Free Atherton #3: The Dark Planet (No. 3) by Patrick Carman Page B

it would produce a reading, right down to
    the minute, of how old a person was.
    "Maybe I could convince him. Captain Grammel's probably
    finding it slim all along the coastline," said Commander Judix.
    "He may well take whatever we can give him."
    "Hope won't like this," said Shelton. "She'll make a terrible
    fuss."
    "Then do your job," said Commander Judix. She had turned on
    him with an accusing tone, as if Shelton were the sole reason
    for their troubles.
    Had she heard him? It wasn't a few Spikers in the forsaken
    wood, it was a pod of them, and that meant a queen. They
    couldn't let anything that big near Station Seven, but without
    Grammel's fuel the power station would stop running. What
    then? The air would run out, and the water, too. But most
    appalling of all, the electric shield would come down. They'd be
    unprotected. The Cleaners and Spikers could get in.
    "I'll make them go farther out," he said. And then, thinking like
    the coward that he was, he added, "You know, a ten-year-old
    could be almost 4000 days old. We have ten of those in the
    Silo. I could check them to be sure."
    Commander Judix didn't look at Shelton. She couldn't look at
    him without wanting to run him down with her chair. Is this what
    she was left with? Cowards and weaklings and fools! Everyone
    else had fled long ago. But what choice did she have? Spikers
    and Cleaners were rampant in the forsaken wood. She would
    have to start conserving fuel, running the power station on
    reserve. Soon, so very soon, the shields would fail and leave
    Station Seven open to attack.
    They took my legs before--and my family. What would they take
    this time?
    "See how many days old the tens are," she said. "And tell Red
    Eye and Socket what's going on. Don't say anything to Hope
    until we have to. You still have time to make this right."
    The words stung in Shelton's mind as Commander Judix spun
    her chair around on its wheels and rol ed away in silence,
    leaving him standing alone in a giant, empty room.
    Grammel. Shelton couldn't stand the captain of the supply ship.
    Every hundred days, like clockwork, he would come on the
    churning waters of the acid-soaked sea. Moored at the hundredyard tip of the stone jetty, he would pull the horn and send
    bil owing plumes of black smoke into the air. Shelton could
    actually imagine the man's face, completely covered in soot and
    smiling from ear to ear, rows of white teeth flashing as he
    plugged in the fuel hose. Grammel's ship was huge and ugly,
    spewing a filth into the air that was as much liquid as smoke.
    The ship left everyone and every thing in its path covered in
    rancid soot.
    "You'll take the tens," whispered Shelton. "You'll take them or
    we'll have your precious ship and every thing in it."
    But a ship without a captain wasn't likely to set sail again, and
    eventually the fuel would run out for good. Then what would he
    do?
    A little while later Aggie woke with a start as she always did,
    disoriented in the ever-present darkness of the Silo. She never
    seemed to get used to it.
    "Wake up, Teagan," she whispered. "I think it's morning."
    Teagan rolled groggily onto her side and reached out her hand.
    This was their habit--to hold hands in the early morning. Then,
    to whisper as they waited. Soon the door would fly open. Red
    Eye and Socket would barge in.
    "Today is going to be a better day," whispered Aggie.
    "I think you're right," said Teagan.
    In truth, they were scared of what the day would bring. But they
    needed the reassurance that the other wouldn't be destroyed by
    the Silo or the people who ran it. The two smiled at each other
    in the dark and put their goggles on, and then they both heard
    the bolt pulled back and felt the rush of air as the big metal door
    burst open. Some of the children woke with eyes closed tight,
    fumbling for goggles.
    "Green team is assigned to the drying room! Red to the vines
    and orange to the planting. On with you now!" cried Red Eye.
    He was in the worst kind of mood