It's My Party

Jada shook her head at Emily's optimism. "Somehow I think our showdown with 2525 will occur sooner rather than later. We can't just focus on surface exploration and rescue. We need a contingency plan if 2525 breaks out of their pen."

Emily would not surrender the point. "How could they do that?"

"There's probably a way. Remember Fatima thinks they wrote down all six original Party access codes. We've changed the codes for It's My Party and I Can See Clearly Now, but Party's 2, 3, and 6 are still vulnerable."

Emily shook her head. "But they can't get a working elevator in their position."

"Sure they can. They can train a Section Five Janitor. If you have an argument that says they can't do that, let's hear it."

"Excuse me," said Kiyoko, turning to Jada, "but perhaps I can answer. While you were installing the sensors on Yellow Brick, Emily helped me apply to be the Section Five Janitor. It's a little uncertain, but we think there can only be one training candidate for the job."

Jada's eyebrows went up and she finally cracked a smile. "Really? That's great news. Good thinking guys. But I still feel we can't ignore 2525. We need contingency plans, and we need them now. Don't put this off."

Ann spoke up. "If I can add my two cents to this, I have never heard of anyone in Party Five exploring the interface and the employment options as you have. But Uno is a clever man. Do not underestimate him. He is quite capable of learning from his mistakes. The locked stores down in Black Mall have shown him he has an adversary. He will be plotting both a defense and an offense."

Madison looked around at her team members. "What are we saying? Is there no alternative to war?" She turned to the four Japanese women and blushed. "Please don't get me wrong. I'm not condoning their behavior. But our numbers are so few. Can we afford a war? We might be talking about our own extinction here."

Hannah frowned. "Oh, I don't know Maddy. Perhaps it's better to keep our dignity and become extinct. I don't want to devolve into… Mark?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you think? You and that frat guy went into mortal combat the second you saw each other. Was there no other option?"

Mark grimaced. "None at all. I tried to reason with the guy first. Stanley would have none of it."

Jada stared at her lover. "What? No you didn't. I was right behind you. I saw everything. You threw a spike the instant you saw him. You were lightning fast. I'm not criticizing, but how did you know you had to attack?"

"Hey, wait a minute," said Toshi. "Mark, how did you know his name was Stanley? We were all ordered to call him Santos. Stanley is probably a good guess, but how did you know?"

Mark looked deeply troubled. "He told me his name." Mark stared back at Jada staring at him. "Didn't he?"

Jada shook her head vigorously. "Mark, what are you talking about? There was no conversation."

"What? Yes there was."

Jada would not let the issue go. "Mark, describe exactly what you thought your battle was like."

"Yeah, okay. I remember riding up to the store. I saw the woman named Carol first. We were both shocked to see each other. She tried to warn me to go back, but then Stanley came on the scene before I could react."

"Okay. So then you and Stanley saw each other. What happened next?"

"He went berserk, attacked me without hesitation. I knew that backing off against a pistol would have been suicidal. I had to fight."

"I'm not criticizing your decision Mark, far from it. Can you describe your battle?"

"Well…" Mark looked troubled. "It happened so fast, it's a little hard to remember. Everything was happening so fast! Stanley was cursing me with some very childish language and he started bringing up his gun to fire."

Ashley broke into the conversation. "How did you know he was going to fire? I mean, maybe he just wanted to cover you."

Mark shook his head. "No. He wanted to fire for certain. I could see it in his eyes."

Jada asked in a whisper, "You were watching his eyes?"

"Of course. That rule was drilled into me from my earliest sparring lessons, always watch eyes. Everything else, hands, feet, punches, blocks, kicks, you pick up with your peripheral vision. You'd be amazed how often an opponent will telegraph his intentions with his eyes."

"Mark, look at my eyes, right now."

"Huh? Okay." Jada and Mark locked eyes.

"I love you," thought Jada.

"I know. Flower of my heart, I love you back," Mark thought in reply.

"I can't believe how beautiful you think I am," thought Jada. "I can see your desire so clearly, such eagerness, such a visual fixation on my body. You've been very patient to wait for me. And Mark, do you notice that we're not speaking?"

"Huh?!" Mark blinked and gasped and then hiccupped, breaking the eye contact. "What the hell just happened?!"

