Chapter 20

Early next morning...

Earth time: Saturday, 6:18 AM, November 27, 2010 Central Standard Time

Aina time: 6:25 AM, day 45 of 1408 H.E. (mid summer)

A'moth completed her eighteenth lap on the underground jogging track and glanced at her watch. The track was very springy and a delight to run barefoot. A'moth was pacing herself to one lap per minute, a nice easy run for her. The diameter of the vast cavern was 132 meters, and A'moth was running about 1.5 meters from the wall. Each lap was 410 meters, just over a quarter mile.

A'moth had a late dinner with her new friends, and they had stayed up close to 1 AM talking. During her tour of the complex, A'moth had picked a bedroom on the lowest level, one of the smallest bedrooms in the shelter. Level-eleven's space consisted of a corridor running towards the center of the 12-meter circle, where there was a small common sitting / reading area.

Off of the common area were four rooms of 200 square feet each, three bedrooms and a bath. All the bedrooms were beautifully furnished with hardwood floors and plush furniture, and A'moth felt a little unsettled by the opulence. From the elevator and stairwell, the direction opposite led directly to the gym area.

A'moth thought that Jim and Cindy were probably still asleep, but her own body only required about four hours of sleep per night and she felt well rested. She continued her run, deciding on whether to try the huge pool next. It was 100 meters by 50 meters, with diving towers at one end ascending all the way to the 44 meter ceiling. The water temperature was pleasant for swimming, about 77F, and the deep water looked very inviting.

After twenty laps, A'moth stopped and reversed direction. She intended to run clockwise around the track for an additional twenty laps. But she was only halfway around the track when she pulled up and stopped. Running from the new direction, she thought she noticed a very faint indentation somewhere in the wall, directly opposite the entrance to the gym.

A'moth studied the wall. The track wall was painted in many different styles along the track. The particular pattern here was a Mandelbrot fractal geometry pattern, numerous spiraling circles and curves. A'moth ran her hands lightly along the walls, wondering if she had really seen something or was just imagining things.

Her sensitive fingers detected a slight warmth to one of the circles. After a second of thought, A'moth pushed on the circle. A door-size opening appeared as part of the wall pulled back and slid aside. A'moth stood in the doorway, gaping in amazement. Then she spun around and raced to the other exit.

Two minutes later A'moth stepped out of the stairwell on Level-six. The entire level was a single gigantic bedroom and bath area. A'moth had grinned and thought of it as a honeymoon suite when Jim and Cindy had first shown it to her. Jim and Cindy were both naked and sleeping soundly. A'moth couldn't help but smile before she waked them. There were several clues around that they had been making love with each other before sacking out last night.

"Heh hem!" she called out. "So sorry to disturb you, but this is important."

Cindy woke first. A'moth smiled again as she saw Cindy cover Jim's nakedness before she covered her own. "Uh, good morning. What's up?"

Ten minutes later all three of them were standing by the fractal wall. A'moth pushed the button and all three of them walked through the doorway. They stood on a small platform overlooking an enormous cylindrical cavern. The scale of the scene was so far beyond human technology, all three of them had trouble at first understanding what they were looking at.

Finally Jim said, "There's a laser rangefinder in the machine shop. I'll go jump and get it." He closed his eyes and five seconds later was gone. Cindy barely noticed, her eyes were riveted to the scene before her. After a few seconds A'moth tore her gaze away from the vista and started to make a closer inspection of the platform.

A very short time later Jim reappeared on the platform. His quick return brought Cindy out of her daze. "Wow Jim! Four jumps in what, less than a minute?"

"Yeah, I'm catching up to you..." Jim said absently. He started taking readings with the rangefinder. "I'm getting a nice spectral reflection off the opposite wall. I'm reading 1450 meters... Let's see... I'm about two meters from the wall here. So the diameter of the cylinder is 1452 meters... Let me try the verticals next..."

"Jim, Cindy..." A'moth called out. "Both these stairs and the platforms are numbered. Each stair is numbered, the top one is labeled 25,200. And I think the platform itself is labeled zero-degrees."

Cindy nodded. "I've been counting the platforms. I think there's one for each fifteen degrees of rotation, thirty-six platforms in all maybe..."

Jim reported, "I think the ceiling is the same height as the gym, 44 meters from here. The floor is... You're not going to believe this... four thousand meters down from here, exactly. Axial length of the cylinder is 4044 meters."

"What a beautiful staircase..." whispered Cindy. "You were right, A'moth, about Havika I mean... Havika was right too... What a beautiful staircase..."

A massive cylindrical volume of open space spread before them, pleasantly lit from softly glowing walls. Along the wall was a great spiral staircase, making one and a half revolutions before reaching bottom four kilometers below. About every 220 meters along the spiral path, there was a small horizontal observation platform. They could dimly see the end of the great helical spiral, directly across from them and four kilometers down on the floor of the cylinder.

"Jim," asked A'moth. "This cylinder is at the exact center of the island, isn't it?"

Jim nodded. "Yeah, I think so. We knew our home and gym area were oriented inward. This cylinder has a radius of 726 meters. Add the 132-meter diameter of gym, the 4- meter connection tunnel, the 12-meter diameter of the underground house... That gets you up to... let's see... That adds up to 874 meters to the elevator... another 6 meters to the front door... We've measured about 120 meters horizontal from the front door to the shore line... and about a 20-meter drop... Yeah, it all fits. This cylinder is at the exact center of the island."

"The angle orientation is correct too," added Cindy. "We think the point of Earth's axis of rotation is at the exact center of the island, and that our home is at zero degrees longitude. From the pole, our house is in the direction of London. This platform really is platform zero, zero degrees longitude, with the North Pole 726 meters away... And do you see that there's something at the bottom?"

A'moth had brought her binoculars with her and was using them. "Hard to make out from here what it is, even with the binoculars. It looks like a sparkling blue diamond... right in the middle of the floor. Up for a hike? It'll be almost eight kilometers of stairs..."

Cindy smiled. "Down for a hike, you mean. How can we resist? We can jump back and rest if we get tired. Can you jump in here A'moth?"

A'moth tried for a moment. "No."

Cindy nodded. "Then you can jump with us again. Let's go!"

It took them almost ten minutes to reach the next platform. Jim and Cindy were grateful for a spot to rest, A'moth felt fine. She looked around the platform as Jim and Cindy sat down and massaged their knees. A'moth called out, "The step level with this platform is labeled 24,500. It's consistent, 700 steps between platforms, 36 platforms to the bottom... There also an inscription on the platform handrail, 15 degrees..."

Cindy smiled and asked playfully, "So A'moth, to what great cities have we traveled?"

It took A'moth a second to realize what Cindy was talking about, and then she smiled back. "Naples, Italy and Prague in the Czech Republic are both near 15 degrees East... The next platform will get us to Odessa in the Ukraine..."

Cindy nodded and then turned serious. "A'moth, I don't know if my knees can take walking down four kilometers of stairs. Jim, how about you?"

Jim shrugged his shoulders, looking uncertain. A'moth spoke up. "I have a good pair of binoculars. Have you ever tried mini-jumps?"

Jim stared at A'moth. "Mini-jumps?"

A few moments later A'moth was coaching Jim as he stared through the binoculars at the next landing. "It shouldn't be hard," she said, trying to build his confidence. "I can mini-jump a kilometer on a clear day with a good pair of scopes. Scan the area, imagine you're there... The key is to visually acquire the site... Lock it into your visual memory..."