“We gotta slow down!” I said.
Loor and I both pulled on the reins and slowed to a trot. I could see through the trees up ahead that we were nearly at the top of the dam. There were only about a hundred yards to go.
“Give me the noisemaker,” Loor ordered.
I looked back and was shocked to see that Loor was getting off her horse.
“What are you doing? We’re almost there!” I shouted.
“Keep going,” she said, “Find Zetlin and get him out. I will stop the others from following.”
There was no way I was going to leave Loor here alone. “Loor, I won’t-“
“You are wasting time, Pendragon!” she shouted at me. “We must save Zetlin! That is all that matters. Give me the noisemaker!”
It killed me, but I pulled the six-shooter out of my belt and tossed it to her. She looked at it curiously. My confidence wasn’t high.
“Hold the handle, point the long end at the bad guys and pull the trigger,” was the quickest instruction I could think of. “Hold it tight, it’ll probably kick.”
“Go!” she ordered.
I snapped the reins, kicked my horse, and galloped for the dam. I took one last look over my shoulder to see that Loor had pulled her horse into the trees. She was setting a trap. Man, what a brave girl. But then again, if the dam blew up, she wouldn’t be on it. I would. I didn’t know which was worse, facing the desperados, or standing on an exploding dam. Suddenly I wasn’t feeling so bad for her anymore.
It was all about time now. I had no idea how soon the dam was going to blow. A few seconds later, I broke out of the trees on top of the ridge to see the huge lake that Saint Dane told us about. A quick look to my left showed me that I had made it to the top of the dam. The stone hut was about halfway across, which I’m guessing was about fifty yards away. Fifty very long yards. I figured I could cover the distance faster on horseback.
That’s when I heard gunfire. The quick, sharp pops told me that the desperados had caught up with Loor. I could only hope that she’d be safe, and keep them back long enough for me to get to Dr. Zetlin.
“Yah!” I slapped the horse’s flank, and we charged out onto the dam. It was only about ten feet wide, with water on one side and a very long drop on the other. I hugged the water side.
Crack! Crack!
More gunshots, followed by splinters of stone kicking up around me. The desperados weren’t gunning for Loor, they were shooting at me through the trees. I ducked down on the horse and begged it to run faster.
Ping! Crack!
A piece of flying stone stung my arm. They were getting better, but there was no way I would be stopped. Not when I was so close. We had played Saint Dane’s evil game and nearly won. I made it to the stone hut and jumped off my horse. I tied it on the far side of the hut, making sure to use the building for protection against the shooting desperados.
A million thoughts flew through my head. What was my next move? I would get Dr. Zetlin out, get us both on the horse, and then go… where? If we went back the way we came, we’d land right in the laps of the desperados. But I couldn’t abandon Loor! The only choice was to keep going to the far side of the dam. But then once the dam blew up, Loor would be trapped with the desperados.
It was a familiar, horrible feeling. I was faced with a choice. Which was more important? The future of Veelox, or the safety of my friend? It was the Hindenburg all over again. Was this what Saint Dane wanted to do all along? Did he want to put me in the same, horrible position just to see me fail again?
These thoughts took all of three seconds to flash through my head. I truly didn’t know what to do. All I knew for sure was that I had to keep going. But when I threw the door of the hut open, I was rocked by a sight so incredible that it made all my other concerns seem trivial.
“Dr. Zetlin!” I shouted as I opened the door. “We’ve got to get off the dam or-“
When I saw the man inside the hut, I froze. It wasn’t Dr. Zetlin. This wasn’t playing out the way it was supposed to. But to be honest. Saint Dane hadn’t lied, either. He told us that the man I was worried about was in this hut. And he was.
It was Gunny.
“Shorty!” he yelled when he saw me. “What in heck is going on?”
Gunny was tied to a chair with a long length of rope. Seeing him was such a shock, I couldn’t function.
“Wha-how did you get here?” I stammered.
“Saint Dane sandbagged me! Get these ropes off!”
My brain clicked back into gear. I ran to Gunny and started working on the knots. I wasn’t sure if I was happy to see him or totally freaked out.
“You’re not gonna believe what’s been going on,” I said. “This isn’t real. None of this is.” I then stopped working and looked at him. “Wait, I don’t get how you can be here. Did Saint Dane bring you into a Lifelight pyramid?”
Gunny was about to answer, when I felt a sharp rumbling. It felt like a short, quick earthquake. But it wasn’t. Our ten minutes were up. More rumbling followed. The dynamite was exploding. There was no way we could get off in time. The dam was about to collapse, with Gunny and me still on it.
(CONTINUED)
VEELOX
“What’s happening?” Gunny asked. His eyes were wide with fear.
“The dam is exploding,” I said. “Saint Dane loaded it with dynamite.”
I caught a glimpse of my horse charging away. He had pulled free and was galloping off in terror. Smart horse. He knew what was about to happen.
“Get yourself outta here,” Gunny ordered.
I wanted to argue. I wanted to be all sorts of brave and say: “We’re getting out, together!” or something equally heroic. But the truth was, there wasn’t time. The exploding dynamite was tearing the dam apart. The floor shook, the stone ceiling started to fall down around us. In a few seconds there would be no more dam and no more us.
“Run, Pendragon,” Gunny implored.
It was too late. I knew there was only one possible way to get off this crumbling dam. I lifted my arm and pulled up my sleeve to reveal my silver control bracelet with the three square buttons. The button on the far right was supposed to end the jump. The last time it failed, but I couldn’t think of anything else to do, so I pushed it, and prayed. The stone hut shuddered. We were going down. “Good-bye, shorty,” Gunny said. Everything went black. I sat up fast and slammed my head. “Ow!”
I was totally disoriented. My head hurt too. What had happened? A second later, the answer came. With a slight hum, the silver disk that enclosed the jump tube slid back and filled my little tunnel with light. I was back in the Lifelight pyramid! The table slid out, depositing me back in the jump cubicle off the Alpha Core. My bracelet had worked. I had ended the jump. I looked quickly to my left to see a welcome sight. Loor was sliding out of the other tube, safe.
“Pendragon! What happened?” she asked. “I was shooting the noisemaker at Saint Dane and suddenly the world went black.”
She was breathing hard and her eyes were wild. I can honestly say it was the first time I saw Loor rattled. But who could blame her?
“I ended the jump,” I said. “We’re back. Are you all right?” “I am confused, but not injured,” she answered. “Did you find Zetlin?”
I looked to the tube between us to see it was still closed. Zetlin was still inside.
“No,” I answered. “Something is whacked.” I jumped off the table and ran out of the cubicle. “Aja?” I called. “What went wrong?”
But Aja wasn’t there. Her control chair was empty. The large monitor was still showing images of our jump though. On screen, I saw a horrific sight. It was a view of the collapsing dam. The explosions had weakened the
