Storiesonline.net ------- Undiscovered Countries by hammingbyrd7 Copyright© 2004 by hammingbyrd7 ------- Description: There are many stories about people trapped in elevators, sure, but what about escalators? Story is complete as is, see Life in the Tesseract, for the sequel, and Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Justice for the finale. Codes: MF ScFi rom 1st cons het squirt ------- ------- Copyright© 2004 ------- Chapter 1 1800 feet above the Chicago lakefront, Matt gazed eastward over Lake Michigan and reflected that he was having the time of his life. He had just finished having an interview lunch with Kathy; a fresh college graduate applying for a secretarial job at his law firm, and realized Kathy was one of the most beautiful and charming persons he had ever met. Matt was a recent graduate himself, having just gotten his law degree two months ago from Harvard. Matt had made quite a reputation for himself in Cambridge, as a prodigy genius in contract law, and as a selfish bore in romantic attachments. A watershed moment in his life had occurred a month before his graduation, when he was breaking up with Caroline. Caroline had screamed at him that he was worse than a dishonest broker who would "pump and dump" a stock, because Matt would "pump and dump" living, caring human beings. Matt did a lot of soul searching later that night, and realized what Caroline had said was absolutely true. Caroline was one in a long series of young women that Matt had lost interest in shortly after becoming sexually active with them. It was too late to repair the damage with Caroline, but Matt recognized the core indecency of his attitudes, and he vowed to himself that it would never happen again. And now here he was, finishing lunch on the 150th floor of the Morningstar Capital Tower of Chicago, chatting with one of the loveliest woman he had ever met, captivated both by her appearance and her kind humor. He thought she looked gorgeous in her white dress with large blue and purple flowers, a perfect contrast to her soft brown hair. After he had told her she had the job, they had even gotten onto a first name basis with each other. The only sad note to the occasion was, since he was becoming her new boss, his new moral standards told him it would be inappropriate to pursue her... "I still find it hard to believe you took me to lunch at the Top Of The Morning", said Kathy. "The MCT itself has only been opened a few weeks. This must be costing your firm a fortune!" "It is a magnificent building, I was here for the opening ceremonies, the celebration for the new tallest building in the world. Though I gather Hong Kong is scheduled to take back the title in two years... Regarding the cost, I'll tell you a little secret. This reservation was made originally for the senior partners and the clients of our new Siemens account. The clients had to re-schedule their trip from Germany. Since I'll be very involved with the new account, and it appeared on your resume that you spoke German fluently, I managed to convince the firm to reduce the reservation to two, rather than cancel it. I hoped you liked it. It must be very different from Mount Holyoke College..." "Oh, yes. South Hadley, Massachusetts is a modest college town. Over the last four years, it's been rare when I was in a building with more than a few floors in it... It's breathtaking to be up here. I'm glad though, that your firm is only 30 floors up in, there, that building right there", pointing almost straight down with her finger at the window. "Chicago looks like a toy city from here... Wouldn't you be a little nervous, if you had to work this high all the time? Think of how long it would take you to evacuate the building, if you had to start from here..." "Not as long as you might think. I found a pamphlet on the building's opening night, describing an emergency set of high-speed escalators, with their own battery backups. They looked like they could evacuate the building very quickly." "Ha, ha", laughed Kathy. "I used to love escalators as a child. Whenever I'd get lost from my parents in a department store, they would just come to the escalators to find me riding them. But Matt, you mean high-speed elevators, don't you?" "No, high speed escalators." "The moving stair kind?" "Is there another kind?" "Matt, you can't be serious! Are you pulling my leg?" A thought burst into Matt's mind, one from his old personality. A desire to be pulling Kathy's leg. A desire to be pulling both of them, in fact. Holding both her ankles and pulling Kathy's legs apart while mounting her. Matt banished the thought from his mind. "Stop that!" he thought to himself. "Kathy is a gentle human soul, and her comment was totally innocent. What you're thinking is grossly inappropriate." "No joking Kathy, the pamphlet described high speed escalators." "Matthew, look me in the eye one more time, and tell me you're not joking." "Katherine, I'm not joking. High speed moving stairs." "Okay... Sincere apologies for questioning you like this... But, high speed escalators? My mind is balking at the concept!" "Why? They can move people down quickly, and even if normal power and battery power fail, people could still use them as normal stairs. Doesn't it seem like a reasonable idea?" "No Matt, it doesn't... I can't say exactly why... It's not a question my degree in English Lit was designed to answer. I just have a deep intuition that, if I were a civil engineer, I'd be laughing and rolling on the floor, and explaining to you the valid reason why the idea would never work. Have you ever heard of another super-building with them?" "Well, no... If I remember right, the pamphlet showed them in the core of the building, behind the elevator banks. It's time we started heading out anyway. Want to see if we can find them?" "Oh, absolutely! Thanks, Matt, I'd like that very much!" Matt paid for the $200 lunch, grateful that it wasn't his money. After searching the corridors around the elevators without success, Kathy started to suggest they give up when Matt spied a dim corridor adjacent to a janitor closet. He started down the long corridor, with a slightly worried Kathy trailing behind him. "Matt, this can't possibly be right. This corridor is so narrow and dim, and it's totally unlabeled as an exit route. I can barely see where we're going. It probably accesses the elevator hardware." "No, wait," said Matt, using his cell phone as a flashlight. "There's a door here at the end, and a sign saying BOTTOM FLOOR EXIT ONLY." Matt pushed the metal bar on the steel door was surprised to see a small, brightly lit access pad leading to a downward moving escalator. Compared to the stuffy humid corridor, the air inside the door seemed fresh, dry, and cool, with a soft breeze blowing from vents. Kathy joined Matt on the access pad and was astonished by what she saw. "This is so amazing, Matt! Look how fast and smoothly it moves. And its curve! I've never seen anything like it. Apologies again for doubting you. This is absolutely the most beautiful escalator I've ever seen!" "I'm amazed by it too, Kathy. Every other escalator I've ever seen has a flat incline except for the top and bottom. This one is in a continuous S curve, look how steep it gets in the middle of the curve! It looks like the maximum drop angle, at the center of the S curve, is well over 60 degrees. Let me time the steps, see how long the trip takes..." Matt glanced back and forth between his watch and the descending stairs for several moments... "Ten seconds exactly, as close as I can measure. The speed doesn't really look that fast, the pace of a moderate walk, which I'll grant is quite a bit faster than a regular escalator. It does have moving handrails, just like a regular escalator. Very narrow though, the two handrails must be less than four feet apart. I guess the drop would be safe, just hang onto both rails in the middle! And there's a nice short horizontal runout before the ride ends, and then you have the landing-pad to catch your balance. At the bottom landing-pad, you can just see the switchback for the next leg down... These landing-pads are a lot smaller then I would have guessed, only about nine feet square..." Matt turned to Kathy and was struck by the look of childlike delight she had as she stared at the descending stairs. Not wanting to lose the beauty of her delight, he said on impulse "Kathy, would you like to ride them down?" "Oh, could we!? Actually, maybe not... There supposed