D. MacHale - The Rivers of Zadaa

“Exactly!” I said. “So the Batu are safe.”

“But they aren’t!” he exclaimed. “Now the pressure in the ocean will build until it collapses the southern gates anyway. But not before Kidik Island sinks under the rising waters. You haven’t saved the Batu-you’ve doomed both tribes!”

Proofof what the engineer predicted came quickly. The powerful hum that filled the room grew even louder. The lights on the control panel starting going haywire. I heard hissing sounds coming from somewhere. It sounded like incredible pressure was building up inside the vertical steel tanks, which is exactly what was happening. An alarm sounded. It was a blaring horn that warned of disaster.

We backed away from the controls to let the engineers try to reverse the damage.

“It is futile!” the one engineer exclaimed. “We have no control.”

A quick look to the Tiggen guards who were climbing down the ladders showed that they had changed their minds. Rather than streaming down the ladders to stop us, they realized what was happening and had changed direction. They were now desperate to climb back up and get the heck out of there.

“What is happening?” came a voice from below. It was the older guy from the Rokador elite. The one who had questioned Saint Dane’s plan. He was joined by the others, who no longer wanted to be hiding in the corner anymore, or be anywhere near there for that matter.

“Get out now!” the engineer called down to them. “We can no longer control the waters.”

The Rokador elite all stood there, not believing. The statement the engineer had made was a bold one. Controlling the water is what the Rokador did best. It didn’t make sense to them that it was no longer within their power. Controlling the water was going to be their salvation, not their destruction. At least that’s what they thought. Any doubt they had was blown away a second later. Literally. The joints of the giant pipe beneath the control platform were held together by massive bolts. There was a huge hissing sound, then a loud pop. One of the bolts had blown out. It shot across the room like the cork out of a champagne bottle. It nailed one of the steel tanks with a loudclang, putting a huge dent in it. If it had hit somebody, they’d be history. The seam it came from was now tearing open, spewing out a stream of high-pressure water.

The place was coming apart.

The elevator doors opened, and Alder ran out.

“The elevator!” screamed the elderly drooling guy, who had finally woken up. The ten Rokador elite charged for the elevator in a panic. The older people didn’t even help the little kids. They pushed the little ones aside to get in the elevator first. They were followed by the engineers, who were just as eager to get out of there. There was a definite “abandon ship” vibe. The engineers slid down the ladders and ran to the elevator, but they were too late. With plenty of room left, the elite closed the door on them, leaving them to wait for the next ride. Nice guys to the end.

Alder quickly joined us at the control panel. “What happened?” he asked, wide-eyed. “The ocean is rising.”

“Because it’s got nowhere to go,” I said. “Let’s hope we do.”

“The ladders,” Loor yelled. “I do not trust the elevators.”

The three of us ran for the giant ladders that led up to the catwalk. There were two. Loor jumped on one and climbed quickly. I was right beneath her. Alder took the other one. It was a hairy climb. Through the metal rungs I could look back into the master control room. More seams popped open. The pressure must have been monstrous. Water sprayed everywhere, making the rungs slippery. I felt like we were in the bowels of a huge ship that was going down fast. There was no question, their machinery was not built to withstand this kind of pressure. The underground worked on hydropower. There must have been pipes snaking all over the place. This room was what controlled the flow. If this room collapsed, there would be nothing to hold back the water, anywhere. The Rokador world could explode from the inside out.

I focused on climbing. It didn’t do any good to think about the fact that when we got out of there, we would still be miles below the surface, in the middle of the maelstrom. We had to take one step at a time. We all made it to the catwalk, where a quick check showed us that our Tiggen friend was indeed dead. I bowed my head quickly out of respect.

“We must keep moving, Pendragon,” Loor said.

Of course we did. But to where?

“The cemetery,” Alder said. “That is where Saangi is to meet us with a dygo.”

Of course! I had forgotten that Saangi’s part of this mission was to get us out of here. My spirits rose. If there was one thing Saangi was good at, it was bailing us out of trouble. I hoped she wouldn’t stop now. We ran off the catwalk, through the tunnels, and popped outside, back at the cemetery.

Saangi wasn’t there.

“She will come,” Loor said with absolute confidence. “I know she’ll try,” I said. “But if all hell is breaking loose, who knows what happened to her?”

“My faith is in her,” Loor said. “We must not abandon her.”

“Okay,” I agreed. “But not for long.”

We finally had a chance to catch our breaths and plan our next move.

“How did this happen?” Alder asked.

“It’s my fault,” I said. “We busted up the controller so they couldn’t open the gates to the south and flood the underground…which was the exact wrong thing to do. They were counting on those gates opening to relieve the pressure of the water building up, and now there’s no place for the water to go.”

“Will Kidik be destroyed?” Alder asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. “For sure it’ll be flooded.”

“The question is,” Loor said, “how many will survive?”

I don’t think it was until she said those words that the full impact of what we had done hit me. Instead of stopping the Rokador from killing off the Batu, all we did was push the Rokador off the cliff with them. I was beginning to think we had helped make Saint Dane’s plan to destroy Zadaa even more successful than the demon had hoped. And just to make the whole event absolutely perfect, there was every probability that three Travelers and an acolyte would die right along with the tribes. I had to sit down. It was like the truth was too heavy to bear. This wasn’t simply the battle for a territory. I felt as if here on Zadaa, Saint Dane may have won the battle for all of Halla.

Loor sensed my desperation. She stood over me and touched my head. “If we are alive, we are not done,” she said.

I looked up at her. It didn’t matter that we were standing on an underground island that was about to be swallowed by rising water, she looked as calm and confident as ever. As always, she gave me hope. Man, I loved her.

“Loor!” called Saangi.

We all looked as Saangi came running toward us. On foot. She was out of breath and excited. There was a definite lack-of-dygo going on.

“The water is rising!” she exclaimed. “The Rokador are leaving the island. They’re on boats and dygos and anything else that will move. I’ve been hiding, trying not to be caught, but they are not interested in me now. They are fleeing for their lives!”

“What of the Batu?” Loor asked.

“I heard them say the Batu were in retreat,” she said. “Is this the flood the Rokador promised?”

“Worse,” I answered. “They’re flooding everything, including themselves. What about the dygo?”

“Gone,” she said, embarrassed. “The Rokador have taken them all.”

“Then we’re stuck,” I said.

“No,” Saangi said. “We still have the boat that Alder and I came over on. It was hidden. I have brought it closer.”