Annie had also emptied her drink. She held the can upside down to shake out the last few drops of liquid so they wouldn’t spill into Leon’s pack, then she tossed the container in with its companion.
“Two points,” she said lightly, though without any real enthusiasm. “Thanks, Idaho. That was really nice of you to share.”
“I figured it would be easier to be generous now, rather than wait until we were all starving,” he said, deprecatingly.
“Jesus, that’s dark,” Annie berated him. “Just take the compliment, perv.”
Sofia giggled softly but remained facing forward as she walked.
Before zipping up his pack and replacing it across his back, Leon again pulled out his phone. He glanced at the time display and found that less than ten minutes had elapsed since his last check. Not wanting to have to keep digging into his backpack repeatedly whenever he wanted to check the time, he slipped the phone into his back pocket.
Leon found himself pulling the phone out and checking the time every two or three minutes. As they walked it felt as if more time should be passing, but the monotony of the landscape and Leon’s own nervous anticipation of the next intersection made every second crawl by painfully slowly. The clock display on his screen ticked past one o’clock in the afternoon, and Leon began to second guess his assumption that there was going to be a next intersection. On what was he basing his belief that there were multiple crossings? The fact that they had seen two others? He didn’t know this place any better than anyone else. He didn’t have a map. Maybe the two they had already crossed were the only ones that existed. However, as soon as the thoughts began to take root in his mind, he heard Hiss call for another halt.
They had reached the third intersection. Annie hurried to the front of the line to see what Hiss had already found. She stopped and stared at the ground with a blank expression on her face. The others gathered around her as they caught up. At her feet, a large rock protruded from the hard clay ground, and on top of that rock was the recently formed etching of an arrow pointed in their direction of travel.
There was no longer any doubt. They were travelling in a loop. Somehow, without ever changing their direction they were ending up in the same spot from which they had started.
“Are we trapped in some kind of Mobius strip?” asked Leon. “We’ll keep wandering around forever with no way out?”
Annie looked up at him. “A what strip?”
“Mobius,” interjected Sofia. “It’s a visual illusion that doesn’t really exist. But this isn’t one. It’s impossible for a thing like that to be real.”
“Being here is impossible,” argued Leon. “At least until this morning I thought it was. So, why can’t the Mobius strip be real as well?”
“It’s bloody magic is what it is,” Malcolm announced.
“Magic, here, not involved,” Hiss announced to the squabbling group. “Logic, there must be.”
“No, Malcolm is right,” said Leon, pointing at Hiss. “But so are you. It’s Arthur C. Clarke’s third rule.”
Annie glared at Leon. “What the hell are you talking about? Mobius? Clarke? You need to start speaking some English right goddamn now.”
“Clarke is a science fiction writer,” Sofia explained to Annie. “He invented three laws of scientific discovery. The third law is basically that any sufficiently advanced technology will be indistinguishable from magic.”
“Right!” said Leon, beaming at Sofia. “You get it. For all intents and purposes, we are dealing with something so far beyond our understanding we may as well call it magic. Trying to figure out how it’s done isn’t going to get us out of here, it’s only going to drive us nuts. If we accept that it’s magic, we can move on to figuring out how to get out of here because Hiss is also one hundred percent correct. There is a logical component to this. There has to be.
“If there is no logical way out, why would the Apex put us here? I sincerely hope their plan isn’t to watch us walk in circles until we all die of exhaustion, hunger and thirst.”
“Purpose, there is. We, method of escape, must discover,” Hiss reassured them.
“Right. We need to not worry about how we got into this loop and start planning how to get out of it.”
“Wouldn’t knowing how this works make it easier for us to figure out how to escape?” asked Annie.
“It would,” Leon agreed. “But I don’t think we know enough about Apex technology to understand what’s happening. I think even if they were willing to explain it to us, it might be too far beyond us. Imagine trying to explain a particle accelerator to a caveman. There are way too many technological steps you would need to convey before you could even begin. You can’t explain nuclear particles to someone that has never seen one. You would need to explain what a microscope is. And before you could tell them about microscopes, you have to teach them about light refraction. And before you teach light refraction, you need to explain photons and light particles. Before you can…”
“Oh my god! Shut the fuck up, already!” Annie shouted. “I get it. I get it. It’s magic. Fuck, Idaho. I liked you better when you were afraid to talk to girls.”
Leon closed his mouth at the rebuke. He knew he tended to ramble at times, but Annie’s outburst stung.
Silence reigned for several seconds. Either no one had any ideas how to proceed, or else nobody wanted to make a suggestion and risk being the person that got them all permanently lost. At last, Hiss took it upon himself to restart the conversation.
“We, random direction, go?” he asked. “We, by luck, find a way out, hope?”
Leon stared at his feet, afraid to look up for fear of meeting anyone’s eyes. He didn’t want to upset anyone else with his speculations. Especially since he had no idea if any of his ideas would work.
Sofia rested a hand on his arm. “Leon? Are you okay with a random direction?”
“I don’t think we should,” he said softly, then stopped talking. He glanced up at Annie.
