Well, as you can imagine, being the way I am, I nagged my parents ALL day! Begging them to call the number so we could possibly go to the island. They of course had seen the announcement as well, and like any protective parents, forbid me from going to Dr. Helix's island. You would be very surprised how convincing one can be when asked the same thing a couple hundred times. Eventually, my dad cracked and agreed to take me there the following day, but only for the tour. I'll find a way around it though. I WILL get that procedure.
It's 11:26, opening day now. Al had driven us over to the glide bridge entrance, a medium sized building off of 17 Mile Drive, just like Dr. Helix described. At first glance, you'd have thought you had just walked onto a tropical island, the kind where you find all sorts of big research compounds at the center while everything else is just taken over by nature. Large rings of one foot tall concrete topped with guard rails are filled to the brim with full grown trees, foliage, vines, and a dozen plants I can't recognize These rings densely pokedot the massive parking lot in front of the building, of which is surrounded by neatly trimmed bushes and patches of a strange blue flower I've never seen before. The place is packed.
It had taken almost thirty minutes to find a parking spot, which wasn't really all that surprising. What did leave us taken back a bit was the quantity of police and news vehicles in the area. There had to have been at least ten squad cars here, and an even larger number of different news company vans crowding the front entrance.
We all abandoned the car and headed up to the entrance, two automatic glass sliding doors that ran smoothly along a steel track. A short symphonic melody played as we entered, along with a woman's voice.
"Welcome to the Glide bridge! We hope you enjoy your stay." Chimed the recorded voice.
The inside of the building was painted white, and soft rustling sounds from our feet against the beige carpet barely penetrated the sound of running water from two large, artificial water falls that cascaded into polished stone ponds. These sat between a set of pine wood benches that sat on either side of the entrance doors. We were greeted by a reception desk surrounded on it's left a right by two hallways that end with more sliding doors. The room was completely abandoned aside from a young woman who sat in a black leather, rolling chair behind the desk. She didn't look up when we came in, and once we had walked up to her, saw that her face was buried in a book, her orange eyes frantically skimming over the individual lines. I was about to ask where the opening ceremony was being held when she spoke, her eyes never leaving the book.
"Through either hallway. It's just ahead of the sliding doors.", she said in a very soft and sincere tone.
We all smiled and thanked her before continuing on.
The room beyond the hallways was enormous! More giant vegetation displays hid all the walls, and four two foot thick pillars formed a diamond shape in the room, completed by the center piece a massive fountain that sprayed into the heavens, not a drop more than refreshing mist missing the concrete rim. Surrounding the pillars and fountain stood about five hundred people, talking quietly amongst themselves but sounded much louder due to how many there were. I noticed a gentle breeze flowing throughout the room. It smelled of thick vegetation and...strangely reminded me of the sea.
That's when I noticed the the ENTIRE back wall of the room was missing! A short set of stairs led up to a stage, stretching across the entire length of the room. Beyond the edge of the room is a large, iron platform topped with two huge rails, almost like an over sized roller coaster track, only that the track is embedded in pitch black cylinders that run along the bottom of the track from here and disintegrates from view off in the blue distance. Besides that, the world drops down a steep cliff directly into the ocean. The track steadily slopes downward until it meets the ocean and bobs there without any support aside from metal poles that hold the track together. I guess the black cylinders can float. Another young woman stands at a single podium, and is being bombarded by the various news crews, but completely ignores them.
Al checked his watch. It read 11:59, but where was the vessel? Lilly helped us push through the thick crowd until we could get up the stairs, where the woman stood at her podium, frequently checking her watch and the distance beyond. The huge red ribbon stretched from either side of the room behind her. As we walked up the steps, she noticed us immediately and held up a hand at us.
"I'm sorry folks, but no one's allowed up here yet.", she said, as if she wished we were allowed but didn't want to break her own rules.
"Oh, well, we just wanted to see if the vessel was almost here.", said my dad, almost innocently.
"Oh, but it IS almost here! The vessel is currently traveling at about nine hundred miles per hour right now and will be here at any moment!", chimed the woman.
We all stared in disbelief.
"Nine hundred miles per hour?! Sheesh, how the heck will it slow down fast enough?" I exclaimed.
The woman laughed. "Well it can because it uses magnetic fields to push and pull on it. It's extremely powerful and will take only one hundred feet to come to a halt." she beamed.
