Atherton #3: The Dark Planet (No. 3) (19 page)

thumb dropped out of one of the thousands of holes in the

ceiling and landed in one of the many bins. There was an

unmistakable sense that Dr. Harding had somehow been

involved in what was going on here. It had his fingerprints all

over it.

"When the flower curls up into a ball that way, it's ready to be

tamped," said Aggie. Edgar thought the flower looked like it had

caved in on itself, hiding from the scary world outside. "We

smash the flowers, and the papery leaves get tinier and tinier

until they turn to dust."

Teagan added, "This is also the hottest room in the Silo and the

place we hate working the most."

"The vines are the best, though we hardly ever get to work there

anymore. But we still climb the vines sometimes," said Landon

in a sort of sneaky voice. "Right, Vash?"

"Quiet, Landon!" said Vasher. He glared at Edgar. "You know

we don't talk about that, especially around someone we can't

trust." Edgar saw right away that Landon thought of Vasher as a

big brother.

"We don't get to work in the vines anymore," said Aggie. She,

too, seemed to be hiding something behind her green eyes.

Edgar was drawn to this mysterious girl with short hair and

slightly sunken eyes. He could imagine her on Atherton in his

beloved grove, walking beneath the trees.

Edgar felt sweat dripping down his forehead.

"Don't let that fall in the bin," said Teagan nervously. "We'll get

in trouble."

"But how would anyone know?" asked Edgar, wiping an arm

across his face.

"They test every block for purity before it goes out. They can tell

if anything gets in there."

"What's a powder block?"

"When it's all dust, it goes over there and gets smashed."

Teagan pulled her goggles down over her eyes. There was a

pair of long, stiff gloves hanging from the side of the bin and she

put them on. Then she held her arms out and made a funny face

as she walked like a monster toward Aggie. Her arms looked

huge against the skin and bones of her slight body. Landon

thought it was hilarious and laughed out loud.

"Back to work, you monster!" Aggie joked.

Teagan picked up a large metal cup and scooped white powder

from one of the four corners of the bin where they worked. The

metal cup had a floppy lid on hinges and she closed the lid with

a clang, then walked to one of the metal walls in the room. She

reached out a gloved hand and clumsily slid open a small door.

Even from where Edgar was standing he could tell it was

burning hot behind the door. Teagan took a deep breath and

reached inside, dumped the cup quickly, and pulled her hand

back out.

"It's full enough," she said, closing the door and taking hold of a

lever that appeared to be in the down position. She looked at

Edgar and smiled once more. "Better cover your ears."

Edgar set the tamper down and put his hands over his ears, but

it didn't help very much. When Teagan pulled the lever up and

locked it into place there was a sound of something moving

behind the wall that was so shrill it made Edgar's head hurt.

Ancient iron grated against bearings in need of oil, moving

walls of steel closer and closer as they smashed the powder

into a block of concentrate.

"How long does it take?" screamed Edgar. No one could hear

him. Less than a minute later the sound stopped for a split

second then started right back up again when Teagan threw

down the lever and locked it.

"All done," said Aggie at long last, touching Edgar on the

shoulder ever so briefly to reassure him. "But we'll have to do it

another five or six times before we finish these bins."

"Six more times?" said Edgar.

Teagan had opened a second sliding door. The gloves ran all

the way up to her shoulders and she set her covered forearms

along the sides of a block about the size of her own head. It

looked like it was heavy--maybe ten pounds--and she struggled

to lift it out and place it in a metal box at her feet. It would take a

total of thirty to fill the container.

"Each one can feed a person for a month," said Teagan. "Well,

that and the bars made of seeds and leaves. With the blocks,

you have to break pieces off and mix them with water or it's

awfully hard to choke down."

"Is that all you eat?" asked Edgar. "Bars and powdery water?"

Teagan nodded, gazing at Edgar with curiosity. "It's all anyone

eats."

Edgar thought aloud without really knowing the words were

coming out.

"Dr. Harding did this."

"What did you say?" asked Aggie.

"He said Harding--he knows about this place. I told you he

knows! He's a liar!"

The blizzard was flying through Vasher's head again.

"They sent him over here to get me!"

Vasher held his metal tamper out into the open and pointed it at

Edgar. It was not a formidable weapon with its wide, flat end,

and if it were swung in Edgar's general direction he could easily

dodge it. But if it were thrown...

"Calm down, Vash," said Aggie. She hated giving Edgar the

impression she and her friends were living in absolute chaos.

"We don't know anything about Edgar. Everyone's heard of Max

Harding, you know that."

"I don't trust him," said Vasher, walking toward Edgar as he

raised the tamper over his head.

Edgar darted away from the bin and took hold of a metal rail

along one of the walls. With lightning speed he was on the

ceiling, fingers and toes clawing along countless holes the size

of his fist.

"He's fast!" said Landon. "And he can really climb. He'd be

amazing in the vines!"

Vasher wouldn't be distracted. "I won't go! I won't let them take

me!"

Vasher hurled the tamper. It was a good shot, heading straight

for Edgar's head, but Edgar dodged it easily as he moved

seven or eight feet along the web of holes in the ceiling in the

space of a few seconds. Edgar let go with his feet and hung

limp, then dropped the distance to the floor and stood in front of

Vasher.

"I'm not here to spy on you," said Edgar. "I'm not from Station

Seven. I'm not even from the Dark Planet."

"What do you mean?" asked Aggie, but in her heart of hearts

she knew. She had heard--they had all heard--of a place where

things were different. It was like a fairy tale, the only fairy tale, in

fact, in which all the girls and boys were rescued and taken to a

new world free of darkness and pollution and monsters.

