Atherton #3: The Dark Planet (No. 3) (25 page)

Samuel had already gone.

"Samuel! Wait for me." She took out her sling and filled it with a

dried fig, holding it like a pendulum as the fig swayed near the

ground.

"I'm here," said Samuel from somewhere ahead in the

shadows. "Come quick and see what I've found."

Isabel marched forward into a widening space, and in the

growing light of orange and yellow she finally came to Samuel's

side and gasped.

"It doesn't look like winter to me," said Samuel.

The two children stood, mouths agape, staring down at a

perilous cliff that dropped off in front of them. It was hundreds of

feet to the bottom, and what lay there was about as far from

being cold and wintry as they could have imagined.

A river of fire, a hundred feet across, boiled and teemed along a

twisting path as far as they could see in both directions. Beyond

the hundred feet of molten rock, there was nothing but a rising

wall of stone.

"This is the Inferno, only worse," said Isabel, horrified. It was the

Inferno on a grand scale, billions of firebugs hovering like a fog

over billions of pounds of liquefied rock infested with thousands

of cave eels greedily chomping on every thing their glowing

jaws could reach.

"This is a disaster," said Isabel, sweat beginning to trickle down

her temple. The passage was hotter here, fueled by steam

rising through the air.

"We'll go back," said Samuel, finally concluding that he was

ready to give up the adventure and let the adults decide what

they would about this place. "We can hand in the tablets and

the pen and show them the way."

"At least they're not up here," said Isabel, her mind fixated on

the firebugs as she crawled closer to the edge. "They stay way

down there, don't they?" It seemed to put her at ease to know

she wouldn't have to endure an outright attack.

Samuel knelt and crept to Isabel's side and together they

looked all around.

"There," Isabel pointed across the river. Near the far wall, a thin

pillar of stone capped with a round platform rose about a

hundred feet, and a bridge of stone led from the platform to a

dark opening. It was hard to see for sure in the mottled light, but

the soft shadows that danced on the wall behind the pillar

looked for all the world like the shadows of falling snow.

"The chill of winter is there," said Isabel, suddenly curious

beyond all reason.

"I think you're right," said Samuel. He couldn't see how they

would ever get across the river of fire, but didn't want to

discourage Isabel. "There must be a way--a bridge or a tunnel.

We just haven't figured it out yet." He took the tablet and the pen

from his pack and began scanning the burned lines, numbers,

words, and symbols.

Isabel felt a terrible chill run through her as she thought of

fal ing over the edge. She imagined she would be shocked with

electricity over and over again until she hit the river and melted

away in a puff of smoke. Her parents would be left to wonder

what had happened to her, but there would be nothing of her left

to find.

And yet, even in the face of this insurmountable obstacle, Isabel

could not let go. She thought of Edgar and tried to imagine what

he would think if he saw her there. He would tell her to turn

back, and for reasons she couldn't quite explain, this more than

anything else made her want to find a way across the wide river

of fire.

From behind Samuel and Isabel an unexpected noise cut

through the roar of boiling and hissing and snapping teeth. It

sounded like the loud crash of rocks being torn asunder.

"What is that?" asked Samuel, looking up from the tablet and

feeling the stones beneath him start to shake.

Gossamer had awoken and found them missing. He had never

had a reason to go beyond the way of the yards before, so he'd

never attempted to widen the narrow way. But it wouldn't take

long for the great black dragon to pummel the walls into oblivion

to come stand at the edge with Samuel and Isabel.

CHAPTER 20THE PASSAGEWAY

OF LIES

Morning at the Silo brought Red Eye and Socket's usual bad

temper down upon the boys in the barracks.

"Get your lazy bones out of those bunks!" cackled Socket. He

had already pulled out his bender and was walking along the

row of beds, banging the frames loudly. Edgar leaped from his

bed like everyone else and pulled on his sandals, hopping on

one foot and then the other as he headed for the door.

"Hold up, you," said Red Eye. He took two clanging steps

toward Edgar and tossed a pair of metal-soled boots into the air.

The boots flew straight at Edgar's head and would have

knocked him to the ground, but Edgar ducked as they whipped

past and crashed into the wall behind his bed.

"What's wrong with you, boy? Can't you catch?" said Socket,

laughing maniacally as he slapped the bender against the side

of his boot. Edgar picked up the heavy boots and found they

were badly scuffed and way too big for his feet.

"Put them on," said Red Eye. "You'll be taking a little walk later

today. Only boots allowed where you're going."

From somewhere down the line of beds Edgar heard a howling

cry of pain. Vasher had been whacked by another flying pair of

boots.

"You two better start paying more attention," said Socket.

"You're expected to be men out there, not toddlers!"

Socket always seemed to be the only one who ever laughed at

his barbs and jabs.

"Enjoy your breakfast," said Red Eye as Edgar passed through

the door. "It'll be the last meal you have under my watch. Who

knows when you'll eat again?"

Edgar saw Hope when he reached the kitchen. She was telling

the younger children silly stories while they drank their

breakfast. All of the children had enormous, chalky white

mustaches and giggled at one another. Hope knew Edgar

would be leaving. She had a hard time looking at him. When

she finally did look up they locked eyes.

"I'm sorry you couldn't stay longer," she said.

"Me, too."

Edgar wanted to tell her who he was, but there was so little

time.

"What was he like?" Edgar asked. He stirred white powder into

a metal cup of water.

"You mean Dr. Harding?"

Edgar nodded and began drinking his breakfast.

