made the dawning of each new day all the more depressing.
"What was that?" said Commander Judix from her bed. She
thought she'd heard something from the direction of the
forsaken wood.
Cleaners and Spikers looking for food?
Lacking evidence, her dismal outlook always pointed to the
worst possible scenario. If only she had allowed herself to
imagine what had really made the sound. She would have
discovered the arrival of a vessel from the forgotten world of
Atherton.
She opened her eyes and saw the time. Six a.m. Another hour,
maybe two, and she would have to face Hope, the acting
mother in the Silo next door. It was an encounter she looked
forward to with a mounting sense of dread.
Escaping her bed and flopping down in the safety of her chair
was a complicated business, but one she was proud to handle
on her own. She had always preferred to manage these difficult
tasks herself without the aid of some idiot feeling sorry for her.
And she didn't want any fake parts attached to her, either. Her
legs were gone and that was that.
Commander Judix rolled her chair to a small window and
looked out. To gaze at the forsaken wood in the pale morning
light was to see the shattered remains of what once was. The
trees were last to go. They looked for all the world like a stand
in the deepest part of winter, or a burned-out forest reaching
helplessly towards the sky. It was the smog that made a person
realize the trees could never return. It snaked through grey
limbs, strangling their trunks. And somewhere in there were
monsters of a kind Commander Judix couldn't think of without
trembling.
She rolled away from the window and opened a cooling unit.
There was a small plastic bottle of milky water inside and she
removed it, mixed in two spoonfuls of white powder from a
container, and gulped it down. It left a chalky white film that
made her compulsively chew and lick at her waxy lips until the
feeling went away. There were small bars of food in the cooling
unit as well, and she took one, eating it without the slightest
emotion.
Commander Judix rolled in front of a mirror and pinned up her
brown hair. She hadn't washed it in nine days, not because
there was no water, but because the thought of having it dry and
brittle after a good scrubbing was almost too much to bear. After
five days her hair was soft as silk. She could run her fingers
through it for hours and not tire of the feeling. Soft hair was
something she could control, a small but meaningful pleasure
she hated giving up.
Looking again at the time, Commander Judix decided there was
probably enough of the early morning left to ride down the
corridor to Dr. Harding's laboratory. She hadn't been there in so
long, but things were getting desperate. Against her better
judgment she couldn't help but maintain enough hope to at
least check the old lab every few weeks. What if the blip
returned and Atherton came back online?
"I wonder what bad news today wil bring?" she said. She didn't
have to wait as long as she'd expected for trouble to arrive.
Already she could hear the familiar sound of footsteps coming
down the corridor that led to the Silo. From the distinctive long
stride and a light step, she could tell that Hope was coming.
Remember who's in charge here. Don't let her push you around.
Commander Judix rolled to the door and opened it.
"I won't let you take them. They're too young."
Hope had long since given up saluting or offering any other
signs of respect. As far as she was concerned this was not the
president or the supreme ruler. Station Seven was no longer a
command post doing important scientific work. It was an outpost
of the apocalypse like all the others. Some of the old rules of
behavior simply didn't apply.
"You're calling a little early this morning, don't you think?"
"You can't have them," Hope declared. She was a tall, graceful
woman with black skin. Her hair was very short and peppered
with white. She had the fierce eyes of a mother protecting her
children.
"We have no choice," said Commander Judix, engaging her
chair. Hope jumped out of the way as it passed by and started
toward Dr. Harding's laboratory.
"Don't do this, Jane," said Hope. She watched as Commander
Judix's chair stopped, spun around, and motored back. Hope
had called the commander by her first name, something she
hadn't done in a very long time.
Commander Judix looked up at the tall woman in front of her
with icy resolve. "We agreed that if you stayed you wouldn't
make trouble. Coming over here-- badgering me this way at six
in the morning--and calling me that name... it's a lot of trouble all
at once."
Hope knew she was on shaky ground. She commanded almost
no power at Station Seven, less it seemed as time had gone on.
She had come to the Station as a doctor, but it was the children
who made her stay long after almost everyone had fled. It was
Hope's job, in the face of so much darkness, to keep the
youngest abandoned and orphaned children of the Silo from
dying before her eyes.
"You told me you'd never go below 4200," said Hope. She was
fighting mad. "You let two tyrants run the Silo and ship these
kids off to God knows where"--Hope trembled
momentarily--"Shelton said you might even take a ten-year-old.
You can't do that, Jane! I won't let you take them."
"Stop calling me that name!" Commander Judix screamed with
such force her emotionless, pallid face actually shaded with
color.
