Chapter 66

The following afternoon.

Time: Saturday, March 9, 2019 4 PM

Diego was silently thankful he did not miss his required rendezvous time in Jacob’s Bar and Grill. For almost the past week now, he had dutifully been at the entrance store three times a day at eight-hour intervals, and the door to the surface had remained locked. But this afternoon as he stood by the door, it opened and Ricardo waved for him to follow. The two men were sitting together in the Black Mall library a few minutes later. Ricardo started looking at some notes.

Diego had the impression his master was intentionally trying to ignore him. He knew enough not to attempt to start a conversation, even though he was very curious about Jessica. So he waited patiently, careful not to show any annoyance for being treated like a domesticated animal. Diego simply turned his head and gazed out the library windows. There was still about an hour of orange daylight left, and he could see complex and turbulent bands of white clouds in the teal heavens above. After six days of underground living, the simple sight of the dome of the sky was truly enjoyable.

Ricardo finally looked up and said in a flat voice, “Diego, I need your opinion.”

Diego waited a moment for Ricardo to continue but he did not. Diego finally replied, “Sure, boss. What’s up?”

“We’ll soon begin surface exploration. Who do you think I should station at the dead man’s switch?”

Diego was surprised Ricardo would ask him such a question, and by accident he did something he tried never to do. He looked Ricardo directly in the eyes, just for an instant. Then he raised his eyebrows and before he could stop himself, he blurted out with exasperation, “Oh hell, boss. You’re going to assign me that job, aren’t you?”

Ricardo’s face flashed a deep frown. “What? Did I say that?”

Diego felt momentarily confused though he struggled mightily not to show it. He had no clue how he had guessed Ricardo’s choice. It was almost as if he could read his master’s mind. He knew Ricardo’s decision, he knew his master’s real motivation, he even knew the lie Ricardo was preparing to tell him.

Diego felt extremely unsettled. What the hell had just happened? He knew it was dangerous to talk to Ricardo without understanding, but the continued silence felt very awkward and he couldn’t delay his answer. “Yeah, I think you did. I guess I know how your mind works, boss. You wouldn’t have asked me that question unless you’ve already decided to place me there.”

Ricardo lowered his head when he heard this. The silence stretched on for a long moment with Ricardo just staring at his hands. “I had no idea he could guess my mind so easily,” he thought silently to himself. “I’ll have to work on this. I will not tolerate being predictable. I will change or Diego must disappear. One way or the other, this will not happen again.” Ricardo gave a deep sigh and said out loud. “You’re right. Can you see why you’re my logical choice?”

Diego was outwardly calm but inwardly terrified. His mind was spinning, afraid he was at the moment of his own death if he fucked up the answer to Ricardo’s question. But what to say? To reveal Ricardo’s true motive would be a disaster. Instead Diego put on his best poker face and pretended reluctantly to concede a point. He would tell Ricardo the lie that Ricardo had intended to tell him. “Well, I guess maybe I do. The rational choice of the person at the dead man’s switch is to let the returning party back in no matter what the circumstances, and I’ve got the most rational mind around here.”

Ricardo nodded, staring at Diego closely and looking somewhat relieved. “Hole in one Diego, hole in one. That was exactly my thought.”

Diego added hastily, “I’m not comparing myself to you of course.” And then he lowered his head meekly. His mind was racing wildly. Ricardo’s true motive was so clear to him. Outside exploring the surface, Ricardo trusted that Jessica and Jenaro and Hernando had neither the courage nor the intelligence to challenge him. They would need Ricardo to return home and would not risk a mutiny. For all their swagger, Jenaro and Hernando were natural-born followers. Being directly responsible for their own survival terrified them.

But Ricardo had a totally different opinion of Diego. If Diego found an opportunity to escape, would he take it? Escape might be as easy as finding a lockable door and pulling it closed behind him. Ricardo was determined never to give Diego the chance, and that meant Diego must be forever under lock and key.

Diego wanted to say more. In fact there were a million questions he felt like asking, but he knew the limits for what Ricardo would tolerate. So he waited obediently for his master to proceed, and wasn’t surprised when Ricardo said nothing. Instead Ricardo beckoned Diego to follow him.

A few minutes later they were standing on the second floor of the southern vertex of their home complex. Ricardo was surveying the fields surrounding them with binoculars, and the dead man’s switch was directly beneath them on the first level. Diego tried to remain calm and not think about what a miserable experience the switch was going to be for him.

Ricardo handed Diego the binoculars. “Take a look. There’s still enough light. Go out two kilometers from here, any direction.”

Diego scanned for a while, unsure what Ricardo was driving at. “You mean all the buildings?”

Ricardo made a disappointed clicking noise. “No. The buildings are about two and half kilometers away. I said two kilometers.”

“Right, okay...” Diego surveyed the scenery for a full minute. The ground outside was flat for about a kilometer, but then it turned into a wild and crazy landscape, no trees, very few bushes in fact, but full of moguls. The area vaguely reminded Diego of a vast miniature golf park. All it needed were a few mechanical windmills and a big plastic T-Rex on the eighteenth hole and the illusion would be complete. Or did all the little hills and valleys form some sort of maze? Diego remembered Ricardo’s words. What was at the two-kilometer mark? Diego stared for a while and finally guessed, “Some sort of moat?”

