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THE FOLLOWING is a brief history of how the town of Laughing Mountain came to develop an illegal portal, and the economic necessity forcing its creation, done in a short story about the making of the Portal. The story introduces a few of the families who appear in the Forbidden Colony and Outlawed Colonies series.
GORDON DELANEY, the current mayor of Laughing Mountain, tapped his gavel sharply on the table to bring the meeting to order. Gordon was in his fifty’s, with sharp grey eyes and dishwater colored hair.
“This meeting will come to order,” he said. The eight people seated around the table were quiet, waiting. “Tom, I know Maria and I attended the Portal Lottery results with you, but I’m asking you to report on the outcome.”
“We didn’t get a gate,” Tom said. "However, as I was leaving, I was approached by George Stopolis. He asked for a meeting with the three of us.”
“What did he want?” Maria Sullivan, a short round woman with brown hair and eyes, asked.
“He belongs to a group called Arcadia, and he wanted to discuss setting up an illegal portal,” Tom replied.
“But that’s against the law!” Jack Leward, the owner of the Grocery Emporium, protested. "We'll be arrested!"
“I don’t see as we have much of a choice,” Gordon Delaney said bluntly. “We’ve had to shut down the big events this last year, and we’re running in the red. The town won’t survive another five years.”
“If we’re running in the red, we won’t have enough money to build a Portal either,” Phillipa pointed out.
Tom grinned. “The Arcadians have money. He’s willing to front the money for the materials and the scientists who will design it. As a matter of fact, they already have the Portal generator design.”
“It could be a trap,” Joe Gonzales, the owner of Novel Ideas, the local bookstore protested. “How trustworthy is this guy?”
“George is the leader of the Stone Oath Militia. He approached me because he recognized me.”
They all knew that Tom Mix was not only the owner of a local Hotel, but second in command of the Blue Moon Militia.
“Just because you were on maneuvers with the guy a few times doesn’t make him trustworthy. Did he say why they wanted their own gate?”
“Yes, he did. Like us, they petitioned the Authority to colonize one of the new worlds, but they backed out when they discovered how much control the Portal Settlement Authority has over a colony.”
“Where would we put a Portal? It would have to be disguised or hidden,” Doris Warren said.
“That’s easy,” Joe said. “We hide it in plain sight in the center of the Hedge Maze.”
“There isn’t enough room in the center; it’s only about twenty feet in diameter,” protested Jeffry Mix.
“We will need to clear some of the bushes in the center,” Jack said, “and plant more on the outside.”
“Yes! And we can turn the center into an outdoor theatre, with an arch on one side for weddings and other events,” Gordon said.
“But where would the Portal go?” asked Phillipa.
“In the arch of course,” Gordon said.
“How will we explain what we are planning to the rest of the town?” Maria asked.
“We have an investment firm named Arcadia who is willing to invest in the town, providing we agree to test their air born sanitation devices,” Tom said.
“That might work,” Gordon said, “One thing is for sure: we can’t discuss this outside of this room.”
“What about our families?” Maria challenged.
“That is up to each of you; you are the best judge of how loose-lipped your spouses and other family members are.”
“Just one more thing,” Mix said. “We also have to be willing to do whatever is necessary to keep our gate a secret.”
“Define ‘whatever is necessary’,” Doris said. “Are you talking about killing people who find out about the Portal?”
Mix met her eyes squarely. “If necessary. We might be able to simply exile them to a colony. But we all must agree to this. We can’t have someone getting cold feet after the fact.”
“He’s right,” Gordon said. “I’m going to ask for a show of hands and a verbal agreement. Phillipa will type up the agreement and we will all sign each copy.”
So, it began. A year later, Laughing Mountain had two more investors. The first was a group who wanted a hybrid of Renaissance culture and high technology who named their new Colony Barsoom*. They had only one specific requirement: the new colony must have two moons.
The third group of investors, The Augury, didn’t have many requirements. Their Leader, Genevieve Graeme, passionately believed psychic gifts were real, and intended to select prospective colonists for psychic abilities. Her vision for the colony called for a temperate climate with no large predators. She called her new Colony Shangri-La.
Once Laughing Mountain's gate was up and running, it took months to find a suitable world that would support human life without any sentient species established there. The first world discovered was a doozy. Although it had no sentient species, the animals and plants were huge and aggressive. None of the three investors wanted to try it. Laughing Mountain nicknamed it Lemuria. Lemuria did have one more thing going for it; despite the dangerous animals and plants, it showed evidence it had once been settled by a race of star faring people. The group of scientists and archeologists who settled there were willing to sign non-disclosure agreements (they couldn't publish anything they found about the ancient settlers on earth). They pooled their money and bought materials, seeds, and weapons.
The next planet found fit the requirements of the Arcadians and they spent the next year sending building materials, seeds, and farming equipment through the gate. The second year, they planted crops and sent herds of cattle, sheep, and goats through the portal.
St. Antoni, the third world discovered, was a good prospect, but it had three moons and Guinevere decided it had too many predators to suit her plans. St. Antoni soon became a refuge for anyone wanting to escape earth. Unlike the others, the colony wasn't settled by any one group, but by a variety of individuals. For a time, anarchy reigned, but eventually, several city states emerged as governments.
Barsoom turned out to have a hot, humid climate, but it did have the required two moons. Like the Arcadians, the Barsoomians spent the next two years preparing the area around the Portal for colonization.
To Guinevere’s delight, Shangri-la was finally found. It was a pastoral world with a temperate climate and no large animal predators. They established the Colony on a spit of land jutting out into the ocean. They named the capital City Fortuna and designed the town to resemble Genevieve’s vision of Olympus during the reign of the Greek Gods.
