The Dark Planet

Vasher's bed."

  Landon blinked rapidly in the candlelight. It was a small, soft

  light, but it still made his eyes sting at the edges.

  "Vasher's not so bad. And he takes care of me. He's just scared,

  that's all."

  "I know, Landon. I like him, it's just, well, this is going to sound

  really strange, but I think something is hidden there that will

  help us. I'm not going to hurt him or take anything from him.

  Really I'm not."

  Landon didn't see the harm in lifting the bed and looking

  underneath, so he shrugged and got up. Edgar followed, and

  when they arrived at the foot of the bunk, he lifted it ever so

  slowly, just two inches above the floor. Vasher stirred but did

  not wake. Landon peeked underneath but found nothing.

  "Try the posts," whispered Edgar.

  Landon felt the bottoms of the metal pilings that held the bed.

  He shook his head, not finding anything, but Edgar wasn't

  satisfied. He held the bed with one hand, which was difficult

  because it was heavy, and he made a spinning motion with his

  other hand.

  Landon took the hint and began trying to turn the bottom of one

  of the metal legs. Nothing. He moved around Edgar and tried

  the second leg, and this time the bottom part began to turn. He

  looked up, smiling excitedly at Edgar, set the candle down on

  its fat bottom, and began spinning faster with both hands. Soon

  the leg was off and he pulled it free. He dug out a rolled-up

  piece of paper and held it up in victory, then put the leg back

  where it had been.

  When Edgar set the end of the bed down it made a small sound

  and Vasher sat up in bed.

  "I'm not eating that! I don't care if it's all there is. I won't eat it!"

  It was the gibberish of a dream. "It's okay, Vash, lie down," said

  Landon softly. "No one's going to make you eat anything you

  don't want to."

  "That's more like it!" said Vasher, lying back down and closing

  his eyes.

  When Edgar and Landon were back at their beds Landon

  handed Edgar the folded-up piece of paper.

  "He talks in his sleep like that. Sometimes he walks around,

  too. That's a little scarier."

  "Thank you, Landon," said Edgar earnestly, sure this new clue

  would reveal something important.

  "Do you have to look at it right now? They'll be waiting for us."

  "Who'll be waiting?"

  "You'll see," said Landon.

  Edgar looked at the folded paper. He could hardly wait to open

  it, but he was also curious about who Landon wanted him to

  meet and where.

  "Where are we going?" asked Edgar. And then Edgar heard

  Landon whisper just the kind of words he loved to hear.

  "Stay close and I'll show you the way. We're getting out of

  here."

  CHAPTER 18THE VINE ROOM

  Landon pulled Edgar down the center row of beds and stopped

  short when he reached Vasher's bunk.

  "Vash," said Landon, shaking Vasher's foot. "Wake up. We're

  going."

  Vasher mumbled and rolled over. "Go on without me," came his

  exhausted voice out of the darkness. "I'm too tired."

  The sound of grumbling came from a bunk nearby and Landon

  pulled Edgar farther along.

  "He sleeps like the dead lately," whispered Landon. "That

  happens to boys when they go over 4000. I've seen it before."

  They came to the slick metal wall and Landon blew out the

  candle, setting it carefully in the corner to be picked up on their

  return trip. The world was suddenly very dark.

  "Something tells me you're a good climber, so you shouldn't

  have any trouble with this. Just feel for my feet and stay close

  behind. It isn't very far."

  Edgar nodded, then realized Landon couldn't see him and said:

  "Got it."

  He could feel Landon moving above him and followed, gripping

  a series of round pipes before reaching the girders that snaked

  along the ceiling. The metal girders were very good for

  climbing, with wide gaps to pass through and crawl on top of

  like a spider.

  "Be careful with this next part," said Landon. "We'll be going

  down."

  Soon there came a T in the passage. The space was so small

  Edgar had to guide his feet back first, bending his knees then

  curving his body to get all the way flat at the bottom.

  "This way," Landon called from a surprising distance down the

  corridor. Soft light crept into the duct as Edgar scrambled to

  catch up. And there was something else--roots or vines that

  crawled all along the sides of the passage like they were trying

  to take over the place. Edgar saw shadows dancing in front of

  him as Landon moved like a cat in the cramped space.

  "Almost there!" Landon's voice echoed through the narrow

  passageway. "One more turn and you've got it."

  The snakelike roots had turned lush and green, and the tunnel

  leading down was loaded with leaves shot through with pale

  light from below. Edgar had been crawling headfirst in the

  downward stretches and wished he hadn't this last time,

  because he could see as he passed through the thickest of the

  leaves that this passage would end in open air and hanging

  vines.

  Landon's head popped into view as a silhouette against the dim

  light below.

  "Just let go," said Landon. "You can catch a vine on the way

  out."

