“Get some rest, Martian Girl. We have a long day ahead of us.”
◆ ◆ ◆
In the underground tunnels, Morg was still on the go. He would rest when the job was completed. Unlike the Martian surface, the tunnels were warm, receiving heat from the planet’s hot inner core.
The commander had agreed with him; the tunnels must be flooded. He knew exactly where to detonate the explosives to release the underground river. “I am going to miss these tunnels,” he said aloud as he thought about how he had used them frequently while others traveled on the harsh surface.
“Tough, Red Cloud,” he said referring to Celine’s father. “You should have never found these tunnels. If you’re still alive, you won’t be for long. Once the flood comes, only the glowworms will know the secrets of the caves, and they’re not talking.”
CHAPTER 8
Smoky
◆ ◆ ◆
The next morning, Celine and Alex awoke to find their tent glistening and completely covered in frost. Celine panicked. It appeared they were losing body heat through the tent. Smoky gas from the frozen carbon dioxide rose from the tent’s cover like smoke from a campfire.
“Don’t touch it!” she said when she saw Alex putting a finger on the icy tent cover.
Alex held his finger in midair. The blue aura around him became dull.
“Your fingers might stick to it. Put on your gloves.”
Alex shoved his hands into his gloves in silence. Celine noticed his aura becoming red.
“Anything else you need to tell me before we get out of here?” Alex said.
Celine was enthralled with the color change of Alex’s aura; she paid little attention to the change in his voice.
Alex moved from his reclining position to sit up and began massaging his temple. “My head is pounding.” He coughed to clear his throat. “Hey, what’s going on with my voice?” The words spewed from his lips an octave higher; though it did not sound quite like a Helium voice, it was obviously not as low as usual.
“Yes, your voice will change,” Celine said with a smirk, her voice at a higher pitch as well. “I was wondering when that would happen,” she chuckled as she noticed herself surrounded by the usual orange aura. She wished she could tell Alex about the colors that surrounded them.
“What do you mean?” Alex asked. His voice continued to crack.
“Well, when you’ve been on the surface for a few hours, you get a Martian voice. Didn’t you know that?”
Alex shook his head. “This is not funny!”
“Don’t worry, Water Boy; you’ll get your voice back.” Celine paused for dramatic effect. “When we return to the Compound.” Celine could hardly contain her laughter.
“Seriously, it’s not that funny!” Alex squawked. That made her laugh even harder.
“And that awful headache, it’ll go away in a few hours…Hopefully,” she teased.
“Welcome to the Martian experience, Water Boy.”
“I’ve changed my mind. I’m going back to the Compound.”
Celine stopped laughing. “Alex, you wouldn’t.”
“Got you.” Alex teased. Celine joined him in laughter.
“ All jokes aside. Is there anything else I should know about Mars?”
Celine paused. Should I tell him about me?
“No. No more secrets, Alex…” She could not look at him.
“What’s causing this headache?”
“Have you ever been on the O2 for more than twenty-four hours?” Celine noticed his confusion. “On Mars?” she added.
“Ah, well, no.” Alex stifled a laugh. This voice…Wonder how Dad would sound.
“Well, headaches are usually the side effects.”
“So does that mean I’ll have to use an oxygen canister? I only have one.”
“No. The headache will probably go away.” Celine noticed the smoked had stopped. “We can take down the tent now.” She slid her foot into one of her boots.
“You’ll be fine,” she continued. “I remember when I was ten; the Carbon Dioxide Extractor needed repairs, so we had to take O2 pills for a week. Practically everyone complained of headaches the first day.”
Alex looked at her with his head cocked to one side.
“I thought I would be leading this expedition,” he said. “You might come in handy after all.”
“Oh? The Water Boy leads the Martian Girl on Mars? Interesting notion.”
“You’re just so naive.” Alex put on his boots and then his gloves.
Celine ignored his rude comment and slipped a hand into one of her gloves. She looked back into the distance where she had last seen the search party. “Wait, where are they?”
Alex whipped his head in the same direction.
“Who? Or should I say what?”
“The search party. They’re gone.” Celine squinted as she search the perimeters.
“Why would they leave so quickly?”
“I never saw them.”
Celine picked up her helmet. “Something’s not right.” Celine noticed a large ball of light forming in the sky.
Alex quickly fastened on his helmet and pushed the voice amplifier button. “What’s happening?”
“We need to find shelter. I think a storm is coming.”
Alex looked up at the sky and saw large balls of flashing light. Then he heard what sounded like a giant hand scratching a huge balloon.
“Over there,” Celine called as she pointed toward a group of boulders. “We can wait it out over there.”
They moved as quickly as they could toward the boulders. The scratching sounds were getting louder. All of a sudden, one of the large balls of light headed down toward the planet’s surface. Celine could see it smash into the ground, burning a round hole about the size of her helmet into it.
“Under here,” she cried. She heard Alex mumble, but there was no time for questions.
“Wait up, Martian Girl,” he called, but Celine didn’t stop until she had slid down a slope and was huddled beneath one of the boulders.
Seconds later, Alex slid down the slope to join her.
