Chapter 8

The next week flowed very slowly. The utter barren nature of the new maze and the total lack of color were difficult for both Robert and Rebecca to overcome. Millie was a great comfort, a sponge for affection, always in delight whenever they took the time to pet her. Driven by the pressing need to change their environment, they worked 18-hour stretches of mapping work, with just brief pauses to kiss and caress each other. Their sleep periods together were affectionate but just slightly removed from platonic.

The maze was looking more and more like another 19 x 19 x 19 grid, which kept their spirits up somewhat. They had a well-defined timescale for searching all the rooms and finding an exit, assuming that the labyrinth in a stroke of absolute cruelty had not doomed them to a dead-end maze. It was at the end of their tenth day in the second maze that they discovered another exit pipe, identical in appearance to the first exit that failed.

"Well, here we go again! Feeling lucky today Rob?"

"Yep! Be still, my beating heart! Escape is here at least. Okay if I go first again?"

"It's my turn, don't you think?"

"Well... I remember you once called me your knight in shining armor. I really enjoy trying to protect you as best I can. My male ego really eats this stuff up. I'd like to go first, but I'll step aside if you want to take the point."

"Oh, go ahead! Millie follows you a lot better than me anyway, and it'll be best if she's between us. At least we can give her that little protection."

"You're thinking of her as your child, aren't you?"

"A little I guess. Yeah."

"Me too. I've gotten quite attached to her. She has such a sweet personality. Anyway, flashlights out, gear buckled down, let's hit the pipe!"

Robert started crawling, and soon noticed the beginning of gravity. After crawling about 40 feet he seemed to have past the point of full gravity, and the extra weight was starting to be uncomfortable. He crawled along for a while, his weight increasing, and then he called out, "Becky, it's decision time! The pipe is not dead-ending but is bending down. The walls are pretty slippery too, like glass. If I go any further, I think I'll start to slide. Gravity is ramping way up. I'm at the point of no return. What do you think?"

"Oh I hate this place! I'm inclined to gamble and go on. How about you?"

"I feel the same way. Give me at least a 10-second head start before you follow with Millie. If you hear me scream, go back and try to find another exit, okay?"

Robert heard Rebecca gasp and struggle to hold back her emotions. "Okay. God keep you safe Robert."

Rebecca watched as Robert inched forward and then was suddenly sucked down the tube. He was gone in a flash, and as the seconds stretched there was only silence. "Oh, I hate this place!" Rebecca thought again. She let go of Millie who followed Robert's path and soon disappeared. Rebecca prepared herself mentally and then took the plunge herself.

Rebecca was amazed by what happened next. The pipe had a 270-degree bend in it, bending straight down but then continuing to curl and heading straight up. Within the loop, the gravitational vector aligned itself with the pipe, so she began to be accelerated up the pipe head first, in about a two Earth gravity field. "Holy Shit!" she thought. "I'm being turned into a human bullet." Gravity then disappeared and reversed, slowing her down. The pipe bent to a horizontal track and she slid rapidly along the glasslike surface. There was a light at the end of the tunnel, and she was at last ejected from the pipe, falling into something soft and supportive. She blinked and realized that she was being held in Robert's arms.

"Hi sweetie. Hell of a ride, isn't it?"

"Yeah," said Rebecca, standing up. "And who caught you?"

"Well, no one. I took a bit of a tumble. Fortunately I thought about catching you two just soon enough to catch Millie." Millie was standing nearby, her tail wagging madly. She was so happy to be able to walk with gravity again.

Rebecca looked about the large empty room. It was about 40 feet by 40 feet, with a 12- foot high ceiling, but the wall opposite the pipe opening was missing, leaving that side of the room open to a huge cavernous space. Robert and Rebecca walked to the edge of the opening and stared down. "Sure looks familiar, doesn't it?" murmured Rebecca.

Below them was the enormous cylindrical tank. About 200 feet below them stood their entrance room, sitting on the top of pinnacle extending over 1500 feet down. The tank appeared entirely drained of water, and the tops of the outer spirals were still visible along the tank wall, along with the 9-foot circular ledge about 130 feet below them. The original lighted ceiling location appeared to have moved up several hundred feet. There was a 2-foot path from their room that cut straight across the center of the tank to a room on the opposite side. The path appeared 2 feet wide and about 1 foot thick, and was without handrails. The first half of the path was green, and the second half was colored orange.