"It was an experiment," he started. "The population of Cloral is growing. The demand for food is always getting greater."

Na.s.si didn't want to be left out and added, "We calculated that at the present rate, there was a good possibility the day would come when the demand for food would be greater than the supply. So we set out to perform an important service."

"We started looking for ways to increase plant growth," Manoo continued. "We figured if we could get crops to grow bigger and faster, we'd never have to worry about having enough food. We experimented with fertilizers and crossbreeding and found ways to change the very cell structure of plants. But it was wrong!"

"It wasn't wrong!" countered Na.s.si. "It's a work in progress!"

"But we were changing nature!" cried Manoo. "I tried to tell them we were headed for disaster, but no one listened."

"That's because we were successful!" Na.s.si argued.

"Successful?" shouted Manoo. "We changed nature! We created plants that grew faster but turned poisonous!"

Manoo was a mess. He wiped his sweaty forehead with his sleeve and continued.

"It was the fertilizer," he said. "We created a fertilizer that affected the normal growth cycle of plants and changed their genetic structure. It was incredible. Plants grew seven times faster and yielded twice as much fruit. We were all so excited that we wanted to share the discovery with everyone. But we moved too fast. We didn't test the results."

"It was only recently that we discovered an unfortunatea side effect," Na.s.si said, trying to sound casual, as if it were no big deal. "Some of the mutated crops became poisonous. We never actually used the fertilizer on Grallion's crops. We're safe here."

"But, we had already sent a sample of the fertilizer to the Agronomy Society. We only wanted them to study it, but they were so impressed they immediately began manufacturing it and sending it all over Cloral!" shouted Manoo.

Yenza jumped to her feet. "You're telling me that a fertilizer is being used all over Cloral that turns crops deadly?" she screamed, trying to control her horror.

"Yes!" shouted Manoo. "What happened on Magorran is just the beginning!"

This put a whole new spin on things. Could it be that Saint Dane wasn't responsible for the poison crops after all? Was he simply taking advantage of the situation? The creation of this killer fertilizer seemed to be the turning point on this territory, but it looked to be the people of Cloral who brought it on themselves.

"The Agronomy Society is on Panger City," Spader said. "We've got to get there and stop them from sending out more fertilizer."

"That's.e.xactlywhat we have to do!" squealed Manoo.

"Give us a speeder craft," added Spader. "We can be in Panger City before nightfall." Spader was being very clever. Stopping the fertilizer was critical, but the main reason he wanted to get to Panger City was to protect his mum. There was a whole "two birds with one stone" thing happening.

"I'm going too!" added Manoo. He then turned to Na.s.si, stuck a finger in her face and spit out, "You are too. I'm not going to take full blame for this."

Na.s.si shrugged and said, "Fine, whatever you want. I don't mind taking the credit. Once we perfect the process, we'll be heroes."

"But right now, we're killers," Manoo said angrily.

This got a reaction from Na.s.si. Up until then she was only looking at the problem as a science experiment. Being called a killer was a whole *nother ballgame. She actually looked shaken.

"I'll go," she said, cowed.

Yenza came around from behind her desk heading for the door.

"Meet me at the stern dock in two pecks," she ordered. "I'll prepare a speeder. We'reallgoing to Panger City." Then just before she left the office she turned back and lifted a finger.

"Do not mention this to anyone," she commanded sternly. "Any of you. If Grallion is safe, there's no need to cause panic."

She then left. Na.s.si and Manoo followed after her, leaving us alone with Spader.

"Is it possible?" he asked. "Could Saint Dane have nothing to do with this?"

"It's possible, but it doesn't matter," answered Uncle Press. "He may not have started it, but he'll take advantage of it."

"And there's still the stuff about Faar," I added. "How does that fit in?"

"Hopefully we'll find out on Panger City," answered Uncle Press.

Forty minutes later, or two pecks, depending on where you come from, the six of us were at the dock, ready to leave for Panger City. I stood with Uncle Press, Spader, and the two agronomers, Na.s.si and Manoo. The speeder we were going to take was a coolio-looking powerboat that looked about forty feet long. It was painted the same sea-green color as the raiders' battle cruiser. It had a cabin up front that was big enough to hold a galley and some bunks. The wheelhouse was on top of the cabin. Wu Yenza was already there, powering up. The deck was large, with seats along the rails. It kind of reminded me of the dive boats Uncle Press used to take me on. But unlike dive boats, this baby looked like it could do some serious haul a.s.s.

We all boarded and Spader cast off the lines. Yenza powered up the engines, which as usual weren't all that loud. These water-powered engines were great! Yenza then expertly guided the boat away from the docks of Grallion and out into open water. Moments later, once we had pa.s.sed the marker buoy, Yenza hit the throttle and this boat showed us why it was called a speeder. I was nearly thrown over by the sudden surge of power, in seconds we were flying over the water like a seagoing jet.

Like the skimmers, the ride was smooth and pretty quiet. The only way I could tell we were moving so fast was from the wind whipping at my face. When I stood up I had to lean forward or it would have knocked me back down.

