The Lost City of Faar (38 page)

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.

D
escending into Faar wasn't exactly like diving into the unknown. We had just come from there. But to say that things had changed a little would be a major understatement. We sort of knew the geography of the place, but now that it was underwater it would be like traveling through the dangerous insides of a giant sunken ship. The whole space would be filled with water and that meant stuff would be floating all around.

Still, I didn't think we had a choice. There were a dozen Faarians down there who could still be alive, and Uncle Press was with them. We had to give it a try.

Spader drove the hauler back toward the coral reef that was the dome over Faar. He kept making slight maneuvers he didn't need to so he could get used to the controls of the hauler. Smart idea. Better to get totally familiar with the craft out here in open water than down in the murky depths.

As we approached the coral reef, I looked for the hole that Saint Dane had blown open. It would be our doorway into Faar. It wasn't hard to find. There were long, parallel lines dug into the reef that must have been caused by the
huge volume of water that was pulled across it as it was sucked toward the hole. It was like a road map. All we had to do was follow it.

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.

“Or
graveyard,”
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.

Spader laughed.

“I guess you've got it figured out,” he said.

I was totally ready to begin the excavation.

Spader gently lifted the hauler off the bottom and got us in position over the pile of rubble in front of the hangar entrance.

“Go slow,” he said. “Once you grab on to a piece, I'll pull
us back. I gotta be careful though, I don't want to start kicking up sand or we'll be blind down here.”

I rubbed my hands together, grabbed the joystick, and made my first attempt. I reached the long arm out and found a small piece of rubble. This was just a test. I maneuvered the hand over the chunk, squeezed the trigger, and the hand clamped on. I then lifted the piece away and dropped it off to the side.

“That was spiff,” said Spader, as if he expected it to be harder.

“Let's try something a little bigger,” I said with confidence.

I saw a chunk of coral sticking out of the pile. It looked perfect to grab on to. Spader didn't even have to move the hauler. I eased the arm over toward it and latched on with no trouble. But as I tried to pull back, there was some serious resistance.

“It's not moving,” I said.

“Let's use hauler power,” said Spader.

He started to ease the hauler backward, but the piece still wouldn't budge. Spader hit the throttle, the engines whined, but still the piece wouldn't budge.

Spader said, “Maybe you should try a smaller—”

Suddenly the piece broke free, and so did the pile of rubble. It seemed as if half the pile had been leaning against this one little piece and when we pulled it loose, it was like pulling a card out from the bottom of a house of cards. Huge pieces of dome tumbled toward us and hit the bubble of the hauler. The impact knocked us back and we twisted over on our side. Then another piece hit us from the other side and spun us back the other way. Sand was swirling everywhere. It was impossible to see. Then with a jolt, we hit the bottom on our side and two
more heavy pieces fell down on us. There was nothing we could do but hold our breath and hope we wouldn't spring a leak. We finally ended up on our side with a bunch of broken dome all over us.

“Wrong piece,” said Spader.

“Yeah, no kidding.”

We didn't move for a while and let the sand settle so we could see what the deal was. I was convinced we were now pinned here on the bottom of Faar and was already making plans to put on our air globes and abandon ship, when Spader gently gunned the engine. I was thrilled to see we could move. He slowly backed us away from the pile of rubble and let it fall down in front of us. We were completely free now, so Spader righted us and we were hovering once again.

“Let's pick our pieces a bit more scientifically this time, right?” Spader said.

I gave him a sideways “give me a break” look, then started scanning the pile of rubble to choose my next victim. After what had just happened, it was obvious that this wasn't going to be a quick task. We were going to have to start at the top and only move pieces that were completely clear. We couldn't afford to have another collapse. This was going to be like playing a game of Jenga . . . a really
dangerous
game of Jenga.

So we went about the painstaking task of moving the pile. Of course the little pieces were easy. The bigger pieces took a lot more power. One good thing was that because we were underwater, they were a lot lighter than they would have been on land. Many of these pieces were wide, thick chunks of material that withstood centuries of pressure. We pulled off a few pieces that were bigger than a car. I was afraid those pieces would be too much for the hauler, but the little vehicle proved time and again that it was up to the task.