Black Water
| Author | D.J. MacHale |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | |
| Series | The Pendragon Adventure |
Publication date | August 1, 2004 |
| Pages | |
| ISBN | 978-0689869112 Search this book on  . |
Synopsis
Bobby visits the jungle Territory of Eelong, a world populated by the feline humanoid klee, the servile human gar, and many strange, dangerous wild creatures, such as the velociraptor-like tang, and the spider horse zenzen. With the help of resident Travelers Kasha and Seegen, Bobby attempts to save them during their tipping point. While the ruling klee contend with the impending likelihood of famine, the gar, who have been treated as subhuman worker drones, begin to speak of a revolutionary salvation in "Black Water," and plan to overthrow their oppressors.
Plot
Eelong
Upon arriving in Eelong, Bobby is attacked by quigs: here, they are savage humans that remind Bobby of cavemen from Second Earth. He is rescued by a talking jungle cat named Boon. He explains to Pendragon that these cats, called klees, are the dominant, sole intelligent species on Eelong. Here, humans are known as gars, and are considered subservient to klees. The klees used gars for menial labor, high-risk jobs such as foraging and baiting the deadly tang. Some even keep gars as pets. Boon and other klees initially have difficulty treating Pendragon with respect.
As Pendragon and Boon make their way to the city of Leeandra, Pendragon witnesses Kasha, one of the klee foragers, rescue a gar on the jungle floor from a tang. Boon tells Bobby that she was the daughter of Seegen, the traveler from Eelong.
Inside the city of Leeandra, Pendragon overhears a meeting of the governing Circle of Klee, in which the klees discuss their pending food shortage. The Council debates whether to repeal Edict 46, which would legalize the hunting and killing of gars. The viceroy, Ranjin, was against the repeal, while another member, Timber, favors the repeal. Outside the meeting, Saint Dane as Timber gloats to Bobby that he was going to Second Earth and Bobby gives chase to the flume.
Second Earth
At the end of The Reality Bug, Saint Dane gives Bobby's acolytes Mark and Courtney a macabre gift: a roughhewn bag containing the hand of Gunny, his fellow Traveler from First Earth, his Traveler's ring still on his hand. Saint Dane informs the stunned acolytes that with his victory on Veelox, the rules of the Travelers' game have changed, and that they may now use the flumes, despite not being Travelers themselves. He leaves them with the cryptic message, "What once was, is no longer." Mark and Courtney witness Saint Dane's hair erupt in flames; the conflagration leaves burn marks on his pale skull.
Bobby arrives shortly afterwards and receives Saint Dane's disturbing message from his acolytes. Bobby warns them to await his next journal, and to not activate the flumes.
Eelong
Bobby flumes back to Eelong where he is met by Kasha. Kasha was initially very skeptical of her father's quest to protect Halla from Saint Dane, and refuses to help Pendragon. Back in Leeandra, Seegen's acolyte Yorn tells Pendragon that Seegen helped build Leeandra, and Kasha loved him. But once he started talking to her about Travelers and Halla, she thought he had lost his mind, and lost all respect for him.
Pendragon is forced to join the gars on one of Kasha's forages as "tang-bait." He learns that as Leeandra's population of klees and gars grows, they are forced to search for food in increasingly dangerous places. As tang-bait, Pendragon and the gar are forced to pick fruit, and - if need be - distract the tang so that the klees could escape safely. On the forage, the team is ambushed by tangs, and Kasha has to rescue Pendragon; in the ensuing fracas, a klee is killed by one of the tang. As a result, Durgen, Kasha's boss, "confiscates" Pendragon and throws him into a prison to be used by the Handlers.
Second Earth
Mark and Courtney received a message from Yorn, telling them to go to the flume, where they meet Seegen. Seegen reveals that crops in Eelong are being poisoned, and suddenly drops dead in front of Mark and Courtney. Mark realizes that this poison may be the same poison that nearly wiped out all the crops on Cloral, and the pair decide that they must travel to Cloral themselves to investigate. They send Seegen's body back to Eelong, and then flume to Cloral.
Eelong
Pendragon is stuck in his prison for about 1 month, where he and several other gars are starved and exposed to extreme heat and cold. Initially the other gars fear him because he walks with the authority of a klee, but eventually trust him enough to show him a small amber cube they each carry. Pendragon is shocked to realize that the gars are somewhat intelligent despite being treated like animals, and first hears the name Black Water.
Eventually, Pendragon is pulled out of the prison in order to fight another gar to the death for the klees' entertainment. He defeats, but refuses to kill his opponent, causing a fight to break out among the klees. Kasha manages to rescue him and bring him back to her home.
Boon reveals that Seegen has died, and Kasha, Bobby, Yorn, and Boon go to the flume to retrieve the body. Again Bobby tries to convince Kasha she is destined to become the Traveler from Eelong and again she refused to accept it. But she did promise to help Bobby find whoever killed her father.
They all go to Seegen's home and Kasha discovers a letter explaining the role of the Travelers to Kasha, even mentioning that a gar named Pendragon would one day show up when Eelong was in trouble. They also find a map leading to the hidden gar city of Black Water, and reveals that he, along with Gunny, have been to see it. Humbled, Kasha agrees to take Bobby to Black Water.
