The Dark Planet Page 4

  about the inside of Atherton, the bottom of Atherton, and the

  world outside of Atherton. Vincent, knowing Dr. Kincaid's

  wishes, sought to find common ground among the five.

  "All of you must understand something very important. We're

  only hoping to reconnect with the Dark Planet, not go there. If

  the docking station can be reached from the outside--and that

  has yet to be proven"--Vincent shot Dr. Kincaid a glance before

  continuing--"our hope is that it can be used to contact the Dark

  Planet. What happens after that is anyone's guess, but one

  thing is certain: No one from Atherton is going to fly off into

  space anytime soon."

  "Then why are we doing it at all?" asked Isabel. "Why risk it?"

  "Because Dr. Kincaid believes..." started Vincent. But he

  couldn't bring himself to lay the whole burden on the old

  scientist. "We both believe that connecting is the important

  thing. Letting them know we're still alive is the first in a chain of

  important events. Nothing else can happen until they hear a

  voice from Atherton."

  Edgar swallowed a last big bite of food and washed it down

  with a gulp of cold water.

  "I'm full," said Edgar, whose mind seemed to have gone

  somewhere else. "I don't need to eat again for a couple of days

  if it comes to that. When can I leave?"

  Dr. Kincaid loved Edgar's spirit of adventure. He couldn't help

  smiling while he chastened the boy.

  "Don't get ahead of yourself, Edgar. There's a lot we have to

  consider."

  Vincent removed the plates and food and unrolled the paper

  from Dr. Kincaid's walking stick. He placed rocks at each corner

  and everyone huddled close, looking at a three-dimensional

  map of one side of the bottom of Atherton. Edgar could see the

  top edge--the Flatlands--and every thing that lay hidden below,

  all the way down to the bottom. It was a view of Atherton from

  space, which was a new idea for Edgar.

  "Who made this?" asked Samuel. It was a marvelous rendering

  of the world in which he lived from a viewpoint he'd only been

  able to imagine. It made him see the place differently than he'd

  ever seen it before.

  "Dr. Harding drew this a long time ago," said Dr. Kincaid.

  "Before anyone was brought here, back when the world of

  Atherton was a much lonelier place."

  He looked at the two boys and the girl.

  "In the beginning it was only Dr. Harding, Vincent, and me. Can

  you imagine? The whole world of Atherton and only the three of

  us. It was so quiet then."

  Dr. Kincaid was thinking of a time when the three men had

  walked together along the rim of the Highlands, like walking in

  a new and empty Eden. He remembered having the distinct

  feeling that it was devoid of not just people, but of a soul as

  well.

  "You were saying?" said Vincent, rousing Dr. Kincaid back to

  reality.

  "You see there, Edgar?"

  He pointed to a crack in the surface of Atherton that had the

  appearance of a narrow letter V on the map.

  The drawing revealed the bottom of Atherton as a series of

  much larger V-shaped segments pointing toward the bottom.

  Some of the V's were thin, some were wide. Between them

  were vast, open spaces of--of what? It was hard to say if it was

  water or glass or something else. One thing appeared certain:

  The entire area looked unclimbable in the extreme.

  Dr. Kincaid stepped back from the table and lifted his walking

  stick, pointing it straight out. "We'll find that crevice about an

  hour's walk in that direction. And somewhere far below there,

  the hidden place we seek to discover."

  The walking stick was pointing away from the lake and to the

  left of the new grove. Edgar didn't have to look where the

  walking stick was pointing. He already knew where the crevice

  was.

  "You don't have to show me where to go," said Edgar.

  "Don't tell me," said Vincent, his eyes lighting up.

  "You've already climbed there, haven't you?" asked Samuel.

  Edgar looked at the faces around the table sheepishly.

  "You've been doing it without tel ing us!" declared Isabel,

  punching him in the shoulder.

  "Be careful!" Samuel said sarcastically. "He's going to need that

  shoulder to climb with."

  "I didn't want to worry you," said Edgar. "But this is good news! I

  already know the place. And I have to tell you, that V-shaped

  crevice is a really good location to climb. The gravity doesn't

  pull me in as much there, and if I go down a little bit farther --"

  "Down a little bit farther!" cried Isabel. She wound up for

  another shot at Edgar. "You're mad!"

  Everyone, not just Isabel, did think Edgar a little bit out of his

  mind, especially after he divulged the whole truth. He

  confessed that he'd been secretly climbing at night, as he had

  always done since he was a little boy.

  "Do you mean to say that you've been climbing all this time?

  From the moment Atherton became flat?" asked Dr. Kincaid. He

  could hardly believe his ears.

  "I've already done a lot of exploring down there."

  "Then you must know about all the --" Vincent began, but Edgar

  cut him off.

  "I know about some of the challenges. But they're nothing I can't

  handle. It's not so different from the climbing I've always done."

