The Rivers of Zadaa

by D. J. MacHale

  “Isn’t that dangerous?” I asked. “I mean, if they let too much in?”

  “No,” Teek continued. “The next step will be to open the gates to the south. The rivers of Zadaa will flow again, higher and faster than ever before.”

  I thought back to the deep, dry riverbed near the flume. When I first saw it, the water moved through quickly and powerfully, fed by the tall waterfall. Now the water was long gone, but I could envision water suddenly spewing from the top of the waterfall and crashing down into the dry trough, filling it with a violent, relentless surge. The same would happen to all the dry riverbeds. The water would quickly find its way up to the streets of Xhaxhu, filling the troughs and recharging the fountains. Some on the surface might think this was good news, signaling the end of the drought. They’d be right, at least about the drought being over. Those below would quickly learn that the return of water wasn’t such a good thing.

  I looked to Loor and said, “When the Ghee see the water suddenly return to the rivers, what will they do?”

  Before Loor could answer, Teek said, “They will die. Even if they decide to call off the invasion, there will not be enough time to escape. That is when the final step will be taken. There are giant overflow gates throughout the underground that lead to runoff tunnels. They were designed to carry off excess water should there be a flood, or the control gates malfunction.”

  “I’ve seen those,” I said. “Giant silver disks built into the tunnel walls?”

  “Yes,” Teek said. “Today they will be used for another purpose. When the control gates to the south are opened, the gates leading to the runoff tunnels will also be opened. These tunnels will quickly fill with water.”

  “There is enough water to do all of this?” Loor asked.

  “So they say,” Teek answered. “The gates to the north will all be opened. Thousands of water sources will be channeled into the ocean. It will take only minutes to fill the overflow tunnels. That’s when the overflow gates will be opened, flooding the entire underground.”

  “Drowning every Batu below,” I said.

  “And leaving Xhaxhu open to attack by every marauding tribe on Zadaa,” added Loor.

  “It’s a hideous plan,” Teek said. “But the elite are convinced it’s our only chance of survival.”

  “They are wrong!” Loor shouted. “Killing the Batu will be their own suicide!”

  “Saint Dane has convinced them otherwise,” Teek said. “I believe it is a horrible mistake. So did Bokka. He died trying to warn you. I would do anything to stop it, but it is too late.”

  “Maybe not,” I said.

  Everyone looked at me with surprise. As Teek was explaining the Rokador plan, I got an idea. It may have been a long shot, but at least it was a shot.

  “We cannot stop the Batu,” Saangi warned. “It is too late.”

  “She is right, Pendragon,” Alder said. “Saangi showed me the dygo machines gathering in the sands outside of Xhaxhu. There were hundreds of them. We watched as they rose up on legs and began drilling into the ground. They are coming. The only reason we arrived here before them is we had a map. I would not be surprised if they are nearing Kidik as we speak.”

  Teek added, “With so little time, there is no way to convince the elite of their mistake. The water gates to the north are open. The ocean is rising.”

  “I know,” I said. “We can’t stop the attack and we can’t stop the Rokador. Our only hope is to control the controller.”

  “I do not understand,” Loor said.

  “This all comes down to the water-control device in the center of this building,” I said. “If we can’t get the elite to stop the flood, maybe we can do it ourselves.”

  Loor’s face brightened. She said, “You mean, seize control of the machinery?”

  “Exactly,” I said. “Shut it down. Reverse the flow. Whatever.” I looked to Teek and asked, “Do any of the other Tiggen guards agree with you? Do they know what a mistake this is?”

  “Many do,” Teek answered.

  “Find them!” I ordered Teek. “Bring them to the master control station. Now!”

  “But—”

  “Go!” I shouted.

  Teek took off running. My mind was in overdrive. This seemed to be our only hope. There was no time for debate. We had to act.

  “Wait, stop!” I called to Teek. He put on the brakes.

  “Are there any dygos here on Kidik Island?” I asked.

  “Yes, there are two housed on the far side of this building.”

  “Good. Go!”

  “Why do you want a dygo?” Loor asked. “To attack the control station?”

  “No,” I said. “I want a chance of getting our butts out of here after it all hits the fan. We’ve got to do what we can to save Zadaa, but win or lose, if we’re trapped here, Saint Dane wins. The whole thing. Halla. Before we make another move, you all have to promise me something. Whatever happens, there’s going to be a point when we’ve done all we can. Promise me when that time comes, we’ll all get out together.”

  “I agree,” Alder said. “That is the wise thing to do.”

  I looked at Loor. She didn’t answer right away. This had to be tough for her. Finally she said, “I understand, Pendragon. You are right. When you say it is time to go, we will go.”

  I looked at Saangi, and she nodded in agreement.

  “Good,” I said. “Saangi, can you drive a dygo?”

  “I drove here, did I not?” she answered.

  “Perfect. You heard Teek. Find one. Bring it here.”

  Saangi looked to Loor. Loor gave her a reassuring nod.

  “Of course,” Saangi answered brightly, thrilled to be part of the plan. She turned and ran off. It was down to the three of us. Me, Loor, and Alder. We exchanged nervous looks. It was a brief moment of calm and a chance for us to catch our breaths.

