Jess’s breathing became shallow. She turned her gaze to meet him directly, a small tear forming in her left eye. She exhaled deeply. “I see… so you did know my grandmother.”
“She was a remarkable person… and an inspiration to all.” Sam took her hand, squeezing it gently. “Can you tell me what happened?”
Jess squeezed his hand and then let it go again. “When a navigation error led her to land on a small atoll on the Phoenix Islands, she refueled from a secret Japanese fuel cache she discovered, before being attacked — the Japanese patrol killed Amelia’s navigator, Fred Noonan, and she was forced to leave him, as she took off. From there, she flew southeast toward New Zealand, but must have overshot the two islands, instead flying onward farther out into the Pacific Ocean. By the time she had discovered her mistake, she was too far east to return to New Zealand. When she ran out of fuel, she landed on a small atoll, the one that you now see positioned under the first obsidian dome at the entrance to the 8th Continent.”
Sam said, “But it’s nearly fifty feet under water?”
“That’s right. Amelia walked down into the same set of obsidian stairs that you used to enter the 8th Continent and discovered a hidden world, filled with fresh water, edible fruits, streams filled with fish, and a native population who were accepting of what few outsiders it received.” Jess paused for a minute, regathering what she knew, and considering which parts to tell and which to leave out. “She spent the next few months living here, building a makeshift home, and ensuring that she could survive for the long term. She figured there wasn’t much of a rush to return to the surface of the atoll, because if anyone did find her wreckage, they would trace her steps through the obsidian archway, and down below.”
“But she did go to the surface. Somewhere along the line, she took her camera — with photos of people long forgotten — and placed it inside Electra, which is how I found it. So what happened to the atoll?”
Jess smiled. “Indeed. What did happen to Amelia’s atoll? The truth is, I still don’t know. By the time Amelia returned to the surface, she found the entire place was cocooned in a giant dome of obsidian, like some sort of crazy science experiment. Her entire world had become submerged.”
“How long did she live?”
“It was a long time ago… I don’t really know.” Jess said the words quickly, like someone slamming a book shut.
“And your parents?”
“They’re both gone, too.”
Sam frowned. “I’m sorry. Really, I am. No wonder you didn’t want to talk about it.”
“It’s all right.” Jess spoke softly. “I was happy to tell the story. Come on, we should get some sleep, we have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow before we reach the maze.”
Chapter Eleven
The next morning Sam awoke to the dark purple light of predawn, as it broke the velvet night’s sky. All three of them rose quickly, having a quick meal of berries and a drink of ice-cold water, before continuing south along the skyway.
They moved from tree to tree with a series of military style tactical maneuvers designed to protect each other from another attack by Haast’s eagles. Sam made the first sprint across the bridge, being covered by Tom, and then he would cover Tom as he crossed, and they would both cover Jess as she made the sprint.
It was a slow process, but it was the only way to be certain they would reach their destination as a party of three.
By midday they climbed a higher section of the skyway and stopped. To the east of the river, they were presented with a giant panorama of a new landscape, one that took Sam’s breath away. Unlike the undulating, semi-mountainous region through which they had been traveling for the past two day, he now looked upon the great plains of the 8th Continent.
His eyes traced the new landscape with awe.
There were a series of interwoven, straight waterways feeding out from the Sentinel River. A labyrinth of aqueducts and irrigation, leading east until they reached the maze — miles upon miles of convoluted pathways, tunnels and bridges built out of a combination of obsidian and thick leafy vegetation.
“There’s the maze,” Jess said.
Sam took out a pair of binoculars and studied the maze. He clicked the shutter button, and it took a digital photo, which he brought up on his computer tablet. There he studied the maze, mapping out the most direct route, and up to five circuitous routes, mapping each one separately.
Sam set his jaw firm. “It doesn’t look very complicated.”
Jess smiled. “Yeah, well… looks can be deceiving…”
He picked up his binoculars again, and fixed them directly at the large open space at the center of the maze. The prize for navigating the strange region and overcoming the challenges.
The center of the maze was covered in verdant green grass, with cattle and sheep casually dotted around, grazing peacefully. A massive colonial-style sandstone building stood proudly to the east, overlooking the estate. It reminded him of a castle overlooking its English countryside. Beside the building stood a smaller one, possibly a set of stables, and a barn for farm animals. A single stream ran from the north to the south of the land, with a single waterwheel feeding its agriculture, and a large opaline lake adorning the center of the paradise.
Sam put his binoculars away. “So, how do we get down?”
“That’s the easy part,” Jess said. “Come with me.”
Sam said, “Easy; that’s what I like to hear.”
Jess brought them to a small platform on the side of the viewing tower. A thick rope supported the platform via a pulley system constructed high above on top of a large tripod.
“There’s a second platform on the ground currently,” she said, pointing to the ground far below. “This is a counter-weighted elevator. Basically, the two platforms have hollow piping which can be filled with water through a plumbing point here.”
Tom examined the mechanism, his face set with incredulity. “Why did the Master Builders design such a complex system?”
She arched an eyebrow. “Why not a rope to simply slide down?”
“Yeah,” Tom said. “That would have been simpler.”
“Because, the skyway is used for travelers and merchants. Even though food is far from scarce, resources are, and there are traveling merchants who shift valuable resources using the skyway. They need a large enough system to raise their goods.”
“All right, sounds better than that harrowing climb at the other end of the skyway.” Sam stepped onto the platform. “So how do we do this?”
Jess stepped next to him. “Everyone on board. Hold on.”
She waited until Tom shuffled on board, and then adjusted a control in the middle which looked like a gear stick, turning it to open. “The platform at the bottom is currently full of water. Its counterweight is keeping us held firm up here. Right now, I’m emptying some of that water. When it becomes lighter than us, we will start heading toward the ground.”
Sam said, “Not too fast I hope!”
“No, not unless I shift this pump all the way to the right.”
Jess pretended to move the stick, but Sam stopped her. “No… slow is fine!”
The counterweight elevator creaked and a minute later it started to descend.
At the bottom, Sam stared up at the giant trees above. The place looked like something out of Peter Pan’s Neverland.