“That must be to turn off the evacuation alarm,” I said.
There were two choices left. From where I sat, the white crystal looked as if it had already been pushed down.
“I think the white crystal raises and lowers the podium,” I said. “It must be the red one.”
“Red it is,” said Uncle Press.
He reached forward, touched the red crystal, and glanced back to me. I gave him a nod, and he pushed it down.
And that’s when the partyreallystarted.
First, the red crystal flashed brightly. That much I expected. The next thing we knew we were surrounded by sound. It started as a low whine, but then grew in volume. It sounded like giant engines were powering to life. Then the mountain rumbled. The waves it sent out from its movement started to buffet the hauler.
Uncle Press shot back to us and grabbed on.
“I think now’s a good time to be someplace else,” he said.
“Hang on!” shouted Spader.
He hit the throttle and we began rising again. The monstrous sound grew louder. The hauler was being buffeted so hard that it was making my teeth chatter.
“You okay, Press?” called Spader.
“Get us outta here!” he shouted back.
Then I heard something new. It sounded like cracking, but it was immense.
“Uh-oh,” said Spader.
There it was again. “Uh-oh.” Ihated”uh-oh.”
Spader was looking up. I looked up too and saw that we were getting closer to the hole in the dome, and safety. But that’s not what the “uh-oh” was about. The trouble was, the rest of the dome was cracking! The rumble was sending shock waves through the water that were so strong, we could actually see cracks traveling across the surface of the dome. But unlike the last time the dome cracked, this wasn’t in one single place. Now, the entire dome was beginning to shatter!
“It’s breaking up,” shouted Spader.
“Get under the hole!” I shouted back. I figured that if it all came down, humpty-dumpty-style, then our only chance of not being crushed would be if we were under the hole.
“I gotta pick up speed!” shouted Spader.
“I’m okay,” answered Uncle Press. “Go!”
Spader pushed us faster. It was a race to make it out of that hole before the whole world came crashing down on us.
“Come on, come on!” Spader coaxed the hauler on.
I killed the lights because we didn’t need them anymore and could use every last bit of power for speed. We then hit the field of floating debris. Pieces of everything hit the bubble. I wasn’t worried about the glass breaking. If the raiders’ waterguns couldn’t shatter it, then I didn’t think a chunk of floating junk could. I was more afraid that something would hit Uncle Press.
“We got it!” Spader yelled.
And a second later we shot up out of the hole and into the light of open ocean. Unbelievably, the dome had held. But we weren’t safe yet. The sound of the roaring engines was even louder outside of the dome. The water was still vibrating like crazy, and there was something new. All around us were massive jets of air bubbles shooting up from around the perimeter of the dome.
“Keep moving!” shouted Uncle Press.
Spader hit the throttle and we sped away. It didn’t matter where we went so long as we didn’t stay here. The jets of air shot up all around us, like fissures opening up somewhere deep below and letting off pressure. There was no way to avoid them. They kept hitting us and knocking us around. This was probably the closest I will ever come to being inside a washing machine.
“Press?” called Spader.
“Don’t talk, drive!” shouted Uncle Press.
Finally we got past the fissure jets and Spader was able to put us right. The water just beyond them was absolutely calm. In seconds we had gone from being tossed in heavy seas to floating as calmly as if we were in a bathtub. It was a strange feeling. I wasn’t complaining.
“Nowthatwas a tum-tigger,” said Spader.
But it wasn’t over yet. The roar of the engines, or whatever they were, was still growing louder even though we were out of the turbulent zone. The air fissures had suddenly stopped erupting, and as soon as the bubbles stopped shooting up, the engines whined louder.
Then we heard another cracking sound.
“The dome’s collapsing!” Spader shouted.
We all looked back at the coral reef, expecting the dome to collapse in. But that’s not what happened. It erupted. Yes, it started to expand upward.
“I don’t believe it,” Spader whispered in awe.
Believe it.
A moment later we saw. Something was pushing the dome up from below. It was the top of Faar’s mountain! In that one amazing moment, it all came clear to me what transpire meant. When Abador and the council debated about whether to reveal themselves to Cloral or remain hidden, they weren’t talking about self-destruction. They were talking about rejoining their world, literally. The preparations that had been going on for centuries were all about pushing the Lost City of Faar back to the surface. The three of us watched in shock as the top of Faar’s mountain broke through the weakened dome and continued to rise toward the surface.
Luckily one of us had the smarts to do a little mental calculation.
“Faar is a big place, gentlemen,” said Uncle Press. “We are still in the wrong spot.”
Good thinking. If Faar was coming up, we were still too close.
“Outta here!” shouted Spader, and hit the throttle once again.
As we sped away I looked back around at the spectacle. The mountain continued its impossible rise up through the shattered dome. In a few moments, the peak would break the surface of the sea. It was awesome… but we weren’t home-free just yet.
“Slight problem,” Spader said while scanning the instruments.
“What?”
“We’re not moving.”
Whatever force was being used to power this city’s ascent had gotten hold of us. It felt as if we were fighting a wicked current coming right at us.
“More power!” I shouted to Spader.
“I’m trying! It’s pulling us back.”
Spader pressed the throttle to full power, but it didn’t help. We were being sucked back toward the mountain. It was like being sucked into a rip-current. But then, suddenly, everything reversed. I didn’t know if the force of the mountain rising was now stronger than the pull of the engines that were forcing it up, but in an instant we went from being pulled back to being pushed forward by a tidal-wave force of water. Our hauler suddenly shot forward faster than it was ever designed to go.
This underwater wave ride lasted a full minute. Finally Spader was able to get control and slow us down.
“I’m taking us up,” he announced, and we shot topside.
A few moments later we broke the water’s surface. I quickly opened the bubble top and pulled myself out to get to Uncle Press. He was exhausted, but okay. He pulled the swimskin off his face and looked up at me.
“Are you sure it was the red button?” he said with a smile.
I had to laugh. Man, this guy was cool.
We then heard something that sounded like a giant whale breaching the surface. But it wasn’t a whale, of course. It was Faar’s mountain. Spader joined us on the top of the bubble and the three of us watched in wonder.
The mountain rose slowly from the water. It was impossible, yet there it was. We were far enough away now that we were safe, but close enough to see detail on the mountain. As it rose higher the marble buildings were revealed along with the paths that wandered between them. Bit by bit the city that had been hidden for hundreds of years was once again feeling sunlight.
“Look!” shouted Spader.
We looked around us and saw green heads popping up in the water everywhere. The Faarians were coming up to witness the rebirth of their home. There were hundreds of them stretched out on either side of us. They all pulled off their swimskin hoods so they could see this miracle through clear eyes.