It's My Party

Hannah turned and nodded in agreement to her leader's earlier remark. "Yes. The place does seem absolutely pristine."

"Oh, it's not that. The servos would have eliminated any trace of their passage. But I'm trying to imagine what being in Party #6 was like. It was nine men and nine women. If they had come to this campus… Well, just look at the place! This isn't a Castle Commonwealth shopping mall! And you can't possibly confuse it with residential housing either. If the couples came here, they would have been forced to realize something completely bizarre had happened."

Hannah nodded again. "In which case they might turn back and attempt to return to Yellow Brick's home complex."

"You think so? Unless they left somebody behind, there would be no way to get back in. The servos don't allow unattended doors to be propped open."

Hannah shrugged. "But they wouldn't know that."

"True. But if that's the way it happened, afterwards I would have come back here. There's shelter here and lifetime of food. Except for Mall access, everything we have at a home complex is here. And once they recognize that, I can't see them abandoning the campus again, not all of them anyway."

"Ah, I see your point. Yes, they would try to explore, but this would be too good a home base to abandon. So what's the conclusion? Perhaps they left through the lounge after all. That was my original guess, remember?"

Fatima nodded. "Yeah, I sure do." It had been a major point of discussion over the last several days. Yellow Brick's home complex joined its hexagonal perimeter at the southeastern vertex, and some preliminary short-range exploration had previously revealed that the exit paths from the first floor library and the second floor lounge did not connect with each other for at least three 100-meter perimeter segments. Fatima had gambled that since Party #6 had discovered the library elevator, they probably also left their home complex through the first-floor exit. But she was beginning to rethink that logic.

Allison and Heather quickened their pace and caught up with them. "Well," commented Allison, "at least we solved one mystery. The infrared on Mark's satellite images, it's from the botany lab here." They were half through with their walk through the enclosed park. It the very center stood a very small six-sided gazebo, and the group walked through it rather than around.

While inside, Allison took a moment to study the distances on the map she had been making since the expedition started. She called out, "I'm estimating this gazebo is fourteen kilometers east and three kilometers north of Hex Hall." She was referring to the geometric center-point of the Great Hexagon.

Fatima nodded as she and her team continued north. Fatima looked at the sky and then at her priceless Leophone. They had about an hour till sunset. Toshi had volunteered to bike to their home complex and open the outside door to the library for them at 4:15 PM. She might have already started her bike trip.

The team might explore a few more line segments along the way, but it was time to head home. Fatima sighed. They had learned a few things today but had found no trace of Party #6. They had not even found an elevator as Mark's party had done, and it was the home complex of Yellow Brick that could use one the most.

When they reached the southern vertex of the admin building, Fatima quietly held the door open for her team. The opposite northern vertex of the admin segment was the only entrance and exit they had found into the campus that they were all calling Yellow Brick University.

"What do you want to bet the second sub-level is full of elevators?" asked Allison as they walked along an office corridor. "It would be insane to have this office building be the only entry point to the university, especially for the hospital."

"Not any more insane that the underground malls," countered Heather. "There are insanely few exits there. I sometimes feel claustrophobic when I'm down in the Mall."

"I think I agree with Allison," said Hannah. "I wouldn't mind testing a few of the sub-level portals in the hospital."

Fatima shook her head. "Our mission parameters are correct. Look what happened to Madison. We're not going to risk one-way passages, especially without clear evidence that Party #6 had passed through."

"But the servos remove that kind of evidence!"

"I know Hannah," Fatima replied with a sigh. "I know."

Meanwhile, approximately fourteen kilometers to the southwest and more than 1500 meters below…


Overhead view of the underground world showing the path of the Mississippi. The river runs from south to north. Entrance room is at the eastern end of the south wall.

"How are we looking?" Jada asked Madison who was standing on a high rock at the edge of the eastern shoreline and making notes in her log.

"Not too bad," replied Madison as she sighted her laser again to confirm her measurement. "I'm reading we're about 2.7 kilometers east of the longitude centerline and just about five kilometers south of the latitude centerline. Along the river, we've come twenty-one kilometers since the boat house."

