The Magical Labyrinth

Robert gently petted Rebecca's head and kissed her.

Rebecca continued. "I thought when I got to high school, things would be better. But they weren't. The same group of bullies moved there with me. I remember in the fall once, I came down with a stomach flu. Money was tight for us with my dad dead and I didn't want my mom to have to leave work, so I just stuck it out. By the afternoon, I was hearing comments that I was so smart that it was I who was the inventor of the automatic flush and recycling toilet. I became the girl from A.F.A.R.T.. It went on for months. When I would pass by in the hall between classes, some boy would always cough and wave a hand in front of his face, to remind me how I smell when I have diarrhea."

Rebecca looked up and saw a look of pure horror on Robert's face.

"Oh, I knew it wasn't me, just the cruelty of a bunch of bullies. One time they couldn't even get their story straight. I'd hear a passing comment like, did you ever notice how some people's legs are so long for their body, they walk like a stiff giraffe? And then next period in the hall I'd hear, did you ever notice how some people's legs are so short for their body, they waddle like a crocodile? It was so stupid, the whole thing would have been funny if it weren't based on cruelty. But it was based on cruelty, and I couldn't laugh at it... Well, at least the adults in my life were supportive. My mom likes to play at being a Jewish mother a bit, but she really does love me. A lot too. My dad was wonderful, but he died when I was twelve. But my aunts and uncles stepped right in. I'm really close to my extended family. It was my rock growing up."

"My gosh Becky, those bullies were idiots, pure monsters.... My growing up was just the opposite in a way. The kids I knew were mostly okay, but some of the adults were insane." Robert turned and lay down on his back, and Rebecca turned to face him. She pushed the sweater from under her head to under his, giving him a pillow. She then spent several minutes caressing him, letting her fingers slowly trace the outline of his face.

"I can dimly imagine what it must have been like, having no permanent family as a child. You told me before both your parents died when you were an infant. Was there no one to adopt you? Forgive me if I'm being pushy... I don't mean to pry..."

"Oh no, Becky, I want to tell you... I was adopted for a while... Wait. How about I tell you over breakfast? There's no way to heat it, but I have several kilos of high-energy trail food in my backpack, probably enough for 10 to 20 small meals for us each."

"Sure! I'm not hungry yet, but breakfast sounds nice."

"I'll get your clothes for you, so you can stay toasty warm while you dress." Robert began to climb out of the top of the sleeping bag. "Ah oh!"

"What? What do you see?"

"Trouble."

Rebecca quickly followed Robert out of the sleeping bag, standing naked on the ledge in silence for a moment. "Rebecca," she then said, "Memo to self: Do not take your eyeballs off of this deadly environment. How much time do you think we have Rob?"

"Don't know. But it's probably a good idea if we pack up and head to the oval."

The water level in the tank had risen dramatically during their sleep, and was now six to seven feet below the level of the ledge. Robert and Rebecca spent a few minutes dressing and packing up their gear.

"Here, Becky. Put this on below your slicker."

"It's your sweater. Are you sure?"

"Totally. I have my jacket and I probably won't even zip it. I'll be fine."

"Thank you..." Rebecca pulled the wool sweater over her head. "Nice! It's very warm and goes down to my thighs. This will even keep my rump toasty! I'll be very happy." Rebecca started to put on her slicker. "Robert! My cell phone! I doubt I'll get a signal in this tank, but I can see what time it is!" Rebecca tried to key her cell phone for a moment. "Nuts! I think the battery is dead. And I just recharged it Sunday morning too."

"Did you have it on in the Park?"

"Sure. I never turn it off."

Robert reached into his backpack, pulled out his cell phone and started keying it. "I just recharged before the Park too, but had mine turned off... Have power... No signal... Let me check the calendar!" Robert grimaced.

"What, Rob?"

"67 days."

"Oh my God! It's late November now!? Oh my God, my poor mother!"

"It's not conclusive. I don't have a beard." Robert felt his face. "Then again, my face feels smooth now, like I've just shaved. Maybe we're not growing our hair now for some reason."

Rebecca was silent for a moment, the reminder that their bodies had been manipulated filled her with an unfocused anger. "We're all packed now, let's just get the hell out of here."

A few minutes later, Robert and Rebecca reached the door and oval. "Well, Rob, still feel like you're in the zone for music? Remind me not to stand in front of the door when you open it! I might get hit with a freight train or something."