to be for emergency use only, right?" "Well, there's no sign saying not to use them. Let's see, it's just after 1 o'clock now, I'm free until a 3 pm conference call. 150 floors times 10 seconds, plus a few seconds to walk the landing-pad to the next switchback... Heck, it'll only take a few minutes more than a half hour... And then another 15 minutes to walk from the Morningstar lobby to my office. We have plenty of time. And, I'll admit, I find them very tempting myself..." "Thank you, Matt! Thanks very much!" Kathy said with a bright smile. "Would you like to take the point?" "Sure!" Matt took a brisk two steps and walked onto the short horizontal zone of the escalator top. The motion quickly turned vertical, his stomach noticing the drop just a bit at the most vertical part of the S curve, and then a longer horizontal runout in which he regained his timing and went from a brisk walking pace to a dead stop at the bottom landing-pad. "Wow!" he called up the Kathy, "What a fun ride! Safe, though, I think. Just hold both rails and pay attention as you exit. It is a bit fast..." Kathy gave a warm laugh, let go of the door she had been holding open, and followed Matt down the escalator in delight. The door clicked shut as she was half way down. ------- Chapter 2 Matt had one of the most joyous and tender times in his life riding the escalators down with Kathy. At first they laughed and smiled about how much fun they were to ride. They were both deeply struck by their totally silent operation. There was a soft breezy sound present, but it was from the air vents. Kathy commented that she had never heard of such heavy machinery not rumbling at least some... As they continued their descent, the conversation turned serious, but very sweet. Kathy and Matt started revealing to each other their hopes and dreams for their futures. Kathy decided to trust Matt completely, and revealed her soul to him. She told him that her dear parents were killed when she was 14, that her uncle had abused her in her high school years, and described how she had retreated into her studies at her women's college. As she approached graduation, she had taken a hard look at herself, and decided she wanted to be much more open and gregarious with the world. She still felt a bit shy about having no experience in dating at the age of 22, but was determined to get past her shyness and live a complete adult life, one that included romantic attachments. Matt felt overcome with tenderness that Kathy would be so open with him, and returned the trust. He told her of his long list of girlfriends, and astonished himself by mentioning the true reason of why there were so many. He finished by describing how determined he was to pick a new direction for his character. Kathy paused on a landing for a moment, put her hand on his shoulder and gave him a quick nod with teary eyes before starting down the next leg. Following her, Matt realized that Kathy, for a brief moment, had totally stepped outside her role as his future secretary, in order to affirm him, one human being to another. Their conversation ended as they both thought they were just about at ground level. After riding a number of minutes more in silence, Kathy asked, "Any guesses, Matt, of how many more flights to go?" "Oh, I don't know. I would guess less than ten. How about you, Kathy?" "Oh, don't ask me! My guess would have had us in the lobby several flights ago." Matt looked at his watch. It was approaching 2 o'clock. "Odd", he thought, thinking of his original estimate. "We did spend a bit more time talking while we walked the landings, but Kathy's right, my guess would have been finishing this ride a few minutes ago too..." After about another three minutes of traveling, Kathy turned to Matt and said, "Well, that was another ten flights, and still no end in sight. It's a pity there's no central well in this core, so we could look down and see the bottom, see how far we've left to go. But doesn't it seem odd, that we're not there yet?" "Well, the two switchbacks do abut each other. There no direct way to look down more than one landing-pad at a time. We must be very close. Tell you what, let's just go as fast as we can, and I guarantee we'll be out within 10 minutes." Kathy and Matt spent the next ten minutes riding down as fast as they could. Kathy then turned to him with a worried look on her face and said, "Let's stop at this landing for a moment and talk. I started counting when we finished our last conversation. We've come down another 41 flights. I don't understand this. We really should be in the lobby now. No, let me be more precise. We should have been in the lobby 40 to 50 flights ago." "Well, we're obviously not there yet. We must have been moving more slowly than we realized, earlier when we first started, while we were talking..." "I don't think so." "But what other possible explanation could there be?" "None, I admit. I still don't like it. I don't understand my environment. Can we exit, just to see what floor we're on?" "Sure, there's a door at every landing." Matt walked over to the door, but found the knob would not turn. "Locked! Oh, look. There's a small notice here, saying BOTTOM FLOOR EXIT ONLY. That's right, it said the same thing on the top floor. There's a lot of security in this building. I know that a whole bunch of floors are off limits to the general public..." "Something's still not right. I've just realized that there's no floor information on the landing-pads. Nothing to tell you where you are. Doesn't that strike you as wrong?" "Well, maybe it's a security issue..." Oh, Matt! Safety issues should overcome any security concerns. What if you were a fireman in this escalator well? It would be vital to know where you were..." "Wow... That's a very good point. Maybe we should mention it to building management on our way out. For now, though, we'll have to just keep going down. I'm sure it'll be just a few more flights... And we can try each door on the way down..." "No, wait, Matt! Please. Don't go down anymore yet. Let me think..." "We really should keep going down. I need to be back at the office soon, my call is at 3 pm" "Call? Yes! Is your cell phone working?" Kathy asked, as she reached into her shoulder bag for her cell phone. Matt pulled out his cell and pushed a few buttons. "No, but I'm not surprised. All these walls look like metal. This escalator shaft is extremely well built." "Matt, when was the last time you charged your cell?" "Just before we left for lunch." "Excellent! I'm fully charged too. And like you, I have no cell signal either. Matt, I'm turning off my cell. Please turn off your cell too." "What in the world for?" "I'm very worried. I don't understand my environment, and I want to drop into survivor mode. The battery power in our cells is a resource. I don't want to waste it. The cells can be used as small flashlights, they have calculators... I don't know. It's a resource. I just don't understand my environment... Please, Matt?" Matt felt the tenderness in his heart towards Kathy pulling at him; pulling him to adopt a totally new perspective of what their situation was. "Okay" said Matt, turning off his cell. "Kathy, your worry is more important to me than making my 3 pm call. If you have a different idea than just continuing down, I'm open to your thoughts. But what other choice do we have?" "I hate the thought of going down anymore... Is it at all possible to backtrack? I know it sounds crazy!" "It sounds impossible! Look how fast the stairs are moving. Imagine trying to run against them, especially in the vertical drop of the S curve. One floor would be impossible, let alone 150. And we're obviously just a few floors from the lobby!" "I know, I know, Matt. It's just that I dread going down anymore... Would you mind if I tried to go up, just to test what it's like?" "I'll support anything you want to try. But it looks hopeless to me." Kathy began to run up the down escalator, making it only partially up the S slope before turning sharply and coming back down. "Dead hopeless in these dress shoes. I have a pair of sandals in a plastic bag in my handbag, but they won't work either. My best chance will be to run in bare feet. I just have to take off my pantyhose..." Matt tried to avert his eyes as Kathy turned her back to him and bunched up her dress around her hips and started to slide her pantyhose off her hips and legs. Matt caught just a glimpse of simple white panties under her hose before his new