The Dark Planet

by Patrick Carman

  looking like you."

  "It's all right, Vash," said Aggie with a calm and steady voice.

  "He's not going to hurt you or try to take anything from you."

  Behind the goggles, Vasher had the deepest-set eyes of the

  group, and they quickly scanned everyone in the room.

  "He's lying!" accused Vasher. "He's from the station. He's come

  to spy on us." Vasher had been getting harder to control during

  the past few months. Sometimes he was perfectly calm, but

  other times, especially when his things or his position were at

  risk, he lashed out.

  "I'm not lying," insisted Edgar. "I just don't remember."

  Vasher looked at Teagan as if he might start to cry,

  overwhelmed by some other emotion that had quickly taken

  over. This is what always happened. If a person had been

  exposed to the outside for too long when they were very young,

  a day came when emotions ran amok and attention was hard to

  keep. It was why the really young children Grammel brought on

  the boat were of such questionable value. He'd find them on the

  beach, totally exposed to the outside world, and bring them to

  the Silo expecting them to grow up and be useful a few years

  later.

  "It's okay, Vash--really it is. He's not going to take things away.

  He's nice, aren't you, Edgar?"

  Edgar nodded and smiled at Vasher.

  "And I'm a hard worker," he said. "Just tell me what to do and I'll

  do it. You'll see."

  This seemed to calm Vasher down and he leveled off, going

  back to work with Landon but still casting a wary eye at Edgar

  every few seconds.

  "Take this," said Aggie, handing Edgar a metal tube with a blunt

  end. "And use it like this."

  Aggie had her own metal tube and she began tamping the

  powder inside the bin. The bin itself was about four feet across

  and three feet tall at the sides. It was a little over half filled with

  papery-looking buds that appeared to Edgar as if they were

  swimming in a vat of white powder.

  "Why are we doing this?" he asked.

  "It's how we make the white powder," said Landon, surprised

  that Edgar didn't recognize one of the most basic elements of

  life in the Silo. "You know about powder blocking, don't you?"

  Edgar thought Landon looked like the youngest and weakest of

  the bunch. His eyes were bloodshot in a way that made Edgar's

  own eyes water when he looked at them. But Landon was full of

  energy and hopped around from place to place as he worked.

  "I'm afraid I don't know about any powder. I've never seen it

  before."

  Every member of the green team thought this was peculiar.

  They were constantly being told they were saving the world

  with the work they were doing. The powder blocks were sent all

  over--or so they thought--so people could mix the powder with

  whatever liquid they could find and drink it.

  "They don't start out all chalky like this," said Aggie. She liked

  the idea of getting to know this strange new boy a little more.

  "The vines--you saw them coming down here, I'm sure--they

  make flowers that never bloom."

  "The team in the vine room climbs up and gets them," said

  Landon, racing around a bin so he was facing Vasher. "The

  flowers, I mean--and they get dropped on the floor."

  Aggie pointed to the ceiling. "Then the flowers that never bloom

  pass through a lot of holes that lead through heated grates. The

  grates shake them dry. When they finally fall through the ceiling

  --"

  As if on cue, a dried-out white bud about the size of Edgar's

  thumb dropped out of one of the thousands of holes in the

  ceiling and landed in one of the many bins. There was an

  unmistakable sense that Dr. Harding had somehow been

  involved in what was going on here. It had his fingerprints all

  over it.

  "When the flower curls up into a ball that way, it's ready to be

  tamped," said Aggie. Edgar thought the flower looked like it had

  caved in on itself, hiding from the scary world outside. "We

  smash the flowers, and the papery leaves get tinier and tinier

  until they turn to dust."

  Teagan added, "This is also the hottest room in the Silo and the

  place we hate working the most."

  "The vines are the best, though we hardly ever get to work there

  anymore. But we still climb the vines sometimes," said Landon

  in a sort of sneaky voice. "Right, Vash?"

  "Quiet, Landon!" said Vasher. He glared at Edgar. "You know

  we don't talk about that, especially around someone we can't

  trust." Edgar saw right away that Landon thought of Vasher as a

  big brother.

  "We don't get to work in the vines anymore," said Aggie. She,

  too, seemed to be hiding something behind her green eyes.

  Edgar was drawn to this mysterious girl with short hair and

  slightly sunken eyes. He could imagine her on Atherton in his

  beloved grove, walking beneath the trees.

  Edgar felt sweat dripping down his forehead.

  "Don't let that fall in the bin," said Teagan nervously. "We'll get

  in trouble."

  "But how would anyone know?" asked Edgar, wiping an arm

  across his face.

  "They test every block for purity before it goes out. They can tell

  if anything gets in there."

  "What's a powder block?"

  "When it's all dust, it goes over there and gets smashed."

  Teagan pulled her goggles down over her eyes. There was a

  pair of long, stiff gloves hanging from the side of the bin and she

  put them on. Then she held her arms out and made a funny face

  as she walked like a monster toward Aggie. Her arms looked

  huge against the skin and bones of her slight body. Landon

  thought it was hilarious and laughed out loud.

