ground.
"I'm here," said Samuel from somewhere ahead in the
shadows. "Come quick and see what I've found."
Isabel marched forward into a widening space, and in the
growing light of orange and yellow she finally came to Samuel's
side and gasped.
"It doesn't look like winter to me," said Samuel.
The two children stood, mouths agape, staring down at a
perilous cliff that dropped off in front of them. It was hundreds of
feet to the bottom, and what lay there was about as far from
being cold and wintry as they could have imagined.
A river of fire, a hundred feet across, boiled and teemed along a
twisting path as far as they could see in both directions. Beyond
the hundred feet of molten rock, there was nothing but a rising
wall of stone.
"This is the Inferno, only worse," said Isabel, horrified. It was the
Inferno on a grand scale, billions of firebugs hovering like a fog
over billions of pounds of liquefied rock infested with thousands
of cave eels greedily chomping on every thing their glowing
jaws could reach.
"This is a disaster," said Isabel, sweat beginning to trickle down
her temple. The passage was hotter here, fueled by steam
rising through the air.
"We'll go back," said Samuel, finally concluding that he was
ready to give up the adventure and let the adults decide what
they would about this place. "We can hand in the tablets and
the pen and show them the way."
"At least they're not up here," said Isabel, her mind fixated on
the firebugs as she crawled closer to the edge. "They stay way
down there, don't they?" It seemed to put her at ease to know
she wouldn't have to endure an outright attack.
Samuel knelt and crept to Isabel's side and together they
looked all around.
"There," Isabel pointed across the river. Near the far wall, a thin
pillar of stone capped with a round platform rose about a
hundred feet, and a bridge of stone led from the platform to a
dark opening. It was hard to see for sure in the mottled light, but
the soft shadows that danced on the wall behind the pillar
looked for all the world like the shadows of falling snow.
"The chill of winter is there," said Isabel, suddenly curious
beyond all reason.
"I think you're right," said Samuel. He couldn't see how they
would ever get across the river of fire, but didn't want to
discourage Isabel. "There must be a way--a bridge or a tunnel.
We just haven't figured it out yet." He took the tablet and the pen
from his pack and began scanning the burned lines, numbers,
words, and symbols.
Isabel felt a terrible chill run through her as she thought of
fal ing over the edge. She imagined she would be shocked with
electricity over and over again until she hit the river and melted
away in a puff of smoke. Her parents would be left to wonder
what had happened to her, but there would be nothing of her left
to find.
And yet, even in the face of this insurmountable obstacle, Isabel
could not let go. She thought of Edgar and tried to imagine what
he would think if he saw her there. He would tell her to turn
back, and for reasons she couldn't quite explain, this more than
anything else made her want to find a way across the wide river
of fire.
From behind Samuel and Isabel an unexpected noise cut
through the roar of boiling and hissing and snapping teeth. It
sounded like the loud crash of rocks being torn asunder.
"What is that?" asked Samuel, looking up from the tablet and
feeling the stones beneath him start to shake.
Gossamer had awoken and found them missing. He had never
had a reason to go beyond the way of the yards before, so he'd
never attempted to widen the narrow way. But it wouldn't take
long for the great black dragon to pummel the walls into oblivion
to come stand at the edge with Samuel and Isabel.
CHAPTER 20THE PASSAGEWAY
OF LIES
Morning at the Silo brought Red Eye and Socket's usual bad
temper down upon the boys in the barracks.
"Get your lazy bones out of those bunks!" cackled Socket. He
had already pulled out his bender and was walking along the
row of beds, banging the frames loudly. Edgar leaped from his
one foot and then the other as he headed for the door.
"Hold up, you," said Red Eye. He took two clanging steps
toward Edgar and tossed a pair of metal-soled boots into the air.
The boots flew straight at Edgar's head and would have
knocked him to the ground, but Edgar ducked as they whipped
past and crashed into the wall behind his bed.
"What's wrong with you, boy? Can't you catch?" said Socket,
laughing maniacally as he slapped the bender against the side
of his boot. Edgar picked up the heavy boots and found they
were badly scuffed and way too big for his feet.
"Put them on," said Red Eye. "You'll be taking a little walk later
today. Only boots allowed where you're going."
From somewhere down the line of beds Edgar heard a howling
cry of pain. Vasher had been whacked by another flying pair of
boots.
"You two better start paying more attention," said Socket.
"You're expected to be men out there, not toddlers!"
Socket always seemed to be the only one who ever laughed at
his barbs and jabs.
"Enjoy your breakfast," said Red Eye as Edgar passed through
the door. "It'll be the last meal you have under my watch. Who
knows when you'll eat again?"
