The Tundra Trials Page 7

  “What does he mean they don’t have guardrails?” Marco pushes past us and leans between the guards. He throws his arms out to the sides and stops cold. “No joke! Proceed with bucket-loads of caution!”

  Marco backpedals. I still can’t see, but Marco’s freak-out is a pretty good indication that I’d better follow directions. Neeka waves us on. We stay close to the wall and follow her down a short ramp to break free from the crowd.

  “Whoa!” I flatten myself against the wall.

  We’re on the edge of Gulagaven, the buzzing, breathing, busy nucleus of Tunneler civilization.

  And we are literally standing on the edge.

  As in, we’re perched on a narrow ledge with no guardrail, looking out over a deep central chasm that extends farther down than I can see, like a hollowed-out beehive. Tunnels branch away from the multilevel cavern, and bridges span across. Elaborate pulley systems anchor into the pit and haul supplies up and down. Tunnelers are everywhere, hustling along the walkways, crossing the bridges, swinging from elaborate rope systems.

  The air smells like autumn leaves and moldy tomatoes. My stomach twists. I’m afraid to take a deep breath, or I might lose my lunch.

  Our path spirals around the central core. Tunnelers pass in both directions, muttering grunts, maybe greetings. The adults are dressed in brown sacks, the Tunneler children aren’t dressed at all. They walk so close to the edge, it’s a miracle they don’t fall. Why would they do that? And with their kids!

  Mira grabs my hand. Her brain feels like fireworks.

  Breathe.

  I’m not sure whether she thinks it or I do, but we sync and slow our breath until we both are a bit calmer.

  “This place is intense,” I say.

  “Enormous,” Lucy says.

  “Hollow,” Cole says.

  “Check out all the Tunnelers!” Marco says.

  “There are thousands of them!” I say.

  “Millions, to be exact,” Cole says.

  “How come they don’t fall?” I ask. “Those bridges are so narrow, and they’re so crowded. How do they make it across without—”

  “Plunging to their deaths?” Marco finishes.

  “We’ve been crossing these bridges since the day we could walk,” Neeka says. “You’ll get used to it. Let’s go!”

  I’ll get used to it? Is she kidding? Half the kids at school thought my actual name was Klutz. Those bridges and me don’t mix. It looks like I’ll be taking the long way around in Gulagaven.

  8

  WE FOLLOW NEEKA ALONG THE walkway, which is far too slippery to be safe. It looks like it’s made out of that same muddy adhesive stuff that we saw from the elevator. In fact, this whole place is made from mud. It’s like we’re inside a giant mud castle. I stay far away from the edge, with one hand on the muddy wall at all times.

  Every few meters, a round silver lamp is mounted to the wall. The faint smell of metal means the lights must be powered by the occludium they mine here on Gulaga.

  About a quarter of the way around the central pit, Neeka turns left into one of the intersecting tunnels.

  Ouch! My head collides with the ceiling.

  “What’s with the roof?” Marco calls.

  “What do you mean?” Neeka asks.

  “It’s so low!” I shout from behind, rubbing my hand against the bump that’s blossoming on my forehead.

  “Oh?” she says. “I never noticed.”

  “Yeah, you wouldn’t,” Marco grumbles.

  Neeka leads the way with almost half a meter to spare between her head and the ceiling. Lucy and Cole both have a few centimeters of clearance. Mira just fits at her full height. She grins, and I’m doused with that tingly, sparkly energy. She’s laughing at me. It would be really annoying if it weren’t brain to brain, which is still novel enough to earn a free pass.

  “I hope all the tunnels aren’t like this,” I say to Marco, who falls back beside me in line. We’re not moving as fast as the others since we’re so hunched over.

  “No joke,” he says. “If we have to bend over like this all the time, we’ll end the tour looking like Gedney.”

  At least we’re no longer staring down a drop into the chasm. Having a low ceiling and walls on both sides may be claustrophobic, but it’s much less risky.

  After a few turns, we walk straight into a huge crowd of Tunnelers carrying packs on their backs like the ones we saw in the elevator bay. Half the Tunnelers push through from the other direction, and we’re jostled about in a sea of fur.