She sighed audibly. “I’m sorry, Leon. I’m not mad at you. I’m having a little difficulty dealing with the shit in my own head and I took it out on you. If you have something you think might help, say it.”
“I think there is a logical way out. We were brought here to test our ability to get through a series of challenges. If the only way out of this maze is by random directions, then what are we being tested for? I believe we have to be logical and consistent in our attempts.”
“Then you, a plan, have?” asked Hiss.
“Maybe not a plan, per se, but I have some thoughts. The simplest test would be if there were one direction that was a guaranteed way out. We know straight is not the correct direction, so we should try going left or right next.
“The second level of difficulty would be a maze. That has its own rules and takes a little more time to figure out. The third level would be a pattern, or a series of steps that we have to take to solve the riddle. For a pattern we would sort of have to stumble onto it, then when we’ve done it correctly once, we have to try to recognize what we did and replicate it.”
“We, right, should go,” said Shoo. Everyone’s attention turned to the smaller alien. “Straight, incorrect, is. Left or right, remaining choices, are. For maze to solve, right, go.”
Leon nodded. “Shoo is right. For a simple direction test, it doesn’t matter if we go right or left. For a maze, there is a mathematical theory that states if you always turn to the right when there is an opening, you will eventually find the way out. And if this is a test to see if we recognize patterns, it again doesn’t matter if we start by going right or left. I agree we should go to the right. If we end up back here, then we try left.”
“And after that?” asked Malcolm. “If we still get nowhere?”
“I think we worry about that outcome if it happens. One step at a time.”
“Right. One step at a time,” Malcolm grumbled. “Bloody geniuses running this show. Got bugger all for brains.”
Hiss looked to
Shoo, who pointed with one large hand toward the right path. Without any further discussion he led the group in the indicated direction.
Leon plucked his phone out of his back pocket and checked the time.
“How long have we been waking?” asked Sofia, glancing at the phone in his hand.
“It was about 28 minutes from the last intersection to this one. But we also stopped for a few minutes to eat, so I’m guessing we were walking for 25 minutes. I think we’re going at about two and a half or three miles an hour tops, so the intersections are a little more than a mile apart. Maybe, a mile and a quarter?”
“So, we’ve been walking a little less than two hours and we’ve gone about four miles,” Sofia calculated out loud.
“Right. At least that’s the best I can figure at the moment,” Leon agreed. He pocketed his phone.
They walked on in silence. The entire group, humans and Many, trudged along without a word. Whether they were saving their energy or merely too lost in their own thoughts to interact with each other, Leon didn’t care. The quiet gave him time to ponder and think about possible patterns with which they might be dealing. When he checked his phone again, fifteen minutes had passed.
Sofia saw him looking at the time display. “About halfway to the next crossing?”
Leon nodded and put the phone away.
“Do you think we’re going the right direction this time?” she pressed.
“No,” he replied, tightly.
“No? What do you mean, no? Why not?”
Leon pointed to their left. “Do you see those moons?” he asked her.
“Of course.”
“When we got here, those moons were on the horizon to our left. That’s where they stayed while we were walking straight forward. When we turned right, we put them both directly behind us, but as we’ve been walking, they’ve moved back to the horizon on our left. That suggests that we have somehow been moved back onto the same path we started on.”
“What do you think that means?” Sofia asked him.
“We’re not in a maze,” Leon speculated. “But I didn’t really think we were. I was hoping that we were actually in a jar.”
Sofia’s brow furrowed and her expressive, dark eyebrows pulled together. “What do you mean by that?”
Annie chose this moment to join the conversation. “Yeah, what the hell does a jar have to do with this?” she asked, looking irritated.
Leon held his hands together as if he were clutching a large cylindrical container. “Imagine a glass jar and a bug inside. The bug is clinging to the side of the jar and walking around in a circle. The bug thinks it’s walking in a straight line, but the interior curve of the jar means that it’s just making loops and ending up in the exact same place. I was hoping that we were going through that same pattern. I figured if we went right or left we might get lucky this time and find the jar lid, or a doorway out of here in this instance.”
“But you don’t think that anymore,” said Sofia, catching on to his analogy.
“No. The fact that we somehow shifted direction onto our original path disputes the jar theory.”
“So, what brilliant theory are you contemplating, now?” Annie chided.
“I… I don’t know. We have to get to the next intersection and see what we find. At the moment, I’m stumped.”
“So, we are going to die out here,” interrupted Malcolm. He had moved from his position several yards back to join the four other human members of the party. “A dodgy way to go,” he lamented. “Walking around in circles until you drop dead in the dirt.”
“I wouldn’t count on that happening just yet,” Leon tried to reassure him, but Malcolm cut him off.
“Oh, the end’s comin’. One way or t’other. I for one, would like to have a little joy in my life before I reach my final hour. How about it, ladies?” He turned to look toward Sofia and Annie. “Would one of you fine young lasses like to find out what a Scotsman hides under his kilt? I’d be happy to show you. Doesn’t even have to be one of ye. If you like, I’ve got enough for the both.”
