It's My Party

He nodded, and not surprisingly to either of them, they held hands as they continued their journey.

Chapter 58.



Chapter 59.

Time: Saturday, March 2, 2019 10:53 PM

"Such decadence!" Oona thought with a big grinning smile. It was her second bath of the day and this one was sheer heaven, naked and submerged up to her neck in a hot bubbly Jacuzzi. It was three hours after linear sunset and she had turned the bathroom's lights to super low and the ceiling to 100% transparency. A full moon was directly overhead and it was bathing the room in beautiful silver light.

Oona would normally be asleep this time of night unless she was on guard duty. But the sensual pleasure of this bath was irresistible. Two months of wilderness dirt had finally been separated from her body. Oona wiggled her toes and glanced at a clock in the dimness. Another few minutes, she thought. She turned off the water jets and then floated in the still water, arms and legs stretched out. "It feels so nice to be pampered," she thought. She floated and gazed up at the familiar image of Earth's moon.

It was all a fake of course, but damn, it looked good! Oona didn't think she could tell the difference even with a telescope. But the orbital track of the linear sun's silver cousin was absurd. The fake moon always tracked the centerline at the top of the cylindrical sky, moving from south to due north, perfectly perpendicular to the east-to-west orbit of the linear sun. And the phases of the moon were random, one night to the next. Oona never knew what to expect.

If it came at all, and it did most nights, the moon would always make its appearance at the southernmost tip of the cylindrical sky within three hours of linear sunset and then float north at the pace of a fast walk. The moon would take exactly six hours to move across the forty-six-kilometer length of sky. Tonight a full moon had risen right at sunset and now was directly overhead. The light inside the bathroom was easily bright enough to read a book.

"Jada's home really is magical," Oona thought. "Not true magic, everything here is based on science, I know, but still…" Each of the eighteen rooms on the upper level had individual controls for controlling the transparency of the ceiling, and the extreme setting Oona had chosen for the bathroom now had made the ceiling absolutely disappear. It was still there of course. Their beautiful home was delightfully warm. But the ceiling was completely invisible.

There were twenty ceiling controls in all, all on the upper level, one for each of the eighteen upper rooms, one for the corridor loop between the twelve bedrooms on the outer part of the hexagonal building and the six public rooms towards the core, and then finally one control for the great core itself, a grand hexagonal sunken courtyard eight meters high and 8.83 meters in length for each of the six sides. Oona floated and remembered Madison's explanation how that distance was determined by the outside hexagonal side length of twenty-four meters dropping a perfect factor of e.

So much information! The island home complex was positioned exactly below and was exactly the same size as a place called Hex Hall that was a couple hundred meters above the fake moon Oona was gazing at now. There were eighteen rooms in the living area of this wonderful home, each having generous four-meter ceilings and a more-than-ample sixty square meters of area. There were twelve bedrooms ringing the outer perimeter, and then six public rooms on the inside, a recreation room, a kitchen, a lounge, a library, a hospital area, and finally this perfect bathroom.

Each of the twelve bedrooms had a door leading to the outside gardens and a door to the central corridor. Both doors were located near the radial partition wall near the central of the hexagonal faces (the radial walls that were opposite the radial walls at the vertex locations). Each of the six public rooms had a single entrance, a door to the encircling corridor at the center of their outward face. The inward faces overlooked the stone courtyard four meters below ground level, where six bands of ribbon stone completed exactly three revolutions in a exponential spiral. Madison had told Oona and Abit it was a subset of Hex Hall above, where the colored ribbons make 3.5 revolutions.

And the six colored bands led to six underground stores, reachable through stairs connecting the upper-level gym area with a CVS Pharmacy below. Each of the six stores had more than 200 square meters of floor area and was brimming with goods, packed all the way up to their four-meter ceiling. Besides the pharmacy, there was an Eastern Mountain Sports clothing store, an Ace Hardware store, and three different food stores. With their strange cabinets that could defy the passage of time, the stores offered enough provisions to last their group a lifetime.

And perhaps they would have to. Jada's group was extremely distressed to learn the results of Party #2's exploration of Wobanakik. After two months of searching, no trace of an exit had been found, and they had searched the northern end intensively, the Black Mall area Jada had hoped would be a prime spot to find a way out of here. Jada's group had stunned the two Indians with the news of Earth's destruction, but Oona and Abit had shocked them back as they described how they might all be forced to live in Wobanakik for the rest of their lives.