Madison handed her log to Jada for inspection. Jada looked down at a very professional looking map. "Great work Maddy," she said quietly as she studied the map. "This is really excellent."

Madison gave an odd smile, a combination of the pride in her skills with a bit of sheepishness mixed in. "Emily spent days with me on the Leophone while I was waiting for the kayaks. She taught me how to do this."

Jada nodded and returned to her duty of scanning their temporary landing spot. The landscape was stunning in its beauty and bio-diversity. And underneath the appreciation lay a nagging sense of confusion. Was this a pure Earth environment? If she had to guess, Jada would say yes, but she lacked conviction. The forest seemed… She couldn't put her doubts into words. She surveyed the camp's perimeter again. The forest looked wilder than normal somehow. Jada shrugged and thought, "And what am I comparing it with? Wilderness in national parks? Face it Jada, this is what a truly pristine forest is supposed to look like."

They were camped on the eastern shoreline of the Mississippi, at a spot where the river was about to run almost due north for the next 700 meters. Over the course of the day, they had followed a great sine wave path as the river turned and head northwest for many kilometers before finally turning and heading back east. Their campsite now was in a particularly advantageous spot. Heading east from their location, there were only 600 meters of forest and then another 600 meters of foothills before the eastern wall of the cylindrical sky.

Mandy and Tom had been gone for the last hour, carrying their high-resolution digital cameras and binoculars as high into the foothills as they could. Jada and Madison had made a similar trip about five hours ago, at the western bend in the river, leaving Mandy and Tom to guard the precious boats while they climbed high into the western foothills in search of the lost party from White Mall. So far absolutely nothing had been found to indicate the group ever came this way, but Jada was far from discouraged. The territory was vast.

And they had discovered many things about this wondrous world, including some very useful insights into the Mississippi itself. There was a deep channel in the centerline of the river. Within the channel, the river flowed onward at a steady pace of two kilometers per hour. But the channel was only thirty to forty meters wide, and outside of it the water was almost still. Jada revised her estimate of the downward tilt of the underground world. The river was not flowing due to gravity. Some other force was at work.

And the depth of the river was unusual too. They had made numerous soundings, and had found within a few meters of the shore, the river typically showed six meters of depth before its muddy or rocky bottom. But in the central channel with the current, the river was much deeper, 35 to 40 meters. Jada had a vision of millions of paddlewheels turning and creating the current, though their sounding line never got tangled in anything more onerous than decaying vegetation.

And the channel was cold, 10C at most, probably about 3C colder than the rest of the river. Considering the width of the river, Jada thought it would be nearly impossible to swim across without a protective wetsuit. And this led to an interesting question. If Party #2 were down here, which bank of the river were they on?

The obvious choice was the eastern bank, the side with contained the entrance to the mall. But the area around the headwaters was a maze of beautiful glens, and it would have been possible for Party #2 to walk across the high rocks south of their boathouse lake and be on the western side. Jada's team would have to search both banks of the river.

Jada scanned the trees again, wondering what was keeping Mandy and Tom. She thought they'd be here by now. It was such a relief to have two armed and competent people with the pistols. It allowed her group to perform the most critical part of their mission, ground exploration away from the riverbank. The forest was so thick and alive with the sounds of wildlife, a group of people a hundred meters from the shore could easily be missed by people passing down the river.

Madison frowned and looked at the trees inland. "Did you hear something?" she asked quietly.

Jada turned and cocked her head. "No. Quite the opposite in fact. Some of the birds have stopped chirping." Jada surveyed the forest again, the frown on her face matching the one on Madison's.

Madison quietly unholstered her pistol. "I thought a saw something in the trees from of the corner of my eye. I can't tell exactly where. But the motion didn't look quite natural."

Jada was armed with a large survival knife, and she stood still for a moment wondering if she should unsheathe it or perhaps grab a paddle from the kayaks. What was Madison nervous about? And then through some thick brush perhaps sixty meters away, she saw Tom and Mandy returning to camp. Jada smiled and waved. Tom waved back and Mandy lifted something up to show Jada proudly. And Madison screamed.

