Luiz was eleven. He knew more than these others, he thought. Suzy and Randy were older
kids, ages 13 and 15. Luiz doubted they knew anything about the tube. "It goes to the other side," he said. "I've
known a bunch of people who went. They never come back. That much is true."
"We know about the tube," said Randy.
"Which
way does it go?"
Suzy recognized this argument. These two had argued it before. Luiz thought the tube went down, past the twirling
pillars creating the gravity. The tube went down and came out on the other side.
"It's glass," said Luiz. "Like our side."
Suzy
believed the tube went up, through five stories of glass, to be ejected into space. The speed of the ejected tube would be
extremely fast. Into the bright, infinite world beyond, believed Suzy.
Randy disliked having Luiz around. Randy knew
about the tube. It went to a better place. No one came back because they did not want to come back.
"That supports my idea," said Suzy. "If the
tube is ejected into space, it goes to a planet too far away to return here."
Out into space
Light, distance, loneliness
Distance
"I'm thinking about an old song," said Jake.
"Out into space. That means the tube is a spaceship that ejects upward from here."
"There are no planets nearby. Only Earth. To
eject here would be senseless."
"Then, the tube goes to the other side, past the pillars. There is another part of the spaceship nobody knows about.
That is the other side."
"And we never see them again," said Suzy.
"On that side," said Jake," everything is better. I know it. Nicer apartments.
Shorter work weeks."