"Oh, no! This is bad. The oval appears completely dead! The buttons won't even depress." Robert turned and sat down against the wall, closing his eyes and leaning his head back into the rolled sleeping bag at the top of his backpack. "And I can't think of a thing to do either." It was the first time Rebecca had ever seen Robert dejected.

Rebecca sat down by Rob's side and slipped her hand under the bottom of his jacket. After a moment of untucking his shirts, she had her hand flat against his bare stomach, which she softly began to pet. She leaned over and kissed his ear, and then whispered into it: "Dearest Robert, you are my knight in shining armor, and don't you forget it! I'm relying on you to save me. And if you can't, the worst that can happen is that our souls lose their mortal sheaths. Our souls themselves are not in danger. We've talked about our faiths together. We both believe this. We are both God's children, borrowing life for a time, but forever in His care." And then Rebecca gave him a playful smile and tug on his stomach fur. "And besides, all I'm asking is that we follow Starfleet tradition. We keep trying. And if we go down, we go down with our phasers firing!"

Robert sighed deeply. "I remember a quote from David Gerrold. He wrote the plotline for The Trouble With Tribbles episode. David critiqued the Star Trek intro. He said space is not the final frontier. The final frontier is the human soul. Space is where we will meet the challenge... Rebecca, you are so right, let's get to work. Let me make a measurement of the current water height and mark the time. Then, let's inventory everything we have in my backpack and our pockets. After that, let's start analyzing."

Robert pulled a small notepad and pen from his pack, and then a coil of marked rope and a multifunction knife. He threaded the rope through the knife handle, and then lowered in over the edge towards the water. "This coil is 100 feet. I've marked it in one-foot increments. Current drop to the water from the ledge is 71 inches." Robert picked up his binoculars. "Confirming with the ladder. I thought the rungs were just about two feet apart, and the third rung is even with the waterline now. I'll mark the time in the notepad."

"I climbed 20 rungs Rob. I counted. So the water's come up 34 feet. So the air pressure in the room at the bottom of the tank is now at three atmospheres?"

"That's right. Though I wouldn't use the word bottom. I glanced down as we swam out. I think the room was at the top of a submerged pinnacle. I couldn't see the bottom of the tank at all."

"Totally bizarre, which seems to be the one constant in this place."

"Yeah. Well, here we go. We have this notepad and pen, 100 feet of mountain climbing rope, marked in one-foot increments. My wallet. Your wallet. Our key rings. Our cell phones. I also have a charger in my backpack. Our two 1-liter canteens. Both of us are wearing underwear, blue jeans, long sleeve shirts, hiking boots, and slickers with hoods, you also have the sweater. We also have the binoculars, this Swiss Army knife, this Audubon Field Guide to North American Birds, this large somewhat wet bath towel..."

"Robert, stop. Let me ask you something. I was really happy you had it, but why would you bring a large bath towel on a hike?"

"Ha! You answered your own question! I got the idea from The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. It's a parody, both a book and on the BBC. The author insists the single most important item to have when hitchhiking is a large towel. They are just so useful! Let's see, one artic sleeping bag and air mattress..."

"Robert, I got some smiles from some people we past hiking. I think when they saw your bag they thought we were coming into the park to have sex. We were only hiking for the afternoon. Why did you bring it?"

"Well, it's part of this," Robert said, pulling out a large first aid kit. "Not just for you and me. If we found someone injured on the trail, the bag would help keep a person warm if they were in shock. It also could be an emergency shelter, though the day was pleasant... Anyway, we have 1 lb of dried cranberries, 1 lb of dried cherries, 1 dozen power bars, some dried beef jerky, an extra 1-liter bottle of water, this jar of peanuts. This survival knife..."

"Whoa! That looks wicked. Can I see it?"

"Sure."

Rebecca pulled the knife from its leather sheath. It had a razor-sharp serrated 7-inch high-tech alloy blade and a combat handle, looking useful for both cutting and stabbing. "Could be quite a weapon, if either of us knew knife fighting."

"Actually, I do."

"What!?"

"My time in independent living before I was 18 was a bit wild. There was one guy there whom I first thought was a bit of a bully. His name was Earl. I managed to become his friend by offering to pay him to teach me how to knife fight. It was a win-win deal. I got really good at it. And he liked the money and to think of me as his pupil, he liked the challenge of teaching a nerd. As I came close to his level of expertise, Earl actually developed a lot of respect for me. And I respect him. We parted good friends... Anyway, getting back to the inventory. One pair leather work gloves. My security badge."