They both listened in silence as the storm moved further away.
“I think it’s safe to get out now,” Celine said. She noticed Alex’s wide eyes had gone dark.
“Sure,” he said as if had just awakened from a trace. He took his binoculars from his backpack and looked in the direction of the storm. “The crazy weather here hadn’t even crossed my mind.”
“Mine neither.” Celine brushed red dust from her uniform.
Suddenly the Navi began to beep.
Alex stared at the Navi screen. “Look, we’re getting another signature.”
Celine looked at the new beeping red dot on the Navi. “What does that mean?”
“It might be your dad moving around.”
“You told me my dad was in the Red Hills. Right?”
“Yes, and I have his coordinates. But I haven’t seen his signal since we left the Compound.”
“So, technically, you don’t know where he is?” Celine stacked her arms in front of her chest.
“Not exactly. But if he’s alive, he might be moving about. Right? This is a good sign.”
Celine threw up her hands. “Oh, great, now the truth comes out: after we’ve been caught in a storm and nearly frozen, you don’t actually know where my dad is. Well, since we’re being truthful here: I failed to tell you that Dad’s dead assistant was found with parts of his body gnawed away!”
“Is that supposed to scare me? Only scavengers eat dead things, and last time I checked, I looked pretty alive.”
“That’s not funny, Alex.” Celine pouted.
“Wasn’t supposed to be.”
“Well, suppose the signature you’re getting is actually inside the belly of the thing that chewed on Mr. Taiki.”
“Look, the signal is only a few meters out of the way. If it’s nothing, we won’t lose much time. If you are afraid, you can wait here. I’m going.”
>
Celine shook her head. “I don’t think we should separate. That animal—whatever it was—was watching us last night. You heard it.”
“Sure.” Alex unzipped his backpack and removed his ray gun. He attached it to a fastener on his radiation suit. His body was tensed. Celine heard him mumble something that sounded like “It better get out of my way.” He looked back over his shoulder. “Follow me,” he said, and Celine obeyed. After walking several meters through the red dust, Celine spotted something shiny in the distance. It appeared to be one of the capsules she had seen in a spacecraft graveyard in the Gold Plains. Silvery and covered in red dust, the pod was large enough to hold a big animal.
“I see something out there,” Celine said.
“Where?” Alex cupped his gloved hand against his helmet to block the sun’s glare.
“It’s shiny. Do you see it?”
“I’m not sure. Could be a glare.” Alex took out his binoculars and looked in the direction where Celine had pointed. He squinted. “Are you wearing binocular contacts? That thing has to be at least a kilometer away.”
Celine dodged his question. “You see it? It’s an old space capsule.”
“I know what it is. Some governments sent dozens of them here.”
“Well, yes, but I didn’t know there was space junk on this side of the planet.”
“I’ve got to get a closer look at it.”
“I don’t think we should get too close. Sometimes wild animals have been seen lurking around those things.”
“You think you know everything,” Alex said as he continued walking toward the capsule.
“Wait up.” Celine skipped to catch up. She looked for signs of heat or auras coming from the capsule but saw none. Her eyes scanned the surface around the pod for signs of life. Nothing.
As they got closer, Alex stopped and moved the setting on his ray gun to high. He slowed his pace, and Celine caught up. Together they approached the capsule.
The capsule’s exterior was scorched. Its blackened sides peeked through layers of red dust. It was windowless but well lit by the sunlight that shone through its small opened door. The simplistic control panel contained two push buttons. Simple enough for a dog or monkey to operate.
“The signal’s coming from inside,” Alex said.
“I’m not going in there.”
Alex stopped in the doorway. Two small seats were attached to a corroded floor.
“I don’t see anything in there. The chip must be behind one of the seats.” Alex crawled in.
Suddenly a furry mole-like critter dashed for the door. It had long teeth hanging in front of what appeared to be its mouth, and there was no visible sign of eyes. It almost glided across the floor right into Celine. They both screamed.
“What was that?” Alex yelled.
“I don’t know.” Celine responded, still shaken up. “I think it’s a Martian rat.”
The animal burrowed into the ground, and dirt fell into the hole behind it, leaving no trace.
“How have I never heard of them? This should have been the news story of the century! Life found on Mars! In the form of a fat rat.” Alex snickered. “Ah, disgusting. Here’s what it’s been gnawing on.” Alex pointed to Mr. Takei’s severed arm. Celine cringed.
“Listen. Do you hear that? Sounds like something moving underground.” Alex ran past Celine. As she stepped backward, her foot slipped into a rusted hole in the capsule, and she fell on one knee.
“Ow! Watch it!” she cried. Carefully she twisted her foot loose and examined her pants leg for any damage. “I’m OK,” she sighed. She then turned toward the cooing sound and faced hundreds of the mole-like critters crawling toward her.
Alex saw them too and pointed his ray gun at them.
“No! Don’t!” Celine said. She could see a yellow hue around each of the critters’ bodies. “They’re friendly. They wont hurt me.”
The sea of reddish-brown fur stopped a few meters away from Alex and Celine. The creatures appeared to be studying them, although they had no visible eyes.
