The Dark Planet

  and Socket stayed pinned to the wall the entire time as white

  Ravens raced by.

  At last winter was over, and the black Raven came to rest on

  the floor of the chamber, its door wide open.

  "All of its spikes are gone," Edgar pointed out. What remained

  looked like a gigantic egg filled with liquid.

  "Are those cave eels?' asked Isabel. "And firebugs--do I see red

  firebugs?"

  "It's okay, Isabel," said Edgar. "They're contained inside their

  own space. There's a layer of glass, then a few feet of liquid,

  then another layer of glass, then the inside of the Raven-understand? They're trapped."

  He glanced across the way at Red Eye and Socket.

  "Let's get inside fast," said Edgar. "I think I'd rather send

  someone else down here to get those two."

  Edgar entered first so that he could show Isabel how safe it

  was, and everyone else followed quickly behind. Edgar poked

  his head out the door and saw Red Eye and Socket running for

  the Raven. He set the black disk on the table and the door

  closed.

  "I think a good long wait will do them some good," said Edgar.

  He looked at Isabel, Samuel, and everyone from the green team

  and his heart swelled. Six close friends were more than he

  could have hoped for. He wanted nothing more than to bring

  them all safely back to the grove.

  "Come on," said Edgar. "It's time we were getting back home."

  "You mean it gets better?" said Landon, smiling from ear to ear.

  "Wait until you try Black and Green," assured Isabel. "There's

  nothing quite like it."

  Vasher looked at Teagan. "What's Black and Green?"

  "Who cares!" she laughed, drawing in a huge breath of air and

  letting it out with a sigh. Vasher did the same. He could feel the

  pristine air that surrounded Atherton healing him by the minute.

  Everyone else on the green team was feeling better, too. Their

  eyes didn't sting so much and their lungs were tingling with

  energy.

  As everyone chose their seats Aggie explained what it would

  feel like to Samuel and Isabel. Edgar set the black disk on the

  table between them and red firebugs emerged.

  "Are you ready to see your new home?" asked Edgar, gazing at

  each of his new friends and settling on Aggie. He could imagine

  walking along the lake with her at night, maybe even holding

  her hand.

  "We've been ready for a while," said Vasher.

  Edgar nodded, set course for the grove, and sat back in his

  chair. He closed his eyes and Hope's face flashed before him

  and he was sad, thinking of her and all the children stuck in the

  Silo. He tried to imagine what would happen to the Dark Planet,

  but he could not put the pieces together.

  In time he would learn the truth.

  CHAPTER 28THE STORY OF

  ATHERTONFINDS ITS END

  Edgar had only a few hours to gather everyone. He woke early,

  nudged Landon awake, and crossed over to the table in Dr.

  Kincaid's cave. A pitcher of water awaited him along with fig

  butter and bread from the night before. Bread! It was one of the

  things he had so appreciated about having Samuel as one of

  his best friends. His mother had been the baker in the House of

  Power, and there was never a shortage of leftover buns or

  biscuits or loaves at the Inn.

  "Better wake him up," said Edgar, his mouth already full so that

  Landon could hardly understand him. Landon jumped out of

  bed and gobbled down some bread, then guzzled water right

  from the pitcher.

  "Get up Vash! It's the day--the day we've all been waiting for,"

  said Landon.

  Vasher didn't move. He and Edgar and Landon had become

  like three brothers living under the same roof. Vasher treated

  Landon like a little brother, but never Edgar. And the feeling of

  being brothers was somehow perfect, because it left an opening

  for Samuel to be best friend to all three.

  "He's not going to wake up," said Landon, taking a second bite

  of bread slathered with fig butter. "It's way too early."

  Edgar put his hand in the pitcher and cupped a small amount of

  water, then he stood over Vasher and let it drip, drip, drip onto

  his face.

  "That should do it," said Landon, and sure enough Vasher was

  up out of his bed in a flash.

  "Grab some breakfast," said Edgar. "We're going to be late."

  Though Vasher had calmed down noticeably since his arrival

  on Atherton, he still loved to sleep. Sometimes Vasher thought

  about the passageway of lies. A few more days on the Dark

  Planet and he would have been in the ser vice of Captain

  Grammel. He might even be dead.

  Neither Vasher nor Landon put on their goggles when they left

  the dim light of the cave and stepped into the light of Atherton.

  Something about the clean air and cobalt blue sky had healed

  them over a period of weeks during which Dr. Kincaid had been

  giving them a home brew of herbs and spices. It was almost

  impossible to choke down. According to the old scientist, the

  concoction was designed to "clean every bit of gunk out of your

  system."

  Everyone missed Dr. Kincaid and his ever-present companion,

  Vincent. The two men hadn't been seen on Atherton for almost

  a month, but the day had come when they were scheduled to

  appear once more.

