Chapter 71

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:25:00 PM, reset plus 00:11:57

“I knew it!” cried Tom. He was standing with Carla, Suvarna, and Tajana in the far back entrance room. They were by the elevator, and its four-meter sliding door was open about ten centimeters. Tom stuck in his fingers and with a moderate amount of effort pushed the door aside.

All of this was possible because Carla had been playing with Madison’s old Leophone. She had popped it out of the power cradle and discovered the phone came to life, not in a network sense but at least the phone display was lit. The four of them used the tiny light to work their way back to the elevator, stopping at the kitchen to pick up four bottles of water.

“Do you really think we can hike up all these stairs in the dark?” asked Suvarna. They had now passed through the elevator’s other door and were walking the twenty-five meter corridor. The first flight of stairs was all but invisible in the darkness.

“I don’t see why not,” replied Tom.

“Will your Leophone last that long?”

“Oh, I can’t imagine it would. We’ll have to do this in the dark. But there’s only one path. We can’t get lost.”

“We could fall,” whispered Suvarna.

Tom nodded. “Yes. We’ll have to be very careful and not get complacent.” He shut off the phone as they reached the stairs, plunging them into pitch darkness. “Let’s test it with one flight. We’ll go single file along the right wall. Everybody! We go as slowly as the slowest person wants! Sing out if you want to slow down!” Calling out words of encouragement to each other, the four slowly started climbing, lightly touching the rump of the person ahead of them to avoid collisions.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:25:30 PM, reset plus 00:12:27

Diego turned uncomfortably in his nap. Something felt vaguely wrong. The air inside the hexagonal walkways always had a slight refreshing breeze, but now it felt very still. Diego blinked his eyes awake and looked around. Was something going on? He reached for his binoculars and gasped as he felt his wrist cuff flop loosely open. Within seconds he freed himself from his other cuffs, crying and shaking at his good fortune. This changed everything!

Diego took the time to examine the vertex door leading to the outside. Unfortunately it was as unlocked as his cuffs. Diego could not prevent Ricardo from getting back inside the complex. And Ricardo had all the guns. No, wait a minute. It would have made sense for Ricardo to leave Alfonso a gun to guard the mall. Should Diego go down and talk to him?

Hell! If Diego’s cuffs were no longer working, perhaps Alfonso was free too. And Diego remembered the look of betrayal in Alfonso’s eyes when Diego had kicked him in the groin. It couldn’t be helped of course. It was either Alfonso’s scrotum or Diego’s life. But would Alfonso understand that if Diego tried to explain? Was he the type of guy to carry a grudge? Diego wasn’t sure, but he felt he owed it to the guy to give him the benefit of the doubt. So he turned and trotted across the sand park to the central stairwell and the mall, trying to come up with some words of apology in his mind.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:26:04 PM, reset plus 00:13:01

The almost full moon was directly overhead, its ballistic path to the north now almost familiar. Jada spoke out in a conversational tone about the fake lunar cycle. “Just a hair shy of full. The next pass will do it for sure.” She felt Sandra’s hand on her shoulder.

“How about we go back inside with the others?”

Jada looked at her friend and noticed the others had already left. Jada nodded. “You’re right. We have to start talking about the future.” The two women headed back to the library.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:26:13 PM, reset plus 00:13:10

Alfonso was on his feet now, walking briskly when he could feel the wall on his left and slowing down a bit as he crossed the occasional four-meter openings of the store entrances. He had been up on his feet for close to ten minutes now, and was overestimating his progress by thinking he had already traveled a full kilometer.

He knew there were only five kilometers between Jacob’s and the end of the mall at the Mex Grocer’s. How far should he go? “Another kilometer,” he thought. “Try to get about half way down...” He had a full clip of fifteen rounds in his pistol. One thing for sure, anybody pursuing him was going to be in for a nasty surprise. A quick smile crossed his face. The wrath of Alfonso would be one for the record books.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:26:20 PM, reset plus 00:13:17

“Pity there are no handrails,” commented Carla in the blackness. She was second in line, lightly holding Tom’s belt just below the small of his back.