conscience begged him to turn around and give Kathy some privacy. Kathy turned back a few seconds later, pantyhose in hand... "Thank you, Matt. It was kind of you to turn. And now, let's see what my body can do when I put the pedal to the metal!" Kathy attacked the escalators with a flying leap, her bare pumping legs a blur. Matt was stunned to see how beautiful she looked, a whirlwind of activity and grace. Kathy ran up to the steep part of the S curve, and seemed to stall just near the most vertical part. After spending several moments there, slowly drifting up with very slight progress, she gave a shriek of pain, turned around, and came back down to Matt. She was gasping for breath, looking dizzy, and stepping carefully with her tender feet. She sat down and held her feet in the air. Matt could see her feet bottoms looked red and tender. He sat down by her legs and reached for her right foot... "Kathy, may I massage this? It looks like your feet took a beating..." Kathy nodded a quick yes through her gasps, as she gulped in air, trying to catch her breath. Matt began to massage her right foot, and then her left. Several minutes passed in silence. Kathy had her back leaning against the wall, her eyes closed, resting, and her feet resting in Matt's lap as he sat by her. Matt felt torn by a great internal struggle, as he continued to massage and caress Kathy's feet. One part of him felt filled with tender and loving feelings for her, somewhat sexual, but content with the intimacy of caressing her feet. Another part of him was filled with intense sexual desire, his penis throbbing in erection near Kathy's feet, as he lustfully looked at her bare legs, her bunched-up dress exposing most of her thighs. Matt found to his great relief that his tenderness was the stronger desire, and he stopped the lustful urge to continue the foot caresses up the calves and thighs. After a short while, Kathy opened her eyes and smiled. "Thanks, Matt. That really helped. These metal escalator grates are rough on bare feet. But my feet feel fine now. I guess going down is our only option. Do you have any other thoughts?" Kathy slipped on her sandals and packed her hose and dress shoes in the plastic bag in her handbag. "Well, we absolutely must be about to hit the lobby. But, how about this? We'll try the door on every floor, and even if it's locked, we'll bang on the door for a few moments, and see if we can attract someone's attention." "Sounds good", said Kathy, preparing to descend to the next level. "Oh, one more thing, Matt. Your petting my feet was so sweet and gentle. In the same situation, my uncle would have been all over my legs, and worse... I really wanted to give you my complete trust, and now I can. You've earned it!" Kathy gave Matt a quick kiss on his cheek and then jumped on the ride to the next level down. Kathy and Matt continued their journey. For the first 10 or 15 flights, they would pound on the locked doors without effect. After that, they would just briefly test the knob before continuing onto the next level. They had been going on for over an additional half hour, the time approaching 3 o'clock, when Matt suddenly heard Kathy start screeching on the escalator ahead of him. He first thought that her foot might be caught in the escalator, fear gripping his heart, but Kathy managed to finish the ride and step off. She backed up to the landing-pad wall and turned, facing the escalator, still screeching in terror, her face totally drained of color. She looked hysterical, and as if she were about to faint. "Kathy, Kathy! What!?" "Oh, Matt! Look at the vertical distance of each flight! Look at the damn distance!" Kathy screamed. Matt turned, looked at the escalator, and suddenly Kathy's point hit his mind like a sledgehammer. He felt his head spinning, and his world growing dark... ------- Chapter 3 Matt woke slowly, feeling his mind at great peace. As he became more awake, he realized why he felt so peaceful. Kathy was sitting in a semi-doze, her back against the landing-pad wall, her legs out in front of her. Matt's head was lying on the very top of her right thigh, the side of his head resting against her hip. Her left hand was idly caressing his head, from temple to ear, and her right hand was under his jacket and resting on his left breast. Matt sighed at how wonderfully secure it felt to have his left nipple cupped in the warmth of the palm of her hand. "Oh... Hi, Matt! Welcome back! How are you feeling?" asked Kathy, continuing to hold his breast and gently pet his head. "I'm feeling okay now, thanks. How long was I out?" "About two hours. It's a little after 5 pm now. Are you sure you're okay?" "More than okay. It feels wonderful to be held and petted like this. I want to apologize for fainting, leaving you alone. I've never done that before... I don't think I hurt myself when I fell though, lucky..." "Oh, don't apologize. I was a few seconds from fainting myself. I was really losing it! I have never been gripped by hysteria like that! Your fainting actually saved me. I caught you, you didn't fall. Caring for you gave my mind something else to focus on. You turned peaceful, too, after I started to pet you. Just sleeping, I think, not really knocked out. I thought I would just let you rest... You have a very fit body. Lots of nice muscles! Do you work out a lot?" "Yeah. I was on the varsity wrestling team in college. Still try to hit the gym daily. I was admiring you too, when you tried to run up the escalator. You were so graceful and beautiful!" "Thank you... I like to swim and jog a lot..." Matt sighed, and realized he really should get up. He rose and gently kissed Kathy's cheek, and then sat by her side, both looking up at the descending escalator before them. "Kathy, how high would you guess each switchback is, two stories?" "I don't have to guess, I know. I have a 6-inch ruler in my handbag. Do you see the faint diamond pattern in the polished metal walls of the escalator, between the stairs and the moving handrail? The diamonds are exactly 8" vertical and 6" horizontal point to point. They provide a reference grid for counting distance. Each escalator leg is exactly a 30 foot vertical drop over a 20 foot horizontal run." "Wait! 30 feet? Each story of the Morningstar Tower is 12 feet. That would make each leg of the escalators 2.5 stories. That's absurd!" "Exactly! It's absurd! There are doors on each landing-pad! Where the hell do the doors lead to, the ones that should be opening into the floor supports between stories? It makes no sense! I've done some calculations, Matt, on the S curve. I realize now why I failed to climb it. The hypotenuse of the 30 ft by 20 ft right triangle is just over 36 ft. The sum of the x and y displacements is 50 ft. The length of the path of the S curve must be somewhere in between. My best guess is 44 ft. If it's exactly 44 ft and makes the trip in exactly 10 seconds, then the stairs are traveling at 4.4 ft/second, which is exactly 3 mph." "Now Matt, take a close look at the most vertical part of the S curve. I think it's close to a 4 ft/sec vertical drop. That's eight feet in two seconds. Imagine being on a Stairmaster, and trying to climb at a floor-per-two-second speed. The human body just isn't designed to put out energy that fast. And you have to raise your body weight eight feet every two seconds just to hold your position. To make progress up, you would have to move even faster." "Yeah..." Matt stood up and walked to the escalator. "There's less than an inch between the moving handrails and the base switchback wall. No hope of climbing there." Matt walked over to the locked door and looked at it closely for a while. "And here are another two weird things. The doorknob isn't just locked, it's a solid piece of steel flowing directly from the door. It will never turn. And the inscription BOTTOM FLOOR EXIT ONLY. It's absurd. It's engraved directly into the frame of the door. Nobody would post a sign like that, one so permanent. What if you wanted a different policy..." "Take a look at the air vents, Matt, and the light panel." "How the hell was this put together? There are no screws! The grid in front of the air vent flows directly out of the wall... How the hell was this put together? The light panel? It's the one thing that looks normal to me. What am I missing?" "You can't tell by looking. The covering panel looks light and flimsy, but it's not. I tried to scratch it with a key, with all my might. Couldn't mark it at