  Soon the three boys arrived at the Inn, which had become the

  center of the community on Atherton. The Inn sat near the water

  at the edge of the biggest grove, where hundreds of people

  gathered regularly. Briney, who had long prepared all the rabbit

  and mutton at the old inn had remained the head cook.

  Samuel's mother was the baker. A cook who had managed to

  escape the House of Power made all the soups and stews.

  But it was Briney's wife, Maude, the very woman who'd gotten

  the tablet from Edgar and given it to Samuel and Isabel, who

  managed the Inn and kept every thing organized. With the

  arrival of Aggie and Teagan, Maude had decided to leave her

  days of herding sheep. Her season of silence had come to an

  end, but she would forever remember it as a time when she was

  preparing to become a mother for two girls from the Dark Planet.

  "Aggie!" said Landon impatiently, seeing her and Teagan at

  Maude's side as they talked with Samuel's mother in the

  kitchen. "Come on! We have to go!"

  Aggie and Teagan were both apprentice bakers and they were,

  at this moment, covered with flour from head to toe. Maude

  nodded her approval. She and everyone else on Atherton had

  known this day was coming and had already agreed to let them

  go.

  "Be careful," Maude said as both girls removed their aprons and

  stood in front of their new caretaker. Their hair had grown an

  inch or more already, and Maude whisked the flour from both

  their heads.

  "Don't get too close to the edge."

  "Samuel will be waiting for you out front," said Samuel's mother,

  nodding toward the door. "You know how he hates to come in

  here while I'm working. Always nervous
I'm going to give him

  something to do."

  Landon was eyeing a freshly baked row of loaves as the two

  girls dashed toward the door.

  "Already got a bag packed for you," said Briney, coming in from

  the back room with two cloth sacks, one in each hand.

  "Dr. Harding and Vincent will want a feast, I'm sure." He lifted

  one of the heavy bags. "This one's got your bag of fresh water,

  your sticks for roasting, lighting flint, and your dried figs for

  making a nice fire to cook over." He lifted the other bag. "Two

  loaves and two wrapped and ready rabbits. They're good for the

  morning, but cook 'em up by noon."

  "No Black and Green?" asked Landon, who had stepped into

  the Inn to take the bags. He'd had Cleaner many times since his

  arrival and absolutely loved the sweet and salty taste.

  "Too messy," said Briney. "We'll save it for tonight at the big

  celebration."

  Briney handed off the bags and Landon scurried for the door.

  An early morning crowd was starting to gather, looking for the

  Inn's famous morning fig biscuits and sticky fig buns.

  Samuel and Isabel had arrived with the crowd, and the moment

  Landon stepped outside Samuel waved all of the green team

  along with Edgar and Isabel away from the Inn. "We better get

  out of here before my mom puts us to work. If we stand around

  she'll have us delivering sticky buns all over the grove."

  The group of seven started off, talking and laughing as they

  went. They were like a collection of oddly shaped magnets,

  able to pull apart for a while, but always drawn back together

  where they felt most comfortable. They walked past a poorly

  built shack sitting at the end of a long pier and saw two men

  sitting out front gutting Cleaners. It was a truly disgusting and

  slimy job, the one job no one on Atherton wanted to do. But

  someone had to do it.

  "Hi, Red Eye," yel ed Aggie, though she knew he couldn't hear

  her.

  "What's that you say?" said Socket, his ears buzzing. They

  worked for Mr. Crane, who was a very demanding boss, and

  they lived in the little shack at the end of the pier. Red Eye and

  Socket kept to themselves mostly, but they seemed to find some

  sort of peace there by the lake.

  Sometimes Edgar would walk by at night and see them staring

  out at the water, neither of them saying a word, and he

  wondered what they were thinking. Edgar imagined they

  probably had some regrets. Maybe Red Eye and Socket wished

  they could go back to the Silo and do things differently, or

  maybe they'd do it all the same if they were given the chance.

  One thing was certain--there were enough Cleaners to be

  gutted to last them a lifetime, so they were going to have a lot of

  time to think about what they'd done.

  It took the group a while to walk to the very place where Edgar's

  trip to the Dark Planet had begun. They went straight to the rim

  of Atherton, crawling on all fours so they could peek out and

  see what they could see. But it was daytime so they couldn't

  make out much of anything; only blue sky in every direction. But

  at night every thing would change. Then, just like on the Dark

  Planet, they would be able to see the whole universe laid out

  before them. The night stars were there for both worlds to see.

  "Do you think it looks any different?" asked Aggie, unable to

  see her old home but thinking of little else. "I wonder how the

  other teams at the Silo are doing. And Hope--I wonder if she's

  okay."

  They had all wondered the same things. They'd made a solemn

  promise not to go near the edge for two months--sixty days!-and even Edgar had kept his word. For whatever reason, Dr.

  Kincaid wanted them to stay away until the Raven returned. So

  they had kept the promise, though it had been very tempting to

  sneak away at night and peer out over the flat edge of Atherton.

