The Dark Planet

by Patrick Carman

  as if rising from the deepest part of a lake. The word evaporated

  and the face of Dr. Harding reappeared. And then, to Edgar's

  amazement, the glowing blue face of Dr. Harding began to

  speak.

  "I had a feeling you might find the docking station. I can't say

  that I'm happy you take such risks. What father could be happy

  about a thing like that?"

  "Can you hear me?" asked Edgar. "Where are you?"

  Edgar was struck by an impossible thought: What if Dr. Harding

  were alive inside this strange vessel? Maybe he'd only hidden

  here, waiting for Edgar to return! He eagerly touched the warm

  glass where the face appeared. "Come out of there!"

  "I made this recording for you, Edgar," said Dr. Harding. "I'm not

  here, in case that's what you're thinking. A trick of technology,

  I'm afraid. Chances are I made this recording many years ago

  and things have unraveled as I'd suspected they would."

  Edgar couldn't understand and demanded an explanation.

  "How can you be here and not be --"

  "Listen to me, Edgar," the image interrupted. "If you're here then

  a lot has already happened. Atherton has collapsed, which you

  have managed to survive. I am, no doubt, dead."

  "No! You're not dead! You're right here," said Edgar. He knew

  the face wasn't really Dr. Harding, but he was so lonely and

  frustrated he couldn't quite let go of the idea. "You're alive!"

  But the blue head wouldn't respond to Edgar.

  "I can't tell you how important it is that you listen to me now,"

  said Dr. Harding. "You must do as I say. Everything depends on

  it. First and foremost, you cannot trust anyone on Atherton. No

  one, including Dr. Kincaid and Vincent, has any idea what

  Atherton is really for. This was entirely necessary given the

  circumstances. No one would have believed, no one would

  have trusted, no one would have had the patience required..."

  Without warning, the firebugs began drifting off, and Dr.

  Harding's face started to melt into a watery mix of black and

  blue.

  "Come back!" said Edgar.

  Dr. Harding's voice became garbled and slowed down, but then

  the firebugs reconstructed his face and he was speaking as

  before. Edgar had missed something.

  "... and so you see, I can't trust anyone else with this task. If my

  experiment has gotten this far along, well, it's you and you

  alone who must finish it. Things will have gotten very

  complicated down there. Dr. Kincaid and Vincent are not bad

  men, but they will only get in the way of what you have to do.

  They answer to people on the Dark Planet."

  The face of Dr. Harding looked straight at Edgar and it nearly

  broke Edgar's heart. There was his father, right in front of him,

  smiling at Edgar with approval.

  "This thing you're sitting in is called the Raven, or at least that's

  what I've always called it. I made it like I made you and

  Atherton. It's alive, just like you and Atherton are alive. It's very

  easy to operate if you follow its lead and trust its actions. It will

  take you to the Dark Planet. You need you to go there alone

  and finish what I began."

  "What!" shouted Edgar. The firebugs moved off again and Dr.

  Harding's face dissolved. Apparently, the bugs didn't like it

  when Edgar interrupted. He stayed very quiet and the face

  returned one last time.

  "How can I say this? You and Atherton and the Raven, the three

  of you are connected, if you will, by the same raw material. How

  else could you do all the things you do? I know, I know--this

  sounds terrible--but it's the truth."

  There was a pause in which Dr. Harding seemed to wonder

  what he should say next.

  "You're going to need a little help," he continued with greater

  concern in his voice. "You were always a solitary little boy on

  the Dark Planet, but hopefully you've made at least one friend

  on Atherton. Give the tablet I've left behind to someone you

  trust, someone who can read. Something important needs to

  happen here on Atherton while you're away. But keep Dr.

  Kincaid and Vincent out of it. Now that you have the keys to the

  Raven, they'll think they can help on the Dark Planet. But trust

  me, Edgar, their good intentions would lead straight to Judix,

  and that's exactly what can't happen."

  "Who's Judix?" asked Edgar. "What are you talking about?"

  The face on the screen turned away from Edgar, as if it had

  heard someone or something coming near when it was

  recorded. The face turned back and began to drift into

  blackness.

  "Go to the Silo first, where I lived as a boy, where everything

  began. Be careful who you trust."

  The firebugs danced and moved and Dr. Harding disappeared.

  "Come back! Don't leave me here alone!" said Edgar. But the

  face of Dr. Harding was gone. There appeared an outline of the

  Silo so that Edgar would know what it looked like. Then it

  vanished, replaced by the image of Atherton and the Dark

  Planet in their places, surrounded by a night sky of blue dots.

  Edgar was now unable to imagine an outcome in which his feet

  weren't firmly planted on the Dark Planet. If Dr. Harding had

  lived in the Silo as a child, he had probably first imagined

  Atherton there. Edgar was sure the Silo was where he would

  find the answers to his most troubling questions. Where did he

  come from? What had gone wrong with the man who had made

  him? What was the purpose behind Edgar's existence?