Time: Saturday, March 2, 2019 11:53 PM

Tom was lying on the cave floor trying to get some sleep. The floor wasn't quite as cold as the night air maybe, but it was still chilly. As he drifted in a dream, Tom wondered if the floor was being heated a bit from below. The nearby fields of tasty fruits and vegetables certainly had dirt warmer than Tom would have expected. The air was cold through… Cold…

A hand touched his shoulder. Tom came up from his doze and opened his eyes. Carla was kneeling beside him and she whispered, "I thought I saw you shivering. Your blanket has fallen off. Do you want some company? Not for sex, just for warmth."

Tom looked around and noticed all the other women were sleeping in pairs or triplets. He nodded happily and a moment later Carla lay curled and butting back into him. Tom held her with his arm around her waist. Carla gave a deep contented sigh and started to fall asleep almost immediately. "Full moon tonight," she whispered drowsily. "Another two hours it'll be here… overhead… very bright, then poof, all gone… Hmmm…"

Tom kissed the back of her sleepy head in reply. It had been a very busy evening. The joy created by their arrival at base camp had evaporated when Tom explained how Earth had met its fate. People were in shock, filled with grief over the deaths of all their loved ones. Tom debated furiously with himself whether to mention the gift of mind linking, and then decided to do it.

The news was greeted with skepticism bordering on derision. Not by Sandra through. Tom found he really liked her, a very capable and compassionate leader who was the only person besides Carla willing to try to link with him. In the light of a compact infinite-battery device, both women helped Tom prove to the others that mind-linking was a real phenomenon.

Carla made a soft cooing noise in her sleep. Tom had seen her happiness in her eyes earlier, such trust! He could almost open-end link with her, the ability felt very close, and that was something Madison and he had accomplished only this morning after weeks of trying. Well, there was precedent. Tom had heard that Mark and Toshi could open-end link the very first time they tried linking with each other.

Such trust, and it there was also more. Carla had dropped all her defenses as she and Tom touched minds, allowing Tom to see a rainbow of unshielded emotions spinning in turbulent complexity. Carla was dancing in her thoughts.

"Do you mind if I show you this?" Carla had asked, her mind overflowing with laughter within the link. "I'm feeling a dozen different emotions all at once, timid and excited and I'm probably not making any sense. Do you mind if I show this?!" And then she had hiccupped before Tom could reply. But afterwards she didn't miss the hopeful smile on Tom's face.

Tom shifted slightly now, getting more comfortable, his hand resting lightly over Carla's ribs just to the side of her breasts. Tom wondered briefly if Carla felt too thin, but then he remembered she was all agile muscle on the trail. He kissed her again and fell asleep enjoying her warmth.

Time: Sunday, March 3, 2019 2:07 AM

Mark was curled up asleep in his bedroom at Blue Mall. Much earlier his hand had spent an hour caressing his wife's pregnant womb, and it was now lying still on Toshi's hip. Frida and Toshi a while ago had decided they liked alternating nights sleeping with Mark alone rather than the three of them sleeping together, and Mark had happily complied.

There was a gentle hand touching his neck. Mark opened his eyes and turned. Fatima was there, dressed in a thin robe over cotton pajamas. With a nod of her head, she asked Mark to join her outside the room. Mark glided out of bed, leaving Toshi undisturbed. A moment later he was with Fatima in the corridor.

"What's up?"

"I got a call from Kiyoko. She's on monitor duty tonight with Cassidy."

Mark blinked the sleep from his eyes and frowned. "Black Mall?"

"No, the census counter. It just dropped by two, down by two women. I was already awake so I came myself."

"Oh. Okay, I'll go now."

"I'll come with you."

Mark nodded. That made sense. Blue Mall's library elevator was the only one working and that's how Fatima would leave here. They walked together to the end of the bedroom corridor and then down the massive circular staircase to the first level. From there they would walk the hundred meters through the home complex until they reached a library console.

"Everybody else asleep?" Mark asked with a yawn as they walked through the multipurpose room Jada liked to call the music room.

