Free The Portal by Andrew Norriss

reflection that enables you to see them.’
    What this meant was that if you were carrying a ‘shield’ you were invisible, but that if someoneshone the torch at you, they could still see where you were. Intriguingly, it turned out that there were several ‘shields’ in one of the drawers of his father’s desk in the pantry. They were green, egg-shaped objects, rattling around amongst the pens, the paperclips and a roll of sticky tape – and when you held one in your hand you became invisible.
    William thought the shields were more interesting than the torch, and he took one upstairs so that he could try it outside. Even though there was no one around, it was an oddly exciting sensation to walk through the farmyard knowing that he couldn’t be seen. Birds flew round and ignored him and he got close enough to a pigeon on the ground to touch its back.
    Daniel, he thought, would kill to get his hands on one of these.
    Mrs Hepworth, William’s second passenger, was supposed to arrive at three o’clock that afternoon, but a message with the bricks that arrived shortly after two said she had been delayed and would not be arriving until ten o’clock that night.
    When she did arrive, it was not a happy visit. She was a tall, elderly woman and almost the first thing she asked was that William take her outside.
    â€˜I know it’s night-time,’ she said, ‘but you’ve probably got some night goggles around the place,haven’t you? I’m particularly anxious to see an owl.’
    William, however, had been reading the
Station Manager’s Manual
that afternoon and discovered that it was strictly against the rules for any passenger through the Portal to leave the station and go outside. Why no one had mentioned this before he did not know, but the manual was very definite that, on a restricted planet, nothing must be allowed to give even the slightest hint of the existence of the Federation. Anyone allowing this to happen was liable to the severest penalties.
    â€˜You’re saying I can’t go out at all?’ said Mrs Hepworth.
    â€˜I’m sorry,’ said William, ‘but those are the rules.’
    â€˜Well, in that case I suppose I have no choice, do I?’ Mrs Hepworth gave a sniff and walked through to the sitting room, clearly very angry.
    William called in occasionally during the next six hours to ask if she wanted anything to eat or drink but the answer was always the same. Mrs Hepworth did not want anything and simply sat, staring out at the picture of the night sky through the windows until it was time for her to leave, still visibly upset. William was upset as well. He had enjoyed meeting General Ghool and Hippo White and now…
    Now he was mostly very tired. When Mrs Hepworth left at four in the morning, he was finding it difficult to keep himself awake, and he had just finished clearing up and was about to go upstairs to bed when Emma informed him that an emergency brick had arrived with a request from the medical centre on Riga that he stand by the Portal until further notice.
    It seemed there had been an outbreak of plague on Tychel – a mutation of a dangerous bog virus – and the medical researchers on Riga were working round the clock to find a cure. When they did, it would need to be sent to Tychel as fast as possible and all station managers were asked to stand by their Portals, ready to send it on the instant it arrived. This was one of those occasions when even seconds might count.
    There was no indication of how long William would have to wait, though Emma said it was unlikely to be longer than six or seven hours. If the cure didn’t come before then, she said, the people on Tychel would all be dead anyway. In fact, the cure came through shortly before seven and William sent it safely on its way. After that, it was time to go upstairs, wake Daniel and send him off to school with his packed lunch – making sure