appeared to float in midair. Lightning surrounded the tear in the sky and the hum continued. Graham saw Charles pacing back and forth on the porch, frantically on the phone. “It's incredible,” he heard him say. “I'm looking at it right now. You can't see it? Is there data yet? Please send it to me as soon as you can. Holy shit.”
    “Best... promotion... ever!” Chris said as he placed his hand on Graham's shoulder and looked skyward.
    “Yeah,” Graham concurred.
    He was sure that he was late for his break. Stunned, Graham returned to the studio as his cell phone began to ring. It was his girlfriend, Kelly, calling from work. He explained that he didn't know what was happening yet but told her he'd call back as soon as he had any explanation for the sudden hole in the sky. He jumped back on the air and did his best to explain to the audience what he had saw. “Ladies and gentlemen, we're not entirely sure what has happened...”
    “We have opened a door,” the voice explained.
    Graham cleared his throat. “A door? A door to what?”
    “This is a door that will join our worlds. We will soon be one.”
    Charles entered the studio, and Graham motioned him to the second microphone. Charles hurriedly placed his headphones on as Graham raised the volume on his mic.
    “Um, sir...” Charles didn't know how to address the voice.
    “Hello, Charles.”
    “Hello. Um. Wow. I have so many questions. First of all, should we be concerned about radiation emanating-”
    “You are in no danger.”
    “Okay. How did you do this? This concept of opening doors to other worlds has been theorized, but the potential openings would be sub-subatomic in size, and only exist for small instants of time. How are you able to keep the door open?”
    “We simply will it to be so. You will understand this in time.”
    “It would take a colossal amount of energy to make something like this happen,” Charles said to Graham. “Even the Large Hadron Collider, the most powerful atom-smasher ever assembled couldn't replicate this.”
    “This is correct,” the voice answered.
    “How?” Charles stammered. “Just how?”
    “You will know in time but understand now that each of you possess the energy required for such an event of your own. You must simply experience your grand awakening.”
    Graham noticed that his phone bank was jammed up with callers. He put one on the air. “Hi, caller, go ahead...”
    “What are y'all talkin' about?”
    “The hole in the sky,” Graham answered.
    “Hole in the sky? What hole in the sky?”
    “You can't see it? Where are you?”
    “I'm in Atlanta. I'm lookin' up at the sky right now, and I don't see anything.”
    “Can we only see the door here in Tuscumbia?” Charles asked.
    “This is correct,” the voice answered.
    “Line two, hello...”
    It was a little boy. “I'm scared.”
    “Do not be frightened,” a female voice answered.
    “Mommy?”
    “What the fuck?” Graham mouthed to Charles.
    “Hello,