“I got it,” said Gideon in a friendly confident tone.
“We need to get into one of these crates,” said Cassidy to Jebediah. Jebediah nodded and they started looking under tarps to ascertain what lay underneath. After a few minutes of checking, Jebediah found one where he motioned for Cassidy. She came over.
“This one has cotton bricks in it,” he said quietly. I think we can squeeze in rather easily.” Cassidy examined the crates.
“I don't know. I think we may want to take multiple crates.”
“That only increases our chances of being caught,” replied Jebediah. “We need to get into one.”
Cassidy sighed. “Alright, but if you start farting, I'm handing you over to them.”
“If either of us is going to start producing smells, it's not me,” Jebediah replied as they started to remove cotton from one of the containers and throw it into the shadows.
Cassidy waited until she heard Gideon's loader nearby and she popped up, waving at him. After she had his attention, she pointed down to the crate in front of her. Gideon nodded and Cassidy squeezed into the cotton-filled crate with Jebediah. “I hope we're not just going to some incinerator,” she said.
Gideon brought the pallet up on the lift, backed up, turned, and drove it into the loading bay and onto the platform. He did the same thing for a few more crates. After he grabbed the final crate, the outside supervisor walked up and stopped him before he drove into the building.
“Alright... that... is... it,” he said, scribbling on his clipboard. He ripped the piece of paper off and handed it to Gideon. “Here's your printing room clearance. Probably won't need it, but it's best to have it. Other than that, have a good night. I'm off to bed. See you tomorrow.”
“Yep,” Gideon said confidently, fully entrenched in his role as Stephens. He rolled his loader over to the platform and as he lowered the crate down, the lift operator, short, pudgy, and ruddy, came over.
“Printing room, I assume” said the operator.
“Yep,” replied Gideon. The lift operator walked over to his controls and, throwing a switch, caused the guard rails to rise out of the floor around the platform. After a few resounding thunks, the lift began its descent into the dark as Gideon caught a glimpse of Cassidy and Jebediah, peeking out from their crate, looking at him nervously. He shrugged and tried to look nonchalant as they all disappeared beneath the floor.
9
Cassidy and Jebediah were pressed against one another in the cotton crate, tightly-packed bricks of cotton forming a wall around them. The sounds of the elevator humming outside. Cassidy moved her head around trying to catch a view of the outside, but only catching glimpses of lights as the elevator grew dark.
“Last shipment?” asked the lift operator to Gideon.
“I think so,” replied Gideon.
“Why the fancy clothes?” asked the operator.
“Oh, yeah. I've got a date tonight with a local girl,” Gideon replied. “I wouldn't have time to change, so I just came to work like this.”
“She pretty?”
“Pretty enough.”
“Best kind,” said the lift operator. “Pretty enough to get you hard, but not so pretty that they think they're better than you.”
“I, uh, I hadn't really thought of it that way,” said Gideon.
“Words to live by, trust me. I never go with girls too pretty. Ugly ones are good, too, because they're eager to please. Best lay I ever had was an ugly girl. You ever fucked an ugly girl?”
“Uhh, no... Can't say that I have,” replied Gideon, trying to hide his discomfort.
“Oh man, you need to. Trust me on this. You marry a pretty one, but you spend all your time with the ugly ones. That's the life.”
“If he keeps talking, I'm going to get out and kill him,” whispered Cassidy to Jebediah.
“Alright,” said the operator as the elevator thunked into place. Another thunk and the hum of a motor preceded the loading door into the printing room opening upward. As it did, another man with a clipboard walked over and waited. After the door had fully risen, he walked onto the lift and up to Gideon.
“Finally,” the printing supervisor said. “What took you?”
“Oh, just usual delays,” said Gideon. The supervisor nodded as he checked his list.
“When did he become such a good liar?” whispered Jebediah to Cassidy.
“There's a good deal to him of which you aren't aware,” replied Cassidy with a smirk.
