Part 29 (1/2)
”He's not dead, but he needs help,” said Uncle Press. ”I'll get Yenza.” He blasted out of the door and turned left to get back to the control room.
”Where's Roder?” asked Spader.
”I don't know! He ran out. Let me out of here. We've got to find him!”
I pulled a set of keys from the belt of the fallen aquaneer and threw them to Spader. Spader unlocked the door to the cell and the other aquaneer ran out.
”I've got to report this to Yenza!” he shouted, then ran out and turned to the right.
”Help me,” I said to Spader, and the two of us moved the aquaneer into a sitting position so he was more comfortable. His eyes opened slowly and focused on me.
”Are you all right?” I asked.
”Rodera” the guy gasped. ”I got too close to the cell. He grabbed me.”
”We know,” I said. ”Your friend told us.” The aquaneer focused on me and frowned. ”What friend?”
”Roder locked the other aquaneer in the cell after he attacked you.”
The aquaneer shook his head and said, ”Roder was already in the cell. He reached out and grabbed me. n.o.body else was here.”
Spader looked at me with confusion, but I knew instantly what had happened. Saint Dane had transformed himself again. That wasn't an aquaneer in the cell, it was Saint Dane, and we had just freed him.
”He took a right,” I said. ”The control room is to the left.”
”He's going for the launch chamber,” shouted Spader.
”Let him go,” I begged.
Spader wasn't listening. He bolted from the room, hot after Saint Dane.
”You okay?” I asked the aquaneer.
He nodded and waved for me to get going.
”Spader!” I shouted. ”Spader, stop!”
I ran after my friend, but there was no stopping him.
Moments later we both got to the door of the launch chamber that had once held the hauler. Spader pushed on the door, but something was keeping it closed from inside. He pushed harder and the door finally gave way. Someone had put a barrel against it. We both jumped into the room in time to see Saint Dane about to make his escape.
He had transformed back into his normal self. His steely blue eyes flashed at us as we tumbled into the room. He was on a skimmer, like the underwater skimmers we used to sabotage his battle cruiser. We saw him a second before his head went under the water. His long, gray hair billowed out, like a spiderweb in the water around him. Our roles had reversed. This is how Saint Dane had seen us as we made our escape on the hauler.
Saint Dane shot us a look of such hatred that I thought my hair would ignite. Then his head sank below the surface. Spader made a move as if to dive for him, but I held him back.
”Let him go,” I begged Spader. ”You'll get another chance.”
Spader threw me aside and ran back out into the corridor. I followed, but had trouble keeping up because he was running flat out.
He got to the ladder, scrambled up into the tower, then jumped outside, onto the hull. As I was climbing up the ladder after him I kept yelling, ”Stop him! Somebody stop Spader!”
Things were happening so quickly no one had time to react. Spader ran across the hull and headed right for the hauler we had arrived on. Before anyone could stop him, he cast off the line, jumped on board, and dove into the bubble.
Uncle Press and Yenza came running.
”What is he doing?” Yenza asked.
”Saint Dane, I mean Roder, escaped. He's got a skimmer.”
Spader was already submerging in the hauler. Uncle Press watched him sink below the surface, his mind turning. He then looked to the deck, grabbed an air globe, and threw it to me. We were going after him.
”I know where he's going,” he said.
”How? Where?” asked Yenza.
I wanted to ask the same thing, but I figured Uncle Press would tell me on the way. He grabbed his own air globe and one of the water sleds. I grabbed the other.
Yenza said, ”I'll send a team of aquaneers with you.”
”No!” commanded Uncle Press quickly. ”We can handle it.” Something about the way Uncle Press snapped at Yenza made me realize where we were going. It all made sense. I should have figured it out myself. We were headed for the gate. Saint Dane was going to try and escape through the flume. It was the only option left to him. The aquaneers didn't need to see this. It was a Traveler thing.
”Ready?” asked Uncle Press.
”Close enough,” I answered.
We both splashed down and plunged below the surface.
”You know which way?” I asked.
Uncle Press looked around and said, ”There!”
I looked and saw a thin trail of bubbles left by the hauler. We both triggered our water sleds and followed the trail like breadcrumbs in the forest.
”This could take hours,” I said to Uncle Press as we shot along side by side.
”Maybe,” he answered. ”Or maybe Saint Dane knows about another gate.”
I hadn't thought of that. On Denduron there were two gates. Who's to say Cloral had only one? But neither of us knew for certain, so all we could do was follow the trail of bubbles.
”Spader is going to be an important ally to you, Bobby,” Uncle Press said. ”But he's got to learn how to control his emotions.”
”Yeah, no kidding,” I said.
”Killing Saint Dane isn't the answer,” he continued. ”I wish it were that simple, but it's not.”
”You meana he can't die?” I asked.
”His body can die,” Uncle Press explained. ”But he would just come back in another form.”
”What is he? Some kind ofa ghost?” ”Not like you're thinking. His spirit is evil, Bobby. Killing his body won't stop him from his quest.”