Zak tasted the air, which was thick with chemicals. After a breath, it made him cough. This was unpleasant. He gasped a few times, but now he couldn’t breathe. He coughed and choked at the same time. He sunk to his knees, and fell forward onto all fours. Now, the cough came from deep within his belly, and he retched. What was this supposed to demonstrate?
His hands clenched, plunging into the red dusty soil. On the ground there was material he hadn’t expected, odd-shaped bits of plastic and metal. A flash of white appeared to his left.
‘Ow!’ he cried, taking a slap to the side of the face, hit by a piece of foam that had blown around.
‘This way,’ said Kort.
Zak lifted his head. Kort stood on the edge of a crest a little higher up. The air was clearer, so he crawled forward hurriedly, getting his breath back.
He struggled on until he reached Kort’s feet, and found a mighty view of a plain bordering the other side of the mountain. In the centre stood a vast industrial complex – countless factories spewing smoke into the air, creating the cloud that was blown in their direction. The side of the mountain had a huge scoop taken out of it. A mining operation was clearly responsible. Like ants, a trail of trucks led from the giant hole to the factories. From there, convoys stretched in three different directions out to the horizon.
‘This is the reality of Mars today,’ said the man. ‘Not your video-postcard images of geodesic domes and kilometre-high towers. Those little centres of civilisation are minute compared to the vast tracts of destruction. The surface of Mars is less compact than that on Earth, and its great features are crumbling under the assault.’
Zak tried to get to his feet. But as he did so, the ground that he stood on collapsed beneath him. As he tried to dart to safety, the whole area began to sink. He was caught in a landslide! It dragged him down the mountain, towards a slow moving river of brown sludge.
As he hit this, he gasped at the heat of it, and was quickly pulled under. Submerged, he couldn’t breathe – his body tightened up as he experienced death.
