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It was a heavy beat that vibrated even through the concrete floor, quickened like a chase. Enveloping bass like a cushion around her. As she creeped closer to the main track, she could hear the sounds rise over the prop scenery. She found a small space around a faux graveyard where she could watch the main portion of the ride without being seen and crouch down into it.
There was a small group of people gathered around equipment, she couldn't tell what kind. Music was coming from some of it, so she knew part of them were speakers. The group was no mare than maybe 5 people, and they all seemed to be having a little party. There was a small cooler nearby where people were taking drinks from.
One of them was a woman with darker red hair and a warm, sun kissed dark tone of skin. Flatish kind of nose with a round friendly face that made it hard to determine how old she was. She was perched on a speaker, sipping from a can and watching the other people, occasionally looking around the place. She had a small tablet in her lap she'd occasionally tap at, the sounds of music changing accordingly. An effortless motion for music that sounded like magic, one handed sometimes, two if she set her drink precariously on a knee, her fingers moving deftly and smoothly it didn't even budge the can.
More than the people, Roxanne was trying to wrap her mind around the music. In her sleepy little English village, music was usually in the Trad style, but particularly the American south, what used to be called blues. Sometimes Jazzer. Unoffensive Rock. All of it illegal, of course, but in her tiny town, no one bothered to really have the Corps be called in for basement parties that happened to have some musicians at them performing. Even the police level Rockers came by occasionally to perform. The kind of recreational musical use that was't really all that important. Things were different at home.
This must be Trancer music, she thought. It wasn't like anything she'd heard so close before. The way the music felt like it resonated in her chest, or the sounds that were unlike any live instrument she'd ever heard. It felt real but not real at the same time, like a waking dream. At a speed she never really considered was possible, with sounds that sounded familiar yet so different it became alien.
She didn't know how long she had sat there, leaning against the fake tombstones before the woman tapped her tablet a few times and the music begins to die down.
"Probably tomorrow, right before, we can try to see if they sync." She said as she tossed her empty can into the cooler. The other 4 people were quickly breaking down the equipment, unplugging long cords that were retracted with a simple pedal on the sides of speakers and boxes. They slithered like snakes from around objects like the rails or props.
"They should. The panels all are set to the rail programming, but I can hack something out."
"Sounds good. Make sure you get everything."
They were cleaned faster than Roxanne had ever seen, and that was including the time she hung out with maid staff at hotels. The take down procedure took less than 15 minutes, and they had cleaned up after their drink by placing them back in the cooler. She waited, watching them leave through the main track path towards the front. When she was sure they were out of earshot, she snuck along an employee side path, following them as they came to the front loading area, and watched them pass their equipment past a gap in the wall that lead outside, then climbing through. They didn't speak much, and were quieter than she thought anyone could move while carrying backpack or duffel bag sized pieces of equipment.
Roxanne waited a long time after, sitting on a box shaped like a hotdog stand, then wandered to the track again. Though it was dark and dim, she didn't stumble, or trip. She had, after all, helped design the ride; she'd know its exact floor plan. Eventually she came to a set of animatronics dressed as park employees, that were meant to pantomime dancing. There were 3 of them and she called them Eckhardt, Martin and Eddie. She sat across from them and leaned against a faux skeletal horse and carriage. "Eckhardt," she said. "What was all that?"
She didn't get an answer, but she didn't expect one.
~~
Roxanne slept in the next day, but it only got a jumping-on-the-bed rousing from her sister Rose.
"You missed pancaaaaaakes" she sang over and over again until the teen reached out and tickled her sister into submission.
"Its just hotel continental breakfast pancakes," she said with false crossness at being woken up. "Dad makes better ones."
"They had blueberry syrup."
"….Aw, no wayyyy."
They both got dressed and spent the day making another round of testing with the ride. She kept the nightly visit to herself. She knew if her father didn't say anything, her brother would. Roland had taken the role of a mother on the days their father was busy, and scolding or nagging was his specialty.
She was distracted through the day, but with the excitement of the coming opening, no one seemed to notice. There were too many hours left in the day that night couldn't come fast enough. Her father assumed it meant she was excited about the opening.
"Worried?" he asked as they waited for Roland and Rose to come through another test ride.
"A little," she admitted. She watched the facade of the ride, its lights reflecting behind the tall tarp blocking it. "I hope the ride's gonna be ok."
He patted her blonde hair. It was once a sunny blonde like her sister's but was darkening into a more golden strawberry blonde. "Your mother would always worry the night before. 'Would they like it?' How long would it last?' Are they going to change the theme and interior?'. Things like that."
Unsaid, Roxanne added, are weird people going to use it for parties.
"But once it was done, we'd get so excited about the next one we'd almost forget about the one we finished. I guess we're all like your mother. She has to be working on at least 2 things at once, sometimes 5, before she's happy."
