It's My Party

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:20:00 PM, reset plus 00:06:57

Madison had her hand on Lynn's shoulder as Lynn sat by the console, and both of their heads were looking up and gazing at the images of stars above. "Here it comes again," Madison said in a calm conversational tone of voice. But the calm was not real. Her mind was racing with thoughts of what else they should be doing. In a universe were a full day lasted two minutes, how precious were the seconds they were wasting?

"Yes, look!" responded Lynn. "Waxing gibbous, a little fuller than before. You were right Maddy. The moon seems to have its cycle back."

"How long Lynn?" whispered Madison.

"That we keep having two-minute days? I have absolutely no idea. But it's not immediately life threatening, is it?"

"Well… Yeah, I guess not. It'll be a strange life though, if this is what the future is like. Perhaps we will sleep downstairs in the stores to get away from the cyclic flashes of light. But how will the animals in the forest sleep? This is going to kill them if it keeps up forever."

The next dawn arrived twenty-five seconds after the overhead passage of the midnight moon. A minute later in late afternoon Margaret walked back into the library. "I just checked the bathroom," she announced. "There's no water pressure anywhere. The toilets aren't even flushing. I'll check the kitchen next… Hah, maybe tomorrow! Anybody want to bet what I'll find?"

"No bet Margaret," Madison replied. "I guess we could drink river water. I've got a sneaking suspicion though that all our food storage is no longer skipping its trip through time. Food might become an issue if this keeps up forever."

Margaret nodded. "We could take trips to our old campsite at the north end, go back to farming the food there. Be a bit of a pain though, hiking through this… what should I call it? The climate?"

It the darkness of the new night, Madison sighed. "Good a word as any."

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:22:00 PM, reset plus 00:08:57

Ricardo took one look at the pitch blackness through the next door and gave up. Already he was getting light through a relay, Jessica holding open the door to the lobby, and Jenaro holding open a door in the corridor which allowed Ricardo to get to the door he was now holding open. This was totally ridiculous! This world so far had been such a reliable place for light too. Perhaps not great lighting everywhere, but there's was always some light if you wanted it. This though, this was a show stopper.

Ricardo turned around and led Jenaro back to the lobby. They had so few options. Should Ricardo just abandon this lobby and try the next door two kilometers away? Something in the back of his mind was warning him that getting into the building might not be so easy at the next door. They were inside now. How precious was this opportunity? But how could he explore without light? Ricardo considered going into the corridors blind and just feeling his way for a while, and then he totally rejected the idea.

What about the lobby walls? There were strange intricate patterns carved into the burnished metal. Could they be hiding a switch, maybe something that would turn the lights on? That would change everything. Ricardo decided it would be reasonable to search the wall for a while. He walked over to it and began trying to press and twist the many small shapes protruding from the wall. There were numerous things to try, even in the small area immediately in front of him. Was he wasting his time? This would take a while.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:24:00 PM, reset plus 00:10:57

Mark and Hannah came back into the Hilton conference room. "That was fast," commented Fatima. "Did you make it all the way?"

Mark sat down and shut off his phone, plunging the room into pitch darkness again. "Yep. We were very efficient. And I've learned that Hannah has the eyes of a cat." He heard his companion sitting next to him give a laughing snort, and then he continued. "I've placed the sword by the entrance door. It's interesting. The mushroom lock is still in place, and the door is still fully descended. But it feels like heavy soft plastic. I'm betting the sword could slice through it now."

Fatima nodded in the darkness. "But you haven't tried it yet?"

"No, not yet. I didn't want to commit us to destroying the door, not until we're ready to leave." Mark sighed and thought how fortunate it was that he had followed through on what seemed at the time a rather odd idea. There was a martial arts store adjacent to the terminal store of Red Mall, and there were several dozen museum quality swords there. As he became proficient with the weapon, Mark had taken the time to place a backup sword at each of the terminal stores and sky-bridge locations.

"Mark?" It was Fatima's voice through the darkness. "Level with me. Do you really think this is possible?"

