Chapter 9

When we woke in the morning, I looked at the bolts and metal panel. Nothing visible had changed, but I didn’t smell anything. I sniffed near the edge and didn’t notice any scents.

“Pedro, what do you smell?”

He sniffed too. “Nothing. It used to smell really good.”

I held my fingers near the edge. “There’s still warm air coming out.”

Sam said, “I smell something now. Cinnamon?”

I noticed it too. I took another sniff near the edge. “Apple pie! Instead of spicy tuna ramen, it smells like apple pie with cinnamon!”

Robin agreed, “Yeah! Let’s get it open.”

The rest of us stood back, and Pedro cut through the thick bolts holding each corner of the triangular door.

A long corridor through the granite led us to a hotel lobby! There were several sofas, comfortable-looking chairs, and a large sign above a reception desk, “Jupiter Hilton.” We saw a large tray of cinnamon rolls, donuts, and fruit on a table, along with coffee pots and a pitcher of orange juice.

To the right, there was an indoor pool and I saw an elevator. On the left, a large window showed a surreal view. I wasn’t sure, but instead of seeing the moon or sun in the sky, I could see the blackness of space and it looked like we were near Jupiter! The only doors were the elevator and pool. There was no way outside, but I thought that was probably a good thing, since we seemed to be in space.

There was a phone on the desk and I picked it up. A recording of a high-pitched male voice repeatedly said, “Use the computer”.

After we ate and drank, we looked around a little more. Behind the reception desk Sam worked on what looked like a standard desktop pc, except the characters on the screen were something I had never seen before. “What’s the writing, Sam?”

“I’m not quite sure. It looks like maybe a blend of Chinese, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and ancient Greek? This will take me some time.”

Pedro said, “Let’s look around, but be careful.”

I opened the elevator and quite oddly, the back was clear glass and I could see the inside of the elevator shaft. I was very surprised at the labels on the buttons inside. Instead of floor numbers, there were: “Lobby, Pedro, Anna, Robin, Sam, Keisha, NY Grand Central Terminal.”

I called out, “Everybody! Come here! I think I found a way home!”

When everyone was inside, I pressed the button for “NY Grand Central”. We only felt a slight movement, and we could see the interior of Grand Central Station through the glass! A man sitting on the floor played guitar and people tossed him a few coins, until a policeman led him away. Before the cop was even out of sight, a girl with a violin took the guitarist’s spot and started to play. Hundreds of people walked from corridor to corridor, and in and out the exits to the street. I’d never cried from happiness before, but I started to.

I heard a click and Pedro said, “It won’t open.” I turned around and saw him press the “Door open” button a few more times. At the top of the glass at the back of the elevator, large red letters declared, “OUT OF ORDER. PLEASE PLACE A SERVICE CALL.”