Edgar saw Hope when he reached the kitchen. She was telling
the younger children silly stories while they drank their
breakfast. All of the children had enormous, chalky white
mustaches and giggled at one another. Hope knew Edgar
would be leaving. She had a hard time looking at him. When
she finally did look up they locked eyes.
"I'm sorry you couldn't stay longer," she said.
"Me, too."
Edgar wanted to tell her who he was, but there was so little
time.
"What was he like?" Edgar asked. He stirred white powder into
a metal cup of water.
"You mean Dr. Harding?"
Edgar nodded and began drinking his breakfast.
"He was a little like Landon, actually. He had a lot of energy. I
think he only slept a couple of hours every night, because I tell
you what, that boy had a new invention every morning. Did you
know the Silo used to just be a place for orphans to live? There
were no vines or powder or any of that. Later on, after he had
been at Station Seven, he invented all these processes. Said it
was good for kids to work, good for their spirits, gave them a
sense of purpose."
"What else did he say?" asked Edgar.
"He said he would come back," said Hope. She grew sad then,
and seemed older than before. How old was she? Sixty?
Seventy? Older?
"Is there something you want to tell me?" she asked.
"Let's go! Let's
go!" Red Eye yelled from the echoing hallway.
He wanted to tell her all about Dr. Harding. She deserved to
know the truth. He heard Red Eye's boots coming toward the
kitchen.
"Don't give up hope," said Edgar. "There's still a chance things
might work out as he imagined."
Hope didn't say anything as Edgar raced out of the kitchen and
into the hall wearing his clumsy new boots. She turned back to
the youngest children and began telling them the story of young
Dr. Max Harding.
Red Eye took the green and orange teams down the center of
the Silo in one group, dropping orange in the vine room. If not
for the oversize boots on his feet Edgar might have jumped off
the descending platform so he could swing through the vines,
the memory of the night before playing in his imagination.
When they finally reached the drying room Red Eye pushed
them off the platform. "Socket will be down before long to check
on you. He better find at least four blocks or it's going to be a
very long day for green."
Red Eye focused his attention on Edgar and Vasher. "And don't
you go getting lazy on me. You're still mine for a few more
hours. I expect them to be productive ones."
He tapped his bender on the rail of the platform, then pushed a
button and was gone through the opening in the ceiling.
"Finally, we can talk!" said Teagan. "It's like having a muzzle on
in this place. Sometimes I think it's going to drive me crazy."
"Socket won't be long and he'll be looking for a reason to get
mad," said Aggie. She was al business as she held her hand
out. "Let's see it."
Edgar pulled the piece of paper out of his pocket, and like
everyone else, seemed to forget that there was one member of
the green team who had been left out of the loop. As the
crumpled piece of paper passed from Edgar's hand to Aggie's,
they glanced nervously at Vasher, who had already begun
working.
"What's with you guys?" he said, both curious and irritated. He
had thrown off the big boots the moment Red Eye was gone,
and he walked in bare feet to a tamping station. "We've got four
blocks to make, didn't you hear him? I've already been hit in the
head with a pair of boots today. The last thing I need is a
lashing."
He seemed particularly irritated by Edgar in his ridiculous
boots.
"Take those off if they're going to slow you down," Vasher
commanded. "Like Red Eye said, you need to keep working."
Vasher glared as Edgar untucked his soft sandals from the back
of his shorts and wriggled out of his boots. In truth, Vasher
wasn't angry at Edgar; he was terrified of being sent away. His
frustration voiced itself as bitterness toward the only friends he
had in the world.
Landon's quiet voice broke the silence. "We're not working
today, Vash. We're going with Edgar."
"What do you mean, going with Edgar?"
Vash was so mad he wanted to punch Edgar as hard as he
could. He pulled the tamper out of the chalk box and held it
firmly in his fist.
"It's a lot to explain and we don't have time," said Aggie. "We
planned this while you were sleeping last night. You should
have come to the vine room like the rest of us."
"Nobody woke me!" insisted Vasher. He wanted to be included
despite the fact that he had no intention of going anywhere with
them, especially if Edgar was leading the way.
"We did try. You said you were too tired and didn't want to go,"
said Landon.
"This is crazy! You can't go anywhere around here. There's only
one thing we need to do, and that's get the work done before
Socket gets here."
Teagan drew in a big breath and exhaled. She didn't like
confrontations and wanted it to be over.
"I'm going to say this as quickly and simply as I can," said
Edgar, giving Vasher the benefit of the doubt and risking being
caught before they'd even left. "I think I can get us out of here. I
mean really out of here. But I can't do it from here."