Cloral
After Mark and Courtney arrive on Cloral, Spader takes them to the feeder ship Grallion. Engineer Ty Manoo confirms their suspicion that the poison on Eelong was indeed the same one from Cloral. After much debate about the dangers of allowing non-travelers to use the flume, Spader decides that the three of them should deliver canisters of antidote to Eelong.
Eelong
Pendragon, Kasha, and Yorn follow Seegen's map to Black Water, and find a village full of intelligent, technologically advanced gars. Gunny has been living there and shares that the gars have developed a substance called virloam, which allows plants to grow using nothing but air. They realize that this invention could save Eelong from famine. Gunny also reveals the master plan to free all of the repressed gars and bring them to Black Water in an event called the Advent. He explains that gars all across Eelong are carrying tiny radio receivers, which will allow Black Water to send radio transmissions, giving them instructions and directions to escape to the hidden city all at once.
Yorn then reveals himself to be Saint Dane in disguise. He transforms into a raven and flies off to give the location of Black Water to the klees.
Eelong
Bobby returned to the flume and found Mark, Courtney, and Spader, who reveal Saint Dane's plot to use the Cloral poison to wipe out Black Water. They decide to split up and send Spader, Mark, and Courtney to Black Water with the antidote, while Pendragon and Kasha would head to Leeandra to convince the Council of Klee to stop their attack. On their way back to the city, Pendragon and Kasha are discovered and arrested by Durgen.
While in prison, Kasha and Bobby witness the Advent. Gars all across the city begin their escape, to make their way to Black Water. Amidst the commotion, the Travelers also manage to escape, and head for the Forager Operation Center. They suspect that the klees will use flying machines (gigs, an Eelong analogue to helicopters) to get to Black Water and dump the poison, so they begin to sabotage the machines. However, before they can finish, they are ambushed by the klees, and one klee pilot manages to take off with the poison. Pendragon and Kasha give chase in another gig. They manage to destroy the gig by flying above it and dumping tools over the rotor. However, they soon realize that the klees have sent 9 additional gigs carrying poison towards Black Water. Kasha and Pendragon turn back towards Black Water to head them off.
Meanwhile, Spader, Mark, Boon, and Courtney were heading to Black Water via zenzen, when they are ambushed by tangs. During the fight, two of the three antidote tanks are destroyed, with Mark carrying the only remaining tank.
The whole gang is reunited in Black Water, and they plan to hook the antidote up to the city's irrigation system to create a mist-barrier from the poison which covers the entire city. They manage to release the antidote just in time to meet the klees flying overhead.
Saint Dane is present to witness the victory for the travelers, but quickly flies off, telling Pendragon that he is going to Zadaa.
In the aftermath of the Advent, Gunny and Aron, leader of Black Water, pay a visit to Leeandra to negotiate a treaty between the two races and an agreement to share the virloam technology. Mark and Courtney attempt to flume back to Second Earth, but when they activate the flume, it causes the tunnel to collapse. The collapsing flume kills Kasha and strands Gunny and Spader on Eelong with no way to escape.
Mark and Courtney manage to make it back to Second Earth, only to realize that while they spent a month on Eelong, mere minutes had passed on Second Earth.
Zadaa
Pendragon, meanwhile, flumes to Zadaa to follow Saint Dane, where he discovers that Xhaxhu's water supply has completely dried up. He and Loor cremate Kasha, and Pendragon promises to return to Eelong to scatter her ashes.
Characters
- Bobby Pendragon: A teenaged boy from Connecticut who has been recruited by his uncle Press Tilton to become the new Traveler for his home world, the Territory of Second Earth. As a Traveler, Bobby has the responsibility to protect Halla - the known universe of sentient life, which is comprised of ten worlds, known as "Territories" spread across time and space.
- Saint Dane: An evil human-like demon who wants to send the Territories of Halla into chaos, which he will then rebuild it in his image. He has superhuman powers including shapeshifting, and his powers appear to have grown since his most recent win, in tipping the Territory of Veelox towards chaos.
- Kasha: The current Traveler for Eelong. As a klee, Kasha resembles a humanoid panther. She lives in the capital city of Leeandra, a city built entirely on platforms in the trees of Eelong. Kasha works as a forager, collecting food for her fellow klee.
- Boon: Kasha's acolyte.
- Seegen: Kasha's father, and the previous Traveler for Eelong.
- Mark Dimond: Bobby's best friend from Second Earth. Mark is physically weak and timid, but Bobby cares for Mark because of his courage and intellect. Bobby has asked Mark to be his first Acolyte - a partner of a Traveler. With the help of Courtney, Mark catalogues Bobby's journals and helps maintain Earth's flumes to the other Territories by monitoring their entrances and providing Territory-specific materials for any newly arriving Travelers.
- Courtney Chetwynde: Bobby's paramour and second Acolyte. As a physically beautiful and popular varsity athlete, Courtney runs in very different social circles to Mark while at school. Courtney and Mark are deeply devoted to Mark and always make time for one another.
References
- ↑ Black Water. 2007-11-27. ISBN 978-1-4169-5779-9. Search this book on
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