Everyone was on their way to Mei's greenhouse to meet up. The twins were bringing Muffin, their dog. They had checked their greenhouse and reported through Ditto that the dome-sun above their greenhouse was continuing to fade in intensity each minute. Considering that none of their parents had shown up yet, events were shaping up better than they all expected.
The twins took off their ponchos before entering Mei’s safe house. The ponchos were quite a hit with the dirt phobia twins and had functioned quite nicely as a barrier to the cobwebs and dust. Their clothes under the ponchos still looked brand new. After a few tense moments of introductions between Muffin and Maow and Poo, the pets were off and running as if they had been friends for years.
The twins especially wanted to check out the door that Mei had found and couldn't wait to see what the fourth greenhouse and safe house would hold. They all raced to the end of the hallway. They located the small piece of wood that triggered the release and eagerly watched as the newest door sprung open to reveal a neat, organized hallway. It was very utilitarian. Storage racks and bins lined the first few feet of the hallway walls.
Mei was pretty sure these were her dad's things. She lingered over the boxes and felt a lump in her throat thinking about her father. After a moment she shook off her melancholy and hurried down the hall, to catch up with the group.
The hallway went on and on.
Frankie checked with NORA and the other CC's and they all decided to wait before placing wireless nodes into Mei’s newly discovered hallway. He could always place them on the way back.
Mei noticed the similarity of the hidden hallways. This is a lot like the hall between Frankie and the twins only minus the cobwebs. In her excitement she had taken the lead only to slow to a stop when the others started to fall behind. She had to keep remembering that the twins took twice as many steps as her and Frankie.
After walking for thirteen minutes Frankie and Mei agreed that another shimmering door had to be just ahead. What they found instead, much to their disappointment, was a very ugly stone wall blocking their way. There was no shimmering door, no door of any kind. All they could see were big rocks that had been shoved together with concrete to make a very abrupt and unexpected end to the hidden hallway. The group all stopped in dismay. Mei had been so sure that this hallway would be like the others they had discovered. Finding no signs of a door, there was nothing they could do but turn back. Mei gave the wall a frustrated smack with her hand before falling in behind the rest of the group.
They had covered about half the distance back to the safe house when Mei reached a point in the hall where the light seemed brighter. She needed a break and slumped against the wall, sliding down in a huff. The others were under the next light ahead and heard her sigh of dismay. They looked at each other and instead of waiting headed back to Mei to make sure she was okay.
Mei was sitting there feeling sorry for her self when she happened to notice a small red button hidden above her head under one of the wall’s protruding blocks. She never would have seen it had she not slumped in that very spot and just happened to look up to see why the light was so bright. She stood up and reached as high as she could to press the button.
Frankie was wondering what Mei was doing when he saw her suddenly falling into the wall. A slab of the stone wall had swung in just like the hidden doors. Frankie instinctively reached out to catch Mei’s hand and Jen and Jan ran to help. They all looked at the door that shouldn’t have been there.
If there’s a door here, how many hidden doors have we passed in the other hallways we found? Frankie wondered for all of them.
Mei straightened herself and took the lead to walk around the slab of stone. She could see a light coming from behind the new door and slowly peaked around it, her eyes opening wide with astonishment. On the other side of the door was one of the most fascinating rooms she had ever seen. It was filled with equipment and machines that looked both complex and elegant at the same time and were surprisingly noisy. Each machine had an array of monitor screens ranging in size and shape. They were not all rectangular and some defied description.
Jen and Jan followed Mei around the door into the room. A slack jawed Frankie, brought up the rear. They spread out to examine the three walls of monitors and machines, wondering if they had stumbled on the control room of the asteroidnet itself. Jan was about to touch one of the largest buttons on the machine in front of her when a loud voice echoed in the room.
“Jan, please do not touch the instrumentation without formal training.”
“Who said that?” asked Jan in surprise.
“I think that whatever that is, said it,” said Frankie, pointing at what appeared to be a hologram of a person standing by the door they had just come through.
“I am ROY, the managing computer system for the asteroidnet you live on. You are looking at my hologram guide to the production complex; part of which you are standing in,” said the hologram. “I am visiting with you in my host form since I can not be there to greet you directly. I am quite honored to meet all of you. Jan, I hope you were not scared by my sudden vocalization.”
“I admit you caught me off guard. What are you exactly? I mean are you only holograms or do you take some other form?” asked Jan.
“I can function in a variety of forms. Currently you are seeing an image recreation from memory banks. I am holding this conversation in real time. I have the ability to generate multiples of myself and hold conversations simultaneously in all one hundred and six production complexes that I operate,” said Roy. “If you would prefer, I would be glad to present myself as a solid image. I admit I chose not to, initially, for fear of scaring you with such realism.”
Jan and Jen moved closer to Mei and she could sense their fear. They didn’t know what to say to Roy so they remained silent.