The two agronomers kept to themselves during most of the trip. They stayed in the cabin up front and argued. What else was new? They had pads of paper where they scribbled out equations and formulas. I a.s.sumed they were trying to figure out how to undo the harm done by their mutant fertilizer.

Yenza stayed at the controls. Spader acted as navigator. He had charts and plotted a course to Panger City. Uncle Press and I had nothing to do except worry. Would it be too late to recall all the fertilizer? How far had it spread? Had it already started a chain reaction that would infect all the crops of Cloral? Stranger still was the mystery of Faar. What was so important about this mythical city that the dying wish of Spader's father was to tell his son about it? How did this all tie in with Saint Dane? Hopefully, all of these questions would be answered on Panger City.

"This makes perfect sense," said Uncle Press softly. He was looking out onto the water, thinking.

"What does?" I asked. I wasn't used to hearing that things were making sense.

"The agronomers went too far," he said thoughtfully. "Their intentions may have been n.o.ble, but they created a monster. It's just the kind of thing that Saint Dane would take advantage of. He'll do everything in his power to keep the poison spreading and turn Cloral upside down. This is the turning point. This is why we're here."

"Then what about this lost city of Faar?" I asked.

"I don't know where it fits into this puzzle, but if Spader's father was concerned, then I'm concerned too."

I looked up to the wheelhouse and saw that Spader was staring at the horizon. I wanted to know what was going through his mind. He was a great guy. A friend. But I was afraid his anger over the death of his father was going to get him into some serious trouble and make things worse for all of us. Hopefully his mother was safe. But then Spader would have the tough job of telling her that his father was dead. But as rough as this would be, what I really feared was that something might have already happened to his mother, like it happened to my family. If Spader lost his mother, then I was sure he'd go off the deep end.

The trip took most of the day. I tried to get some sleep but my mind was racing with worry. I watched the sun as it traveled across the sky on its way to the ocean. Then, just as I was finally nodding off - "There!" shouted Yenza.

I quickly climbed the ladder to the wheelhouse and looked forward to where she was pointing. I didn't see it at first because it was only a gray speck on the horizon. But as we drew closer and the speck grew bigger, I saw it for what it was.

Panger City.

Even though we were flying over the water at an incredible speed, it must have taken us another two hours to get there. That's how big this city habitat was. The closer we got, the larger the buildings grew. It soon became clear to me that this habitat was every bit as big as Grallion, but unlike Grallion, it was covered with buildings. It really was a city! I was staring at skysc.r.a.pers! Some of them must have been over forty stories high. This looked every bit like a big city from home, but cities at home weren't floating on the ocean. It was incredible!

As we got closer I saw more detail in the buildings. Like I told you before, there was no steel on Cloral. Everything was made from some kind of hard plastic compound. Rather than familiar building colors of gray concrete and silver steel, these buildings were white and light blue or green. But other than that they looked very much like office buildings at home.

When we got inside the safety buoy and slowed down, I had to strain my neck back to look up at the huge buildings that towered over me. Only one thought came to mind: How can this thing possibly stay afloat?

Yenza carefully drove our speeder into the dock area, which was very much like Grallion's. Two aquaneers to guide us in and tie us up. They immediately stood at attention and saluted Yenza as she jumped off the boat.

"We may be leaving at any time," she said with authority.

"Yes, sir!" responded both aquaneers professionally.

Yenza then turned back to us and barked to Manoo and Na.s.si, "Where is the Agronomy Society?"

Manoo scrambled over the rail of the boat, nearly fell in the water, but caught himself and stood up straight as if nothing were wrong. Na.s.si rolled her eyes and gracefully got off the boat.

"We'll take you there," he said sharply.

The little man waddled past Yenza and headed up the stairs toward the surface. The rest of us got off the boat and followed. I walked with Spader and asked, "When was the last time you were home?"

He didn't answer. He kept looking ahead and picked up the pace to get away from me. So much for small talk. Spader's mind was somewhere else.

When we arrived on the surface, we stepped out of a building and onto a scene that looked pretty much like any busy city street. The sidewalks were full of people hurrying to wherever they were hurrying; small vehicles traveled on the streets; and vendors sold food from wheeled carts. It was like being back in New York City, except everything looked more colorful, andwaycleaner.

There was one other detail that made it very different from home. There were water ca.n.a.ls that ran parallel to every street. They were around twenty feet across, which was about the same width as the streets, but that was plenty big enough for the many small water-powered boats that traveled quickly along, speeding people on their way. I'd never been to Venice, Italy, but from the pictures and movies I'd seen, this was kindof like that. One quick look around showed me that these ca.n.a.ls crisscrossed the entire city habitat. Every so often there were footbridges that stood like half circles over the waterways so that boats could glide under them. At each bridge was a beautiful fountain that sent up sprays of water in various patterns. The fountains had no function except to look good.

I have to say, Panger City was a beautiful place.

But I didn't have much time to hang out and appreciate it. When we all regrouped on the street, Spader didn't stop. Without a word of explanation he kept walking toward one of the ca.n.a.ls.

