Gateways 3 (TNG) by Robert Greenberger

Author:Robert Greenberger [Greenberger, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Fiction, Science Fiction, Space Opera, Adventure, High Tech
ISBN: 9780743418560
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2001-08-27T23:00:00+00:00

"Hold tight, Jenny!"

The class teacher, Chuma Chukwu, tried to keep his group clustered together. There were ten of them, but it was hard to see them all. Sure, there had been sandstorms on Mars, but usually seen from a distance, through a wall of transparent aluminum. Never had the teacher or the students been caught in one.

"What happened, Mr. Chukwu?"

"That, Marisa, is a very good question," he shouted over the wind to be heard. All Chukwu knew was that during a break from their field trip to the first Martian park a ball had rolled away from the group. Three of the students chased it and called the others. Before the teacher knew it, all ten of his charges had gone through the thick, leafy bushes to see the discovery. After a few more minutes, he decided to corral them and continue their prescribed path.

As he pushed the branches aside, Chukwu was greeted with the sight of a gateway, its archway bright and inviting. The students were in a semicircle looking at it and trying to identify the changing scenes.

"It's Paris!"

"That's Tellar no Vulcan!"

"And that's us! How?"

"How indeed," Chukwu repeated. He stepped closer, fascinated. "Darleen, that is neither Tellar or Vulcan but I believe Beta Proxima. See the cloud formations? Too fast for you?"

Thinking back, he wasn't sure who darted through first, Bruce or Darleen, but once one went in, the others followed with glee and curiosity. With no choice, Chukwu went through, feeling neither glee or curiosity. It was fear and trepidation, lightened only a little when he realized all ten had wound up in the same place.

He scolded them for taking the risk but that quickly gave way to figuring out where they were. It was sandy, like portions of Earth and Mars. The sky was blue and the temperature was hot, perhaps hotter than they were used to. There was no sign of a city or structure in any direction and the sun's position meant it was late afternoon, not early morning. Chukwu reached into his shoulder bag and withdrew the padd he used for lesson plans. He had hoped to find some distinguishing feature but saw little out of the ordinary.

"Mr. Chukwu, do you see that?"

He looked up from the padd, turning his head to follow Angela's voice, and saw the dark forms on the horizon. They were moving closer and growing bigger at the same time, darkening the horizon, and it became apparent to him that it was a sandstorm.

"We have nowhere to go, children. We must huddle together and hope it passes quickly. Hold on to your partner, link arms. We'll form a ball too big to be moved." As the children did as instructed, he hoped his words were prophetic. He heard a few whimpers and one, Bruce maybe, call them crybabies. What did Bruce expect from his fellow seven-year-olds? Chukwu wondered.

As the storm approached, Chukwu avoided joining the human ball, but punched in the planet's characteristics to see if he could narrow things down.

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