The first job was to get the outer wall up. It was a big job but not one that was technically demanding. It would be twelve miles worth of wall, fifteen feet high the whole way around. They could throw labor at this problem and they did.

As soon as the wall was established, they started working on the engineering of the interior. Secrecy was important here, and Rex insisted on strong measures to protect it. Scaffolding with tarp was set up to shield the work from the wall builders. This only enhanced the reputation of the site.

Fortunately, the secret stuff was done quickly. Then they could use that labor that had gone into the outside wall to build the inside ones. The ideal method was to start at the middle and work back towards the outer walls. Rex divided the maze into sectors and put each one under the control of a different foreman. Rewards were given to the teams that achieved certain milestones first. He could hardly believe how quickly it came together.

These walls were only ten feet tall. The tops all doubled as planters and a separate crew filled them with earth and seeded them for ivy. This would be allowed to grow wild. Not only would this mask them from aerial views, it would add to the overall atmosphere of the maze.

Rex had wanted to call his Wonder, ‘The Great Labyrinth’ but he ran into opposition from certain scholars. They advised him that he wasn’t building a ‘labyrinth’ but a ‘maze’. The former only had one path and no decisions to make. As soon as you included choices and dead ends, it became a maze.

Rex thought this was a stupid distinction but he was very aware of the scholarly aspect of the contest. Could he afford to antagonize a group of people that would be judging his work? That was something that he seriously had to consider. He’d let the whole thing go except for one thing, he really loved the name.

He talked to his public relations people and asked for their opinion. They suggested that he take his case to the people. An excellent idea! He called up reporters from all of the states large newspapers and talked them through the problem he was having. He also set up a web poll where the public could vote on the name.

The response was overwhelming. The people didn’t care for any distinction that was set forth by academics. They wanted to keep the word ‘labyrinth’. This heartened Rex on many levels. He issued a press release emphasizing his respect for the academic world but announced that he would be going ahead and doing it his own way.

Later he would look back fondly about this time. If only all of his problems could be solved so easily. His biggest obstacle was money. He’d decided to make an amazingly large Wonder. He was doing it in an incredibly short period of time. The way to make up the gap was to throw money at it. Rex became irritable with his accountants.

“Boss, you have to remember that you’re building something big here.”

“Of course I know that.”

“This is something that can be seen from space!”

Rex turned to his computer and pulled up a mapping site. He quickly got an aerial view of a residential neighborhood in Houston. He turned the monitor so everyone could see it.

“These are everyday houses. None of them represented special engineering challenges or anything like that.” He was quiet for a moment and no one said anything. Finally he continued, “Where did these pictures come from?”

“Um, satellites or something like that.”

“They came from space. There were seen from space.” More quiet and Rex hoped that the lesson was sinking in for them. “Don’t use that expression around me again.”

“Ok, so that was a poor choice of words, I’ll admit that. Still, you know what I’m saying. We’re creating literally miles of wall out here. It’ll look amazing once it’s done but…it won’t come cheap.”

Rex looked down at his desk but no answers appeared there. “You’re right of course.” He looked back up at them. “So, what do we do? You know my money situation. I’ll finish this but then I’ll be cleaned out. We won’t be able to spend on publicity or promotions or anything like that.”

There was more quiet in the room as everyone faced the facts. They had done everything they could think of to keep costs low. The one thing in their favor had been the overall low technology of the majority of the site. You didn’t need skilled labor to lay bricks.

Rex spoke again, “Ok. What we need is some way of bringing more money in. I’ll see what can be done.” With that he dismissed the accountants and called for his marketing team.