The Lost City of Faar

CLORAL

You’d think things couldn’t have gotten any worse than they were at this moment: Faar wasdestroyed. Its entire population was now homeless and floating in the ocean. All but one of the haulers were stuck under tons of water and rubble, unable to save the underwater farms of Cloral. Uncle Press, Kalaloo, and several Faarians were trapped down there as well. If they weren’t dead already, they would be soon.

And now Spader and I were being escorted into an ominous-looking submarine full of killer raiders that was commanded by Saint Dane.

As the raiders brought us toward the hovering sub, I said to Spader, “I didn’t know they had these on Cloral.”

“Same as with the battle cruiser,” answered Spader. “Warships were built long ago in case there was a territory war between the habitats. They never had to use them, and a few were hijacked by raiders.”

“Quiet!” shouted one of our guards.

It now made sense. Saint Dane was able to fire underwater missiles at Faar. He just kept pounding away at the dome until it couldn’t take it anymore. We were now directly underneath this war machine. I wasn’t sure where we were going until I saw a large door slide open in the bottom of the hull. It led up to a large, flooded chamber. It was probably big enough to bring a truck inside. The raiders directed us to swim up and in. I looked into the black chamber above me and stopped. I didn’t want to board this evil boat. But a sharp jab in my ribs from a raider’s spear-gun told me we didn’t have a choice. So Spader and I swam up inside Saint Dane’s city-killing submarine.

We floated in this dark chamber while the hull door slid closed below us. We were now inside, in pitch darkness. A hiss of air told me that they were pumping the water out of the chamber. It didn’t take long. Soon we were standing on the hull door that had just closed. The water level kept going down until the chamber was dry. That’s when the lights kicked on and I saw something that made this horrible situation even worse.

Sitting next to us in this large chamber was the one and only hauler that had been launched from Faar. Saint Dane must have captured it the instant it left the underwater city. This was totally depressing. Now there was no chance for any of the underwater farms. Saint Dane had won a complete victory. He didn’t leave any loose ends.

I looked to Spader, who seemed as deflated as I was.

“Drop your gear!” ordered one of the raiders.

We took off our air globes and dropped our water sleds.

“Let’s go. He’s waiting for you,” commanded the same raider.

With another jab in the side from his speargun, Spader and I were escorted out of this chamber and through the submarine to meet Saint Dane. I had never been in a submarine at home. I had only seen pictures and movies. But compared to the high-tech subs from Second Earth, this vehicle looked pretty simple. I expected to see all sorts of tubes and pipes and valves all over the place, but there were none. It was cramped and the walkways were narrow, just like you’d imagine, but there were very few signs of the technology that ran the thing. It was just like walking down a narrow corridor, with rooms off to either side. I guess that made sense. The Clorans definitely had water technology down cold.

Suddenly there was a jolt. The submarine shuddered and we all nearly lost our balance.

“What was that?” I asked.

“We’re surfacing,” answered one of the raiders. “Keep moving.”

We got to a ladder that led up. Two raiders went up first, followed by us, followed by the other two. They were taking no chances with us. I wasn’t exactly sure why. It wasn’t like we were going anywhere.

The ladder led us up to what looked like the control room of the sub. Again, it wasn’t as high-tech looking as the submarines we know. There were two raiders sitting at dual steering wheels forward. Three other raiders manned various control stations. I’m sure one of them controlled the weapons that were fired at the city of Faar. There was only one other person there, and I’m sure you can figure out who that was.

It was Roder, the pirate pilot. Of course, we knew that it was really Saint Dane. He stood between the two guys steering, looking out of a narrow window at the underwater seascape.

“We found only two,” said one of the raiders to him.

Saint Dane turned to us.

“Welcome aboard, my friends,” he said with a warm smile. “I just love the toys they’ve got here on Cloral, don’t you?” We didn’t say anything. What was the point? I glanced at Spader and saw that he was grinding his teeth in anger. His hatred for Saint Dane because of what he did to Spader’s father had come flooding back. I really hoped he wouldn’t do anything stupid.