“You see any water out there, compadre?”

Diego thought he heard derision in his old title. “Uh, no, I don’t. Some sort of ditch then? And there might be a grass berm in front of it too, on this side. It’s hard to be sure...” Diego slowly turned in a half circle. “Wow! I see what you mean. It might encircle us!” Diego lowered the binoculars and waited for Ricardo to say something.

All he received was a stern warning to tell Jenaro and Hernando nothing of his visit. Ricardo finished with a curt hand gesture. It was time for them to head back down to the mall. Ricardo walked a few meters behind Diego as they returned to Jacob’s, and after Diego entered the walk-in freezer, Ricardo closed and sealed the stairwell door behind him. The men had parted company without uttering a word.

Diego’s thoughts returned to Jessica. She had been invisible during his stay topside. Was she even still alive? Ricardo had made no mention of her. Of course, she simply could have been ordered to stay in a bedroom during his visit. Or maybe she was dead.

“Jessica,” Diego thought. “If having an ego were an Olympic sport, she would take the gold. That’s what I used to think. Now though ... Poor kid. Nobody deserves being forced to play Ricardo’s mind games. Poor kid...” Diego let out a deep sigh and went off to find his former frat brothers. As he left the Bar and Grill, he turned and walked in the direction of the terminal store. To proceed in the other direction without explicit orders would be an immediate death sentence; Ricardo had make that very clear.

Diego paused for a moment to gather some thoughts. Should he make a break for it anyway? What if the surface team never came back? Diego would then die a miserable death in chains. But if he made a run for it now ... Then what? Nobody from the expeditions had ever returned. Diego assumed they were all dead. Was there any hope at all? Ricardo dying and Hernando maybe coming back to rescue him. Yeah, that might happen. Shitty odds maybe but it might happen. Either way, the nightmare wouldn’t last forever. Diego resumed his walk with a quickened pace.

The following morning.

Time: Sunday, March 10, 2019 6:30 AM

“I’d like to start the meeting now,” Fatima said over the bridge. “Team leaders, will you announce where you are and who you’re with?”

“This is Jada at Pelican Island,” said Jada. “With me are Lynn and our six escorts, Parni, Sachi, Suvarna, Tajana with spears and Charles and Madison who are armed with our pistols. I also have the flare gun.”

Frida was sitting by Fatima’s side typing the minutes of the meeting. “Jada,” she asked her sister-wife, “Is your position safe?”

“Oh yes, this is overkill. I just couldn’t see a reason not to do it. It’s a fine day and we can see all of Pelican Island from here. There are no predators. This far from the central current, it’s actually warm, the air and the water too. It’s a great day for swimming.”

Jada was reporting from a small oval island slightly over one kilometer due east of their home hexagonal island. Pelican Island was less than a hundred meters from the Missisquoi’s eastern riverside and it was the location Madison had built a “telephone booth” for their remaining Leophone. Madison had named the island after seeing a large bird flee from it when their kayaks first approached the island on Friday. Their other Leophone, the one Lynn had carried to the central island earlier on Friday, it had ceased working several minutes after Lynn had landed. The phone had abruptly died while Lynn was still standing on the docks.

Another voice spoke up on the bridge. “Tom just gave me a hand gesture to speak for him. This is Carla. We’re about one kilometer from the entrance rooms. We’re returning home now.”

Fatima blinked. “Carla?”

Her cheerful voice answered, “Yes, Tom made an offer to me last night that we divide the leadership. I’m in charge when we’re outdoors and on land. Tom is in charge on the river and inside the entrance rooms. We’re returning from my morning kayaking lesson.”

“More like our morning workout,” Tom added. “Carla is already an excellent kayaker. We were practicing towing techniques.”

Another voice spoke. “This is Mark at the box maze. With me are Lucia, Husna, Emily, Aggie, Whitney, and Heather. Our night here was uneventful. We are all in high spirits and are set to begin the transfer operation as soon as this meeting ends.”

Mark was referring to plan to transfer Lucia and Husna back to the Waterhole and perhaps all the way back to the home complex if the first leg of the trip went well. Almost the entire path would be indoors, and Mark’s team had a pair of lightweight folding wheelchairs for the transfer. For the stairwells and ladders, Mark had designed a padded harness from a sturdy backpack frame, and he would carry Lucia and Husna in the spots the wheelchairs couldn’t go. Mark had practiced with backpacking Ann the previous day and he thought the transfers with the lighter Lucia and Husna would be no problem.

Fatima described her location. “Toshi and Holly are asleep right now after working the graveyard shift. Everyone else is here with me at the Hilton. We have two items on the agenda. Lynn wanted to do a follow-up on what she reported last night, and there is a new development at Black Mall that Amber will talk about. Lynn, do you want to go first?”

“Sure.” The others on the bridge could hear a big yawn. “Sorry. I was up working most of last night. I’d like to confirm yesterday’s diagnostic that the interface down here has scheduled some sort of system reset. I think I managed to understand the countdown shortly before we left to come here. If I’m reading this correctly, the reset will occur in five days, next Friday, maybe shortly after noon. I want to recheck my analysis, but that’s what I think now.”