all." Matt returned to sit by Kathy's side. "The biggest impossibility, of course, is that these escalators are totally silent. I feel no vibration at all from them. Totally impossible. How could we have been so stupid not to notice the impossibility? Not even notice that each drop was 2.5 stories?" "Because they're the size we're used to seeing! Most escalators we see cover department store stories, where the vertical distance probably is close to 30 ft. And we also expect stairwells to open to every floor. Lost in our amazement of how beautiful these horrors first appeared, we both didn't see the disconnect... I'm really terrified. I don't want to pound on another door! I don't know who or what may open it..." Matt put his arms around Kathy and kissed her. Kathy returned the kiss and the hug, they both sat silently with each other. "Well" said Kathy after awhile, "how would you like a bit of good news? Look at this!" Kathy opened her handbag and pulled out a full 1-liter bottle of spring water. "Thirsty?" "Actually, yes. My throat feels really dry." "Mine too. Just take a single swallow. Move it around your mouth before swallowing." Matt did as she asked. "Thanks." "Oh, don't thank me. This isn't my water. This is our water. You get half. No, a bit more than half, you're bigger than I am... How about I empty my handbag, and you empty your pockets. Let's inventory what we've got." Shortly afterwards, staring at the pile of their possessions, Kathy picked up her diary from the pile, and one of her pens, entered the date and time and then began to write: One set men's boxers, undershirt, socks, shoes, slacks, dress shirt, tie, sport's jacket, analog watch, wallet, assorted cards, $317.25 cash, keys, 2 cotton handkerchiefs One woman's panties and bra, pantyhose, dress, dress shoes, sandals, digital watch, small change purse, assorted cards, $87.77 cash, keys, bus pass Two cell phones, charged. One cell phone charger 1-liter plastic water bottle with cap, 90% full 1 large shoulder ladies handbag 1 diary, blank except for first 5 pages, 5 pens (3 black, 1 blue, 1 red), one 6-inch ruler 1 small box stone-wheat crackers (unopened), 1 tootsie roll, 2 packs life-savers 1 small bottle multi-vitamins, 43 capsules left, 2 chap sticks (1 new, 1 almost gone) 1 toothbrush, 1 small tube toothpaste, 1 small bar soap, 3 small packets tissues, 2 tampons, 1 small mirror 1 refrigerator thermometer 1 plastic bag (heavy duty, dirty from carrying shoes) "Well" said Matt, "I guess you added a lot more useful stuff than I did... I'm amused you're carrying around a thermometer" he said with a kind smile. "Who knows what will wind up being the most useful? It's nice you have the cell charger, even though there's no place to plug it in now... And you added the 2 packs of life-savers, my favorite!... We should probably each take a vitamin pill with our next swallow of water... Regarding the tampons, I just finished my period a few days ago; at least we don't have to worry about that for a while... Oh, the thermometer. Bought it a few days ago, been forgetting to put it in the fridge. It's registering 71 F, but with the breeze, it feels a bit cool. The air feels very dry though." "Ready to put the moose on the table, Kathy?" "Yes! What's our main plan?" "I think we have to head down. As fast as we can." "Agreed. The signs promise a bottom floor with an exit. It would be death to stay here... Matthew, there's one more thing. We should pick a leader. Someone to call the shots in an emergency. Otherwise, you might jump left and I jump right in a crisis, and we could become separated. That would probably be a death sentence for the both of us." "A very thoughtful point. Do you want the job?" "I'm open to taking it... I don't want to dominate you... What are your feelings about this?" "Kathy, you've been making excellent calls, thinking much farther ahead than I have. I think you should take control. Your judgment calls have really been superb!" "Thanks for your trust, Matt! I accept. Consider this issue completely open for change if you ever feel differently... Let me ask you a personal question. Are there any medical issues here? Are you on insulin, thyroid medication, anything like that?" "No, nothing at all. I just had a complete physical a week ago, lots of blood work. Everything was fine... I was feeling guilty about Caroline, the young woman I dumped about three months ago. She was a very sweet person, I'm quite ashamed now about how I treated her. I wanted to be sure, for Caroline and myself, that I didn't have any sexually transmitted diseases... How about you, any health problems?" "Matt... I first want to say that I base my respect for you on what you are, not on what you were. It takes a lot of courage and humility to change the way you did... Regarding your question about my health, I'm the same as you, no problems at all... Well, good! Both of us are healthy... Neither of us is overweight, but I guess both of us can afford to lose ten pounds or even a bit more without harming our bodies. Good again, food is not an immediate critical concern... Hydration is, though, and I don't know there's much we can do about it. The air is so dry in here. I wouldn't be surprised if the humidity were zero. Water is a really critical issue..." "How far down do you think we are? How much further do we have to go?" Matt whispered. "I don't know. I think we've traveled at least 200 flights. 6,000 feet. This would put us 4,200 feet underground. I'm not even sure this is the right way to think about it anymore. Are we underground at all? Is there reality beyond those doors? And I have no intuition at all where the bottom floor is, five floors down, or five million floors down from here. I have no idea. Well, it's after 5 pm now. Up for 4 to 6 hours of heading down, before we call it quits for the night?" "I guess, Kathy... Gosh, in that amount of time, we can cover a thousand flights, 30,000 feet, 6 miles down... It can't go on that far... I'm sure we'll find the bottom long before then..." "Well, I hope so too... Want to lead for awhile?" "Okay... Tell you what. As I'm about to start each leg, I'll wait for a GO word from you. Give it to me after you have completed your landing safely in back of me. This way, I won't get too far ahead of you, especially if you trip and need help, and I'm already on the next leg down... I know! Let the GO word be the number of the flight we're about to take. This way we both keep track of the number of flights as we go down, calling them out to each other. Maybe you can make a check mark in your diary for every hundred flights, and we'll restart the count. When we reach the bottom, knowing how far down we've come, the information might be important..." "Great ideas Matt, let's start!" ------- Chapter 4 "One Hundred" whispered Kathy. "One Hundred" whispered Matt in reply, and started down the flight, Kathy a few seconds behind him. It would be time for another short break, as Kathy stopped to mark a check in her diary for another 100 flights. It was now shortly before 10 pm, and Matt was wondering if he should ask Kathy about another swallow of water, the ultra-dry air had really dried out his throat, and Kathy's too from the sound of it. Kathy and Matt had just spent the last four hours descending 800 escalator flights. They had their timing down to a smooth, easy rhythm, at 200 flights an hour, changing the lead every 200 or 300 flights. "Hard to believe, isn't it" said Matt. "That we were just sitting down to lunch 10 hours ago." Kathy smiled. "I was just thinking the same thing!" "I also have to admit, your skepticism was entirely justified, about my assumption that we'd be out of here by now... Kathy, you look a little tense. Is anything hurting you? We can certainly stop for the night..." "Well, my real problem is... well, you haven't noticed passing any ladies' rooms, have you?" "What? Oh. Ha. No, afraid not. If you want, I can go down a flight; you can use this landing as a ladies room. I could really use a men's room myself." "Oh, I don't think it's a good idea to split up, even for one flight, unless there's a really pressing reason for it... Matthew... This is a little embarrassing for me... Matthew, like me, do you need both a bowel movement, and to urinate?" "Yes... Katherine, don't be embarrassed. I have complete trust in you. I know you have a good reason for asking." "I'm remembering some stories of earthquake survivors. I distinctly remember stories where people