  It was midmorning as they backed away and opened the bags.

  "Let's start the fire and cook the rabbits," said Landon. "They'll

  be here soon and we can have it all ready."

  Everyone thought this sounded like a good idea. It would keep

  them busy while they waited, and besides, they had grown

  hungry on the long walk. They set to work starting the fire,

  skewering the whole rabbits, laying out the bread and leather

  bag of water.

  They became so involved in setting up the feast that none of

  them saw the Raven come silently into view. It made a distinct

  sound of many sharp points hitting a hard surface when it

  landed and everyone jumped up.

  "It's got its spikes back!" Vasher said. The Raven looked as

  scary as ever.

  The door opened and Dr. Kincaid emerged with Vincent. Edgar

  thought Dr. Kincaid looked a little less ancient on his return, like

  a long sadness had been lifted and it had given him a new

  lease on life. They hugged and laughed and the questions flew,

  all of them deflected until they sat together around the fire and

  the crackling rabbits.

  "They smell marvelous!" said Vincent. Landon watched as Dr.

  Kincaid peeked curiously inside one of the empty bags. He had

  only known Dr. Kincaid a short time, but already Landon knew

  the old man's great love of a certain kind of food.

  "Briney said if I bring you to the party there'll be plenty of Black

  and Green," said Landon.

  "A clever one, that Briney," said Dr. Kincaid. "He knows how I

  hate parties."

  The doctor smiled at the amazing new eight-year-old who had

  arrived on Atherton. "I suppose we'll have to go, won't we?"

  "I suppose we will," said Landon.

  Dr. Kincaid glanced at Vincent with a knowing look, and then

  turned his gaze on everyone.

  And this is what he said.

  "You can interrupt me if you must, but I think it will be better if

  you don't. Try to let me tell it all at once, then you can ask your

  questions."

  He had been thinking of how he would tell them on the whole

  journey home. Dr. Maximus Harding had always loved a good

  story told well, and Dr. Kincaid aimed to honor the maker of

  Atherton.

  "It took me a while to piece every thing together, but after

  studying the items in his laboratory more carefully, visiting the

  secret room under the yards, and talking with a lot of people,

  including Hope, I believe I have the whole of what Dr. Harding

  has done in hand."

  Everyone's eyes lit up at the sound of Hope's name and they all

  opened their mouths, desperate to ask about their friend. The

  firm look on Dr. Kincaid's face stopped them all.

  "We will get to Hope soon enough," he said. "You have my

  word. But first to the matter of the chill of winter."

  Vincent settled in by the fire and began turning one of the

  neglected rabbits over the coals. He was content to let Dr.

  Kincaid tell the whole tale.

  "The migration of white Ravens--as you so kindly named them-numbered in the hundreds of thousands. So the first thing we

  have figured out is this: It would appear Dr. Harding used

&nbs
p; Atherton not only as a new home for a very few, but far more

  significantly, as an incubator for something awfully important.

  "He was smart enough to realize that telling others would only

  lead to problems. If Commander Judix had found out--which

  she almost certainly would have with her powers of

  persuasion--she might have corrupted every thing. Too much

  meddling and Atherton probably would have never performed

  its task. Trust me as you go out in the world: Decisions by

  committee are almost always long in coming and dead wrong.

  A world-changing vision comes from one person, not five or

  twenty or a hundred, and more often than not, the best of plans

  are laid to waste by the many."

  Teagan was fidgeting, trying not to ask about Commander

  Judix. What had happened to her? Was she still in control of

  Station Seven? Was she even alive? Teagan barely held her

  tongue as Dr. Kincaid went on with the story.

  "The white Ravens could not have been formed by any other

  method or in any other place besides Atherton. For reasons I

  can't fully understand, these incredible objects are the product

  of a changing Atherton. The swimming Cleaners are involved in

  the deepest part of the lake, the eels and firebugs and rivers of

  fire all play their part. I think even we play a part. The powder

  block was the final element, the trigger if you will, that turned the

  caterpillar into a butterfly."

  Dr. Kincaid received some confused looks for this last

  comment, but he raced onward before anyone could ask a

  question.

  "As I said, the white Ravens left Atherton by the hundreds of

  thousands, and many of them circle the globe still. They release

  crystals into the air by the trillions. Day and night, from high in

  the sky of the Dark Planet, the crystals seem to melt and break

  free, falling through the muck and filth of a broken world, and in

  so doing, change every thing."

  Dr. Kincaid poked his finger at one of the rabbits. "Those are

  done," he said, his mouth watering at the thought of such a

  tempting treat. Vincent pulled the spit off and slid the rabbits

  onto one of the cloth bags. The cooked meat steamed as Dr.

  Kincaid pulled off a leg and began eating. It was nearly

  impossible not to ask a question or two while he enjoyed the

  food, but everyone held firm as they'd been instructed, and after

  he finished the leg he was back to the story of what they'd