Conclusion

The media blitz was overwhelming. It had begun with the unveiling of the particular Wonders and continued throughout the year of the contest. Regular updates were given of the attendance figures. Fans of each Wonder kept tabs and cheered on their favorite. Several regional newspapers got into the act and pushed for more and more people to keep the turnstiles spinning for their Wonder.

During the construction phase, James announced that he wouldn’t be competing. This only increased the interest as it made all of the players look vulnerable. He was appointed judge in case of any dispute. He took it good naturedly. This had all been his idea and now he’d be watching from the sidelines.

Travel clubs sprung up around the country organizing trips to each Wonder. People who visited all of them started calling themselves Seveners. (When James officially pulled the plug on his project the name changed to Sixers.) After their trips, they would get together and compare notes on which ones were their favorites. Long arguments were held through the blogosphere and opinion columns. Several cable channels had specials that gave TV tours so that everyone could experience them in one way or another.

The attendance numbers were easy to track and throughout the year it became obvious which Wonders were the frontrunners. Xian’s Garden couldn’t keep up and was soon dismissed as a serious contender. Roger’s Clockwork spectacle suffered the same fate. The Winter Tomb was counting on a wet winter to keep drawing people but the weather didn’t cooperate and it soon feel behind.

As they entered the final month it was still a three way race with no clear winner. Sam’s Tower was filled to capacity. Rex’s Labyrinth had long lines every day and it was pushed to it’s limit. The Temple of Beauty was solidly packed even though Lydia wasn’t there to see any of it.

At last the year was up and there was nothing left but to count noses and see who was the winner. Each number was modified by population by the formula that they’d agreed upon. To everyone’s surprise, the Temple of Beauty came out ahead.

Rex privately groused that they hadn’t modified her numbers enough to eliminate her advantage but he had agreed to abide by the rules. A round sum of $30 million was given to Lydia. This caused a bit of a problem.

Ever since the death at the Temple she had refused to give any interviews. In fact, she was hardly showing her face in public. The idea that she had caused that poor women’s death was too much for her. The accusation was too big to be faced. She couldn’t even chance that it would be brought up. Lydia had become a hermit.

The money was deposited in her account but the planned ceremony didn’t take place. A few days later a press release advised that the lion’s share of the prize would be given to various charities, mostly ones focusing on women’s health and well-being. Long articles were written about the parable that Lydia’s life had become.

The other side of the contest was much harder to judge. The idea was to decide which one would be remembered the longest. It’s a tough task to try and read the minds of future men. Especially when the Wonders had only been around for a short time themselves.

Each member had selected three judges to form a panel of twenty-one people. Most of them were professors of history or experts from the art world. The judges had traveled to each of the sites, most of them several times. They then filled out ballots ranking them 1-7.

James failed plan finished at the bottom. They asked him what he planned to build. He swore them to secrecy and told them. Many of them were impressed but of course they couldn’t give him credit for his intentions.

Lydia’s Temple was dismissed by most of them. It relied too heavily on staying current and would quickly become outdated. Fashion is merely the official fad and beauty is fleeting.

The Labyrinth showed a special problem. As a physical structure, it would probably outlast anything else that had been built. Being nothing more than a series of walls, it would need the smallest amount of care and maintenance. On the flipside, it brought very little to the table culturally. Many of the judges approved of it but couldn’t bring themselves to rate it very highly.

Roger’s Clockwork structure was nearly the opposite. It’s message was well taken and certainly culturally significant. It was hard to believe that such an intricate piece would last on the scale that many of the other’s would. It was also well liked but not a clear winner.

The other three were very close in the voting. In third place was Casey’s Winter Tomb. It was beautiful and would be an obvious attraction for years, maybe centuries. There was a group amongst the judges that thought it might be a little too derivative of the Taj Mahal. The lack of serious winter weather probably hurt it’s case, too.

Some thought that Sam’s tower was a little too close to the Eiffel Tower. It’s defenders pointed out the walking paths and many other attractions. Still, second place was the best that it would do.

