Chapter 1

1800 feet above the Chicago lakefront, Matt gazed eastward over Lake Michigan and reflected that he was having the time of his life. He had just finished having an interview lunch with Kathy; a fresh college graduate applying for a secretarial job at his law firm, and realized Kathy was one of the most beautiful and charming persons he had ever met.

Matt was a recent graduate himself, having just gotten his law degree two months ago from Harvard. Matt had made quite a reputation for himself in Cambridge, as a prodigy genius in contract law, and as a selfish bore in romantic attachments. A watershed moment in his life had occurred a month before his graduation, when he was breaking up with Caroline. Caroline had screamed at him that he was worse than a dishonest broker who would "pump and dump" a stock, because Matt would "pump and dump" living, caring human beings. Matt did a lot of soul searching later that night, and realized what Caroline had said was absolutely true. Caroline was one in a long series of young women that Matt had lost interest in shortly after becoming sexually active with them. It was too late to repair the damage with Caroline, but Matt recognized the core indecency of his attitudes, and he vowed to himself that it would never happen again.

And now here he was, finishing lunch on the 150th floor of the Morningstar Capital Tower of Chicago, chatting with one of the loveliest woman he had ever met, captivated both by her appearance and her kind humor. He thought she looked gorgeous in her white dress with large blue and purple flowers, a perfect contrast to her soft brown hair. After he had told her she had the job, they had even gotten onto a first name basis with each other. The only sad note to the occasion was, since he was becoming her new boss, his new moral standards told him it would be inappropriate to pursue her...

"I still find it hard to believe you took me to lunch at the Top Of The Morning", said Kathy. "The MCT itself has only been opened a few weeks. This must be costing your firm a fortune!"

"It is a magnificent building, I was here for the opening ceremonies, the celebration for the new tallest building in the world. Though I gather Hong Kong is scheduled to take back the title in two years... Regarding the cost, I'll tell you a little secret. This reservation was made originally for the senior partners and the clients of our new Siemens account. The clients had to re-schedule their trip from Germany. Since I'll be very involved with the new account, and it appeared on your resume that you spoke German fluently, I managed to convince the firm to reduce the reservation to two, rather than cancel it. I hoped you liked it. It must be very different from Mount Holyoke College..."

"Oh, yes. South Hadley, Massachusetts is a modest college town. Over the last four years, it's been rare when I was in a building with more than a few floors in it... It's breathtaking to be up here. I'm glad though, that your firm is only 30 floors up in, there, that building right there", pointing almost straight down with her finger at the window. "Chicago looks like a toy city from here... Wouldn't you be a little nervous, if you had to work this high all the time? Think of how long it would take you to evacuate the building, if you had to start from here..."

"Not as long as you might think. I found a pamphlet on the building's opening night, describing an emergency set of high-speed escalators, with their own battery backups. They looked like they could evacuate the building very quickly."

"Ha, ha", laughed Kathy. "I used to love escalators as a child. Whenever I'd get lost from my parents in a department store, they would just come to the escalators to find me riding them. But Matt, you mean high-speed elevators, don't you?"

"No, high speed escalators."

"The moving stair kind?"

"Is there another kind?"

"Matt, you can't be serious! Are you pulling my leg?"

A thought burst into Matt's mind, one from his old personality. A desire to be pulling Kathy's leg. A desire to be pulling both of them, in fact. Holding both her ankles and pulling Kathy's legs apart while mounting her. Matt banished the thought from his mind. "Stop that!" he thought to himself. "Kathy is a gentle human soul, and her comment was totally innocent. What you're thinking is grossly inappropriate."

"No joking Kathy, the pamphlet described high speed escalators."

"Matthew, look me in the eye one more time, and tell me you're not joking."

"Katherine, I'm not joking. High speed moving stairs."

"Okay... Sincere apologies for questioning you like this... But, high speed escalators? My mind is balking at the concept!"