survived only by drinking their urine. I also know that urinating flushes out salts that have to leave the body. I have an embarrassing proposal... I think we should have one turn at drinking our bladders, but then not again unless we find the exit, or at least a good water source where we can really flush the salts out of our bodies." "Okay, sounds like a good compromise. Should we use your water bottle for this?" "No. I don't want to pollute the clean water; it's still over half full. Also, I'd want to have one swallow of clean water after doing this, to wash the urine salt from my throat. That what's making this so embarrassing... Oh, Matt, I'm trying to say that I think we should suckle each other's bladders!" Matt heard a quick cheer of obscene delight from his old personality, which was then crushed, utterly and completely crushed, by overwhelming waves of tenderness and compassion for Kathy's distress. In an epiphany of joy, Matt realized that the last remnant of his old personality had been crushed forever, the great private victory finally his, he had finally become who he wanted to be. Matt put his arms around Kathy, gently hugging her. Kathy hugged back, and in the silent minutes that followed, Matt could feel Kathy's tension and distress slowly leaving her body... "Katherine, I promise I'll treat you with utmost respect, if you really want to do this. I have an incredible mix of emotions for you... caring, sexy, tender... I haven't had time to sort anything out, even within myself, let alone have something I can bring to you... I promise I'll honor the innocence of your body. You have my word." "Matthew, you have my word too. I do this in complete decency and respect for you... Let's get started. I'd first like to have a bowel movement. There's no good way I can think of to use the moisture of my feces, I'm willing to waste it. But", said Kathy with a wicked smile, "I just might like to try a little experiment. I want to poop on the escalator! See if it gets sucked down in the gears, damages it. And if so, will someone come to make repairs?" "Wow! Okay, I'll poop too. Want to do it now?" "Yep!" Matt stripped to just wearing just his tee-shirt, Kathy to her bra and dress. They stood side by side at the edge of the landing zone of the descending escalator, and then squatted to have their rumps hang out over the moving stairs, Kathy's dress bunched up at her waist... "Forgive my erection, Kathy. It just feels so sexy to have your hip next to mine..." "Oh, there's nothing to forgive, Matt. This feels very sexy for me too. I'm like you, though. I need time to sort out lots of feelings. Let's not explore our sexuality, at least not tonight..." Matt grunted and had a large bowel movement. He used two of Kathy's small tissues to clean himself. It took Kathy a bit longer to have her movement, and then she also cleaned herself. The feces were smoothly pulled into the escalator grates, disappearing along with the soiled tissues. After waiting several minutes, they both decided that the escalator's operation appeared unchanged. "Suckle me first, Matt?" "Okay." "Do you know where my urethra is?" "More or less... I've never really played like this..." "Of course not! I understand." Kathy leaned against the wall, with Matt kneeling in front of her, his eyes level with her pubic. Kathy pulled her dress up, spreading her legs and opening her labia with her hands. "See the urethra slit? It's tiny. Below my clitoris, just above the vaginal opening. It's pretty small. What? You have your eyes closed? Oh, Matt, you're so sweet! Here, stick your tongue out, let me guide your head. Right there... Ah! Ah! I can feel your tip of your tongue separating my urethra slit. I didn't realize I'd be so sensitive there. Suckle that spot. Right there, yes, I can feel that your lips have suction on the correct spot. You can be a bit fiercer... Even fiercer... Oh! Good! I'll try to release my bladder now, as slowly as I can. Try to swallow everything. Dear Matt, I love you..." Matt patiently waited for Kathy to release her bladder, but for a time she was just too tense to do it. Trying to help her relax, he reached up with his left hand, and gently caressed the back of Kathy's calf as she squatted before him. With her eyes closed, Kathy became relaxed by the soft caresses, breathing slowly and deeply, and finally began voiding her bladder into Matt's sucking mouth. Matt was quite touched by how thoughtful Kathy was in supporting his suckle, releasing her urine in brief bursts to give Matt time to swallow. Matt could feel Kathy's body tense when his mouth started to fill, and he began to lose his suction lock on her urethra. She would bear down and force the release valve at the base of her bladder to close, and give Matt time to swallow and regain his suction lock. Eventually, Matt figured out a true suckle motion with his mouth, a suck-swallow rhythm that allowed him to establish continuous suction on Kathy's urethra. He then suckle-pumped her bladder dry as Kathy just relaxed and released. Afterwards, Matt rose and turned away as Kathy slipped on her panties. She then knelt in front of Matt, getting into position to suckle his bladder. "Ah ha, the urethra slit on a penis is a lot easier to find!" she said with a smile. The position was identical to Matt getting a blowjob, and at first he just couldn't pee, having even more trouble than Kathy. His sexual desire was just too much, his erection was rock hard... "Matt, I'll tell you what. I've been trying to keep my tongue off your penis head, I understand how arousing that is to a male. I'm willing to suckle the head, stroke you, suckle your orgasm, and then suckle your bladder afterwards. Or, I can pet your scrotum. My senior roommate at Mount Holyoke mentioned to me that she could really relax her boyfriend by doing that..." "I have an intense desire to get sexy with you, Kathy. But I want to honor your innocence even more, at least for tonight. The scrotal pets sound really nice..." Kathy began to gently caress Matt's scrotum. Just the surface skin at first, but as time flowed she began to get more playful, penetrating the sac with her fingers, petting the testes in slow, gentle strokes. Matt felt profoundly relaxed by the loving caresses, and soon voided his bladder, Kathy holding a strong suckle on his semi-flaccid penis while her fingers caressed both his testes. Afterwards, they both decided to sleep for the night. Back in their clothes but with their shoes off, they tried to get comfortable. Eventually, they found the best position was for Matt to use one arm as a head pillow, and Kathy curled by Matt's side, using his other arm for her pillow. Matt was comfortable with the temperature, Kathy felt cold, so Matt covered Kathy with his sports jacket. "You were brilliant, Kathy. My throat feels fine now, and I'm not thirsty. It was a little salty to suckle you, but it worked. You were brilliant." "The trick won't work a second time. Our kidneys are working overtime to handle what we've done. Our next urine will be super briny, worse than seawater... This ultra-dry air will kill us. It's pulling the moisture right out of our respiratory systems. We absolutely must find water tomorrow. Oh, Matt! I feel so adrift... You are my anchor. I think I would have gone insane, drooling on the floor 800 flights above us, if I were trapped here alone... Thank you Matt, for saving me." "My Irish and Scottish grandparents taught me a saying: We live in the shelter of each other. Dearest Katherine, you saved me as much as I saved you." "Matthew, you still don't know what I look like, do you? What my pubic looks like?" "No. I admit stealing glances at you earlier in the day. You're so beautiful! But for this, I was overcome with a feeling of tenderness for you, of wanting to honor you. I do have a sharp sexy memory, though, of your soft hip pressing against mine, while we were squatting over the escalators..." "Matt, I feel so grateful that you were so gentle with me. It was the exact opposite of my uncle. I was never actually raped or anything. Just lots of shame and humiliation. None of the bathrooms or my bedroom had a door I could lock. My uncle had some nonsense excuse about safety issues... He would just come in and brush his teeth while I was on the toilet, use the toilet while I was in the shower, that kind of thing... Kept saying it was okay because we were family... An occasional inappropriate hug... That's what it was like... I felt no shame