Sofia stepped aside, putting a little more distance between herself and Malcolm. Annie glared at him.
“You’re an asshole,” she told him. “I think I speak for both Sofia and me when I say that I’d rather fuck Hiss than have anything to do with you. If you need to get off so badly, go wander off into the grass and have a chat with your fist.”
Malcolm grinned hugely. “I love the fire in you, missy. I get the feeling you’re one of those gals that wants to say yes, but needs a little push to get started.”
“Leave her alone, Malcolm,” Leon said, not quite meeting the bigger man’s eyes. There wasn’t much he could do physically against someone Malcolm’s size, but he couldn’t ignore what was happening either.
“Seriously?” said Malcolm, clapping a less than companionable arm around Leon’s shoulders. “Look at her, boyo. Tell me you don’t want to get your cock wet in that. I’ll even hold her for you if you’d like to go second, of course.”
Michael, who appeared to have been ignoring the exchange up until then, turned suddenly and drove an open palm into Malcolm’s chest. “That’s enough,” he said, his voice low with suppressed anger. He inserted himself between the larger man and Leon.
Malcolm staggered backward a step, more from surprise at being shoved than from the force of the push.
“I let you put your hands on me once before,” he snapped at Michael. “Touch me again and I promise you I’ll be the last person you ever touch.”
“That’s up to you,” Michael responded, holding his position. “Are you done harassing Leon and the girls?”
What Malcolm said next was not in English. He had switched to a new language. Gaelic, Leon guessed. His words sounded harsh, all hard consonants and deep guttural noises, none of which Leon understood. They translated crystal clear, however in the back of his mind.
“Two have already died here, and nobody will miss one more. What are the two little cunts going to do when you’re not here to protect them?”
Annie stared at Malcolm, fiery outrage flaring in her eyes. Sofia’s mouth dropped open in shock. Michael remained motionless, although Leon could see the muscles in his jaw flexing.
“Oh, aye,” said Malcolm, reverting to English. He tapped a finger to his temple. “That’s right. It doesn’t matter what language I use, the wee little beastie in our heads translates all of it.” He spread his hands out in an overly friendly gesture and smiled broadly. “It was only a joke. Old Malcolm didn’t mean anything by it. Heat of the moment, you see?”
“You need to keep your distance from all of us,” said Michael. “Stay in front of me, so I can see you at all times. Maybe you should go hang out with the Many. Maybe they will appreciate your sense of humor better than the rest of us.”
“There’s no need for that…” began Malcolm, but Michael did not let him speak further.
“Now! Walk or I’ll beat you unconscious and leave you on the road to find your way out of here alone.”
Malcolm’s expression collapsed into a glower. He stared angrily at Michael for a few seconds longer, then marched off to catch up to the aliens who had not slowed their forward progress during the confrontation.
The rest of the group began walking as well, increasing their pace to close some of the distance between themselves and the Many.
“I didn’t need your help,” Annie said to Michael when they had settled back into a comfortable stride. “I deal with assholes like him all the time.”
Michael did not answer.
“Can’t you just say thank you?” asked Leon. “I appreciated his help and don’t have any problem admitting it. In fact, hey, Michael?”
Michael grunted without turning to look at him.
“You remember when you first got here, and you were about to punch Malcolm? You remember how I stopped you? Well, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I should have let you hit him.”
Michael and Annie b
oth laughed at the announcement. Sofia, however, did not react. She seemed shaken by Malcolm’s words. Leon moved closer to her as they walked.
“Don’t worry. The four of us just need to stay together and everything will be fine.”
“I don’t trust him,” Sofia said, speaking softly so the others would not hear. “He’s going to hurt someone if we aren’t very careful.”
Leon bumped her companionably with his shoulder. “We’ll be careful.”
CHAPTER 9
The group came to a halt when they reached the next intersection of roads. Not only was this crossroads identical to the one they had most recently left behind, but they were once again moving in their original direction. The eight travelers gathered in a circle staring down at the stone Annie had marked. The arrow pointed in the direction they were headed.
Leon explained to Shoo his original theory about being trapped in a jar and why he no longer thought the idea applied. Although it might explain how they were walking in circles, it did not account for the unexpected shift in their direction of travel.
“I think our original plan is still the way to go,” he told the group. “We’re too early in the process to extrapolate a pattern, and we haven’t yet eliminated the possibility that there is a single way out. We haven’t tried going to the left, yet.”
Shoo agreed the original plan remained the correct path. “I, to the left, also suggest,” she told them.
“Are there any other thoughts about this before we go?” Leon asked. He appreciated Shoo’s support but wanted to make sure the others were also on board with the decision. He did not want to be accused of forcing anyone into anything. Not when lives were the cost of making a mistake.
“I think we’re wasting our time chasing around in circles,” Malcolm offered. “Why don’t we send one person out while the rest of us wait here? If they come back around, we all know it was the wrong way. If they manage to escape, they can come back and get us.”
Testing Grounds (On Dangerous Grounds Book 1) Page 11