  “Seems like old times,” I finally said.

  The two nodded knowingly. We had been here before. The three of us. We had become different people than the three kids who fought to save Denduron. Though it had been only a short few years since that battle, we had each gained a lifetime of experience. I could only hope we would be as successful—and lucky.

  As the three of us stood there, on the edge of that vast cemetery, there was only one thing I was certain of. These would be the last few quiet moments we would have for a very long time.

  JOURNAL #23

  (CONTINUED)

  ZADAA

  In spite of all my bold talk, I had absolutely no idea how we were going to take over the master water controller, or what we would do next if we were lucky enough to pull it off. There was no time to form a plan. No chance to weigh all the options and make the smart choice. We had to go for it, taking it one step at a time and making decisions as we went. One consolation was that I couldn’t think of two better people to have with me than Loor and Alder. We had saved one territory together. It was time to save another.

  We worked our way back through the maze of tunnels in search of the master control station. Loor’s instincts and memory were incredible. With no wrong turns, we soon found ourselves outside the steel door that led to the catwalk over the massive room full of machinery.

  Loor gave us both a cautionary look, with a finger to her lips as a signal for us to be quiet. We nodded in understanding. She opened the door, and we stole quickly onto the catwalk that ran high over the master control station. There was more activity going on below than when we were last there. Four engineers were at the controls. Even from as high up as we were, I saw the tension on their faces and in their body language. No big surprise. Carrying out genocide would tend to put people on edge. I wondered what they were thinking. Did they fully understand that their actions would result in the death of thousands? Were they convinced that killing so many was the only way they could save themselves? Or was the reality weighing heavily on them? It didn’t matter. They had to be stopped.

  Preventing us from doing that would be a handfu
l of Tiggen guards. They stood on the floor of the control room, each at the bottom of a set of steel stairs that led up to the control platform. They seemed pretty relaxed. They weren’t expecting an assault on the station. Good news for us.

  Looking down on the control-room floor, I knew there would be guards. I knew there would be engineers. I didn’t know we’d be joined by a third group. Seated together, in special chairs that had been put there for the occasion, were the ten members of the Rokador elite. They had been gathered, I suppose, to bear witness. Most of them sat attentively, looking edgy. I didn’t blame them. The engineers up on the control platform may have been the ones flipping the switches, but the decision to destroy the Batu came from the odd group on the floor. The really old guy was slumped over in his chair again. Asleep and drooling. The two kids fidgeted and poked at each other. Unbelievable. I wondered if their votes counted as much as the others’. I also wondered if they were worried about Saint Dane not being there at the final hour. They must have thought it was strange. I, on the other hand, knew it was perfectly normal. I knew that their buddy, the architect of this horror, had probably hit the flume already, bound for his next territory after a job well done.

  The last difference I noticed was the sound. I already told you how this room had a hum to it, like it was full of energy. Now the powerful sound was even more intense. It filled the vast space, making the catwalk vibrate. I could even feel it in the pit of my stomach. I was pretty sure that this machinery had never been put to this kind of test. It was staggering to think that it had the power to move the massive underwater gates that controlled the flow of an entire ocean. I had a brief hope that the machinery would malfunction and save us all a lot of trouble. But we couldn’t rely on that. We had to act.

  We heard a soft, screeching sound to our left. The door to the catwalk was opening. Loor, Alder, and I sprang to attention. We had been discovered. A second later two Tiggen guards entered. Loor and I pulled out our weapons. Alder shouldered his crossbow, ready to shoot. A third Tiggen guard entered—Alder fired—and I knocked his aim off with my elbow. The steel arrow flew, but embedded itself in the wall over the door, harmlessly. I had thrown off Alder’s aim just enough so that he missed killing his target. It was Teek.

  I instantly recognized the other two Tiggen guards. They were with Bokka when he brought us to the crossroads. They were friends. The three Tiggens looked up at the steel arrow in the door above them, then back to us with wide eyes that said, “What the heck did you do that for?”

  Alder shrugged an apology. I nudged him and Loor to follow me and ran quickly and quietly toward Teek. We all left the catwalk and the machine room, closing the door behind us.

  “The water level is rising,” Teek said nervously. “And I hear sounds. Across the water. I believe the Ghee invasion is growing close.”

  “Are you willing to help stop this thing?” I asked, looking at Teek and the others.

  Teek answered for the group, saying, “We have trusted Bokka since we were young. We have no reason to stop now. He knew this was wrong. It should be stopped. The question is, how?”

  “Do any of you know how that control panel works?” I asked.

  The Tiggen guards looked at one another. None seemed ready to jump in with expert advice. Finally Teek took the lead.

  “Come,” he said, and opened the steel door.

  “Wait here,” I said to the others. I followed Teek back onto the catwalk where we could look down on the control platform. As I wrote before, this platform was built on top of the huge, horizontal pipe that was half-buried beneath the floor. I’m guessing its deck was about twenty feet off the floor, with metal ladders that led up to it. The control panel itself was centered along the length of the platform, so that the engineers could walk around it. The panel had two sides, was angled like the roof of a house, and each side held a long row of steel handles that looked as if they could be turned one way or the other. Over each handle was some writing that I’m sure described what the control did. Above the writing looked to be gauges of some sort that measured…whatever. There were also three white lights over each handle. I saw that in some cases all three lights were lit. Others had only one, still others two or none. The only difference between the sides was that one had larger handles. There seemed to be twice as many of the small handles as there were large ones. Two engineers were on each side, monitoring the gauges, looking tense.