  "Back to work, you monster!" Aggie joked.

  Teagan picked up a large metal cup and scooped white powder

  from one of the four corners of the bin where they worked. The

  metal cup had a floppy lid on hinges and she closed the lid with

  a clang, then walked to one of the metal walls in the room. She

  reached out a gloved hand and clumsily slid open a small door.

  Even from where Edgar was standing he could tell it was

  burning hot behind the door. Teagan took a deep breath and

  reached inside, dumped the cup quickly, and pulled her hand

  back out.

  "It's full enough," she said, closing the door and taking hold of a

  lever that appeared to be in the down position. She looked at

  Edgar and smiled once more. "Better cover your ears."

  Edgar set the tamper down and put his hands over his ears, but

  it didn't help very much. When Teagan pulled the lever up and

  locked it into place there was a sound of something moving

  behind the wall that was so shrill it made Edgar's head hurt.

  Ancient iron grated against bearings in need of oil, moving

  walls of steel closer and closer as they smashed the powder

  into a block of concentrate.

  "How long does it take?" screamed Edgar. No one could hear

  him. Less than a minute later the sound stopped for a split

  second then started right bac
k up again when Teagan threw

  down the lever and locked it.

  "All done," said Aggie at long last, touching Edgar on the

  shoulder ever so briefly to reassure him. "But we'll have to do it

  another five or six times before we finish these bins."

  "Six more times?" said Edgar.

  Teagan had opened a second sliding door. The gloves ran all

  the way up to her shoulders and she set her covered forearms

  along the sides of a block about the size of her own head. It

  looked like it was heavy--maybe ten pounds--and she struggled

  to lift it out and place it in a metal box at her feet. It would take a

  total of thirty to fill the container.

  "Each one can feed a person for a month," said Teagan. "Well,

  that and the bars made of seeds and leaves. With the blocks,

  you have to break pieces off and mix them with water or it's

  awfully hard to choke down."

  "Is that all you eat?" asked Edgar. "Bars and powdery water?"

  Teagan nodded, gazing at Edgar with curiosity. "It's all anyone

  eats."

  Edgar thought aloud without really knowing the words were

  coming out.

  "Dr. Harding did this."

  "What did you say?" asked Aggie.

  "He said Harding--he knows about this place. I told you he

  knows! He's a liar!"

  The blizzard was flying through Vasher's head again.

  "They sent him over here to get me!"

  Vasher held his metal tamper out into the open and pointed it at

  Edgar. It was not a formidable weapon with its wide, flat end,

  and if it were swung in Edgar's general direction he could easily

  dodge it. But if it were thrown...

  "Calm down, Vash," said Aggie. She hated giving Edgar the

  impression she and her friends were living in absolute chaos.

  "We don't know anything about Edgar. Everyone's heard of Max

  Harding, you know that."

  "I don't trust him," said Vasher, walking toward Edgar as he

  raised the tamper over his head.

  Edgar darted away from the bin and took hold of a metal rail

  along one of the walls. With lightning speed he was on the

  ceiling, fingers and toes clawing along countless holes the size

  of his fist.

  "He's fast!" said Landon. "And he can really climb. He'd be

  amazing in the vines!"

  Vasher wouldn't be distracted. "I won't go! I won't let them take

  me!"

  Vasher hurled the tamper. It was a good shot, heading straight

  for Edgar's head, but Edgar dodged it easily as he moved

  seven or eight feet along the web of holes in the ceiling in the

  space of a few seconds. Edgar let go with his feet and hung

  limp, then dropped the distance to the floor and stood in front of

  Vasher.

  "I'm not here to spy on you," said Edgar. "I'm not from Station

  Seven. I'm not even from the Dark Planet."

  "What do you mean?" asked Aggie, but in her heart of hearts

  she knew. She had heard--they had all heard--of a place where

  things were different. It was like a fairy tale, the only fairy tale, in

  fact, in which all the girls and boys were rescued and taken to a

  new world free of darkness and pollution and monsters.

  Edgar didn't speak. Maybe he'd said too much too soon. But he

  couldn't stay on the Dark Planet for long, that much he knew.

  Every second counted in this wretched place if he had any

  hope of getting back inside the Raven and going home.

  "Where are you from?" Aggie asked. She had liked Edgar on

  seeing him, but she was entirely mesmerized by him now. And

  that was saying a lot for Aggie, the often stoic leader of the

  green team.

  "You don't really think? You can't be serious!" said Vasher.

  "That's not even real, Aggie! It's just a story Hope tells to make

  us feel better."

  "But what if it is true?" said Teagan, unable to hide her

  optimism. "Hope and Dr. Harding--they were friends when he

  was just a boy. Maybe..."

  "Shut up! Both of you just shut up!" yelled Vasher. "It's

  nonsense, all of it! He's come to make sure I'll go without giving

  them any trouble. That's all he's here for."

