Gateway Novels & Stories

"He’s here, Ash. He used my name. He asked about the shore." ​"Of course he did," Ashton replied, his tone hardening. "Because his soul remembers even if his brain is broken. But don't give him everything yet. I’m standing at the security gate. They won't let me in because I’m not on the 'Golden List,' but I can see the lights from here." ​"I'll come down. I'll get you in."

And Rose remembered that it functioned on its own accord. Hidden within the gate's robust framework lay a sophisticated array of state-of-the-art sensors and mechanisms. This technological marvel allowed for seamless operation, granting access to only those authorized individuals who possessed the required credentials. Its intelligent sensors could detect the approach of vehicles, pedestrians, or any potential intruders, responding with swift precision to ensure the utmost security.

The cabby's voice pull me out of my train of thought, and I look around the place to find us in front of a big iron black gate. "Thank you," I hop out of the car and walk over to the booth to get my things down. Since Amy already paid him, I drag my suitcase toward the big gate. Taking a deep breath, I place a knock on the gate, and it only bounces back to me. I don't think I can get in there with just knocking on the gate. Nobody will hear me from inside. "Press the button beside the gate," I suddenly hear a masculine voice from nowhere, and that is when I realize that there is a telecom here. Wow!

“I see. You don’t even have a phone so I guess I can expect that much.” ‘A phone?’ Before she could ask Jina what is a phone Jina already started with her explanation. “You see, three months ago those gates started appearing they are like portals of some sort. There are two types of ‘gates’. The first one is a ‘blue gate’. In a blue gate people fight monsters inside. The other one is a ‘red gate’, if people is the one entering a blue gate in the case of a red gate, the monsters are the ones coming out or maybe in their perspective, going in. There are some cases when blue gates turn into red gates. Monsters coming out in a red gate only stop after a whole day or should I say it closes?”

The screen turned blue, filled with lines of scrolling text. I felt a surge of triumph. It was a diagnostic mode for testing the internal cellular antenna. It allowed for one thing: a raw, unencrypted SMS burst to a test number. I didn't have Adrian’s number memorized, but I knew the university’s server gateway by heart. We’d used it a thousand times to ping the lab’s remote sensors. I typed as fast as my shaking thumbs would allow, using the shorthand we’d developed for the simulation logs. ST: GILDED CAGE. LOCKOUT ACTIVE. MASTER KEY IN LOCAL DRIVE. DON'T SYNC. LOOK AT THE LAND DEED CLAUSE 4B. NORA. - S.

She turned the small brass latch with an agonizingly slow pressure, ensuring the internal mechanisms didn't let out a single metallic click. The door swung inward, exposing the dark, narrow interior of the utility closet. Mounted flat against the rear concrete partitioning, right beside the automated climate control valves, was a mass-produced, commercial long-range USB network injection dongle. Its small green circuit board was working under a severe thermal load, its low-tier plastic casing slightly warped from the continuous power output. It was plugged directly into the active service gateway, its microscopic green indicator light flashing with a rapid, fr

The door was locked with a standard digital keypad, but the venue was old and the staff was distracted by a room full of high profile, free drinking corporate clients. I pulled out my phone, loaded up a local network scanner, and intercepted the router's open IP handshake. It took me less than forty-five seconds to bypass the administrative gateway. Click. The lock retracted. I slipped into the dark, air-conditioned sanctuary of the tech booth. The main console hummed with blue LED lights, a massive digital routing board controlling the high-lumen laser projectors that were currently casting the glossy, animated Eastern High alumni logos onto the massive 30-fo

I can't believe I'm slacking off on the first day of work, I didn't even make dinner for him. When I came back, everywhere seemed calm, his securities must have slept off. Thank goodness I left with the card key Mark handed over to me. There was a card verification option at the penthouse gate. The gate was made of a modern stainless steel and aluminum frame yet had multiple factors for entry including password, biometrics and face unlock. I guess it unlocks at the sight of George or Mark's face. I swiped the card as the gate opened and I entered. I did the same for the door.

"This place hates undocumented movement. So we document it wrong." Jack blinked. Katherine stared at her sister as if she had just said something mathematically obscene and useful. Haley grabbed a drifting contract fragment. It sliced her palm. She hissed, then wrote in blood across a closed gate: AUTHORIZED FAMILY NONSENSE ACCESS. The gate flickered. The Prime Analyst snapped its attention toward her. Invalid credential. Haley slapped another fragment onto it. AUTHORIZED BY ABSOLUTELY NOT AUXILIARY STERLING. The gate flickered harder.

The red scribbles under the surface flowed, coiling around where his hand touched, taking that shard of pain and adding it to the growing mass. [ACCEPTED,] the voice intoned. Jax stepped back, eyes a little unfocused. He swiped at them like something had gotten in them and offered no explanation. “Happy now?” he muttered to the door. The Gate hummed. The script along the top flickered. > PAY THE PRICE OF ENTRY: ONE REGRET. Letters glitched, breaking apart and reforming into a new line: > PAYMENT RECEIVED. ACCESS GRANTED. A series of heavy internal **clunks** reverberated through the metal. It sounded like locks disengaging—big ones.