  Teek whispered, “The way I understand it is that the larger switches control the giant gates to the north. They are all open now, allowing the ocean to rise. The small switches on the opposite side control the many smaller gates to the south. They are closed, waiting for the moment when the Batu arrive on the far shore.”

  “So they haven’t started sending the water into the dry rivers?” I asked.

  “No,” Teek said. “They are waiting for the signal. There is a string of Tiggen guards, starting with boats on the ocean and leading back to here. They will pass the word when the Batu are in sight.”

  I nodded and snuck back to the door. Moments later Teek and I were again with the others.

  “We’ve got a window,” I said. “They haven’t started the flood. Whatever we’re going to do, it’s got to be now.” I said this while looking at Loor. She was the pro. She would have to come up with our plan of attack.

  “Surprise is our best weapon,” she said. “But that advantage will not last long. As soon as we make a move, I am sure there will be some sort of alarm. Tiggen guards will descend on us. Even if we successfully take control of the device, we will not hold it for long.”

  My big plan to take control was suddenly looking not so big.

  “What if we seal the entry?” Alder asked.

  “You mean, lock ourselves in?” I asked.

  Loor said, “It might give the Ghee warriors enough time to arrive on the island and capture the Tiggen guards.”

  We all looked to Teek and the friendly Tiggen guards. They looked sick. Since returning to Kidik, they had been hit with a pretty harsh dose of reality. It wasn’t getting any better. They said they wanted to help, but it now looked as if they would have to battle their own. I was afraid they were having second thoughts.

  “You are asking us to fight our brothers and help overthrow our own tribe,” Teek said solemnly.

  “It’s true,” I said. “If we do this, the Batu will seize control of the underground. But if we don’t, the Ghee warriors will be drowned. That leaves Xhaxhu wide open to be attacked by the marauding tribes of Zadaa.”

  “Soon after, they will come for you,” Loor said.

  “Not if the tunnels remain flooded,” Teek said hopefully. “We can be safe here on Kidik Island.”

  “For how long?” Loor asked. “You will starve. All food comes from above. Soon you would have to drain the tunnels and move to the surface, where you would be slaughtered the same as the Batu.”

  “I know this is hard to understand,” I said. “But that is exactly what Saint Dane wants. That’s why he led the elite into this plan. It will mean the end of civilization on Zadaa.”

  “Why would he do such a thing?” Teek asked.

  I looked to Loor, and to Alder. There was no easy answer to that question.

  “Because he feels that once Zadaa falls apart, he can seize power himself and build his own world from the ruins.” That was about as short a thumbnail explanation as I could come up with. I hoped it was enough. “The Batu and the Rokador once existed in peace,” I said. “That can happen again. The Rokador can rebuild and grow, but not without the help and protection of the Batu.”

  Teek said, “I need a moment.” He led his two friends away from us for a private chat. Loor, Alder, and I were left to do the same.

  “Will they help us?” Alder asked.

  “If they don’t, it means they’re against us,” I said while pulling my wooden stave from its sheath. “The battle for the master control room might start right here.”

  It was a tense moment. We he
ard the three of them whispering with passion. Finally Teek approached us.

  “We will help you seize the master controller,” Teek said. “But we will not trap ourselves inside. Whatever fate holds for the rest of our tribe, we will join them and face it together.”

  Loor nodded and said, “That is both wise and noble. It is the way it should be.”

  “Okay,” I said. “How are we gonna do this?”

  Loor’s plan was a simple one. We weren’t worried about the engineers, or the elite. We had to go right for the Tiggen guards and get them out of the master control room. If anybody else wanted to leave, that was fine by us. The idea was to move fast, take charge, and lock ourselves in before they knew what hit them. And definitely before they started to flood the underground. Teek explained that there was a single entrance on the ground level. That is how we would enter. We decided that one of Teek’s friends would remain on the catwalk to seal off the entrance from above. That’s as far as our plan took us. After that we’d have to wing it.

  With a quick “good luck” to the Tiggen guard who would remain, Teek led us out of the building. We had to quickly move across an open field, away from the sprawling complex, to get to the entrance that would lead down deeper underground to the floor of the master control room. Teek explained that the catwalk entrance and the ground entrance were kept separate in case of emergency. I didn’t know what kind of emergency they were planning for, but I was pretty sure this wasn’t it.

  The entrance was nothing more than a small building, no bigger than a garage. We had gotten halfway across to it when we all heard an odd sound. I was going to keep going, because everything I saw and heard was odd, but Teek stopped short. Whatever was making that sound, it wasn’t something he was expecting. Same with the other Tiggen. They stopped abruptly and looked at the sky. Actually, there wasn’t any sky to look up at. Above us was the rock ceiling of the immense cavern that held the Kidik Ocean.