The Dark Planet

  or more feet across. Edgar felt a growing exhilaration as he

  turned and kicked his feet over and into the long chasm.

  "Remember," said Vincent. "To the docking station and back

  and no more, and only if you can manage it. I can't come down

  after you. No one can. But I'll wait for you."

  "You shouldn't expect my return until after nightfall," said Edgar.

  He secretly knew that he could get to the bottom in only a

  couple of hours if he wanted to. But he didn't want to be in the

  least bit rushed in case his plans changed. "Six or seven hours,

  I would guess."

  Vincent nodded, astounded by what Edgar was capable of.

  Seven hours of climbing up and down the side of a wall of

  stone? He wondered what Dr. Harding had done to Edgar that

  made him so strong.

  "Be careful," said Vincent.

  And with that, Edgar was gone. Faster than Vincent believed

  possible, Edgar was so far down the crevice he could only

  barely be seen.

  Edgar will be gone a long while, Vincent pondered. I must talk

  to Dr. Kincaid alone.

  With that, Vincent set off at a quick pace in search of more

  answers about Edgar, the Dark Planet, and the docking station.

  Very soon Edgar was out of the crevice that had been cut into

  Atherton and climbing on the outer surface. There were many

  paths he could have taken that led down the side, but he knew

  which one was the longest and started down at its wide

  beginning. For a long time there were no holes at all as he'd

  remembered, but then the way down started to narrow and the

  first of many holes came into view. It was three feet around and

  there was plenty of room to avoid the glowing orange edge of

  the path.

  Edgar heard the strange sound as he passed by--a swishing,

  like something moving back and forth inside, and a hissing. I

  can't understand why any of this is here, thought Edgar, the face

  of Dr. Harding clear in his mind. What were you thinking?

  Edgar had to travel slowly in order to remain perfectly quiet as

  he went farther down. As he moved, the holes became more

  numerous and difficult to avoid. He was dripping with sweat

  from head to toe and it was beginning to make his hands

  slippery as Vincent had feared. But Edgar had filled his pockets

  with gritty dirt that he could use to dry his hands when needed.

  The bottom of Atherton was truly made for climbing, and this

  was his great salvation. There was an endless supply of easy

  handholds to choose from.

  "Now comes the hard part," Edgar whispered. He had come to

  the end of his knowledge of the bottom of Atherton. Removing a

  small rabbit skin tied to his belt and filled with water, Edgar

  drank what had once been cool water from the lake. It had

  turned warm, but the water revived him nevertheless.

  The farther down the shard one went the narrower it became;

  and all the while the holes grew larger. It was hard not to

  imagine that whatever lurked inside was getting bigger as well.

  It seemed like the most inopportune time to be climbing closer,

  and yet he had no choice. Either he would have to cross very

  near the largest of the holes or turn back. There was no other

  way down.

  Seven holes, he thought, seeing what lay beneath him. If I can

  just get past them it looks clear on the other side. The path was

  now only twenty feet across, with a great sea of glowing orange

  on either side.

  Edgar could feel his pounding heart race faster and faster as he

  passed between the first three of the seven holes without

  hearing or seeing anything. Then he moved between the cluster

  of remaining four holes and stopped stone-cold.

  He looked back at the first three holes where a familiar clicking

  sound had begun, now more loudly than before. It grew even

  worse as the sound echoed from holes he had yet to pass by.

  His hands slippery and sweat dripping into his eyes, Edgar

  realized with terror that he was trapped in the middle of a field of

  holes from which unknown creatures were about to emerge.

  Edgar glanced up and saw two beams of white light coming

  from inside one of the holes he'd passed. He was totally frozen

  with fear as the head of a creature emerged, encrusted with

  sharp chunks of glowing red and orange stones. The beams of

  light came from its hollow eye sockets.

  The outrageous creature opened its huge mouth and lunged out

  of the hole, down toward the climbing boy, and slammed its

  jaws of stone inches above Edgar's head. Orange slime slid

  from its mouth as it recoiled in a flash of light, as if its tail were

  attached to a great spring that pulled it violently back into the

  hole. It crashed back and forth against the surface of Atherton,

  howling horribly.

  The moment the lights were gone the two other holes Edgar

  had passed lit up with dancing white beams of their own. Two

  monsters shot out of their holes above Edgar and their horrible

  teeth went SLAM! SLAM! against the rock. If a person could

  climb and run at the same time, Edgar was doing just that as he

  charged recklessly down the side of Atherton.

  "Dr. Harding! What's wrong with you!" cried Edgar as the

  monsters flipped wildly back into their holes.

  Whatever was dripping from the mouths of these stoneencrusted monsters was melting the very surface of Atherton. It

  fizzled and crackled and let off a rancid black smoke.