at all when you suckled me, none at all. Just a whirlwind of emotions. A wonderful sexy whirlwind of emotions! I just need time to figure the whirlwind out. Thank you so much for giving me the time!" Matt kissed Kathy in reply, and they were just quiet for a while. "How do we frame this, Kathy? Is it God, the Devil, aliens, parallel universes, that we're delusional, what..." "I really don't know. The only choice that fits into my old worldview is that we're delusional. I do believe people can hallucinate. I just don't think that's the right answer, though. I somehow think all this is real. Supernatural, God or the Devil? This place has the feel of advanced technology. Who can know the mind of God, but it just doesn't strike me as God's style. The Devil? I remember a horror story, called the Dark Tower I think, of people in a haunted house, a house with a really nasty attitude. They went down into the bowels of the house, the house trying to kill them. They escaped in the bottom of the bowels by emerging into Middle Earth. I hope our bottom exit floor exit doesn't emerge into Middle Earth. It was a horrible place, filled with monsters with nasty attitudes..." "I read the story. That's Stephen King's fiction. This is real. How is it possible?" "I really don't know. It is very Kafkaesque." "What?" "Oh, Franz Kafka. A German writer from 1913 to the early 1930's. Wrote stories filled with nightmares of dehumanization, of bureaucratic labyrinths and totalitarian societies. You're a lawyer, try reading The Trial. Or maybe The Metamorphosis. A man turns into a human sized cockroach. His family tries to feed him fresh food and they almost poison him. They finally figure out he needs rotting food. He finally dies of neglect and loneliness. That's Kafka. I take it back. Our situation is not like Kafka. His main characters always faced their horrors in loneliness. I have you! I feel so secure with you holding me now..." Matt kissed Kathy and gently stroked her hair as she fell peacefully asleep. Matt drifted off a short time later... Interlude: 1:30 am, MCT Central Security... "Earl, run the entire sequence again." "On the screens, captain. Video 150-A3 feed, our two missing persons leaving the restaurant, time stamp 12:58:27 in the lower left, verified accurate. They briskly pass by the elevators and stairwells. Smiling and alert, they clearly have another destination on this floor..." "You've rechecked the interviews, Earl?" "Yes, sir. The weather group and the telecom group have never heard of these people. There are no other occupants on the top floor now. Just a few vacant offices. The restaurant takes up almost the whole floor. Switching to Video 150-B3,... now 150- B2,... now back to B3,... quick turn on A3 and down A2 now,... now returning back up A2... now turning onto A1..." "What the hell are they looking for, Earl?" "The million dollar question, sir. They've passed by the restrooms twice. They are now in what's obviously the building's core maintenance area, and they're searching more closely than ever... It's coming up, here they are returning on A1..." "And here's the payoff pitch!... Damn! I hate mysteries, and I have a bellyful of them right now! Pity both video cameras are mounted along the same wall they walked into. There's no angle to catch how this is possible." "Yeah. The police still think they might have walked into the janitor's closet. But this second view clearly says no. Watch while I zoom in. You can clearly see the outside half of the doorknob of the closet as he disappears into the wall, again as she disappears. They're walking adjacent to the door, maybe three feet away, not at the door location itself. The door opens out anyway. That door is closed, captain." "Oh, don't blame the police, Earl. Thinking two people disappeared into a closet is much easier to believe than our lovely couple walking straight into a solid wall! You and I and the rest of our security team, the police, the fire department, the building architects, even that pompous Morningstar exec, damn, everybody and their kid sisters have been looking at that wall this evening. Except for the locked janitor closet, it's a blank solid wall, with elevator banks on the other side. What the hell are we missing? Nah, the real question is, what the hell are we seeing?" the captain swore, as he replayed the video of a smiling Matt and a slightly worried Kathy seeming to walk straight into a solid wall... ------- Chapter 5 Matt tapped Kathy on her shoulder. Kathy began her ride down, Matt two seconds behind. Both their throats were now so dry that it was too painful to talk. Matt and Kathy were still counting the flights mentally and marking off the 100's, but they hadn't spoken to each other in hours. It was nearing the end of a very long second day, the time about 11:30 pm. Life had seemed a lot more cheerful in the morning, Kathy awaking in happiness from sleeping for the very first time in her life with a man. They both voided full bladders into the escalator, Matt somewhat shocked by the extremely dark orange color of his urine, almost brown. They decided not to eat any food until they had a water source to help digest it. They started descending just a few minutes after getting up, there was really no reason to wait. By noontime, they had descended another 1200 flights, averaging over 200 flights per hour. It was at that time they shared their last swallow of water. They paused for a brief conversation, and agreed they would not stop again until they either found water or were too weak to continue. They could not afford another sleep period, their bodies were drying out too quickly. It was now just after midnight; Matt had just taken the lead from Kathy, their count at 3,600 flights on the day. Kathy tapped his shoulder, and Matt began his third flight down as leader, Kathy behind him. But instead of swinging to the next switchback, Matt just froze in the landing zone, causing Kathy to bump into him two seconds later. "Sorry" croaked Kathy, "Problem?" "Look..." whispered Matt. There was a 2 ft by 2 ft by 2 ft cubic cutout in the back wall of the landing zone. The interior walls of the cutout seemed made of the same metal as the rest of the escalator shaft. The floor of the cutout descended another foot, where it ended in a grid similar to the ones covering the air vents. Its roof had a small oval hole in it, way off-center near its left end. "A sink?" croaked Kathy, with a smile. "Look" croaked Matt. He pointed to an indentation at the right end, an equilateral triangle imbedded in the wall with one vertex pointing straight down. At the bottom point, a small spherical ball sat, Matt and Kathy simultaneously thinking it looked like a joystick. In hand sign gestures, Matt and Kathy agreed that Kathy could play with the sink first. Kathy got out the empty water bottle and positioned it under the oval hole, then reconsidered, and moved her hand away. She moved the joystick straight up just a bit, and a few drops of what looked like water began to fall from the oval. She quickly positioned the bottle to catch the liquid, and bumped the joystick up a bit more and got a steady flow. After filling the bottle, she returned the joystick to the bottom, and the flow ceased. She smelled and then took a small taste of the liquid, and then a slow swallow, rinsing her mouth. "Just water, I think, a bit hot, not hard to drink," she said, handing the bottle to Matt. Matt slowly drank half the bottle; then handed it back to Kathy. "You were very careful not to waste more than a few drops..." Kathy drank the other half. "Well, we have no idea how much water this sink has to give. I don't want to do something really stupid." "Ah... Very good point." "Want some more?" "Ha, Ha!" laughed Matt. "Oh, I love you!" "I moved the joystick straight up before; let me try moving up the left side of the triangle." Kathy moved the joystick just a bit, and again drops began to flow. She positioned the bottle and bumped up the flow. "It's really cold now, ice cold", she said, as the bottle filled, feeling the chill on her fingers. After filling the bottle, Kathy removed her hand and bottle from the sink, and then tried the joystick on the right side of the triangle. The water stream looked boiling hot. Kathy quickly pushed the joystick down and shut off the flow. "Neat!" she said, offering Matt the bottle. "Hey, Matt, care for an ice cold one?" Kathy and Matt spent the next hour thoroughly flushing their bodies with water