Thunderbird (20 page)

Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes

He stared at the Pacific—and all his men

Look'd at each other with a wild surmise—

Silent upon a peak in Darien.

—John Keats, “On First Looking into Chapman's Homer,” 1816

T
HEY
WERE
BOUND
for the Maze. John Colmar picked up his rifle, walked over to the grid, activated the g-clef icon, smiled at April, and disappeared into the light. Moments later, the emblematic pen came back. Paula picked it up, put it into a pocket, and signaled she was ready. April and one of the scientists went next, then the other two team members. All were women.

It was Brad's turn. He got into position, was joined by Paula, and moments later he was looking at a large gray chamber.

It was devoid of furniture or anything else. The walls were covered with a light green fabric, decorated with representations of flowers and vines. A dull light with no visible source provided the only illumination.

The others were already leaving the room. John looked at him and shook his head, indicating there probably wouldn't be much to see. The place was deathly quiet. He stepped down onto a red carpet whose color had faded somewhat and was surprised when it sank softly beneath him.

“What the hell kind of floor is this?” he said.

“The whole room's like that,” said John.

It provided sufficient support, but walking on it was annoying.

The room was L-shaped. There were exits on opposite sides, both opening into shadowy passageways. On the wall behind the grid, Brad saw the by-now-familiar set of triggers, located in an angled panel. There were nine this time. One of them was the stag's head. The way back.

The ceiling was high. Sections of it were lost in shadow, behind a network of beams. A rectangular hole opened almost directly above him, but when he aimed his light through it, he couldn't make out anything other than another ceiling.

The others had dispersed into the two passageways, which were illuminated by the same dull light. John took a quick look at each. “Everybody stay together, please. April, don't get too far in front of me.”

The air was cool. A few degrees below Brad's comfort level. “I feel as if I've lost some weight,” he said to Paula.

“You're right,” she said. “I feel lighter, too.”

April picked an exit, and they all followed her out into a corridor. Its walls were constructed of burnished gray rock. Brad watched while April decided which direction to go. The passageway was long and straight to the right. In the opposite direction, it continued past a few more open chambers, then curved out of sight. One of the scientists commented that it felt like the bottom of a skyscraper. Paula commented that it looked like the inside of a pyramid. Brad wondered if she'd ever been in one, but he let it go. The place
did
feel like an ancient building despite the soft floors.

“Let's go this way,” said April, turning left. She was starting a map in her notebook.

They passed several rooms, all empty, all of different designs and dimensions. There seemed to be no pattern to them. Finally, they found a chamber with another set of icons in the wall. But no grid.

There were three of them, a cube set at an angle, a vertical bar with four horizontal lines, and a leaf. But no stag's head. “I don't think I've seen any that looked much like these before,” Brad said. The style was different also,
no curves anywhere. Everything was designed from straight lines and right angles. Even the leaf.

“I didn't notice this one when we were here before,” said April. “Not paying attention, I guess.”

Brad moved closer until April reached out and restrained him. “Why don't we try one of them?” he said. “See what happens?”

“I wonder how I knew you were going to say that?”

“Well, there's no grid. How much trouble could we get into?”

“Right. What could possibly go wrong?”

Brad was feeling good about himself, as if he were benefiting from an unusual flow of adrenaline. “Which one do we try?”

John moved up next to him and raised empty palms. He wasn't having anything to do with it. “I don't think it's a good idea,” he said.

April surprised him. She pulled Brad out of the way. “One way to settle it.” She pushed one of the icons. Her arm got in the way so Brad couldn't see which it was. He was hoping it wouldn't light up.

But it did.

John glowered at
him
, not at April.

“That might not have been a good idea,” said Paula.

Eleanor Johnson was probably the best known of the three scientists. She was an astrophysicist from the University of Pennsylvania who was known primarily for her work in string theory. She was a small woman, barely five feet tall, probably in her sixties. But her inordinate success over a thirty-year span had given her a take-no-nonsense approach. “I can't think of a better way,” she said, “to find out—” The lights dimmed. “To find out what the hell this place is about.”

Something moved. It was out in the passageway. Wheels turning. Around the bend.

John ignored his rifle in favor of his .38. “Everybody back in the room. April, I told you this wasn't a good idea.” Paula had drawn her pistol also.

The noise was getting louder. “Keep cool,” said Brad. He loved talking to the security people like that. Not that he didn't feel jittery himself. But this was another chance to play the action hero. He pulled his own weapon from his belt. He had done some training since the last mission and now almost felt comfortable with it.

The noise didn't sound threatening. It was, he thought, only a vehicle. And not a heavy one.

They were still watching, holding their collective breath, as it came around the bend. It was
empty
.

Brad's first thought was that it looked like a golf cart. Four wheels, open top, front and rear seats. Room for four. It slowed as it approached. The passageway was almost twice as wide as the vehicle. It stopped outside the chamber. Bars along the side swung up, inviting them to climb in.

“What do you think?” asked Brad.

The question was directed at April, but John responded: “Absolutely not. Everybody stay back. Keep away from it.”

“Ridiculous,” said April. “Eventually, somebody will have to get in and see where it goes.” She started to climb on board, but John grabbed her arm. He hesitated when she resisted but finally pulled her back. Then
he
started to get in. “I'll let you know what happens.”

April looked over her shoulder at Paula. “Wait here for us. If you don't hear from us in twenty minutes, go back home. Okay?”

“Yes, ma'am,” she said.

John was in the front. April eased herself into one of the rear seats. “What do you have to do to start it?” she asked.

There was no visible set of controls. “Damned if I know,” said John.