“So... ten crates?” he asked. Gideon nodded. “Great.” He marked some papers on his clipboard. “And I am done! I am going the hell to bed! Drop 'em off anywhere... Actually, no.” The supervisor turned to the large printing machine. “George! Come over here a second!” George came trotting over and saw Gideon, his eyes going wide as saucers as Gideon frantically tried to appear not frantic while still signaling George to act calm. “George, think you can handle putting these crates away?”
George nodded awkwardly. “Uh.... yes...?” Gideon nodded slightly as he stared at George. The supervisor turned back to Gideon who quickly returned his grinning face to him. The supervisor was confused for a moment.
“You alright?” asked the supervisor.
“Oh yeah. Fine,” replied Gideon.
“Alright,” said the supervisor, obviously made a bit uncomfortable by Gideon's giant grin. “I'm off for the night. George, have fun.” George nodded as the supervisor left and entered the personnel elevator. Gideon, trying to remain calm, began unloading the crates. As he drove the one containing Cassidy in it past George, George told him to put it in the corner.
“Good God, is that George?!” Cassidy whispered to Jebediah who held her shoulders to calm her.
Gideon, one by one, unloaded the crates into the room. As the last one came off, George walked up and made a show of asking Gideon to stay behind.
“Hey!” Gideon yelled back to the lift operator. “I'm staying down here to move shit around. Just head back up!” The operator nodded, gave the thumbs up, and with the flick of a switch and the loud thunk of mechanisms, the door lowered down and finally closed.
“Gideon!” yelled George. “How did you get here?”
“Is there anyone else here?” asked Gideon, nervous.
“No! No one! I'm the night shift.” Cassidy exploded out of her crate, stumbling on bricks of cotton as they scattered on the floor.
“George! George!” she yelled, elated. “What are the goddamned odds?!”
“Oh god, Cassidy! I'm so happy!” George ran over to her and they crashed into each other's arms. She practically crushed him with her embrace. “I'm so happy!” George said into Cassidy's neck, her red hair enveloping his face. Jebediah calmly emerged from his crate, dusting away stray flecks of cotton from his suit.
“Mister Ames?! How did you find us? Where are we? I, I, I, I have so many questions!” yelled George.
“You're in Houston. Down in Texas,” said Cassidy, clutching George's shoulders tightly. “We found you by... I'm not even sure how to explain this quickly. We tracked a man to New Orleans and I met some weird hermit who lives in the sewers. I discovered that I can make magic water glow and the magic water led me here!” she said with a smile.
George stared back at Cassidy incredulously. “Uh huh.”
“I'm not making it up, you jack ass!” Cassidy said, slapping him, both smiling.
“I stopped disbelieving you long ago,” said George. They rejoined in a joyful embrace.
“Besides, it doesn't matter how I got here. I'm here, and I am getting you out of here. Now.” They parted their hug and Cassidy kept a hand on his shoulder. “Where's Anna?” she asked.
George's expression fell. “I don't know.” Cassidy's smile disappeared. “They took her weeks ago. I heard that she was moved deep into the caves for some... special purpose.”
“What kind of purpose?” asked Cassidy, an ominousness in her voice.
George shook his head. “Again, I don't know. I was told they
have a special lab where they want her to work. They seemed to be very interested in her skills. I don't know what they're doing there. You have no idea, Cassidy. The stuff that they are making here... it's amazing. I've never seen anything like it. Weapons, airships, motors, magnets, electricity. It's almost too much to believe.”
“What are they having you do here?” asked Cassidy, turning to the large printing machine.
“Oh, right here? I'm printing money,” George replied.
“Well that explains a lot,” said Cassidy, looking at Jebediah.
“Indeed,” replied Jebediah, looking out over the humming machine.
“Something has changed recently, too,” said George. “We've gotten an order that we are moving out. Huge amounts of equipment has already been taken out and up. I can hear it going by on the trains.
“Trains?” asked Jebediah.
“Yes,” replied George. “There is an underground rail system between here and some point deep into the cave system.”
“Good lord,” said Jebediah.