We all found it difficult to believe but accepted her word without hesitation. We were about to infer that it seemed it wasn't going to arrive on time when a small shape formed in the horizon of the ocean. It was moving VERY fast. The woman at the podium saw it too and tapped her mic instantly for the crowd's attention.
"Ladies and gentleman! Boys and girls! I, Melinda, am privileged to present to you, the Glide Bridge!", said Melinda with a squeal.
The crowd applauded, looking intently at the object that was moving along the track at a terrifying speed. As it got closer, it only seemed to speed up, faster, faster, and faster! It wasn't stopping! People began to get unnerved, then they were all backing up from the stage. A girl screamed and that set them all off. They all pushed each other yelling and screaming in desperation to get to the exits. My mom and dad began to run too, but I stayed fixated in place. The sheer energy of the track seemed to consume me. As the Vessel got closer, the electric hum of the rails got louder! The next thing I knew, it was on top of me, shrouding the sun and almost the entire wall that isn't there. It's motionless.
It took me a few seconds to realize I wasn't breathing. I sucked in air, rejuvenating my starved lungs. Everyone was still screaming like a bunch of lunatics while I took in every inch of the beautifully crafted vessel. It's shaped like an oval except for the end of it that faces into the building. It's flat and covered with a chrome, steel door with no handle or number pad of any sort for opening. Not even hinges are visible I assume the woman has a remote of some sort.
People have begun to calm down, although a good portion of them have left in fear of being crushed. What's left of the crowd simply gazes in awe by not only how fast it stopped, but the sheer size and impressiveness of it's structure. You could have sworn it was straight out of a science fiction novel.
The woman on stage picked up an enormous pair of scissors and cut the ribbon. I quick took out my Samsung Galaxy phone and pressed the lock button. It glowed to life in my hand, and the time was displayed in the top right corner. It was 12:00. Right on time.
"And now, I shall announce the names of the first twenty eight lucky people to ever go to Dr. Helix's island! The drawing is completely random and everyone received one chance at going based on if they called to make arrangements. I will read the full names aloud from the printed list here on the podium. The names are the following; Brandon Lee Dustin, Matthew Ferris Oboyski, John James Luey...", and so on and so forth, Melinda read the names too us.
I was starting to get worried as the names unfolded before us, follow by their owners cheering out occasionally Ten names down. Twenty names down. Twenty five names down! That's when she said it.
"And last but certainly not least!", I hate that phrase,"Alfred Markenson Reed and his wife and son!", chimed Melinda.
We did it! We got picked for the first group to ever go to Dr. Helix's island!
"Now listen up lucky winners! I must go over some rules we have for the ride to the island. First, weapons are not aloud. The security system on the vessel is greatly advanced and can detect anything potentially threatening. Those who carry a weapon of any sort will be shot and dumped in the pacific ocean!", she exclaimed, her radiant smile never leaving.
Weapons? Well, I suppose they would expect such a thing. People have been trying to get at Dr. Helix for years. This would be their best chance. The people that had been called were all present and hadn't fled earlier. They stepped up onto the stage with the woman, including me and my mom and dad who had walked up behind me some time earlier. There were only two camera crews left now, and they showed no hesitation to pounce on the winners. Most of them shied away, others held their hands up to cover their faces, cussing at the camera men and women. Only a few actually answered any questions. We were not those people. Like most, we just ignored them, hoping they'd leave us alone. As we all stood up on the stage together, the doors of the vessel caved in and disappeared from our sight. Inside were two rows of twelve velvet seats that lined a straight corridor that ran along the inside towards a steel slide door. Two more seats sat on either side of the entrance door and the one at the end of the vessel. Twenty eight seats total.
The woman spoke to us now. "Well then, if you would all be so kind as to let yourselves in, choose a seat and strap in. Get comfortable and the journey will begin shortly.", said Melinda.
No one argued about buckling up. With how fast the thing is moving, everyone wanted to be a secure as possible.
Melinda says farewell to the rest of the crowd, still ignoring the news crew, and quickly follows us into the vessel. The doors repositioned again and shut with a loud hiss of hydraulics Once everyone was strapped firmly in place by two overlapping black leather straps coated in a soft cloth cover, she again asked us to enjoy the ride and told us to get comfortable and even take a nap since the ride would last a few hours. Then she disappeared through the slide door. The Vessel lurched forward with astonishing force, but I was surprised by much I didn't feel it. Metal sheets that sat above our heads against the walls lifted up into the ceiling, revealing the ocean and what was left of the mainland, which quickly disappeared from view as well. We were on our way to Dr. Helix's island.