It's My Party

Mark flashed a brief grin. "It was useful for opening the first door. If we have it and don't need it here, what's the harm? But if we don't have it and we need it…" He didn't have to finish the thought. They would be trapped in the unknown space beyond the airlock.

Frida asked. "And you want to try this cluster first?"

Mark nodded and pointed with his hand. "See that symbol?"

Frida and Toshi stared at the mark. It was similar to an italic omega symbol with a tilda on top of it. Frida answered, "Yeah, I see it."

"Emily briefed me on a few symbols. That broken-Y at the entrance to the ivy is a symbol for mortal danger. This symbol here means safe."

"Ah. Then this is a good choice."

Mark nodded and the three started to walk.

"Yikes," commented Frida. "It's as if we're trapped in some insane video game. There's no way to tell what's the right move without trying, and a wrong move…"

"… means game over," finished Toshi. "Pity there's no play-again button in real life." The group continued their walk in silence.

An hour later.

Mark, Toshi and Frida continued their journey down the spiraling staircase. Frida for a change was walking point, about ten meters in front of her companions. "We're almost there," she called out. "Another thirty meters maybe." Mark nodded and asked her to wait so he and Toshi could catch up.

In had been a productive hour. They had returned to the entrance to the chamber of horrors and retrieved the mushroom lock without incident. Now they were descending the largest spiral staircase Mark had ever seen, more than two hundred meters in depth. He hoped they would find water below. They were wasting a lot of their precious time and energy otherwise.

They had returned to the large eastern cluster and they had all shuddered once they were through the airlock. They did indeed need the lock to open the airlock from the inside. Without it, they'd be trapped.

And the stair trends down had a springy feel to them. It took a while to get used to, but as the party neared the bottom, they were all grateful for the effect, otherwise their knees would have been complaining about such a long descent.

They reached the bottom of the well and advanced down the sole corridor to a nearby room. It held a rather odd selection of items, several fishing rods and tackle sets, and a generous assortment of towels, bed linens, soaps and other toiletries. There was nothing edible though, and nothing to drink. After a few minutes of looking around, they agreed to go through another airlock at the opposite side of the room.

All three of them gasped as the airlock cycled and opened on the other side. They stepped out slowly, looking at the scenery and the sky above. They all made several sanity checks by turning and making sure the airlock was still behind them. It was.

Frida was the first to speak. "Is this Earth?! Have we returned to our home planet?"

They were standing on the rise of a small hill. The gentle rolling landscape was covered with all sorts of flowering plants. And up above shone the super-bright and butter-yellow sun that they were all once so familiar with. For a short while Mark thought it looked too small, but then he realized he had gotten used to the larger size of this planet's star.

This planet? Wait a minute. Were they back on Earth? This couldn't be Earth. Earth had been destroyed. Yet the sky above was a pure bright blue, no hints of the greens and teals of recent weeks. Earth! And yet…

"No," said Mark. "Definitely not Earth, though the illusion is superb."

"I can feel the sun's warmth," said Toshi with a wistful sigh. "The illusion is very convincing."

Mark nodded. "Photonic control beyond what we've ever dreamed of. But look at the horizon. It's not quite real. Maybe we're in some sort of sanctuary, a conservatory."

Frida touched Mark's hand and asked, "I'm so thirsty, and that brook down below looks so inviting. Want to try it?"

They walked through a short meadow full of flowers, enjoying the sweet fragrances and the warmth. Toshi guessed it was about 25C, much nicer than the cool 15C of the corridors outside. They drank the clean, refreshing water of the brook, and then followed it about two-hundred meters to the banks of a picturesque oval pond. Mark guessed the long axis to be about eighty meters. "I think we're near the middle of the conservatory," he announced. "Maybe not right at the middle, but near. Wow, this place is enormous, 500 meters across! And look how the artificial clouds seem to be moving. So impressive."

Frida gave a small shriek. They were standing near the pond's edge, in a meadow full of flowering plants and fruit trees. From the plants all around them huge numbers of gigantic bees were emerging.

Chapter 29.

Three days later.

Time: Sunday, January 20, 2019 4:20 PM

Chico, Toro, and Bambino pressed their faces against the clear transparent door. They were at the end of the line, the terminal store of Green Mall, the plush furniture and consoles of the Hilton Executive Conference Center visible just a few short meters away. And it was completely untouchable.