Brad saw himself watching again as April knocked on the cabin door. He pulled himself together and joined her in the rear.

“No, Brad,” said April. “Stay clear.”

Eleanor took advantage of the confusion to signal John to move over. He shrugged and complied, and she took his seat. One of the other women wanted to get on board, too, but there was no room. The bars came down
and became handrails. And the vehicle began to move. “Damn it.” John's frustration had risen to fury. “You guys are going to get me fired.”

“Shut up, John,” said April, as they started to accelerate. “They wouldn't install something like this to harm anyone.”

“I hope you're right.”

Belts clicked into place, locking them into their seats, and somebody behind them was yelling “Good luck!”

•   •   •

T
HERE
WAS
NO
indication of tracks, but the cart remained in the center of the passageway. “Everybody okay?” John asked. Other than being a bit nervous, they were fine. The area ahead of them brightened somewhat, then dimmed again as they continued to roll. The overhead was low. Brad could almost have reached up and touched it. They were still seeing occasional chambers on both sides. And suddenly the slick gray walls and overhead had been replaced by rock. They were in a tunnel. The vehicle continued to accelerate. “You see any brakes anywhere?” John asked, in an I-told-you-so tone.

“Negative,” said Eleanor.

The air was getting cooler. “Great,” said Brad. “No brakes and no steering wheel. How could this possibly become a problem?”

“Relax,” said April. “We're committed.”

Despite the harness that secured him, Brad by then was hanging tightly on to his seat. As were they all. “We'll be okay,” he said though he was close to screaming.

The doorways had become a series of blurs. The effect was enhanced by the light that raced along with them. But, finally, the acceleration eased off.

“Uh-oh,” said John.

They all saw it at the same time. Ahead, the corridor curved sharply left.
Not gonna make it around the turn.
But the cart braked. Threw them all hard right against their seat belts. Something under the vehicle squealed.

Then the passageway turned right, and everybody was hurled in the opposite direction.

“My God,” said Eleanor. And, incredibly, she started giggling.

John was damning everything in sight.

They had a couple more sharp turns and then straightened out. “April,” Brad said. “I just figured out what this is.”

“Really? So what the hell
is
it?”

“A roller coaster.”

The cart accelerated, then slowed down and ripped around another curve. They screamed and howled. Then it was tearing along a straightaway. “How the hell is it making those turns?” gasped John.

He got no response.

The light that had been tracking them went out, and they were plunged into total darkness. But the cart began to slow. “April,” said John, “first chance we get, we've got to get out of this thing,”

“And go where?”

“Anything's better than this.”

Ahead they saw a sprinkling of stars. “Tunnel's ending,” John said.

“Thank God.”

A three-quarter moon appeared off to one side. Brad held his breath as they raced out under a dark sky and rolled along a narrow shelf on the face of a cliff. A bright light was coming from somewhere behind them. On Brad's left, a rock wall rose seventy or eighty feet over their heads. On the other side, April's side, they were looking down at an ocean.

He was scared silly. The ledge seemed narrower than the cart. But the pace had at least slowed to a reasonable level. Although
any
movement on that roadway seemed like too much. He closed his eyes as they went around another curve. “We are
never
going to get back to the grid,” he said.

“My God!” John's voice. It had gone up a couple of octaves.

“Ohhhh.” Eleanor gasped. “Look at that!” She had twisted around so she could look behind them, over her shoulder, and she sounded as if she were ready to jump out of the cart.

Brad turned in his seat, too, and saw another moon. But
this
moon
was enormous, dominating the sky. It had
rings
that reached down and vanished beyond the horizon. Its surface was gauzy, hidden inside clouds.

John Colmar gasped. “
That's
the thing I saw that night with Diana,” he said. “Outside the Roundhouse.”

April was still hanging on. “What are you talking about, John?” Her voice was up a couple of octaves.

“We saw a light in the trees that night, the day before she got killed. Diana and me. We were both on duty at the Roundhouse. Out in the parking lot, and
this
is what the sky looked like.”

“Not possible,” said April.

“I don't give a goddam. It's what happened. Ask the chairman. I described it to him. He can tell you.”

“You told him this story?” said April.

“Yes. He didn't mention it to you?”

“No.”

“He probably thought I was being delusional. I pretty much thought so, too, until just now. But, damn it, that's the same sky.”

“And Diana saw it, too?”

“Yes.” He took a deep breath. “Oh, God. Is that really
Saturn
?”

“It's not Saturn,” said Eleanor. “But it's the same kind of world.”

Brad began to struggle with his harness.

“What are you doing?” said John.

“Trying to get my camera.”

“Forget it. Sit still.”

“John, that's the most spectacular thing I've ever seen.”

•   •   •

H
E
WAS
STILL
trying to get his camera out when that glorious sky vanished, and they were back inside a tunnel. The cart accelerated again, but Brad had concluded that the objective was not to kill the passengers, but to provide a thrill ride. At least that was what he was telling himself. They
descended to a lower level, turned back in the direction from which they'd come, and emerged again along the ocean. This time Brad was on the outside, and his grip on the handrails tightened.

The alien Saturn was back. In front of them this time and consequently easier to see. They cruised along the face of the cliff, and Brad, overwhelmed, would have stopped the vehicle had he been able. A cool breeze was blowing in off the sea, and he wanted to just sit for a few minutes and enjoy the view. He finally got his camera out and started taking pictures.

“I'm not sure they'll ever let me come back here,” Eleanor said. “But I'm glad I was here.”

“I wish Donna could see this.”

“Your wife?” she asked.

He nodded. “She'd love it.”

They were approaching another tunnel entrance.

“Who wouldn't?”