George continued. “And when I first got here a few days ago, we were printing American money. Now, we're printing French money.”
“French? Are you sure it's French. Let me see it.” replied Jebediah. George pulled a sheet of completed money out and handed it to Jebediah who inspected it.
“Why is that important?” asked Cassidy.
“Because, the money they are printing gives us a clue as to where they are operating. If they are printing French money, they may be moving to France.”
“They aren't moving anywhere,” replied Cassidy. “I'm stopping them here and now. George, where are the weapons hidden?”
“I have no idea,” he replied. “I'm sorry to say, but I don't know much about this complex. It's big, I know that. I was caught in here a few days ago and they won't let me go anywhere else. Anyone who deals with the money isn't allowed further down or up. We have a straight elevator to our rooms and all of our food is delivered.”
“You!” yelled Professor Jacobson from the shadows, coming out to face Cassidy. “You're the one who got me into this!” Claudette followed behind, confused. “How in the bloody hell did you get here?!”
“My god, it's a party, isn't it?” said Gideon.
“Jacobson?! Professor Jaco... What the hell, is everyone just hanging around here?” asked Cassidy.
“How did you find this place?” asked Jacobson.
Cassidy rolled her eyes. “No. I'm not telling the damned story again. Suffice it to say, I found it.”
“Are you here to get me out of this?” asked Jacobson.
“Well, I hadn't thought about that, but now that you're here, uh, yes. Yes I am.”
“George?” asked Claudette. “You mind?”
“Oh, yes,” George replied. “Everyone, this is Claudette. She helped me to acclimate to the complex and showed me around. Claudette, these are... well, seemingly everyone I told you about. This is Cassidy, and agents Atwater and Ames.”
“It's... intimidating to finally meet you, Cassidy,” said Claudette.
“Don't be intimidated,” said Jacobson. “She's a gun-toting thug.”
“That seems like a rather good reason to be intimidated by someone,” replied Cassidy. “Regardless, don't be. Stories get told. Best to ignore them.”
“What are you doing here?” asked Jacobson.
“The same thing that I've been doing since we first met,” replied Cassidy. “I'm trying to figure out who these people are. And don't get angry with me. If you had been helpful when we first came to you, this entire scenario could have been avoided.”
Jacobson turned to Gideon and Jebediah. “And how did you poor shits get dragged into this?”
“We came of our own accord,” said Jebediah. “I'm Undersecretary Jebediah Ames of the State Department,” he said, reaching his hand out for a shake.
Jacobson was surprised. “The State Department?” he asked, shaking Jebediah's hand. He turned to Cassidy, a bit of the anger gone from his face. “You really brought the cavalry, didn't you?”
“Yes, and if it makes you feel any better, I'm sorry for the way I treated you earlier,” she said.
Jacobson sighed deeply, calming down. “I'm sure you are. So, what now?”
“Now? We get Anna and get out of here. Do either of you know where she could be?”
Claudette nodded. “Yes. You're not going to much like my answer, though.”
“She's back in San Francisco, isn't she?” asked Cassidy.
Claudette smiled. “No. It's not that bad. But it's bad.” Claudette looked around for a moment before focusing on the pad of paper on a clipboard on the table near the main control station. She walked over and grabbed, bringing it back. She then proceeded to sketch out a rough map of the entire underground complex. “Thanks to my time in the magnetics lab, I've been out into the cave system. The cave goes on for miles, I know that.”
“Good lord,” ejaculated Gideon.
“They have a small rail system that runs all the way in. People go in and out, and every now and then some new device or compound gets delivered. A massive amount of stuff goes back there — maybe fifty percent of everything that comes in. There's a lab back there, I'm sure of it.”
“No one has been back there?” asked Gideon.
“No one is allowed,” said Jacobson, interrupting Claudette.
“Once you go back there, you're kept back there. Workers aren't allowed to say anything, and even when they do, they don't have much to say.” Claudette paused, thinking. “One of the weirder things I've heard is that there is a tree growing down there. Not a figurative tree, but a real, honest-to-God tree growing in a cave.”