  Neeka guides us through the crowd until we emerge in a huge, hollowed-out room with high ceilings—thank goodness—packed with Tunnelers. It’s the noisiest place in the galaxy, I’m sure of it. There are thousands of Tunnelers bustling about, grunting and growling. Aside from Neeka, none of them are wearing voice boxes, but all of them have something to say.

  “What is this place?” Lucy asks.

  “It must be a market,” Cole says.

  “Oh! Oh! Yes! This is the busiest market in Gulagaven. We come here for snacks and sundries and all sorts of extras.”

  Stalls are set up around the perimeter of the room, and dozens more form aisles across the space. Tons of Tunnelers display their wares, and even more line up to buy. From what I can tell, every purchase requires long and loud negotiation.

  “Can we look around?” Lucy asks. “Pretty please?”

  “Only for a minute,” Neeka says. “Then we need to get to the Bounder Burrow. They’re expecting you.”

  The first stalls we pass sell an assortment of trinkets and jewelry. Now that I’m paying attention, I see that not all Tunnelers are wearing the exact same thing. Yes, the brown bag is the base for the outfit, but lots of Tunnelers wear belts like Neeka, or intricate metal pins, or piercings on their ears or snouts. Lucy stops to admire a ring covered with amber stones. When she tries it on, the merchant runs to her side and chatters away in Gulagan. Neeka gently removes the ring from Lucy’s finger and returns it to the display case. Apparently, there’s no time for haggling today. Plus, how would we pay?

  “What kind of money do they use here?”

  “Our money doesn’t work like yours,” Neeka says. “At least, that’s what they told us during junior ambassador training. We barter for goods. Earn credits. It’s hard to explain. I have a small allowance to use at the markets with you, but not today. Oh! We really must go!”

  In the next stalls we pass, Tunnelers sit in high chairs while others buzz around them, snipping elaborate designs or stroking shades of crimson and purple and black dye into their fur.

  “Look, Lucy,” Marco says. “A Tunneler beauty salon! That’s your kind of place.”

  “It sure is,” she says as we turn into the next row. “And these stalls scream your name, Jasper!”

  I barely hear what she says, because I’m too busy making sure I don’t puke right in the middle of the market. Directly in front of me, a Tunneler is holding a huge basket of live, wriggly caterpillars. The guy next to him grabs a handful and tosses them into his mouth.

  “Gross!” I shout. Obviously Lucy was joking. We’ve just entered the food aisle. “Please don’t tell me this is what they’ll be serving us.”

  “Oh! No!” Neeka says. “These are yummy snacks. All the main meals are served communally. The Tunneler names don’t translate well, but most of our meals consist of tuber, fungi, and forage.”

  Is she serious? I try to ask, but I can’t move my mouth. I’m so sickened and stunned I can’t even move my feet. Mira and Lucy coax me forward, down the row of so-called snacks. I can’t bear to look, so I cover my eyes. The smells are enough to nauseate me—spoiled milk, slimy spinach, month-old lunch meat from the back of the fridge. When I take a peek, half the snacks appear to be moving, just like the caterpillars. Creepy crawlies inside my stomach? The stay on Gulaga is going to be rough.

  The girls steer me out of the food aisle, and we make our way through the rest of the market. I push all thoughts of food from my brain. It
’s either that or succumb to death by diet right here and now.

  Shortly beyond the market, we enter a chasm like the one near the space elevator. It’s not as wide across, but it looks to be just as deep. And then there’s that whole lack-of-railings thing. Yikes.

  “We’re almost at the Bounder Burrow,” Neeka says. “It’s in the Earth Sector, straight across and through a few turns. We’ll just cross here.” She takes a step toward the bridge that spans the chasm. Marco and Lucy are right behind her.

  “No way,” I say.

  “What’s the problem?” Neeka asks.

  “I’m not crossing.”

  “Come on, J,” Marco says.

  “No,” I say. “There must be another way across. If not, I’m happy to burrow right here.”

  “Just use your pack,” Cole says. “That’s my plan if I have a problem.”

  “That’s genius, Wiki!” Marco says. “Let’s fly across!”

  Cole’s idea is pretty awesome. Now, instead of being afraid of the bridge, I’m pretty psyched to try it. I unzip the corner pockets of my pack to release the hand grips. Then I dig in my pack for my gloves.

