Chapter 75

Time: Sunday, April 3, 2019 10:35 AM

“Lucky, lucky, lucky...” Jessica was unaware she was quietly whispering to herself as she worked. Jessica was frantic, guessing she didn’t have enough time for what she was attempting to do, but determined nevertheless to try. The faint sound of her own voice went unnoticed as she worked furiously to repack the museum contents of her closet.

A museum, that was what she and Ricardo were in. She wondered if Ricardo realized it yet. Probably not. His objectives were ones of power and control, not to seek seemingly useless knowledge. But Jessica had recognized the nature of this strange and amazing maze yesterday. And with her childlike eagerness to please her father figure, she would gladly have shared her discovery with Ricardo. But he had ordered her not to speak. Lucky, lucky, lucky.

The tipoff had been the seemingly infinite variety in the clothing closets, starting back at the cluster of hexagons near their entrance pentagon. So many dimensions! The clothes of all humanity, arranged by era, culture, gender, and age in patterns that seemed just beyond her grasp. And the interconnecting rooms between the hallways of closets seemed to be markers for period transitions.

The current terminal hallway and the one before contained children’s clothes, this corridor for girls and the previous one connecting to the octagon for boys. Jessica wasn’t sure of the time period, but it certainly wasn’t modern. She suspected pre-Columbian American.

What a museum! If her life were not in danger, it would be fascinating to examine the clothes, the different fabrics and styles and uses. There were sleep clothes, work clothes, and clothes that were obviously used for special ceremonies. The closet she was in now contained girls’ jackets, Jessica guessed for five-year olds or perhaps older if the people were small. The jackets were made from animal skins. Most were plain, a few were exquisitely decorated. But for now the history being represented here was not her concern. Jessica was overstuffing the top shelves in the closet in order to clear out one of the larger drawers on the bottom level by the floor. The drawer was surprisingly deep, and Jessica’s one hope was that she would be able to fit inside.

She had moment of pure panic and despair a few minutes ago. Her escape corridor had led to a triangular room with only one other door, and then in horror she found the following corridor led to a second and terminating triangle. She was trapped and had no illusions about being able to backtrack. By now, Ricardo had surely recovered from their strange interaction.

What the hell had happened? He had been in her mind! She was sure of it. And she had been trapped in his. It was a cesspool of hate and paranoia, and its filth had shattered all her illusions. And Ricardo knew! He knew his lies had been exposed. In his rage, he had screamed at her with his mind. He considered the little-girl self image of Jessica to be a witch, and he would not suffer the witch to live. Jessica witnessed the creation of her own death sentence in his mind. Ricardo was on the verge of executing the sentence when adult Jessica and child Jessica discovered how to unite their mental defenses. So close! And so much to think about, so much Jessica still did not understand. But there was no time for that now.

If Ricardo opened any of the top cabinets in this closet, he would see the disorder and know immediately that Jessica was nearby. But would he take the time to look? Jessica whimpered as she neared the completion of her work. If only! If only she had not gambled and picked an unknown branch of the maze! She should have headed back the way they had come, gone back and branched off after six to ten nodes, no, ten to twenty. How could she be so stupid?!

Deep within her mind, a child’s voice answered, pleading with her not to berate herself. Ricardo had been lying near their original door to the octagon room. Jessica would have had to stop over him, and in a flashback the young child within her reminded the adult of the fear of a hand whipping out and grabbing her ankle as she attempted to pass. Ricardo’s hands were incredibly strong. Jessica thought he would break her ankle if he got the chance. He would probably know exactly how to squeeze and crack the bone.

Should she have tried to kill him? The question didn’t seem to have an easy answer. He had been helpless at the end of their mind merging, his body convulsing with dry heaves. Both the child and adult parts of Jessica’s mind balked at murdering someone so helpless, even in an act of self defense.

There was so much mental integration work to do, and no time to do it. Jessica felt eighteen, two years before her actual age of twenty. And it was that persona that was running the show right now. The time felt like late summer in 2016. It was the month before she first met Allen, a man who eventually would transform into Alfonso.

There was a third voice within her mind, very quiet but not completely silent. The third voice represented the fractured persona of who Jessica had become while Alfonso’s girlfriend, and unlike the two primary voices, Jessica #3 had no compunction about killing Ricardo.

It was something Jessica’s mind would have to deal with, provided of course she survived the next few minutes. There was a general agreement among them that the three personas would merge. Even the child recognized that it was strength of Jessica #3’s mind that had saved them from Ricardo’s order to kill herself. The bad was needed and would have to be accepted and absorbed back into the good. What would the finished product look like? The child wasn’t sure. The fixation of the two adult minds on sexuality was so foreign to her thoughts. But it was her great hope that the good would prevail.