She smiled. "Did mum ever have crazy parties in the rides?"
Her father laughed, as Roland and Rose came off the ride, chattering. It wasn't until after dinner that Roxanne realized her father never answered the question. And it wasn't all that shocking. She could imagine her parents having dinner, surrounded by animatronics. He'd even joked at Roland on more than one occasion that he may have been conceived on one. It always made him flush and complain.
But this was a little different, as she helped Rose into bed. This time, these parties were by complete strangers. She was glued to the window that night until she was sure Rose was sleeping, then tiptoed downstairs. It wasn't later than maybe 1 am when Roland found her in the internet cafe in the lobby.
"Aren't you tired?" he asked her as he noticed her watching videos of dogs doing cute or stupid things.
"Not really," she lied. She stifled a yawn when he glanced around.
"Well, don't stay up too late. Dad wants to check the opening tomorrow morning."
"I know."
Roland went back to his room, where their father had retired, and she leaned back in her chair and looked at the clock.
Nearly 2 am.
~~
Roxanne was back in the ride by 2:30, and found it, disappointingly empty. Maybe she dreamed the whole thing last night. She found the zombie trio and started to talk to Eckhardt again.
"Maybe they're not coming back."
She wandered around, using her mini flashlight. She came to a witch animatronic named Betty. She fussed with her witches dress a little, and since the witch was built to be 10 feet tall, she wrapped the ends of the taffeta dress around herself and pretended to cast spells around the room. "Betty, maybe they were witches."
Roxanne played in her little kingdom until she heard the sounds of people. She froze, then quickly ducked under Betty's dress. After a bit, a few people came back down the car rails. One of them was the woman she saw the previous night.
"Hoov, where are we doing it?"
She was with the same people as the previous night, and they were carrying the same kind of equipment with them. Quickly they unpacked, speakers coming part from solid blocks, cords that unwound from spools. A few of them start moving around the ride area, setting up in the center of a portion of the track where the cars would rotate in a circle facing out, before moving into a tunnel that led to the final leg of the ride. It was the largest space in the entire track that was wide and open.
The woman was checking a laptop and syncing it with her tablet device as her companions were setting up. More than being scared or worried, Roxanne felt more curious. Where they going to have another music party? Were there more people coming? Certainly they weren't here to steal because who would bring more stuff if they were stealing?
The woman turned to the witch. "Hello, little witch. Do you plan on staying there the whole night?"
Roxanne let out a small yelp of surprise and crouched down lower. How did she see her?
"Its ok. We're not here to ruin anything."
She found her voice as she peeked from the curtain of black and purple taffeta. "How did you know I was here?"
"I saw you last night." The woman smiled from where she was, crouching down to her level but not coming towards her. A sort of show of faith. "During the test run."
She poked her head out from the draping fabric. "What kind of test run?"
The woman nodded her head once at the laptop and, cautiously, Roxanne left the witch's skirt and came over to look. Sitting on a larger speaker, the older woman set her pad on her lap and touched the buttons. They glowed in a soft orange as sound came from the speaker. Quick, short sounds. Something like music but not. Pieces and fragments. Her blue eyes were wide as they watched.
"How do you do that?" she asked.
"It makes music. Its got different samples lined up in each key." She demonstrated, encouraging Roxanne to try. It was a little more of a cacophonic effort than the older woman's.
One of the people, a young man, came around the bend of the track. "Hoover, want me to try syncing the stuff?"
The girl looked at the woman and wrinkled her nose. Hoover, the woman, chuckled. "Well, do a sound check first. I'm playing right now."
He nodded and went back with the others to check the speakers.
"What are you going to do?" she asked her.
There was a pause, as she tried to find the right words to explain. "Well…since you snuck in, I think that must mean you maybe work here or know someone who does."
Roxanne puffed up a little in pride. "I helped build it. With my family."
There was a twinkle of interest in the woman's eye. "Oh so? Then…I can show you something nice…but I need help to do it." She pointed at the zombie trio. "How do those move? When the car comes close?"
Roxanne nodded. "But…if I tell you…you won't break them, will you?" She didn't think she sounded worried, but she must have when the woman gave her a reassuring smile.
"Nope. I just want to make them dance."
That got her even more curious. "How?"
"If there's a control panel, maybe I can show you."
"There isn't one. They're auto programmed, but you can test the movement separately." She led Hoover to a rectangular post that was disgusted as a portion of a set piece and turned a little knob in the back. There was a single port and a button, which she pushed. Martin, one of the zombies, raised his hands. "If you plug it into something you can make it move separately." By this time, the pair was joined by several of the companions. Hoover looked at them.
"Ok, boys, you heard the lady. Get this thing synced. Use the octopus."