Alex kept his ray gun pointed in their direction as he beckoned Celine from the capsule.
The teens backed away from the animals, keeping their eyes on them. The critters moved forward each time Alex and Celine took a step back. Then Celine noticed a muddy red hue around one of the larger animals in the middle of the group. Slowly the red hue spread from one animal to the next. As it did, the animals began to chatter and squeal. Suddenly all of the animals were engulfed by red hues, and they seemed extremely agitated. “This is not good…”
Celine could hardly speak the words before the red hue spread around Alex as well, and he shot into the crowd, striking several of the animals at once. The animals began hissing and spitting; their saliva seemed to burn right into the surface of the planet.
“Did you see that?” Celine asked.
Alex didn’t answer, but she could tell by the fear in his eyes that he had. He began shooting wildly at the critters that were closest to them, but they continued to advance as they slithered over their stunned comrades.
Celine closed her eyes and began to pray and meditate. As she did, her orange aura became yellow, then white; then it expanded into the animal’s auras. The creatures began to slow. Celine opened her eyes. Her aura was glowing white and spreading from one animal to the next, changing their auras to a light pink. They cooed as their auras changed. Then they burrowed their way into the ground, pulling their stunned comrades with them and leaving without a trace.
Did I do that? Celine thought.
“Let’s get out of here,” Alex said.
“I couldn’t agree more.” Celine looked up at sky. The sun seemed to shine brighter.
◆ ◆ ◆
Kilometers away, underground in the Chaos Region, Morg was heading deeper into the warm tunnels. He noticed the glowworms on the ceiling were dimming their bioelectric lights, making it more difficult to tell where he was going. What’s happening? They’ve never done this before. He remembered the first time he encountered them. In a sense, they reminded him of small electric eels, but their power never gave out. They always provided bright light throughout the tunnels. Today, however, they were behaving differently. They were leaning in toward him as he walked past but then recoiling as if he smelled funny. Maybe they can sense their days are numbered. Just as the thought crossed his mind, the glowworms stopped glowing, leaving him in total darkness. He turned on his flashlight, but the light was swallowed up by the darkness. He didn’t feel sure-footed anymore. Should have brought a miner’s light. He fumbled around in the darkness until he could see light that led toward a tunnel exit, not exactly where he wanted to go, but he was relieved to head out of the darkness. He had never paid much attention to the low-life glowworms. They had always provided constant light. The idea that they could sense him (and his intentions) had never occurred to him.
He took out his Com to call his crew and find out their progress in regard to locating the children.
“Do you have the kids?” Morg asked Theodore.
“We’ve seen evidence of their campsite, but they appear to be heading away from the Red Hills, eastward now. We lost some time heading southward. We were chased by a pack of those wild wolflike creatures. You know, the descendants of those dogs that were sent here during the first missions…”
“Yah, yah.” Morg felt impatient with his second-in-command, who always answered a question with more rhetoric than needed.
“Stay on their trail. We need to get those kids back to the Compound safely.
Keep me informed of your progress. Call me if they head westward again. I don’t want them anywhere near the Chaos Region. Plus, the longer they’re on the surface, the greater the chance of something bad happening to them. I don’t won’t them getting lost like Celine’s father. Abbie would be devastated.”
“Understood, sir,” Theodore replied.
The call ended. And Morg didn’t hear his second-in-command complain.
◆ ◆ ◆
Morg called the Compound to let Mr. Rittenhouse and Abbie know that the children had survived the night and were heading eastward, to an area that was less dangerous than the Chaos Region.
Then he made the dreaded call to his commander.
“I haven’t flooded the tunnels. The glowworms put me in total darkness. It was eerie. I had to get out of there,” he told his commander. “I don’t think the children are going to the Chaos Region. Perhaps we won’t need to destroy the tunnels after all.”
Ignoring Morg’s recommendations, the commander responded, “I’ll send back up. Lay low. Don’t leave the site until the mission is completed. Understood?”
“Understood,” Morg said. He flopped down near the entrance.
“Yes, I understand. I’ve got to go back into that creepy tunnel. Who knows what those creatures might do.” The thought of those glowworms was so eerie, it made his skin crawl.
CHAPTER 9
Scorched
◆ ◆ ◆
Celine said a prayer for the stunned critters. Poor things. They didn’t know what hit them. Then she rushed to catch up with Alex as they headed westward.
“Thanks, Alex. You saved my life.”
Alex bit his lip. “Yep, I did. So why did you pray for those critters? They could have made a meal of us.”
“It’s what my father would have done.”
“My dad would have scorched the entire colony.” Alex lifted his chest in pride.
Celine walked silently beside him. She was beginning to understand why Alex’s aura shifted from red and blue.
“We need to hurry and find my dad so we can get back to the Compound.”
“Agreed. This venture is too real.”
“Did you get any information from the chip? Did it tell you where Mr. Taiki had traveled?”
“I didn’t have time to collect any data, and I have no plans of going back there. At least not with you.”
“Oh, Alex,” Celine moaned. She walked ahead of him.
Lost in the Red Hills of Mars Page 10