Cassidy, Gideon, and Jebediah all looked at each other.
“What?” asked Jacobson, his eyes darting between the three of them.
Cassidy turned to him and Claudette and paused, thinking about how she was going to say this. “There's no way to say this reasonably, so here it goes: I believe that what lies in that cave... is the fountain of youth.”
Jacobson, George, and Claudette all stared back blankly. “What does that mean?” asked Jacobson.
“Well what the hell do you think it means? It's the fountain of youth. The water of life. A liquid that provides eternal life.”
“You can't be serious,” said Jacobson.
“I am aware of how silly it sounds, but trust us, we have good reason for these beliefs,” said Jebediah.
As Jebediah and Jacobson spoke, Cassidy looked at Claudette, whose eyes had wandered off in shocked thought. She looked back up at Cassidy, who was waiting for her to speak. “It makes sense,” said Claudette, silencing Jacobson and Jebediah.
“What makes sense?” asked Jacobson.
Claudette breathed deeply before starting. “I've had three encounters with people whose injuries that should have left scars or disfigurements, were magically cured by some secret group of doctors. I have a friend whose arm was nearly burned off by acid, and yet a week later, he returned, his arm as though nothing had happened. Just... fine. They kept him sedated for the entire thing. I assumed because of the pain, but it could also have been to prevent him from seeing anything.”
“Yes,” added Jacobson, equally deep in thought. “I... I hadn't thought about it... Much of my work was made possible by small vials of a blue liquid that they would send to me. It had miraculous effects on living tissue... No. No. Still, I'm not going to start believing in magical fountains.”
“You don't have to assume magic,” said Claudette. “Most of our greatest medical tools come from nature. Is it so much a leap to say that one of those tools could be a panacea?”
“Yes, I think. For example, if there's a fountain of youth around here, why aren't half the animals in Houston invincible? The family goat drinks from a spring and suddenly it outlives Ma and Pa. I think we'd hear about these things.”
“I'm sorry to interrupt, but I don't think any of this matters right now,” said Jebediah
. Claudette and Jacobson both nodded in agreement.
“Yes. Quite right,” replied Jacobson. “You should hurry. They've been hauling stuff out from here for days, now. We're getting ready to abandon this whole complex. It's a total evacuation. If you don't get to her soon, she may be gone. She may already be gone.”
“No,” said George. “She wouldn't let them take her without me. She's still back there.”
“How do we go about doing this, though?” asked Cassidy.
“Tunnels,” replied Jacobson. “The walls and framework of this structure is littered with old maintenance tunnels that no one uses anymore. I found them weeks ago and have a decent map of them in my head. I can get you down onto the cave floor. From that point, you're on your own.”
“Then onward,” said Jacobson. “I know these tunnels well by this point. There are a few that lead directly down to the cave floor and the switch yard. Nearly zero probability of being spotted.”
“Switch yard? As in a rail switch yard?” asked Gideon. Jacobson nodded. “Good god, a switch yard underground?” asked Gideon.
Jacobson nodded. “There are many things down here to impress.”
Their conversation was interrupted by a clatter of wood in the shadows. They all looked to see Frederick Stein coming out, a small gun drawn and pointed.
“Stein?” asked Jacobson, surprised.
“Yes. I'm sorry to interrupt. I truly am,” replied Stein.
“What are you doing here?” Jacobson asked.
Stein shook a piece of broken wood from his pant leg as he walked forward. “I've been following you for some time. I've been keeping tabs on you to make sure that you don't do anything stupid. And I'm glad I did. Here you are, doing something stupid.”
“Who's this fucker?” asked Cassidy.
“The future, you barbarian,” replied Stein. “I'm the thing that you are here to destroy.”
“I'm not here to destroy anything,” said Cassidy. “I'm here to rescue my friends who were taken from me. So if I destroy anything, the fault is on everyone here.”
Cassidy St. Claire and The Fountain of Youth Parts I, II, & III Page 68