  In truth, the challenges were enormous, but he didn't want his

  friends to know about them. Vincent took Edgar's hint and didn't

  ask anything more. If Edgar really had gone straight down from

  the crevice on the surface of Atherton, then he'd probably been

  closer to the docking station than he knew.

  "I suppose this means we don't need to train him," said Vincent.

  "It appears he's in fine climbing shape."

  "Indeed," said Dr. Kincaid, wondering how Samuel's father

  could have missed Edgar slipping out night after night. But then

  Edgar was a tricky and quiet sort of boy. Dr. Kincaid had to

  imagine it would be hard to keep track of him.

  "I guess we're going to be doing this more quickly than I

  expected," said Dr. Kincaid. "The only question now is whether

  or not Edgar can actually find the docking station."

  Vincent knelt down in front of Edgar, Isabel, and Samuel and

  looked at each of them.

  "I have only had one job to do on Atherton, and you all know

  what it is."

  "To protect us," said Samuel. He loved Vincent for his bravery,

  his skill with weapons and fighting, his singular mission to

  make sure everyone was safe.

  Vincent shifted his gaze to Edgar alone.

  "Allowing you to do this goes against every thing I was sent

  here to do. But I can't help thinking we were meant to reconnect.

  What if we could do some good for the Dark Planet?"

  "We could bring some of the children here," added Isabel.

  "Maybe so," said Vincent. "But this is the thing. We've only used

  the docking station a few times, and we've never gone there the

  way Edgar will be trying to go. Our way to the docking station

  was a
lways through the inside of Atherton, the way it was

  meant to be approached. What Dr. Kincaid is proposing is that

  you go to the docking station from a direction we know nothing

  about."

  "Actually, we know a little," said Dr. Kincaid, and then he turned

  the map over and read the words scribbled there.

  "Below the crack in the surface lies the longest shard and the

  crossing of the bridge of burning stone. Beware the keepers of

  the gate. You must be quick and quiet."

  No one else spoke as the true measure of what Edgar might

  have to face came into view. Edgar would not be entirely alone

  on the underbelly of Atherton.

  Something was down there, awaiting his arrival.

  CHAPTER 4DOWN THE LONGEST

  SHARD

  "Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Edgar. The meeting

  was over and Samuel and Isabel had gone to the grove, leaving

  Edgar alone with Vincent and Dr. Kincaid.

  "We can't arouse too much interest," said Dr. Kincaid. "Atherton

  is stable, but only a year ago every thing was in total chaos.

  People are final y settling down and feeling normal again. I

  should never have involved Samuel and Isabel to begin with."

  "But why can't they come with us, at least to the edge?" asked

  Edgar.

  "Samuel and Isabel have parents," said Vincent. "They can't

  disappear all day and night without drawing attention, and once

  you start they'll want to stay as close as they can. Chances are

  this little adventure will lead to nothing at all, and if that's the

  case there's no reason to get everyone worried about the Dark

  Planet. I agree with Dr. Kincaid. The best thing to do is to go

  alone for now."

  Edgar felt terrible about deceiving his friends. They would want

  to come along, to see him off and be there when he came back.

  If they found out he'd left without them they'd feel betrayed.

  "If you're sure that's the way it has to be," said Edgar, not hiding

  his displeasure.

  "Let's go to the edge and see where our conversation leads us,"

  said Vincent. "I'm still not sure about any of this. We may well

  be turning back before we know it."

  But Edgar was sure. He knew he wouldn't rest until he found

  and entered the docking station. He needed to do it to fill the

  hollow feeling he'd so often endured: he was motherless--not

  like an orphan, but truly motherless. And Dr. Harding was dead

  and buried at sea, so Edgar was also fatherless, too. Samuel's

  parents and Dr. Kincaid and Vincent had been kind to him, but it

  wasn't the same. He had a powerful urge to find the Dark Planet

  and discover more about his past. If there was some part of

  himself hidden there--a note, a picture, a drawing--anything that

  would tell him more about the place of his making, he would

  keep on until the treasure was found.

  "I believe I'll stay here," said Dr. Kincaid. "It's an awfully long

  walk. The two of you can scout things out and return with

  news."

  Vincent lifted the rocks from the edges of the paper that lay on

  the table, rolled it back up, and slid it into his belt. He looked

  wearily at Dr. Kincaid and started down the path with Edgar

  close behind. Along the way they spoke of how far Edgar had

  gone down before and what he had encountered.

  "You can't tell Isabel," said Edgar.

  "It makes no difference to me what you tell your friends," said

  Vincent. "I'm only interested in keeping you alive."

  Edgar began telling what he knew, reluctantly at first, but

  quickly became immersed in the telling.

  "There's a lot of paths on the underside of Atherton that lead to

  nowhere."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Everything is shaped like this," said Edgar, holding two fingers

  in the shape of a V. "The paths down the side start wide and

  end narrow. Between the paths there's a glassy sort of orange

  that can't be climbed. It's smooth, like glass, and it's warm.