The next hour was spent in experimentation, the original agenda of the meeting abandoned. They found two general rules that seemed to describe the effect. The first was that the maximum duration of the thought sharing with the eye contact seemed to scale with how well the two people knew each other, and it was Toshi's conjecture that the key variable was not how well the two people knew each other, but how deeply they trusted each other.

They also observed the fascinating phenomenon of accelerated time. Perceived elapsed time while thought sharing always seemed much greater than actual elapsed time. Typical perceived estimates for the speedup ranged from a factor of three to five, and there was general agreement that emotional context enhanced the speed of the sharing. Mark made a guess that his extreme emotional encounter with Stanley might have been a factor of twenty.

"I don't think it's a miracle," said Fatima as they were finishing the experiments. "It seems too predictable, too repeatable, too physical. But telepathy?! Mark, you're the person with the most physics training here. Any idea how this might be possible?"

"Uh, one or two guesses maybe. The cells in the human retina are considered to be part of the brain. When we're locking eyes with each other, we have light-sensitive areas of two different brains in direct optical contact with each other. Somehow the connection is acting like a bridge for the separate thoughts."

Ashley shook her head in wonder. "But we've never had that ability before."

Ann spoke up. "Are we so sure? Maybe we had a very weak version of it and never realized it. Think of how easy it is to be facing a huge crowd of people and pick out the one face that is staring at you. Think about how that in so many cultures, it's extremely impolite to stare a stranger directly in the eyes. People view it as rude and aggressive behavior."

"Almost like an invasion of privacy," added Kiyoko. "That's the way it feels."

Ann nodded vigorously. "Yes, exactly! Because you can't hide your thoughts while you have direct eye contact! Perhaps our species was on the threshold of having this ability, and… Oh hell, that strange drug we were given the first day. Could that have pushed us over the edge?"

"The drug we took," Jada replied slowly, "We know it changed us. We've been talking for weeks about how difficult it is not to tell the truth. Perhaps this thought sharing is another manifestation."

Ann sighed and turned to Jada. "Do you think it's permanent?"

Jada shrugged. "How should I know? I'll say one thing though. The effect, the ability, I think it's getter stronger."

Ashley suddenly looked thunderstruck. "This will change everything! Our entire social fabric! New clothes for everybody!"

Jada nodded. "I agree, very well put. And…" She was silent for a long moment and then sighed. "For the longest time, I've been hanging onto the idea that the entities who brought us here are our adversaries. But this ability… I don't think there's any way to view it except as a gift, a great and beautiful gift." She looked at Mark. "You and I might have experienced this the first night we met. I'll never forget a comment you made, that no lies could exist in such clarity. A society without lies, a society where lies are impossible. My gosh, you're right Ashley. This will change everything."

"We'll have to be extra careful," added Emily, "about the consequences of being captured by an enemy. I have all the elevator access codes memorized. I wonder if I could be tortured into revealing them, physically unable to resist someone staring into my eyes and demanding the codes."

"Speaking of which," said Hannah, "since we're here in Black Mall, shouldn't we watch the full video of the frat guys?" The Matrix system unit with its large display was positioned near their table. Hannah got up and punched in the commands for playback.

It was twenty-plus minutes of mostly silent recording. Their last sensor facing down spiral at the kitchen cutlery store could see an additional 477 meters on the inside arc, and about double that on the outside arc. The men came into view walking very briskly around the bend, and got to Rabbies Dram seven minutes later. They spent less than ten minutes surveying the locked stores, and then quickly returned home. The monitoring system lost the audio less than a minute after they departed.

"So the mall maintenance servos must have cleaned up the carnage," commented Aggie. "That's interesting. They're not even sure that a battle took place."

"Uno won't let the matter stand like this," said Ann. "I think he'll start probing the mall, soon too."

Kiyoko nodded. "What a benefit to be able to monitor their progress." She turned to Jada. "I was studying the Matrix manual before dinner. Is it true the sensor relays won't work until the doors are locked with those strange mushrooms."

Jada nodded back. "Yeah, that's what we found. Pretty amazing that the doors are transparent to the signals."

"Oh, I think it's more than that. I think the doors are designed… No, wait, I'm speaking of this from the wrong direction. I think the sensors are designed to use the doors as antennas once the doors are powered up into their rigid state."

