Chapter 18

Wind whipped around the four friends as the dust storm bore down on them. There was no time to get back to the bus or the rovers. They were stuck out in the open on the mountain.

‘What are we going to do?’ KC asked.

‘We’re going to be buried alive, that’s what!’ Raj said.

Mouth gaping open, Nash shook his head. He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t think. ‘Y-you know Mars better than any of us,’ he told Alex. ‘What should we do?’

Alex thought for a moment. ‘Come with me,’ he said. ‘I know a place where we can take shelter until the storm passes.’

Alex led them down a different track to the one they had come up. This one was steeper, bumpier. Jagged rocks and boulders lined the path.

‘Be careful!’ Nash warned. ‘Don’t catch your space suit on those edges and don’t slip over or you’ll send us all flying.’

Nash’s warning came too late. Raj lost his footing and went down, sliding towards the others feet-first. Like a pile of dominoes, he knocked KC over who knocked Nash over who slid down and knocked Alex over. Nash clutched at the ground to stop himself, but he kept missing. Eventually, Alex, who was at the front, hit a boulder. The others piled up behind him as they stopped in a tangle of arms and legs.

‘Ow!’ Raj groaned. ‘I think I cracked my ribs.’

‘Get off me,’ KC moaned. ‘You’re so heavy.’

‘I’m not on you,’ Nash grumbled.

They untangled themselves and stood up to check their suits and helmets. No one was injured and everyone’s suits seemed undamaged, but the dust cloud still loomed behind them.

‘Come on!’ Alex said. ‘It’s not much further.’

The wind howled around them, threatening to send them flying. Visibility was low, even with their night goggles. They held hands so they wouldn’t get separated. A dark shape loomed over them and Nash felt more than heard the atmosphere change as the wind dropped and the dust cleared.

It soon became apparent they were in some sort of tunnel, the walls of which were curved and bumpy, like ocean waves. It reminded Nash of when he’d visited limestone caves on Earth with his parents when he was little.

‘Where are we?’ Raj asked, gazing at the bumpy cavern roof.

‘We’re in a lava tube,’ Alex said.

‘Does that mean there’s boiling hot lava in here?’ Nash asked.

‘Mars doesn’t have any active volcanoes anymore,’ Raj said. ‘Don’t you listen to anything in history class?’

Nash pulled a face but didn’t say anything.

‘Phew, that’s a relief!’ KC puffed as slumped to the ground. ‘It’s already hot enough in here.’

Nash frowned. It wasn’t hot at all. ‘Are you okay?’ he asked, leaning over KC to check her oxygen supply. He read the dial and saw that it was dropping rapidly.

What’s going on? Nash wondered as he casually checked KC’s suit, not wanting to alarm her so she wouldn’t use even more oxygen. Then he saw it. A tiny tear in KC’s suit near her boot.

‘What’s wrong?’ KC studied her oxygen dial. Her face dropped. ‘I can’t run out of oxygen. I won’t be able to breathe the air, it’s full of carbon dioxide.’

Raj and Alex crowded around KC. ‘Oh, this is bad,’ Raj said. Nash shot him a meaningful look. ‘Well, er, it’s n-not that b-bad,’ Raj stammered. ‘Just don’t take off your helmet. You’ll faint and the water in your lungs will boil.’

‘Thanks, Raj,’ KC said as she rolled her eyes. ‘That’s super helpful.’

‘We have to get back to the bus,’ Alex said.

‘What about the dust storm?’ Raj said. ‘It’s too dangerous.’

‘And it’s too dangerous for KC to stay here much longer,’ Nash said. ‘At least on the bus there are spare oxygen tanks. We can either wait out the storm there or try to drive back to the dome.’

‘That’s if we can find the bus,’ Raj said. ‘It might be buried.’

‘Either way,’ Alex said, ‘it’s KC’s only hope so let’s go.’

The kids raced back through the lava tube, climbing up newly formed sand dunes that had been dumped by the storm and which had almost blocked the tube completely. Nash helped KC the last part of the way as she panted and gasped heavily. Her oxygen was almost depleted, but she soldiered on, trying to stay calm.

Dust swirled around them. The bikes were already buried up to their handlebars. The bus had dust up around its tracks, but Alex assured them that with the heavy duty tracks they would be okay.

He ran onto the bus, the others close behind. Nash slammed the door shut then ran to the oxygen supply box and retrieved a full cylinder. He fitted it with a tube onto a special nozzle on KC’s helmet while Raj retrieved tape from the repair kit to seal her spacesuit.

KC breathed in the fresh, clean oxygen, the relief evident in her face. ‘Ah, that feels good. Thanks, guys.’

Alex turned the key in the bus ignition.

Maxine wouldn’t start.