"Well, I don't see why not, as long as the darkness is the only thing we have to face. It's about sixty-eight spiral kilometers to Barnes and Nobel. We'll walk single-file, hand along the inside spiral wall. We'll count the doors as we go and use the Leophones when we need to find water. It's a big hike, no denying that. But we're all healthy. Making four kilometers per hour should be no problem once we get used to walking in the darkness."

"Maybe we could sing songs as we hike," suggested Lucia. "I know a lot of camp songs."

"Sure," said Mark as he grinned, "a good idea. Through an amazing display of total recall, I once memorized all one hundred verses of ninety-nine bottles of beer on a wall. This'll be my chance to prove it."

Fatima ignored Mark's attempt at humor and did the math. "So, seventeen hours of hiking?"

Mark replied. "That's what I'm thinking, nice and easy, take a full day, maybe get home to Green Mall tomorrow late afternoon or evening. Of course, if everything is without power on the surface, we're still going to be in trouble."

"And what about Wobanakik?" Fatima asked quietly.

There was a long pause. "I know," Mark finally said. "My heart is grieving too. I don't think the stairs would be doable in pitch darkness. Without power, we couldn't get through the one-way elevator anyway." For a long moment no one replied.

Chapter 71.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:25:00 PM, reset plus 00:11:57

"I knew it!" cried Tom. He was standing with Carla, Suvarna, and Tajana in the far back entrance room. They were by the elevator, and its four-meter sliding door was open about ten centimeters. Tom stuck in his fingers and with a moderate amount of effort pushed the door aside.

All of this was possible because Carla had been playing with Madison's old Leophone. She had popped it out of the power cradle and discovered the phone came to life, not in a network sense but at least the phone display was lit. The four of them used the tiny light to work their way back to the elevator, stopping at the kitchen to pick up four bottles of water.

"Do you really think we can hike up all these stairs in the dark?" asked Suvarna. They had now passed through the elevator's other door and were walking the twenty-five meter corridor. The first flight of stairs was all but invisible in the darkness.

"I don't see why not," replied Tom.

"Will your Leophone last that long?"

"Oh, I can't imagine it would. We'll have to do this in the dark. But there's only one path. We can't get lost."

"We could fall," whispered Suvarna.

Tom nodded. "Yes. We'll have to be very careful and not get complacent." He shut off the phone as they reached the stairs, plunging them into pitch darkness. "Let's test it with one flight. We'll go single file along the right wall." Calling out words of encouragement to each other, the four slowly started climbing, lightly touching the rump of the person ahead of them to avoid collisions.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:25:30 PM, reset plus 00:12:27

Diego turned uncomfortably in his nap. Something felt vaguely wrong. The air inside the hexagonal walkways always had a slight refreshing breeze, but now it felt very still. Diego blinked his eyes awake and looked around. Was something going on? He reached for his binoculars and gasped as he felt his wrist cuff flop loosely open. Within seconds he freed himself from his other cuffs, crying and shaking at his good fortune. This changed everything!

Diego took the time to examine the vertex door leading to the outside. Unfortunately it was as unlocked as his cuffs. Diego could not prevent Ricardo from getting back inside the complex. And Ricardo had all the guns. No, wait a minute. It would have made sense for Ricardo to leave Alfonso a gun to guard the mall. Should Diego go down and talk to him?

Hell! If Diego's cuffs were no longer working, perhaps Alfonso was free too. And Diego remembered the look of betrayal in Alfonso's eyes when Diego had kicked him in the groin. It couldn't be helped of course. It was either Alfonso's scrotum or Diego's life. But would Alfonso understand that if Diego tried to explain? Was he the type of guy to carry a grudge? Diego wasn't sure, but he felt he owed it to the guy to give him the benefit of the doubt. So he turned and trotted across the sand park to the central stairwell and the mall, trying to come up with some words of apology in his mind.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:26:04 PM, reset plus 00:13:01

The almost full moon was directly overhead, its ballistic path to the north now almost familiar. Jada spoke out in a conversational tone about the fake lunar cycle. "Just a hair shy of full. The next pass will do it for sure." She felt Sandra's hand on her shoulder.

"How about we go back inside with the others?"