“And where is my friend, Press?” he asked. “Not still on Faar, I hope.”

I didn’t answer. But Saint Dane walked up to me and looked me right in the eye. I didn’t want him to think that he scared me, so I looked right back at him. It was like he was searching my mind. After a few seconds he shook his head slowly.

“It’s all in your eyes, Pendragon,” he said. “Press is dead. I am sorry. He was a worthy adversary, but as I’ve told you before, I cannot be beaten. This is the way it was meant to be.”

“No, it isn’t,” I shot back at him. I couldn’t stand hearing those words. “Cloral isn’t done yet.”

Saint Dane chuckled like I was some kind of stupid kid who didn’t know what he was talking about. I hated that. Mostly because he was right.

“Is that what you think?” he asked. “Let me show you something.”

He pointed forward and I now saw light outside through the window. We were no longer underwater.

“All clear,” announced one of the raiders at the controls.

A raider who had been guarding us stepped to the rear of the control room to a round door in the wall. There was a wheel on the door that he spun to disengage the locking mechanism. He then pulled the door in on its hinges and sunlight flooded into the submarine.

“Please,” said Saint Dane, gesturing for us to go outside.

I walked to the door and stepped out, followed by Spader. The control room was inside the tower above the main body of the sub, so when we went outside, we stepped right onto the top of the hull. The sub was big. I’m guessing from the bow to the tail it was about fifty yards long. The control tower was about two-thirds of the way forward. I also noticed that there were long guns jutting from the control tower. They weren’t as big as the battle cruiser’s, but I’m sure they were just as deadly.

Saint Dane walked past us and strode toward the bow of the ship.

“Come,” he ordered.

Spader and I had no choice but to follow. Saint Dane walked almost to the bow of the ship and the three of us stood there, alone.

“Do you see that?” he asked.

We looked ahead and I didn’t see anything at first, but once our eyes adjusted to the light, we saw what he was talking about. It was a giant whirlpool. And I mean, giant. There was no question as to what was causing it. This was the spot directly above the shattered dome of Faar. The swirling water was pouring into the doomed city, creating this monstrous whirlpool. Saint Dane stood there with his arms folded in front of him, smiling, enjoying his handiwork.

Spader said, “Where are — ” but Saint Dane held up his hand to quiet him.

“Please, a moment more,” he said.

We all looked back to the swirling water to see that he was right. A few moments later the whirlpool stopped. The water was still for a moment, and then a giant bubble of air erupted on the surface.

“That’s it,” Spader said softly. “Good-bye, Faar.”

It was heart-wrenching. That bubble of air was Faar’s last gasp. The city was now completely underwater. The ocean surface was once again still.

Saint Dane then turned to us.

“Now, what were you saying?” he asked Spader politely.

“Where are the pilots from the hauler?”

Saint Dane waved his hand as if this were an insignificant detail.

“We threw them back in the sea,” he said. “Two small little fish of no consequence. But they did help us quite a bit.”

“How’s that?” I asked.

“The moment we saw them launch from Faar, we knew the exact spot to target our missies and cripple their fleet. No more bubble boats emerged,” he added with a laugh. “So we must have been successful!”

“You trapped a dozen men down there!” Spader spat out in anger.

“And destroyed the heart and soul of Cloral,” Saint Dane replied calmly. “Not bad for an afternoon’s work, don’t you think?”

D. J. MacHale

The Lost City of Faar

I could feel Spader’s tension. He was out of his mind nuts with hatred for Saint Dane and was a hair away from lunging at him. But that would have been a huge mistake. So I put a hand on his shoulder. Spader jumped. He really was a raw nerve.

“Calm down,” I said as softly as possible.

Spader forced himself to take a breath and seemed to relax a bit.

