The Dark Planet

by Patrick Carman

  power on the ground behind him.

  High in the trees, swaying through the smog, came something

  that must have been fifty feet tall. The creature must have been

  the queen of the pack. She was laser focused on the ensuing

  battle and didn't notice the tiny presence of Edgar as she

  passed by, but Edgar got a good look as she rumbled past. He

  couldn't see any legs, only the long, loose neck lolling back and

  forth. At the end of the neck was a beak that looked for all the

  world like a ten-foot spike. A wide helmet of rocky bumps that

  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

  four glanced at each other in silent agreement that this was

  possible. It had been ninety-one days since they'd taken

  Ramsey, the former fifth member of the green team. Vasher

  would be the next to go, then it would be Aggie's turn. It was

  something none of the remaining four liked to talk about. They

  didn't know where children went when they left the Silo. Only

  that they never c
ame back.

  "Let's just keep working. It won't do any good to slow down,"

  said Teagan, thinking of Aggie and how she wanted her to rest

  as soon as possible. Both boys nodded their agreement. They

  talked nervously about the new boy and what he would be like.

  Would he be older and meaner?

  All four members of the green team had come from a sprawling

  compound fifty miles down the beach. Tens of thousands of

  people lived there, many of them orphaned children, and the

  circumstances were so horrific people often wandered off in

  search of something better.

  "I was thinking of my dad this morning," said Teagan. She cried

  about her parents sometimes. "He was a lot like you, Aggie.

  Headstrong and confident."

  "Do we have to dig all that up again?" said Vasher. He was the

  biggest and oldest of the group. "Let's just get the work done so

  we can get out of here."

  Vasher didn't like all the carrying on about parents. It was the

  same story over and over again, and the older he got the more

  annoyed he was by it all. Parents left the compound searching

  for someplace better and never came back. And when the day

  came that kids couldn't wait anymore, they went looking for their

  parents--and ended up in the Silo. It had happened to everyone

  on the green team.

  Teagan wanted to lash out at Vasher, but Aggie looked tired

  and sore and she had to admit talking about their parents made

  everyone sad and less productive.

  Red Eye and Socket rose on the platform and passed through

  the main chambers of the Silo. The platform ran the entire

  length of the middle of the Silo, from the drying room at the

  bottom to the engine room at the top. Red Eye and Socket

  ascended through the drying room and emerged on the other

  side into a high-ceilinged chamber with vines dangling every

  where.

  "Faster, you yellows! Faster!" yelled Red Eye at the five

  children who were working there, pulling the bender from his

  back and whap! whap! whapping! it against the rail of the

  platform. "They're catching up down there!"

  The sight of the bender sent the working children into a frenzy.

  They were all younger than Aggie and Teagan. Picking buds

  from the long vines was dangerous, but it was also one of the

  easiest jobs in the Silo. When the children got older they were

  usually moved to the next level up, which Red Eye and Socket

  presently passed into. This was the growing room, where the