Double Cross Read Online Free Page B

could go back down and get ready …,” he said.
    â€œUm, sure,” I said.
    Rawling saluted me and spun around, leaving me and Ashley alone again.
    â€œYou were saying?” I said to her.
    â€œNothing,” she said. “Where are you going?”
    â€œOn a field trip.”
    â€œAt night? Nobody’s gone out in the field since I got here, and nobody’s left the dome at night. What’s so important?”
    â€œIt’s just a field trip.”
    I could see in her eyes that she was hurt I wouldn’t tell her. But I couldn’t. Worse, I couldn’t even tell her why I couldn’t tell her.
    â€œWill you be gone long?” Ashley asked.
    â€œI don’t know,” I said.
    â€œOh.” She seemed to grow small and quiet. After a few seconds, she reached up and took off one of her silver cross earrings. She handed it to me. “Keep this,” she said.
    My face must have looked blank.
    â€œYou’re my only friend under the dome, except for the koalas, and they can’t talk. Maybe the cross will also remind you to e-mail me once in a while. I mean, you will have some computers on board, right?”
    I smiled again. “Right. But there’s nothing to worry about.” I paused, thinking about our upcoming search. “Really. Nothing.”
    Almost as if I were trying to convince myself instead of Ashley.

CHAPTER 8
    An hour later, we were ready.
    Rawling and Dad had loaded all the supplies into a platform buggy, a clear minidome perched on a deck that rode on huge rubber tires. Storage compartments and the motor were underneath. The motor didn’t burn gasoline because Mars has no oxygen in the atmosphere to allow any fuel to burn. Instead, it ran on electricity made from solar panels that hung off the rear of the platform. The minidome looked much like the igloos I’ve seen in Earth photos. A small tunnel stuck out from the minidome onto an open portion of the deck. Then a ladder descended to the ground from there.
    From my wheelchair on the ground I had to lean way back to see the platform. Rawling stayed up there as Dad climbed down. Mom was beside me, her hand on my shoulder, as we waited for Dad to get to us.
    He kissed Mom’s forehead. “I’ll miss you. I’m glad I’m leaving for only a few days, not …”
    He didn’t finish his sentence. In a few more weeks, when the planetary orbits were lined up so the journey from Mars to Earth would be at its shortest, Dad would be on a spaceship again, beginning another three-year journey.
    â€œI’ll miss you too.” She hugged him. “I’ll be praying for you guys.”
    They kissed again. I coughed and looked the other way.
    Mom hugged me and whispered good-bye when they were finished. “Take care of your dad,” she said, speaking more loudly for his benefit.
    â€œSure,” I said. But if I had known what was ahead over the next few days, I might not have sounded so cheerful.
    The dome was the quietest it had been all day. Dad and Rawling helped me up the ladder onto the platform deck. Rawling went down again and hauled my wheelchair into the buggy. Bruce, the robot body, was already packed underneath.
    This late at night, most of the scientists and techies were relaxing in their own minidomes. Because of the quiet, the grinding of the motors that controlled the dome exit seemed louder than usual. The techie who was letting us out waved up to us where we sat high above the ground.
    â€œReady, gentlemen?” Rawling asked as he waved back at the techie.
    â€œReady,” I said.
    Dad’s answer was to move levers, rolling the platform buggy into the main dome’s igloo tunnel. We left the dome through the inner door and stopped in the short tunnel, which was about twice the length of a platform buggy. Ahead of us, the outer door was still sealed.
    The techie closed the inner door behind us, sealing the dome completely. Only then