"You brought your green badge on our hike?"

"Oh, I'm not supposed to ever leave it out of my possession. I don't wear it in the shower, but it's in the bathroom with me. Let's see, almost finished. One large 3-battery flashlight. Three extra batteries. One 1-pint vacuum thermos bottle. One small signaling mirror. One small steel tube with about 20 wooden matches inside. One hand-crank flashlight... And there's something in here I don't recognize..."

"Oh, what?"

"Take a look at this."

Rob handed Rebecca a dog collar which she examined. "The name on the tag is Millie. An address on Mt Carmel Rd in Haletown, Maryland. What does it mean Rob?"

"Don't know. I think Mt Carmel is Route 137. Runs just south of the Park. Good size collar too... I do have a dim memory of seeing a moderately big dog in the Park..."

"Analysis time?"

"Sure. What are your thoughts?"

"Should we walk the ledge circle? See if we see anything new?"

"Tough call. Perhaps we could just scan with the binoculars. I'd hate to be on the other side, and have this door suddenly open, and then have it close before we could come back."

"Wow, I didn't think of that. Let me scan with the binoculars." Ten minutes later. "Nothing at all, and I tried to be very thorough... Robert, I apologize for mocking you about alien abduction. It's my prime candidate now. This tank is just so unbelievable, millions of tons of pure water."

"Yes, totally clean too. Not even a chlorine smell. Might be distilled water. What do you think? Is the air pressure rising as the water rises, or is the air being vented?"

"My ears don't feel anything. Maybe the air is being vented, in the ceiling perhaps..."

"Yeah, that's my guess too. Becky, I'm thinking of just waiting for a while, giving the oval a chance to turn on. If it doesn't, I'm going to attack it with the knife, see if I can pry it open. I doubt that's a way to open the door, you can't fix integrated circuits with a knife. I'll do it as a last resort, maybe when we have the water just below ledge height. Until then I'll just reach up every few minutes and test the buttons."

"Okay. Seems reasonable. I'm really out of ideas."

"Me too. There's just not much to work with, unless the oval turns on."

"Can I put my head in your lap? Will you pet me?"

"I'd love too."

Robert petted Becky's face and neck in slow thoughtful strokes, gently tracing the outline of her features. After a while she took his hand, kissed it, then slipped it under her clothes, lifted her bra and placed his hand on her warm breast. She closed her eyes and sighed in contentment as Robert caressed her. The time passed by quietly.

Chapter 4.

"Becky dearest, time to wake up."

Rebecca opened her eyes from Robert's lap and gazed up into his eyes. "I dozed off. I was having the most delightful of dreams. We had just married, and you were petting my breasts on our wedding night... Anything new?"

Robert bent down and kissed her. "No. The water level is now about a foot below the ledge. I thought I'd make another measurement and try the oval with my knife." Robert measured the new level. "Eleven inches to the ledge. Was 71 inches 75 minutes ago. The water is rising at 4 feet an hour. We have about another 13 minutes." Robert poked the oval a bit with his knife for a moment. "Sigh. This thing is one single piece of super hard material, my knife won't scratch it a all. No seams to attack. Becky, do you want to fill the canteens, just in case the door opens on its own when the water hits it? I know this sounds insanely optimistic..."

"I'll fill the canteens. This place is insane. The door opening like that would fit right in." Rebecca opened a canteen and easily dunked it in the water 10 inches below the ledge. "Wow, Rob, this water feels freezing! Much colder than before."

Robert leaned over and felt the water. "You're right, about 45F I think. Quite cold now."

"I just had a horrible thought. What if we had decided to sleep in our original room overnight before trying the oval down there? We would have been hit with 45F water at over twice the pressure, 70 feet below the surface."

"Yeah. The pressure shock probably would have killed us. And if not, we would have died trying to swim out. 45F water is deadly. Life is going to start getting unpleasant for us soon. I can't think of any way of avoiding hypothermia. Slowing getting covered with 45F water over the next hour is a gruesome thought. I am happy though, that I had the chance to tell you that I love you..."

"Robert, I... What? Robert, I saw something! From the door! I think it just jiggled, slid back and forth about an inch!"

Robert and Rebecca examined the door, wondering if it would happen again. The water level was 4 inches below the ledge when the door quickly opened about a foot and then quickly closed again.

"Wow! Did you see that Rob?"

