It's My Party

Aggie shook her head. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Aggie, think. If it's too dangerous for more than one person, why isn't it too dangerous for one person?"

"Yeah, I'm expecting Fatima to ask me that same question. I'm working on the answer now." A few minutes later she decided to report in early.

There was a long pause when Aggie finished her proposal. Finally Fatima replied, "I'm trying not to reject this out of hand. But my God Aggie, you'll be jumping off a cliff."

"No I'm not. We have overwhelming evidence that the passage is safe."

"No we don't. Survivable maybe, not safe."

Aggie took a deep breath. "Well, okay, I'll give you that. But look at what we know. Over half the food bins we've checked here show clear signs of depletion. And the exterior door has one of those damn locks with the one-minute delay. They were here Fatima, I know they were, and they were trapped."

Fatima sighed. "All right. For the moment, I'll concede the point."

"And do you also agree they left through the basement trapdoor?"

"Yes. I trust your exploration of the building was thorough."

"Fatima, we know this trip is survivable. All seventeen women are still active on Mark's roster. How else can we search for them without going through?"

"Aggie, we've had bad experiences with these one-way portals. Look how many people we have trapped down in Wobanakik. And it would be four more except for some quick thinking by Tom and Carla."

"Fatima, you're making my point for me. The people of White Mall are much better off now because we took the risk and explored. The same thing will be true here. It's time for us to be bold."

There was another long pause, and then Fatima asked, "Where are your other team members now?"

Aggie pumped her fist in triumph before answering. "The four of us are outside the building now. My team has a clean path home. They could be there a little after 1 PM. They don't need me."

"Aggie, please escort your team home. A decision like this requires discussion and planning. Any supplies you think you would take on your trip, please depot them in the building."

Aggie gulped. "You got it. We'll on our way." Five minutes later with lightened loads, the four women started marching for home.

"Cheer up Aggie," Ann commented after they had walked a few hundred meters. "If Fatima were going to reject your plan, she would have done so already."

Aggie was shivering inside her warm outdoor clothing, even though the noontime sun had pushed the temperature to 11C. "I know," she replied. "I know."

One week later.

Time: Sunday April 10, 2019 4:50 AM

Five people were standing quietly together outside the trapdoor on the second floor of Esau's Bar and Grill, half of Amber's team plus Kiyoko. Her other four members were in the kitchen of Jacob's Bar and Grill, and they had verified yesterday afternoon that the door to surface there was now unlocked. Today was the day they would attempt to take control of the Black Mall home complex, and they would be going in simultaneously as two groups, each armed with a pistol and several crossbows.

The opportunity for the seizure had opened yesterday. When her team was not busy probing the Black Mall spiral, Amber would have two members stationed at Esau's testing the trapdoor with a penny at random times. Until yesterday, the penny would always remain at Esau's, indicating the Black Mall lounge elevator was not accessible. And then yesterday at 10:52 AM, the penny disappeared.

In addition to probing the trapdoor, Amber's team had been making steady progress extending their sensor network. At their evening meeting on April 3rd, they decided to wait two full days between each node extension, allowing ample time to observe any presence of Black Mall personnel in the next area to be locked down. On April 5th, 7th, and 9th, they installed new sensor nodes at one-kilometer increments beyond Black Mall's home complex, at spiral marks 70938, 71891, and 72857. The last node at 72857 enabled them through Looking Glass to activate sensors up to spiral mark 73836. With their April 9th node in place, their view along the outside edge was only two hundred meters short of the terminal store at spiral mark 75078.

Less than an hour after the node was activated, the observation team at the Hilton saw a presence near the 74000 meter mark. Toshi and Holly both identified him as Alfonso, and after poking his head out and staring along the spiral for a moment, he casually walked across the corridor from one store to the other. The locked stores up to spiral mark 72857 were not visible from his location, and it was Amber's assumption that Alfonso had no knowledge of her team's work. Their current plan was to observe for another day and attempt contact tomorrow morning on the 11th.

Several days ago, Fatima had decided to delay Aggie's exploration of the Green Mall trapdoor until the issues with Black Mall were resolved. The current plan was for Aggie and Brandi to attempt the trip on Tuesday. Part of the reason for choosing Brandi was that she had become very proficient with the crossbow. She was their best archer.

