Pendragon - The Soldiers Of Halla Part 16

I felt a short, violent lurch, as if the dado's body had been hit by something. He instantly released his grip. I pushed myself away from him, kicked for the surface and spun around, ready for the robot to come after me again. He didn't. He couldn't. He no longer had a head. The thing floated there with its arms out. Dead. Or turned off. Or incapacitated. Or whatever it is that happens to a dado when the lights go out. It may have been a mechanical device, but it was still a gruesome sight.

I felt a strong arm grab the back of my sweatshirt. A second later I was lifted out of the water onto the deck of Spader's skimmer. Spader stood over me. Yenza was next to him, holding her rifle, smiling.

I guess she was a better shot than I thought.

"He won't be talking to the raiders anytime soon," she confirmed.

Explosions continued to churn the water around us. Spader dropped to his knees and opened up the hatch of the skimmer. He pulled out three round air globes.

"We'll have a better chance in the water than on the skimmer," he said.

I hadn't put on an air globe in a very long time, but I knew how they worked. The clear sh.e.l.l made a form-fit over your head. The small silver device at the top took oxygen in from the sea and allowed you to breathe. And speak. It was an amazing device. It looked as if we were going to have to rely on them to save us.

"We'll swim back to Grallion," he said. "Let them keep pumping shots at the skimmer. We'll be long gone."

We barely had time to put the globes on when the water next to the skimmer began to boil. All three of us looked in wonder at what could be causing it.

"That's not from the guns," I declared.

Yenza realized the truth first. "No," she bellowed. "No! No!"

I didn't know what she was getting all bent about, until I saw a large, clear dome break the surface of the water. If we were anywhere else in Halla, I would have been panic stricken, thinking it was some kind of sea beast. But we were on Cloral. I knew what it was.

"They shouldn't be here!" Yenza shouted.

It was a hauler submarine. Inside the dome I saw the faces of three scared individuals. It looked to be a family. A man, a woman, and a little girl that couldn't have been more than four years old. The man was at the controls. He waved frantically, motioning for us to get inside the sub.

The barrage of water-cannon fire stopped. There was a strange calm.

"Did they give up?" I asked.

A moment later we were again bathed in light as multiple spotlights from other gunships. .h.i.t us. During the confusion two more gunships had drifted closer. We were now surrounded on three sides by raider ships, all with their lights trained on us and all with their guns locked in. They had hit the jackpot. They no longer needed information from the dado aquaneer. They had us. They had the hauler. They had the exiles. We were seconds away from being turned into liquid.

Spader leaped from the skimmer onto the body of the hauler, behind the c.o.c.kpit bubble. He motioned to the people inside to dive.

"Down!" he screamed. "Down! Down!"

The pilot wasn't sure what to do. He wasn't an aquaneer. He probably had only learned to drive a hauler that day. He looked to Yenza. Yenza made the same move.

"Dive!" she shouted, and jumped on the back of the hauler.

I did the same. There wasn't time to board the craft. We were about to go for a ride. Bubbles boiled up from around the vehicle as the hauler began to sink. The back of a hauler had plenty of places to grab on to, so I grabbed. Tight. No sooner did my head go below the water than I heard the sounds of cannon fire. I was nearly ripped off the hauler by the force of the multiple impacts. The vehicle twisted and spun, but continued to dive. Yenza pulled her way forward along the back of the hauler to the c.o.c.kpit bubble. She banged on the gla.s.s to get the pilot's attention and motioned for him to continue down. The water was deep around Grallion. If we got enough depth, there was no way that the water-cannon fire could reach us. I looked above to see the surface explode in a brilliant kaleidoscope of light from the ships. As we dropped farther away, the m.u.f.fled explosions grew more distant. My confidence grew. We had escaped.

Yenza looked back to Spader and me. We could hear her clearly through the device on top of her air globe. "They could drop depth charges."

Oh. We hadn't escaped.

Yenza knocked on the hauler bubble again. The pilot turned to look, and Yenza made a motion in the direction she wanted the guy to drive.

"Uh, that's back toward Grallion," I announced.

"I'm hoping they'll think we broke for open water," she said with confidence. "If we hide below Grallion, it will be harder for them to find us with their deep scan."

I looked to Spader and shrugged. "Sounds good to me."

The hauler was nearly on the ocean floor. We moved swiftly and silently across the sandy bottom until everything grew dark. I figured that must have been because all light from above had been blocked by the ma.s.sive barge city of Grallion. We traveled a few more minutes, with Yenza scanning the surface ahead while riding on top of the bubble like a circus performer on an elephant. Finally she seemed satisfied, and motioned for the pilot to stop and rest on the bottom. With a gentle thump, the hauler nestled safely on the ocean floor.

"We can get in through the air lock," Yenza explained.

The haulers I knew from Cloral didn't have air locks. This hauler was larger than any I'd seen, so I figured it was a more advanced model. Yenza led us along the hull toward the stern until she came to a hatch. She turned a red wheel that was recessed below the outer skin of the submarine, pulled open the door, and floated inside. A few minutes later we saw her appear in the c.o.c.kpit bubble along with the exiles. Spader instructed me on how to get in.

"The compartment inside is flooded," he said. "Once I close the hatch on you, there's a green wheel that will clear the chamber of water. When it's dry, spin the release on the door inside and board. Then close the hatch, and I'll be right after you."

I did as I was told. Within minutes I joined Yenza in the large cargo area of the hauler. She closed the inside hatch after me, flooded the small compartment again, and Spader repeated the action.