“Pendragon, I am impressed,” said Saint Dane. “You’ve grown wiser since our adventure on Denduron.”

“I beat you on Denduron,” I shot back.

“So you think,” Saint Dane said. “Honestly, do you really think I care which territory is my first domino? Cloral will do just as nicely as Denduron. As I told you before, once the first falls, the rest will tumble in turn.”

“Cloral hasn’t fallen,” Spader spat out.

“But it will,” Saint Dane replied smugly. “Eventually they will find a way to purify the crops, but not before thousands have died and thousands more go to war. It was a delicate balance here, with all the habitats existing together. But now with Faar gone, the scale just tipped.”

Saint Dane then walked over to me and leaned down. Our eyes were on the same level and he was so close I could smell his breath. It was sour. I wasn’t surprised. But I wouldn’t back off. No way.

“It is all happening exactly as I planned,” he said softly. “Even if you managed to stop me here, I would simply move on to another territory. You have no idea what is waiting for you, Pendragon. If you continue to fight me, you will certainly go the way of all the pitiful Travelers who came before. Is that what you want? Do you want to die in futility like Spader’s father? Or Osa? Or Press?”

This last comment stung, but I wouldn’t let him know it.

“The offer still stands, Pendragon,” he said with a tempting smile. “When Halla is mine, there will be grand rewards for those who helped me. You seem to enjoy splashing around Cloral. I’ll give it to you. Do what you want with it. Restore their farms, make Spader an admiral, be their hero, make them love you. Whatever you want. It would be so easy and the fight would be over. What do you think?”

This is going to be hard to explain, but at that moment something changed for me. Yes, I was still afraid of Saint Dane. I still didn’t know much about being a Traveler or even why I was chosen to be one. There was still a ton for me to learn, but at that moment, something became very clear and it filled me with a sense of confidence that I hadn’t felt since, well, since I was on the basketball court at Stony Brook.

“You want to know what I think?” I asked Saint Dane. “I think if you truly knew what was going to happen, if you really believed this was all part of your plan and that you couldn’t be beaten, then you wouldn’t keep begging me to join you.”

Saint Dane blinked. I saw it. I had hit a nerve.

“What do I think?” I added. “It might not be here, it might not be today or even on this territory, but for the first time since I met you on Second Earth, I think that when this is all over, I’ll be the one who’s beatenyou…becausethatis the way it’s supposed to be.”

Something clicked in Saint Dane’s eyes. It wasn’t huge. He didn’t gasp or shout or anything like that, but I saw it: Saint Dane was afraid of me. I was sure of it.

The two of us stood there for a moment, not knowing who would make the next move. And that’s when I heard it. It was a far-off sound and hard to make out. But it was definitely a sound I had heard before. It was a faint whistling sound. It was coming closer, too. Fast. Where had I heard it before? It took me exactly two seconds to remember.

I turned to Spader and shouted, “Incoming!”

I grabbed him and dove down onto the deck. An instant later the submarine was rocked by an explosion. The control tower was hit by a water missile — just like the ones that Saint Dane had launched on Grallion. The sound I heard was that of an incoming bomb.

Boom, boom! Two more missiles hit the control tower and the submarine rocked in the water. But where was this attack coming from?

“Look!” shouted Spader, pointing off the port side of the sub. I looked and saw such a wonderful sight, for a moment I thought I was dreaming. But it was no dream. It was a fleet of speeder boats full of aquaneers, and they were attacking.

“Hobey, Pendragon! It’s Yenza,” Spader laughed. “She was a step ahead of us.”

That had to be the answer. When we didn’t resurface, Wu Yenza must have gone to get her rescue team. And they were coming in full force. Some of the speeders looked more like gun ships. They weren’t as big as the battle cruiser, but they would definitely stand up to this submarine.

There was frantic activity on the deck of the submarine.

“Dive!” shouted Saint Dane. “Get us below!”

