The Dark Planet

  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