Edgar pointed at Aggie, who held up the piece of paper with
impatient exasperation.
"That paper shows me the way," he continued. "You don't have
to go with me. None of you have to go, but you can if you want
to."
Vasher glanced at each face in front of him and couldn't believe
what he was hearing.
"So you're like Dr. Harding from the story, is that it? Came to
rescue the world, did you?"
Edgar knew it sounded ridiculous. He shrugged and turned to
Aggie. "We need to get going."
Vasher shook his head angrily. "Come on, Landon, we've got to
get this done fast if they're going to stand around doing
nothing."
But Landon didn't budge, and this hurt Vasher more than
anything. He had felt less and less alive as day 4000 came and
went, knowing he would soon be banished to the outside world
on some duty he could only guess would take his life. He had
shut down almost all the way, feeling nothing but cold and
empty as he waited for the end.
But there had always been the one thing that had kept the dim
light of emotion alive: Landon. He was like a little brother. If he
let Landon go, the Dark Planet would win--Vasher would be
dead inside just like Commander Judix or Red Eye or Socket.
Vasher simply couldn't imagine the loneliness of the Silo
without Landon.
"You're not going out there without me," he said. "What if you
get lost?"
Landon ran straight to Vasher and wrapped his arms around the
older boy, sending a plume of white dust into the air around
them.
"Trust me, okay?" said Landon, looking up into Vasher's eyes.
"I know it sounds crazy, but I think this is for real."
Vasher hesitated, but only for a moment, then he nodded and
dropped the tamper into the bin. With his arm around Landon,
they walked back to the circle of friends and everyone huddled
around the map as Aggie unfolded it.
"I've never been into Station Seven before, but one thing that's
good is this," said Aggie, pointing to a group of words Edgar
couldn't read. Aggie read them to everyone: "'Pipes and grates
throughout. Use these to make your way.'"
"This will mean we can move through the station without having
to walk on the floor where we'd be seen."
"We'll have to be real y quiet," said Teagan.
"But we're all good climbers, right?" said Vasher, surprising
everyone with his enthusiasm. He was secretly feeling more
like leaving with every passing second. "I mean, if there's one
thing we've learned how to do in the Silo, it's climb through
ducts and over grates and swing from vines."
"It's like Dr. Harding knew the skills we'd need from the very
start," said Landon.
"How do we get out of here?" asked Teagan.
"That will be the easiest part, I think," said Aggie. She walked to
the door and found the dial that Red Eye had turned the day
before. She read fr
om the paper as she spun it back and forth.
"Twelve... nineteen... two..."
"Aggie?" said Vasher.
"I'm in the middle of this, can't you see?"
"The platform is moving."
Aggie stopped cold and looked over her shoulder.
"Socket's coming already!"
She went back to work--four numbers to go and her fingers
wouldn't stop shaking.
"Forty-four... twenty-four... eight..."
"Hurry, Aggie! Hurry!"
They all stood close behind her, readying themselves to rush
through to the other side.
"Thirty-one," said Aggie, and then there was a click and a
whoosh as the metal door unlocked and opened. Everyone
darted through behind Aggie. Edgar looked back as the door
was closing and saw Socket's boots come into view. Whoosh!
Click! The door was shut and locked behind them.
As the five children of the green team stood staring at one
another in the faint light of the corridor, they felt certain that they
would never return to the world of the Silo. There had only ever
been one child who'd crossed over and went back again, and
that was Dr. Maximus Harding himself. It seemed to them more
than ever that Dr. Harding was guiding them to places they'd
never been, cheering them on from the watery grave of the
fallen House of Power.
If only they'd understood Dr. Harding's message a little better,
they would have realized they'd left something terribly important
behind.
"What's this nonsense?" said Socket as the platform reached
the bottom and he found the drying room empty of children
working. If they were hiding, they'd given him a perfect excuse
to punish them. And yet if they were at some mischief
elsewhere, his brother might slap him hard enough to dislodge
his goggles.
"Where the devil are they?" he said aloud, holding his bender
out as he inspected behind each of the large bins. He found
Edgar's boots and then Vasher's and kicked both pairs across
the room.
"Wait until I get my hands on them," he said, already imagining
them hiding in the vines upstairs.
The communication box on the wall flashed and buzzed,
startling Socket enough that he let go of his bender and it fell
into one of the bins. He struggled momentarily with whether to
retrieve his beloved weapon or go to the blinking red light and
answer it.
"Socket! Where are you?"
It was his brother's voice screaming out of the device. Socket