Mark stared at Kiyoko. "That's a fascinating conjecture. It implies…" Their eyes locked, just for a few seconds, and then Kiyoko hiccupped.

"Yes, exactly," she said, replying to Mark. She turned to the others. "To share what we just thought about, I told Mark I'm a double-E major. In my opinion, this type of integration is completely unlike anything we had on Earth. I think Matrix Security was a real Earth company, but they never had a surveillance system like this. Alien technology has been piggybacked onto the Matrix brand name."

"But why?" asked Ashley. "Why go through all the trouble? We're not being deceived by the Matrix label."

"Yes, I know. And I think that is a really important piece of information, but we don't know how to interpret it. It serves no purpose to label the new technology with the Matrix brand, yet it was done anyway. Why? If we find the answer to that question, we'll learn a lot about the motives of the entities who created this place."

Fatima yawned and spoke up. "It's getting late. We should decide on tomorrow's agenda and get some rest."

"Why don't we set up two sensor networks from the home complex of Green Mall?" suggested Aggie. "It's the only other spot so close to Hex Hall, and there's a large Green Mall store about three kilometers from the hub called The Polar Outfitter. We can all pick out ultra-warm clothes for exploring the surface in the winter. Also, it'll give us a day to see how aggressively Black Mall starts exploring the mall. We can then decide whether to commit to extended surface expeditions."

Aggie's points made a lot of sense. The group voted unanimously to approve her suggestions, and the four newcomers smiled gratefully that they were also asked to vote. Fatima then asked for a motion to close the meeting. Meanwhile Ann and Jada had gone back to experimenting and were reading each other's minds again.

"How did you ever guess Jada?" Ann thought. "This is so sensational! How did you ever guess?"

Jada thought back, "I've had some vague suspicions for weeks now. I just couldn't put my finger on it." Both women hiccupped.

Fatima had been watching them closely. "Do you notice the defense mechanism? The human id is very unprepared to share its private space with another mind. The body hiccups to break the connection."

Mark added, "Almost like a safety value that releases the pressure before it becomes dangerous." He looked at several pages of observations that Emily had made of their experiments. "Akiko, you hold the record with Toshi of holding contact, nineteen seconds measured in objective time."

The two women looked at each other and smiled. Toshi then turned to Mark. "You and I haven't tried yet. May I?"

Mark nodded. Toshi came and sat down right beside him, their shoulders touching. And then they locked eyes. The seconds in the room passed quietly.

"A new record," Emily whispered after twenty seconds. The time continued to flow. Both Toshi's and Mark's breathing slowed down significantly, slow deep sighs, almost as if they were sleeping, but their eyes were wide open. Jada felt a vague twitch of both alarm and jealousy when they went past the one-minute mark, and then she scolded herself for her jealousy.

Approximately eighty seconds after starting, Mark and Toshi ended the contact. Neither of them hiccupped. Instead they simply reached across and hugged each other, finally breaking the eye contact.

"An honor Toshi," Mark whispered.

"For me also," she whispered back. They both let go and looked at each other shyly.

"Mark, Toshi, how long do you think that lasted?" asked Emily.

Mark tried to speak but seemed at a loss for words. He finally just shrugged his shoulders. Toshi then answered for them both. "Very difficult to think of in terms of minutes. Emotionally, it was like having a long conversation with someone that ended too soon."

It had been a very long day, and everyone was ready to sack out. Fatima talked briefly about the work they would someday undertake to build a new government, but for now Mark was acting leader with Jada second-in-command. The four Japanese women were very agreeable with the arrangement. Fatima then closed the meeting with a short prayer, and they were all back home a few minutes later, heading for showers and some much needed sleep.

Chapter 24.

Next morning.

Time: Wednesday, January 16, 2019 11:41 AM

Mark's phone rang as he and Toshi were coming out of Banana Republic, the last Red Mall store before the central hub. He answered it and found Jada on the line. She and Akiko were calling from the coin store at the Black Mall sky bridge.

"I have something to report," Jada said without bothering to exchange hellos. "There's a large crowd of Party Five personnel coming up the spiral. They're about four hundred meters from Rabbies Dram now. I would guess about twenty people. I'll know better in a few minutes. I also have Emily and Kiyoko on the line."

