Atherton #3: The Dark Planet (No. 3) (15 page)

ran down the whole length of its wobbling neck surrounded the

back of the queen's head. Two red slits for eyes pierced the

smog as if they were lit from the inside.

Edgar watched as the sharp hammerhead rocked back lazily on

the round weight of the head and then--
FOOOSH!
--shot down

with staggering speed. A sound of screaming pain ripped

through the forest.

The queen's head lolled heavily back into the air. In the maw of

the beast was a gigantic skewered and squirming Cleaner, its

legs flailing and clicking in shadow as Edgar looked on in

disbelief.

Keep going!
Edgar spurred himself on.
Get away from here!

Edgar's emotions got the better of him and he sobbed and

coughed, jumping from tree to tree in search of an escape from

the forsaken wood. The sound of violence grew softer until he

was far enough away that he felt confident he was alone. The

creatures who ruled this place seemed to be at war with one

another, all of them at once involved in the fight so that the rest

of the wood was surprisingly calm.

Edgar's arms ached and he felt grimy with slime from all the

bugs that had crawled along his skin. He could feel blood

dripping from more than one place on his head and face from

crashing into tree trunks over and over again.

By the time he scurried to the ground, something new was

already on the approach--he could hear it--but it wasn't like

anything he'd heard before.

What new monster have you unleashed on me now?
he

wondered bitterly, wiping his eyes dry and thinking of Dr.

Harding. Adventure on a dying planet was not as appealing as

he'd imagined from the safety of Atherton.

"I can't go back up there," said Edgar. He had been lucky not to

fall, but jumping really wasn't his greatest strength and he knew

he had already been pushing his luck. One wrong move and he

could fall and become seriously injured. And then what would

he do?

And so Edgar ran as fast as his legs would carry him. The

sound behind him was somehow even more threatening than

the idea of coming face-to-face with a Cleaner, because he'd

never heard it before. His imagination conjured up a giant

creature with many teeth and swordlike claws.

Edgar kept going, dodging between trunks until the trees

disappeared unexpectedly. He stopped short but not fast

enough, tumbling over and into one of the holes he'd seen on

the glowing blue map.

He free-fell, but not as far as he thought he would. After about

thirty feet he found that something broke his fall. It was a net of

some kind, covering the hole like a soft, sunken lid.

Edgar struggled to make his way to the edge so he could climb

out as quickly as possible, certain that it was home to the giant

creature he's seen hammer its spiked head into a Cleaner.

When he reached the top and peeked over, he came face-toface with what had been following him.

"You've wandered into a very dangerous place."

Shelton had followed the instructions of Commander Judix and

took the search team out at dawn in search of children. What a

brilliant stroke of luck to find a child in one of the traps!

"Who are you?" asked Edgar, lowering himself down on the

wall and thinking of how he might escape. Whoever stood

above him was wearing some sort of mask that made him

sound like he was talking from the back of a cave. He had

goggles on as well, so that his face was completely obscured.

By the looks of him, Edgar couldn't be at all sure the figure was

human.

"I'm Shelton," said the man. "There's a place I can take you

that's safe. It's
inside,
away from the smog and the monsters.

And there's food and water."

"I'd rather stay here," said Edgar. He didn't like the sound of

Shelton's voice. It reminded him of the way people had talked in

the Highlands, as if Edgar was stupid and they could trick him.

The man looked back over his shoulder and two others came

alongside, whispering in their weird voices.

"Get out of there," said Shelton, looking down at Edgar. "The

Spikers are headed this way. We can't stay."

"Spikers?" said Edgar, aware that Shelton was probably talking

about the hammerheaded things he'd seen in shadows.

"Trust me, you don't want to be out here alone when they show

up."

"Where would you take me?" said Edgar, reaching for clues to

what sort of circumstance he'd stumbled into.

"It's called the Silo," said Shelton. "You may have heard of it.

There are people who will take care of you."

Shelton could see he had finally struck on something that was

likely to get things moving. He couldn't have known that he'd

used the one word that would get Edgar into the armored

transport.

Edgar scurried up the side of the hole with amazing speed and

dexterity.

"How do we get there?"

"You're a good climber!" said Shelton, betraying his happiness

at having found a healthy child in the forsaken wood. "That will

come in handy at the Silo. Do you happen to know how old you

are?"

Edgar didn't answer. The question sounded loaded with

meaning he didn't comprehend.

"No matter," said Shelton. "We can figure it out later." Shelton

moved to the side and Edgar saw the transport team for the first

time. Through the haze sat a machine. There was something

about it that scared Edgar almost as much as the sound coming

toward them. Edgar didn't like the idea of getting inside of it. It

was all metal and rust, big and loud like a monster in its own

right.

"We really must be going," said Shelton, trying to move Edgar

along by placing a hand on his back and giving a little shove

toward the armored transport. The boy wouldn't budge. Shelton

leaned down and stared at Edgar. "You've arrived in the worst

place on earth. I can get you out of here and take you

someplace safe, but we have to leave
right now.
"

Before Edgar could protest any further two men grabbed him,

one on each side, and hauled him up off his feet.

"We're getting out of here!" said one of them. "And we're not

coming ever again. You can tell Commander Judix we're

through!"

The two men dragged Edgar forward onto a ramp as he yelled

to be let go.

"Quiet, you!" said the man on Edgar's other side. "You'll get us

all killed."

Once inside the transport the ramp lifted with a
whish
of air and

shut Edgar inside. The two men moved forward to the front and

Shelton stayed with Edgar in the back. All three of the men

removed their goggles and masks.