Jada looked at her friend and noticed the others had already left. Jada nodded. "You're right. We have to start talking about the future." The two women headed back to the library.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:26:13 PM, reset plus 00:13:10

Alfonso was on his feet now, walking briskly when he could feel the wall on his left and slowing down a bit as he crossed the occasional four-meter openings of the store entrances. He had been up on his feet for close to ten minutes now, and was overestimating his progress a little by thinking he had already traveled a full kilometer.

He knew there were only five kilometers between Jacob's and the end of the mall at the Mex Grocer's. How far should he go? "Another kilometer," he thought. "Try to get about half way down…" He had a full clip of fifteen rounds in his pistol. One thing for sure, anybody pursuing him was going to be in for a nasty surprise.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:26:20 PM, reset plus 00:13:17

"Pity there are no handrails," commented Carla in the blackness. She was second in line, lightly holding Tom's belt just below the small of his back.

Tom gave her an affirming grunt in reply. He had just climbed thirty-one stairs, ten percent of the first flight. At their current rate, this was going to take a hell of a long time, perhaps more time than they had water for. And even if they got to the surface, then what? There was no way to get into the White Mall home complex unless somebody let them in. Tom thought they would camp out outside the lounge door and pray that someone would eventually open it.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:26:28 PM, reset plus 00:13:25

"You want some help Ricardo?"

Ricardo paused from his probing of the wall to look at Jenaro. Could he trust him to do a quality job and search a section of the wall? "Just wait by the packs and get ready to move out. I'm starting to think this is a waste of time."

Jenaro nodded and went to stand by the door. There was a stiff breeze blowing outside and he could smell the distinctive odor of the sea grass. It reminded him vaguely of a freshly cut lawn. "Wow," he thought. "That brings back memories." Meanwhile Ricardo had returned to his wall.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:26:38 PM, reset plus 00:13:35

Diego had just walked across a hundred meters of sand and was now entering the large circular stairwell at the geometric center of his home complex. It was a twenty-four meter descent to the level of the first floor of Jacob's Bar and Grill, and a four-meter ascent to the second floor of home.

Diego was shocked to see that the stairwell had lost its power. All of the recessed lighting was off. But there was still adequate sunlight from the transparent dome above, and he had an alarming vision of Alfonso chained in the pitch darkness of a mall without power. Diego turned to the stairs heading down and began to go down as fast as he safely could.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:26:48 PM, reset plus 00:13:45

"So Mark, where's the sword?" asked Fatima. She was feeling the soft plastic door and silently agreeing with Mark that he could slice it without a problem. Their group had spent the last couple of minutes talking from their conference room to the mall entrance to the Hilton.

"Over on the left." Mark took a few steps and picked up the weapon. "Are there any water bottles around here? Now's the time to get them."

"Oh, I think I can find a few," offered Holly. Mark heard her move behind a counter and a moment later heard something heavy fall over. "I'm okay!" Holly called out.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:27:00 PM, reset plus 00:13:58

Lynn turned her head and saw Jada and Sandra coming back into the library. Everybody was back again. Lynn sighed and wished she could suggest something constructive. But what? She glanced up through the transparent ceiling. The linear sun appeared to be directly overhead. They had now gone through seven full days of fast time.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:27:04 PM, reset plus 00:14:01

And click! The opal ceiling of the lobby began to glow with internal light and the door by Jenaro's side began to slide closed. This was just the opportunity he was praying for. In one smooth motion, he slid outside before the door fully closed, curling in a U-shape as he just managed to exit the lobby carrying both his and Hernando's backpacks. And then the door clicked shut. Jenaro peered back inside and saw Ricardo staring at him in astonishment.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:27:09 PM, reset plus 00:14:06

The stairwell lights had been on for five seconds now, and Tom's eyes were finally getting used to the light.

"Let me check the elevator!" Suvarna called out from the end of the line. She turned around and started heading back down the stairs.

"Don't go through the elevator!" Tom shouted out after her.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:27:14 PM, reset plus 00:14:11

The library room at the central island was filled with cheers. After ten seconds of the linear sun remaining rock-stable in its overhead position, people were beginning to hope that the reset insanity was over. And the power was back on. What an overwhelming relief. "I'll check the kitchen!" Sachi called as she ran laughing from of the room.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:27:19 PM, reset plus 00:14:16

Diego slowed up as he approached the end of the stairs. He could see the pseudo-magnetic cuffs that Ricardo had used to lock the entrance into Jacob's, and he had a sickening feeling that he was a few seconds too late to remove them. Sure enough, a moment later he confirmed that the locks were active. Damn! He had been so close! But how could he have known?