Tom gave her an affirming grunt in reply. He had just climbed thirty-one stairs, ten percent of the first flight. At their current rate, this was going to take a hell of a long time, perhaps more time than they had water for. And even if they got to the surface, then what? There was no way to get into the White Mall home complex unless somebody let them in. Tom thought they would camp out outside the lounge door and pray that someone would eventually open it. Then again, maybe the door would be ajar, just as the elevator was.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:26:28 PM, reset plus 00:13:25

“You want some help, Ricardo?”

Ricardo paused from his probing of the wall to look at Jenaro. Could he trust him to do a quality job and search a section of the wall? “Just wait by the food packs and get ready to move out. I’m starting to think this is a waste of time.”

Jenaro nodded and went to stand by the door. There was a stiff breeze blowing outside and he could smell the distinctive odor of the sea grass. It reminded him vaguely of a freshly cut lawn. “Wow,” he thought. “That brings back memories.” Meanwhile Ricardo had returned to his wall.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:26:38 PM, reset plus 00:13:35

Diego had just walked across a hundred meters of sand and was now entering the large circular stairwell at the geometric center of his home complex. It was a twenty-four meter descent to the level of the first floor of Jacob’s Bar and Grill, and a four-meter ascent to the second floor of home.

Diego was shocked to see that the stairwell had lost its power. All of the recessed lighting was off. But there was still adequate sunlight from the transparent dome above, and he had an alarming vision of Alfonso chained in the pitch darkness of a mall without power. Diego turned to the stairs heading down and began to go down as fast as he safely could.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:26:48 PM, reset plus 00:13:45

“So Mark, where’s the sword?” asked Fatima. She was feeling the soft plastic door and silently hoping that Mark could slice it without a problem. Their group had spent the last couple of minutes slowly walking from their conference room to the mall entrance to the Hilton.

“Over on the left.” Mark took a few steps and picked up the weapon. “Are there any water bottles around here? Now’s the time to get them.”

“Oh, I think I can find a few,” offered Holly. Mark heard her move behind a counter and a moment later heard something heavy fall over. “I’m okay!” Holly called out.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:27:00 PM, reset plus 00:13:58

Lynn turned her head and saw Jada and Sandra coming back into the library. Everybody was back again. Lynn sighed and wished she could suggest something constructive. But what? She glanced up through the transparent ceiling. The linear sun appeared to be directly overhead. They had now gone through seven full days of fast time.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:27:04 PM, reset plus 00:14:01

And click! The opal ceiling of the lobby began to glow with internal light and the door by Jenaro’s side began to slide closed. This was just the opportunity he was praying for. In one smooth motion, he slid outside before the door fully closed, curling in a U-shape as he just managed to exit the lobby carrying both his and Hernando’s backpacks. And then the door clicked shut. Jenaro peered back inside and saw Ricardo staring at him in astonishment.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:27:09 PM, reset plus 00:14:06

The stairwell lights had been on for five seconds now, and Tom’s eyes were finally getting used to the light.

“Let me check the elevator!” Suvarna called out from the end of the line. She turned around and started heading back down the stairs.

“Don’t go back through the elevator!” Tom shouted out after her.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:27:14 PM, reset plus 00:14:11

The library room at the central island was filled with cheers. After ten seconds of the linear sun remaining rock-stable in its overhead position, people were beginning to hope that the reset insanity was over. And the power was back on. What an overwhelming relief. “I’ll check the kitchen!” Sachi called as she ran laughing from of the room.

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:27:19 PM, reset plus 00:14:16

Diego slowed up as he approached the end of the stairs. He could see the pseudo-magnetic cuffs that Ricardo had used to lock the entrance into Jacob’s, and he had a sickening feeling that he was a few seconds too late to remove them. Sure enough, a moment later he confirmed that the locks were active. Damn! He had been so close! And he could have moved faster. But how could he have known?

Time: Friday, April 1, 2019 12:27:24 PM, reset plus 00:14:21

Twenty seconds after reset, Mark sheathed his sword as Emily removed the mushroom lock and then retracted the door. “On second thought,” said Fatima, “Emily, please close and lock the door again.”

Emily turned to her leader and guessed her thinking without linking. “You’re going to abandon the Hilton?”

“For a while I think, yes. Everybody, I want us all to live at the Red Mall complex, at least for a few days. We’ll transfer Hilton monitor control to the library consoles. Let’s go! I want us out of here now!”