"He was a little like Landon, actually. He had a lot of energy. I

think he only slept a couple of hours every night, because I tell

you what, that boy had a new invention every morning. Did you

know the Silo used to just be a place for orphans to live? There

were no vines or powder or any of that. Later on, after he had

been at Station Seven, he invented all these processes. Said it

was good for kids to work, good for their spirits, gave them a

sense of purpose."

"What else did he say?" asked Edgar.

"He said he would come back," said Hope. She grew sad then,

and seemed older than before. How old was she? Sixty?

Seventy? Older?

"Is there something you want to tell me?" she asked.

"Let's go! Let's go!" Red Eye yelled from the echoing hallway.

He wanted to tell her all about Dr. Harding. She deserved to

know the truth. He heard Red Eye's boots coming toward the

kitchen.

"Don't give up hope," said Edgar. "There's still a chance things

might work out as he imagined."

Hope didn't say anything as Edgar raced out of the kitchen and

into the hall wearing his clumsy new boots. She turned back to

the youngest children and began telling them the story of young

Dr. Max Harding.

Red Eye took the green and orange teams down the center of

the Silo in one group, dropping orange in the vine room. If not

for the oversize boots on his feet Edgar might have jumped off

the descending platform so he could swing through the vines,

the memory of the night before playing in his imagination.

When they finally reached the drying room Red Eye pushed

them off the platform. "Socket will be down before long to check

on you. He better find at least four blocks or it's going to be a

very long day for green."

Red Eye focused his attention on Edgar and Vasher. "And don't

you go getting lazy on me. You're still mine for a few more

hours. I expect them to be productive ones."

He tapped his bender on the rail of the platform, then pushed a

button and was gone through the opening in the ceiling.

"Finally, we can talk!" said Teagan. "It's like having a muzzle on

in this place. Sometimes I think it's going to drive me crazy."

"Socket won't be long and he'll be looking for a reason to get

mad," said Aggie. She was al business as she held her hand

out. "Let's see it."

Edgar pulled the piece of paper out of his pocket, and like

everyone else, seemed to forget that there was one member of

the green team who had been left out of the loop. As the

crumpled piece of paper passed from Edgar's hand to Aggie's,

they glanced nervously at Vasher, who had already begun

working.

"What's with you guys?" he said, both curious and irritated. He

had thrown off the big boots the moment Red Eye was gone,

and he walked in bare feet to a tamping station. "We've got four

blocks to make, didn't you hear him? I've already been hit in the

head with a pair of boots today. The last thing I need is a

lashing."

He seemed particularly irritated by Edgar in his ridiculous

boots.

"Take those off if they're going to slow you down," Vasher

commanded. "Like Red Eye said, you need to keep working."

Vasher glared as Edgar untucked his soft sandals from the back

of his shorts and wriggled out of his boots. In truth, Vasher

wasn't angry at Edgar; he was terrified of being sent away. His

frustration voiced itself as bitterness toward the only friends he

had in the world.

Landon's quiet voice broke the silence. "We're not working

today, Vash. We're going with Edgar."

"What do you mean,
going with Edgar
?"

Vash was so mad he wanted to punch Edgar as hard as he

could. He pulled the tamper out of the chalk box and held it

firmly in his fist.

"It's a lot to explain and we don't have time," said Aggie. "We

planned this while you were sleeping last night. You should

have come to the vine room like the rest of us."

"Nobody woke me!" insisted Vasher. He wanted to be included

despite the fact that he had no intention of going anywhere with

them, especially if Edgar was leading the way.

"We did try. You said you were too tired and didn't want to go,"

said Landon.

"This is crazy! You can't
go
anywhere around here. There's only

one thing we need to do, and that's get the work done before

Socket gets here."

Teagan drew in a big breath and exhaled. She didn't like

confrontations and wanted it to be over.

"I'm going to say this as quickly and simply as I can," said

Edgar, giving Vasher the benefit of the doubt and risking being

caught before they'd even left. "I think I can get us out of here. I

mean
really
out of here. But I can't do it from here."

Edgar pointed at Aggie, who held up the piece of paper with

impatient exasperation.

"That paper shows me the way," he continued. "You don't have

to go with me. None of you have to go, but you can if you want

to."

Vasher glanced at each face in front of him and couldn't believe

what he was hearing.

"So you're like Dr. Harding from the story, is that it? Came to

rescue the world, did you?"

Edgar knew it sounded ridiculous. He shrugged and turned to

Aggie. "We need to get going."

Vasher shook his head angrily. "Come on, Landon, we've got to

get this done fast if they're going to stand around doing

nothing."

But Landon didn't budge, and this hurt Vasher more than

anything. He had felt less and less alive as day 4000 came and

went, knowing he would soon be banished to the outside world

on some duty he could only guess would take his life. He had

shut down almost all the way, feeling nothing but cold and

empty as he waited for the end.

But there had always been the one thing that had kept the dim

light of emotion alive: Landon. He was like a little brother. If he

let Landon go, the Dark Planet would win--Vasher would be

dead inside just like Commander Judix or Red Eye or Socket.

Vasher simply couldn't imagine the loneliness of the Silo

without Landon.

"You're not going out there without me," he said. "What if you

get lost?"

Landon ran straight to Vasher and wrapped his arms around the

older boy, sending a plume of white dust into the air around

them.

"Trust me, okay?" said Landon, looking up into Vasher's eyes.

"I know it sounds crazy, but I think this is for real."

Vasher hesitated, but only for a moment, then he nodded and

dropped the tamper into the bin. With his arm around Landon,

they walked back to the circle of friends and everyone huddled