"So, we got to see it," thought Chico. "Big fucking deal. I wonder if in 1909… what the hell was that guy's name? Would Commodore Peary have been satisfied to look through a window at the North Pole? Not fucking likely."

Chico stood aside so the others could come up and see. He thought they all deserved that, even the slave bitches. Meanwhile he walked back ten meters and plopped his tired body down and leaned against the wall. "Unbelievable," he thought. "All this work… for what?"

Chico was beginning to think of this trip as one incredible failure, though there didn't seem any other decision he could have made. They had arrived at the hub of the spiral system late Thursday night, after a long day of portage. Chico found the implications of the six passageways terrifying. After their first days in their strange new home, Uno had pressured everyone to assume the other parties were far, far away. Maybe they weren't even on the same planet. They would never to be heard from again. But the reality of the hub with its six passages changed everything.

Chico made a command decision to split his party. Almost at random (Toro loved money, and his favorite color was green), Chico sent the main party down Green Mall with Toro in command. Their orders were to proceed as far as ten kilometers if the corridor contained nothing but locked stores, otherwise to stop anytime Toro saw fit. Meanwhile Chico and Segundo would check out the white and red spirals, while Bambino and Geraldo checked out the paths of blue and yellow.

Late Friday night, they all met up again outside the Green Mall bike shop. The displays of bikes inside made them sick as they realized what fools they were for not being more aggressive in their December explorations. They would report to Uno that all six spirals had magnificent stocks of bikes, and everything was completely out of reach.

And it was the same feeling with the AM/PM Locksmith stores, one in each spiral about a kilometer further away from the hub than the bike stores. Chico eyed all the mushroom locks now and was certain their Party had been played for chumps. He was mad enough to… To what? Take his frustrations out on the hoof pussies?

Chico took his cue from Brandi on that one, especially after their talk in their sleeping bag last night. Free of the influence of Nadine and Jessica and Tiffany, Brandi was actually treating the slave with kindness and advocating for them, making sure they got full water rations and asking Chico to lighten up on the pace when it became too much for them.

And Chico saw her point. Almost all of the six slaves had some medical issue now after what they had gone through the previous month, either poor ankle conditions from earlier chaining or being beaten for resisting the new world order. And Lynn! Chico felt so sorry for her, but what could he do? The idiot muchachos had caned her butt the night before Santos disappeared. Thank God the other five slaves were still unhurt.

Santos and Gilberto and the muchachos, they were the worst, Chico thought. He had seen more than one woman whimper when they were assigned night shift work to any of them. In charge of the slaves now, Chico was finding he actually enjoyed showing the slaves kindness. His unsolved problem was how to protect them long term.

Toro came to sit beside him. "So, what now boss?"

"Haven't a clue," Chico said with a humorless laugh. "Any suggestions?"

"Well, we could camp out here and hold this position until the water runs out."

"Yeah, well, there's an idea."

"Yeah. Well, I could try to shoot the lock off."

Chico sighed. "It's tempting to waste the ammo, I know. But remember our experiments at Rabbies Dram. Tungsten drills, the blowtorch, the crowbars and sledgehammers…"

Toro sighed back. "I wasn't being serious. I hope Jenaro is feeling better now. I never saw a sledgehammer bounce like that."

"Yeah, and the crowbar was ringing like a bell…" Chico leaned his head against the wall behind him, unconcerned with letting his weariness show to his group. "Four days to get back. Thank God we packed enough water. I don't think we can push the hoof pussies any harder." He closed his eyes.

Toro nodded. "You got that right. Uh, Chico, what're you going to do with Lynn? Her limp is so bad now from those damn welts, she's almost useless in the harness."

Chico could hear the concern in Toro's voice. "You getting sweet on Lynn Toro? You've slept with her for what…" Chico opened his eyes and smiled as he saw Lynn preparing Toro's sleeping bag. "Third night in a row now, right?"

"Yeah, well… maybe. I don't want to see her get hurt, that's for sure. And I don't want to force her to do anything. I've been having some problems with the muchachos about that." Toro paused for a moment and sighed. "And Chico, want to hear something amazing?"

"Sure."

