The Ladder of Destiny, Non- Magic Compass Version

In Jojo's world, ladders were everywhere. You used them to get from place to place, like roads. Head east two holes, ladder down, head south one hole, ladder down, west five holes, ladder up. That's how he got home from school. But that's not where he was headed this time.

Billy had found him at break. "Hey Jojo, gotta talk to you."
"Okay, what's up?"
"I found a something. Lets meet in the Library."
"Okay. Lunch?"
"Yeah."

The library was one of the best places to talk at school, because all the books tended to damp the sound, and you actually talk without the sound echoing around the walls. Jojo liked the library. He would come in here and scan the old books. Some of them were even Old, or at least copies of Old books. He would look for ones that were well worn--that meant they were popular-- but that he'd never heard of in school--that meant they were interesting. He would stand among the stacks and read. Sometimes he checked them out and took them home, but he preferred to read them right there in the library. It smelled different from the rest of the city. But there was another reason he liked being in the library, and that was that, if you were careful, you could practice your alarm voice.

It was considered rude to use your alarm voice in public, but all the children had to practice it in school, once a month. They close all the doors leading out of the school, and cover them with blankets. Open your mouth wide, take a deep breath, cover your ears, and yell with your alarm voice. Jojo once took his hands off his ears, because he wanted to see how loud it really was. It was almost painful, but it was still strangely beautiful, the noise coming out of their throats, out of his own throat. That week he had looked for the oldest books he could, and tried to research the alarm voice, but he was disappointed. The Old books didn't mention the alarm voice at all. They only mentioned something called a "whisper." Some of the lowercase-old books also mentioned "whispering" where they should say "talking." But it was all a little bit beyond Jojo.

When lunch came, Jojo wolfed his down and headed for the library. From the playhall, take the west tunnel, three holes, and then up the ladder. Billy wasn't there, so Jojo found a corner and started working with his throat, trying to tease out the very faintest of tones while keeping his mouth shut. This was his own secret, learning to use his alarm voice without going through the process, without opening his mouth wide, taking a deep breath, and covering his ears. The first time he had discovered it, he had told his mother, but she yelled at him, so he just practiced it by himself. He was getting better at it now. Some people were good at wiggling their ears. Some people could grab things with their toes. Jojo could use his alarm voice quietly. He was even learning to change the pitch, and make little musics with it.

Billy came in, and Jojo swallowed and quit practicing. Billy would laugh at him. But Billy had a very excited look on his face, and they silently made their way to a back corner. Without a word, Billy took out a folded scrap of paper and handed it to Jojo. Paper was expensive, but Billy's Dad could afford it. Billy hadn't wasted this piece. He had written in very small writing all over it. He pointed out where to start reading, and Jojo obeyed:

I was sneaking around my Dad's room last night and I found a small book that was filled with his writing. I found one entry that was just directions. I looked up the directions in the map and they don't make sense. They seem like they start at our house, but then they go off the map, and keep going, for blocks and blocks, where there's not supposed to be anything. Come with me after school so we can check it out. Don't tell anyone.

Billy was always acting like this, like everything was a secret that could get them killed. Jojo didn't mind most of the time, 'cause it was fun. Billy motioned for Jojo to flip the paper over. On the other side was a set of directions and a few more sentences:

1d 3S 2d 1e 1d 14s 12d 28e | 1u 4e 1d 3w 12sse 4d 6se 1d 126ese 1d 3n 4w 285u 2s 4w 2u 3e 1u 1e 2n 314u

This is it. The line is where the map ends. There must be some kind of secret door there!

"Awesome."
"What do you think?"
"Are you serious?"
"Of course!"
"What if it's just a bunch of nonsense directions?"
"You know my dad, what do you think?"
"Yeah, not his style." Billy's dad was old and cranky. His skin was dark, and he was a cripple; he was missing his left hand, and wore a hook instead of a hand, so he could climb ladders. He was always reading Old books, and would sometimes disappear for days at a time.
"Alright. Right after school."
"We should bring some food."
"I've got two packs full of food and water stashed outside my house. We'll need to go there anyway to follow the directions."
"Alright."

So there it was. Jojo spent the rest of the school hours pretending to pay attention, and when school ended, he found his sister and told her he was going over to Billy's house. He met Billy and they headed out. East two holes, ladder down, south 3 holes, east 2 holes, south four holes. Billy's house was just above, up this ladder, but Billy reached behind the ladder and pulled out two satchels, handing one to Jojo. He had the scrap of paper in his hand, and he started leading the way. Three south. Down a ladder two levels. East one hole. Down another ladder. They were on the factory level. Most of the people down here were older, and the lights were a little dimmer, and spaced farther apart. Fourteen south. Jojo felt a little out of place, and they got a few curious glances, but no-one stopped them. There was an old cast iron ladder here. It looked rusty, and didn't carry the smooth, well-worn hand-polish of the ladders in most of the places Jojo was used to. They took it down twelve levels. Jojo took another look at his compass as Billy headed east. Might as well. Seventy four of his paces to a hole, Jojo knew, and he counted them off and counted off the holes. Six, seven, eight; They hadn't seen anyone at all on this level, though they could hear far-off talking, and the low thrum of machinery, and the rhythmic tapping of the delvers. Some of the lights were missing, and Billy took out his flashlight. Jojo had one in his pack too, but he didn't want it just yet.