and just chatting, finally breaking into their food supplies in a playful mood, their first meal in 36 hours... "Care for another cracker, Matt? They are exquisite! Especially after vitamin pills!" "Oh, I couldn't, Kathy! I'm stuffed as it is! I think I've had three crackers already! But! I wouldn't mind taking a look at the dessert menu!" "Ah, yes! We have a delightful assortment of peppermint, cherry, lemon, lime, and orange lifesavers. What does your heart desire?" "The house specialty, actually!" "You fiend! You are going after my tootsie-roll! And what have you done to deserve the tootsie-roll?" "Actually" said Matt, "I think I have a really neat idea. Seriously. I want to try to turn your handbag into a water bag." Kathy eyes lit up. "Of course! The plastic bag that's carrying my shoes! Matt, that's brilliant! I'll rinse it and clean it out." Kathy started rinsing the plastic bag while Matt emptied her handbag. "It's a good size, Kathy, I think it'll hold over a gallon. We can measure its capacity with the 1-liter bottle. I thought I'd build it now, and test its integrity overnight with a full load of water. Also, as you pointed out earlier, what if the sink shuts down while we sleep tonight..." Kathy handed Matt the plastic bag, which he used to line the handbag. Kathy and Matt smiled at each other as they filled the handbag with five liters of water without trouble. Matt then emptied one of the pens, using the hollow tube as a straw that could be capped. He then wrapped the top the plastic bag around the pen, his dress tie around the bag, and then wound the cord of the cell charger around the tie. With the handbag closed, the result was a sturdy water bag, with the pen-straw sticking out from one of the top sides of the handbag. "I felt around the inside of the handbag, there are no rough edges to tear the plastic, just smooth leather. This should really extend our range. We can restart our trip as bloated with water as we can be, and carrying 6 liters of water. It's very fortunate your plastic bag is so heavy duty. I don't see any leaks at all. I think this could really last." "It looks wonderful, Matt. I'll be very comfortable carrying that bag, 5 liters of water is only about 11 lb. You have the pockets to carry everything else. I have some soap, perhaps we can bathe and I can wash our underwear tomorrow, before we start down again... Lie with me, Matt? I'd really love a little time to pet you, and be petted, before I fall asleep..." ------- Chapter 6 "Sixty six" Kathy called out. Matt did not call back or start his ride down, remaining frozen a step before the escalator entrance. Kathy moved to see what Matt was staring at, and what she saw took her breath away... Kathy and Matt were now in their twelfth day in the escalator well. Their log was showing they were now down over 31,700 flights, just crossing the 180 mile mark. After their initial water-sink, they had found another after 5963 more flights, and then again after an additional 11927 flights. They spent some time discussing if there was any meaning in the fact that 11927 was so close to double 5963, but the next sink occurred after 5687 flights, and the issue was dropped. Kathy and Matt were keeping two calendars, one tied to their watches, and a new one they created that ran off the time from their last sink. When they would find a sink, they would spend about 10 hours super-hydrating, washing, and sleeping, and then restart their travel target to: Day A - 3,000 flights, 0.5 liter water each, plus cross bladder suckle Day B - 3,000 flights, one-liter water each Day C - 3,000 flights, one-liter water each Day X - find next sink or die trying, finish remaining 0.5 liter water each To extend their range, they decided to have one cross bladder suckle for each sink found, keeping it at the end of Day A when their urine was still a very light color from their recent super hydration. They were both grateful that their kidneys didn't seem to mind the strain. A routine travel day was an eight hour sleep period, and five 3-hour treks of 600 flights each, separated by four 15-minute "cuddle breaks", where Kathy and Matt would relax with each other and pet each other's feet. Fortunately, they had only gotten into Day-X mode once, finding a sink near the end of a tough day's travel. The time they had spent together in their great journey was both extraordinary and very sweet. Kathy and Matt spent most of the travel time sharing their hopes and dreams for their futures, revealing the core of their characters to each other. Each felt that they were forging life bonds of fidelity and commitment. The previous night, after Matt had suckled her bladder in a single easy flow, Kathy had begged Matt for sexual release, and she had her first orgasm under his loving kisses and caresses. Afterwards, she suckled his orgasm, as well as his bladder. They were now near the end of their first morning trek of day B, having just finished trek mark 565, and both looking forward to foot pets in another 35 flights, when they were stopped cold by the sight of the next landing... "Could it be the exit?" asked Matt. "I was expecting more of a door, or an open area... This just looks spooky... And look, you can just see the escalator rails on the next switchback for the next flight down... I don't like this at all..." Kathy and Matt were being stunned by the floor color of the next landing. After 12 days of uniform light grey walls and floors, the floor at the next landing was pitch black, a black so deep their eyes couldn't even focus on it. "We need some way to test it, before stepping on it," said Matt. "Agreed. My gut is telling me not to step on it at all. I suppose we can try to throw something down on it..." Kathy got her change purse from Matt, took a nickel from it and threw it down the well. "I didn't hear it hit. Can't see it now. Not much of a test..." "No... I've got to get close up and personal with it." "Matt! I can't risk losing you!" "There's no choice. We've finished the food two days ago... Don't worry, Katherine, I think I have a plan. I'm going to practice running up the previous escalator just a bit, and practice a jump and stop on the metal landing grid that sits before the main landing-pad floor. See? That grid still exists below too..." Matt and Kathy spent the next hour practicing the maneuver. It wasn't as easy as it first sounded. They practiced until each had 10 consecutive successes without the failure of slipping and falling on the landing-pad floor. They also practiced transferring from one switchback to the next by hugging the interior switchback wall and swinging their legs and bodies over the landing-pad floor without touching it. Again, it was a maneuver slightly more difficult than they first thought, but doable. There was no reason to wait. Matt kissed and hugged Kathy fiercely for a brief moment, and then rode the escalator down backwards, smiling up at a worried Kathy. Near the end of his ride, he started walking briskly, holding his position against the 3 mph flow of the stairs. Then, with a practiced jump, he hopped onto the stationary grill. "Nice job, Matt! Please be careful! "Send down the water bag by itself! You didn't practice this jump carrying it." "Okay!" After catching the water bag from the moving stairs, Matt turned and pulled the ink core of the water bag's pen from his pocket. He dipped it to the floor and felt it push in without resistance. After pushing half of it in, he pulled up, and was dismayed to see that half of the pen core was completely missing. "Oh, yuck! This is bad, Kathy! Think of this floor as one great garbage disposal. You don't want to touch it..." "Oh, Matt! If all the floors are like this now, our progress will be almost zero. Plus, we're bound to slip and fall eventually..." "I know..." "Is the door on that level any different? Is it locked?" Matt easily reached over and checked that the door was locked. Then something caught his eye that made him gasp. "Kathy! What does the door frame sign say on your level?" "My God, Matt! It's changed! It says the word SORRY" "Same here! What does it mean?" "I think the implications are staggering! We'll talk later. Want me to come down now?" "No, no! Let me transfer across the switchback first!... Okay, I'm over. Good news! The next floor looks normal! Katherine, please be careful." Kathy came down the escalator backwards, and caught her balance perfectly with her hop onto the small landing grid. She had a bit more trouble