There! The repacking was complete, and probably not a second too soon. Jessica climbed into the drawer and tried to arrange her body so that she could close herself in. It wasn’t easy. Knees to chest, shoulders hunched in, it was only the surprising depth of the bottom layer of drawers that was making this remotely possible. But the child Jessica approved of that. The remoteness would keep their escape route off of Ricardo’s radar scope.

There would be very little air inside the drawer. The closet itself was well ventilated, air ducts at the ceiling blowing down to intake vents at floor level. But inside the drawer, how quickly would the air run out? It would be a dangerous hideout. If she passed out from CO2 buildup, she would die. She would have to test and learn the limits of her hideaway, conserve the air as much as possible and then open the drawer and get a fresh supply of air at periodic intervals.

What would the confinement times be like? Perhaps five minutes with the drawer closed, hopefully longer, and then perhaps a five-second opening to clear the stale air and recharge. With luck, Ricardo would not be in the closet during the short exchange. The odds seemed decent, and regardless, they were all she had. Jessica took several deep breaths in the clean fresh air of the closet and slid herself in by pushing against the surface above her. The drawer sealed with a faint snap and hiss. Forty seconds later, Ricardo opened the closet door.

One hour later.

Time: Sunday, April 3, 2019 11:39 AM

Aggie stretched her arms, her mind already working on how she would present her proposal during her noontime report. Aggie glanced at her team.

Heather smiled back. “I’ve talked this over with Ann and Allison. We think we know what you’re going to do. We’re quite willing to come along.”

Aggie shook her head. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Aggie, think. If it’s too dangerous for more than one person, why isn’t it too dangerous for one person?”

“Yeah, I’m expecting Fatima to ask me that same question. I’m working on the answer now.” A few minutes later she decided to report in early.

There was a long pause when Aggie finished her proposal. Finally Fatima replied, “I’m trying not to reject this out of hand. But my God, Aggie. You’ll be jumping off a cliff.”

“No, I’m not. We have overwhelming evidence that the passage is safe.”

“No we don’t. Survivable maybe, not safe.”

Aggie took a deep breath. “Well, okay, I’ll give you that. But look at what we know. Over half the food bins we’ve checked here show clear signs of depletion. And the exterior door has one of those damn locks with the one-minute delay. They were here Fatima, I know they were, and they were trapped.”

Fatima sighed. “All right. For the moment, I’ll concede the point.”

“And do you also agree they left through the basement trapdoor?”

“Yes. I trust your exploration of the building was thorough.”

“Fatima, we know this trip is survivable. All seventeen women are still active on Mark’s roster. How else can we search for them without going through?”

“Aggie, we’ve had bad experiences with these one-way portals. Look how many people we have trapped down in Wobanakik. And it would be four more except for some quick thinking by Tom and Carla.”

“Fatima, you’re making my point for me. The people of White Mall are much better off now because we took the risk and explored. The same thing will be true here. It’s time for us to be bold.”

There was another long pause, and then Fatima asked, “Where are your other team members now?”

Aggie pumped her fist in triumph before answering. “The four of us are outside the building now. My team has a clean path home. They could be there a little after 1 PM. They don’t need me.”

“Aggie, please escort your team home. A decision like this requires discussion and planning. Any supplies you think you would take on your trip, please depot them in the building.”

Aggie gulped. “You got it. We’ll on our way.” Five minutes later with lightened loads, the four women started marching for home.

“Cheer up Aggie,” Ann commented after they had walked a few hundred meters. “If Fatima were going to reject your plan, she would have done so already.”

Aggie was shivering inside her warm outdoor clothing, even though the noontime sun had pushed the temperature to 11C. “I know,” she replied. “I know.”

One week later.

Time: Sunday April 10, 2019 4:50 AM

Five people were standing quietly together outside the trapdoor on the second floor of Esau’s Bar and Grill, half of Amber’s team plus Kiyoko. Her other four members were in the kitchen of Jacob’s Bar and Grill, and they had verified yesterday afternoon that the door to surface there was now unlocked. Today was the day they would attempt to take control of the Black Mall home complex, and they would be going in simultaneously as two groups, each armed with a pistol and several crossbows.

The opportunity for the seizure had opened yesterday. When her team was not busy probing the Black Mall spiral, Amber would have two members stationed at Esau’s testing the trapdoor with a penny at random times. Until yesterday, the penny would always remain at Esau’s, indicating the Black Mall lounge elevator was not accessible. And then yesterday at 10:52 AM, the penny disappeared.