Jada turned her head left in time to see a large animal rushing towards them, some sort of huge muscular dog, her mind thought for an instant. Madison was already dropping into a firing position, bringing up her gun and trying to line up a shot. She realized in an instant that the animal was almost on top of her.

There was no time to aim. She fired once and grimaced as the animal adjusted its trajectory, and then fired again as the animal leaped. She could see her attacker clearly now, massive forepaws stretched out with needle-pointed claws and a wide-open jaw packed with wickedly sharp teeth. Madison gasped. Those teeth! They were enormous! It was something out of a horror movie.

There was another loud report, and then the beast slammed into Madison's chest, the open jaw just missing in the animal's attempt to tear out her throat. The impact of the blow was tremendous, and it knocked Madison off her feet and sent her flying backwards. She landed on the soft earth with a heavy thud, her head less than a meter from her kayak with the beast still on top of her. Madison realized in dismay that she had lost her pistol, and she wildly brought her arms up to protect her face and neck.

"Maddy!" Jada screamed as she unsheathed her knife and rushed to help her fallen comrade.

"I'm okay!" yelled Madison as pushed the animal off her and rolled quickly to her feet. "Where's my gun?!" She saw it lying nearby and dove for it. It took a few seconds to retrieve it and target the beast. Just before she could fire, Madison's mind registered the fact that the beast was unmoving. Was it dead? She paused wondering if she should fire again.

Tom and Mandy arrived at the campsite. Tom had his pistol out and had it trained on the animal. "I think I got it," he called to Madison. "Don't fire unless it moves."

"You got it?!" Madison said nervously, her eyes never leaving the beast.

"Yeah…" With one hand on the pistol, Tom poked the carcass with a paddle, gently at first and then very firmly. The carcass remained an unmoving hulk. Then he walked around to the animal's front, took a close look and visibly relaxed and holstered his pistol. "It's okay. It's dead."

"How can you be sure?" asked Madison, still targeting the animal.

"Come take a look," he said simply. Over the next few minutes, Tom and all three of the women made a detailed inspection of the beast. Then Jada called mission-control at the Hilton. Soon everyone was bridged into the conversation, even Fatima's and Mark's teams who were still out on their away missions. After a brief explanation, Jada started to give a detailed description.

"It's the size of a large dog, very muscular, especially in front. I'm trying to lift it now. Wow, a bit heavier than I thought. Maybe a hundred kilos, maybe more."

"That would be a bit large for a leopard."

" Yeah, I know. The closest thing I can think of is a tree leopard. Oh, I know. Maybe it's some kind of jaguar. Except for the oversized canines, maybe that would be about right."

"Let me guess," asked Aggie over the bridge. "Not much of a tail, right?"

"Correct," answered Jada. "The creature has a short, stubby tail. How did you know?"

"Maddy said she thought it came out of a tree before it charged. A long tail is useful for balance in a long chase. But this animal leaped from a tree. I think it's designed for a quick pounce and kill."

"I think you're right Aggie," Madison replied. "You should see these front shoulder muscles. It's like a jaguar on steroids. This cat is a weight lifter, not a sprinter. And these teeth! Aggie, this is insane!"

"What are you seeing?"

"I wish you could see this. There are wickedly long canines hanging out of the mouth. And the jaw is opened more than ninety degrees. I don't think a normal cat could do that. I've got a pretty grim image of what the cat wanted to do, tear my throat open with those canines and then climb my body into a tree. Maybe I shouldn't call it a cat. It's not a real cat. Close but not too close…"

Aggie nodded to herself in the library of Green Mall. Unfortunately Jada's team had no way to transmit their digital pictures. That would have to wait until they cycled a memory card through the elevator at the bottom of the great stairwell. Aggie continued, "I'm entering the parameters you've mentioned into the library search engine. Maddy, what color is the beast?"

"Spotted browns with a lighter brown fur. In the tree, its camouflage must have been excellent. It was invisible until it started to charge. And even then it was very hard to target. I see where my two shots hit. I think my first was on the right foreleg, a terrible shot, little more than a graze."

Tom spoke up. "Maddy, it wasn't your fault. I was watching. The beast chose to pivot just before you fired."

