Atherton #3: The Dark Planet (No. 3) (13 page)

choices while you
babysit.
Stop questioning me!"

"You've compromised too much," said Hope. She had a burning

anger of her own. Even as Commander Judix turned her chair

and rolled away toward oncoming footsteps, Hope would be

heard. "Did you enjoy your breakfast this morning, Jane? They

risked their lives to make it for you--did you forget about that?"

"They receive from me a safe place to sleep, free from Cleaners

and Spikers and the menacing smog of the outside!"

Commander Judix had turned. She'd decided she didn't want to

talk to anyone approaching her nor visit the laboratory. She

wanted to be left alone.

Commander Judix had rolled back into her room. She was

about to close the door in Hope's face.

"Jane, please--don't do this. Give them at least until they can

stand it outside."

Commander Judix grabbed the edge of the door. "Go back to

the Silo where you belong."

She flung the door shut, thinking all the while of her lost mother

and father and sister, all of them lost in the forsaken wood

because of that madman Dr. Harding and all his monstrous

mistakes. And that name! No one around here ever called her

Jane, only her family had called her that. It burned her insides to

see their faces and hear them calling her name.
Jane! Jane!

It was God's sick humor she was alive at all.

After Edgar ate all the food and drank all the water Maude had

given him he had a hard time keeping his eyes open. He was

tired and the Raven was so warm inside. He made the longest

part of the journey to the Dark Planet in his sleep, unaware of

the impossible speed at which he was traveling.

Just before dawn he arrived in the at mo sphere of the Dark

Planet and it stirred him in his sleep, if only for a brief moment.

The outside layer of the Raven spun violently, but the inside

remained still and steady. It wasn't until the Raven landed on

the Dark Planet, ripping through a grove of trees on its spinning

final descent, that Edgar was finally jolted awake.

"Who's there?" said Edgar as he awoke in the chair. Whatever

force had held him down was gone now and he was free to

move. Soon he was on his feet, stumbling around in the near

dark.

"You look tired," he said to the Raven, noticing the empty

blackness of the glass walls. There were firebugs scattered

here and there, but no cave eels. It looked to Edgar like the

Raven would need some time to restore energy before she

could travel again.

Is it really possible I've left Atherton?
thought Edgar, rubbing his

eyes as they grew accustomed to the paltry blue light. As the

full force of what he'd done dawned on him, he felt very lonely

and afraid.

"What have I done?" he said, and looking at the lifeless walls of

the Raven, added, "and what if I can't get back home?"

Edgar looked at the flat, black disk lying on the now lifeless

table. The disk would fit in his pocket, but he was afraid to pick

it up. He knew what would happen if he did.

Are you ready for the Dark Planet?
he asked himself, trying to

put on a brave face.
It can't be as bad as the Flatlands once

were, right? At least this place won't be crawling with Cleaners.

Edgar had landed the Raven in the same place it had always

landed, hidden in the depths of the forsaken wood.

"Here we go, then," said Edgar, placing the black disk in his

pocket. He heard the door slide open and saw the foggy air

emerge. It was murky outside, but stepping through the door he

quickly realized it wasn't completely dark, only dim like night on

Atherton. The air smelled like nothing he'd ever smelled before.

It was a sharp scent he could actually taste on his lips. He had

a hard time breathing it in and began coughing.

The fit of noise set off a series of other noises Edgar hadn't

expected. Some of the sounds were horrifyingly familiar.

"Cleaners," whispered Edgar, totally surprised to hear the

ghastly roar of a monster he knew all too well. "And by the

sound of it, big ones."

He stood in shock, unable to move his feet as he listened. The

earth shook and a sound like breaking bones and slamming

jaws came rapidly closer. If this really was an approaching

Cleaner, it would have huge teeth attached to a set of jaws wide

enough to cut Edgar in half. It would have a hundred rattling

bony legs and a long, hideous body with an underbelly that

sucked up every thing in its path.

The smog was thick through the barren tree trunks as Edgar

peered out. It wasn't until he caught the first glimpse of the

creature that he finally turned and dove back inside the Raven.

With a quick flick of his wrist Edgar pulled the disk from his

pocket, tossing it toward the table like a skipping rock. When

the disk touched the table it stuck, as though it had been pulled

down by an unseen force. The door
whoosh
ed shut with little

more than a few seconds to spare. If he had taken a moment

longer he would have shared the space with the chomping

head of something very big and hungry.

"What was
that
?" said Edgar, breathless with terror. He wished

he could see what kind of monster he faced. He felt the Raven

rock back and forth and heard the sound of an animal crying out

in pain.

"Whatever's out there just touched you, didn't it?" asked Edgar,

thinking of the million razor-sharp spikes that covered the

Raven's shell. "You haven't been here for a long time. Maybe

they forgot what they were dealing with."

Edgar felt a mix of emotions as he heard the beaten creature

move off. On the one hand, he was safe inside. He could

already see more firebugs emerging in the black walls, floor,

and ceiling. Soon enough, he could turn the Raven around and

go back home.

But another part of him was dying to go outside and explore,

regardless of the dangers. He'd faced down cliffs and Cleaners

and floods before. The Dark Planet was a challenge he wanted

to overcome.

"I wonder...," said Edgar. He tapped the table and firebugs

returned. A map of the world outside of the vessel emerged. On

one side was a body of water that appeared to go on forever, its

beach surrounded by a forest and jagged rocks. On the beach a

building was indicated by a square, and from the building a line

led outward to a tube-shaped structure at its end.