"Hi Mark!" Kiyoko added cheerfully from the Red Mall home library.

The day had been very peaceful so far. Emily was keeping Kiyoko company as Kiyoko began her first day of janitor training. Jada and Akiko were spending the day monitoring Black Mall, and Akiko in particular was experimenting with the monitoring system, probing how the sensors were linking with each other. Everyone else was scheduled to spend the morning in Green Mall and the afternoon in White Mall, expanding their Mall monitoring network.

"You feeling okay up there Jada?" Mark asked. Jada could hear the tenderness in his voice.

She gave a quick laugh. "You mean as in, lo, the enemy approacheth? Yes, Akiko and I are fine." Jada paused for a moment and then tried to give a completely honest answer. "It is a little scary watching this, but hell Mark, they're still twenty-five kilometers away, we're locked in nice and tight with the sky-bridge elevator just a few meters away. And as a final backup, we have a bike and a side car. Yeah, we're fine. How's the sensor installation coming?"

"Up and running without a hitch. Green Mall objective is complete, everything from 700 meters to 19,240 meters is buttoned down. The rest of the crew is working both directions from the White Mall sky bridge now. They should be finished in time for dinner."

"Uh huh. Where are you now?"

"I'm here at the hub with Toshi, the last store in Red Mall, you know, the Banana Republic."

"Right. While you're there, why don't you ask her to help you pick out some new shirts?"

Mark laughed. "I had a thought this morning, all six terminal stores have elevators. What about the stores at the hub end?"

"Wow, that's an interesting thought. Find anything?"

"Not yet. But this might be our last chance to explore the hub area safely, so Toshi and I plan to spend the afternoon here."

"Okay, sounds good. How did things go with the arctic clothes?"

"Just fine. We ported a huge assortment of stuff over to Barnes & Nobel." Mark was referring to the entrance store to the home complex of Aggie's Green Mall. "Amazing stuff. I look like someone going out for Halloween dressed as a hot water heater."

"Huh?"

"Thick cylindrical clothing, incredible insulation. I can't imagine the climate will get so cold that we'll need this."

"Hmmm… Well, we'll see. It got down to -11C last night and hasn't recovered a bit. Mark, the Party Five people are almost at the sensor now. I count eighteen people, I think eight guys and ten women. All of the women are in decent clothes, and… I don't think any are wearing ankle chains. Uh, I'm not sure, but it looks as if four of the women are herding the other women who are dragging sleds. I'll let Akiko take over reporting from here."

"Hello everybody," came Akiko's voice. "I'm using the zoom now to get a closer look. Jada is correct. All four of Uno's taskmistresses are all here, Brandi, Jessica, Tiffany, and Nadine." They're driving six slaves who are dragging two sleds." Akiko spoke for another minute until the group stopped just short of the locked area of the mall and began working.

After several more minutes she reported, "It looks as if they're going to turn the store two doors from our last sensor into a supply depot. I'm referring to the store next to the last store that's open to them on the outside arc. The sleds are filled with containers, I would guess food and drinking water."

Mark was confused. "Akiko, are women being forced to make other women work?"

"No, not forced. Three of the women are as bad as the men, even worse maybe. They're the girlfriends of, uh, let me think, Alfredo, Alfonso, and Gilberto. And then there's Brandi. Brandi isn't too bad. She's Chico's girlfriend. The others though are the cruelest people imaginable. Seriously Mark, they're horrible."

"Uh huh. And the four guy names you mentioned?"

"Those are Uno's top people. Chico is second-in-command, and with Santos gone, Gilberto might be the new third-in-command. All four of these men are here now, plus two more compadres and two muchachos."

"Okay. And the women they're herding?"

"We should probably show this recording to Fatima, but I think they're all women that the frat boys picked up as quick dates when they were standing in line on December 21st."

"Ah, I see. And the remaining four women who aren't here?"

"More long-term girlfriends of the men. But they're not cruel. Uno didn't trust them and threw them into what they call the pussy barn with the rest of us slaves. They were worked as hard as we were during the days. The only difference was they didn't have to do night shift rotations. They got to sleep with their boyfriends."