"You'll like the Silo," said Shelton, trying but failing to hide his

fear of what was coming. He moved past Edgar toward the front

and screamed. "Move this thing! They're almost here!"

The transport lurched forward loudly on a grinding circular shaft

below. It was more like a tank than a truck, and it barreled over

dead trees as it gained speed. Edgar felt like he was inside the

belly of a monster and it had begun to move, to take him

someplace and digest him.

"You tricked me!" cried Edgar. "This thing is alive!"

"What do you mean, alive? It's a machine, you stupid boy," said

Shelton. Now that he had Edgar in his grasp it was best to hate

him. It would be easier to give him up to Grammel later. "And

stop fussing so much. You're almost more trouble than you're

worth."

Edgar looked around the space for an escape. He was about to

leap for the closed door to see if he could get it open when

Shelton stepped in front of him.

"Sit down and stop thinking up dumb ideas," said Shelton,

pointing some sort of weapon in Edgar's face. "We're not out of

danger just yet."

The ride was very bumpy inside--nothing like riding the Raven-and Edgar banged his head more than once. There were four

Cleaners, all of them twenty feet long or better, chasing the

transport out of the forsaken wood. They reached the edge and

the Cleaners hesitated, as if beyond the edge of the wood lay

some hidden danger. The moment the transport was free of the

trees, Shelton screamed into a device he held to his face.

"Turn it on! Now! Turn it on!"

Edgar heard the sound of at least two Cleaners screaming from

outside. They had come up against something neither they nor

a Spiker could overcome. Not even the queen Spiker could

make her way past whatever energy protected Station Seven,

the Silo, and the beach these structures stood on.

Shelton glanced out the inch-thick glass of the armored

transport front window. He sighed deeply, knowing they'd

narrowly avoided letting a monster out of the woods and onto

the beach. He wondered how long it would take Cleaners and

Spikers to get inside Station Seven if the energy for the shield

ran out.

He didn't think it would take long.

CHAPTER 13INTO THE SILO

"Bring him to the usual place and we'll come right out and get

him," said Red Eye. As he placed the receiver against the wall,

Socket walked over to investigate.

"New one coming in?" Socket asked, genuinely surprised. It

had been quite a while since anyone had been brought to the

Silo. He had gotten in the habit of lying awake at night, rubbing

his pulsing eyes, and wondering just how many people were

left on the Dark Planet.

"What is it, a boy or a girl?" Socket wiped a finger across both

goggle lenses, which did nothing to clear his sight. His eyes

itched fiercely behind the glass.

"A boy--and they think he might be 4000 or better. Said they

couldn't get a good reading for some reason. I'm in no mood for

trouble, I can tell you that."

Red Eye's head was stil pounding as he glanced across the

drying room floor and scowled at Aggie.

"Get your head down! This doesn't concern you," he yelled.

Aggie and Teagan began tamping once more, but Teagan

couldn't help but whisper while they worked.

"Did you hear that?" asked Teagan. "They've found a boy."

"How could I miss it?" Aggie flinched as she moved to a

different drying bed, kicking pockets of white dust off the floor.

"At least those two will be busy this morning. Maybe they won't

bother us."

"I wonder how old this boy is and what kind of shape he's in."

"Prepare for the worst," said Aggie. She was aware of how

easily Teagan got her hopes up. "Chances are he's been out

there a long time. You know how they are when they come in

like that."

They both knew what happened when children stayed outside

too much--hollow eyes, pale skin, difficulty staying still. Kids like

that were usually moved out of the Silo the day they turned

4200. The older boys could be especially difficult to handle and

often didn't last more than a few months.

"It looks like Socket didn't hold anything back this time," said

Teagan. The girls wore olive green shorts and sleeveless shirts

like all the other children in the drying unit that day. There were

long red lines across the backs of Aggie's legs and over her

arms. They'd given her lashings on every limb.

"I'm fine. It's just so hot down here," said Aggie, running her

dusty hand across the stubble of blond hair on her head. "This

room makes every thing hurt more."

"SHUT--YOUR--MOUTHS!" screamed Red Eye. He was in a

horrible mood even by his own standards and couldn't bear to

hear the annoying voices of children who should be working.

The very idea of a new recruit--a disruptive 4000 boy, no less-gave him a raging head ache.

Red Eye and Socket made their way to the riser that ran

through the middle of the drying room, located on the bottom

level of the Silo, where the white powder was finished. When

Socket walked past Aggie, he leaned down and yelled at her so

everyone could hear.

"If this here bin's not empty, you're not going to the barracks."

He laughed and wiped his goggles uselessly again, looking at

his brother for approval.

"Come on then," said Red Eye. "Let's get out of this heat and let

them work."

The two men clanged onto the platform and held on. A moment

later the platform rose on a hydraulic tube and they were gone.

"I hate them," said Teagan. "I wish I could get one of those

benders and give 'em some of their own medicine."

"We all hate them, but there's not much we can do about it."

The voice had come from a boy among them named Vasher,

who was working at a drying bed alongside a younger boy

named Landon. Both had tightly cropped hair and the same

olive green shirts and shorts as Aggie and Teagan. They were

skinny like all the other boys with dark-ringed eyes and ashen

skin crying out for a sunny day. The four of them--Vasher,

Landon, Aggie, and Teagan--were the green team, one of four

teams that worked in the Silo. They always worked together

during the day, then parted at night to separate girls' and boys'

barracks.

"They'll put him with us in place of Ramsey," said Landon. The