  Everyone froze as they watched the tube lurch to life and begin

  moving lower. The platform was coming down. Another few

  seconds and Red Eye and Socket would be back, yelling at

  them.

  Aggie looked at Edgar like no one had ever looked at him

  before. There was now a pleading hope in her despairing eyes,

  as if she thought Edgar had the power to remove all the terrible

  things in her world with a wave of his hand or a certain set of

  words.

  "Have you ever heard of a place called Atherton?" asked Aggie,

  her voice shaky and quiet. For some reason she couldn't help

  herself and touched Edgar again on the shoulder.

  "Aggie, no. He'll only break your heart," said Vasher.

  Edgar looked at Vasher and saw that he wasn't holding his

  tamper. He'd thrown it only moments ago and the platform was

  getting very close. Edgar darted across the room with electric

  speed, grabbed the tamper, and tossed it through the air.

  Vasher caught it as Red Eye's boots came into view. Edgar

  didn't have time to get back to the bin and his own tamper,

  which he had set down in order to escape Vasher's advance.

  But his back was to the platform and so he was able to gaze

  into Aggie's eyes and tell her the truth.

  "It's real. Atherton is real."

  She was awestruck and held his gaze longer than she should

  have given the circumstances.

  "Edgar!" cried Teagan. "Look out!"

  But it was too late. Red Eye had already advanced on Edgar

  from behind. The bender was out and swinging. Edgar closed

  his eyes and waited. He'd been hit lots of times before by Mr.

  Ratikan's walking stick in the grove. But this was different. This

  stung like needles and seemed to cut right though the skin on

  his back.

  Edgar never stopped looking at Aggie. He saw the marks on

  her arms and could imagine this terrible man hitting her as he'd

  just been hit. He suddenly realized he could never leave the

  Dark Planet without taking Aggie and her friends with him. He

  had to get them out of the Silo.

  Tears began to fill Aggie's eyes. In the unexpected silence Red

  Eye lurched around where he could see Edgar's face. He was

  frothing with anger.

  "Why aren't you working?" asked Red Eye. He was in a rage as

  he turned to the rest. "He's standing in the middle of the room

  doing nothing!"

  Red Eye turned on Aggie, his favorite choice on whom to dole

  out punishment, and he swung the bender to and fro in front of

  him.

  "Is that the best whipping you can give?" said Edgar. All the

  children in the room gasped, but Edgar had to do something.

  He had to turn Red Eye's vengeful eye away from Aggie.

  "This boy's mad!" said Socket, laughing and snorting from

  behind Edgar.

  "Then we'll have to beat the madness out of him, won't we?"

  said Red Eye. He grabbed Edgar by the arm and hauled him

  toward the platform.

  "Where are you taking him?"
asked Landon. He could be

  fearless when the mood struck him. "Don't take him away--he

  only just got here. The passageway of lies can wait a little

  while, can't it?"

  "Shut your mouth, Landon!" screamed Red Eye. "Or you'll be

  choking down powder with no water in it tonight."

  Socket just cackled and wiped his goggles, crossing quickly to

  the metal bin of finished powder blocks.

  "What's this? Only one more block while we was gone? You'll

  be here all night!"

  He laughed some more and looked back at his brother who had

  stowed his bender. He took the reader from its holster and held

  it near Edgar's arm.

  "Don't you listen to this boy, Lanny," said Red Eye, sure that

  Edgar was filling their heads with lies. "None of you listen to

  him! He doesn't have a clue what he's talking about."

  Edgar had already felt the reader once and it stung terribly, like

  a shot of electricity that burned down to his bones. He flinched

  at the sight of the reader and tried to pull away, but Red Eye

  had a crushing grip and wouldn't let go.

  "There's no passageway of lies here," said Red Eye, his voice

  like the hiss of boiling oil. He jammed the tip of the reader into

  Edgar's skin. "Now hold still so I can give Judix the good news."

  Edgar felt like he'd been stuck through with a burning needle.

  When Red Eye pulled the reader away and looked at the

  screen he didn't say anything. No one could see his eyes

  behind the goggles, but his scowl turned sharper on his face as

  he glanced at the reader and then Edgar. The reader had never

  failed before. He had just used it an hour ago on a girl in the

  vine room. What was this nonsense?

  "How old is he?" asked Socket, walking toward Red Eye. Red

  Eye couldn't stand his brother meddling all the time. He turned

  the reader off and locked it back in its cradle at his side.

  "He's 4311," said Red Eye. Then, looking cruelly at Landon, he

  added, "Plenty old for the passageway of lies after a good long

  beating!"

  "The commander will want to hear," said Socket, racing for the

  platform. "I'll tell her!"

  Red Eye pulled the bender from his back with harrowing speed

  and swept it across his brother's path.

  "Leave the commander to me," he said, and then by way of a

  reward he pushed Edgar toward his brother. "Take him to the

  engine room and make sure he knows who runs things around

  here. And watch for Hope. She won't like you beating him on

  his first day."