  “Oh! No! That is not allowed,” Neeka says. “We were told in junior ambassador training that cadets can only use their blast packs outside of the tunnel systems.”

  “Why?” Marco asks. “The whole purpose of our packs is efficient travel on other planets. I’d say this fits that description.”

  Neeka shakes her paws, and starts talking super fast. Her voice-translation box struggles to keep up. “Oh! Oh! No! No! You don’t understand! We simply can’t do that! That would absolutely not fall within the parameters of allowed supervised behavior that we learned in our junior ambassador training!”

  “Well, then why don’t we just bound across?” I suggest.

  Neeka’s natural voice jumps.

  “Oh! Oh! No! No!” The voice box sounds like it’s glitching, but it must just be translating Neeka’s freak-out. “Oh! No! That is an absolutely horrible idea! Oh! No! Didn’t anyone explain the rules to you? You can’t use your gloves in Gulagaven! No! Bounding is absolutely prohibited anywhere on the surface of Gulaga unless within a training exercise! Oh! This is monitored! No! It would be detected! Oh! There would be alarms! No!”

  “You’re this freaked out about a few alarms?” Marco says.

  “No! No! You don’t understand! Oh! It’s so much worse! There is an occludium scrambler! Oh! Your bound would fail! No! You could fail to materialize! No! No! I would be in—Oh! Oh! Oh!—so much trouble! Oh! No! So much trouble, that I would have to sacrifice my junior ambassador badge! Oh! Oh!”

  Neeka is worked up into a total frenzy. Her voice climbs higher and higher, and she’s shaking her stubby arms like she might take flight herself, without a pack.

  I know she’s freaking out, and I feel kind of bad about it, but I’m also trying hard not to laugh. I mean, it’s funny. Even though her stress levels are shooting for the roof, the voice box keeps relaying everything in the one-note, no-emphasis robotic tone.

  “Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! No! No! No! No! No!”

  A giant guffaw escapes my lips, which pulls the plug on Marco’s laugh containment, which then completely kills any self control I have left. We sink to the floor, holding our stomachs and shaking with laughter.

  Lucy kicks me hard in the shoe. “Stop that! Both of you!” She rubs her hand across Neeka’s back, and tries to talk over the constant stream of “Oh!” and “No!” “Come on, now, sweetie. No one’s going to make you sacrifice your badge. There must be another way, right? We’ll just find that.”

  She links her left hand with Neeka’s paw, and grabs Mira’s hand with her right. “Let’s go, girls. If we’re not with the boys, they can’t get us in trouble.” She leads Neeka and Mira down the spiraling ramp of the chasm.

  “What about us?” Cole shouts after them.

  “You’re the genius!” she calls back. “I’ll leave it to you to wrangle those two morons and find your way to the Bounder Burrow.”

  I’m still laughing. Sure, I realize I’m being ridiculously rude, but that voice box is just too funny. And it’s even funnier the way Cole is looming over Marco and me with that mad look on his face.

  “Can we go?” he asks.

  Marco gasps for air in between laughs and buries his head between his legs. I cover my face with my hands and try to settle down.

  “Seriously,” Cole says. “What is so funny?”

  Marco lifts his head. “Really, Wiki? You don’t think that voice box is hysterical?”

  “No. I really don’t. How do you expect her to communicate with us? I have been working on my Gulagan, but it has a long way to go.” Cole opens his mouth super wide and lets out a horrible shriek-grunt that sounds more like a dying cow than a Tunneler.

  Marco and I break out in hysterics all over again.

  “Oh, Fact Man, that was priceless.” Marco snorts. “Do that again. Please!”

  Cole turns beet red and starts down the ramp where the girls disappeared a few minutes ago. I jump to my feet and chase after him.

  “Wait up!” I grab his arm and swallow what’s left of my laugh attack.

  “Why should I?” Cole asks.

  “Come on, it was funny.” When he doesn’t smile, I add, “But the fact you’re learning Gulagan is super cool.”

  “And very you, Genius,” Marco adds from behind.

  “Let’s just find the Bounder Burrow,” Cole says.