Twenty eight. Then Billy stopped in front of him, and Jojo stopped too. It was a dark spot, and Billy turned on the flashlight and pointed it at the roof of the passage. There was a metal trapdoor there, instead of an ordinary ladder. It was out of their reach, though Jojo might be able to jump and touch it. Looking around they noticed a locker. Billy opened it and pulled out a small step-ladder. Just enough. There was a large wheel on the trapdoor, and Billy couldn't turn it by himself. Jojo carefully climbed up and helped him. It made a scraping sound as it worked itself loose, and when it finally came open Jojo lost his balance and would have fallen off the step ladder, but he just hung onto the trapdoor wheel as it swung open.

Billy stood got a facefull of dust and dirt when the trapdoor opened, and he spat and shook it out, and then turned on his light again to peer into the passage above. Jojo dropped to the ground and stepped around to look up into the passage. There it was, the ladder, hidden just above the trapdoor.

"Wow, that was easy." Jojo said. Billy grinned.
"No point in stopping now." He hopped up to grab the bottom rung, and quickly pulled himself up. Jojo followed.

"Should we close it?"
"No, no-one will notice it, and besides, it might get stuck."

Up one level. East four holes. Down one level. The air here smelled different. More like rocks. Less like people. Three holes west.

"Crazy," Jojo said.
"Oh."
"What?"
"That's what 'sse' means. South plus South plus East."
"Why would anyone dig like this?"
"Let's find out."

There were no lights down this tunnel. They turned on their flashlights and walked down the diagonal tunnel. 74 paces. No hole. 100 paces. Nothing. 200 paces. Unsettling and exciting at the same time, this blank, featureless tunnel. 870 paces, and another intersection. A ladder down four levels. But instead of a landing every 25 rungs, nothing, there was just a featureless ladder, 100 rusty rungs. Then another 430 paces down another diagonal tunnel. Then another short ladder, 30 rungs down.

"This is freaky," Billy said, looking
"Yeah."

It was the largest number either of them had ever seen on a set of directions, 126, and the tunnel that stretched before them was featureless, and was heading in the wrong direction. All of the tunnels in their world ran either north-south or east-west. On top of that, there were no holes. No breaks. No gaps, as far as they could see. No sound, not even distant talking, no light, beyond their flashlights. Nothing familiar or friendly.

"Here goes."

They walked along the tunnel for minutes. They were quiet at first, but then they started talking, to ease the silence. They talked about their teachers and their friends at school, but not much about this place or what they thought was ahead. Jojo showed off his control of his alarm voice to Billy. Billy was amused, the way he might be if Jojo had farted. So they didn't notice Billy's dad until he spoke.

He used his alarm voice, softly, with control. It had a full, practiced, deep sound that brought them up sharp as it echoed around the walls and seemed to fill the air.

"Oy, Billy. Oy Jojo."
"...Dad..."
He kept speaking in his alarm voice, but low, so that it almost sounded like normal talking. "Heh, I should have known better. Did you follow me, or find my journal."
"..."
"Heh. I see you brought lights, and food and water. Is this your first time here?"
"Yes."
"Yes sir."
"Good."
"I'm sorry!" Billy started to cry silently.
"Eh," the cranky old man seemed strangely cheerful. "I've been trying to get your mamma to let me bring you here for years. She won't have none of it. She don't believe in destiny."
"What?"
"Up ahead, son, is the Ladder of Destiny. I'm tired, I been climbing for hours, so I can't take you up now. Anyway, best if you see it for yourself." He tapped his watch and it lit up for a brief second. "Jojo, you like to read Old books, don't you?"
"Yes sir."
"You'll love it. Explain a lot of things, it will."
"Go ahead now. It should take you about four hours to climb to the top. Pace yourselves. You're both in good shape, and you'll need it. When you get up to the top, it should be night."
"Night? Like in the Old books?"
"Exactly. So don't be afraid, and don't go very far, whatever you do Don't get out of sight of the ladder. Poke your heads out, stretch your legs, look at the stars, and come back down It's a nice day, springtime, should be a nice warm night. If you're back in 8 hours, I'll make up an excuse for you. Say I took you down to a bar in the factory levels. Ha! If you take more than 10 hours, I'll climb up there and tar your asses, and tell your mothers. Got it?"
"Yes sir."
"Wow. Thanks."
"I'll be here when you get back. We can talk then. I imagine you boys'll be good for the cause. But I won't get ahead of myself yet. Go on and take a look. Up the Ladder. Git!"

That's the real story of how Billy and Jojo, great leaders of their people, really found the Ladder of Destiny. No magic compass involved. Admittedly, the magic compass story is more fun.