When they got back to the leadership hall, Doctor Love was making a house call. He and his extra pretty and skimpily dressed nurse looked to be in some sort of race to see who could whip up the Wrinkles into a bigger sensual frenzy. They'd started two conga lines of alternating males and females. Both flirts had taken spots at the head of their respective columns, and started shaking their booties into the person directly behind them, who was returning the favor to the Wrinkle behind them, and so on down the line.
Gar was holding on to Braxton, the captain noticed, in much the same way that Lora was holding on to him. Braxton didn't seem to be minding this very much.
"Captain, we can start another line just for you!" Mary called out.
"Oh, that won't be necessary." Washington waved her off, taking a seat next to Braxton.
His escort, the captain had noticed, hadn't spoken much ever since he'd talked to his crew, and specifically to Barbie. He wondered if Lora was either jealous or considering her chances to conquer him to be very slim. Washington had no doubt in his mind that Lora's main purpose was to bed him.
Mary yawned and pulled away from the crowd, only to have three Wrinkles surround her as she took a seat on her chair. "I'm so tired now. I think I need a break from you guys."
Washington mentally calculated the time they'd been on the planet. He came to the conclusion that they were several hours past their usual bedtime on the ship. When a great yawn fought its way out of his throat, he looked over at Gar. "I hate to put a halt to all of this celebration, but me and my crew should have gone to bed hours ago. I'd like to call my ship down, so we can get a few hours of rest."
"We can provide sleeping quarters for you here." Gar answered, a little too quickly.
Braxton and Washington both caught this but pretended they hadn't. They had in fact been planning to spend the night on the planet, as they were still hoping to get to the bottom of the mystery that surrounded planet GB 1.
"I'd like to have all of our crew stay together." Washington said.
"Oh." Gar looked worried. It might have been the first time his face had shown an emotion other than contentment or excitement. "The arrangements we've made will put you in separate rooms, but the rooms are directly next to each other. We don't really have an area where we can sleep four humans together."
That much was a lie, Washington knew. The Wrinkles could house the four humans in their own separate city, if they so chose to, because so much of the planet was empty. He played along. "That would suit us fine, as long as the rooms are next to one another."
"I'll take you there." Gar stood up. "Or at least, I can take half of you. Lora will take the rest in another vehicle."
Washington soon realized why two vehicles were necessary; their aged escorts were coming with them. The two flying cars flew past an untold number of towers in the vast city, giving the captain the impression that they were getting further and further away from the landing pad. Soon, he lost track of where the pad was. Soon after that, he could no longer tell where the leadership hall was. From any point of view he could think of, they were trapped like mice in a giant, open cage.
They paused before another wonderfully tall building. This structure was colored a bright and cheery yellow with a pink spire on top, and lots of extra large windows. Once they passengers stepped away from their sky craft and entered through a wide pink door, they were surprised to discover that the room, and possibly the entire building, was very much different than anything they'd encountered before.
The lobby had two wide waterfalls in its lobby, each one rising up to a height of about twenty feet high. The water cascaded down and bubbled froth, until it bled out into a pair of gently flowing, ten-foot wide streams that lay at forty-five degree angles away from the center of the lobby. On either side of these pleasant streams were numerous shrubs, trees and vines. Each one added to the beauty of the lobby with its brightly colored flowers or leaves. A small park, tidy and maintained, but currently empty, sat in the crook formed by the two streams. Benches with artistic flairs and bright coloring were lined up within the natural setting. From the patches of artificial surface beyond the park, several new Wrinkles seemingly came out of nowhere to greet them.
Once they were all introduced, Washington asked. "Is this a hotel?"
Gar made a confused face at him, until Braxton explained the idea to him. "A temporary housing? Oh, no. This is a relaxation center. Our people are rotated here once each year. They get a month to stay here and enjoy themselves, before they are moved on to another area."
"Imagine having a month off in a place like this?" Mary stood in awe of the majesty of the lobby. She pointed at a group of white birds sitting high atop one tree. "Wow, those are real birds. Is the entire building like this?"
"The open areas are." Gar informed them. "They have the flora and the fauna, the same as this level. The sleeping areas are set apart. Every few levels are dedicated to a different region of Our World, from the warmer areas to the colder ones. You're welcome to stay in any area that you choose to."
"Are any other people staying here?" Braxton asked. "Other than the people that have been assigned to this place?"
"No. This building is completely empty of guests, other than you four people from Earth. There are several of these relaxation centers around the city. Most of us stay in the centers closest to our last work duty, or to the work duty we'll be headed to next. This entire area has very few people in it, simply because there aren't that many of us left. The only people here now are those that have been assigned to maintain these buildings." Gar pointed at the bank of elevators. "If you'll follow each of your escorts, they can show you what each of these levels look like. Each of you can choose a level that suits you best.
