The Gate to Avalon was like any other space station, two giant rings linked in parallel, both rotating on the same axis, at sufficient speed to simulate the effect of gravity, thanks to centrifugal force.
However, unlike any other space station, the gateway looked more like a hospital than a city. The only departments, dining rooms or commercial facilities that existed were for the on-board personnel, and they occupied only ten percent of the station's space, the other forty percent was a space set aside to house up to two hundred standard ships, and the remaining fifty percent of the on-board space was made up of endless cubicles, designed to serve Avalon's guests.
The space transport had left the orbit of Palas, two days ago and was entering the space of the Gate to Avalon, Freddy Beron, attentively observed through the front window the docking operation. As he approached, he could notice that the station which at a distance seemed to be fixed, was actually rotating on its axis and the closer they got, he could feel how the ship also began to rotate faster and faster, until the entrance to the station located in its central structure, seemed to be fixed in front, this happened when the rotation speed of the ship equaled that of the station.
After entering, they were held by robotic arms that transported the ship through a long tunnel to the docking and disembarking area. Particularly disturbing was the sensation, the rapid weight gain, that the body suffered as the movement through that long tunnel brought them closer to one of the two rings of the station.
As Freddy and the other passengers on the robot ferry descended, they were transported by a group of friendly aides to different cubicles, where they were asked to undress and then put on a thin gown, similar to those used in medical consultations.
Freddy did as he was told and then sat down on the stretcher, which was the only piece of furniture in the room. He was told to wait a few minutes, while the examiner who would activate the portal came. Over his head hung a large device which reminded him of hospital positron scanners, while at the head of the stretcher hung a ring, which for some reason he assumed would, at some point, pass through with his body on the stretcher. Perhaps that would be the portal the aide had spoken of, he thought.
As he was almost hypnotized, looking at the blue lights of the device hanging over his head, the examiner entered, as he introduced himself. The pale, bald man, emaciated and almost expressionless, asked him to lie down and then pulled out from under the stretcher a small device, similar to a signal gun, which was pointed at his chest, while he pulled the trigger, after which a beep sounded. Again and again he repeated the operation, without words, pointing the device at his face, arms, different parts of the chest, abdomen, genitals and legs.
After what Freddy assumed was a medical examination, for there was a reason the man was an examiner, the unfriendly individual put the device back in place and approached the control panel which was at the foot of the stretcher, after typing something, the device suspended from the ceiling, emitted a green laser beam, which began to travel up and down his body, when this was over, the man again manipulated the console and a buzz began to emerge from somewhere in the room which he could not determine.
-I wish you a happy stay at Avalon- -said the silent examiner, together before the ring that had attracted his attention began to approach him.
-Wait, I'll travel like this in this stupid robe? What about my luggage? -It was the only thing Freddy thought to say.
-Relax your robe, that's all you'll need, -answered the man with a wide, sardonic smile.
When the ring began to approach his face, he could see a very white light emerging from it, which, being directly over his eyes, blinded him for a few moments, and as his sight cleared, he could see that he was standing inside what appeared to be a closed glass capsule. In front of him, on the other side of the glass, there was a beautiful woman with a dark complexion, long silver hair and a voluptuous body, dressed in a tight and revealing full white.
He tried to move, but felt his body being held by some kind of clamps, which after a few seconds, seemed to fade and release him, the front of the capsule opened and the beautiful young woman received him with a wide and sensual smile.
-Welcome to Avalon, my name is Selena and I will guide you on your visit to our peace and fun center -she said in a sweet and melodious voice. -Please follow me, so that you can start with your experience.
Freddy walked behind the girl, partially hypnotized by the rhythmic and sensual movement of her hips, looked to his right and could see himself reflected on the surface of the glass panel that separated the room in which he was from another similar one, to his surprise he was also dressed in a white one-piece, although more discreet than the girl's. In the room next door, visible through the partially translucent glass, he thought he saw another of the passengers on the robot ferry to the space station coming out of his room, also guided by a sexy blonde woman.
He turned around and behind him he could see how in the capsule from which he had come, as if it were a candy machine, a new robot body, almost all similar to a human, but lacking a face or any other distinctive feature, which would allow the identification of age, gender or ethnicity, was pushed from behind, towards the vicinity of the crystal by a machine, so that then a face began to form, on his formerly completely white face, before the passage of a laser light beam, which was projected from the top of the capsule.
More than a thousand light years away from that place, in the space station Gate to Avalon, Freddy's body remained attached to the stretcher, where before it had been auscultated by the examiner, suspended in a state similar to deep sleep, in which all his conscious bodily functions had been suspended and his brain remained active connected by a quantum link to his robotic avatar in Avalon, an exclusive and expensive adult entertainment center, located in a location known to few, on the borders of the region of the Orion arm occupied by humanity.