Edgar didn't speak. Maybe he'd said too much too soon. But he

couldn't stay on the Dark Planet for long, that much he knew.

Every second counted in this wretched place if he had any

hope of getting back inside the Raven and going home.

"Where are you from?" Aggie asked. She had liked Edgar on

seeing him, but she was entirely mesmerized by him now. And

that was saying a lot for Aggie, the often stoic leader of the

green team.

"You don't really think? You can't be serious!" said Vasher.

"That's not even real, Aggie! It's just a story Hope tells to make

us feel better."

"But what if it is true?" said Teagan, unable to hide her

optimism. "Hope and Dr. Harding--they were friends when he

was just a boy. Maybe..."

"Shut up! Both of you just shut up!" yelled Vasher. "It's

nonsense, all of it! He's come to make sure I'll go without giving

them any trouble. That's all he's here for."

Everyone froze as they watched the tube lurch to life and begin

moving lower. The platform was coming down. Another few

seconds and Red Eye and Socket would be back, yelling at

them.

Aggie looked at Edgar like no one had ever looked at him

before. There was now a pleading hope in her despairing eyes,

as if she thought Edgar had the power to remove all the terrible

things in her world with a wave of his hand or a certain set of

words.

"Have you ever heard of a place called Atherton?" asked Aggie,

her voice shaky and quiet. For some reason she couldn't help

herself and touched Edgar again on the shoulder.

"Aggie, no. He'll only break your heart," said Vasher.

Edgar looked at Vasher and saw that he wasn't holding his

tamper. He'd thrown it only moments ago and the platform was

getting very close. Edgar darted across the room with electric

speed, grabbed the tamper, and tossed it through the air.

Vasher caught it as Red Eye's boots came into view. Edgar

didn't have time to get back to the bin and his own tamper,

which he had set down in order to escape Vasher's advance.

But his back was to the platform and so he was able to gaze

into Aggie's eyes and tell her the truth.

"It's real.
Atherton
is real."

She was awestruck and held his gaze longer than she should

have given the circumstances.

"Edgar!" cried Teagan. "Look out!"

But it was too late. Red Eye had already advanced on Edgar

from behind. The bender was out and swinging. Edgar closed

his eyes and waited. He'd been hit lots of times before by Mr.

Ratikan's walking stick in the grove. But this was different. This

stung like needles and seemed to cut right though the skin on

his back.

Edgar never stopped looking at Aggie. He saw the marks on

her arms and could imagine this terrible man hitting her as he'd

just been hit. He suddenly realized he could never leave the

Dark Planet without taking Aggie and her friends with him. He

had to get them out of the Silo.

Tears began to fill Aggie's eyes. In the unexpected silence Red

Eye lurched around where he could see Edgar's face. He was

frothing with anger.

"Why aren't you working?" asked Red Eye. He was in a rage as

he turned to the rest. "He's standing in the middle of the room

doing nothing!"

Red Eye turned on Aggie, his favorite choice on whom to dole

out punishment, and he swung the bender to and fro in front of

him.

"Is that the best whipping you can give?" said Edgar. All the

children in the room gasped, but Edgar had to do something.

He had to turn Red Eye's vengeful eye away from Aggie.

"This boy's mad!" said Socket, laughing and snorting from

behind Edgar.

"Then we'll have to beat the madness out of him, won't we?"

said Red Eye. He grabbed Edgar by the arm and hauled him

toward the platform.

"Where are you taking him?" asked Landon. He could be

fearless when the mood struck him. "Don't take him away--he

only just got here. The passageway of lies can wait a little

while, can't it?"

"Shut your mouth, Landon!" screamed Red Eye. "Or you'll be

choking down powder with no water in it tonight."

Socket just cackled and wiped his goggles, crossing quickly to

the metal bin of finished powder blocks.

"What's this? Only one more block while we was gone? You'll

be here all night!"

He laughed some more and looked back at his brother who had

stowed his bender. He took the reader from its holster and held

it near Edgar's arm.

"Don't you listen to this boy, Lanny," said Red Eye, sure that

Edgar was filling their heads with lies. "None of you listen to

him! He doesn't have a clue what he's talking about."

Edgar had already felt the reader once and it stung terribly, like

a shot of electricity that burned down to his bones. He flinched

at the sight of the reader and tried to pull away, but Red Eye

had a crushing grip and wouldn't let go.

"There's no passageway of lies here," said Red Eye, his voice

like the hiss of boiling oil. He jammed the tip of the reader into

Edgar's skin. "Now hold still so I can give Judix the good news."

Edgar felt like he'd been stuck through with a burning needle.

When Red Eye pulled the reader away and looked at the

screen he didn't say anything. No one could see his eyes

behind the goggles, but his scowl turned sharper on his face as

he glanced at the reader and then Edgar. The reader had never

failed before. He had just used it an hour ago on a girl in the

vine room. What was this nonsense?

"How old is he?" asked Socket, walking toward Red Eye. Red

Eye couldn't stand his brother meddling all the time. He turned

the reader off and locked it back in its cradle at his side.

"He's 4311," said Red Eye. Then, looking cruelly at Landon, he

added, "Plenty old for the passageway of lies after a good long

beating!"

"The commander will want to hear," said Socket, racing for the

platform. "I'll tell her!"

Red Eye pulled the bender from his back with harrowing speed

and swept it across his brother's path.

"Leave the commander to me," he said, and then by way of a

reward he pushed Edgar toward his brother. "Take him to the

engine room and make sure he knows who runs things around

here. And watch for Hope. She won't like you beating him on

his first day."

Socket pushed Edgar onto the platform and held him against

the rail as the platform began to rise. Just as Edgar was about

to rise all the way out of the room he saw Red Eye standing