Atherton #3: The Dark Planet (No. 3) (38 page)

Five more boxes were hidden inside.

"Are these what I think they are?" asked Aggie. She handed out

the five small squares, each of them a perfect two-inch square.

"Those aren't really boxes you're holding. I mean, you can't

open them. They're actually solid glass of a kind that's pretty

hard to break. Otherwise we might have all of Atherton crawling

with vines."

"But what's inside?" asked Isabel as she watched Teagan turn

it in the light and peer inside. Everyone on the green team

knew, just like Aggie knew.

"They're the flowers that never bloom, from the Silo," said

Teagan. "Only these ones did bloom!"

Dr. Kincaid just nodded. He could see the wonder in their eyes

at the sight of the flowers they held. They were shaped just like

the Raven with pointy leaves fanning out in every imaginable

color. A miniature raven of every color and hue.

There was a note inside the box. Aggie read it out loud, trying

her best to imagine Hope saying the words to them.

"'For the green team, so you know you're gone but never

forgotten. With love and affection, Hope.'"

Aggie turned the paper over and found a much longer note on

the back.

"'I sat on the beach with all the children from the Silo and

watched the waves come in last night. We breathed the clean

air and roasted fresh fish from the sea. They begged and

begged to hear about Dr. Harding, so I told them, only this time

we all looked up and imagined you there, watching over us.

The story is finally told to the very end, with a happy ending,

after all.'"

No one spoke. It was as if every thing that needed to be said

had been said.

Dr. Kincaid had one more surprise and he pulled it out of his

own pocket.

"Landon," he said, "one day soon Gossamer will return to

Atherton and make his home here. He'll go back inside Atherton

where he belongs. But I promise I'll take you to see him at least

once. In the meantime, I found this in Dr. Harding's laboratory. I

think it was the first of many models, because as I recall, he

always started small and made things bigger until they were too

big for his imagination to hold."

Dr. Kincaid held out a model of Gossamer about four inches tall.

It was perfect in every detail, right down to the black spike on its

nose and the claws on its feet.

"This is way better than a flower!" said Landon, taking

Gossamer and smiling bigger than any of them had ever seen

him smile before. "And I'm holding you to it, Dr. Kincaid. We'll

go together and I'll protect you. He'll listen to me."

"That sounds perfect," said Dr. Kincaid.

After a while they packed up their things and started off, but not

before Vincent put the black disk inside the Raven, set its

course, and dashed out the closing door. They all watched it

disappear over the edge on its way to its final resting spot. On

the way back Edgar and his friends heard about what had

become of Commander Judix, Station Seven, and Captain

Grammel. None of them had fared well in the end, least of all

Grammel, who was thrown overboard by his crew and washed

up on the shore near the yards.

When they arrived back at the grove the party at the Inn was in

full swing. There were a few thousand people living on

Atherton, but this was a private party of about fifty of Dr.

Kincaid's closest friends. There was plenty of Black and Green,

just as Briney had promised, and lots of laughing and dancing.

After a good deal of celebrating, the sky grew dark and the

seven friends huddled together by the door of the Inn. Soon Dr.

Kincaid emerged, then Vincent. The nine of them snuck away

as they'd long planned to do. Twenty minutes later, the group

was standing within a stone's throw of the edge of Atherton.

"Please be careful," said Dr. Kincaid. He'd said it many times,

but there was something about a steep drop-off and seven kids

that worried him. "Vasher, keep Landon at your side."

Vasher nodded, and then the nine were crawling the final

distance, feeling the pull of gravity on their arms as they went.

They all arrived at once, even Dr. Kincaid, who loathed

crawling on his old knees. But he had to be there when they

looked over the edge. He'd made them wait two long months,

and now they would see for themselves.

Aggie, Teagan, Landon, and Vasher had seen the Dark Planet

only once when they'd first arrived, but they could remember

how dirty and dead it had looked.

Now, Aggie was able to believe that not only people could be

transformed, but the whole world could be, too. "It's beautiful,"

she whispered.

"I can't believe how different it looks," said Isabel. "It's so blue

and green."

"It's the way it's supposed to look," said Dr. Kincaid. "The way it

was made to look before we got our hands on it. The blue is

water--lots of clean water--and the green is land."

"What's the white?" asked Vasher.

"Snow and ice," said Dr. Kincaid.

"We'll have to change the name of the Dark Planet," said

Vincent. "It's not dark anymore."

"Why not call it by its real name?" asked Dr. Kincaid,

remembering what the Dark Planet had been called before.

"I don't know. It seems we could do better. New world, new

name--don't you think?"

Dr. Kincaid mulled the idea, but it was Teagan who shouted out

the name that stuck.

"It's the Blue Planet now," she said. "Blue is the best color of all,

and our old home is bluer than anything I've ever seen."

They stayed there for a long time, looking down at a world once

broken. Edgar couldn't help thinking of Dr. Harding. He was so

proud of him and all that he'd done, proud enough to never call

him his maker again.

"My father did this," said Edgar.

"Hopefully, they won't make the same mistake twice," said Dr.

Kincaid, gazing at the Blue Planet. "Because we're not likely to

see anyone like your father come along again. He was one of a

kind."

They backed away from the edge of Atherton and began

walking.

"We better get back to the party before they eat up all the Black

and Green," said Dr. Kincaid, his arm around Landon. Landon

broke into a run, holding the little model of Gossamer so it

looked as if it was flying over his head. And then everyone but

the old man was running, racing each other back to the Inn,

laughing and dancing in the grey night of Atherton.