That left Xian’s Garden as the winner. It had a simplicity that many found timeless. It was also widely held as the most spiritual of the Wonders. By a narrow margin, it was declared the winner.

The other competitors all lived up to their agreement and took out full sized ads in the largest newspapers. They praised Xian and her Wonder and urged the whole world to visit it and enjoy it’s calming effects. It had been a very difficult time for her and she looked forward to seeing the ads and feeling vindicated for her time and choices.

As she flipped from newspaper to newspaper, ad to ad, she realized just how wrong she’d been. She would trade all of the praise for another chance with her mother. There was only emptiness.

That night she took the whole pile of newspapers out to her Garden. She waited until it closed for the night and took the long walk out to the giant chimes. After a long period of just listening to them in the wind, she put the collection of ads down on the path. A quick flick from her lighter and she’d created a small pyre. As the ashes drifted quietly upward, she felt a sense of calm, and possibly forgiveness.

About six months later, Mr Emerson made another appointment to see him. As soon as Rex saw it, he had his secretary cancel it. The next day Mr Emerson showed up at his office and forced his way in.

“What do you think you’re doing, not seeing me?”

Rex looked at him coolly from behind his desk. Without saying anything he stood up and gestured at the chair on the other side of his desk. A slow motion with his hand below the desk and he spoke into the intercom, “See if you can reschedule my next appointment. I might be busy for a while.” Then to Mr Emerson who had sat down in the chair but was obviously unhappy. “I didn’t want to see you because that was our agreement. No more contact.”

“Well, you can hang all that!” He stood up and tried to menace Rex from across the desk. “You took it, didn’t you?”

“I have taken nothing. If you mean that little keepsake that you, eh, deposited a while back-“.

“Of course I mean that!”

“Calmly. And quietly. Otherwise I’ll call security and have you thrown out.”

“You just try it!”

Rex sat and looked at him, weighing the other man. “I’d rather just talk to you.”

Mr Emerson sat back down. “Then start talking. Where is it?”

“The…deposit?”

“Yes! Of course.”

“As far as I know, it’s still there. I haven’t taken it. Why? Is it gone?”

“Yes.”

“Look, I warned you. I said that I wasn’t running a bank. That was the risk you took. Someone else must have dug it up and left with it.”

“Well, maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“Well. We can’t find the site.”

It was all clear to Rex now. “Oh. I guess that does happen sometimes. It is a Labyrinth. Easy to get lost in.”

“Look, we took careful notes. We made all of the right turns. We just can’t…get back there.”

“Not my problem.”

“If we think that you took it, then it becomes your problem.”

Rex took a moment to think about this. His first thought was that it would be best if he could keep the situation calm. His visitor seemed like he couldn’t help from being emotional about this. If he kept blowing up, the whole thing could become very bad.

“Look, I was very specific with our agreement. You wanted a place to hide something and I have such a place. I told you that I wasn’t going to be responsible for whatever was hidden. That’s what you agreed to, right?”

“We didn’t think you’d try and steal it!”

“And I haven’t. Look around at this office. Look at this whole building. Notice the wealth? I don’t really need to steal money, now do I?”
Mr Emerson gave a nasty smile. ”I wonder if your accountant would say the same thing.” That hit scored. “Oh, yes. We’ve become aware of your financial situation. We think you might very well have needed to steal that money. And we want it back.”

“You want it back?”

“Yes. And we’re not all that particular if it comes from that package or from your own personal accounts.”

A light dawned for Rex. “Wait a minute. Is this your whole game?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s simple. You find a business man with a thin wallet. You get him to hold onto something for you, making sure that he doesn’t know what it is. Then you come back and tell him that it’s missing. He feels threatened and ponies up. The great thing for you is that he never got to see what was actually missing.”

“That would be a good game. Maybe next time we’ll try that instead of actually hiding the money.”

Rex took a long look at him, trying to get the full measure of the man. “I think you’re lying to me.”