  From below, Edgar heard the clicking and hissing and

  snapping of jaws. Another monster, its rock-covered head

  glowing sickeningly, was out of its hole, and it appeared to be

  sniffing the air. It turned its awful sockets of light on Edgar and

  disappeared with a grinding sound.

  That thing is coiling up down there, thought Edgar. It's going to

  spring!

  Edgar practically dove to one side in the wildest, fastest

  climbing maneuver he'd ever imagined. He was almost rol ing

  out of the way as the beast sprang, swinging its head and

  snapping uncontrollably in the open air. Orange slime flew

  everywhere as the monster reached the end of its hidden spring

  and snapped back.

  Edgar watched in horror as he saw his leather water bag melt

  and steam, covered in deadly sludge. The orange goo fizzed all

  around him, but there was yet a path to the bottom. Edgar

  became so focused on escaping through the field of seven

  holes that he didn't realize how far he'd gone.

  Soon, without a clue of how he'd done so, Edgar found himself

  not only through the field of holes but well clear of them.

  Looking back, he saw four more beams of light emerging, but

  Edgar was far enough out of their reach. They only screamed in

  anger when they trained their hollow eyes on the distant

  intruder.

  Edgar breathed a long sigh of relief, but his eyes were filled

  with concern. By coming this far he had trapped himself behind

  a wall of monsters waiting for his return.

  What am I going to do now? he asked himself, looking up at the

  perilous way he'd pass
ed through. I can't go through that again.

  I'd never make it twice, especially trying to climb up instead of

  down. They'd have me for sure.

  Another twenty feet beneath him, Edgar spotted the largest hole

  of them all. From what Edgar could tell given the angle, it might

  be as big as ten feet around.

  Edgar glanced to his right and left. Everything he saw was

  orange and glassy. It looked as though the inside of Atherton

  was filled with a lake of fire and covered with a thick, foggy

  glass.

  "I have to get out of here," Edgar told himself. He quickly chose

  his route and imagined how fast he could climb past the

  remaining hole, and then he was off and moving like a startled

  spider. He glanced inside the great hole as he passed by,

  expecting to see two beams of light.

  But there was no light, no sound.

  What's this new trick you're trying to play on me? thought Edgar.

  He had come to see Atherton as a living, breathing creature full

  of every kind of surprise. Just because he didn't see any light

  didn't mean something wasn't about to try to eat him.

  Edgar's hands were growing so hot from the surface he could

  hold on with only one hand at a time, letting each hand cool off

  every few seconds.

  At last Edgar came to the very end of the longest path down the

  side of Atherton. The great hole sat much closer to the bottom

  than Edgar had realized at first. There were only a few feet on

  the other side, and he hung there, hot and scared half to death.

  His hands started to slip as he tried to figure out what to do.

  "There's no place left for me to go," said Edgar, pulling himself

  up and peeking into the hole. There was nothing, just a dull

  silence and a dark passageway. He lifted himself and sat down

  at the very edge of the hole.

  He felt heavy. At first he thought this was because he was tired,

  but he soon realized that gravity was now pulling down on his

  feet more than it had on the surface of Atherton. He found that

  even the simple task of walking was difficult, as if he had giant

  rocks tied to his feet. Even his face felt as if it were being pulled

  downward.

  "What is this place?" Edgar said, though it came out slurry and

  weak.

  Along the walls of the hole Edgar could see that something had

  been here before. The walls were--what was it?-- scraped.

  Something big had passed through here more than once.

  Something really big. It was wide enough to span the space

  and touch the walls as it passed through. Edgar took two steps

  forward and then, to his great surprise, he heard a new sound

  from deep inside.

  Whatever it was did not sound happy to see him.

  CHAPTER 5ACROSS THE

  BURNINGBRIDGE OF STONE

  Teagan awoke with a start in the Silo. The whole world of the

  Dark Planet seemed to have turned ominously quiet apart from

  a single sound in the night. The sound of a bender being put to

  work on a child.

  "They took her while we were sleeping!" shouted Teagan. She

  glanced over, still hoping she might see her closest friend in the

  shadowy light drifting in from the hallway. But Aggie was gone.

  Only her covers remained in a bunch at the foot of her rusted

  old cot.

  "Quiet, Teagan," said a small voice from another bed. "Or they'll

  come for you, too."

  They were all awake now, so everyone had heard when the

  bender snapped against Aggie's skin out in the hal way. They

  had heard her cry, and its haunting echo. Red Eye and Socket

  kept the door to the barracks open for a reason.

  "Leave her alone!" said Teagan, sitting up in bed without a clue

  of how to stop them. And then she thought of the one person

  who might be able to help them and called out her name.

  "Hope!"

  "Teagan, no!" said the same small voice. "Lie down and act like

  you're asleep, you fool!"

  But it was too late. Red Eye's horrible shadow appeared in the

  doorway. His head was a misshapen silhouette of goggles and

  tousled hair. The bender swished back and forth in front of him

  as he entered barracks number three.