"Last night, I was bone tired. Lynn and I don't fuck in our sleeping bag. With her welts, that would just hurt her too much. But last night, all by herself, Lynn asked me if I'd like her to blow me. She was willing. We wound up just lying with each other. We started looking in each other's eyes, and… It was so amazing. The whole rest of the world disappeared. That's what it seemed like. Just Lynn and I were whispering to each other, and the whole rest of the world just wasn't there. I can't believe the stuff I told her about myself, stuff I thought was so embarrassing I'd never tell anybody. Know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I think I do. Brandi and I sort of did the same thing last night. She told me things too. It wasn't just one way." He sighed. "And check out Bambino and Cassidy sometime when they're sacking out. They're not just getting it on."

"Yeah, exactly. Bambino seems so happy with Cassie now. I feel the same way about Lynn."

Chico reached and patted Toro's shoulder. "Don't worry. I won't cut her loose out here, no matter how much she slows us down. She can lie on the sled and get a free ride if she has to. And I'll talk to the muchachos. They won't bother her." He paused and added, "Toro, if you want to claim her as a girlfriend, I think I can convince Uno to take her off the night shifts. He owes me a few favors." Chico closed his eyes again and rested.

Toro did not reply at once. He just leaned back on the wall and followed Chico's lead in closing his eyes. "Gracias compadre," he whispered.

Time: Sunday, January 20, 2019 6:00 PM, a second floor suite at the Hilton Executive Conference Center

Emily came up from behind Jada and touched her shoulder. "Time you were relieved. Hungry? Aggie whipped up another really delicious dinner."

Jada looked up from her monitoring console and locked eyes with Emily.

Emily didn't have to ask how Jada was feeling. The emotional states of two people linking were the first things exchanged, and far more deeply than could ever be expressed in words or body language. "My dear friend," thought Emily, "I love you. Have courage Jada. Do NOT give up hope."

"I'm trying. It's so hard." Jada hiccupped and broke the connection. She turned back to the console and made a minor adjustment.

The reason for Jada's distress and that of the whole group was the census counter. When they awoke Friday morning, they saw that it had ticked down from 017:102 to 016:100. It appeared that a man and two women had died.

Mark and Toshi and Frida! Nothing was certain, but the possibility was horrendous. The Red Mall group had spent the day monitoring all their locations near the hub, until they saw all fourteen people of Chico's party gather near the Green Mall bike shop Friday night. The deaths had not come from there.

On Saturday and Sunday they installed sensor nets from the terminal stores of Red, White, and Blue Malls, and even from the trapdoor White Mall store at the 360 degree mark. They now had a clear majority (82%) of the mall system covered by their surveillance network.

Emily nudged Jada out of the chair, and after brief hugs they said goodbye. Jada entered the nearby elevator and returned to the home complex of Red Mall, but on a whim entered through the lower level by the library. She walked through the unoccupied first floor, finally arriving at the large circular stairwell. The spiraling stairs down would take Jada to the Dress Barn, and the stairs up would take her to the bedroom she shared with Emily.

Jada picked a third direction. After donning thick arctic clothing they had set aside nearby, she opened the door north and went outside. She tightened the earflaps on her ultra-warm hood as she walked along the cobblestones separating the sand and pine parks. Then her head tilted upward and she gazed at the brilliant night sky.

It was a cold night, -17C, and a thin layer of powdery snow was crunching and squeaking beneath her boots. Jada paused about fifty meters north of the door, breathing slowly and staring at the hard, cold points of light. "Oh Mark," she whispered.

The planet's small moon was below the horizon, but the display of stars was magnificent. Jada thought about a previous conversation. "I remember what Mark said. The moon here has over eight times the mass of Earth's moon, almost the mass of Mars, but it's a million kilometers distant. That's what makes it seem smaller." And then rational thought receded. Her awe of the cold grandeur of the stars and her deep internal emptiness seemed to fuse into a single emotion. Tears began to fall down her cheeks. They cooled rapidly in the sub-zero air.

Two days later.

Time: Tuesday, January 22, 2019 5:15 PM

It was a dull and arduous two days dragging the sleds back through the green spiral to the central hub. There was a woman riding the sleds, but it wasn't Lynn. Holly twisted her ankle Monday morning, so badly that two of the muchachos Geraldo and Segundo suggested to Bambino that they ought to just leave Holly in the corridor and move on.

