Atherton #3: The Dark Planet (No. 3) (28 page)

"What is it, Vash?" asked Landon. Everyone gathered around

Vasher. Behind the giant shelf of books stood Gossamer, huge

and menacing and all in black, staring down at them.

Teagan felt sure it would spring to life and shred them to pieces

with its great black horn. She screamed and ran for the door.

Teagan's voice bounced off the high walls, but Gossamer didn't

move.

"It's not real," said Aggie. She inched up next to it and touched

the leg. It
felt
real, but it didn't move. The model before them

stood twenty feet high but Gossamer was much bigger than

this--four or five times larger, in fact.

"It's from the story!" said Landon. After getting over his shock he

was elated to find that this creature might really exist. Could it

be possible?

"It's Gossamer!" he said. "He's on our side. He's here to help us.

Wake up! Wake up!"

Landon waved his arms even though he knew it was only a

model of something Dr. Harding might have made.

"Even if it's not real it means Dr. Harding
wanted
to make it,"

said Teagan. "This whole story is real, and every thing Edgar is

saying--it's all true. He really did make a place for us, after all."

"Where does the piece of paper say we should go now?" asked

Vasher uneasily. To him, Dr. Harding's laboratory felt like a

madhouse.

Edgar pulled out the map and they all gathered around

Gossamer's feet. All but Aggie. Without anyone noticing she

had drifted back behind a rising shelf of books. She had seen

something there on a pedestal that had made her curious.

"Um, Edgar?" she said. "Remember when we were in the vine

room and you told us your story? What did you call the thing

you flew here inside of? The spiky black ball?"

Edgar crept over to Aggie and followed her gaze.

"The Raven."

"That's what I thought."

Suddenly, everyone was gathered around Aggie and they were

all looking at the same thing. A model of two black ravens

perched on a dead tree limb, their eyes locked on the green

team.

"They're spooky-looking birds," said Landon, a shiver running

down his back. "There were a lot of them on the beach where

Captain Grammel picked me up. I hate the sound they make."

"Do you see what I see?" asked Aggie. Her voice was shaking,

almost angry.

"Oh, no," said Vasher.

"What? What is it?" asked Edgar.

The base of the pedestal on which the sculpture of the ravens

sat was carved with words Edgar could not read. Teagan read

them aloud, growing more concerned with every word.

"'Hugin and Munin from the fallen age of Norse, who fly the

world over and question the living and the dead.'"

Edgar scanned the piece of paper frantically until his eyes fell

on the diagram.

"Hugin and Munin are ravens!" declared Landon. "But that

means --"

"How could I be so stupid!" Edgar cried. "This diagram shows a

block of something with the words 'Hugin' and 'Munin' in the

middle. The block explodes into little particles. If Hugin and

Munin are ravens, then the Raven I came in on needs whatever

that block is."

"You need a powder block from the Silo," said Aggie, surer than

she'd ever been about anything in her life.

"Dr. Harding, you're a genius!" said Landon, not fully

understanding what a bad piece of news this was.

Teagan rolled her eyes.

"He might be a genius but he's not making this easy for us."

"Don't you see?" said Landon. "He had to keep it all separate

so people wouldn't know what he was real y working on. We've

been making something super important all along, we just didn't

know it until now."

"Well, now that we know, we're going to have to go back and

get a powder block." Teagan sighed.

Edgar thought of how heavy and awkward the blocks were.

Getting back into the Silo would be a trick of its own, but

carrying a powder block all the way back to the lab? It wouldn't

be easy. And that was only the half of it.

"The Raven is in the forsaken wood," said Edgar. "I thought I'd

be able to go back there alone and meet you all somewhere or-I don't know. I hadn't thought that far ahead. But I don't think I

can wander out there carrying a heavy block of powder with me.

I barely made it into the Silo to begin with. And since we're on

the subject of the Silo, can we really risk going back there?"

"Wait!" said Aggie. "Let me see that map."

Edgar handed it over and Aggie scanned it.

"There! Right there!" she said, trying to keep her voice down but

having a hard time doing it. She read the words they'd all seen

before and already forgotten, the tiny sentence under the box.

"'Hugin will come if you call him.' So we can call the Raven--we

just have to figure out how."

"I think you're right!" said Teagan.

Aggie beamed. She loved how it felt to contribute something

important.

"Now all we have to do is get a powder block all the way from

the Silo to here so we can keep going," said Edgar, thinking it

sounded like a near impossibility.

"What was that?" said Vasher. There was a slight sound from

the door as it opened quietly, but there were no footsteps. Edgar

put his finger to his lips. Everyone stayed perfectly still behind

the wide, tall shelf of books. Commander Judix had entered the

room, rolled smoothly across the metal floor, and sat before a

black table in her chair.

Peering around the corner of the shelf, Edgar watched as

Commander Judix, someone he'd never seen before, took

something out of her vest pocket and placed it on the table. It

was a black disk, like the one Edgar had in his own pocket, and

he knew what the table would do.

The surface lit up, a blue glow reflecting on her face. She was

so pale and cold looking, like she was more dead than alive,

and the blue light only made her more frightening to look at.

She hovered over the table, her hollow eyes watching as the

firebugs moved, and then all the children heard an audible

intake of breath.

"The way is open once more," she said, her voice full of

wonder. If Edgar could have seen what she saw, he would've

known there was a pulsing blue cluster where the Raven sat in

the forsaken wood. She had found his way back to Atherton.

