The Destructives Read Online Free PDF

Panic over the comms. Scree shaking loose. Stephen called for silence so that he could think. On Earth, a quake like this would pass. The seismic energy would be absorbed by compressible rock. But the moon was dry. The moon was rigid. No atmosphere, no soul. When struck, it vibrated like a tuning fork. Vibrated and would not stop vibrating.
    The vibrations made it hard to think.
    A pebble drifted steadily toward his visor. He swatted it aside.
    The scree shifted. The moon was shaking him awake. Shaking him out of moon dreams. He saw the rockslide before the others did. Boulders the size of footballs, boulders the size of beachballs, boulders the size of cars splashing languidly into the scree and then bouncing with ponderous intent downhill. Falling bodies fall at the same speed regardless of mass. Stephen shouting over the comms. Slowly, the climbers turned in the scree. Slowly they began to flee. In their panic, the climbers ran high and strong, only to land on shifting ground. He watched them wobble and stumble. He watched them sprawl in the scree. He watched them roll and turn downhill, trying to right themselves even as the moon tried to shake them off. Kicking up scree that flew alongside them. And boulders the size of footballs, boulders the size of beachballs, boulders the size of cars rolled implacably onward.
    The vibrations made it hard to think. He could not act on instinct because his instincts had adapted to Earth conditions, Earth survival. Ida leapt upward and she seemed to have a cloak made of scree, and then something hit her square in the back, carrying her forward for metres of screaming pain, and then the scree folded over her, and he couldn’t see her any more. Stephen turned back, leaping across the line of bounding rocks toward where Ida had fallen. Skidding, almost falling, then finding her, lifting her up.
    The approaching rockfall kicked up a cloud of pebbles. Theodore swatted them away but one cracked against his visor, a sudden and palpable crack. The mountain fell slowly toward him, carrying the students with it, their life signs jagged, pulsing and scarlet. Suddenly there was no time. No time to run. He felt another violent uncertainty, from within and without, and then his head was full of space.
----
    “You are alive,” said Dr Easy. “But you are in danger.”
    Theodore roused himself. He was hot and the air he was breathing was hot. His suit was scorched from prolonged contact with the lunar surface. With a sense of dread, he checked it for rips and tears. None. Of course. If his suit had been damaged, he would already be dead.
    “Danger?” he asked.
    “Your air supply is low.”
    The robot glanced back over the scree field, toward the cliff edge.
    “The racks are buried under the rockfall,” said Dr Easy. “Their integrity has likely been breached. You’ve been unconscious for twenty-two minutes. You have fifteen minutes of oxygen remaining.”
    Over the comms, he heard the other students, some searching, some pleading to be found.
    “One serious injury. Ida,” said Dr Easy.
    Theodore got unsteadily to his feet. Stephen was still carrying the limp body of the injured Ida.
    “I can’t treat her injuries while she is wearing her suit,” said Stephen.
    Theodore turned to Dr Easy.
    “How long until help arrives?”
    The robot was implacable.
    “The antenna was destroyed in the rockslide. Our comms do not have the range.”
    “You’re in contact with the University of the Sun. Use them to relay a message.”
    The robot walked a few paces to the cliff edge, then peered down at the gathered rubble.
    “The solar academics are aware of what has transpired.”
    “And?”
    Stephen strode over, took the robot by the arm and pulled it toward him.
    “Call for help now!”
    “The terms of the Cantor Accord are clear. The University of the Sun is not to interfere in human affairs. There are millions of humans suffering right now, here and on the Earth. Non-intervention is at the core