Since mid March, Akiko had been generating a steady flow of one new Leophone per day, and they were now common enough so that every member of Amber's team had their own personal phone. All members of Aggie's team and all the citizens of Wobanakik also had their own phones now. In the days between installing the sensor nodes, Amber's team had transported new phones down to Wobanakik as part of their work to resupply the people at the entrance rooms.

And now the time was approaching 4:56 AM. Amber wanted to arrive at two minutes before dawn, with her group entering through the lounge and Carla's group entering through Jacob's. As the moment finally came, Amber gave the go code to Carla and then let the closet door at Esau's close.

Time: Sunday April 10, 2019 5:20 AM

Ricardo woke in his closet and just stared at the ceiling for a while. He had slept soundly and physically felt well rested. But mentally he struggled to shake off the feeling that the child witch had somehow defeated him. He had such high expectations a week ago of having the witch trapped. He expected to find her within a day or two simply by wandering the maze.

But he had not appreciated the extent of the storage area. It was vast, and his estimate now was that the entrance pentagon led to upwards of a hundred kilometers of twisting corridors. Unknown to Ricardo, his guess was not far from the true number of 75,078 meters, the length of each of the six spirals in the Great Mall. Ricardo had now spent an entire week searching for his vanished prey. He was starting to wonder why.

She must be dead. She must be. She had no water when she fled from him, just as he had no food. But Ricardo didn't mind the discipline of fasting for a week. He had diligently searched for Jessica, often searching non-stop for twenty hours before collapsing for an eight-hour sleep, for a total of six sleep periods during the week. He had cycled a day out of existence. And yet still he couldn't find her. She must be dead. A week had passed and she had no water.

When they first descended into the pentagon eight days ago, Ricardo had noticed that the ceiling portal had eyebolts underneath that allowed him to seal the door. The bathrooms with the water were only on the level above, he knew that now. During his week of searching, Ricardo had constructed a complete map of maze. Over a thousand corridors, over ten thousand closets. He knew that there was no food or water on this level. So Jessica must be dead. But his inner voice kept nagging him, where the hell was her body?

She must have crawled into a closet drawer and died, that was Ricardo's guess. Maybe the drawers don't open from the inside and she suffocated the first day of her escape. And if his logic for her death was sound, it would be insane to continue the search. Ten thousand closets, a hundred thousand drawers to inspect, what would be the point? With a final shrug of his shoulders, Ricardo climbed the ladder and left the maze museum.

Time: Sunday April 10, 2019 5:55 AM

Jada and her six teammates were gathered around a library console on the central island listening to the reports from the exploration team at Black Mall. After two days of heavy rain, the sun was shining again and adding ample illumination to the room, perhaps even a bit too much. Jada got up from her chair and stretched and then walked over to a nearby control. A gentle touch increased the ceiling's opacity to a more pleasant level. The diffuse shadows from the morning sun could barely be seen.

Sunrise at Wobanakik had occurred an hour ago, today almost the exact time as on the planet's surface. And Wobanakik would still enjoy almost an extra hour of daylight this evening. But that would soon change. The underground world was moving past its summer solstice, while on the surface their society would experience a midnight sun in less than five weeks. The rate of change still seemed breathtaking.

Over the last hour Amber's team had verified that Black Mall was vacant. The complex was in a pristine state. It had been immaculately cleaned, the living quarters, the recreational parks, the hexagonal walkways at the perimeter, everything. The servos had even removed the locks Ricardo had installed on the entrance to Jacob's Bar and Grill. The only evidence of the former occupants was the severe depletion of food supplies. The kitchen and pantry were almost empty of food, Amber estimated enough for one person for maybe a couple of months.

Seizing control of Black Mall was a major accomplishment. Kiyoko had already activated the elevators in the lounge and library and assigned them new codes. When Amber's team left tomorrow to make contact with Alfonso, they would leave from here and not have to bike from the distant sky-bridge. And there were also the priceless assets of the Black Mall diamond complex…

"Frida, where are you now?" Jada asked over the bridge.

"Almost one kilometer from Black Mall," her sister-wife replied. "We're on our tenth segment." She and her husband Mark were walking around the eastern side of the diamond complex perimeter.