A raider shouted, “Sir, we can’t!” He pointed to the control tower and sure enough, the first few missiles from Yenza’s aquaneers had blown a hole in the skin of the tower. If they tried to dive, they’d sink. Saint Dane looked at the damage, then spun to look back at the approaching fleet. He looked angry. I liked that. When he got angry, it meant things weren’t going his way, and that didn’t happen too often.

“The guns!” he commanded. “We’ll fight them off.”

He then ran along the deck and disappeared into the control tower. Spader and I were left flat out on the deck. Saint Dane no longer cared about us. And why should he? We were targets too.

“Time to go, mate,” said Spader. “Let’s slip over the side and we’ll swim for it.”

Three more missiles struck near the sub, sending up waves of water that splashed over us. The raiders were now on the guns and firing back. This was going to be a fierce battle — a natty-do, as Spader would put it — and I didn’t want to be floating in the water in the middle of it.

“I have a better idea,” I said. I got up and ran back toward the control tower. Two more shots hit the hull, rocking the sub and nearly knocking me off. But Spader caught me and kept me going.

“No place to run, Pendragon,” he said.

“Sure there is,” I answered.

I ran inside the control tower. Spader was right after me.

We had to push past a bunch of raiders who were scrambling to get to their battle stations. They didn’t care about us anymore. Remember, they were raiders. They knew nothing of Saint Dane’s grand plan to conquer all the territories and control Halla. All they knew was that they were being attacked.

Even Saint Dane wanted a fight. He stood at his station, barking orders, turning the submarine so it wouldn’t be such a wide target. If there were ever a time to get out of there, it was now.

I led Spader back the way we came, down the ladder into the hull of the ship and back toward the water tank we arrived in. I figured there was only one way we could get off this sub and survive in open water. We had to get to the hijacked hauler.

As we ran through the submarine we kept getting knocked around by the force of the missiles that were hitting the hull. Yenza was really pouring it on. That was cool, as long as Spader and I were off by the time she sent it to the bottom the same way she had the battle cruiser.

Luckily it’s kind of hard to get lost in a submarine, so we found the tank chamber pretty easily. When I threw the door open and we saw the hauler, Spader smiled.

“Why didn’t I think of this?” he laughed with surprise.

“You know how it works?” I asked.

“Pendragon, if it moves in the water, I can drive it.”

“Okay,” I said. “But can you get it out of here?” Spader gave me a “don’t ask dumb questions” look, and ran for the hauler.

“Get our gear, then go over to those levers,” he instructed as he climbed up onto the bubble.

As Spader lowered himself into the bubble, I ran to get our air globes and water sleds. I grabbed them all, then threw each up to Spader, who stood with half of his body out of the top of the bubble.

“Now what?” I asked.

“Four levers,” he said. “One floods the chamber, another empties it, third opens the hatch, fourth closes the hatch. We don’t have to flood the chamber because we’re already on top of water. The pressure keeps the water out. All we have to do is open the hatch, and we’re gone.”

“Okay, which lever opens the hatch?”

“Hobey, Pendragon. I don’t knoweverything!’

He then slipped into the bubble and started powering up. This was the old Spader, the one I knew before his father was killed. It felt good.

I went to the four levers. None of them were marked. There was only one way to figure out which was the right one. I had to call upon all my Traveler experience and special powers to figure it out. It’s called…

“Eenie, meenie, miney…mo\I pulled on “mo” and with a grinding screech, the floor began to move. The hatch door was sliding open! Go, mo! Unfortunately, as soon as the hatch began to open, it set off an alarm. A shrill, blaring horn blew, which said only one thing: “Someone is trying to escape in the hauler.” My guess was at least one of the raiders would come to find out who it was.

“Better hop in,” Spader shouted.

I ran across the moving floor and leaped on to the bubble craft. I dangled my legs down into the cockpit and was just about to drop in when Spader said, “Hold on, mate. We gotta release first.”