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:27:24 PM, reset plus 00:14:21

Twenty seconds after reset, Mark sheathed his sword as Emily removed the mushroom lock and then retracted the door. "On second thought," said Fatima, "Emily, please close and lock the door again."

Emily turned to her leader and guessed her thinking without linking. "You're going to abandon the Hilton?"

"For a while I think, yes. Everybody, I want us all to live at the Red Mall complex, at least for a few days. We'll transfer Hilton monitor control to the library consoles. Let's go! I want us out of here now!"

As Mark snapped his Leophone into its power cradle for recharge, the phone began to ring.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:28 PM

Jenaro was having a great time playing dumb and happy for Ricardo's benefit. He was telling Ricardo he was sorry about passing through the closed transparent door, mouthing the words because the door was not passing sound. Ricardo looked absolutely livid, and just on the odd chance that the door would unexpectedly open, Jenaro was refraining from flipping his former boss the finger. That would remove all doubt concerning his true feelings towards the man.

Ricardo's backpack was crammed with four pistols and a considerable weight of ammo, their entire supply except for the single clip left with Alfonso. But it was Jenaro and Hernando who were originally carrying the expedition's food. Ricardo realized to his horror that he and Jessica still had their water but almost nothing to eat. If Ricardo could fire a bullet through the door and into Jenaro's heart, he would do so without compunction.

Confident now that the door would remain closed, Jenaro motioned that he was going to walk to the door two kilometers to the west and then he took off, ignoring the frantic waves of Ricardo demanding that he remain where he was. After Jenaro walked out of sight, Ricardo turned and saw Jessica staring at him curiously.

What should he do? A moment of checking revealed that the lights were back on in the corridor behind the lobby. At least he and Jessica had something to explore, and lo, even the flashlights were working again. With a curt hand gesture, Ricardo ordered Jessica to put her pack on.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 1:27 PM

"What a difference an hour can make," Fatima thought to herself as she sat at a library console at White Mall. Just one hour ago life appeared to be such a struggle, even to survive, and now they were back to their usual aggressiveness in pursuing multiple goals. But underneath the surface of their new optimism was the memory of what had just happened. They were utterly dependent on the technology of the entities that had built the Great Hexagon. The noontime blackout had hammered that point home.

On the plus side, they now they had fifteen working Leophones. Fifteen! And Akiko had bravely stayed at the telecom labs at the Hilton for most of the last hour to ensure that number sixteen would be ready by tomorrow noontime. One short hour ago, Fatima was of the firm opinion that her first priority was to get everybody together safely on the surface. A series of phone calls changed everything.

First Jada had called directly from the central island. The reset had indeed unlocked their phones, though unfortunately their library consoles still had no high-level access to the interface. The inhabitants of Wobanakik briefly described the incredible time compression they had experienced, seven days in fourteen minutes.

And then Carla had called from the bottom of the stairwell, on the other side of the elevator from Wobanakik. They were out! The elevator appeared to be back into its original mode of operation, and Fatima told the group that they were perfectly correct in not reentering Wobanakik. She ordered them to return to the surface immediately. By the time of scheduled 1:30 PM meeting, Tom had promised they would have completed five flights of the twenty-five flight ascent.

The upcoming conference would be one of the most distributed meetings Fatima ever held. Everyone in their society was participating. Jada plus her group of twelve would be calling in from the central island. Emily and three others were in a hold position at the top of great stairwell to Wobanakik, at the southern tip of White Mall's diamond array. They were ready to start hiking extra water bottles down to Tom and his group of three when the meeting ended. Aggie also had three people with her at Green Mall. Fatima had five others with her at White Mall. They were monitoring the mall sensor network from here, and they would also be needed when the time came to go upstairs to the lounge and open the door and let the returning parties back in. Finally Mark had six people with him at the Red Mall home complex.