“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.”
“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.”
Nicole recognized the desperation in her friend’s face. “You’re grasping at straws, Max,” she said softly. “You will not find an octospider unless they are willing. Besides, we need you.”
“Shit, Nicole, I’m not needed here.” Max had raised his voice. “And there’s absolutely nothing to do, except talk to each other and play with the children. At least in your lair there was always the option of taking a walk in the dark of New York. Meanwhile, Eponine and Ellie may be dead, or wishing they were. It’s time we did something.”
As he was talking, they both saw lights flicker in the distant reaches of the subway tunnel. “Here it comes again,” Max said. “I’ll help you unload after I finish packing my things.” He ran off in the direction of his bedroom.
Nicole stayed to watch the approaching subway. As always, lights came-on in front of the train as it rushed through the tunnel. A few minutes later the subway pulled into its slot, an incision in the circular floor of the room, and stopped abruptly. After the doors opened, Nicole went over to examine the inside of the car.
In addition to four large jugs of water, the subway contained the usual collection of fresh produce that the humans had learned to eat and enjoy, plus a large squeeze tube of a sticky substance that tasted like a mixture of oranges and honey. But where is all this food grown? Nicole asked herself for the hundredth time as she began unloading the food. She recalled the many family discussions of the subject. The consensus conclusion was always that there must be large farms somewhere in the Southern Hemicylinder.
About who was feeding them there was less agreement.
Richard was certain that they were being fed by the octospiders themselves, primarily because all their supplies passed through territory he considered to be octospider domain. It was hard to argue with his logic. Max agreed that what they were eating was indeed being supplied by the octospiders. However, he attributed sinister motives to all octospider actions. If they were being fed by the octospiders, he asserted, then it was not for humanitarian purposes.
Why would the octospiders be our benefactors? Nicole wondered. I agree with Max that feeding us is inconsistent with kidnapping Eponine and Ellie. Isn’t it just possible that some other species is involved? One that has chosen to intercede on our behalf? Despite Richard’s gentle ridicule in the privacy of their own bedroom, a part of Nicole clung stubbornly to the hope that there were indeed some “rainbow people,” higher in the development hierarchy than the octospiders, who were somehow interested in the preservation of the vulnerable humans and were ordering the octospiders to feed them.
The contents of the subway always included a surprise. At the back of the car this time were six balls of various sizes, each a different bright color.
“Look, Max,” Nicole said. He had returned with his pack and was helping her unload. “They have even sent balls for the children to play with.”
“Wonderful,” Max said sarcastically. “Now we can all listen to the children argue about which ball belongs to whom.”
When they had finished emptying the subway, Max climbed into the car and sat down on the floor. “How long will you wait?” Nicole asked.
“As long as it takes,” Max said grimly.
“Did you discuss what you’re doing with anyone else?” Nicole inquired.
“Hell, no,” Max replied vehemently. “Why should I? We’re not operating a democracy here.” Max leaned forward in his sitting position. “Sorry, Nicole, but I’m just generally pissed off right now. Eponine has been gone for a month, I’ve run out of cigarettes, and I’m easily annoyed.”
He forced a smile. “Clyde and Winona used to tell me, when I was acting like this, that I had a burr up my ass.”
“It’s all right, Max,” Nicole said. She hugged him briefly before leaving. “I just hope you’ll be safe, wherever you go.”
The subway did not depart. Max stubbornly refused to leave the train, not even to go to the bathroom. His friends brought Max food, water, and the necessary materials for him to keep the train clean. By the end of the third day, the food supply was dwindling rapidly.
“Someone must talk to Max soon,” Robert said to the other adults after the children were asleep. “It’s clear that the subway is not going to move as long as he is on board.”
“I plan to discuss the situation with him in the morning,” Nicole said.
“But we’re running out of food now,” Robert protested. “And we don’t know how long it takes.”
“We can ration what we have left,” Richard interrupted, “and make it last at least two more days. Look, Robert, we’re all tense and tired. It will be better to talk to Max after a good night’s sleep.”
“What do we do if Max does not willingly leave the subway?” Richard asked Nicole when they were alone.
“I don’t know,” Nicole said. “Patrick asked me the same question this afternoon. He’s afraid of what will happen if we try to force Max out of the train. Patrick says that Max is very tired and very angry.”
When Nicole finally fell asleep, she was exhausted. Again her dreams were troubled. In her first dream, the villa at Beauvois was on fire and she could not find Genevieve. Then the dream venue changed abruptly and Nicole was again seven years old in the Ivory Coast participating in the Poro ceremony. She was swimming half naked in the little pond in the center of the oasis. On the banks of the pond the lioness was on the prowl, searching for the human girl who had disturbed her cub. Nicole submerged to avoid the sharp eyes of the lioness. When she came up for a breath, the lioness was gone, but three octospiders were now patrolling the pond.
“Mother, Mother,” Nicole heard Elite’s voice say.
As she was treading water, Nicole’s eyes raced around the perimeter of the pond. “We’re all right. Mother,” Ellie’s voice distinctly said. “Don’t worry about us.”
But where was Ellie in the scene? Dreaming, Nicole saw a human silhouette in the woods behind the three octospiders and called out, “Ellie, is that you, Ellie?”
The dark figure said “Yes” in Ellie’s voice and then walked out to where he could be seen in the moonlight. Nicole recognized the bright white teeth immediately. “Omeh,” she shouted, a wave of terror running down her spine. “Omeh—”
Nicole was awakened by a persistent nudging. Richard was sitting beside her in the bed. “Are you all right, darling?” he said. “You were shouting Ellie’s name… and then Omeh.”
“I had another one of my vivid dreams,” Nicole said, rising and putting on her clothes. “I was told that Eponine and Ellie are safe, wherever they are.”
Nicole finished dressing. “Where are you going at this hour?” Richard asked.
“To talk to Max,” Nicole replied.
She hurried out of their bedroom and into the main chamber underneath the dome. For some reason, Nicole glanced up at the ceiling just when she entered the chamber. She saw something she had never noticed. There appeared to be a landing or platform cut several meters beneath the dome. Nicole wondered why she had never seen it before.
Max was sleeping in a ball in the corner of the subway. Nicole entered very quietly. A few seconds before she touched him, Max murmured Eponine’s name twice. Then his head jerked. “Yes, dear,” he said quite distinctly.
“Max,” Nicole whispered in his ear. “Wake up, Max.”
When Max awakened, he looked as if he had seen a ghost. “I’ve had the most amazing dream, Max,” Nicole said. “I now know that Ellie and Eponine are all right… I’ve come to ask you to leave the subway, so it can bring us more food. I know how much you want to do something—”
Nicole stopped. Max had risen to his feet and was preparing to descend from the subway. He — still had a completely bewildered expression on his face. “Let’s go,” he said.
“Just like that?” Nicole said, astonished that she had encountered so little resistance.