Within ten minutes we were all safely inside the cargo bay. Yenza opened the hatch that led into the c.o.c.kpit, and I got to meet the exiles.

"We had to come back," the man said. "The idea of Grallion being attacked because of us was too much to bear."

"You shouldn't have," Yenza declared.

Spader added, "But if you hadn't, we'd all be dead, so thank you."

The woman was nervous. She held the little girl on her lap protectively.

"Is that your daughter?" I asked.

The woman nodded. "Her name is Maggie."

"Where was she born?" I asked.

The man and woman looked to Yenza, as if not sure of what they should reveal about themselves. I put them at ease.

"I'm from Earth," I said. "My name is Bobby Pendragon."

They both looked relieved to hear that. "My name is Peter," the man said. "This is Carolyn. When were you exiled? Was it in Yankee Stadium?"

As much as I knew the origin of the exiles, it was still a shock to hear it from a different point of view.

"No, but I was there," I answered. "I saw what happened."

Carolyn said, "Maggie was born here, on Cloral. She never knew Earth."

"How many more exiles are there on Cloral?" I asked. It was the most important question of all.

"Just us," Peter answered.

"Are you sure?" I asked, trying not to sound too disappointed.

Peter and Carolyn nodded.

My heart sank. As happy as I was that these people were safe, I was hoping that there would be more. Lots more. On Third Earth there were originally twenty that arrived, including Mark. But eight had been killed. Here there were three, including the young girl, Maggie, who technically wasn't an exile. Was it possible that the spirit of so few exiles could keep Solara alive? I doubted it. Seventy thousand people were pulled into the flume that night in Yankee Stadium. Where did they go?

"There were more of us," Peter said. "Thirty in all. We were taken in by raiders and treated like slaves."

"I heard the story," I said with sympathy. "From my friend Mark Dimond."

Both Peter and Carolyn lit up. "Mark?" the woman said with a smile. "Have you seen him?"

"I have. He's okay."

They looked relieved to hear that. "Did he make it back to Earth?" Carolyn asked.

I gave a simple answer. "Yes." I didn't want to explain the trouble he was in. Or that he was actually three thousand years ahead of their own time.

Carolyn said, "So then there's still hope for us. We might be able to return someday."

I didn't say anything. Why should I ruin their dream?

Peter added, "If not for Mark, we'd all be dead. He was our leader. He took a lot of punishment that was often meant for others."

I nodded. Mark hadn't gone into the details of his ordeal, and I wasn't so sure I wanted to hear them.

Peter continued, "He led the mutiny. All thirty of us got off the raider ship. We stole skimmers. Some went searching for the flume, but we stayed behind."

"Why?" Spader asked.

Carolyn held Maggie close and gave a simple answer. "I was pregnant."

"We've been hiding from the Ravinians for years," Peter added.

Yenza jumped in, saying, "We're going to get you to Panger City. It's a busy place. You'll blend in there."

Something didn't add up. "You said thirty of you got off the raider ship. Did others die?"

"Not that we know of," Peter answered.

"So if thirty escaped, and you two stayed here, that means twenty-eight people went for the flume. But only twenty made it to Earth."

The man and woman exchanged looks, as if they had something to say but weren't sure if they should.

"You really should tell me everything," I said.

"There was another exile," Peter finally admitted. "He didn't originally land here with us on Cloral. He was first sent to another territory, but he came here in search of exiles. He said there were many more where he first landed, and he wanted to bring us all together. There was a debate over whether we should go with him or try to get back to Earth. That was before we were captured by the raiders. He ended up dying in the hold of that horrible ship."

I tried not to get too excited. If there were more exiles on another territory, maybe they had all begun to gather there before the flumes were destroyed.

"What was the name of the territory he came from?" I asked.

Carolyn answered. "If I remember right, it was called a Zadaa."

I had the information I needed. I was on the wrong territory. I instantly shot a look to Spader. "I'm going to Zadaa."

Spader replied, "I'm going with you." "No!" I said quickly. "You have to keep these people safe."

"I can do that," Yenza offered with confidence.

"If there's a big group of exiles on Zadaa, that's where we should be, mate," Spader said.

I was about to argue, but the sound of thunder stopped me. We all heard it. Maggie held her mother close, terrified.

"Thunder?" I asked.

"Cannons," Yenza said soberly. "It sounds like they're unloading on Grallion."

"Hobey, would they really punish an entire habitat just because we were protecting this family?" Spader asked.

"I think they would" was my awful answer. "That'll give you an idea of how great the importance of every last exile is."

"Us?" Peter asked. "Why?"

"Do you want to see the Ravinians defeated?" I asked.

"It's all I think about," the guy answered.

"Then stay safe," I said. "If we hope to fight back, we need each and every exile to have faith that it's possible."

The thundering guns grew louder.

Yenza swallowed hard. "I fear what's happening up there."

"Protect them," I said to Yenza. "I can't begin to tell you how important it is."

"I believe you, Pendragon. They'll be safe with me." "Uh-oh." Spader gasped.

He was looking toward the surface through the bubble of the hauler submarine.

Yenza gasped, "She's breaking up."

We all looked up to see cracks appear in the black ma.s.s that was the hull of the habitat Grallion.

"This is impossible," Yenza cried. "Why do they have such powerful weapons?"

"It's all about Ravinia," I answered.

The cracks grew larger. The barge was being wrenched apart. I think the realization hit us all at the same time that the giant city was going to sink a and we were directly beneath it.

"Get us outta here!" I screamed.