"I think so," Fatima yawned back. "Earlier Cassidy said Charles was up very late with Lynn and Akiko..."

"Hmmm?"

" …in the telecom lab, but I'm sure they must have knocked off by now."

"Charles in the telecom lab? What was he doing there?"

Another big yawn. "No idea. Working on something I guess."

At last they were in the library. As he approached the interface, Mark glanced at the census counter by the elevator and confirmed Fatima's report. The counter was reading 009:083.

Mark had agreed with Fatima about this procedure the day after he discovered his access rights to the job-planning portfolio. If there were more deaths later this night and Mark hadn't checked the logs, they would not know the order of the deaths, and perhaps that information would someday be important. Mark had agreed to check the job planning logs immediately whenever the census counter changed.

"Both deaths occurred in Party #1," he whispered after a moment of typing. "IDs #1 and #4 are no longer here."

Fatima gave a deep sigh and rested her hand on Mark's shoulder. "I feel relieved. Oh hell Mark, why do I feel relieved? We've just lost two more precious lives and we don't even know their names."

The question had an answer, but Mark knew Fatima didn't need him to speak it. He sighed in his own relief. His wife Jada was still in the portfolio, along with everyone else in their society. And the deaths had not occurred in Green or Blue Malls, two populations they were hoping were in stable situations.

There was nothing left to do. Fatima would return to her current sleeping quarters, her original bedroom in Red Mall. But as she turned to the elevator and home, Fatima was swept by a strong impulse and she turned back to Mark and hugged him. He hugged back. It was pure compassion and comforting affection at first, but as the hug lingered, their hands dropped and they began petting each other's butts.

Fatima sighed and whispered. "Sometimes at night, I wake up and realize I just had a sexy dream about you. I was having one tonight when Kiyoko called."

They shared a few kisses. Fatima made a soft humming noise and Mark felt the tip of her soft tongue touching his lips. The tongue withdrew before he could decide how to respond.

"I should get back to sleep," yawned Fatima, "and Toshi deserves you tonight, not me."

"Hmmm," Mark nodded sleepily in agreement. And yet, the warmth and softness of Fatima felt wonderful in his arms, such a perfect fit, as if she always belonged…

Mark blinked and looked at her. Fatima's eyes were open, her mind receptive, and a strong link formed immediately. For a long while the link was completely non-verbal, expressions of sexuality and tenderness flowing back and forth without words.

"Do you notice Mark?" Fatima thought at last, "How easily our minds are fitting together? I love you."

Another long moment passed, the two minds exchanging emotional constructs. Finally Mark verbalized a thought. "Do you really want to wait till next year?"

Fatima thought the construct of a sigh. "Perhaps not. You know my desires for you. Let me think about this when I'm not so sleepy."

A final kiss, a playful hint of future sexuality as Fatima brushed the back of her hand against his penis as she turned, and then they parted for the night. They were both back to sound asleep a short time later.

Chapter 60.

Time: Sunday, March 3, 2019 5 AM

With linear daybreak just moments away on the opposite side of the sky, a dozen people began marching south to what everyone was hoping would be a much better home. The new supplies and especially the new footgear had everyone in very high spirits.

After the first hour of uneventful hiking, Carla looked around her group and noticed the only one who wasn't smiling was Sandra. She drifted over and asked if Sandra's injured foot was okay.

Sandra replied that the new boots felt fabulous and were making walking as easy as she had hoped. She then pointed to the end of the eastern sky behind them and projected a thought with their new form of communication. Carla received "What's up with the sky?" before both of them disengaged with minor hiccups.

Carla turned and saw immediately what Sandra meant. The linear sun had risen on time and was shining with normal brightness, but in the arch of the sky behind them, the northernmost part of the eastern cylindrical sky was slowly losing its blue and turning a dirty gray and yellow. It was a new phenomenon. They had seen many storms in the last two months but nothing quite like this.

"Think we can out-walk it?" asked Carla.

"Somehow I doubt it," replied Sandra.

Carla frowned and agreed with Sandra that they would have to keep an eye on the weather.