She was about to ask what that was but one of the crew pulled out a computer cord that was split into 8 smaller ends that cords could be plugged into. They found the 8 closest animatronics to hook into the laptop. Another part of the crew started to mess with the laptop for a little while Roxanne showed the others around the area.
"How many people can fit right here?" asked one of them.
Hoover looked at the floor, using her flashlight and counted in her head. "Probably 15 including us."
"Super small. That's ok, didn't think we were gonna run a huge easy tonight,"
"Like a dance-easy?' asked Roxanne.
"Like a dance-easy," replied Hoover. "That's ok, right?"
"As long as nothing gets broken." She was more eager to know what a dance-easy was really like than anything else.
It took them another maybe 15 minute to finish set up and sound check before 3 of the crew left through the entrance. Hoover and Roxanne were perched on a larger box that held electronics, and was painted to look like theater building. As a small group of people started to file in, Hoover began to play. It started as a single, long strings instrument, to fill the space. When the small middle area was full of people milling about, that when the music started properly. Fast beats, flurries of instruments, and explosions of sound that echoed in the ride's wide space.
Sounds synced to the zombies allowed them to move individually, independent of each other as they were normally programmed to do. The giant witch bent low over the dancers in time with the music. Small tombstones opened to shoot up air pressure fired zombie heads in the same time. Lights blinked in a pattern that Roxanne never even thought to have them blink, from swaying twinkles, to glittering chase patterns.
It was magical. It was the only way she could describe it. That music and people, and even inanimate objects could move together as if they were meant to.
Like a spark in the back of her head, Roxanne felt like she'd just caught a glimpse of something truly special. Something otherworldly. Something so human and beyond human that it was intoxicating.
Then another sound cut through the music, and the lights in the corner of the ride lit dimly. Klaxons wailing amid the blinking of lights. Immediately at the sound, Hoover quickly brought the music down to a hum.
"Security," Roxanne said above the din of the noise. She looked panicked.
"Wrap!" Hoover shouted over the chaos, but her crew were already set to work, retracting the cords hooked up to the control poles, the speakers. The dancers splintered from a dancing mass to a panicked mob, funneling back down the tracks towards the front, but Roxanne knew that to be a bad idea. It was the most likely place anyone would come, next to the main employee entrance. She quickly leaped off the box she was on, and grabbed Hoover by the arm.
"This way!"
The take down had taken minutes this time, and her crew beelined to her as Roxanne led them through some set pieces towards the side of the ride. There was a metal staircase that she sprinted up and the 5 members followed her. As they thundered up, she led them across a narrow metal walkway that went behind a false sky facade that backed the miniature ferris wheel. She hushed them quickly as security came bursting into the ride floor, hitting the house lights and illuminating the area.
The park security had a small force and was probably waiting on police officers but they had to contend with the rush of the people as they left. It was likely they wouldn't catch everyone, but that didn't mean they didn't try.
Hoover held her breath as they peered from behind the false sky portion. Roxanne pointed to the rest of the walkway silently, where a staircase went back down to the ground floor. It was possible for them to go without being seen, but to be heard was another story, loaded down as they were.
She mouthed to them. Let's wait.
Hoover nodded.
The two security members swept the area with flashlights, but when their radio crackled to life that the trespassers were scattering outside, they quickly left the ride. Roxanne peeped out after a minute. When she was sure they were gone, she led them down the other staircase and to an employee entrance, the one she used to get in. They quickly file out and the girl led them to another part of the park where it came up to the side of the city park. They cut a small hole in the chain link fence and start to go through. Hoover decides to hang back last.
"Hey."
The girl looked up at her, flushed from the running and excitement.
"Thanks."
She shook her head. "Thanks for showing me that. It was cool."
Hoover smirked. "Just 'cool'?"
Roxanne smiled. "It was awesome."
Hoover gave her a ruffle of her hair gently. "You be a good girl and go back home."
"I promise."
~~
Somehow Roxanne made it back to her hotel, even amid the chaos of the mass trespassing, and got back in to the lobby computer room when Roland and Reginald come down. Roxanne, starting to feel the effects of being up so late, yawned and looked at the security milling about.
"Did I go to the bathroom at the wrong time?"
She didn't sleep the rest of the early morning and had to contend with Rose's rambunctious waking routine. She got dressed, ate breakfast sleepily, took mild scolding for being up late on the internet net again by Roland, and followed her family to the park again. They were notified of the break in, but they found nothing to be out of place. She was smiling to herself the whole time, remembering night, her very first dance-easy.
As they made one last check, Roxanne turned to her dad.
"Hey Dad?"
"Yes?"
"Do you think…we could sync the ride to sounds….?"
--Dio (10/16/15)
All photos by me.
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