"Thanks. Anyway, my second shot hit its right shoulder. It was a solid hit but I don't think I hit anything immediately fatal. The bullet is probably lodged in a thick mass of muscle. And then there's Tom's shot, dead on the temple from fifty-plus meters. A master's shot, and it saved my life."

Aggie replied, "I have a tentative match. My gosh…"

Jada spoke up. "Aggie, what?"

"The search engine is suggesting something called Dinofelis."

Maddy gave an astonished shriek. "This is a dinosaur?!"

Despite the gravity of the situation, Aggie didn't try to stop herself and she burst out laughing over the bridge. "No! Dinosaur is terrible lizard. Dinofelis means terrible cat. But this creature should still be extinct. The library reference labels the group a "false saber tooth" that existed from the Early Pliocene to the Early Pleistocene."

"Uh, Aggie, what are those dates in years?" It was Mark's voice over the phone.

"Oh, hi Mark. The range would be from five million years ago to about one and half million years."

"Oh my gosh," Mark muttered over the phone. "This is huge."

"How do you mean?"

"Think Aggie. It implies the builders of this place had access to the DNA of an Earth creature extinct for a million and a half years. That would mean the builders knew about Earth that long ago. Perhaps they stayed engaged with us all that time. The implications are staggering. On those time scales, they could have been guiding evolution. For all we know, maybe they were guiding our evolution."

Jada thought about Mark's point for a moment, and then softly muttered, "shit."

Chapter 51.

It was twenty minutes after the attack of the Dinofelis when the conference call finally ended. Jada looked at her watch and thought that by using a little of the evening twilight, they still had almost four hours of decent light left. If they stayed out of the central channel, they could avoid the current and have the kayaks secured in the boathouse in less than three hours. Then there was a short two-kilometer hike across some gentle switchbacks to climb to their home sanctuary. Heck, they might even be back before sunset, but they definitely had to leave now.

Tom and Mandy though had another idea. As they all broke camp, Mandy reported on her away-mission with Tom. "There's a huge lake coming up after the next bend in the river. You can't see it from here, but the Mississippi really broadens out, maybe a kilometer or more across."

As he was lifting the first of his two kayaks into the water, Tom added, "And in the middle of the lake, perhaps dead center in the whole world down here, there's a small island. We estimate it's six kilometers from here. With the current, we could be there in a half hour." He turned and gave Jada a grinning smile.

Jada paused and then blinked. "You're suggesting we head there now?"

Mandy answered for both of them. "Well, it's an intriguing idea, isn't it? The entities who built this place adored playing with the geometry. This island is probably directly under Hex Hall and might even be centered under it. Tom and I think there's bound to be some useful treasure there. Maybe it's loaded with treasure. We're hoping for an elevator."

"I think it would be safe," Tom added, "It's a small island, too small to support large predators."

Jada blew a full load of air through her cheeks and repeated, "You want to go there now?! Are you two on drugs?" And then she gave them a playful smile to show she wasn't too upset with the suggestion. "Think guys. What if your buried treasure is surrounded by a certain type of ivy we've all come to know so well? If we explore that place and find we have to abandon it, it'll be after 5 PM by the time we return here. Even if we kill ourselves paddling, we'll have no margin for getting home before dark, and I'm talking about the boathouse, not back at the sanctuary. Don't you remember? We're supposed to drop off our camera's memory sticks."

Mandy nodded sheepishly. "Ah, I admit I forgot about that. But first thing tomorrow?"

Jada grinned. "I don't see why not. Uh…" Jada noticed for the first time the plants Mandy was carrying. Mandy had been displaying them to Jada from a distance just before the Dinofelis attacked. They looked so strange. "What are those?"

Mandy proudly showed off her find. "Take a good look! Don't you recognize them?"

Jada stared for a moment. "No, not at all." Madison also stopped and looked closely at the plants. One plant had an orange cauliflower-like top with spiral tentacles underneath with the thickness of carrots. Another plant was the size and structure of a head of lettuce, but with a dazzling array of leaves with multiple stripes of green. And a third plant looked like some sort of a vine with bunches of pale-brown spheres attached to it. The spheres were the size of giant grapes, roughly the size of strawberries.