They heard steps clattering from two or three different
directions, the empty tin echo bouncing every where. It was
hard to say how many people were on their way.
"If I ask for a ten-year-old, you'll give me a ten-year-old," said
Commander Judix, trying with all her might to remain calm. "Or
would you rather I shut this whole operation down? Where will
all your precious children go then?"
Hope knew the awful truth. There was only one person who
could shut down Station Seven, and that was Commander
Judix. She alone kept the station running. It had been her
sickening idea from the beginning, but it was also a sort of
insurance policy. Every ten days she went to a keypad and
punched in a series of nine numbers. If the numbers weren't
entered, the power grid would go into irreversible shutdown.
Within a few days the air filters would fail, the defenses would
be down, every thing would be over.
"I know where I'll go when I don't enter the numbers," continued
Commander Judix. "I'm a former leader of the free world. Just
because this place has failed doesn't mean I can't escape. I've
already held on for years longer than anyone else would have.
There are plenty of places in this broken-down world where I
can sit this out in peace and quiet until the very end."
She
was lying, of course. Station Seven was better than most
other places on the Dark Planet. The remaining enclaves,
scattered across the globe, were overcrowded, disease ridden,
and always short on food and water.
"What's happened to you?" asked Hope.
"When was the last time you looked outside?" asked
Commander Judix. "Our choices become more limited every
day. Our choices become harder. And I have to make those
choices while you babysit. Stop questioning me!"
"You've compromised too much," said Hope. She had a burning
anger of her own. Even as Commander Judix turned her chair
and rolled away toward oncoming footsteps, Hope would be
heard. "Did you enjoy your breakfast this morning, Jane? They
risked their lives to make it for you--did you forget about that?"
"They receive from me a safe place to sleep, free from Cleaners
and Spikers and the menacing smog of the outside!"
Commander Judix had turned. She'd decided she didn't want to
talk to anyone approaching her nor visit the laboratory. She
wanted to be left alone.
Commander Judix had rolled back into her room. She was
about to close the door in Hope's face.
"Jane, please--don't do this. Give them at least until they can
stand it outside."
Commander Judix grabbed the edge of the door. "Go back to
the Silo where you belong."
She flung the door shut, thinking all the while of her lost mother
and father and sister, all of them lost in the forsaken wood
because of that madman Dr. Harding and all his monstrous
mistakes. And that name! No one around here ever called her
Jane, only her family had called her that. It burned her insides to
see their faces and hear them calling her name. Jane! Jane!
It was God's sick humor she was alive at all.
After Edgar ate all the food and drank all the water Maude had
given him he had a hard time keeping his eyes open. He was
tired and the Raven was so warm inside. He made the longest
part of the journey to the Dark Planet in his sleep, unaware of
the impossible speed at which he was traveling.
Just before dawn he arrived in the at mo sphere of the Dark
Planet and it stirred him in his sleep, if only for a brief moment.
The outside layer of the Raven spun violently, but the inside
remained still and steady. It wasn't until the Raven landed on
the Dark Planet, ripping through a grove of trees on its spinning
final descent, that Edgar was finally jolted awake.
"Who's there?" said Edgar as he awoke in the chair. Whatever
force had held him down was gone now and he was free to
move. Soon he was on his feet, stumbling around in the near
dark.
"You look tired," he said to the Raven, noticing the empty
blackness of the glass walls. There were firebugs scattered
here and there, but no cave eels. It looked to Edgar like the
Raven would need some time to restore energy before she
could travel again.
Is it really possible I've left Atherton? thought Edgar, rubbing his
eyes as they grew accustomed to the paltry blue light. As the
full force of what he'd done dawned on him, he felt very lonely
and afraid.
"What have I done?" he said, and looking at the lifeless walls of
the Raven, added, "and what if I can't get back home?"
Edgar looked at the flat, black disk lying on the now lifeless
table. The disk would fit in his pocket, but he was afraid to pick
it up. He knew what would happen if he did.
Are you ready for the Dark Planet? he asked himself, trying to
put on a brave face. It can't be as bad as the Flatlands once
were, right? At least this place won't be crawling with Cleaners.
Edgar had landed the Raven in the same place it had always
landed, hidden in the depths of the forsaken wood.
"Here we go, then," said Edgar, placing the black disk in his
pocket. He heard the door slide open and saw the foggy air
emerge. It was murky outside, but stepping through the door he
quickly realized it wasn't completely dark, only dim like night on
Atherton. The air smelled like nothing he'd ever smelled before.
