I surprised myself with the smooth immediacy I had used to take care of that inane robot. Add to that, my unexpected behavior back at the TV studio. I will readily admit that my life, previously, had been filled with a great deal of physical activity, often struggling with and eventually dominating other people. But not right out in public. Never on display. Those were things I had kept hidden from others. Except, well, my victims.

That was all over now. The sensation was thrilling.

And it was honest!

I had to remind myself that when I thought of “my life,” I was referencing not the past, so much, as a completely different life.

A sad life, in many ways. Small, too. I had never left my hometown. Kept to the shadows. Never been appreciated for my true work. Sent to prison for the most petty of reasons—I’d been sloppy in handling my own finances. And all culminating in the most ignominious ending imaginable—death in prison by natural causes.

That was all over. I was a new man. Reborn. The phoenix up from the ashes. How I’ve changed! Perpetrating grand actions, in public. In full sight to anyone who happened to look my way.

At the moment this woman, Rose, she was my lifeline. I needed her around to keep me from turning into some gelatinous tentacled creature. Lydia had made that clear to me. Somewhere on one of the top floors of that building in San Antonio was something Lydia called a tau field generator, and if I ventured too far away from it, I could only survive if accompanied by one of the TV show’s psychic Readers. Saligia or Rose. Lydia doubted Michael was talented enough to be of any use to me.

I had little choice but to believe her absurd admissions. But it appeared that I had been wise to act on them. Those robots had corroborated Lydia’s story. In fact, Rose’s “powers” were causing distress to the robots’ entire facility.

To that, I say, good!

And also keeping me intact, in human form.

I had to get Rose to see things my way. Lies wouldn’t work on her. She seemed to know all about what had happened to that director, Hal. In her eyes I was a murderer. No doubt she also suspected I had something to do with Lydia’s disappearance. She was smarter than most of those TV people.

I decided not to waste time with threats, either. She didn’t seem motivated by fear.

I would be honest. Mostly honest.

She needed me. And I needed her.

She needed me because of my strength and determination. I’d already proven capable of defeating the robot threat—though she might not see them as the enemy I did, even with their ray guns.

My ultimate success would be to get Rose to understand how I needed her. It was crucial to play to her sense of compassion. She had deep reserves of empathy. In fact, I hoped she could read my thoughts. She’d have no choice but to come to the conclusion that I was the victim in all this.

True, she might not come to accept that my behavior toward Hal and Lydia was justified no matter how wronged I felt, but I didn’t need to turn her into a lifelong friend, just convince her to remain in my proximity until I figured a few things out.

“We need to get out of here,” I told her. I could make my case as we moved.

Rose didn’t seem to be listening. She stepped to the railing and looked up.

“I think someone from the other side came through after Helen and Darlene,” she said. “Those robot things said tier 24. I think it’s above us. We should check it out.”

“You think someone from a game show can save us? Do you know how absurd you sound?”

“But they probably came to help.”

“They will not have come to help me.”

“No, I wouldn’t imagine.” She turned to face me. “You know, because of Hal.”

“They were holding me prisoner. You know that, right? Poking around in my brain. Forcing me to perform on a game show as some twisted entertainment. What would you have done? Me, I was just trying to escape from that madhouse. And it is still going on.” I paused a moment to let my words sink in. “Even here, wherever here is. Those two men, robots, whatever—you saw what they did to Helen and Darlene. Did they deserve that? Whatever it was that happened to them, that has been my fate all along. Seems like I was wise to try and escape.”

There. I did it.

I saw from Rose’s face, I had her. Made my case. At least for the time being. Whatever powers of telepathy she might have, she wouldn’t have need that to know I spoke the truth. Factual, logical truth. I watched as she processed it all. Then, she glanced up, I presume towards tier 24.

“Well we can’t stay here,” she finally said. “The robot had a cart, so I suspect there’s an elevator somewhere.”

We began to walk cautiously, side by side, neither having the full trust of the other.

One of the things I had learned from Lydia was that Serpientes y Escaleras wasn’t the only TV show that had mysterious portals and “reincorporated” contestants. If that was true, then shouldn’t the portals from those other shows lead here as well? And if so, why was the place so empty and quiet?

“I want to know where we are,” Rose said, not bothering to ask me my opinion. Then she frowned. “We know one thing we didn’t know before. Door Number One and Door Number Two lead to the very same place.”