  He touched the oval disk that had started every thing in motion.

  It was warm and slippery, like a small pool of shallow water,

  and yet it was also solid. Edgar slid the disk off the surface and

  let it drop into his other hand. The firebugs receded until only

  darkness remained on the table and Edgar heard the sound of

  the doorway opening.

  He could escape this place and take his chances on the outside

  with all the dangers that awaited him.

  Looking back at the table, Edgar had a sudden sense of clarity

  about the place he found himself in. He set the disk back on the

  black surface, heard the door shut, and watched the firebugs

  return and form the map of Atherton and the Dark Planet.

  "I can command this thing to move," said Edgar, smiling in

  wonder at the thought of it. "I know I can."

  He felt it in his bones, as though he and Atherton and the

  Raven really were connected by some unknown essential

  material.

  Reaching out over the black surface Edgar touched the big

  cluster of blue that made up the Dark Planet. Words appeared.

  Silo / Station Seven

  Edgar couldn't read the second word and he didn't care about

  the third. All he saw was the word "Silo." Dr. Harding's last

  words rang in Edgar's ears.

  Where I lived as a boy, where every thing began.

  On a whim, Edgar touched the much smaller cluster of blue

  representing Atherton. The flat surface exploded with blue dots

  that formed into three concentric circles, one on top of the other,

  each one a little bit big
ger than the last.

  "This is an old map of Atherton," Edgar noted. "Things have

  changed."

  Leaning over the surface, Edgar saw that it was indeed the

  surface of Atherton. So detailed was the map he could see the

  House of Power in the Highlands, the grove and the other

  villages in Tabletop, and Dr. Kincaid's boulder-strewn home in

  the Flatlands.

  Much of what Edgar was looking at was no more. Everything

  inside the smaller two circles was belowground and under

  water, but the outer circle--the Flatlands--remained. It made

  Edgar wonder about the Dark Planet. Had it also changed?

  Maybe it was already dead. Maybe the Silo wasn't even there

  any longer.

  "I have to find Samuel and Isabel before I go," said Edgar. Was

  he really saying that? Leaving for the Dark Planet? It was such

  a gigantic idea. If only he could give the wooden tablet to his

  friends. Samuel could read and decipher it.

  Edgar reached out and almost touched the very place where Dr.

  Kincaid and Vincent lived. At the last second he realized that if

  this were to set something in motion as he suspected it might,

  he would not want to find himself at Dr. Kincaid's doorstep.

  Edgar moved his finger closer to where the grove would be and

  touched the place on the map where he wanted to go.

  The vessel moved ever so slightly and Edgar scrambled into

  one of the six seats around the table. He picked up the two

  tablets and slid them back together again with a snap. There

  was a grinding noise from outside, but Edgar heard only a faint

  whisper of sound. All through the walls, ceiling, and floor of the

  vessel, creatures were moving and firebugs were glowing

  brighter.

  Edgar had awoken the Raven and it had begun to move.

  "You're not a machine," said Edgar, petting the armrest

  instinctively. "I know that word. Dr. Kincaid told me about

  machines. They're cold and dead, that's what he said about

  machines. He said the Dark Planet was full of them. But you're

  not like that, are you? Neither one of us is like that."

  Edgar felt confident the Raven was moving faster now, though

  he had no way of knowing for sure. He watched the eels

  swimming all around him in the murky black. Their mouths

  opened and firebugs tried to escape their predators. They left

  blue trails of quickly dying light.

  Without warning, Edgar felt a pull on his legs and back from the

  seat he sat in. He felt glued to the chair by an unseen force.

  The Raven had begun to roll and gain speed, but it remained

  fairly calm inside. Already the Raven had moved past the giant

  stone-covered monster and watched it cower in fear of a million

  spikes. The Raven was virtual y indestructible, and she was

  more useful than Edgar knew.

  She came to the point in the tunnel where it dropped off

  violently, and this time Edgar felt the surge of speed. He

  couldn't move his limbs as the Raven went faster still. The

  seven rock-encrusted cave eels that had waited for Edgar's

  return heard the spiked beast coming and cowered deep in their

  holes, snapping their jaws in nervous fear.

  The Raven shot through the hole and into the open air around

  Atherton. Silent and stealthily it flew, rising as if invisible in the

  dark night until it landed ever so quietly on the surface of the

  Flatlands.

  It was night on Atherton as Edgar moved quietly over a rocky

  surface peppered with clumps of green grass. The Raven had

  landed to the right of the grove, which meant Edgar would have

  to pass through a wide pasture.

  Edgar had begun his adventure climbing down the side of

  Atherton in the late morning of the same day and found it hard

  to believe so much time had passed. He was hungry, thirsty,

  and tired. Though he pressed on soundlessly as he neared his

  destination, the sheep in the pasture saw his approach,

  scurrying off in clusters and baa ing as they went.

  "You're bothering my sheep."