There was a long pause. Mr Emerson glanced upward as if to study the ceiling. “It’s a shame that you’ve responded this way. It would be a real shame if something happened to your wife.”

Rex laughed. “That shows that you’ve never met her.”

Mr Emerson looked surprised and then laughed along with him. Then he took a closer look and noticed that a gun had found it’s way into Rex’s hand. This gun was pointed at his chest.

“Mr Emerson, I think it’s time you left. I’ll tell you one more time that I didn’t take the deposit. To the best of my knowledge, it’s still in there. I suggest that you keep looking for it. If you show up here again…it will be bad for you. I’m going to instruct my security that you’ve threatened me and they should treat you as dangerous. Those boys are anxious and a little bored. If I were you, I wouldn’t give them any excitement. Do you understand?”

During this speech, the visitor had been doing nothing but staring at the gun. Now his head rose and they locked eyes. “Yes. I understand. I will leave now.” As he moved towards the door, it opened and a pair of large men entered. He turned and looked back at Rex. “Good luck.”

“Please, escort him out of here.”

They left and Rex sat back down at his desk. He waited a moment to make certain that Emerson was truly gone. Then he turned to his computer and pulled up a secured intranet site. On the screen was the one and only current map of his Labyrinth. His gaze wandered over to an oddity.

In truth, Rex knew that the ‘package’ hadn’t been disturbed. It was still resting peacefully. No one could get to it. One of the first weekly changes had completely sealed off that part of the maze.

He leaned back in his chair and tried to decide how long he should let it sit there until he finally went out and inspected it. After a moment he pulled up his desk calendar. One full year ought to do it. With that done, Rex turned back to his regular work.

The Labyrinth was a huge hit. The idea had been popular from the start. It became even more popular once people got a chance to see it on their TVs. The promotions helped too.
Rex surprised people by forbidding any maps to be made. The public expected that they would be able to buy some to help them through. The idea that visitors would really and truly be going in there blind only increased the excitement.
There were measures taken to help anyone who was trapped and couldn’t get out. Emergency buttons would be placed at regular intervals. Anyone could use these if they were lost. The route to the nearest exit would be lit up. All that they needed to do was follow the path and they’d get out.
Lines were long to get in. Every morning there would be a crowd waiting for entry. Evenings became difficult, as it was harder and harder to get people back out before it got dark. The buttons helped but they soon found a problem that they hadn’t even thought about.
Some people actually wanted to stay in overnight. They’d bring camping gear in with their backpacks and picnic baskets. Small tents were pitched in out of the way corners. The sheer size of the place made it hard to police. If they wanted to overnight, Rex couldn’t easily stop them.
Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. It was announced that overnight camping would be allowed Tuesday through Friday. The other nights, everyone must be out by an hour past sunset.
Every Sunday night, they’d fly a helicopter overhead with an infrared sensor. If they found people still in there, they would send in security to oust them. They’d be charged with trespassing and fined. Word soon got around that would be campers should play by the rules. It was easier (and cheaper) than trying to cheat.
Rex let two weeks go by before he made any changes to the walls. The adjustments were small, only effecting one major pathway. A handful of repeat visitors were confused but no one said anything. After that they made regular changes early on Monday mornings.
There had been a few people that had made their own maps. When they came back, they might find that the path they’d taken was no longer available. Eventually, word got back to a local news station and they decided to try and find out what was going on.
Rex quickly agreed to their interview. He gave them facts and statistics about his Great Labyrinth. Told them that he couldn’t be happier with it’s opening. When they asked about changing walls, he quickly shut them down. He wouldn’t answer any questions about the design of the Labyrinth. Anything that might be real information, was given a curt “No comment”.
News quickly spread online. Rex had hoped this would happen. He had a few agents ready to go on chat sites and both stir up the mystery and give wrong information. Rex developed a habit of reading these sites late at night. He sometimes stayed in his office and simply laughed at the posters.
The trick was to stay mysterious. As soon as the public felt that it was a tame Wonder, interest would die off. Subtle, yet continuous changes would stop that. At least that’s what Rex told himself. His marketing people didn’t know what to think but he was the one signing the checks. It was also hard to argue against success. The number of visitors was higher than they’d dreamed of.
The thing has been terribly expensive to build. He’d make the money back eventually but it wouldn’t be quick. Not unless he won the contest. That would take care of everything. That was the goal that Rex kept in mind.

