Dell's Journey

Chapter 36: Day Two, Which Would Be Fateful

Night's reign was short. It felt like only a couple

of hours had passed when the electrical burst rang out

again and the white lights resumed their vigilance. The

birds awoke, and the overpowering might of the indoor sun

ruled again.

"I think we got like 3 hours of sleep," complained

Dell. "It feels like I just laid my head down."

"I know what you mean," mumbled a groggy monster.

On their second day in the "Dome of the Crop," (as

they had agreed to name the place) they decided on an

organized search of the place.

"If you go to the right, I'll go to the left,"

declared Dell.

"I'll go left: the crops look particularly lush and

healthy over there, and I'll be glad for the falling mists

underneath this oppressive sun. I'm cold-blooded you know.

I can't self-regulate by internal temperature like you

lucky mammals."

"Fair enough," concluded Dell, "good luck!" And they

set out in separate directions into the mysterious

underground city.

Monster discovered there was a small opening in the

area between the exposed gadgetry and the hanging produce.

It was hundreds of feet above the surface of the floor, so

it was no surprise they'd not noticed it before. It was

quite narrow and it was impossible to see what was inside

it, but it gave Monster the idea that there might be much

more to explore than the huge open-space of the dome.

Dell discovered a mechanism that opened a door at the

ground level, which lead into dim, humming hallways aglow

with the light of numerous colored switches that adorned

the walls. He was afraid to enter alone.

Upon meeting up and sharing their discoveries, they

worked out a mutual hypothesis that went like this:

1. This is a very large dome, but there is even more

stuff beyond it.

2. The high-tech hallway Dell discovered connects at some

point to the high-up opening that Monster saw that

looked like some kind of observation deck.

They were very eager to test this together. And that is

just what a hypothesis needs: a barrage of tests.