The Journey of Rick Heiden
All Rights Reserved ยฉ 2019, Rick Haydn Horst
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
I could breathe again when she strode away, but my insides felt like jelly for a while. Pearce stood speechless, holding his breath, eyes closed, and his palms together near his mouth. It reflected the shock I also felt at that moment. I didn't know what to do about her; she admits she killed Rom, even if he did request it. How would people react to that? What happens when a resident of Jiyลซ, who has the freedom to kill, actually does it? Did doing as Rom asked of her constitute a crime in a place where they have expectations but no laws?
The Master Builder used a four-legged, four-armed tiling bot to lead us to an exterior door on the left side of the building. We climbed a staircase to a long narrow room behind the front portico of the building. Once there, the bot moved a lever, and a small door opened on the back wall. It resembled a priest hole hidden within the wood paneling. Crouching down, I used my wrist lamp to peer into the passage that followed the interior of the round perimeter wall. I realized then at least one reason Aurum had doubled the building's size. The original building had small empty pockets inside the walls designed to lighten their weight, but the designer of the original had not connected them to make a passage.
The bot waited as I investigated the door. "This looks like it. Thank you, Master Builder," I said to the bot.
"It's a bot," said Pearce, "I doubt it can hear you."
The bot turned toward Pearce. It held out one of the arms used to manipulate the tiles and made two rapid snaps of its pincer and promptly left.
"Sorry," Pearce said, calling after it.
"Amarรฉ could never squeeze through this opening."
"Aurum couldn't have built it with him in mind," said Pearce. "Perhaps Amarรฉ joined the Trust after Aurum had died."
"I suppose," I said. "Let's do this."
We slipped through the opening to stand on the other side of the curved wall. Along the passage, I saw two metal grates with star-shaped holes that led to the interior of the building. Hidden in plain sight among the niches for statues of lesser gods, they allowed the air pressure in the passage to remain equal to the exterior regardless of how much the sun heated the building; unequal air pressure would damage the walls.
We walked a third of the building's circumference when the passage turned into a staircase leading down into the ground. Descending, I saw the point where the base of the building met the granite beneath it. The stairs continued their circular pattern for the length of several flights of stairs.
"How deep will we find the entrance to the vault?" I asked.
"From here? I couldn't tell you. I must say, Rick, you impressed me with how well you handled yourself with the Master Builder. So, how did you happen to know about the pumice?"
"Classic architecture fascinates me. I couldn't say for certain, but I think the ancient Romans did use pumice. Pumice-based concrete does exist, and with all the volcanic activity near Rome, they should have had access to considerable amounts of it. I added the carbon nanotube idea as an afterthought."
"I see," he said, "and let me guess, you know this because your father worked in the trades."
"Yes, but I don't claim any expertise on the subject. Still, when you admire a building's architecture, if you take the time to understand how they built it, it will add depth to your level of appreciation."
"I understand," he said. "I endeavor to do the same thing with the people I meet."
The bottom of the stairs ended in a 4-meter by 5-meter room. I discerned our location. Of all its solid granite walls, part of one consisted of stone blocks. I pointed it out to Pearce. "It took two nights, but I think we've made it to the other side of your blocked passage."
We saw the pathway on the other side of the room had a turn to the left. Pearce started toward it.
"Hold on," I said. I tapped behind my ear, attempting to contact Iris. I tried several times, but I got no answer.
"Have we come far enough underground?" he asked.
"I think so," I said.
He struck a sharp blow on my shoulder with an open palm. "You idiot!"
I knew then where we stood with one another. Pearce hadn't lied to me about the Nano Reset. "I'm sorry, it just slipped out!"
He laid the box on the floor, and he hugged me. "It hadn't taken long," he said, "but I've grown quite attached to you. I never want to disappoint you, but what you said to me stung. I couldn't tell if you meant it or if you realized I was covering for you."
Pearce had grown accustomed to having David nearby, and I presented a connection to him. I had become part of his extended family, his brother-in-law, perhaps if Jiyลซ had any law. He and I felt the same in that regard; we both required family near us. Teresa was right, Pearce did love David like a brother.
"I couldn't tell what you were doing," I said, "so I told you what I would tell you if you had lied. I figured that would at least make it believable. I didn't mean to hurt you. Let's get this done and go home, okay? We're running out of time."
After the turn, we had one more blasted staircase, both broad and deep. We stood at the top, gazing into the relative darkness below. "Jeez Louise, how far down do we go?" I asked.
We hurried down the steps, but I worried it would take us so deep that the return trip would take more time than we had. I thought I heard something, so I paused on the steps. "What's that noise?" I asked.
"Running water, maybe from the rain on the surface," said Pearce. "A tributary may lay close to these stairs."
It took another five minutes before we reached the bottom. They had lit the room there well compared to the darkened staircases. On the wall, they had attached a massive round vault door of blackish-grey metal that stretched from the floor almost to the three-meter ceiling. It could have weighed ten tons with ease.
I touched the cold metal. My wide-eyed stare of amazement at the immense door held my complete attention; it reminded me of the vaults of the early 20th Century on Earth.
Pearce leaned into me. "Yes, rather impressive, don't you think?"
"How do we get into it?" I asked.
"We don't," he said, watching me, smiling, "but I can see it does a magnificent job."
"What do you mean?"
"Follow me."
The door's monstrous size had attracted too much of my attention to notice the rest of the room. The walls of the 10 meters squared room had sections divided by three sets of side columns for ceiling supports. Each side column had a crest of Aurum, like the one behind Amarรฉ's dining table, at face height recessed into the surface. Pearce strode to one of the gold circles on the far wall. They all looked identical, new, and shined in the light. One, however, was the vault's seal. It remained untouched and intact from the time of Aurum. Pearce took the key and pressed it into the center of the cup, and the thin metal gave way punching a hole through it. He pushed the key farther inside.
"Well, Rick, we did it," said Pearce.