“You’d think that a race that can make elevators go sideways could have come up with a way to traverse this gymnasium quicker and easier than walking,” grumbled Joe.
“Didn’t I hear you say that this place is great?” inquired Zip.
“It is. Back then, I meant ‘great’ like ‘magnificent’; but now it just feels like ‘great’ as in ‘really big.’”
The company came up to the wall. There was a bank of elevators in front of them and several sets of doors to their right. In a large open gathering place, there were many platforms like flat beds, with rods coming out of one end and sticking up perpendicular to the beds.
“Joe,” said Mark, investigating one of the beds. “Here’s your easier way to travel. These things must be some sort of dolly or truck. I saw a lot of them where we first came out of the elevator, but I didn’t recognize them.”
“And we didn’t know how big the room is, either, so we didn’t look for means of transportation,” added Zip.
“No wheels,” said Joe, peering at the apparatus, “and doesn’t need them. Magnetic, probably, with this iron floor. Man,” he said with exaggerated disgust, “we could have floated in comfort the whole length of the place.”
“We’re here now,” said Zip, matter-of-factly. “What happens next? We’ll see if our friends are still with us.”
The men waited for some sign of guidance, but there was only silence. No lights were activated over an elevator. Minutes dragged on. “Try the doors,” said Zip at last, and walked to the nearest elevator. He pressed buttons, but nothing happened. “Go on, try the other ones,” he called out with a wave of his hand. Some of the men went to the other elevators and pressed buttons. Others went to the standard doors adjacent to the elevators, but they did not open.
“Well, I guess we have to go back,” said Joe. No one laughed.