The Dark Planet

by Patrick Carman

  found.

  "Do you see how that cloth soaks up the grease from the

  cooked rabbit? The crystals are something like that. They fall,

  like an endless winter ice storm, and as they fall the smallest

  particles of the poison on the Dark Planet are collected. But the

  real magic happens after that, because the crystals aren't like

  the cloth. They don't hold the things they touch, they make them

  disappear. Not every thing the crystals touch disappears, only

  the things that have sought to destroy the Dark Planet."

  "But what happens --" Samuel started, but Isabel stopped him

  with a brush of her hand.

  Dr. Kincaid, determined to tell the whole story at once, stopped

  and filled his mouth with a hunk of bread Samuel's mother had

  made. He followed with a gulp of water. Then, when he was

  sure they were going to stay quiet, he went on.

  "The shards that don't get used up in the air fall to the ground as

  rain, and you should see what happens when they hit the

  oceans and land. You can almost feel the Dark Planet being

  scrubbed clean, getting healthier by the hour as the rain falls

  and falls and falls. Pollution of every kind sizzles and steams

  away. It's nothing short of spectacular.

  "Ten days ago Vincent and I both noticed the rain getting

  heavier. But when we woke three mornings ago the rain had

  turned softer again. By the time we left there was almost no rain

  at all at Station Seven. And guess what? We weren't wearing

  masks outside when we left, and neither was anyone else."

  Everyone circled around the fire smiled at once.

  "It took Gossamer a little longer to clear out the wood than we

  thought it might. You've never heard anything quite like a

  dragon going to battle against an army of giant Cleaners and

  Spikers. Days and nights of fighting, until only the queen Spiker

  and a very tired black dragon remained. Gossamer is a warrior

  beyond anything I have ever seen. Vincent and I spent the

  better part of an entire day watching from Station Seven. The

  smog had cleared from the forsaken wood. Fallen trees and

  creatures lay every where, and we were able to watch as

  Gossamer destroyed the last and biggest of Dr. Harding's

  mistakes. It was the scariest, most awe-inspiring show I've ever

  seen or ever will see.

  "But do you know what the best part was? Through it all,

  Gossamer never once breathed fire on anything. He was too

  afraid of burning down a single tree or accidentally setting the

  Silo on fire. He took one look at the Silo and somehow knew it

  was filled with children. He protected it above all else, and I

  don't think a Cleaner made it within a hundred yards of the Silo

  in all the days of clashing."

  Dr. Kincaid paused a moment, pulling once more on one of

  those floppy ears of his. Then he shook his head with a smile of

  wonder on his face.

  "Do you know, I don't think Dr. Harding ever really grew up? For

  him, saving the Dark Planet was a story that had to be told, not

  a problem that needed to be solved. I wonder if we thought

  more like he did, more magically, if we'd have figured things out

  on our own a long time ago. It's funny, but I remember he was

  always terrified of anything that flew. Even small bugs bothered

  him, but especially birds. And to think he made Gossamer to get

  rid of all the terrible things he made by accident. Sometimes our

  biggest fears must be overcome in order to find our way. I

  suppose Dr. Max Harding knew that better than anyone."

  Dr. Kincaid stared at everyone. It appeared that he'd come to

  the end, and Edgar was the first to venture a question.

  "Why didn't you bring anyone back with you?" He was thinking

  of Hope, but also of the other children in the Silo.

  "We can't do that, Edgar." It was Vincent, who had been sitting

  silently next to Dr. Kincaid the whole time. "We can't start

  shuttling people back and forth between the two worlds.

  Atherton wasn't made to accommodate everyone on the Dark

  Planet. Now, thanks to Maximus Harding, we think the entire

  planet will survive--so long as they learn from their mistakes.

  We're sending the Raven back to the docking station, where it

  will stay."

  Edgar wanted to protest, but he knew Vincent was right. Things

  could get very complicated if people from Atherton wanted to go

  back and others were constantly showing up from the Dark

  Planet. What if Atherton failed as the Dark Planet had? There

  was only one sure way for that to happen: invite a lot of people

  from the Dark Planet to bring their things and live here. Edgar

  could already imagine Atherton turned into a place of metal and

  machines. The best solution was to cut the cord for good now

  that the Dark Planet had been restored.

  Vincent walked to the Raven, went inside, and returned with

  something in his hands. "Hope asked me to give this to you."

  He held out a wooden box and no one knew who should take it.

  It was from someone they loved and were never going to see

  again. Edgar felt like he was part of the green team now, but he

  didn't think it right to take it himself, so he waited until Aggie

  reached out and gently took the box from Vincent. It was a lot

  heavier than she'd expected.

  "Open it!" said Landon.

  Aggie undid a string that held the box shut and took the lid off.

  Five more boxes were hidden inside.

  "Are these what I think they are?" asked Aggie. She handed out

  the five small squares, each of them a perfect two-inch square.

  "Those aren't really boxes you're holding. I mean, you can't

  open them. They're actually solid glass of a kind that's pretty

  hard to break. Otherwise we might have all of Atherton crawling

  with vines."

  "But what's inside?" asked Isabel as she watched Teagan turn

  it in the light and peer inside. Everyone on the green team

  knew, just like Aggie knew.

