Atherton #3: The Dark Planet (No. 3) (32 page)

he reached the drying room at the very bottom. Picking up the

receiver on the communication box, Socket pressed the code

for the transport vehicle.

"Red Eye? Are you there? I need help!"

There was no answer on the other end, only the fizzing and

popping of dead air.

"Red Eye!" Socket yelled again. "Where are you?"

Still no answer.

Socket didn't know what to do. The entire green team was

missing. How could he have lost an entire team? It was

outrageous! His brother would be furious, not to mention

Commander Judix. What might she do if he didn't return with

this new recruit in hand?

"What is it? What do you want now?"

"Red Eye!" Socket began. "I've made a terrible mistake. You

have to help me! I can't find the green team. They're hiding from

me! I hate them, hate them, hate them! But they won't come out.

The Commander is here and she wants the new one. I don't

know what to do!"

A long pause of crackling static ensued. Socket knew better

than to rush his brother. It only made him impatient when he

was already worked up. But as the seconds ticked away,

Socket couldn't stand it any longer.

"Brother? Are you there? Help me!"

There was a shred of compassion left in Red Eye and he knew

his brother wouldn't survive two days without him. He'd left him

for a few hours and look what had happened! He'd lost an entire

team.

"Better get him," mumbled Red Eye. "He'll never make it here

without me."

"Get outside by the lower door," said Red Eye, his voice was

tinny and distant. "Use the drying room door--the one that we

never open. Hang on."

The line went silent again and Socket glanced at a small door

in the far wall that led to the outside. The combination for its

lock was known only by a few, and Socket was not among

them.

"Twenty-one, Two, Seven, Nine," said Red Eye. "Give me

twenty minutes to race across and I'll get you."

"Can you come any faster?" said Socket.

And so Red Eye raced across the forsaken wood, watching the

monitors carefully in order to avoid the red dots that indicated

moving Cleaners and Spikers. There were surprisingly few of

them about, but there was a huge cluster of red dots moving

along the lines of defense near Station Seven.

"I have a bad feeling about this," he said, pressing his big metal

boot heavier on the accelerator.

Socket was already at the door, trying the combination. He had

the numbers mixed up in his head and couldn't get them

straight. Fumbling at the dial and pulling on the handle for the

third time, he heard the sound of the platform rising on its

hydraulic metal pole.

"Oh, no," he whispered. "She's coming for me!"

Socket turned back to the dials and tried again and again. He

had the right numbers but couldn't seem to place their order.

And it was hard to see through his goggles as sweat began to

pour down his face. He blinked feverishly as the platform came

to a quick stop and began its descent.

"She's coming! And the two goons with her!"

He tried again with the four numbers, yelling over and over,

"Come on! Come on!"

Click!

"Yes!" he cried, for he'd finally gotten the order right and the

door had come open. He had no mask, no protection, and he

knew it would damage him to go outside. But he didn't care. He

simply had to get away from the coming fury of this woman and

her henchmen. He had to find his brother.

Socket passed through the opening and as he closed the door

behind him Commander Judix and her two guards arrived in the

drying room.

"He's not here," one of them said.

"Do I look like a blind fool?" yelled Commander Judix. "Search

every corner of this facility. If anyone gets in your way, kill them.

Find that boy and bring him to me!"

One of the two guards, a slightly older man who'd been her ally

for years and years through a great many bad decisions, was

brave enough to ask her a question.

"Commander, we don't know what boy you're talking about.

What will he look like?"

"You'll know him when you see him. He'll be healthier than all

the rest, like he doesn't belong here. Have Hope help you, she

knows what he looks like."

The men were a little too slow in their departure and heard one

last command.

"If you see Socket, throw him outside. He's lied to me for the last

time."

Commander Judix went straight to the laboratory and let herself

in, rolled in front of the console, and dropped the black disk onto

the screen. She stared unblinking at the dot of light. As long as

it was there she knew the way to Atherton remained. If only she

could find Edgar, take the key, and get inside the vessel. It was

so simple! She would be free at last of all the bad memories, the

awful mess in which she'd had to live.

She heard the sound of giant monsters crashing into the line of

electricity. She hadn't anticipated such uncontained violence

from the forsaken wood. These creatures wanted more space

and would fight to the death for it, and that would mean trouble

for Station Seven. It wouldn't be long before one of them

crashed into the only remaining line of power and broke through

to the other side.

Then she'd be face-to-face with them once again--and they'd

finish the job.

"Where are you, Edgar? Where are you hiding my key?" The

Commander of Station Seven hunched like a cat over a mouse,

unable to take her eyes off the pulsing blue dot against the

black surface.

Little did she know the dot was about to move.

CHAPTER 25THE CHILL OF

WINTER

The green team was standing in a round room with a shiny

black floor and five statues placed around its rim, each about

Edgar's height.

"The legend says he was an amazing artist," said Teagan. "I

guess the legend is true."

"Let's get a look at each one, can we?" asked Landon.

Everyone had calmed down a bit now that the sound of warring

creatures outside was muted from underground, and they

nodded, unable to resist the temptation to explore. A few

seconds later they had gathered around the first statue.

"There's a carving here, in the stone," Aggie noticed. "It says

'The Birth of the Nubian.' What does that mean?"

The statue was of a bird that looked much like an arrow. It had a

mean face that bore down on them as they stared at it.

"That's a flying creature that lives inside Atherton," said Edgar.

"It can't get to the surface."