"Yes! Way too fast to dash in, but maybe it'll happen again with a larger opening. You or I should stand by the door edge, and be ready to spring. It'll be dangerous. The door could cut us in half."

"I'll do it! I'm not being braver. I'd rather be cut in two than be slowly killed by rising freezing water! That would be gruesome!"

The water level was two inches below the ledge. The door suddenly began opening, and Rebecca was about to spring when the door closed. She caught herself just in time. "This is horrible! I almost killed myself! I'll have to spring only when the door is at least halfway open."

Time seemed to stand still. Rebecca was still standing on dry ground, but she knew she had just moments before the bottom of her boots would be wet. She was in utter concentration, unwilling to look back at the rising water.

The door gapped open and Rebecca leaped, and then the door slammed shut. "She made it!" thought Robert. A few seconds later the door slid wide and locked open with a click. Robert dashed across the threshold.

"There's just a simple push button to open the door from this side, Rob, and look who was trying to open it!"

Standing next to Rebecca was a golden Labrador, her tail wagging wildly, but also looking very wobbly on her feet. "Well, hello pooch, nice to meet you too." said Robert. "Why, you're just a puppy, aren't you? And I'll just bet your name is Millie!" The dog barked happily at the sound of her name, and then tried to vomit. "Rebecca, the water is seconds away from overflowing the ledge. Can you close the door?"

"I don't know how. This button just seems to open it, and there are no other controls. And look! When I opened the door, the walls of the tank turned transparent! Look at all the spirals!"

Just then a thin film of water crept up and covered the bottom of their boots. Robert noted the time on his cell phone. "We seem to be in a spiral corridor around the outside of the tank. How weird. About 9 feet wide, just like the ledge. Headroom height seems to be a little less than 8 feet. You can see the puddle of water starting to flow down to the right. I guess our path is obvious, move clockwise up the spiral. Come Millie!"

The three quickly walked out of the puddle of water. Millie lagged a bit for the first few minutes, but then was happily walking by their sides and a little ahead. It took them eight minutes to walk 660 meters, the circumference of the tank. They paused to watch the water flowing into the open door beneath them. "The water is about 6 inches over the ledge now Becky. I guess we're safe. We've climbed up 16 feet of the spiral while the water rose 6 inches. It'll be easy to stay ahead of it. Notice that this is a double spiral, a second loop is threaded between where we are now and the door. And the roof of the tank is only about 16 feet up from our ceiling position now. Hopefully we'll find a door to get out of here on top, maybe in just one more rotation. It's hard to see, the tank ceiling is very bright."

"Oh, do you think this tank is submerged then Rob?"

"You're right. I guess I was assuming that. The hoop stress for this tank to be a freestanding structure would be enormous. But this place is so whacky, who knows?"

The two picked up their pace a bit, and Millie bounded about happily. Seven minutes later, Rebecca called out, "Oh, no! I think I see a blank wall ahead. Could this be a dead end? The light is so bright, it's hard to tell."

All three walked to the end of the spiral tunnel. "Yikes, Becky look out! The floor ends about eight feet before hitting the end wall. There's an 8-foot drop into the spiral beneath us. Both spirals just end at this top point."

The true nature of the geometry suddenly struck Rebecca. She gave a cry of anguish and said, "Oh, we have to move! We have to complete the journey in the second spiral before the water hits this height and then comes down and kills us!" Robert hung off the ledge and easily hopped to the floor below. Rebecca handed down Millie and their gear and then finally herself. "Let's move Rob, as fast as we can. I've got a really bad feeling about this. I do believe this place is actively trying to kill us. How much time do we have to get out of here?"

They both started a fast walk down the spiral, with Millie bouncing around in puppy happiness over the exercise. "Becky, the water should reach the top lip of the spiral in 7 hours, 40 minutes. It'll just be a trickle at first, but a one-foot deep waterfall 15 minutes later. I guess we have just about 8 hours from now to get out of here."

"Rob, I'm up for doing a forced march for 8 hours. We're both in pretty good shape. We usually do our 5-mile morning jog in less than 40 minutes. Can you hike 5 miles an hour with that backpack for 8 hours? We can share turns carrying it. That would let us make 12 revolutions per hour. Let's see, 16 vertical feet per loop, 8 hours... Great! That's a drop of over 1500 feet, with an extra 40 miles the water will have to travel to catch us. Maybe we'll be okay! Can I carry the pack?"