"Spader!" called Yenza. "Spader, get back here. That is an order."

Spader wasn't listening. I knew where he was going and n.o.body was going to stop him.

Yenza was about to run after him, but Uncle Press stepped in front of her saying, "He's going to see his mother."

This made Yenza soften for a moment, but just as quickly her hard look returned.

"I understand, but that's not why we're here," she said angrily. "He knows that."

"He does," said Uncle Press calmly. "We'll stay with him. It's more important that you get to the Agronomy Society."

Yenza looked at Na.s.si and Manoo. Na.s.si was getting impatient. Manoo just looked like he wanted to pee.

"We can't waste any more time!" Manoo squealed.

Yenza looked back to Uncle Press and said, "Let him talk to his mother, then bring him back to the speeder."

"Understood," replied Uncle Press.

Yenza definitely had a soft spot for Spader. I think he got away with a lot of things Yenza would never allow from her other aquaneers. On top of that, Spader had saved Grallion, with our help of course. So I guess he deserved a little slack.

I saw that Spader had already jumped onto a skimmer and was powering it up.

"Uhhh, Uncle Press," I said. "We're going to lose him."

"Go!" shouted Yenza.

Uncle Press and I took off on a run toward the ca.n.a.l. It seemed as if all the skimmers were community property because people were getting on and off randomly and just leaving them, kind of like bicycles in China.

Spader kicked his skimmer into gear and sped off. We were losing him.

"Uncle Press!"

"There! Got one," he announced, pointing. He saw an empty skimmer and we both jumped on. Uncle Press quickly powered up, hit the throttle, and we were off.

Luckily there was a speed limit on the ca.n.a.ls. It was pretty crowded and to go too fast meant a guaranteed accident. Spader was already far ahead of us, but I could tell he was having trouble going as fast as he wanted to because it looked like rush hour had hit Panger City. Uncle Press maneuvered our skimmer around the slower traffic and only managed to tick off a few people by cutting them off.

We traveled quite a ways through the canyons of towering buildings. We couldn't stop to appreciate the tour though; we had to keep up with Spader. Spader knew exactly where he was going and made several turns down different ca.n.a.ls. I kept watching him and directed Uncle Press who was busy avoiding other skimmers.

Finally Spader turned off into a narrow ca.n.a.l that ran between two smaller buildings. I saw where he dumped the skimmer and kept watching to see which building he was going toward. I had a strange sense of deja vu. This is exactly what happened when we followed Spader to his father's apartment on Magorran. I could only hope that we wouldn't find the same kind of horror here on Panger City.

We landed our skimmer and quickly jumped off. When we ran up onto the street, Spader was standing there, waiting for us.

"I just saw you," he said, sounding a little embarra.s.sed. "I didn't know you were following me."

"Yeah, well, we're sort of in this together whether you like it or not," I said.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm glad you're here. I'm a littlea"

He didn't finish his sentence. I could tell he was afraid of what he might find.

"It's okay, Spader. We're with you," said Uncle Press.

Spader nodded, then turned and led us into the apartment building where his mother lived. This place looked like any apartment building at home, except for the fact it was light yellow. It was five stories high with around ten apartments to a floor. Spader knew exactly where he was going. We climbed the stairs to the top floor and walked to the door on the far end of the corridor. That's where Spader stopped, caught in the moment. Soon he would find what he came for, and I could tell that as much as he wanted to go inside, he was afraid to. He looked up to us. Uncle Press gave him an encouraging nod.

Spader knocked on thedoor. "Hobey-ho!" he called happily.

There was no answer. He knocked again.

"Mum?"

There was no sound of footsteps coming to the door. No one called from inside to ask who it was. I hoped that his mother was out shopping or taking a nap or visiting friends.

Spader glanced at us again and tried the doork.n.o.b. It was open. His heart must have been racing because mine sure was. He then took a deep breath and stepped inside. Uncle Press and I followed him, stepping into his mother's home.

I have to tell you guys, I never thought I'd have this feeling evenoncein my life, but to go through it twice was, well, it wasn't fair.

The apartment was totally empty. Not a piece of furniture or picture or any other sign that anyone had ever lived there. It was just like the feeling I had when we all went back to 2 Linden Place in Stony Brook and I saw that my house was gone. Well, it wasn't exactly as bad as that because what I saw back on Second Earth with you was that my own family had disappeared. I knew exactly what Spader was going through.

He stood near the door, staring at the empty home, unbelieving. Uncle Press walked up to him, put a hand on his shoulder and softly said the magic words, "Try not to be sad. This is the way it was supposed to be."

Spader pulled away from him angrily.

"How can that be?" he shouted. "Where is she?"

"She's not dead, Spader," said Uncle Press. "You're a Traveler now. That meant it was time for her to move on too."

Spader shot a look of total confusion to Uncle Press. I have to admit, I was still confused about this whole family-disappearance part of being a Traveler myself.

"So then where is she?" I asked. "And while we're at it, where'smyfamily?"