Detonation Event by John Andrew Karr

Author:John Andrew Karr
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2018-11-12T21:32:17+00:00

Chapter 10

T2 had gone from darkened abyss to livid volcano. From eons of planetary silence to the roar of outrage at resurrection. Massive bursts of lava shot up and outward, mile after mile, illuminating the Martian night before finally raining down on the surface. Untold tons of ash and noxious gases mushroomed miles high in the thin atmosphere. Rivers of molten rock gushed from the volcano mouth and spread outward over a surface laid barren for billions of years. The edges cooled higher and higher in layers, forming massive channels to speed velocity and outward expansion.

From one horizon to the next, the stars vanished, snuffed out by ash and dust.

Yet Ry Devans had seen light.

The others turned to see bright lights plummeting through the darkness, a glittering diamond dropped from the heavens.

“Shuttle! Holy crap, we got PS!” Trent Wagner said now, his voice tight.

“Damn right!” Hamilton said.

“Oh god, thank you!” Burroughs said, raising her arms and crossing them back and forth.

“Laser signal from the suits, people! Send ’em out!” Hamilton said.

The rocky ground, ash-swirling air, and even the lava pools and streams were hit by pulses of lasers from the space suits.

Hamilton spun and knelt beside Devans, her gloved hand on the shoulder of his suit. “You nailed it, Cap! Surprised, with that eye almost swollen shut. What’s your status?”

Devans watched the spotlights and blinkers of the descending spacecraft while sucking in air so plentiful in the spare suit.

Air!

Air denied him by Mars.

He had air again! The tunnel vision that had set in expanded, though not so much for his right eye. His head cleared. It hurt like hell, but thinking came more easily now. That his teeth chattered didn’t make the swollen right side of his head feel any better, but you can’t have everything.

“Cap, can you talk?” Hamilton said.

The others turned.

“Come on, CapD!” Wagner said. “You’re on the mend, right?’

“Ry Devans, don’t you black out on us!” Burroughs added.

He fought against the Martian surface, gritted his teeth and gained a seated position, leaning heavily on his arms. “Chilly, but got air, th-thanks to you guys. What temp is displayed on the panel? Face shield says seventy-five.”

She raised her forearm computer and hit a few keys. “Same. Not sure going hot all at once is a great idea. Let’s try incrementally?”

The descending spacecraft was encased in a bubble of light that grew ever larger. Dust and ash glittered around and flowed past it, like a rock parting the current of a stream. It raced downward, then the thruster reversed, spewing propellant onto the surface, scorching and setting rocks aglow. It circled the onlookers once, flickered its floodlights several times, then settled just inches above the trembling flats a hundred and fifty yards away from the lava floes.

The bold inscription on the side: SCONA PS-30.

After sucking in more huge breaths of air, Ry Devans gained a knee with his arms out and gloves pressed to the ground. Ground tremors vibrated all the way up his arms and legs; the shudders of a zombie planet rising from eons of stillness.

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