"And there I am," said Edgar, pointing to a small, oblong image

in the trees. He looked carefully at the map and decided the

tube-shaped structure had to be the place called the Silo. It

looked so close, perhaps only a short walk away.

Scanning the image, Edgar noticed that about halfway through

the forest, between the Raven and the Silo, there appeared to

be a series of giant holes.

"If there are holes, there are cliffs leading down, and I could

hide in there if I needed to," said Edgar. "Unless something

lives inside them."

Edgar sat down and took a deep breath. Like so many times

before, he knew his mind was already made up.

Edgar picked up the black disk again and the door opened. The

firebugs darted away, and the tails of cave eels pulled back into

the deepest part of the walls as if the Raven knew the forsaken

wood was poison and wanted nothing to do with it.

Edgar peered out the door. Seeing and hearing nothing nearby,

he stepped out onto the barren surface of the Dark Planet.

Dawn had passed into morning and the haze of smog was a

level lighter, though still murky, like looking through muddy

water cut through with sunlight. Pollution lay thick and heavy

through an endless stand of desolate trees. Edgar looked for

some mechanism that might shut the door from the outside, but

there was nothing to be found. This should have alerted Edgar

to another way out from the inside, a way that could allow the

door to remain shut, but he didn't make the connection.

You'll have to make do on your own until I come back.

Edgar pocketed the disk and started off, keeping an eye on the

widest of the trees in case he had to climb one in order to hide

from an oncoming threat. He looked back at the Raven, but it

had already disappeared in the thick smog of the forsaken

wood.

CHAPTER 11THE KEY TO

MULCIBER

"I'm never going to forgive him. Never, ever, ever."

Samuel sat next to Isabel and listened to her grumbling as they

watched Maude walk away. Maude had done what she had

promised, giving the tablet to Samuel and telling the two of

them where Edgar had gone. But Maude didn't have the will to

involve herself any more than she had to. She and her husband

Briney's life had returned to its normal state of simplicity and

she liked it that way. If trouble was coming she'd deal with it on

arrival and not a moment sooner.

"You'll have to forgive him," said Samuel. "It's what he does,

and he knows you'd only want to stop him. You can't make him

stay safe and cozy all the time. He'll come back. He always

does."

Isabel stewed a little more. Samuel looked in every direction to

be sure they were alone by the water's edge. Satisfied, he lifted

the tablet from where it had been placed between the rocks.

"What do you think it is?" asked Isabel.

"It's two-sided," said Samuel, trying to pry the two halves apart

with his fingernails. "And they come apart, or at least I think they

do. Maybe there's something hidden inside."

"Here, let me see it," said Isabel. Samuel reluctantly handed it

to her. Isabel gave it a brief glance, then held it over her head

so she could smash it against the rocks.

"What are you doing!" cried Samuel, reaching up to take it from

her. "We have to be careful with it. There's a lot that needs to be

read on there."

"Here, you can have it," she said, pushing the tablet into

Samuel's hands and beginning to walk away all in one fluid

motion. She felt he was punishing her for not knowing how to

read better.

"Wait--Isabel, please. I didn't mean anything by it. Let's look at it

together and see what we can figure out."

Isabel ignored him. Neither Edgar nor Samuel seemed to

understand how a friend was supposed to act.

"Come on, Isabel. I said I was sorry. I need your help on this. I

can't do it alone."

Isabel stopped but didn't turn around right away. She took out

her sling, set a dried fig inside, and began swinging it over her

head.
Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh
--faster and faster it went until

snap!
she let it fly out over the water. Samuel watched until it

went so far he almost lost sight of it, a tiny black speck against a

deep blue sea of water. The effort made Isabel feel better.

"Let me see it again," she said, turning. She would leave if he

wouldn't trust her with the tablet.

Samuel hesitated before holding it out toward her. When Isabel

took it she ran her fingers over the letters that covered one side.

She could feel them, etched as they were, and it was a new

sensation she liked. Like Edgar before her, she quickly figured

out the second word at the top. A-T-H-E-R-T-O-N. "Atherton!

That's what it says," she said proudly.

"You're right," said Samuel. "Let me have a look."

She held it out.

"And that other word, I think you know that one as well." Isabel

wrinkled her brow so it fell low over her eyelashes. Her long

black hair fell over the sides of her face as she concentrated on

the letters. First, she said something that sounded like
in-sid,

but right after, without any help, she changed her mind.

"Inside--inside Atherton!" cried Isabel. But then she realized

what she'd read. Samuel saw that she was shaking, a look of

terror on her face he'd only seen once before.

"It's all right, Isabel. Don't think about it."

Isabel handed the tablet back to Samuel and turned away. The

inside of Atherton held the Inferno, which had almost killed

Isabel not that long ago.

"It's just a tablet, Isabel. We don't have to do anything with it."

Deep down there was nothing Samuel wanted more than to

read the tablet top to bottom, to absorb every single word and

number. It fascinated him beyond all reason.

"I think we should set it on fire," said Isabel. "Whatever it says

can only bring trouble."

"We can't do that. And I don't think we should just give it to Dr.

Kincaid. There must be a reason Edgar wanted
us
to have it."

"I still say we should get rid of it," said Isabel. "We can't do that!

What if there's something important here? This is the work of Dr.

Harding--that's obvious. We can't just destroy it, Isabel."

"Then you read it. I don't want to read any more."

Samuel was secretly glad Isabel didn't want to read the tablet.

He offered to let her sit by the water's edge while he gave the

tablet a good long look.

After what seemed like hours to Isabel but was actually only a