He was right. The floor hatch was now all the way open, but the hauler wasn’t free. The craft was suspended from two hooks that kept us dangling over the water below.

“So how do we release?” I asked.

“I’d say you should swing that lever right there.”

Sure enough, there was a lever right over my head. I grabbed it, pulled it toward me and — whoa! The hauler fell free and splashed down in the water. I lost my balance and fell into the globe, right in Spader’s lap.

“Thanks for droppin’ in, mate,” Spader said. “Close ‘er up, please.”

I stood up and pulled the bubble closed over us. With Spader in the left pilot’s seat and me in the right, we were ready to go.

That’s when the door to the chamber flew open and two raiders jumped in with guns.

“Dive, please,” I said.

“Right!”

Spader hit four toggle switches, air bubbles hissed through the water around us and we began to sink. The raiders shouldered their rifles and took aim. All I could hope was that the bubble on this hauler was strong enough to take a direct shot from a water rifle. I didn’t have long to wonder. The raiders opened fire on us. I ducked, expecting the bubble to shatter to pieces. But it didn’t. Their water bullets splattered against the clear shield without leaving so much as a scratch. Score another one for the genius of the people from Faar.

We were now almost submerged. The raiders had stopped firing and watched us helplessly as we sank below the surface. Then, just before the water closed over us, someone else entered the tank room. It was Saint Dane. For an instant I actually thought I saw a look of worry on his face. That’s the last image I saw of him, then we slipped underwater.

Spader took control of the vehicle like he had been a hauler pilot his whole life. We descended well below the submarine, then he hit the throttle and we left the dark shadow behind.

“What about the big guns?” I asked. “The ones they used on Faar. They can blow Yenza’s boats out of the water.”

“They can, but they won’t,” Spader answered. “They only fire when it’s submerged. Yenza knows what she’s doing, all right. She nailed that control tower so they can’t submerge again. Saint Dane made a big mistake. On the surface, he’s no match for my mates. There’s only one problem.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s going to be over too fast. I want to join up with them and take a couple of shots at Saint Dane myself before the natty-do’s all done!”

I looked back at the dark submarine. If Spader was right, the battle above was as good as over. Yenza would handle the raiders, and with a little luck, Saint Dane would go down with his ship. I was no longer worried about what was happening up there. My thoughts were elsewhere entirely. So I reached forward and killed the engines.

“Hobey, mate, what’re you doing?”

“You really know how to pilot this thing?” I asked seriously. “Don’t get all macho aquaneer on me. I want the truth.”

“This is a fine piece of machinery,” he said, looking around. “It’s way more advanced than anything I’ve ever seen. But that just makes it easier. All modesty aside, I can move this little beauty through a mile of kelp and not break a single leaf.” My mind was working hard, figuring the possibilities.

“What are you thinking, Pendragon?” Spader asked. “You think we should start dumping this cargo over some of the farms?”

“Good idea, but no,” I said. “We can do that later. Right now, I got something else in mind.”

“What?”

“I want to go after Uncle Press.”

Spader’s eyes opened wide with surprise. He hadn’t expected me to say that.

“Hobey, mate!” he said in awe. “Do you know how dangerous that would be? You’re talking about finding our way down through that submerged city; poking through who knows what that’s floating around in there waiting to get us all tangled up and trapped. Then if we’re lucky enough to make it to the bottom we’d have to dig through the pile of rubble that’s covering the door with a mechanical arm we’ve never used before and for all we know can’t even lift that kind of weight. And it’s all on the chance that Press and the others are still alive down there. Do you know that’s what you’re asking?”

“Uh… yeah, that pretty much sums it up.”

“You’re crazy!” he said. A moment later, he smiled. “I like that.”

“Then why are we still here?”

Spader fired the engines back up, banked hard to the right, dipped the nose, and we were on our way back toward the coral reef for one last visit to the city of Faar.