D. MacHale - The Lost City of Faar

Now it made sense. The hoses weren’t loading fuel, they were filling up on the chemical that would save the farms. These haulers were like underwater crop dusters.

“How far can they travel?” asked Uncle Press.

“With these twenty vehicles, we can cover all of Cloral,” answered Kalaloo.

That was pretty impressive. These guys knew exactly what they were doing. I was beginning to think they were going to pull this off. If their counteracting chemical actually worked, and I had to believe it would, then they were going to bring Cloral back from the brink of disaster. I couldn’t wait to see these haulers pulling out of their pens and getting on their way.

“When will you be ready to launch?” asked Uncle Press.

“Soon. They are nearly loaded and final repairs are — “

“Press!”

We all looked up to see Spader running toward us. Uh-oh. He was supposed to be on his way to Grallion with Yenza. What was he doing back here? He ran up to us all out of breath and wild-eyed.

“She’s gone,” he said, gulping for air.

“What do you mean gone?” asked Uncle Press calmly. “Is Yenza headed back to Grallion?”

“No. I mean she wasn’t there when I surfaced. Something’s happened to her.”

This was bad. My mind already jumped to the worst possible conclusion. Could Saint Dane have gotten to her? She was tough, but she had been alone up there. She would have been no match for a team of armed raiders. I pulled myself out of the hauler and jumped down between Uncle Press and Spader.

“Do you think Saint Dane got to her?” I asked.

A second later I had my answer, but it didn’t come from Uncle Press. There was a low, far-off rumble. It sounded like an explosion. We all exchanged looks, then Uncle Press turned to Kalaloo.

“Get the haulers outnow!” he shouted.

Kalaloo turned to his team and started barking orders. “Don’t load them all! We have to launch!”

Uncle Press ran for the door. We followed right behind him. The three of us blasted outside just as two more explosions sounded. They were coming from outside the dome. They sounded close, too.

Several Faarians stood still, looking around in confusion. They had never experienced anything like this before. As I looked at their faces, my heart went out to them because I knew it was only going to get worse from here.

“He’s here, isn’t he?” I asked.

“I’m afraid the party just started,” said Uncle Press.

(CONTINUED)

The booming explosions were coming closer. There were more of them now, and it was getting scary. The ground began to shake under our feet with each new blast.

“What is Saint Dane doing?” I asked nervously. “Does he have some kind of depth charges or bombs or something?”

Uncle Press said to Spader, “Did you see anything on the surface? Any ships?”

“No, mate,” Spader answered quickly. “Nothing!”

More explosions followed. Saint Dane was trying to rip Faar apart.

“Bobby,” Uncle Press said. “The Faarians have to get out now.”

“Excuse me?” I said, not sure if I believed what I was hearing.

“They’ve got to get out of Faar. If they stay here, they could die.”

“But… where are they going to go?” I asked. “There’s nothing but water out there.”

“You’ve seen them in the water, you think they’ll have any trouble?”

He was right. These Faarians were part fish.

“They’ve got a better chance out in the water,” he added. “If they stay here, they’re targets.”

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked.

“Go back to the council. Convince them to… to…” He was having trouble finding the words.

“To abandon ship?” I finished the thought for him.

“Yes, abandon ship,” he said sadly. “Spader and I will do what we can to help them launch the haulers.”

This was getting intense. He wanted me to tell these people to leave Faar… to leave their home. It was a city that for centuries had battled back everything that man and nature had to throw at it. But now they were being threatened by something far more dangerous than people desperate for food, or rising floodwaters. They were now being attacked by pure evil. Even as we stood there, the explosions were getting louder. Uncle Press was right. The Faarians had to get out.

I started to run off but -

“Bobby!” Uncle Press called. “Get your air globe first.”

At first I wasn’t sure why he was telling me this. About a second later, it hit me. We were stuck in here just like the Faarians. If we had to abandon ship, we didn’t have any of those spiffy fish suits with the built-in breathers. We needed our air globes if we wanted to survive… and we definitely wanted to survive.

“What about you guys?” I asked.

“We’ll do what we can down here then meet you up at the tunnel we entered through. Understand?”

I nodded.

Spader gave me a nervous smile. “We’re in a tum-tigger now, Pendragon.”

“Yeah. Let’s not stay long, all right?”

The two of them headed back for the hauler hangar as I ran for the tunnel that led to the aerovator. Using this elevator didn’t thrill me. I always thought you weren’t supposed to take an elevator if there was an emergency like a fire or an earthquake. Being attacked by raiders probably qualified as an emergency, but I didn’t have time to run all the way up the mountain’s paths. I’d probably get lost anyway. So I had to take my chances on the elevator.

I had to circle the big elevator tube until I found a car. When I jumped inside, I realized I wasn’t sure of how it worked. I only saw Kalaloo do it once. I grabbed the handle, pulled it toward me and — whoa! I rocketed off the ground so fast my knees buckled. I nearly got knocked to the floor from the force! I was afraid this aerovator was going to launch off the mountain like a missile, so I quickly backed off on the handle and slowed down. Whew!

The next challenge was to figure out which floor to stop on. I first had to get my air globe, then climb back up to the Council Circle.

After rising up for a few minutes, I took a wild guess and stopped the elevator on one of the floors. When I ran out, I passed a lot of Faarians who looked stunned. There were women gathering their kids together and pressing against the rock walls of the mountain. A few people ran past, pulling on their green swimskins. I guess they figured out for themselves that it would be safer outside in the water. But mostly people just stood around, looking confused, and scared. I thought about screaming, “Get out! Get out! Abandon the city!” but figured they’d think I was a nut job. No, if there was going to be an official evacuation order given, it would have to come from the council.

When I got out of the corridor into the open air, I saw that I was only one level below the rocky entrance to the tunnel we had used. I had made a great guess! So I sprinted up the winding pathway toward the entrance.

That’s when another huge explosion hit Faar. This was the closest yet, and it nearly knocked me off my feet. A few Faarians screamed. They had never experienced anything like this before. Hey, neither had I, but at least I knew where it was coming from, sort of. I’m not sure which was worse, being clueless, or knowing that someone totally evil was out there who wanted to destroy Faar.

Back in the submarine hangar, Uncle Press and Spader were doing all they could to help Kalaloo and the Faarians launch the haulers. Obviously I wasn’t there to see what I’m about to write. It was explained to me afterward.

The Faarian submariners scrambled into their ships. They all pulled on their green swimskins and lowered themselves into the clear cockpit domes. There were two submariners in each hauler. The whole time explosions rocked the hangar, but they couldn’t speed up the process for fear of damaging a hauler.