D. MacHale - The Lost City of Faar

A few moments later we both saw our goal. The huge, jagged hole stood out like a black scar on the reef. It looked even bigger up close than it had from down below. Spader stopped the hauler just shy of the edge and we hovered there, looking at the damage in silence. A moment later something floated up from down below. It was a white tunic, the kind the people of Faar always wore. The piece of clothing rippled and moved in the current. It looked like a lonely spirit leaving the city forever.

“Pendragon, I want to get ‘em out as bad as you do,” Spader said. “But we have to be smart. If it’s a tum-tigger down there, we’ll have to pull out.”

“I understand,” I said.

Spader then pushed the little sub forward and soon we were hovering directly over the middle of the black hole. He looked to me. I nodded.

“Let’s give it a go,” he said.

He toggled a switch on the control panel and we began to sink straight down. We passed the jagged edge of the hole, dropping from the bright blue-green of the ocean into the dark tomb of the sunken city. We first traveled through a debris field of clothes, books, and memories. Everything on Faar that wasn’t attached was free to float around. There were constant bangs and thumps against the bubble of the hauler as we knocked into all this lost junk. I hate to call it junk though, because not long ago these were important possessions. We passed lots of clothing and dishes and we even saw a small doll that a child must have left behind. That one was tough. It made me think of my little sister, Shannon.

Soon it got so dark I lost all sense of direction. I couldn’t tell up from down or if we were even moving.

“Must be some lights on this beauty,” Spader said.

That was important. We had to descend quite a ways before we reached the peak of Faar’s mountain, but before we got there we needed some kind of light to guide us or we’d surely crash into it. Spader scanned the control panel and chose a switch.

“Let’s try this one.”

He toggled the switch and instantly a series of lights sprang to life below the bubble. They weren’t headlights, but they sent out a bright cocoon that allowed us to see a few yards in every direction. It wasn’t much, but at least now we would know if we were about to hit something. I looked to my right and -

“Ahhh!” I screamed, and nearly jumped into Spader’s lap.

It was one of the portraits from the corridor leading to the Council Circle of Faar. I was staring out at a stern-looking guy who gazed right back at me with a sour puss.

“It’s like diving through an underwater junkyard,” Spader said.

“Orgraveyard,”I added.

The portrait floated away and I got my nerves back under control. Spader tried another switch and this time another light kicked on. This one was attached outside of the bubble on my side. It was the headlight we were looking for. Excellent.

“Try that knob there,” Spader instructed.

Next to my right arm were two controllers that looked like video game joysticks. I grabbed the smaller of the two and moved it. Sure enough, the searchlight outside moved too. We had found our eyes! ”Let’s see where we’re going, then,” instructed Spader.

We could only see what the headlight was shining on. Everything beyond fell off into darkness. I directed the light forward and we got our first view of the top of Faar’s mountain. It appeared out of the distance like a ghost. It was an incredibly eerie sight. Luckily the water was pretty clear. I expected there to be sand kicked up and floating around, but it wasn’t too bad. Also, the layer of junk seemed to have thinned out. Most everything that could float was headed to the surface. We were now traveling below the debris field.

“Let’s get moving,” said Spader, and we plunged deeper.

The best thing about having the lights was that we could navigate. Spader dropped the nose of the hauler so we weren’t sinking blindly anymore. We had to descend in circles, like a corkscrew, so that we could drop as straight down as possible.

“I want to see something,” I said and pointed to our left.

Spader directed the hauler to where I pointed and soon our headlight was moving across the platform that had held the Council Circle. As I described before, the marble roof had been knocked off when the water began to flood through the dome. It was on its side now, half covering the platform. The round symbol of Faar had broken off and it lay on the platform, cracked in two pieces. How’s that for symbolism? Most of the marble pillars still ringed the platform, but they no longer had anything to hold up. A few had tumbled over, and now crisscrossed on top of one another.

“Closer,” I asked, and Spader dropped us in for a better look.

We were now hovering only a few feet above the platform. I played the light over the wrecked surface until I saw exactly what I was looking for, but hoped I wouldn’t find. The podium that held the four crystal controls had been knocked over. It was still functioning because the yellow crystal continued to blink. Even now it was sounding the alarm to evacuate Faar. But that’s not what I was looking for.

“Oh, no,” Spader said sadly. He had just seen it too.

From beneath the toppled ceiling, an arm was reaching out. There was no doubt in my mind that it was Abador. He had stayed at his post until the end and was killed when the marble dome crashed down. It seemed as though in his last moments he was reaching for the control podium in the desperate attempt to transpire. He had failed. Of course it was tragedy enough that this brave man had died, but I hated to think that he died knowing he had failed. I could only hope that he knew that Faar had been safely evacuated.

“Let’s move on,” Spader said with respect.

I nodded and he steered the hauler away so we could continue our descent into Faar. All the way down I kept the headlight trained in front of us, looking for any danger in our way. We passed by some familiar sights. We saw the pathways we had walked along. We saw the entrance to our escape tunnel and all the smaller entrances that led deep into Faar’s mountain. As of now the crushing water hadn’t done any major damage to the city. The buildings seemed intact and the paths weren’t washed away. This was great news because if some of these big marble buildings had fallen down and piled on top of the hauler hangar, this rescue would be over before it got going.

I had a brief feeling like we were inside one of those snow globes that you shook to create a storm. I wondered how long it would take for erosion to start doing its worst. Eventually the city would turn to sand, but for now it was intact. It was hard to believe that only a short time ago it had been completely dry and busy with people. ”There we go!” announced Spader.

We were nearing the hauler hangar. I was thrilled to see that it looked pretty much the same as when we saw it last. The building hadn’t collapsed under the weight of the water. There was the pile of dome rubble in front of the entrance, but other than that nothing new had fallen down that would stop us from getting through. Now the question was whether the mechanical arm could move the stuff away.

Spader put the hauler down on the same path we had run along just a while ago. We landed so gently that only a small cloud of sand was kicked up.

“Give it a go, mate,” he said.

He meant the mechanical arm. I grabbed the other joystick that was at my right arm and twisted it. The mechanical sound around us proved the arm was activated and working. The long, white tube of an arm had about four joints so it could move in pretty much any direction. On the end was a large, white mechanical hand. It had three fingers and a thumb, like Fred Flintstone. Swiveling the joystick made the arm move easily. It took me all of thirty seconds to figure out how to move it. Finally I discovered that pulling the trigger on the joystick made the hand close shut. I maneuvered the arm out in front of the hauler, brought the hand back, and right in front of Spader, released the trigger so the hand opened wide — and waved at him.