"The boy will have the key," said Commander Judix, her voice

shaky with excitement. Her whole existence could change in a

flash if only he didn't slip through her fingers. She turned in her

chair, stopped short and went back for the black disk, grabbed it

and was off. The table went dark again and Commander Judix

rolled to the back wall by the door, touching buttons on a

communication box. "Shelton? Shelton!" she cried, but there

was no answer and she cursed the box.

Turning her chair around, she began rolling fast--straight toward

Edgar and the others--and Edgar pushed everyone back. She

parked before another communication box and reached as high

as she could to touch the very top glowing button. This time

there was a hissing as it came to life.

"Shelton! Answer me!" she frantically screamed into the

speaker.

More static, and then his distant and crackling reply: "I'm here,

Commander. What is it?"

"Go straight to the launch site! Go now! The Raven has

returned."

A static-fil ed pause, then Shelton's bemused voice slowly

resumed.

"That can't be. It's some kind of trick."

"It's not a trick! It's him!"

It struck her then that maybe Dr. Harding himself was back-could it be? It was impossible for her to imagine, but there it

was. Maybe he had brought the boy back for some reason.

"Dr. Harding may be there, in the vessel. If he is, bring him to

me straightaway. Now go! And be quick about it!"

"We're turning now," said Shelton, stil sounding skeptical. "But

it's a dangerous place. The instruments show it crawling with

Cleaners. I'll have to take it slow."

"Go!" yelled Commander Judix. She was so agitated it made all

of the green team back away in fear until they were as far away

from Commander Judix as they could get. She pushed the

second button down and screamed again.

"Socket! Answer me!"

Commander Judix had pushed the button that made her voice

heard every where in the Silo, but Socket wasn't about to reply

to the angry voice.

Commander Judix slammed the third button down, which rang

the barracks where Hope spent all of her time.

"Hope! Pick up!"

A second later Commander Judix got the reply she was looking

for.

"What seems to be the problem now?"

"Excellent! You're there. Now listen, Hope. I need you to hold

the new boy until I get there. Do you understand? Don't let him

out of your sight and just stay there. I'll be right over."

Hope had been right. The whole world was in chaos again.

Things were spinning rapidly out of control.

"I'll try to find him. He's working with the green team, but Socket

just came by here in a mad rage looking for them."

"What do you mean, looking for them? Where are they?" She

was incredulous.

"I don't know, Commander," said Hope. "This is what you get

when you put two fools in charge of your Silo. I'm sure they're

somewhere."

"Find that boy!"

Commander Judix slammed her hand against the button and

screamed in frustration. The green team watched as she

wheeled her chair in a half circle and rolled away toward the

door.

Edgar peered around the corner to be sure, and when he was

positive Commander Judix had left the laboratory, he stepped

out from behind the shelf.

"She's really horrible," said Landon. "Even worse than I

imagined. No wonder this place is so terrible."

"And she knows who you are," said Teagan as she looked at

Edgar. "She knows Dr. Harding made you, so she must also

know there's a chance Atherton is really out there. She wants to

go there, I'm sure of it. That's why she's so crazy. She wants off

the Dark Planet and she'll do anything to get her way."

Aggie agreed, but she had something else on her mind. She

walked right up to the communication box and pushed the third

button down.

"Hope? Are you there, Hope?"

Edgar almost tried to stop her, but then he realized the time had

come to trust an adult. They were out of options. The search

was on for Edgar in the Silo. Hope was probably their only

chance.

"Aggie? Is that you?" came the reply. Hope sounded completely

flabbergasted.

"It's me and the rest of the green team. We need your help."

"Child, you better get back here. You're in a world of trouble. I'm

not sure I can cover for you this time."

"You won't need to, because we're never coming back to the

Silo."

"Where are you?"

"We're in Dr. Harding's old laboratory. We need you to bring us

a powder block. Can you do that?"

Hope couldn't believe her ears. "What on earth do you want

with a powder block? And how did you get all the way over

there?"

"It's Edgar--the new boy--he needs it. Trust me, Hope. If you

bring me a powder block it will help us get out of here.

Everything about Dr. Harding is true. It's all happening right

now."

Hope's throat went narrow and she began to feel like she was

going to cry. The very last thing Dr. Harding had told her before

he'd left the Dark Planet rang in her ears.
You know how I can't

trust any adult but you. I doubt that's ever going to change. So if

I ever do figure this whole thing out, you can be sure I won't tell

anyone old like me. Trust the children; they'll know the way.

Hope's voice was like a whisper and she could hardly get the

words out.

"Unlock the door," she said. "I'll be right there."

The line went dead and the green team stood in a circle smiling

at one another.

"We're not done yet," said Vasher. "But at least we have a

chance."

Edgar took the black disk out of his pocket and held it up so

they could all see it.

"What is it?"

"It's the key to the Raven. The
only
key."

"We need to find the yards," said Vasher, who had been

scanning the map. His head twitched with excitement.

Everyone but Edgar could tell the stress had finally gotten to

Vasher. He could control himself, but it was hard. As the day

wore on what he really wanted to do was run around the room,

yelling and knocking things over.

"The moment Hope gets here we need to go," said Aggie.

"When Commander Judix finds Edgar gone she'll go crazy. She

won't rest until she finds him."

They nodded and followed as Vasher led them along the glass

wall of Dr. Harding's laboratory. Someone was outside.

"Who is that?" asked Aggie, looking out at the long rock jetty

that ran from the beach. They could see a small figure in the

distance with some kind of cylinder on his back, heading for the

docked ship. It was Captain Grammel.