  We wind around until we reach the other side of the chasm. From there, we follow the hallway Cole thinks he saw Neeka lead Lucy and Mira down when I was too busy laughing to pay attention.

  Everything looks the same. The walls, floor, and ceiling are all made of that adhesive mud stuff. Different halls branch out from the one we follow. Small coves open on both sides. In the first coves we pass, it looks like Tunnelers are working—fixing machinery, sewing the brown material into clothes. One cove even looks like a preschool, with lots of Tunneler tots running about.

  “I know this place is cool,” Marco says after we’ve been walking for a while, “but don’t forget why we’re here. We need to keep our pod mission front and center: Discover what Earth Force has planned for the Bounders. Find out more about the summit.”

  “Right now I’d be happy just to find the Bounder Burrow,” I say.

  “I think Neeka might be a great source of info,” he says. “She said her dad’s an Earth Force officer, and she sure loves to talk!”

  “I don’t think she’s going to give us classified information,” Cole says.

  “Not on purpose,” Marco says. “But she’s already slipped up a few times. Maybe if we mention the summit like we already know about it, she’ll spill the beans.”

  “That’s not the way to treat our junior ambassador,” Cole says.

  “Maybe not, but it’s all about the pod now, remember?”

  Marco’s words twist like a knife in my gut. Why did I promise Waters I’d keep the brain patch confidential? I hate keeping secrets from my pod. And this is important! It could be the clue we need to find out what Earth Force is up to. Still . . . I gave Waters my word. I try to push the whole mess out of my head.

  As we continue on, the Tunnelers recline on chairs and chat with friends. Maybe we passed from a work area into a relaxation area. But one thing stays the same. Everywhere we go, all eyes are on us. A chorus of grunts and snorts carry us down the hallway. And they don’t sound too friendly.

  “What are they saying?” I whisper to Cole.

  “I have no idea,” he says.

  “I thought you said you spoke Gulagan,” Marco says.

  “I said I’m learning Gulagan,” Cole says. “I have a long way to go.”

  “They sound mad,” I say.

  “They always sound that way,” Marco says. “It’s hard to make grunts sound happy.”

  That’s true. Tunnelers always sound gruff, but something about their mannerisms says there’s more to it. Someth
ing makes me feel like they’re not happy with us.

  We continue on.

  The ceiling is so low.

  My back aches.

  Eventually we have to come upon the Bounder Burrow, right?

  “I’m starving,” I say.

  “Me, too,” Marco says.

  I pass out the protein bars I stashed back at the bounding base this morning. Sharing with my friends is the right thing to do, but I know I’ll wish I had the bars when they try to force-feed me fungus later on.

  We eat and walk.

  And walk some more.

  This looks like a residential area. That must mean we’re close.

  I hope we get there soon.

  It can’t be much farther.

  I just wish they’d stop staring at us.

  Sure, it sounds like they’re saying mean things when we pass, but that’s just because they always sound that way, like Marco said.

  And we’re the special visitors, right? We’re Bounders, the future of Earth Force. That must carry some weight around here seeing as Gulaga is governed by Earth Force.

  So why is this solid mass of nastiness growing in my stomach?

  And why do I feel like the walls are closing in?

  “Ouch!” Marco shouts behind me. “Is the ceiling getting even lower?”

  I hadn’t really noticed, but I’m definitely crouching more than when we started down this hallway. When I look at the others, it’s even easier to see. The ceiling is much lower. Even Cole is hunching.

  “You still think we’re headed in the right direction?” I ask Cole.

  He doesn’t say anything, but his steps slow.

  “Hold up, Wiki,” Marco says. “I’m just going to put this out there. . . . We’re lost.”

  9

  “WE MIGHT NOT BE LOST,” Cole says, speeding up. “I’m sure I saw them take this tunnel. If we just go a bit farther—”

  Marco grabs Cole’s arm. “The girls could have turned down any of those hallways we passed. You need to face facts, Fact Man. We have no idea where they are or where we’re going.”

  Marco’s words are like a cup of cold water to the face. Everything comes into sharp focus, including the many Tunneler eyes bearing down on us at this very moment. There’s no mistaking anymore. The grunts are hostile, and the stares are not of the I’d love to get to know you variety.