What I had learned from Lydia was that the doors led to Los Angeles. She, however, claimed not to know if the two doors went to the same place in that city. So, yes, Rose was correct. I had learned something I had not known before.

It took only a few minutes for us to find, nestled in a recess, the elevator.

“There’s another one,” Rose said, pointing directly across the wide central shaft of the space.

Two elevators. Good to know. I pressed the button—the only button to be seen. As I waited, Rose walked over to the railing and looked down into the depths of the green-lit space.

“I don’t see anything special about the ground level,” she said. “Other than that pool of water. Of course at this angle it’s hard to see much of any of the other floors.”

I wish Rose would remain closer. I needed to keep an eye on her, least she make a run for it, but I also had to focus my attention on the elevator door when it opened.

And then it did.

No warning chime. No sound at all. The door silently slid aside. I was glad to see it empty, as I was not well prepared if there had been anyone inside.

It was roomy enough, maybe for a couple of people—meaning robots—along with two of their handcarts. More of that soft green light came from a panel in the ceiling. The walls were brushed metal. I stepped in, placing my hand along the door recess so the elevator wouldn’t close. Rose walked away from the railing and joined me inside.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

I still held my hand in place, keeping the door open.

“This is all wrong.” I meant the panel with the column of buttons, numbered 1 through 47. “See? The numbers go the wrong way.” I had never seen an elevator control panel where the larger numbers were below the smaller numbers. Unless they were indicating multiple basements.

I gently took Roses wrist (so as not to startle her) and we both got off the elevator. I let the door slide shut.

“We’re in an underground facility,” I said. 

“Just because of how the buttons were numbered?” She seemed doubtful. “Maybe they’re just arranged different.”

“Not just that.” I pointed at the raised metal decal attached to the wall beside the elevator call button. There it was. The number 24. “We’re on the 24th floor. Or, as the robots would say, the 24th tier. When they mentioned the new arrivals, they said they were on tier 22. They indicated it was above us.”

Rose returned to the railing and looked down, toward what she had only seconds ago considered the way out.

“So, what’s that down there?” I took it to be a rhetorical question. Still, I joined her and peered down into the waters far below where I had tossed that robot. Was it some underground river? Hundreds of feet below Los Angeles? That didn’t seem right, but that hardly mattered. We weren’t headed down there.

“Honestly,” I muttered, “I’d rather not know.”

Then we both looked up.

“One of those robot’s mentioned a control room,” I said. “He told the other one to go up to the control room. I assume something that important would be at the very top. And, if we’re underground, that’s also where we need to be if we want to get out.”

Rose turned to face the elevator.

“No,” I told her. “Not unless we can’t find some stairs. Elevators are not know for their stealth. And whereas you might be comfortable walking up to strangers, be they mechanical or biological, I don’t feel that way at all.”

I was losing Rose. Stealth was not important to her.

“I need you, Rose,” I said. “Don’t give up on me. I’ve made it this far. And you heard those robots. Your ability, or whatever, seems to be keeping me from turning into…whatever Helen and Darlene became.”

“Surely, they were wrong,” she said, sounding tired. “I don’t have any sort of superpowers. I’m no one special.”

“That just not true. Please, I need your help get me some place safe, so I can figure this all out. Will you at least do that?”

Rose sighed. But she also nodded.

We continued walking.

I had not gotten all that I wanted from Lydia—towards the end it became very frustrating with her slipping in and out of consciousness—but there were two important facts I had learned. First, I was now somewhere in the city of Los Angeles. That meant if I could get free of this dreadful underground facility, I should have ample opportunities to lose myself in a large, thriving city. Second, Lydia had made it quite clear that she knew of no way to reverse the effects of the terrifying transformation that would visit me once I was away from Rose. I stilled hoped that someone, more savvy than Lydia, would hold the solution to that problem. I also hoped that Rose remained too overwhelmed by all of the uncertainties around us to come to the realization that I would never let her out of my sight until I found that solution.

But I needed to focus on there here and now. Fortunately, we soon discovered the door to a stairwell.

If you think of each circular level in this place like a watch face with the two elevators at six o’clock and noon, the stairs were at three o’clock. Probably there was another at nine.

I held the door to the stairwell and Rose obediently entered. I followed. We began the long trek, climbing up toward what I hoped to be freedom.