One week later they met again. Rex had been torn. Should he consult with his legal department? They would certainly tell him not to do this. And the smart thing to do would be to wash his hands of all of this. The only problem is that he really did need the money.

He’d spent a few restless nights thinking about it. Was there some way to protect himself in case this all came to light? Probably not from the publicity. Legal or not, if large packages of money were being buried in his Wonder, it would create a stink. On the other hand, if the money was enough, he wouldn’t be all that bothered by it. The marketing angle practically wrote itself. Not too ethical but there it was.

Mr Emerson was escorted into his office. They shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. Rex got to the point.

“I want to help you but I need some help from you first.”

“And what would that be.”

“I’d like you to sign something.” He got out a piece of paper and put it on the table. It was handwritten, not typed.

Mr Emerson picked it up and read it. It said, “To the best of my knowledge there is no legal penalty for the storage of these packages,” and there was a place for a signature.

“I just need you to sign that and then we can come to an agreement.”

A small smile. “Of course.” He took a pen from the desk and signed with a flourish.

They started to discuss logistics. Would they do the burying themselves? Yes they would, but they’d take Rex’s advice on where they should go. How would retrieval be handled? It would be after hours. Should Rex be notified? No, he wanted no knowledge of the items after they were placed. He pointedly and repeatedly said that he wouldn’t be responsible for whatever was put there. They were in agreement.

Then Mr Emerson handed Rex an envelope. They shook hands again and then he left. The envelope was nice and heavy. He hefted it. It would help quite a bit.

The Labyrinth was finished before schedule. Rex took a helicopter ride above it so he could inspect it from the air. The walls were in place. It would take some time for the vegetation to grow in, especially the ivy.

The preplanned picnic spots stood out from the air. The one in the middle had a number of large oaks. It would make a wonderful shelter. Provided one could find the way out, of course.

They had run a series of checks on the machinery and everything worked. The selected walls would move without a hitch. There would be subtle changes in the maze every week or so. Rex could hardly wait until rumors started floating about that.

The work had been completed a few weeks before they were ready to open. His marketing team had come up with some wonderful promotions for this time. The most publicized was a race between members of Texas’ top sports teams. The ratings would be through the roof.

It also left him time for a much quieter task. He would be giving a private tour to a few wealthy guests. Specifically, a Mr Emerson was going to come through with a few men. They just might be bringing something with them and then leaving without it.

Rex met them at the gate. They requested a map, but he couldn’t give them one. None had been made. In fact, none would be made. The Labyrinth would contain it’s secrets and Rex was completely inflexible on this point. Instead, he had paper and pens provided to them.

They set out on foot and Rex made certain that the pace was slow. He wanted Mr Emerson to have all the time he needed to ensure an accurate map. It only seemed fair and he wanted to make sure that no one thought they were being taken advantage of.

Rex had a specific place in mind. He led them there, stopping at every turn or branch so it could be written down. This place was about a mile from the entrance, though much less as the crow flies. It was the last part of a short dead in. He’d picked this spot because he thought people would easily see that they couldn’t go any further and then they’d backtrack.

Mr Emerson looked it over carefully and finally decided that it would do perfectly. He selected a corner spot. They cut through the newly laid sod and dug down a few feet. Then they put the case in and refilled the hole. The sod fit neatly back down. Everything looked just as it should. There was nothing to draw your eye to anything unusual.

Once they were satisfied, they walked back out. At the gate, Mr Emerson thanked Rex again. Rex returned the thanks. They both agreed that it would be bad for them to be seen together any more. If the package needed removal, it would be done quietly. Rex wished them luck and they were on their way.