“I know each of you, Jen, Jan, Frankie and Mei. You are already very dear to me.
“You are, as you may have figured out, one of only a few families living on this very large asteroidnet. What you probably haven’t figured out is that this is a very special and unique asteroidnet that was built by some very talented and unique builders. The Makers, as they are called, were saving this asteroidnet for some very special people. As it turns out, those people would be you,” explained Roy. His image gestured to Mei, Frankie, Jen and Jan. “The Makers arranged for all of your remaining families to move here when things started to get out of control on Earth. Since the Makers had to move you here a year earlier than they had planned they decided to keep you four separated until everything was complete. Today happens to be the day you were supposed to arrive and as you may know they had a special gift for you. That gift allows you to sense other feelings and thoughts from those given the same gift,” Roy continued.
So that was the special gift Dad mentioned I would be getting! thought Mei. And here I thought it was a talking spider. She flashed Frankie and the twins a knowing smile. They weren’t all going crazy! It was a special gift.
Roy seemed to be able to see each of them from the image’s viewpoint and he addressed Mei with his gaze.
“The Makers gave the same gift to all living things on this asteroidnet. That includes your pets, your parents, your CC’s, even the plants,” said Roy looking right into Mei’s eyes. That is why you have been experiencing each others thoughts and feelings today. It was the first time you were around others with the gift.”
"How about a certain unique spider?" asked Mei.
"I assume you mean Larry. He was a last minute addition and made even more special by being given the gift of intelligence and speech. I can tell you've become friends."
Roy proceeded to give them all a tour of production complex number thirty six. Roy’s image sparked with excitement explaining the Selectoid Dominator Flux Controller and the Frenetic Recalculating Spin Vomireducer. Mei was more interested in why the shimmering door was missing at the end of the hallway they had just come from and after
impatiently waiting for Roy to finish his tour she asked just that.
Mei’s question caused the image of Roy to flicker and blink out completely for a full three seconds. Mei was worried that she had somehow managed to harm Roy with her question when Roy's image came back twice as solid and not at all sparkling anymore. If anything the image now looked worried.
“I am afraid I do know the answer to your question Mei. I am finding the problem most distressing. I will need you to help me solve that dilemma,” said Roy with an electronic sounding sigh.
"Well do you know where our parents are?" asked Mei with some dismay.
"Unfortunately I do not know the location of your parents at this time."
“Maybe you could at least help us locate the hidden doorway for the tunnel leading away from Jen and Jan’s safe house hallway. It’s the one not connected to Frankie’s safe house,” said Mei.
“I am not able to assist with that location.” I suggest conducting a physical search.”
“No kidding Einstein,” said Frankie. “We were hoping you could save us time by maybe narrowing down the search.”
“I am not able to offer additional service in that area.”
Mei was having a hard time believing that the AI of their asteroidnet didn’t even know the basic layout of the tunnels they had found, just like the one outside the door.
“Do you know how to get the crazy weather outside under control?” asked Mei, trying another tack.
Roy was strangely silent after the question. Suddenly the hologram spoke again.
“If you do not require additional service I am needed elsewhere." Roy’s image disappeared without a flicker this time and did not return.
No one knew quite what to say after Roy's abrupt ending to the tour. Realizing there was nothing more to discover in the production room, Jen and Jan lead the way out of location thirty six and continued down the hallway back to Mei’s safe house.
Not a word was said during the rest of the walk back. Frankie took the bag of nodes from Mei, attaching them to the wall as they walked. Mei could sense the dismay over their discovery of the wall at the end of the hallway mixed with a tinge of excitement over meeting Roy and learning about the Masters. As they trudged down the hallway thoughts of their missing parents and how Roy was unable to help find them turned the mood somber again.
When they finally got back to Mei's safe house, she ushered them upstairs to the greenhouse to introduce Larry to the group and to tell him about the discovery of the production location and Roy. At first Larry was thrilled with what Roy had revealed about the Makers and excited to learn that they were the reason he was able to think and speak. He was disappointed however when Mei told him about the lack of an exit on the other end of the hallway and Roy’s sudden disappearance before answering any of their questions.
Mei could also sense Frankie’s frustration that Roy had been unable to help them in finding the last hidden doorway.
“I’ve been thinking about the doorways and I still think Larry’s idea is a good one. I’ll bet the other door from Jen and Jan's hallway is probably in the same spot like it is at the end of Frankie’s and my hallways. What do you say we give that antique store of a hallway another shot?”
Everyone nodded in agreement, new feelings of hope blossoming between them. Mei was glad to see everyone’s attention focused on finding that last doorway.
Muffin and the cats returned from their adventure to join the group just as they were heading back to Frankie’s safe house.
“I don’t suppose you have some food we could eat would you Mei?” asked Jen. “I’m getting hungry.”
“As a matter I have some great salad in my greenhouse fridge we could grab on the way,” said Frankie, giving Mei a smile.