Chapter 11

Flashback to Friday afternoon.

Time: Friday, December 21, 2018 3:30 PM

Warren glanced at his watch. He had only been here an hour, and boy, this setup was sure interesting! And if he felt more comfortable knowing where he was, he wouldn’t mind hanging around longer. But the views out the windows were ... well, the enclosed park and pool areas were pleasant enough, but what little his group could see through the perimeter walkways ... It just looked so strange.

Warren turned and surveyed the room. Seventeen attractive women! This was the first social gathering in his life for anything like this, seventeen available women to socialize with and not another guy in sight. But it really wasn’t a fantasy delight. Maybe if the ratio were three to one or something, yeah, that would be great. But as the only guy, Warren felt outnumbered, and maybe just a little ... It was hard to find the right word. He sighed. Ah, no matter. Warren left the window area and drifted across the lounge. He retrieved his winter coat.

“Leaving so soon?” The comment came from Mary, a college senior. Warren had chatted with her in the tunnel and wound up holding her hand during the strange elevator trip. She gave him a warm smile now. “We just got here.”

“Yeah, I know. But I was thinking I’d like to get back to my car before it got dark.”

“What’s the hurry? Don’t you want to stick around until our hosts show up? This situation is so strange. Everybody is dying to get some questions answered.”

“Yeah, this place sure is a puzzle. It’s hard to imagine what we’re seeing beyond the walkways.”

“If you think that’s amazing, check out the rooms beyond the kitchen. I went as far as the circular stairwell at the other end of the building. Such opulence for a fraternity! It’s incredible ... A few of us are about to explore and see what the first floor is like. Want to come along?”

“Ah, tempting, but I probably should leave.”

“Well, okay. But before you go, have you tried the fish stew? The buffet is superb.”

Warren smiled. “You really want me to hang around, huh?”

“Well, yeah. You are the only guy here, and besides, I ... I’d like to get to know you better.”

Warren sighed. “I’ve got a hard reason not to hang around in places I don’t understand.”

“Oh yeah?” Mary asked with a playful smile. “What reason is that?”

“I’m a diabetic.”

Mary blinked. “Oh gosh, I’m sorry.”

“For what? You didn’t say anything offensive.”

“Still ... Anyway, I can see you point.” She paused for a moment and then asked kindly, “Are you in any danger if you walk back alone?”

Warren shook his head and briefly showed his injection pen. “No, I’ll be fine. My only worry is the weather report. If I get trapped here by the snowstorm tomorrow and can’t get back to Burlington until Sunday or later, that would be pushing it. And I didn’t tell anyone I was coming here, and there’s no cell service, and...”

“And yes, the snowstorm.” Mary looked around the lounge and shrugged. “Would you like me to walk with you? I’ve got great recall. I remember all the turns.”

Warren grinned. “That’s really sweet of you. You don’t mind?”

“No, not at all. Maybe you’re making the right decision. This situation is bizarre, and I can’t shake the feeling we’re trespassing. I’ve heard several comments that this building is too luxurious to belong to a frat. I hope we’re not getting into any trouble.” Mary frowned. “It’s time to forget about being curious. I drove here with some friends. Give me a minute. I’ll tell them I want to leave.”

“I’ll give you a lift back to campus if they want to stay.”

The departure of two people had a cascade effect within the group. Soon a total ten women decided to leave. Seven would remain. Mary’s roommate Barbara shook her head as she put on her coat. “You have to admit, this was one weird party. The theme was supposed to be House of the Rising Sun, but I didn’t see anything to suggest what that meant.”

Warren nodded as he pressed the elevator button. “Well, it’s a cloudy day. Can’t blame the frat boys about that. Someday though I would like to know what...” Warren had entered the elevator and paused before the keyboard. Now what? The control system was still powered but unbelievably baffling. It hadn’t occurred to him there’d be a problem returning. He stared at the lit keyboard in total confusion.

Mary was by his side. “Where the hell’s the down button?”

A woman named Ruth was standing on the other side of Warren. “There isn’t one! How could we be so stupid? We forgot all about this...”

Another woman exclaimed, “It’s not our fault! Whoever heard of a one-way elevator?!” Memories flashed back to the tunnel. There were about thirty people waiting to ride behind them when their group took the elevator. Nobody sensed any motion, and the ticking counter barely pacified. But then the side door opened, and the surprise of finding the opulent and deserted lounge and the strange views out the windows...

“Yeah,” answered Mary. “Who would build an elevator this crazy?”

Several people tried typing on the keyboard to no avail. “Just forget it,” said Ruth. “It’s not a big deal. We’ll just take the stairs.” It took only a moment to find that the vestibule by the elevator did not lead to a stairwell. Word spread quickly, and after a another minute everyone started crowding into the vertex walkway to gape at the strange scenery.

“This is impossible...” Barbara mumbled as she stared through the clear canopy. “Where’s the mall? This ... This ... Nobody builds like this...”

“It’s like a nightmare cartoon landscape, only real.” murmured Ruth. “Looks like all sand between the ... whatever they are. No roads, no pavement anywhere...”

“Well, south is this way, I think.” Mary called out as she pointed down a lit walkway. “At least we have a path to the parking lot.”

“Are you joking? You really want to start wandering around this insanity? I suggest we get back inside.”