Bambino looked skeptical and turned to Chico for guidance. Chico knew what Toro's opinion would be, and he couldn't believe at first that the two muchachos would suggest such a thing. But then he stopped to consider. Their attitude was exactly what Uno was trying to encourage. And Chico had to admit, their leader was a spellbinder. Chico asked himself a hard question. Four days ago, would he have accepted the idea too?

But the four days of hard exercise and role as leader had changed him. Instead of abandoning Holly, he teamed up with Paige and Allison and the three of them pulled Holly on the sled. Chico was amazed how the simple common work had created a bond between him and the slaves. And Chico was surprised to discover that he liked the bond. He wasn't sure where it was all heading, but he didn't want the changes to stop, especially when Brandi would give quiet nods of approval at his new self.

Brandi! Such a wonderful person. Chico felt so fortunate now to have her as his girlfriend. And he never realized that before. How was that possible? How could he have been so stupid?

A yell up ahead pulled Chico out of his daydream. They were only two hundred meters from the central hub, just a few meters from passing the last of the stores on the inside arc, and Chico could hear Bambino and Geraldo yelling, and their yells were getting louder. Chico had sent them to walk a few hundred meters ahead as point men for the main group. The two men rounded the spiral and appeared before them.

Geraldo was the first to speak, slightly out of breath from his sprint. "In the hub room, at the center, right at the exact center, there's a message posted. It's addressed to us!"

Chico kept the group together and they quickly covered the short distance to the hub. There Chico found a short note covering the small golden keystone. He picked it up and read it.

"WANT TO CHOOSE A NEW LIFE, ONE BASED ON EQUALITY AND FORGIVENESS? IF SO, RETURN TO THE GREEN-MALL SKY-BRIDGE TO DISCUSS."

"We shouldn't go. It's a trap!" said Ernesto.

Segundo was nodding in agreement. "Fucking-A! Round trip, think of the distance! And just to talk?! It's a trap!"

Chico spoke almost without thinking. "If it is a trap, it's very well baited. Muchachos, we need information!"

That brought them up short. Ernesto stared at Chico incredulously. "You're thinking of going?! Round trip, it's an extra eighty kilometers!"

"Two days of travel, I know. Guys, we do have the supplies for it." Chico looked around the large hexagonal hall. "We shouldn't stay here. It's too exposed." So he moved his group about fifty meters into Black Mall and set up camp for the night.

It was a lousy dinner. Halfway through the meal, Segundo got up and with no provocation gave Holly a hard kick in the butt, enough to send her flying. She landed heavily, trying and only partially succeeding in protecting her bad ankle.

"What the hell?!" roared Chico as he stood up, rising like an angry bear from the floor.

"Fucking bitch is slowing us down!" Segundo roared back. "We should have left her behind!"

Chico felt his anger morphing into deadly calm. He rested his hand on the pistol at his hip. "Segundo," he asked quietly, "Who's in charge of this expedition?"

"Fucking hell Chico! The bitch is slowing us down!"

"Answer my question Segundo."

"We've wasted a day!"

"If you don't answer, then I can't trust you. Last warning." Chico unholstered his pistol and held it by his leg.

Segundo looked as if he might bluff it out, but then in an epiphany he realized Chico was not bluffing. He stared at Chico's gun and muscular bulk and realized he wanted no part of this. "You're in charge Chico." He said meekly, lowering his gaze.

"And?"

"And… And I'll leave the pussies alone."

Chico nodded and suddenly felt very tired. He turned to Brandi and they locked eyes for a brief second. Then Brandi went and helped Holly. "Wonderful," thought Chico as he watched Segundo turn around. "Now I'm going to worry about being attacked in my sleep. Just fucking wonderful."

Four hours later.

Chico gave Segundo and Geraldo a night off from guard duty, taking the first shift himself with Bambino. Brandi and Cassidy would take the middle shift, and then finally Toro and Ernesto. By Chico's watch, they would move out shortly after 5 AM tomorrow morning.

Near the end of the watch, Chico tilted his head at Bambino, signaling him to follow him, and they walked off about twenty meters from the sleeping group. Chico wanted to probe where the youngest compadre's loyalties lay. "Bambino, can I ask your opinion about something?"