Time: Sunday, March 3, 2019 7 AM

"Thanks everybody for coming so early," Fatima said as she looked around the conference table at the Hilton. She waved her hand at a breakfast buffet Aggie and a few friends had set up earlier. ""Feel free to get something more to eat if you're still hungry. But I'd like to start the meeting now. As you know, yesterday's events with Black Mall threw off our schedule a bit, and Charles also asked me for extra time to design his rescue mission. Charles, have you finished picking your team?"

"Yes. After discussing this with a number of people, I'd like to propose a minimal two-person effort. I have asked Lynn to accompany me and she has accepted."

Fatima had to work for a second not to show a negative reaction. She considered Lynn and Akiko priceless assets due to their expertise with telecom technology and so far had kept them off the rosters of the exploration teams. But Fatima decided Charles deserved the right to make his case, and within a micro link she told him her mind was open and to proceed.

"Right. Well, my decision is based on maximizing the chance for mission success while minimizing the risk to our society. That's why I want to keep this effort as small as possible. Lynn and I both know how to canoe and can look after each other. I think we'll make a good team. And finally, and this is critical, our problem with Jada's team started when we lost communications. I've listened to the logs. Her team had successfully landed at the island and Jada was describing a peaceful scene outside the boathouse. And then her signal was cut off. I'm betting the problem might be with her Leophone."

Fatima replied, "But we're sending a new Leophone. And even assuming you're right Charles, what could Lynn do with a broken Leophone in a wilderness environment?"

"Fatima, can I answer that?" asked Lynn. "You're right, I could probably do nothing with a broken Leophone in a wilderness. But Akiko and I are still suspicious of that strange call we got after we lost contact with Jada. It might have come from the underworld, but there's no way to check that out from this end. Also, last night with Charles' help, Akiko and I automated the activation of the new Leophones. You'll get a new active phone about once every two days. Akiko doesn't need me here for that."

Fatima turned to Akiko. "Akiko, are you comfortable doing this solo?"

She nodded. "And I hope to have a second activation bench working sometime tomorrow. You should soon be getting a new phone every day. Lynn and I have the problem nailed."

Fatima thought for a moment and then said, "What about you Lynn? Do you feel comfortable with going?"

"I do. I'd also like to add that Akiko is easily my equal in troubleshooting the network. I'm the better choice for Charles only because of my canoe experience."

"Look at it this way," Charles said finishing his case to Fatima. "If we send a rescue mission without a telecom specialist and then lose contact with it, what are we going to do? Send yet another team? Eventually we'll have to send either Lynn or Akiko down there to see if the problem is with the network. Why don't we do this now before we have more people down there? And I should also add"

"Charles," interrupted Fatima. "It's okay. I agree."

Charles shut up immediately. One of his mottos was, when you strike oil, stop the drill.

Fatima asked, "How soon can you leave?"

Charles locked eyes with Lynn for a few seconds and then both rose from their chairs. He said, "We'd like to leave right now. Lynn and I have finished breakfast. It was great Aggie, thanks a bunch. Fatima, we'll listen to the rest of the meeting on the phone. All our equipment is already pre-positioned at the bottom of the stairwell. Lynn and I will be traveling light and making good time. We'll check in right before we go through the elevator. It should be before noontime."

Fatima nodded her approval, and after briefs goodbye hugs with their friends, Charles and Lynn left the room. They would jump to the library at White Mall, then go up to the lounge and begin their 2.5 kilometer hike around the White Mall diamond array before beginning their descent.

Fatima moved to the next order of business. Yesterday shortly after the end of Black Mall's strange excursion, Fatima had asked Mark to form a group and discuss the feasibility of turning the tables and having their group bait Ricardo with the goal of trapping his group down in the Mall. Fatima wanted to turn the last five kilometers of the Black Mall spiral into one large prison.

Mark looked around the table and shrugged sheepishly. "Nothing really brilliant came up, but I would like to go over a few things. We came up with four possible routes to interact with his group. The most obvious is the elevator system, but even testing with the trapdoor is not without risk. We know zilch about the underlying technology. What if using the trapdoor enough times activates their lounge elevator? We have no evidence of this but what's the proof it won't happen? And that's assuming Ricardo has the carriage unblocked, in which case we may be playing into his hands. I agree with Amber. Yesterday Ricardo wanted us to use the elevator system to get to his home complex. I'm as certain as Amber he had something cooked up for us."