The Golden Basement

There is something strange about the tall, masked men pushing souvenir carts at the 1990 Seattle Goodwill Games. Up on the surface it is a nice summer day, but beneath the city it is hot, dark, and scary in the underground tunnels. Former ride engineer Jesse July wouldn’t be down there at all if he wasn’t looking for the ultimate ride: the spaceship to finally get him off the planet.

Jesse’s son Evan doesn’t share his father’s outer space obsession, and to Jesse’s great frustration his son is the only one who knows how to work most of the broken alien machinery down in the caves. Instead of getting into outer space, Evan just wants to get to the Space Needle. If Evan is successful, it is a great summer to enjoy. The Cold War is winding down and the Human Genome Project is just starting. Plus! Seattle is hosting the Goodwill Games — the knockoff Olympics that the provincial city hopes will put it on the map. Unfortunately, both above and below ground, there are plenty of humans and non-humans who don’t share the Goodwill Games’ goal of world peace.