It was a sharp scent he could actually taste on his lips. He had
a hard time breathing it in and began coughing.
The fit of noise set off a series of other noises Edgar hadn't
expected. Some of the sounds were horrifyingly familiar.
"Cleaners," whispered Edgar, totally surprised to hear the
ghastly roar of a monster he knew all too well. "And by the
sound of it, big ones."
He stood in shock, unable to move his feet as he listened. The
earth shook and a sound like breaking bones and slamming
jaws came rapidly closer. If this really was an approaching
Cleaner, it would have huge teeth attached to a set of jaws wide
enough to cut Edgar in half. It would have a hundred rattling
bony legs and a long, hideous body with an underbelly that
sucked up every thing in its path.
The smog was thick through the barren tree trunks as Edgar
peered out. It wasn't until he caught the first glimpse of the
creature that he finally turned and dove back inside the Raven.
With a quick flick of his wrist Edgar pulled the disk from his
pocket, tossing it toward the table like a skipping rock. When
the disk touched the table it stuck, as though it had been pulled
down by an unseen force. The door whoosh ed shut with little
more than a few seconds to spare. If he had taken a moment
longer he would have shared the space with the chomping
head of something very big and hungry.
"What was that?" said Edgar, breathless with terror. He wished
he could see what kind of monster he faced. He felt the Raven
rock back and forth and heard the sound of an animal crying out
in pain.
"Whatever's out there just touched you, didn't it?" asked Edgar,
thinking of the million razor-sharp spikes that covered the
Raven's shell. "You haven't been here for a long time. Maybe
they forgot what they were dealing with."
Edgar felt a mix of emotions as he heard the beaten creature
move off. On the one hand, he was safe inside. He could
already see more firebugs emerging in the black walls, floor,
and ceiling. Soon enough, he could turn the Raven around and
go back home.
But another part of him was dying to go outside and explore,
regardless of the dangers. He'd faced down cliffs and Cleaners
and floods before. The Dark Planet was a challenge he wanted
to overcome.
"I wonder...," said Edgar. He tapped the table and firebugs
returned. A map of the world outside of the vessel emerged. On
one side was a body of water that appeared to go on forever, its
beach surrounded by a forest and jagged rocks. On the beach a
building was indicated by a square, and from the building a line
led outward to a tube-shaped structure at its end.
"And there I am," said Edgar, pointing to a small, oblong image
in the trees. He looked carefully at the map and decided the
tube-shaped structure had to be the place c
alled the Silo. It
looked so close, perhaps only a short walk away.
Scanning the image, Edgar noticed that about halfway through
the forest, between the Raven and the Silo, there appeared to
be a series of giant holes.
"If there are holes, there are cliffs leading down, and I could
hide in there if I needed to," said Edgar. "Unless something
lives inside them."
Edgar sat down and took a deep breath. Like so many times
before, he knew his mind was already made up.
Edgar picked up the black disk again and the door opened. The
firebugs darted away, and the tails of cave eels pulled back into
the deepest part of the walls as if the Raven knew the forsaken
wood was poison and wanted nothing to do with it.
Edgar peered out the door. Seeing and hearing nothing nearby,
he stepped out onto the barren surface of the Dark Planet.
Dawn had passed into morning and the haze of smog was a
level lighter, though still murky, like looking through muddy
water cut through with sunlight. Pollution lay thick and heavy
through an endless stand of desolate trees. Edgar looked for
some mechanism that might shut the door from the outside, but
there was nothing to be found. This should have alerted Edgar
to another way out from the inside, a way that could allow the
door to remain shut, but he didn't make the connection.
You'll have to make do on your own until I come back.
Edgar pocketed the disk and started off, keeping an eye on the
widest of the trees in case he had to climb one in order to hide
from an oncoming threat. He looked back at the Raven, but it
had already disappeared in the thick smog of the forsaken
wood.
CHAPTER 11THE KEY TO
MULCIBER
"I'm never going to forgive him. Never, ever, ever."
Samuel sat next to Isabel and listened to her grumbling as they
watched Maude walk away. Maude had done what she had
promised, giving the tablet to Samuel and telling the two of
them where Edgar had gone. But Maude didn't have the will to
involve herself any more than she had to. She and her husband
Briney's life had returned to its normal state of simplicity and
she liked it that way. If trouble was coming she'd deal with it on
arrival and not a moment sooner.
"You'll have to forgive him," said Samuel. "It's what he does,
and he knows you'd only want to stop him. You can't make him