Even Max agreed mat it was useless to search any longer for Eponine in the maze of blue corridors. “She’s almost certainly not here anymore,” he said dejectedly.
While the trio waited on the platform for the subway, Richard and Nicole told Max more details about the large room with the rainbow dome on the southern side of the Cylindrical Sea. “Okay,” said Max when they were finished, “one connection is clear, even to this Arkansas farm boy. The rainbow in the dome is obviously connected with the rainbow in the sky that distracted Nakamura’s troops. So the rainbow people, whoever they are, don’t want us to get captured. And they don’t want us to starve to death. They’re probably the ones who built the subway—or at least that makes some sense to me. But what is the relationship between the rainbow people and the octospiders?”
“Before you told me about Eponine’s kidnapping,” Richard replied, “I was virtually certain they were one and the same. Now I don’t know. It’s difficult to interpret what you experienced as anything other than a hostile act.”
Max laughed. “Richard, you have such a way with words. Why do you keep giving those ugly bastards the benefit of the doubt? I would have expected it from Nicole, ..but those octospiders once kept you prisoner for mgnths, sent little creatures up your nose, and probably even tampered with your brain.”
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“We don’t know that for sure,” Richard said quietly, for what felt like the hundredth time.
“AH right,” said Max. “But I think you’re discounting a lot of evidence—”
Max stopped when he heard the familiar whoosh. The subway arrived, heading in the direction of the octospider lair. “Now why is it,” Max said with a trace of sarcasm just before they stepped into the train, “that this subway always happens to be going in the right direction?”
Patrick had managed eventually to talk Robert and Nai into returning to the museum room. It had not been easy. Both the adults and the children had been severely trauma-tized by die octospider attack. Robert could not sleep at all, and the twins were plagued by dreams from which they would awaken screaming. By the time Richard, Nicole, and Max showed up, the remaining food was almost gone and Patrick had already started formulating contingency plans.
It was a subdued reunion. Both the kidnappings were discussed at length, leaving all the adults, even Nicole, acutely depressed. There was very little excitement about the rainbow dome in the south. But there was no question about what they should do. Richard summarized their situation succinctly. “At least mere’s food under the dome,” he said.
They packed all their belongings in silence. Patrick and Max carried the children down die spiked vertical corridor. The subway appeared soon after everyone was on the platform. It did not stop at either of the two intermediate stations, just as Max had wryly predicted, but instead hurtled on into the transparent tunnel through the Cylindrical Sea. The^ strange and wonderful sea creatures on the other sides of the tunnel wall, almost certainly all biots, fascinated the children and reminded Richard of his voyage to New York years earlier, when he had come to look for Nicole.
The large chamber under the dome at the other end of the subway line was indeed staggering. Although Benjy and the children were more interested initially in the variety of
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fresh new food that was spread out along a long table on one side of the room, the adults all wandered around in amazement, not only staring at the brilliant colors of the rainbow far above their heads, but also examining all the alcoves off the back of the platform, where bathrooms and individual sleeping suites were located.
Max marched off the dimensions of the main floor. It was roughly fifty meters wide, and forty meters from the subway platform to the alcove entrances. A few minutes later Patrick came over to talk to Max, who was now standing beside the slot cut into the platform for the subway. Everyone else was discussing the allocation of the sleeping suites.
“I’m sorry about Eponine,” Patrick said, putting his hand on his friend’s shoulder.
Max shrugged. “In a way it’s worse that EHie is gone. I don’t know if Robert or Nikki will ever recover completely.”
The two men stood side by side and stared at the long, dark, empty tunnel. “You know, Patrick,” Max said grimly, “I wish I could convince the farmer in me that our troubles are over and that the rainbow people are going to take care of us.”
Kepler came running up with a long vegetable that looked like a green carrot. “Mr. Puckett,” he said, “you must try this. It’s the best.”
Max accepted the little boy’s gift and placed the vegetable in his mouth. He took a bite. “This is good, Kepler,” he said, tousling the boy’s hair. “Thank you very much.”
Kepler raced back to the others. Max chewed the vegetable slowly. “I always took excellent care of my pigs and chickens,” he said to Patrick. “They had good food and great living conditions.” Max gestured with his right hand toward the dome and the table laden with food. “But I also removed the animals, a few at a time, when I was ready to slaughter them or sell them at the market.” *.
THE RAINBOW CONNECTION
1
N
Iicole was lying on her back, awake again in the middle of the night. In the dim light of their bedroom she could see Richard sleeping soundlessly beside her. At length she rose quietly and crossed the room, exiting into the large main chamber of their temporary home.
The intelligence that controlled the illumination made it easy for the humans to sleep, always sharply reducing the light shining through the rainbow dome for roughly eight hours in each twenty-four-hour period. During these “night” intervals, the main chamber underneath the dome was only softly lit, and the individual bedrooms cut into the walls, which had no tights of their own, were dark enough for restful sleep.
For several consecutive nights Nicole had slept fitfully, awakening often from disquieting dreams that she could not quite remember. This particular night, as she struggled unsuccessfully to recapture the images that had disturbed her rest, Nicole walked slowly around the perimeter of the
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large circular room in which her family and friends spent most of their time. On the far side of the chamber, near the empty subway platform, she stopped and stared into the dark tunnel that led through the Cylindrical Sea.
What is really going on here? Nicole wondered. What power or intelligence is providing for us now?
It had been four weeks since the small human contingent had first reached this magnificent cavern constructed underneath the Southern Hemicylinder of Rama. The new living quarters had obviously been designed, at considerable effort, specifically for them. The bedrooms and the bathrooms in the alcoves were indistinguishable from those in New Eden. The first subway to return after they had arrived at the dome had brought more food and water, plus couches, chairs, and tables to furnish their living areas. The humans had even been supplied with dishes, glasses, and eating utensils. Who, or what, knew enough about everyday human activity to provide such detailed implements?
It is obviously someone who has observed us very carefully, Nicole was thinking. Her mind conjured up an image of the Eagle and she realized that she was engaging in wishful thinking. But who else could it be? Only the Ramans and the Nodal Intelligence have enough information . . .
Her thoughts were broken by a sound behind her. Nicole turned and saw Max Puckett approaching from across the chamber. “You can’t sleep either?” he said as he drew near.
Nicole shook her head. “These last few nights I’ve been having bad dreams.”
“I keep worrying about Eponine,” Max said. “I can still see the terror in her eyes as she was dragged away.” He turned away in silence and faced the subway tunnel.
And what about you, Ellie? Nicole wondered, feeling a sharp pang of anxiety. Are you safe with the octospiders? Or is Max correct about them? Are Richard and I deluding ourselves by believing the octos do not intend to harm us?
“I can’t just sit here any longer,” Max said quietly to Nicole. “I must do something to help Eponine. Or at least to convince myself I’m trying.”
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“But what can you do, Max?” Nicole asked after a short pause.
“Our only contact with the outside world is that damn subway,” Max said. ‘.The next time it comes to bring us food and water, which should be either tonight or tomorrow, I intend to climb on board and stay there. When it leaves, I will ride until it stops. Then I will try to find an octospider and have myself captured.”