  There's one path that goes farther than the rest. It's all kind of

  hard to explain."

  "Keep trying," said Vincent, curious but stern. He was

  determined to find out how dangerous it was down there.

  "The farther down the longest path I go the warmer and lighter it

  gets. It's actually easier climbing in the light, and the surface is

  warm but not too hot to touch. The top of the V or path or

  whatever you want to call it is really wide, like a hundred feet. It

  gets narrower as I go and there are wider sections of glassy

  orange. It's like being surrounded by a warm lake of, I don't

  know, I guess like a lake of fire under a thick pane of glass. I

  think it might be too hot to hold at the very end, but I don't know.

  I've never gone all the way."

  "The bridge of fire is all the way at the end, so that's challenge

  number one," Vincent noted. "If it can't be done there's no point

  going down at all."

  "I didn't say it couldn't be done," Edgar said defensively. "I was

  close. I could see the very end. It's only about twenty feet wide

  down there, but there's plenty of room for me."

  "Are there any other obstacles you're not telling me about?"

  asked Vincent suspiciously. "Anything that makes you think

  about the words on the map?"

  Edgar thought of what Dr. Kincaid had said. Below the crack in

  the surface lies the longest shard and the crossing of the bridge

  of burning stone. Beware the keepers of the gate. You must be

  quick and quiet.

  "There are holes," Edgar revealed.

  "What do you mean, holes?" asked Vincent.

  "About halfway down the longest path I start to find holes in the

  stone. I think something is living in them. I hear things."

  "What do you hear?"

  Edgar couldn't describe the sound. He shrugged. "I can stay

  away from them. There's room for me to quietly slip past."

  "I don't know," said Vincent. This new element made him

  nervous. How he wished he could climb as Edgar did and find

  the docking station himself. "You should have told us this

  before. Dr. Kincaid will want to know."

  They were near the crevice at the edge of Atherton and Edgar

  felt the familiar sense of his feet being pulled gently in front of

  him. It was a feeling he had come to love, a silent signal that

  climbing was close at hand. The pull would grow fiercer the

  closer they got, and along with it, Edgar's desire to touch the

  side of Atherton with his hands. He couldn't stand the idea of

  turning back.

  "You know how fast I can climb," said Edgar. "I've been down

  there a bunch of times already and nothing's come out of those

  holes."

  Vincent knelt down in front of Edgar and looked at the boy with

  a mix of concern and hope. Edgar didn't know quite how to read

  the expression.

  "None of this is going to matter if you can't reach the bottom of

  the longest path," said Vincent. "According to the map, that's

  where you'll find this thing called the bridge of fire and the way

  into the docking station. But you're going to find something else

&nb
sp; as well and we don't know what it is."

  Vincent was torn between his duty to protect this boy and the

  need to reconnect with the Dark Planet. If there was a chance

  Edgar could find his way safely to the docking station it could

  mean saving thousands more.

  He thought of all the things Edgar had already accomplished on

  his own. He'd climbed a mile up to the Highlands and two miles

  down to the Flatlands. There was no reason to believe Edgar

  couldn't climb quietly past a few holes in search of a way to

  reconnect.

  "Don't go any closer to the holes than you absolutely must to

  get by them," said Vincent, reluctantly making up his mind.

  "Now listen to me, Edgar. After you find the station you have to

  turn back. The last thing we want is for you accidentally to end

  up on the Dark Planet without us. That would be a disaster and

  it could happen if you're not careful. The docking station is-well, it's what we call automated. By that I mean it can do

  certain things on its own."

  Vincent shook his head. It was impossible to explain how the

  station worked and what would be found there. It was all so

  alien to Edgar.

  "Just promise me you'll turn back once you get there. What

  you're trying to do is enter the docking station from the way out

  of Atherton. Dr. Harding left us a map and a few words, so he

  must have imagined it could be entered this way, but no one

  has ever done it before."

  Then Vincent said what he was truly thinking, the only thing that

  seemed to make sense as he stood before a boy who could

  climb like a spider. "Something tells me Dr. Harding imagined it

  would be you who would follow this path someday. There's

  certainly no one else who could do it."

  Edgar could hardly wait to start down the side of Atherton. "I can

  do it, Vincent. I know I can."

  Vincent touched Edgar on the shoulder and turned more

  serious. "Remember--turn back the moment you feel the

  slightest concern. The heat can tire you out and make your

  hands dangerously slippery from the sweat. Don't make the

  mistake of thinking you can do more than you're capable of."

  The two began walking once more. Very soon they were on

  their bellies, crawling up close to the place where Edgar would

  start. In this particular spot, the flat surface of Atherton had

  cracked wide open. The crevice started at the edge of Atherton

  and jutted in for a hundred yards, where it created a gap of fifty