  Edgar wasn't sure about this idea, and instead reached the

  opening and poked his head out into the vine room. The vines

  hung close together and they were full with green and yellow

  leaves. It was like a jungle held captive from the outside world.

  Landon had slid down and hung well below the entrance now.

  "Getting back to our beds will be some work, but it's worth it," he

  said. He was hanging from one of the long vines, swaying softly

  back and forth.

  Edgar heard something coming toward them, but he couldn't

  see what it was. Without warning someone slammed into

  Landon, sending him flying off to another vine and grabbing

  hold with a shout.

  "Hey! We just got here! You could have waited long enough to

  --"

  Landon couldn't finish what he was saying because someone

  else flew in from the other direction on a different vine and

  slammed into Landon again. This time he held on but only

  barely, flopping wildly through the air.

  "Help me, Edgar! They're attacking!"

  "What's happening?" yelled Edgar. He couldn't tell what was

  going on for sure, only that his friend was being clobbered.

  Edgar dropped out of the hole in the ceiling and grabbed a vine.

  He felt natural curls and loops in the vine that he could easily

  slide his feet into.

  "Here they come again!" yelled Landon. "Grab another vine and

  head for the wall!"

  Edgar moved as quickly as he could in the direction of Landon's

  voice.

  "This way, Edgar!" he cried, and then right after, "Ooommmph!"

  He'd been tagged again and spun aimlessly below.

  "Keep going for the wall! They can't get you there."

  Ed
gar sensed something was heading toward him and he sped

  up, leaping from vine to vine and feeling the sting at every point

  on his back and legs where he'd been beaten by Red Eye and

  Socket.

  Someone swished past, barely missing Edgar as they went.

  Whoever it was called out with a hooting sound. Whoo! Whoo!

  The hooting was returned from Edgar's left, and he barely had

  time to brace himself before someone flew overhead, grabbed

  the vine he was on from above, and plucked it like a guitar

  string. The vine wobbled violently and Edgar held on for dear

  life.

  Just when he felt under control a second attack occurred, and

  this one did him in. The assailant flew past, chopping at Edgar's

  arms as they went. Edgar let go and free-fell backward,

  dangling from the loop that held one foot.

  "Don't feel too bad," said Landon from below. Edgar couldn't

  see him, but if he had been able to, he would have seen that

  Landon was also hanging upside down. "They're really good

  and you're new at this."

  Edgar was completely confused. What had just happened?

  "Do you want some help getting out of that loop?"

  The voice came from somewhere above Edgar. Craning his

  neck to see, he realized who it was.

  "Aggie?"

  "And Teagan," said her friend, hanging nearby.

  Aggie looked better than when he'd seen her before. Her face

  actually had some color in it and her eyes seemed brighter and

  less hollow.

  "Vash hasn't been showing up lately. It's nice to have a team of

  boys to beat again," said Aggie.

  "Woooohoooo!"

  Edgar heard the sound below him and wondered what Landon

  was doing down there.

  "The best way down," said Teagan, "is to let go and fly." And

  just like that Teagan let go of her vine and dropped like a rock

  toward the bottom.

  "But you'll get hurt!" said Edgar, grabbing a vine and swinging

  himself back up again.

  Aggie pulled back and forth on two vines until she was

  swinging in a wide arc.

  "Don't want to land on top of her," she said. And then Aggie

  dove free of the vine and howled all the way to the bottom.

  "Come on, Edgar!" yelled Landon. "It's not that far! You can do

  it!"

  Edgar couldn't see the bottom, but the voice didn't sound so

  very far away. Shadows danced every where, like he was in a

  thick jungle with a full moon above.

  "We're clear of you, it's safe to drop."

  Edgar took a deep breath and let go, falling fast through leaves

  and knocking countless flowers that would never bloom free

  from their vines. It snowed buds all around him, and below they

  formed a thick carpet.

  Edgar tucked into a ball as he hit and it was pure magic. Soft

  golden buds exploded every where and broke his fall. He never

  did hit the very bottom, but the layers grew denser the deeper

  they went.

  Edgar popped up on his feet and saw Aggie, Teagan, and

  Landon lying on the top of the sea of gold. Edgar's entire body

  except for his head was submerged in the deep golden sea.

  "Happens every time," said Aggie. "Next time lie out flat and

  you'll stay on top."

  She rolled along the top layer, light as a feather, until she

  reached the wall. Then she climbed up onto a vine, swung

  across until she hovered above Edgar, and told him to grab her

  feet. He did as he was told and pulled himself up. When the four

  of them all hung together again, pushing idly against the wall

  and laughing softly, the real talking began.

  "They have to leave the lights on in this room or the vines will

  die," Aggie explained. "And Red Eye and Socket never come

  down here at night. Once they're locked away in the machine

  room they hardly ever stir. I'm not sure who discovered the

  ducts first, but kids have known about them for a long time. Most

  of them are too afraid to leave the barracks, but we come here

  and play when we're not too tired."

