The elevator stopped at a floor that didn’t exist yesterday. The doors opened, and no one inside remembered pushing the button. Even worse, the doors wouldn’t close.
Heather looked at her fellow travelers. A middle aged man, and an older woman with a fluffy dog. Heather looked at the button.
“Did anyone press that button?” She pointed to it.
“No, I didn’t.” Fluffy Dog Woman said. “I don’t even recognize the symbol.”
“I think it’s the sign for lambda.” Heather looked at the man.
“Don’t know nothin’ about it.” He shook his head.
“Well, I’m Heather. I’ll be your tour guide through this mysterious floor.”
“Agnes Wells.” The woman said.
“Harvey Platt.” Said the man. He gave Heather a look. “You know something about this?”
“Not a thing.” Said Heather. “But the elevator isn’t moving. It’s pretty clearly not going to take us anywhere.”
“Peaches!” Shouted Agnes. Her dog had pulled itself free out of its harness and ran into the hallway. They all chased after the dog.
Peaches found this game rather exciting. Until she met… it.
Heather rounded the corner and smacked straight into a giant plate of gelatin. She bounced off and fell backwards. No, it wasn’t a giant plate of gelatin. It looked like gelatin, but the eyes were a dead giveaway.
Peaches barked. The gelatin groaned, and then it coughed.
“Excuse me, I had a frog in my throat. I’m Cecil. How may I help you today?”
Heather looked over at her two companions, but they weren’t saying anything.
“We came to this floor by mistake.” Heather began.
“Oh, dear.” Cecil grew an appendage from either side of him and reached behind him. He pulled out a clipboard and a pen. “I’m afraid you’ll be here for a while.”
“What do you mean ‘a while’?” Harvey demanded.
“The elevator only brings new people here when we need new staff. It’s a setting that we can’t control. Otherwise none of us would stay here.”
“Staff?” Agnes asked. “What do you do here?”
“You don’t need to worry about any of that right now.” Said Cecil. “Right now, all you need to know is that, to maintain staff numbers, everyone is required to be vegan. In other words, you don’t get to eat me.”