Plums in Partyland
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An invitation to a party appears on various university billboards inviting people to the Kappa Alpha greek house located in the mostly finished Castle Commonwealth mall on the edge of town. The notice instructs people to follow the access road at 67 Lost Nation drive and enter through the back door and promises that signs will be posted to guide people to the party itself.

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Linda leads her best friend into the building.

"Come on, just enjoy yourself, it'll be fun! It's been scientifically proven that taking breaks from studying once in a while good for you and helps you learn You've hardly taken a break all week!"

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"Yes well, you know how it is. Midterms are coming and all. But I guess maybe you're right and I should just relax for a few hours."

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The entrance is done up to look like a drawbridge passing over a stream that feeds into a pond visible a ways off. Just inside the door there's a sign offering directions to the party, the directions lead to one sign and then another travelling through indoor and outdoor areas passing apartments and food courts and tennis courts. Finally their path leads them back into a shopping area and then through a maintenance corridor, into a brightly lit lobby with a single elevator door. Off to the side is are tables with drinks and slips of paper on them. Whether from their long walk or something else they all feel a bit thirsty.

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...Okay then.

Linda investigates the slips of paper (and grabs drinks for both girls).

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Each slip of paper has a descriptive phrase, some of them might be recognizable as song names, along with a corresponding twenty character alpha-numeric code on it. They are color coded.

Red) Heartbreak World

White) Be Prepared

Blue) It’s Gonna Be Ok

Green) Children of the Sun

Black) Year 3000

Yellow) The Real World

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Linda brings the drinks and one of each paper over to where Anna is standing by the door. They sip drinks while examining the papers.

"Is this meant to be some kind of game? Are we supposed to pick our favourite song? I don't really know any of these songs, do you?"

 

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"Nah, I don't really have a preference. Let's just grab one at random."

She grabs the black paper and puts the rest back on the table and heads towards the elevator. "I wonder if there's a sticky note on the floor number or something to show which floor we're supposed to be at."

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The elevator seems to lack floor buttons instead there is a keyboard and a small display mounted on the back wall of the elevator. The size of the display seems to match the code on the piece of paper.

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Anna peers at the elevator  "...This is weird. Maybe we should just get out of here."

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"It's not axe-murdery weird. It's cool weird. Don't you want to find out what's up? Come on."

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"I don't know why I let you talk me into these things...."

She steps into the elevator and lets Linda enter the code on the paper.

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The elevator ride lasts a long minute and the sensations don't quite feel like what you would expect, but eventually the elevator doors open out onto a lounge where there's a woman sitting and eating some food. She might look vaguely familiar to Anna from some of her premed classes. There's a large backpack next to her. "Hi there, this is so exciting isn't it?"

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"Um hello. I recognize you from some of my classes, but I've forgotten your name? Do you have any idea what this is about?  Because it's pretty weird."

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"No kidding. I don't think we've have any classes together, I'm Linda. Nice to meet you."

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"I'm Riley Winter, that was, well not a teleporter, but probably something related. I haven't explored very far yet but I'm pretty sure this place isn't built to code."

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"Um, that's quite a thing to say? What do you mean?"

 

Pause, "I'm Anna Ingham if you forgot."

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"I had, thanks Anna. Well, the invitation to the party teleported into place on the billboard, thumbtack and all. That's why I'm here, I can show you around if you don't believe me about it not being up to code, but that elevator is kinda evidence enough of that."

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"....Yeah, I think maybe you better show us around here. Cause that's some serious sci-fi stuff. Or fantasy, but it feels more sci-fi so far."

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"I think I agree. If you would?"

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"Sure." Riley puts down her fork, picks up her backpack and starts walking. "The first thing to notice is that there are no fire sprinklers, or fire alarms on the walls. There are also no exit signs." She leads them to the back of the lounge where it opens into a kitchen. "There isn't much of note here, though there isn't a clearly visible fridge or freezer." There's a door at the back of the kitchen. "Any other questions before we keep going?"

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They look around.

"Nooooooo."

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Riley opens the door and leads them out into a large hexagonal room. There's a large skylight above them and a spiraling ramp going downwards in the middle of the room. The opposite wall has another doorway while the four other walls have hallways coming off of them. "The hallways have pretty normal bedrooms, the bathroom over there is a little weird though. Do you want to see either or should we just go downstairs?"

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"Now I'm curious, let's see the bathroom."

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"Sure." Riley leads them over to the bathroom. On the left side of the room there are a half dozen Jacuzzi sized bath tubs, in the center of the room there's a translucent circular divider that goes from about knee height to a little over shoulder height. Six shower heads hang down from the ceiling above the area it surrounds there's an entrance at the back. To the right are a collection of stalls and sinks. The back wall has a bank of washers and dryers. "It isn't totally lacking in privacy but it isn't typical either." Riley explains.

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"No, It is really not. It's like..somebody had the general idea of how bathrooms are meant to be set up, but didn't get it quite right."

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