Moonfin (29 page)

Jeff felt like a tiny ant along its massive shore.

“Wow,” he marveled, “I thought it was a small pond, not a huge sea like this. Where are we?”

“Not sure. It's empty on this side of the sea, so this old elevator must be far away from the Brane port entrance that Krell and the techs use,” said Lizzy, soaking it all in. “I see light flooding in from those openings—the ocean must be on the other side of that wall.”

She walked over to the still edge and knelt down to wash seawater over Iddo. He had grown stronger on their trek down in Lizzy's arms, the Glimmruyn in her doing its magic.

Iddo wiggled and gyrated—
Brruuuuhhhh
!—he shook, sorting himself out in the life-giving water.

“Be careful and stay away from Moonfin, my friend,” Lizzy warned him. “We'll give you a head start before we let her out.”

“And I will let Xili and the others know you are on your way, if you succeed here,” he said, shining eyes bobbing above the water's edge.

She released him into the water.

“Lizzy, wait,” he latched fervently onto her forearm with a tentacle, surprising her, “there are some things you should know before we part ways. First, the chain that holds Moonfin isn't from here. Dr. Krell forged the chain somewhere else—he knew it was the only metal that could hold her …” He filled her mind with images of rock ores from faraway places.

“Okay, then we can find the key or remotely unlock—”

“But if you cannot, there is the most common substance on earth that can dissolve the chain!”

Lizzy waited as he searched confusedly for the words to explain.

“Well, what is it? We're in a bit of a time crunch here.”

“I'm thinking of it—give me a minute. It's a chemical substance from the
chicle
tree grown in different parts of your world … or, like it—yes, um…. Oh, I am so unfamiliar with these human terms you use!”

“Yes, you are! And where am I going to find a chicle tree down here? We'll have to look for another way, don't worry.” She smiled at his befuddled words, happy he was regaining his silly-self back.

“Secondly, the code to the gate is a mirror. I mean a puzzle … a puzzle mirror. Arrggh, I can't get anything right!”

Iddo swiftly wrapped a second prickly tentacle around her head, pulling her close.

“I fear a test is in front of you. Your human side will battle your Glimmruyn,” he said in a low and dramatic tone. A wild eye popped out of his head and floated only inches from her face.

Her brows shot up like two horseshoes. “Uhhh—I don't understand what you mean.”

“Don't forget
who you are
.”

“Relax, Iddo, I'll be fine—and you have to stop doing that popping-eye thing,
please
. It's creepy.”

His bubble-eye turned hastily downward, and slipping under the water, he disappeared out of sight.

They watched as his swaggering wake moved across the glassy surface.

“How's he doing?” Kai asked Lizzy.

“I think he'll make it. I sensed something changing in him, though—I'll have to leave that up to Xili and the others right now.”

They checked out their surroundings and found metal boxes, diving equipment, and medical supply stations bolted along the rock wall.

“Typical stuff found in a doctor's office but with a twist,” said Kai, pulling a gigantic harpoon from its brackets. “This looks like the world's biggest needle.”

“Brutal,” said Jeff, comparing his arm to the metal shaft. “I wouldn't want to get shot with that six-foot barb.”

Lizzy scanned the quiet sea. “It's awfully calm. Moonfin could be sleeping.”

“Then let's not wake her. I'm not going anywhere near that edge. A big slimy antenna could whip out at any moment and wrap around my leg and drag me to the bottom and….” Jeff's voice trailed off as he trudged up the sand to look at some gargantuan metal harnesses (he'll keep his feet on solid ground, thank you very much).

Kai and Lizzy branched off in the opposite direction and found what they were looking for within minutes: the control console near the water. It was old and rusty like the elevator, abandoned technology not used for eons. They were lucky to have found it. Now if only they could get it to work …

Lizzy stepped up onto the platform.

“An old Nexys design!” She placed trembling fingers to the rolling ball imbedded in the metal panel, and the screen flickered on. It didn't take long to find the gate icon—it was one of only a few programs left in the system. But when she pressed on it, instead of a standard code encryption, a picture immediately popped up.

She gasped.

“What?” said Kai.

“It's … it's not the usual log-in. I think this system is so outdated, that instead of tearing it down, Krell must've created a puzzle all the techs could easily do, but anyone from the outside couldn't break into.”

Jeff pulled up behind Kai.

“Well, what is it?” he asked pointedly.

She glanced nervously back at him. “It's a mirror puzzle, like Iddo was trying to tell me. He said it's a backdoor code—like the Tower of Hanoi, I think.”

“The tower of
what
?” Jeff pushed through. “The Hanoi! I know what this is! Step aside and let the master do his thing.”

And they did.

Kai looked hopeful.

“Do you need a book, or some special way to solve it?”

“No, I have my brain.”

Jeff cracked his knuckles and set his mind to conquer-mode, touching the screen. A virtual board with a three-headed snake materialized before them.

“Ugh, snakes—that's not helpful,” said Kai, squirming.

He studied the picture for several minutes. The snakes were green and slimy, and each had a single-jeweled eye: ruby, topaz, and pearl. Four colored disks banded the snake's head on the far left.

“Iddo said that we can't make a mistake, or the whole system will shut down,” said Lizzy.

