Atherton #3: The Dark Planet (No. 3) by Patrick Carman Read Free Book Online

could only
    barely be seen.
    Edgar will be gone a long while, Vincent pondered. I must talk
    to Dr. Kincaid alone.
    With that, Vincent set off at a quick pace in search of more
    answers about Edgar, the Dark Planet, and the docking station.
    Very soon Edgar was out of the crevice that had been cut into
    Atherton and climbing on the outer surface. There were many
    paths he could have taken that led down the side, but he knew
    which one was the longest and started down at its wide
    beginning. For a long time there were no holes at all as he'd
    remembered, but then the way down started to narrow and the
    first of many holes came into view. It was three feet around and
    there was plenty of room to avoid the glowing orange edge of
    the path.
    Edgar heard the strange sound as he passed by--a swishing,
    like something moving back and forth inside, and a hissing. I
    can't understand why any of this is here, thought Edgar, the face
    of Dr. Harding clear in his mind. What were you thinking?
    Edgar had to travel slowly in order to remain perfectly quiet as
    he went farther down. As he moved, the holes became more
    numerous and difficult to avoid. He was dripping with sweat
    from head to toe and it was beginning to make his hands
    slippery as Vincent had feared. But Edgar had filled his pockets
    with gritty dirt that he could use to dry his hands when needed.
    The bottom of Atherton was truly made for climbing, and this
    was his great salvation. There was an endless supply of easy
    handholds to choose from.
    "Now comes the hard part," Edgar whispered. He had come to
    the end of his knowledge of the bottom of Atherton. Removing a
    small rabbit skin tied to his belt and filled with water, Edgar
    drank what had once been cool water from the lake. It had
    turned warm, but the water revived him nevertheless.
    The farther down the shard one went the narrower it became;
    and all the while the holes grew larger. It was hard not to
    imagine that whatever lurked inside was getting bigger as well.
    It seemed like the most inopportune time to be climbing closer,
    and yet he had no choice. Either he would have to cross very
    near the largest of the holes or turn back. There was no other
    way down.
    Seven holes, he thought, seeing what lay beneath him. If I can
    just get past them it looks clear on the other side. The path was
    now only twenty feet across, with a great sea of glowing orange
    on either side.
    Edgar could feel his pounding heart race faster and faster as he
    passed between the first three of the seven holes without
    hearing or seeing anything. Then he moved between the cluster
    of remaining four holes and stopped stone-cold.
    He looked back at the first three holes where a familiar clicking
    sound had begun, now more loudly than before. It grew even
    worse as the sound echoed from holes he had yet to pass by.
    His hands slippery and sweat dripping into his eyes, Edgar
    realized with terror that he was trapped in the middle of a field of
    holes from which unknown creatures were about to emerge.
    Edgar glanced up and saw two beams of white light coming
    from inside one of the holes he'd passed. He was totally frozen
    with fear as the head of a creature emerged, encrusted with
    sharp chunks of glowing red and orange stones. The beams of
    light came from its hollow eye sockets.
    The outrageous creature opened its huge mouth and lunged out
    of the hole, down toward the climbing boy, and slammed its
    jaws of stone inches above Edgar's head. Orange slime slid
    from its mouth as it recoiled in a flash of light, as if its tail were
    attached to a great spring that pulled it violently back into the
    hole. It crashed back and forth against the surface of Atherton,
    howling horribly.
    The moment the lights were gone the two other holes Edgar
    had passed lit up with dancing white beams of their own. Two
    monsters shot out of their holes above Edgar and their horrible
    teeth went SLAM! SLAM! against the rock. If a person could
    climb and run at the