  Edgar knew then he could trust them, that children on the Dark

  Planet were the same as children on Atherton.

  "When we were in the drying room, you said something to me,"

  said Aggie. Her eyes sparkled in the golden light of the room,

  and even with the close-cropped hair and slightly sunken eyes

  she was very pretty. "You said Atherton was real. How do you

  know that?"

  "What do you know about Atherton?" asked Edgar.

  "Everyone's heard of Atherton, especially around here," said

  Landon. "It's our favorite story."

  "How does it go?" asked Edgar, amazed that the truth might

  have passed into the things of legend and fairy tales.

  "It begins with a boy named Max who lived here a long time

  ago," said Landon.

  Teagan jumped in. She absolutely loved telling the story and

  couldn't help herself.

  "Max was very small and super smart. No one could say where

  he'd come from, only that he wandered into the forsaken wood

  one day like so many others. Back in those days there was a

  place called the yards where they let the children out to play.

  That was before the Cleaners and the Spikers came, before the

  air got harder to breathe and everyone who stayed out too long

  got the sockets and the jitters."

  There was some collective nervous laughter and Aggie looked

  down, rubbing her temple and closing her eyes. She didn't want

  Edgar to notice that she had been out a little too long, that it

  showed in her eyes. But Edgar couldn't have minded less.

  "It was a sort of playground," said Landon. "There was an old

  merry-go-round and a slide with some steps missing, and there

  were neat statues of things that the kids would climb on. Plus a

  lot of dirt and sand from the sea."

  Teagan jumped in. "Anyway, Max was small and the older boys

  picked on him. So he made all sorts of gadgets out of parts he

  found in the Silo. He would collect old motors and bolts and

  pieces of metal from the engine room. Back then you could do

  that, and you could get old chargers, too. And he would sneak

  away from the yards over by Station Seven and look through all

  the junk. There were tubes of this and that and wires and bottles

  of potion and lots of strange things! He would take them and

  make amazing inventions. The older boys stopped tormenting

  Max when a metal spider crawled on their legs at night and

  clamped down on their toes!"

  "I love this part," said Landon. He was still young enough to

  hear the same story for the twentieth time and like it just as

  much.

  "Max was more than just smart, he was different. He saw things

  no one else saw, had ideas no one else had. Under his bed

  was like a tiny laboratory filled with every kind of trapped bug

  and seed he could find from the outside. There were

  concoctions and witches' brews and tubes of glowing green. He

  made small bugs bigger and stranger and let them loose on the

  bigger boys. They were so afraid of Max!"

  "He sounds like a little mad scientist," said Edgar, unable t
o

  keep his mouth shut as he heard of his maker's early exploits.

  But they didn't like that description and scowled at him,

  especially Landon.

  "Then one day a very famous scientist--the most famous ever,

  in fact--saw Max in the yards and talked with him. He thought

  this small boy from the Silo might be a help to the people who

  were trying to fix the broken world. And so Max went to Station

  Seven, but he never forgot about the Silo. Never! "

  "How do you know he never forgot?" asked Edgar.

  "Because he kept coming back. All the time after that he would

  come back. He invented these vines and the seeds that never

  flower and the powder blocking and--wel , he invented every

  thing. At least that's what he did in the story I'm telling you. It

  was a long time ago, way before we showed up here, and no

  one seems to know what really happened."

  "What then?" said Edgar.

  "They say he invented the best thing there ever was," said

  Aggie. She was watching Edgar to see how he would react.

  "He made Atherton. And he put all sorts of creatures there,

  including Gossamer, the black dragon."

  "The what?" said Edgar, finally finding something in the story

  that even he couldn't believe.

  "The black dragon!" said Landon. "The one that has more

  power than any other dragon! Its only job is to protect children,

  and it lives on Atherton. But one day it will come back here and

  kill all the bad beasts in the forsaken wood."

  "Oh," said Edgar, not sure how or when he would break the

  news to Landon that no such creature existed.

  "And then Max went to Atherton and never came back," said

  Aggie, picking up where Landon had left off. She sounded a bit

  sad as she went on. "It's the only fairy tale we've got about the

  Silo, and it ends rather badly. Max Harding became Dr. Harding

  and made a new world for all the children. But then he

  disappeared and forgot about us. Some say he's coming back,

  but I mostly think that's just so they have some thing to believe

  in. I think it's just a story that gives some of us hope."

  "Is the story true?" asked Edgar, turning to Teagan and Landon

  for help.

  "I hope it's true," said Teagan. "I want to know what if feels like

  to breathe clean air and take a long walk outside under the

  stars at night. I haven't seen a star in a long time."

  "Atherton's real," said Landon. "I know it's real, and I think Dr.

  Harding's coming back soon. I'm just about sure of it, actually."