He's trying to separate us again. Mary thought at the captain.
"We've been cooped up in one very small ship for a very long time." Washington commented. "I don't think we'd know what to do if we had an entire level to ourselves. We'd like to see the levels as a group, if you wouldn't mind."
"But we won't all fit into the elevators..."
"When we settle on a level," The captain insisted. "We'll come back down for our escorts. We're all grown adults, Gar. We don't need to have escorts holding our hands everywhere we go."
"Of course." Gar said, but his face betrayed his disappointment.
"I trust the elevator works the same as the one in the communication center?" He asked Lora. "I'd like to show off that I know how to work one to my crew."
"It works in the same manner." Lora replied.
With their four escorts following close behind, Washington led his team to the mirror mounted to one side of the elevators. He waved his hand up, as Lora had shown him. Not five seconds later, the nearest door slid open.
"That's amazing, baby." Cruz stared at the mirror in wonder.
The four humans went inside. For a moment, Washington thought their escorts might rush inside after them. "We'll be back in a few minutes."
Washington waved his hand across the smaller mirror inside and shut the door. Before anyone could speak, the captain held his fingers across his lips to ensure their silence. He glanced around for whatever microphone was located in the elevator, but when he couldn't find one, he simply said out loud, "Hello."
"Hello." A woman's voice came back.
"Can you tell us what the various levels are in this building?"
"Do you mean by number or by theme?"
"By theme, please."
"We have four levels of forest, four levels of jungle, four levels of great plains, four levels of desert, four..."
"Excuse me." Braxton cut in. "What is on the highest level of this building?"
"Two levels of mountaintop and two levels of heaven."
"That sounds wonderful." Mary said.
"Can you take us to heaven?" Braxton asked.
"Yes." The voice replied.
The elevator didn't seem to be doing anything at all, until Washington felt that slight bump he'd felt before.
"We're here." The captain said, when he felt the conveyance halt. He swept his hand across the little mirror to open the door.
The four humans stepped into a wide chamber colored in soft white and sky blue. The room was noticeably cooler than the lobby. There even appeared to be actual clouds floating in its midst. Braxton and Cruz both stepped through one and came out shivering. Washington had to keep Mary steady, as she seemed tired enough to drop on the floor and go to sleep.
Braxton found a hallway hidden behind a large cloud. "I take it that the rooms are this way."
They all went through, finding a row of wide arches without any doors. Inside each of these, they discovered large rooms with wide beds that seemed to be floating in the air. Fluffy material that wasn't exactly fabric covered the beds, and half a dozen fat pillows were stretched out across the middle.
Cruz dropped down onto his stomach to confirm that indeed, the beds were floating on air, while Washington walked Mary over to the edge of the bed. As soon as her butt touched the mattress, she sunk down into it by several inches. The blonde lay down on her back, purring dreamily, with the material conformed around her to form a blanket that, luckily, didn't cover her head. Washington lifted her legs onto the bed and removed her shoes.
"I suppose somebody should take off her nurse costume." The captain said.
"I'll take care of that." Cruz said. "I've stripped Mary plenty of times before. Besides, Barbie would have conniptions if she found out you did it."
"Well, I didn't mean that I was going to do it!" Washington grumbled. "I just meant that somebody should be doing it."
"Don't get upset, captain." Cruz reiterated. "I already said I would do it."
Washington realized he'd just snapped at his ensign. "I didn't mean to sound harsh. I think I must be a little tired, too. We all should have been asleep hours ago."
"Do you think we're being watched or listened to?" Braxton asked, glancing around the room. "Because I'm getting tired of this charade we're all playing here."
"That's what it is, isn't it?" Washington asked. "We know they're up to something, and they keep hedging that they are, but nobody wants to just say it straight out. I've been hoping that Gar or Lora will just level with us. Then at least we'll all know where we stand with these people. But it just isn't happening."
"What do you think will happen if we confront them?" Braxton asked.
"Maybe they'll go crazy on us, like they did to the personnel from the previous ships that sent landing parties down here." Washington figured. "You know, let me find out if anyone is listening to us." He said out loud. "Hello?"
"Hello." A woman's voice answered.
The captain decided to be direct. "Have you been listening to us?"
There was a short pause, before the woman's voice said, "Yes."
Washington scowled, as his fatigue and impatience were getting the better of him. He felt ready to start lashing out some choice expletives, when Cruz stepped into his line of sight. The Hispanic ensign held the nurse's costume in his hand.
"You got that off already?" The captain asked. "How'd you do that so fast?"
