The Dust of Kaku: Space Janitor Two by Julia Huni

Author:Julia Huni [Huni, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B07VZTW54T
Goodreads: 47566675
Publisher: IPH Media
Published: 2019-08-07T23:00:00+00:00

Twenty-One

The noise is unbelievable. I clamp my hands over my ears, my eyes wide behind the protective plastek mask. The avalanche of gravel pours down, stray pieces ricocheting off the walls, railing, and floor. One pings into my arm, drawing blood. Thick clouds of dust boil out, rolling across the living room. O’Neill pulls me to him, and I press my face against his shoulder, dust mask and all.

His heartbeat thumps in my ear at a comforting, measured pace. His arms hold me close, warm and strong around me. I relax and snuggle closer, closing my eyes and imagining the noise is ocean waves, or— Who am I kidding? That cacophony is nothing like an ocean.

I pull back a little, looking up at him. He smiles and releases me as the sound diminishes. Darn, that ended way too soon.

When the bathroom door opens, O’Neill is by the kitchen, kicking aside stray rocks, peering up into the dust-filled cavity. I flick the air circulators to maximum power, and they suck the dust out of the air, creating strange smoke-like eddies in the corners. I peer down the stairway. A sea of gravel fills the floor of exercise room, hiding the bottom couple steps. There was a lot more rock than I’d imagined. I climb down a few steps and stare at the huge pile where the entry tunnel used to be. If we can’t get out through that escape hatch, we’re screwed.

“Where’s the ladder?” O’Neill calls.

I step back up into the living room and pull a telescoping ladder from the hidden broom cupboard by the fridge. I flick the activation panel, and it stretches across the space to the wall at the perfect angle. “If they’d put a little more gravel up there,” I say, “we could just climb up the pile.”

“Have you ever tried climbing a gravel pile?” Kara asks. “It’s not that easy. Stuff keeps sliding down.”

I pull off the dust mask and toss it onto the gravel pile. “I guess we should go. They must have heard the noise—they’ll know we’re up to something.”

“You’re right,” says Vanti. “And if they figure out what, they’ll start searching for an outside access point. We could walk right into them.”

“I don’t think we have to worry about that,” I say. “My understanding is the exit point is pretty well hidden.”

Vanti grabs a couple water pacs and stacks them into a backpack she found somewhere. While she ransacks the kitchen for portable snacks, Kara and I change into some warmer clothes that were stored in the bedroom. I grab a jacket for O’Neill and an extra sweatshirt for Lindsay. In a few minutes, we’re ready to go.

“There should be a hatch leading out of this tunnel,” I say, pointing away from the main house. “We don’t want to go all the way up—that just leads to the buried reservoir where the gravel was stored.”

Lindsay pulls something out of a belt pouch and slides it onto her head. A bright beam of light shines out, blinding me when she looks my direction.

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