  Edgar jumped back and lost his footing, dropping the tablet with

  a bang as it landed badly on the rocks below. It was the

  shepherdess Maude, out watching the herd much later than

  he'd expected.

  "Sorry, Maude... I was just passing through on my way to the

  grove."

  Edgar and Maude knew each other well. They both understood

  the secretive nature of the other.

  "I see," said Maude. She was a portly woman with a round face,

  known for her strong personality.

  Maude leaned against a shepherd's staff and clicked her

  tongue in the direction of the herd.

  "Edgar's not going to hurt you. He's only sneaking back from

  someplace he doesn't want anyone knowing about."

  Maude raised an eyebrow at Edgar and locked her eyes with

  his in the dim light of night. She was worried about him, but she

  also wouldn't pry or try to stop him. After all that Edgar had

  accomplished in the past she had learned to let him go about

  his business.

  "I have to leave for a little while," said Edgar, knowing Maude

  would understand.

  Maude stabbed the end of the staff into the dirt and looked off

  toward the lake.

  "Where are you planning to go? There's not much around the

  other side."

  She had been all the way around the lake in search of pastures

  and found nothing better than the ground she stood on.

  Edgar didn't answer. He had discovered a crack along one side

  of the tablet. The two sides were still stuck together at the

  middle, but in the faint light Edgar could see that one had been

  damaged.

  "What have you got there?"

  "Something I found. I'd like Samuel to have it, because there's a

  lot of writing."

  Then and there Edgar struck on an idea.

  "Would you give it to him for me?"

  Like the majority of people on Atherton, Maude couldn't read.

  She didn't want any part of books or words, so there was no risk

  in having her discover what the words said. She took the tablet

  and examined it curiously.

  "Where are you going, Edgar?"

  Edgar hesitated before answering, but in the end he knew he

  couldn't leave his friends without telling them where he'd gone.

  "I'm leaving Atherton, but I'll be back. Make sure you tell them

  I'm coming right back. I won't be gone long."

  "What do you mean, leaving Atherton?" asked Maude, stricken

  with fear for the boy. "You're not making any sense, Edgar."

  "Tell Samuel there are things hidden inside," said Edgar,

  pointing to the tablet. "If he can get the two sides to slide apart.

  And tell Isabel I'm sorry--I'm really, really sorry. I didn't have a

  choice. I had to go."

  "Go where, Edgar?"

  Edgar looked back toward the Raven, hidden in the night. He

  simply couldn't imagine leaving his friends without telling them.

  "The Dark Planet. To find out why we're here."

  This news came as a shock to Maude. The Dark Planet? The

  words rang in her head and she knew them. There was a buried

  mem
ory that would not surface, but it left a lingering feeling.

  And, oddly, a smell. Like something burning, but what? She

  sniffed the air deeply but it was gone. My memory is playing

  tricks on me, she thought. She shook her head and looked

  again at Edgar.

  "I'll give this to Samuel," said Maude. She knew from

  experience that Edgar was venturing out on his own and that

  he'd have it no other way. She removed a pack from around her

  shoulders. Inside were figs, bread, and a leather pouch of

  water. Maude had often come out in the night, only to find

  herself sleeping with the sheep and waking hungry and thirsty.

  "It's my breakfast," she said, holding out the bag. "Take it with

  you. Who knows where your next meal will come from?"

  "This is just what I needed!" said Edgar. "Thank you, Maude!"

  "And I'll tell them where you've gone."

  Maude put her arms around Edgar and they embraced for a

  long moment. For Edgar it felt like Atherton itself was holding

  him and wouldn't let him go. It aimed to keep him here, to keep

  him from knowledge it didn't want Edgar to have.

  "Are you sure you want to do this?" asked Maude. "What if

  you're about to see things you were never supposed to know

  about?"

  Edgar pulled away and backed up a few paces, sure Maude

  was going to try to stop him.

  "I can't stay here, Maude. I just can't."

  He steadied Maude's pack on his shoulders and walked away,

  expecting Maude to follow. But she didn't.

  In the deepest part of night on Atherton, Samuel and Isabel

  waited at the edge of the crevice for their friend to return. They

  wondered where he had gone and vowed to wait all night if they

  had to. They fretted over his safety and guessed at what he was

  doing.

  The Raven moved in silence, invisible against the dark sky.

  Samuel and Isabel couldn't have known that before their very

  eyes, as they looked out over the edge, their closest friend was

  leaving Atherton without them.

  PARTTWO

  THE SILO

  If ever I return,

  It will be on Gossamer's wings.

  DR. MAXIMUS HARDING

  INTO HIDDEN REALMS

  CHAPTER 10THE FORSAKEN

  WOOD

  Sunrise on the Dark Planet was the saddest time of all. At night

  a person could look out from the sterile safety of Station Seven

  and imagine every thing was perfectly fine. There was so much

  less devastation to see when things were truly dark, and this