Aggie had already moved on and found that the next statue

looked like a languid creature bursting out of a river, trying to

clamp down on something with its razor-sharp teeth.

"This one says 'The Making of the Inferno,' " said Aggie. "I don't

like it."

Edgar quickly explained what he knew of the Inferno by the

details he'd heard from Isabel and Samuel. When they stepped

in front of the third statue Edgar recognized it right away.

"'The Fall of Atherton,'" said Teagan, who had jostled ahead of

Aggie so she could be the one to read this time. "What is it?"

"It's Atherton, after it changed," said Edgar, ever amazed by the

bizarre world he'd known his whole life.

Everyone in the group had a picture in their mind of what they

thought Atherton looked like. Stories had been handed down

about how Dr. Harding loved towers and levels and things that

were round, probably because his earliest memories were of

the Silo. He had made many models of Atherton, all of them

with different levels, wider at the bottom and thinner at the top.

But this thing, this fallen Atherton, looked nothing like what any

of them had expected.

"Atherton used to be shaped differently, but then it collapsed in

on itself," said Edgar, thinking back to the catastrophic events of

only a year before. "After that it filled with water and all the

Cleaners were trapped."

"So there are no Cleaners on Atherton?" asked Landon.

"We have lots of Cleaners, but they're harmless now," Edgar

said. "I think these statues represent a series of events,

probably in the order they occurred."

"Why do you say that?" asked Vasher, who had been quiet up

until then, captivated by the intricate carvings of each image.

"This fourth one is a Cleaner," said Edgar.

"That's no Cleaner," argued Aggie. "I've seen them and they

have lots of legs. This one looks more like it swims in the

water."

"What's it say?" asked Edgar, seeing words etched in the base

of the statue.

"It says 'Transformation of the Cleaner.' But that doesn't make

sense. It's
not
a Cleaner."

"But it is," said Edgar. "This is a Cleaner on Atherton, after it's

been dumped in the water and left there. They lose their legs

and most of their teeth. They become a harmless fish."

"I love Dr. Harding!" said Landon.

Edgar smiled and continued. "And this happened because of

the fall of Atherton. So it's in order, you see?"

Aggie had moved on to the last statue and was looking at it,

puzzled by what she saw. It was a round ball, completely white,

with oceans and land marked out in relief.

"It's the Dark Planet," said Vasher. "Only it's not."

"What do you mean?" asked Teagan, touching the statue

against her better judgment.

"I mean it's not dirty. It's clean," answered Vasher. "
Really

clean."

"'The Chill of Winter,'" said Aggie, reading the inscription on the

statue. "I don't think it's white because it's clean. I think it's white

because it's covered in snow."

"What's snow?" asked Edgar, who came from a world where

there was no such thing--nor rain or wind.

"You really
aren't
from around here, are you?" said Vasher. He

had remained unconvinced at some level that Edgar could

really be from this mythical place called Atherton. Edgar's

genuineness was starting to win him over.

"We haven't seen anything like snow or winter in a long time, at

least not since I've been at the Silo," said Teagan. She tried to

remember--had she ever seen snow? She'd read about it, seen

pictures, and maybe even seen videos when she was much

younger. Everyone else seemed to have the same experience

of trying to remember what winter felt like.

"I think we must be seeing these statues in the wrong order,"

said Edgar, looking back at the gray and black depictions

around him, then noticing the floor beneath him. "This wintry

Dark Planet must be first in line, then the rest."

Edgar fished around for the black disk that controlled the Raven

and pulled it out. "This floor looks familiar," he said. "I wonder..."

Edgar gently set the disk on the black surface of the floor, and

by the time he stood back up the floor was already filling with

firebugs. They poured forth from under the statues, merging as

a giant ball of blue light under the floor at the center of the room.

"What's happening?" asked Aggie. Everyone backed away

from the middle of the room.

"What have you done?" said Teagan, petrified by what was

appearing through the black fog.

"It's a face!" said Aggie.

"Not just any face," said Edgar.

Aggie and the rest didn't know what to make of the dazzling

blue light. The bugs danced and moved, and there was no

doubt about it.

"It's
his
face," said Edgar. There on the floor, surrounded by

thick black, was the glowing blue face of Dr. Harding in full

relief. All the tiny dots moved and pulsated in perfect harmony

in order to make the mouth begin to move. And not only that-they heard a voice, too.

"Hello, Edgar! If this floor has been activated it means I have

succeeded in my long and complicated plan. Bravo!" said the

glowing blue head of Dr. Harding.

"Wow," Aggie whispered in awe. "This is the craziest thing I've

ever seen."

The head of Dr. Harding ignored her.

"As I'm recording these words I still haven't told you all of what I

planned, but I must have succeeded for you to be standing here

among my things. I'll be brief and to the point, as the firebugs do

tire after a few minutes of such rigorous thinking."

Edgar couldn't believe his ears. It was like his father was right

there in the room with him.

"I used to love the yards, the place where Dr. Kincaid found

me," the voice went on. "I was sad for weeks and weeks when I

couldn't come here any longer. I made this secret place much

later, or I should say the firebugs made it for me. Amazing little

creatures when you put them to work on something. They work

harder than honeybees and do precisely what I tell them. It's a

very good thing I invented them, or we wouldn't be having this

last moment together. It's too bad they have to be kept in such

close quarters so no one gets hurt, but then all my inventions

seem to have at least one broken part. When I'm gone they'll

say it was my signature, won't they?