Jada grinned. "And you Mark, I'm surprised Fatima let you out of your cage." There was a faint snort from Fatima on the bridge.

"Yeah," replied Mark. "I told her I needed the exercise. Seriously, there's no risk. If the census counter changes, I can race back and be at a library in ten minutes, even from the ivy hall."

Jada nodded and bit her lip. "Frida, please be careful."

"I will. And as long as I don't make a noise, I don't think there's any danger."

"You have one of the mushroom locks from Black Mall, right?"

"Of course. And I'm even carrying a second Leophone as a backup. Jada, stop worrying!"

Jada was still nervous. "I wish… Oh, I don't know. I wish you weren't doing this. I especially wish you weren't doing this solo." Jada was referring to Frida's plan to part company with Mark at the entrance to the ivy hall. She would continue her journey across the ivy alone.

"Jada, our plan makes perfect sense. There is absolutely no reason to have more than one person at a time on the ivy walkway, and once I'm across, why risk anyone else?" Frida's mission after traversing the ivy was to walk back through the interior of the diamond complex on the first level and then open the door at the southern end. There she would meet Hannah, Emily and Holly coming out of the Black Mall library. These three women would be the first volunteers to undergo the link boost at the bee park.

Jada directed her next question to her dearest friend. "How are you feeling Emily?"

"About the mind boost? I'm very excited about it. We all are." Emily paused for a moment. "How about you Jada? It seems as if you've been away for such a long time."

"Yeah. I miss you too." Jada paused to take a deep breath. "Life is very easy here. With only seven people and two library consoles, we don't even need our quota system anymore. During the day if it's good weather, we practice archery and kayaking. Otherwise we work out in the gym. The food is excellent, just like on the surface. During the evenings after the conference meetings we play board games or maybe all get together for a movie in the lounge. Wobanakik is a unique place. It feels as if were in jail and on vacation at the same time. The forest and the river are very beautiful."

Hannah spoke up. "A bunch of us were kicking around a crazy idea last night. In five hundred days, when the opportunity to open Wobanakik comes up again, what if you had an ultra-light plane or helicopter at the central island? Could you execute the reset and fly back to the entrance rooms before the fourteen minutes were up?"

Lynn who was sitting by Jada's side spoke up. "Wow, what an idea! But where would we get such a thing?"

"Yeah, we'd have to find or build one I guess. But the Great Hexagon seems to have everything humanity ever thought of creating."

Lynn laughed. "Even nuclear weapons?!"

"Oh, I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised. Anyway, it was just a thought."

"Actually Hannah, if it actually comes down to a two-year stay here, we all have an informal agreement now to draw lots. I can teach someone how to run the reset."

Emily spoke up. "Gee Lynn, hopefully you'll all be free long before then."

"Yeah. There's plenty of time to work on it. Who knows? Perhaps when Suvarna earns her janitorial degree she'll be able to activate the elevator at the bottom of the stairwell. Maybe it'll be as easy as that."

Jada got back to her earlier concern. "Emily, are you really not worried about the mind boost?"

"No, I really feel okay, mostly just hungry."

"Huh?" Jada felt confused. "Do you mean physically hungry?"

"Sure. Oh! You might not know. I think we might have had this discussion while you were out of contact. Hannah and Holly and I are all fasting. We haven't eaten anything since breakfast yesterday, before we knew that Black Mall was accessible."

The point hit Jada immediately. "Ah, because Mark and Frida and Toshi had not eaten anything for a while before they entered the bee park?"

"That's right. We're going to try to follow their routine as closely as possible. We're not taking any food supplies. We'll be eating only the park's raw vegetables and honey, just as they did."

"Yeah. Makes sense…. Well, good luck." Jada wished she could give Emily a big hug but that of course was impossible. Instead she reached over and held hands with Lynn and waited for Mark and Frida to report they reached the ivy hall.

Chapter 76.

The next day.

Time: Monday, April 11, 2019 5:35 AM

The windows of the Black Mall lounge showed a cold, gray, and very wet morning, with occasional gusts of wind whipping the pines and spruces in the adjacent park. Amber's team was scheduled to depart Jacob's at 6 AM and currently her team members were scattered about the home complex. Brandi and Whitney were sitting on one of the couches in the lounge.