  "They're the flowers that never bloom, from the Silo," said

  Teagan. "Only these ones did bloom!"

  Dr. Kincaid just nodded. He could see the wonder in their eyes

  at the sight of the flowers they held. They were shaped just like

  the Raven with pointy leaves fanning out in every imaginable

  color. A miniature raven of every color and hue.

  There was a note inside the box. Aggie read it out loud, trying

  her best to imagine Hope saying the words to them.

  "'For the green team, so you know you're gone but never

  forgotten. With love and affection, Hope.'"

  Aggie turned the paper over and found a much longer note on

  the back.

  "'I sat on the beach with all the children from the Silo and

  watched the waves come in last night. We breathed the clean

  air and roasted fresh fish from the sea. They begged and

  begged to hear about Dr. Harding, so I told them, only this time

  we all looked up and imagined you there, watching over us.

  The story is finally told to the very end, with a happy ending,

  after all.'"

  No one spoke. It was as if every thing that needed to
be said

  had been said.

  Dr. Kincaid had one more surprise and he pulled it out of his

  own pocket.

  "Landon," he said, "one day soon Gossamer will return to

  Atherton and make his home here. He'll go back inside Atherton

  where he belongs. But I promise I'll take you to see him at least

  once. In the meantime, I found this in Dr. Harding's laboratory. I

  think it was the first of many models, because as I recall, he

  always started small and made things bigger until they were too

  big for his imagination to hold."

  Dr. Kincaid held out a model of Gossamer about four inches tall.

  It was perfect in every detail, right down to the black spike on its

  nose and the claws on its feet.

  "This is way better than a flower!" said Landon, taking

  Gossamer and smiling bigger than any of them had ever seen

  him smile before. "And I'm holding you to it, Dr. Kincaid. We'll

  go together and I'll protect you. He'll listen to me."

  "That sounds perfect," said Dr. Kincaid.

  After a while they packed up their things and started off, but not

  before Vincent put the black disk inside the Raven, set its

  course, and dashed out the closing door. They all watched it

  disappear over the edge on its way to its final resting spot. On

  the way back Edgar and his friends heard about what had

  become of Commander Judix, Station Seven, and Captain

  Grammel. None of them had fared well in the end, least of all

  Grammel, who was thrown overboard by his crew and washed

  up on the shore near the yards.

  When they arrived back at the grove the party at the Inn was in

  full swing. There were a few thousand people living on

  Atherton, but this was a private party of about fifty of Dr.

  Kincaid's closest friends. There was plenty of Black and Green,

  just as Briney had promised, and lots of laughing and dancing.

  After a good deal of celebrating, the sky grew dark and the

  seven friends huddled together by the door of the Inn. Soon Dr.

  Kincaid emerged, then Vincent. The nine of them snuck away

  as they'd long planned to do. Twenty minutes later, the group

  was standing within a stone's throw of the edge of Atherton.

  "Please be careful," said Dr. Kincaid. He'd said it many times,

  but there was something about a steep drop-off and seven kids

  that worried him. "Vasher, keep Landon at your side."

  Vasher nodded, and then the nine were crawling the final

  distance, feeling the pull of gravity on their arms as they went.

  They all arrived at once, even Dr. Kincaid, who loathed

  crawling on his old knees. But he had to be there when they

  looked over the edge. He'd made them wait two long months,

  and now they would see for themselves.

  Aggie, Teagan, Landon, and Vasher had seen the Dark Planet

  only once when they'd first arrived, but they could remember

  how dirty and dead it had looked.

  Now, Aggie was able to believe that not only people could be

  transformed, but the whole world could be, too. "It's beautiful,"

  she whispered.

  "I can't believe how different it looks," said Isabel. "It's so blue

  and green."

  "It's the way it's supposed to look," said Dr. Kincaid. "The way it

  was made to look before we got our hands on it. The blue is

  water--lots of clean water--and the green is land."

  "What's the white?" asked Vasher.

  "Snow and ice," said Dr. Kincaid.

  "We'll have to change the name of the Dark Planet," said

  Vincent. "It's not dark anymore."

  "Why not call it by its real name?" asked Dr. Kincaid,

  remembering what the Dark Planet had been called before.

  "I don't know. It seems we could do better. New world, new

  name--don't you think?"

  Dr. Kincaid mulled the idea, but it was Teagan who shouted out

  the name that stuck.

  "It's the Blue Planet now," she said. "Blue is the best color of all,

  and our old home is bluer than anything I've ever seen."

  They stayed there for a long time, looking down at a world once

  broken. Edgar couldn't help thinking of Dr. Harding. He was so

  proud of him and all that he'd done, proud enough to never call

  him his maker again.

  "My father did this," said Edgar.

  "Hopefully, they won't make the same mistake twice," said Dr.

  Kincaid, gazing at the Blue Planet. "Because we're not likely to

  see anyone like your father come along again. He was one of a

  kind."

  They backed away from the edge of Atherton and began

  walking.

  "We better get back to the party before they eat up all the Black

  and Green," said Dr. Kincaid, his arm around Landon. Landon

  broke into a run, holding the little model of Gossamer so it

  looked as if it was flying over his head. And then everyone but

  the old man was running, racing each other back to the Inn,

  laughing and dancing in the grey night of Atherton.