  There was another snap! from the bender in the hall, and the

  sound of Aggie's wince. Teagan began to cry. She hated the

  Silo so much it was almost more than she could take. She was

  very near doing something stupid like jumping out of bed and

  running to find Aggie in the hall. She dreamed of having the

  bender herself and using it on Red Eye and Socket, beating

  them until they ran outside and were eaten by the monsters that

  lurked there.

  "Hope's not going to help you. She knows better than to

  interfere in our business," said Red Eye. "The only person we

  answer to is Commander Judix, and she gave us free reign of

  this place a long time ago."

  The mere sound of the name Judix caused a wave of quiet

  gasps from many of the beds. Judix hadn't visited the Silo in a

  long time, but the Commander's power and cruelty were

  legendary.

  Red Eye stood over Teagan's bed, glaring down at her and

  running the hard edge of the metal whip against the rusting iron

  frame of her bed. He wiped his filthy nose on his even filthier

  sleeve. The light had made his eyes and nose run

  uncontrollably so that his face was damp and sickly in the soft

  glow of the room.

  "It's okay, Teagan."

  Teagan turned to the doorway and saw Aggie staggering in.

  Her voice was shaky, as if she were in shock, but Teagan also

  heard the ever-present resolve in her best friend's voice.

  "They're done," said Aggie, trying to gather herself together.

  "Just shut your eyes. Go back to sleep."

  Teagan closed her eyes, overcome by a feeling of

  helplessness. "That's what we like, a good little worker who

  gets her sleep at night," said Red Eye. He swung around and

  looked over the cots. "We're going to work all of you even

  harder than usual tomorrow because of this madness with

  Aggie. Get to sleep! All of you! If I hear one more peep out of

  this barracks before morning, every one of you's gonna be

  sorry."

  Socket laughed from out in the hallway, but it was not the big

  laugh he usually used. He was still hurting as much as his

  brother from the light they'd been exposed to. There was no

  hiding the fact that the two men were in pain.

  When the door was shut and the room was dark again, Aggie

  whispered as quietly as she could.

  "It wasn't that bad. Socket hardly knows how to use that thing."

  Teagan knew Aggie was only trying to put on a brave face, but

  she didn't say anything. She just reached over and held her

  friend's hand. A few minutes later, when Aggie thought Teagan

  was asleep, she began to cry quietly.

  "Move over," said Teagan. She crept into Aggie's bed and held

  her friend as close as she could. Aggie cried and cried, her

  whole body trembling. But after a while she calmed down and

  started breathing heavily. Teagan hugged her close and stayed

/>   there a little longer. It wouldn't do to be found in the wrong bunk

  in the morning, so she crept back into her own bed and tried to

  fall asleep.

  Aggie was a strong girl, but she'd just received the most

  dreadful beating in the long history of the Silo.

  The strange sound of an unseen monster weighed heavy on

  Edgar's mind as he crept forward ever so quietly. A warm, faint

  wind blew into Edgar's face. He assumed it was coming from

  the keeper of this place, a creature blowing gusts of hot air past

  sharp teeth, waiting for Edgar to arrive.

  He thought of Dr. Kincaid's words, the burning bridge of stone,

  and he began to wonder--could this be the very place? He was,

  generally speaking, at the end of the longest shard. And the

  monsters he'd encountered outside were the last thing he'd

  come to. Beware the keepers of the gate.

  "If it's true I've passed the keepers of the gate," Edgar said to

  himself, astonished at his own good luck, "then this must be the

  way to the docking station."

  He rose to his feet with some effort and peered down the long

  tunnel in which he stood. It led straight into the heart of

  Atherton, and it was dimly illuminated in a way he'd never seen

  before--with a kind of blue light.

  Where is that coming from? thought Edgar. He looked back at

  the opening of the tunnel and saw tiny blue dots dancing toward

  him. They were coming out of small holes in the ceiling and the

  floor. First there were ten, then a hundred, and then a thousand

  little blue bugs in the air.

  Edgar wanted to reach out and touch them, and he very nearly

  did. Isabel and Samuel had seen firebugs. They had known the

  allure of touching them, of wanting to join with them in their

  charming little dance.

  "I can see why Isabel wanted to touch them," said Edgar. "They

  are appealing little killers."

  The thousand firebugs became two thousand, and soon there

  was a thick fog of glowing cobalt between Edgar and the

  outside world.

  "Only one way to go now," said Edgar. He was afraid of what

  lay ahead, but he also knew that if even a few firebugs touched

  him he would never make it back to the surface of Atherton

  alive.

  Fortunately, the firebugs remained just a few feet beyond the

  opening. They appeared to be trying to come nearer to Edgar;

  the warm wind must have been too much of a struggle for their

  delicate wings. They hung in the air, fighting to stay aloft in the