“HEY?!” shouted Deborah, the last woman out. “I let the door close! There’s no way to open it from this side! Why didn’t somebody tell me?!”

“What?!” and “My coat!” two women yelled at once. They were among the group that had intended to stay at the party.

The group was flabbergasted. The views beyond the walkway were so bewildering, no one had noticed that there was no door handle from the outside. They were locked out. Their party atmosphere evaporated in an instant.

They banged on the door for a while and even tried to inspect the crack between the door and its frame. They were amazed to find no crack at all. The metallic door had a machined precision fit to the frame, people guessed to the micron level. Why spend money to do that? The craftsmanship was remarkable, but what was the point?

The group had a brief discussion and realized they were potentially in some genuine trouble. Still, how bad could it be? At least the walkways were heated. That was an unexpected benefit. The deeper question about why the impossible architecture would just have to wait.

A few women commented that it was scary their cell phones were not working, but at least they had a full hour of daylight left. They decided to stick together, and a moment later all eighteen began walking what they thought was in a southern direction towards the parking lot. In a spirit of camaraderie, the women paired off by size and pledged to share their coats with the women without.

Thirty-eight hours later.

Time: Sunday, December 23, 2018 6:11 AM

Mark was waiting for eternity to come. He was near the center of the pile, and as the seconds quietly ticked by, Mark began to get a bit warm from the surrounding female mass of humanity. Miracle upon miracle, he was even being given time to grin. Death might not be pleasant, but what the heck, he was checking out while being hugged by six young and beautiful women, and they were wearing only bathrobes! He grinned again and dared the universe to come up with a nicer way for a guy to go.

Apparently the universe couldn’t come up with anything, not anything at all, not a nicer way to go, not even this way to go. The ground floor windows remained black, the world outside quiet, the room rock-solid and peaceful. A tree outside swayed in the wind for a moment, and then the motion died down.

Mark became aware he was absentmindedly caressing a foot with his right hand. “Oh yeah,” he thought, “Fatima.” He had his thumb over the top of the foot, and his other fingers were rubbing her instep up and down. The toes on the foot were curling to the rhythm of his caress. Mark didn’t know if Fatima liked was he was doing, or was being tickled by it and was too polite to protest. He let go of the foot. The toes curled very deliberately one more time, and then the foot moved away. Mark thought for a moment how to interpret the gesture. He finally decided that the toes were waving goodbye to him.

Hannah released her death grip on his chest and was the first to stand up. Mark took a deep breath and was the second. He looked down and saw a mass of cute female bodies struggling to untangle themselves. “Strange how the mind works,” he thought. “A moment ago this was the most righteous act imaginable, but now I’m noticing a bunch of cute legs.” Mark turned around and smiled at Hannah and gave the other women some privacy until they stood up. He grinned at Hannah and sighed, thinking that perhaps there was a minor problem with Fatima’s religion. “Purity might be a divinely noble goal, but darn it, the male human mind just doesn’t seem wired to keep it for any length of time.”

Hannah stared at him. “So Mark, you’re the physics major. What’s going on?”

“No idea.” He walked to the window and looked out. “The sky is still very dark. I can see a little light reflecting off the clouds, either from the buildings here or Burlington. I would guess it’s from Burlington.” He paused for a moment. “I think the wind kicked up a bit, and it’s changed direction. I think it’s blowing in from the east now.”

“A lot of turbulence from the east?” Emily called out in a worried voice.

“No. From the east, but I can’t call it turbulent.” Mark paused for a moment. “Actually, it was just a breeze. The pine trees are barely moving now.” Another pause. “The sky looks as if it might be clearing. Maybe we’ll see the stars soon.”

Ashley echoed Hannah’s question. “So how come we’re not dead?”

Mark shrugged. “Yeah ... Honestly, Ashley, I don’t know.”

Madison was deep in thought, and then she blurted out, “Mark, could all this have been a hoax?”

Mark blinked. It had seemed so real. What a question! “Sis, try reaching mom on the phone.”

Ashley piped up. “If it were a hoax, it’s not just us being duped. My parents believed in the neutron star yesterday. They wouldn’t lie to me.”

“Mine neither,” said Hannah firmly.

Mark frowned. “I don’t think it was a hoax. That last image, I’ll remember it forever. I think I could see the skeletal frames of the people right through their bodies. The awful blue light was that intense.”

“Oh, you could fake an effect like that very easily,” countered Madison.

“And it wouldn’t be that hard to fake voices on phone calls either,” said Jada as she straightened her bathrobe.

Mark turned to her. “What?! That’s a really horrible thought, Jada. I spoke to both my parents last night.”

Jada countered, “Or perhaps you only thought you did.”

Mark felt a rising tide of distress. “Hell, it seems so paranoid to think like that. It implies a massive conspiracy. The planning, the preparation ... Jada, do you really think we’re being duped?”

She turned and faced him directly. “Well, look at it this way, there either was or was not a neutron star. Okay?”

“Yeah, okay. Can’t argue with that.”

“If there really were a neutron star, and we thought the Earth was toast and we saw the Earth being toasted, then this place is a fake Earth. It’s not Earth. However, if the neutron star scenario from the TV and phone calls were faked, then this is Earth and we’ve been had.”