About five days later an appointment suddenly appeared on Rex’s calendar. It was for a meeting with a Mr John Smith. This wasn’t a name he was familiar with. He checked with his secretary and she said that he was a business man. His support staff was very good about weeding out the crackpots and he’d come to trust them.

When the time came around, Rex was curious. He’d been spending all of his time at the Labyrinth and it might be nice to think about something else for a change. Who knows? Maybe this would provide some kind of answer to his money squeeze.

Mr Smith was announced and escorted in. Rex glanced at the clock. At least he was punctual, whoever he was. They shook hands and Rex guided him over to a chair.

The visitor got right to the point.

“I need your help with something.”

“Oh? And what would that be?”

“You are building a giant maze.”

“Yes.”

“It will be something for people to run around in, correct?”

“Something like that.”

“And it will be very large.”

“Very. Something like nine square miles inside of it.”

The man smiled. “That sounds perfect.”

“I’m glad you approve.” There was a pause and each man sized each other up. “Perfect for what?”

“You see, there are times when my friends and I have need of a special service. We think your maze-“

“Labyrinth. It’s a Labyrinth.”

“Of course. We think your Labyrinth might work well for us. We could pay quite well.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” Rex was very aware that the man was avoiding his question. “What would that service be, Mr…Smith was it?”

“Yes. It is…Smith. The service. It wouldn’t be anything large or difficult. It would be ongoing but wouldn’t require any real work from you.”

Rex decided that he was done fencing. “Ok. You want to be evasive. Shall we get to the real questions?”

The visitor smiled, “If you’d like.”

“First of all, how about we start with your real name? I don’t like dealing with someone who isn’t honest with me.”

“Of course. I’m sorry about that. Sometimes it pays to be a little secretive. Especially when you’re scouting someone out. My real name is Frank Emerson.”

“Glad to meet you, Frank. Ok, second question. Just how illegal is the ‘service that you’re asking me to do?”

“A very good question. May I ask you one first?”

“I suppose.”

“Are there any recording devices here in your office?”

“None that I know of. I don’t make it a practice to spy on my guests.”

“A very commendable policy. I wish more people would follow that. Especially our government.”

“I’m not taping you but if you’re that worried about what you’re going to say than I probably don’t want to hear it.”

Mr Emerson put his hand up, as if to ask for a moment of time. “I was trying to avoid telling you anything so that you could honestly claim ignorance if it came to that. The thing we ask for is against the law but isn’t anything morally wrong. If I could convince you that the ‘service’ is nothing bad, will you hear me out?”

Rex thought for a moment. Illegal but not immoral. That was pretty tricky ground. It existed, Rex was certain of that. His years in research and development had shown him plenty of it. He wondered if he’d agree to that description.

“Go on.”

Another smile. “Thank you. What we want is a place to hide things. Your maze seems like the perfect place for it.”

“You want to hide something that’s illegal but not immoral.”

“Yes.”

“Is it drug related?”

“No, nothing of that kind.”

Rex breathed a sigh of relief. “Ok. So what is it?”

“Money.”

“Really? Why not just put it in a bank?”

“More specifically, it’s money that we don’t want the government to know about.”

“So you can avoid taxes or something?”
”Yes. It would be better if they never knew it existed.”

“Why not some kind of off shore account or something like that?”

“We…have our reasons. And they needn’t concern you.”

“Fair enough. Where does the money come from?”

“Do you really need to know that?”
”If I’m going to judge it’s morality, then yes.”

Mr Emerson chewed that over for a moment and then answered. “It comes from black market activities. The government has seen fit to tell us what we can sell and what we can’t. We don’t agree and neither do the citizens who want to buy from us.”

“Black market stuff. Anything I should know about?”

“Tell you what, ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies.”

“So it’s…illegal because you don’t want to report it to the government but it didn’t involve anything immoral.”

“Yes.”

“And you won’t tell me anything else about it?”

“That’s right. I want to, but my hands are tied here. I’m only allowed to say so much.”

“Even if that means I’ll refuse?”

“We’re hoping that doesn’t happen. But yes, even if that means you tell us ‘no’.”