“That's okay, because I don't make mistakes in games of strategy,” said Jeff evenly.

“Now, there are three snakes' heads and four colored disks, and I can move only one disk at a time,” he related to them deftly. “It must be done in the least amount of moves—in this case fifteen. An image shone above the console:

Kai looked from him to the virtual screen, deeply impressed.

“We did this in Mr. Foote's math class—but not an ugly snake,” she said. “You have to move the disks in the right order, so they end up the same exact color sequence as they started, but on the snake's head to the far right, correct? Like a mirror image.”

“Yes, only you can't put a larger disk on top of the smaller ones, that's against the rules. And something else—I've' never done this in fifteen moves before.”

“Oh no! What do you mean—the system will crash if it's more?”

“Yeppers. Or explode or something. Here goes nothing.”

Jeff started with the small blue disk and moved it to head #2, and then moved the second yellow disk to head #3. After that, he moved the blue disk on top of the yellow disk, and the third red disk to head #2. He realized the small blue disk would have to be moved back to the larger green disk and so on and so forth (it may seem like a simple thing, but it's much harder than it looks).

He shuffled and brooded, continuing with the puzzle for quite some time, while Kai and Lizzy stood behind him sweating bullets. It didn't help that the three-headed snake hissed and wriggled and snapped at Jeff's hand, making it difficult to concentrate. A few caught his hand, stinging him badly with what felt like an electric shock.

He took a step back to look over the puzzle and ran a hand over the waxy wave of sandy-blond spikes on top of his head for luck. It was the last three moves and he didn't want to blow it. He smiled at something his grandfather had taught him once.

“You know, there's a legend about monks living inside a hidden cave somewhere, moving sixty-four golden disks just like these continuously. According to the story, when the puzzle is complete, the world will end.”

“It
will
end if you don't figure
this
puzzle out,” said Kai.

“Yeah, and faster too. In the smallest amount of moves, it would take the monks 585 billion years to finish.”

“Stop yapping and finish up, will you?”

But Jeff was already one move away—

“Fifteen!” shouted Lizzy, jumping up and down. “You did it!”

Jeff grinned broadly. There wasn't a game in existence he couldn't beat.

All four disks were stacked on the snake's head to the far right in the exact order as they started. Then the three snakes merged into one complete snake, the panel went dark, and a grinding sound started up somewhere along the sea wall. And something else—

WIIIP WIIIP WIIIP
—sirens went off around the compound.

In a horrific panic, Lizzy searched the motherboard to shut them off. Jeff and Kai dove for side panels and began ripping out wires. Thankfully, after only a few seconds, the alarm stopped. There was a moment of relieved silence, and then a very soft noise …

It sounded like raindrops at first.

Little pitter-patters within the walls.

… two … three … ten …

Soon to be thousands of them crawling, hopping, and swarming into the cavern, jumping off ledges and landing at their feet.

RIBBIT-RIBBIT-CROAK
! soon filled the air.

“I think I know why they call this Frog Mountain!” cried Kai.

Fleshy bellies bounded off rocks and slammed into their heads, backs, and legs. Little round toes skittered up pant legs. They were pouring out of the crevices like water from a pitcher, their croaks filling the cavern to deafening proportions.

“The alarm must've called them up from below!” yelled Lizzy, dancing around furiously to avoid their clammy touch.

Jeff was more concerned about something else at the moment. “What about the chain?” he shouted over the din, much closer to the water's edge than he wanted to be, backed into it by the swarm of frogs. “Didn't you say that had a separate puzzle code!”

“We can't unlock that electronically now—the wires are gutted—let's hope the gate opened enough before we cut the connection!” Lizzy yelled back. “Iddo said there are keys to do it manually—let's fan out and search!”

They bolted toward the metal hanging boxes, pulling open doors in search of anything that looked like a key to unlock an enormous bolt, excruciatingly aware that the whole compound had been alerted to their presence. It wouldn't be long now before security started flooding the cavern behind the toads, and being discovered by Dr. Krell struck a unique terror in their hearts, so they worked extra fast.

“I'll disable the elevator!” shouted Jeff, kicking a slew of little buggers into the air.

Sploot! Woops—got a couple.

“I found something!” yelped Kai, holding up a ring with a large glistening key on it.

Lizzy grabbed it from her hand, turned, and froze in her tracks.

What is that?

She dropped the key and walked slowly up the shore as if suddenly hypnotized. “Stay here,” she said softly in a zombie-like monotone, then, tearing off up the beach, left Jeff and Kai gaping in her wake.

“Oh, no,” whispered Kai, when she saw where Lizzy was headed.

For on the hull of a boat, stuck in the sand, near the edge of the sea, was written this one word: Sundancer
.

Chapter 19
A LONELY DRAGON

L
izzy burned a white-hot trail through a sea of green croakers by the time Jeff and Kai realized where she was going, and it was too late to stop her. She skidded to a halt below the starboard bow and gazed in disbelief: The hull of the Sundancer sat moored on the sand in flawless condition. And other than a few missing beams and bolts, it looked to have just glided onto the sand without a fight.

She pressed her hand against the aged wood and took a deep breath. It was real. She wasn't imagining it. “So you weren't lost out at sea after all,” she whispered as if speaking to a long lost friend.