The man was big and ugly. He had a broken nose and the cold, cruel eyes of a snake, and he was wearing a strange outfit – a greasy old baseball cap and a long grey coat, his chest criss-crossed with ammunition belts full of cartridges. They were obviously for the rifle he carried slung on its strap over his shoulder.
Luke saw that the man had a couple of mean-looking friends with him – a pair of smaller men, one totally bald, the other’s face covered in a thick black beard. Both were dressed in much the same way as the first man, both carried rifles – and both were scowling. Luke gulped, and took a step backwards.
‘Er… that wasn’t meant for you,’ he said, his voice squeaky. ‘Sorry.’
‘You will be, sonny,’ snarled the man, angrily wiping the snow from his face. But he glanced over at Clarke and seemed to change his mind about whatever he’d been thinking of doing. ‘Come on, lads,’ he muttered. ‘Let’s leave these brats to their stupid games.’
He turned on his heel and headed for a small, tracked vehicle parked nearby. His friends gave Luke one last nasty look, then scurried off as well. The three men climbed into the car and it rumbled away, crushing the snow beneath its tracks, dirty black smoke pouring out of its exhaust.
‘Who the heck was that?’ said Yuri. ‘He was like a bad guy in a movie.’
‘That’s probably what he wants to be,’ snorted Yasmin. ‘His name is Quint. The bald one is called Leon, and the one with the big beard is called Biff.’
‘Oh, so that’s Quint!’ said Luke. ‘I heard my mum talking about him the other day. As far as I can make out, she doesn’t think he’s a very nice person.’
‘You can say that again,’ muttered Yasmin. ‘I’ve heard lots of bad stories about him – he’s a real troublemaker. And where did they get those guns?’
‘They’re hunters,’ said Luke, remembering something he’d heard his mum say. ‘Or at least they’d like to be. They must have brought the guns and that filthy old car from Earth.’
‘Well, I certainly hope they don’t find anything to hunt here,’ said Yasmin. ‘I hate the idea of nasty men like that killing defenceless animals.’
‘Hear hear,’ said Yuri, nodding seriously. ‘I’m with you on that, Yasmin.’
‘Me too,’ said Luke, scooping up some snow. ‘Now, back to having fun.’
‘Er, I don’t think so,’ said Yasmin. ‘Clarke is rounding everyone up.’
Yasmin was right. Clarke had got the rest of the class under control, and soon he was marching them away from the shuttle and towards the purple domes.
Their visit to the research station turned out to be interesting – for Yuri. The science team was in the largest dome and was led by the Buzz Aldrin’s elderly chief engineer, Asimov. He was happy to explain to the children what they were doing, and waved his long, thin arms around as he showed them all the bleeping machines they had set up, his hair even wilder than Clarke’s.
‘So have you found out anything more about those strange readings, Mr Asimov?’ said Yuri. Yasmin nudged Luke and rolled her eyes. Luke smiled.
‘Excellent question, young man,’ said Mr Asimov. ‘We’re pretty sure they’re coming from something organic, but we don’t know exactly what. Now, if you just follow me I’ll show you the fascinating rock samples we’ve collected…’
Asimov headed to the other side of the dome, Clarke and most of the class trailing behind him. Yasmin pulled a face and hung back, and Luke did too. He had seen Chung, Mum’s second-in-command, and wanted to talk to her.
‘Hi, you two!’ she said, smiling at Luke and Yasmin, pushing back her dark hair. In front of her was a screen showing the area behind the dome where the science team’s hover-jeep was parked. ‘Not interested in rock samples?’
Yasmin and Luke laughed, and they talked for a while. Chung told them she had already been skiing, and that the nearest hills were great for snowboarding.
‘Sounds good,’ said Luke. ‘But I hope we don’t bump into Quint and his pals anywhere. I don’t understand why Mum let them come down here at all.’
‘She couldn’t really stop them, Luke,’ said Chung with a shrug. ‘I suppose they’ve got as much right as anyone else on the Buzz to get some fresh air.’
‘They haven’t got the right to go round killing living creatures,’ said Yasmin. ‘Guns are evil, and I don’t think they should have been allowed to bring them.’
‘Don’t worry about it too much, Yasmin,’ said Chung. ‘If you ask me they’re all talk. Besides, we haven’t yet found any living creatures they could shoot.’
Yasmin was about to say something else, but then the metal floor beneath their feet started to shake. Luke and Yasmin looked at each other in alarm.
‘Hey, what’s with the tremors?’ Luke said nervously. ‘Is it an earthquake?’
‘We don’t think so,’ said Chung, frowning. ‘But that’s the third time today.’
Luke felt uneasy. Maybe there was more to this planet than met the eye.