“I’ll have to think about that before I agree. One other thing, I can’t guarantee the safety of anything that’s hidden in the Labyrinth. It’s not a bank.”

“We know that. That’s one of it’s charms. No one would expect to find anything in there. They won’t even look.”

“I suppose that’s true. But seriously, wouldn’t you be better off finding some place out in the mountains and hiding it there?”

“Too remote. We’d like some place more accessible. That way we can withdraw it more easily if we need to.”

“One more question. How much?”

Mr Emerson gave a figure. Rex was surprised and it took an act of will to keep his eyebrows from raising. He thought for a moment. “I want to help you but I’ll need to think about it. Can we set up an appointment for…next week sometime?”

“That would be just fine.” Mr Emerson stood up and they shook hands. Then he quickly exited and left Rex alone with his thoughts.

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.

As his car approached he could see the long tall outer wall. He smiled to himself. It looked like something the Chinese would put up to keep out the invaders. They started driving past it and his smile kept getting bigger.

The thing stretched for nearly three miles and it was fifteen feet tall. At first, he had been bothered by something when he looked at it. It didn’t look quite…right. All at once he’d realized that it didn’t have any towers on the corners. The whole thing looked like an unfinished castle! He’d toyed with the idea of adding something, but decided against it. Maybe that would come later.

The amount of brick and stone that they were using was already enormous. The Labyrinth was a full three miles across and the same amount long. The space between each row was a good fifteen feet. That meant that the maze had over 1000 walls on both the horizontal and vertical sides.

They’d done some back of the envelope math when they started to develop this monster. If you lined up all of the walls you’d get something over 6000 miles long. Something that would reach from New York to L.A. and back without any trouble. Rex wanted to awe people and this would certainly do that.

It wasn’t just a huge brick pile though. They’d found about fifty good spots within where they could leave an open place. These were for picnics and other gatherings. The center was left open and an aid station was built there. The average distance from one of the openings to the middle was about four miles. A moderate hike. If you knew the way.

That was the trick to the entire thing, not knowing the way. Rex had worked hard on that one issue. Keeping the mystery in place was his top priority. He impressed this on his workers and the construction staff.

The way he saw it, there was two things that could eventually ruin the secret. The first was high tech. Anyone who could access an internet map would get a straight birds-eye view of the place. Throw in a printer and they’d have a map of the whole thing.

This had to be countered. A few well placed words to the right people (and a nice gift or two) and he was able to control when they would update his little stretch of heaven. That was only a temporary solution though.

To add camouflage, they also put planters on the tops of many walls and planted ivy. When this grew out it would be harder to tell what was a wall and what was grass. It wasn’t something that would fool an expert at orbital reconnaissance but it would make it harder for the average tourist.

The second method to crack a maze was much lower tech and much harder to defeat. Anyone with sufficient time on their hands could simply go in there with a pencil and some graph paper. If they were careful they could develop a map. As long as the walls stayed in the same spots, this would work just fine.

Rex’s solution? Let some of the walls move around.

Not all of them. That wouldn’t be economical. Just a couple hundred key sections. That ought to do nicely.

This required some heavy duty engineering. Rex worked his people hard but they found some nice solutions for him. In fact, they did such a nice job that they gave him a new problem. He really wanted to brag up this part of the Wonder but he couldn’t!

The better way, far better, was to manipulate the maze every so often and never admit that you’d done it. Someone would notice eventually, but so what? As long as he didn’t confirm it, they wouldn’t be believed. And if he didn’t sound trustworthy? That would only add to they mystique.

He could picture it easily. Smart guys out there making maps and comparing notes. Would there be internet sites devoted to laying out the whole plan? He thought there would be. Another idea came to him. If nothing happened spontaneously, they could create their own sites and feed them misinformation!

Rex loved this idea. He’d been a prankster all of his life. The biomedical field didn’t do much to feed this part of him. He suddenly felt like life had handed him a whole gag shop worth of tricks. It should be illegal to have this much fun.