On the Edge of the Storm

At ten o'clock in the morning, maintenance hour began. All the engineers went to the power room, as they did every day. Commander Hala was in the communications room, trying for the hundredth time to reach Earth through the crackling signals.

Nobody noticed three small shapes hurrying along the north corridor.

Reem put on her patched orange suit and checked her helmet twice and her oxygen tank three times. Jad put on his grey suit, with his green hat under his helmet as always. In the bag he packed the spare batteries, small bottles of water, ropes, torches and a packet of biscuits.

"Explorers need biscuits," he said, when he saw Reem looking at them. "It's a scientific rule."

Before she left, Reem typed a short message on the screen in her room and set it to appear to her mother in one hour:

Mum, I'm sorry. We've gone to the cave on the map. Saif is with us, we've got oxygen for ten hours and a radio. We'll be back before the storm. I promise. I love you. Reem.