than Matt crossing the switchback, because of her shorter legs, but Matt helped her with her balance and she made it without incident. They both quickly descended to the next level, happy to leave the black ink of oblivion behind them. They both felt very relieved that the sign by the locked door on the next floor was back to normal, BOTTOM FLOOR EXIT ONLY. "Matt, we have only 33 more flights to go on this trek before our cuddle break. I wouldn't mind having some distance between us and the black ink. Let's keep to our schedule and do the 33 flights now..." For the first time since they designed the trek schedule, Matt and Kathy took a break from their routine. Usually Kathy loved to have Matt caress her feet on the short breaks, but on this break, Kathy had simply disrobed and pleaded with her eyes for Matt to lie with her. Their clothes were blankets on top of them, providing some shelter from the cool breeze. The metal colored floor felt hard, but neither warm nor cool. Kathy and Matt had discovered on their first night in the escalator well that the floor material appeared to conduct no heat at all, unlike all other metals. Matt had been gently caressing Kathy's body for the last half hour, expressing his love for her with his hands. Slow, leisurely strokes across her breasts and nipples, tracing the outline of her defined ribs, and then soft caresses across her flat stomach and abdomen, feather-light strokes with his fingers across her hip bones, and then returning to her breasts and starting anew... "You're so beautiful, Kathy... My heart aches with your beauty..." "Here, let me show you something..." Kathy said, taking Matt's hand and placing it near her abdomen. "Push down gently. Feel that? That's my left ovary. I felt it twitch last night. I think it ovulated. Oh, Matt, I want you inside me so much, to give you my virginity, but it would be wrong to risk conceiving our child in this well. I do love you, though, as much as I love life itself." Matt answered her with his eyes and his kisses. Kathy sighed in contentment for a while, then smiled at Matt and said "Well, time to get the moose back on the table?" "Yeah. What does the moose look like now? I think you have an idea of what this is all about. Does it change our primary goal?" "No. We still need to descend ASAP. Our food is gone. With the vitamins and our previous body fat, we're still in fine shape. I think in another week though, it'll start to be a different story. We must still head down. Let's also keep glancing at the door signs. I think the current message means there's no immediate danger ahead." "What's this all about, Kathy?" "This is all guesswork on my part, of course. But I think that word SORRY speaks volumes. For the last 12 days, I've been thinking about this escalator well, trying to frame the reality of it. Is it benevolence, malevolence, or neither, just uncaring, that we're here? I think now that I've been looking at the problem from the wrong direction. My feeling is that perhaps we are being asked for our benevolence, that the well is a distress call, and we're the ones who answered the call..." "I dimly see what you mean. The SORRY was both a warning and an apology for the black ink. Whoever or whatever made the distress call doesn't have full control over what happens in this well..." "No, it doesn't... Matt, tell me about this pamphlet you found, describing the escalators. You mentioned it to me during our lunch at the Top Of The Morning. Was it in a large pile of pamphlets? Did lots of other people get to see it too?" "I assumed so, but I guess I really don't know. I was sitting in the building's 75'th floor auditorium complex on opening night, listening to a speech, looked down at my foot, blinked, saw the pamphlet, and picked it up." "Wait! You remember blinking before picking it up?" "Yeah. So what? People blink all the time." "Exactly! It's such a common thing to do, people would never normally remember doing it. Matt, why do you think you can remember blinking?" Matt was silent for a few moments. "Kathy, you should be a lawyer, or an investigator. Your inductive reasoning is superb! I'm not sure I know why I remember the blink, but I do remember that I was somewhat surprised to find the pamphlet." "What happened to it? Do you still have it, in your office or at home?" "No. I thought I had it with some papers. But when I got home that night, I couldn't find it." "Interesting. Try this idea as a wild conjecture. The entity that linked the escalator well to the MCT also sent the pamphlet as a plea for help, asking whoever found it to look for the escalators..." "Wasn't a very polite way of doing it, Kathy... Very deceptive." "What exactly did the pamphlet say?" "It didn't say much of anything. I thought it was an evacuation pamphlet for all ages, lots of diagrams of where the escalators were. It showed a picture of something I thought looked like batteries, behind all these landing-pad doors... I liked the feel of the paper. I wanted to keep it as a sample to show an advertising client I have. But it was clearly labeled EMERGENCY HIGH-SPEED ESCALATORS, in big bold letters on the front, very deceptive." "From our perspective, yes. But we're obviously dealing with a non-human intelligence. Perhaps deception is an unknown concept to the consciousness we're dealing with. Oh, Matt! Maybe it was just a misunderstanding! Perhaps it used the word emergency for its emergency, not an emergency evacuation of the MCT. Perhaps it thought that the sign BOTTOM FLOOR EXIT ONLY was sufficient warning, that if we entered after reading the sign, we were agreeing to make the journey. I have a feeling what we're dealing with is very advanced technologically, and... childlike. The pamphlet wasn't written for children, it was written by a child... Or old. Old, ancient, incredibly ancient, unused to thinking in ages. Something with immense technical knowledge, so immense it seems like magic to us, but also something that doesn't understand how to communicate very well." "And it needs our help? For what?" "I have no idea. But I think we'll find out once we reach the exit. I'm more optimistic now than I've been in days. I won't think the originator of the distress call would be asking us to make an impossible journey... Matt, darling, let's continue downward." And Day B continued... "Twenty-five" Kathy called out. "Twenty-five" Matt confirmed, and started down the well. It was over twelve hours since their encounter with the black ink. Kathy and Matt were within a hundred flights of ending their last trek for the night, Day B was drawing to a close. Kathy was starting to assume that they would not find water before stopping, and was mentally preparing herself for Day C traveling, after their sleep period. Lying down with Matt again would be so nice... "Twenty-six" she called out, as she rounded the landing-pad. Matt did not respond, and kept staring down the next well. Kathy glanced first at the door frame on their current level, but the message was the normal BOTTOM FLOOR EXIT ONLY. Kathy joined Matt by his side, and they both just stared down the well for a moment... "I don't see any switchback for a next flight" said Matt softly. "And the door is on the opposite wall, not the adjacent wall, of the landing-pad." "Yeah... Let me go down first" said Matt, and he hopped on the escalator, Kathy a few seconds behind him. There were indeed no further switchbacks. The door before them had an inviting bar handle to open it, and the sign by the door said "BOTTOM FLOOR EXIT, DO NOT LOCK." Kathy and Matt stood before the door in silence for several moments... "Katherine, before we go through, I want to tell you that I love you, for now and forever. My heart will never change. I offer you my heart, as a hopeful husband offers his heart to his wife to be. I'm in utter amazement of what we might find beyond that door, but I'm so happy we're finding it together..." "Matthew, a great poet once described the future as the undiscovered country. That's what lies beyond that door, our undiscovered countries. I accept your heart, and offer you my heart in return, as your wife, offering my heart to my husband. In all the joys and sorrows of my undiscovered country, my love for you will be there with me." Matt and Kathy kissed, and then each placed a hand on the door's horizontal bar, pushed down together, and heard a resounding click! ------- The End ------- Posted: 2004-05-19 ------- http://storiesonline.net/ -------