Whitney ran her hand across the luxuriant leather surface. "You know, this is a little odd."

Brandi had been resting on the other end of the couch, digesting the large breakfast of steak and eggs they had all eaten down in Jacob's earlier. She opened her eyes and smiled at her teammate. "What do you mean?"

"Don't you remember? A few days after we came here, Gilberto was hacking away at this couch with a knife."

"Yes, I remember. What a scene! It was the day Britney…"

"Yes, the day Ricardo killed her. Anyway, take a look at this couch. There's not even a scratch. And the blood stains are gone too. The servos must have replaced the couch."

Brandi shook her head and patted the wooden armrest. "I recognize the swirl pattern here. I think it's the exact same couch."

Whitney frowned. "But how do you make knife gouges totally disappear?"

"No idea, but I think that's what happened." Brandi pointed with her finger to a spot across the room. "See that empty space there? Remember the chair that Alfredo destroyed and then threw out? It hasn't been replaced. I think the rule is still in effect. Once a place is under servo maintenance rules, they will clean and repair but will not replace."

"Ah. Yeah, okay." Whitney idly inspected the couch for a moment and then changed topics. "Are you nervous Brandi, about being the one to talk to Alfonso first?"

Brandi shrugged her shoulders. "He didn't have many friends. Somebody has to do it. And we were never enemies." She stretched her arms. "Maybe Charles would be a better choice, but he's down in Wobanakik"

"What about Tom?"

Brandi shook her head. "That's what Tom tried to talk me into, but I've seen those two together. Alfonso used to boss Tom around, a bit cruel about it too. I think he might feel uncomfortable surrendering to Tom now." She sighed. "Relax Whitney. I'll be okay." Brandi then looked at her friend and smiled. "And how about you? How have you been doing lately?"

Whitney raised her eyebrows a bit. "What do you mean?"

"Well…" Brandi suddenly looked at a loss for words. "Well… Oh, I don't know."

Whitney stared at the woman across the couch. "Brandi, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Well, the past few weeks, you've been pretty quiet. Whitney, are you okay, social wise?"

There was a long pause. "Social wise? You mean me being the only African American here?"

Brandi nodded. "Yeah, kind of I guess… Yeah."

Whitney thought for a moment and decided to give an honest answer. "Just a little tense maybe, but I'm getting used to it. And I've locked eyes with a lot of people. People have been open. I've never seen any racism. The culture here is a little different, but hell, we're all making adjustments."

The women shared a brief moment of eye contact. Whitney saw kindness and acceptance in Britney's mind, and also something else, something so unexpected she blinked her eyes and broke the lock as she realized what it was. Brandi was asking Whitney to forgive her, and Whitney didn't understand why.

It was a deeply buried emotional need, so low level that Whitney thought Brandi didn't even recognize the nature of the yearning, not at a conscious level. And for a moment Whitney felt very confused. Forgive her for what? Absolutely nothing came to mind.

And then it hit her. For a time, Brandi had allowed herself to assume the role of slave driver. The guilt was still eating her. But why come to her? Whitney was never hoof pussy, especially in the early times before Charles' expedition.

Whitney shivered with the recognition of what was going on. Was it racism for Brandi to come to her for absolution, was it cultural stereotyping? Or was it just a troubled friend whose mind had made a historical association? Whitney realized she could adopt either perspective.

She reached over and gave Brandi an affectionate hug. Brandi hugged back fiercely, confused for a moment why she was shivering. A moment later both women left for downstairs.

Time: Monday, April 11, 2019 7 AM

Amber's team had worked very quietly in the last hour, continuing their mission of Black Mall lockdown. There was only a small risk that someone in addition to Alfonso was trapped in the mall, and if so they were keeping very well hidden. But there was no need to take that risk and leave the doors open as they passed. Someone could shoot them in the back. So they worked methodically to close everything, and about an hour after leaving Jacob's, Amber's team had their latest sensor node installed at spiral mark 73836, with a Looking Glass connection to spiral mark 74828. Except for small areas around the hub, the entire mall was now visible on their network.