Atherton #3: The Dark Planet (No. 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

believe that connecting is the important
    thing. Letting them know we're still alive is the first in a chain of
    important events. Nothing else can happen until they hear a
    voice from Atherton."
    Edgar swallowed a last big bite of food and washed it down
    with a gulp of cold water.
    "I'm full," said Edgar, whose mind seemed to have gone
    somewhere else. "I don't need to eat again for a couple of days
    if it comes to that. When can I leave?"
    Dr. Kincaid loved Edgar's spirit of adventure. He couldn't help
    smiling while he chastened the boy.
    "Don't get ahead of yourself, Edgar. There's a lot we have to
    consider."
    Vincent removed the plates and food and unrolled the paper
    from Dr. Kincaid's walking stick. He placed rocks at each corner
    and everyone huddled close, looking at a three-dimensional
    map of one side of the bottom of Atherton. Edgar could see the
    top edge--the Flatlands--and every thing that lay hidden below,
    all the way down to the bottom. It was a view of Atherton from
    space, which was a new idea for Edgar.
    "Who made this?" asked Samuel. It was a marvelous rendering
    of the world in which he lived from a viewpoint he'd only been
    able to imagine. It made him see the place differently than he'd
    ever seen it before.
    "Dr. Harding drew this a long time ago," said Dr. Kincaid.
    "Before anyone was brought here, back when the world of
    Atherton was a much lonelier place."
    He looked at the two boys and the girl.
    "In the beginning it was only Dr. Harding, Vincent, and me. Can
    you imagine? The whole world of Atherton and only the three of
    us. It was so quiet then."
    Dr. Kincaid was thinking of a time when the three men had
    walked together along the rim of the Highlands, like walking in
    a new and empty Eden. He remembered having the distinct
    feeling that it was devoid of not just people, but of a soul as
    well.
    "You were saying?" said Vincent, rousing Dr. Kincaid back to
    reality.
    "You see there, Edgar?"
    He pointed to a crack in the surface of Atherton that had the
    appearance of a narrow letter V on the map.
    The drawing revealed the bottom of Atherton as a series of
    much larger V-shaped segments pointing toward the bottom.
    Some of the V 's were thin, some were wide. Between them
    were vast, open spaces of--of what? It was hard to say if it was
    water or glass or something else. One thing appeared certain:
    The entire area looked unclimbable in the extreme.
    Dr. Kincaid stepped back from the table and lifted his walking
    stick, pointing it straight out. "We'll find that crevice about an
    hour's walk in that direction. And somewhere far below there,
    the hidden place we seek to discover."
    The walking stick was pointing away from the lake and to the
    left of the new grove. Edgar didn't have to look where the
    walking stick was pointing. He already knew where the crevice
    was.
    "You don't have to show me where to go," said Edgar.
    "Don't tell me," said Vincent, his eyes lighting up.
    "You've already climbed there, haven't you?" asked Samuel.
    Edgar looked at the faces around the table sheepishly.
    "You've been doing it without tel ing us!" declared Isabel,
    punching him in the shoulder.
    "Be careful!" Samuel said sarcastically. "He's going to need that
    shoulder to climb with."
    "I didn't want to worry you," said Edgar. "But this is good news! I
    already know the place. And I have to tell you, that V-shaped
    crevice is a really good location to climb. The gravity doesn't
    pull me in as much there, and if I go down a little bit farther --"
    "Down a little bit farther!" cried Isabel. She wound up for
    another shot at Edgar. "You're mad!"
    Everyone, not just Isabel, did think Edgar a little bit out of his
    mind, especially after he divulged the whole truth. He
    confessed that he'd been secretly climbing at night, as he had
    always done since he was a little boy.
    "Do you mean to say that you've been climbing all this time?
    From the moment Atherton became flat?" asked Dr. Kincaid. He
    could hardly believe