"Get out of there!" Andrew cried desperately. "James! Get out of there!"

     "Working on it," James replied. "Come on Val, up you come."

     The sounds of grunting and gasping came over the intercom, along with the squealing of tortured metal as the rover shuddered in the grip of intolerable forces. "Get your leg up," said James, his voice tight and desperate. "We need to get that door closed."

     "I'm trying... There." Andrew heard the sound of the airtight cockpit door slamming closed and breathed a sigh of relief. It was only a matter of time before the cockpit window exploded outwards, but now the rest of the rover would hold its air for a little bit longer. Until the hull ruptured. He's wearing a surface suit, he reminded himself. He can survive in vacuum. All he has to do is climb back up.

     "What are you doing?" asked Valentina.

     "You go first," James replied. "Send the ascender back for me."

     Andrew's heart leapt with fear. If anything happened to Val at the top and she wasn't able to send the ascender back down, James would be trapped at the bottom. He didn't have the upper body strength to climb a rope without it.

     "No," said Valentina, though. "You go first."

     "No, you go first..."

     "You go first!" said Valentina with a voice that brooked no argument. "Send it back down for me when you get to the top."

     James hesitated, and Andrew's heart swelled with pride for his son. My son, he thought. That's my son down there, putting someone else's safety before his own, and he's only fourteen! Climb, son! Listen to Val! You're so brave and selfless, but I need to have you back!

     "Okay," said James, as if he'd heard his father's heartfelt command. "I'll be as fast as I can."

     The voices stopped, to be replaced by the sound of the tether being pulled through the ascender as James worked the two handed, two footed device, sliding one hand grip fifteen centimetres up the rope while he hung from the other, then sliding the second hand grip up to meet the first. Then he moved the foot grips up in the same way. Andrew stared down at the rear of the rover as if the steel had become transparent and he could see his son through it. Beside him, Philip and Joe stared as well, all feeling helpless. There was nothing they could do until James reattached himself to the first tether, the one whose loose end was lying on the hull beside the airlock door. Until then, all they could do was wait.

     "Okay," said James at last. "Here it comes." The ascender made a slithering sound as it slid back down the tether.

     "Got it," said Valentina. "Here I come."

     "Val," said James, his voice suddenly tense and worried. "I need you to close your eyes."

     "Li?" said Val. The tone of her voice as she uttered that one simple syllable was heartbreaking.

     "You don't need to see," said James. "I know how much you loved him..."

     "What happened to him? Maybe he's still alive..."

     "He's not. I'm sorry, Val, but he's not, but we need to get out of here. I don't know how much time we've got..."

     As if to emphasise his words the crevasse chose that moment to narrow again causing the rover to emit another scream of agony as metal tore and crumpled. Andrew stared frantically as he watched it folding up, the once flat surfaces of gleaming steel turned into elaborate pieces of abstract art.

     "There's a crack in the hull!" cried Joe.

     "It's double hulled," Philip reminded him. "The inner hull's thicker. She's got time yet."

     She's got time, thought Andrew furiously. My son's in there too! He calmed himself, though. He knew what the other man meant. James was wearing a surface suit. Valentina wasn't. If the rover sprung a leak, she would be dead within moments but James would still be fine. Physically at least.

     "Almost there," said James. "I got you." There came a grunt which Andrew imagined was his son grabbing the woman by the arm and pulling her through the door into the outfitting room. "Quick, get undressed and suited up."

     "Take your time," said Philip. "Don't rush it."

     Andrew wanted them to rush, but he knew what the other man meant. On the one hand the rover could begin leaking air at any moment, but on the other a mistake made while putting on a surface suit could be fatal. An extra moment spent double checking every seal and connection could save the woman's life. It was hard to be calm and rational, though, when the vehicle was collapsing around them, the walls pressing inwards like something from an old horror movie.

     "I saw him," sobbed Val. "I had to look."

     "I'm sorry," James replied. Andrew could sense him wanting to say more, to offer some words of comfort, but not knowing what to say. A problem that much older people also suffered from. Andrew's heart went out to him.

     "He..." Val added. "He looked... It looked as if it was quick."

     "Don't stop," James urged her. "Please, we have to hurry. Here, let me help..."

     The various parts of a surface suit made distinctive sounds as they were pulled on and Andrew was able to follow the woman's progress. That was the sound of her zipping up the front, that was the sound of the air hose being disconnected from the wall connector. Finally came the sound of the helmet being fitted and locked into place. When Val spoke again, the sound of her voice was clearer as it came from her own intercom rather than from James's by way of the air between them. "That's it. Ready."

     "Then let's go." Andrew heard the sound of James closing his faceplate again.

     "The door won't close," said Val anxiously. "The jamb's warped."

     "Doesn't matter," James replied.

     "The outer door won't open while..."

     "We'll blow it. Where're the explosives?"

     There was some shuffling and the sound of boxes being moved around as Val searched the equipment storeroom. While she was doing this the crushing of the rover continued, the vehicle juddering in the grip of the ice as if it were a living creature in pain. Was the atomic generator being damaged? Andrew wondered. Was his son even now being dosed with radiation?

     The cracks in the outer hull widened and deepened, and a jet of vapour began to spurt from one of them. The rover's atmosphere was escaping. Val had gotten her suit on just in time. The outer airlock door popped open, flying upwards into a vertical position before falling most of the way back down again. The warped shape of the door frame kept it from closing completely.

     "Get behind the door," said Val. There was a pause. "Ready?" she asked.

     "Ready," James replied.

     "Three, two, one..." Some shards of debris shot out through the almost closed outer door as the explosives detonated. "You okay?" asked Val.

     "Fine. Go. Get out."

     "You first."

     James muttered something, and then Andrew's heart lifted with joy and relief to see his son's hand trying to push the outer door open. "It won't open all the way," he said.

     "Can you squeeze through?" asked Val.

     "I don't think so. We'll have to use more explosives."

     "Okay. Come back down and shelter again."

     A few moments later there was another explosion and the outer door was blown clean out to fly half way up to where Andrew and the others were waiting. Andrew briefly saw Val dropping back down to the inner door. "It's open. Go! Go now!"

     James returned to the door and slipped through it to stand on the upward facing rear end of the rover. Where it had been flat before, though, it was now a wrinkled mess of twisted metal from which jets of atmosphere were still escaping. The tether he'd climbed down on had long since slipped out of reach, but Andrew had gathered it up and dropped it back down to him. James grabbed it and Andrew mentally begged him to clip it back onto his belt, but he didn't. Instead, he attached it to the rover's towing point and then attached the ascender to it.

     Val followed James out of the rover. "Don't want for me," she yelled at James. "Climb!" James nodded and began to slide his way up the rope.

      Val had taken another ascender from the storeroom and attached it to the tether as soon as James's boots were high enough above her head. She detached the end of the tether from the rover, then began to follow James up, the two of them swaying from side to side and bumping their shoulders on the ice. Philip and Joe helped their ascent by pulling the rope up, helped one handed by Andrew.

     The ice shuddered again under their feet and cracks appeared as the ground began to break up. Tiny fragments of ice began to rain down on the two climbers and James had to let go of his ascender with one hand to brush it off his shoulders before it gave him frostbite. Andrew pulled harder on the tether, desperate to get his son up to safety, but then the ground began to shift under his feet as a massive fragment prepared to break away. "Pull!' he almost screamed at Philip and Joe. "Pull them up!"

     James used the ascender with a desperate haste. Over the intercom Adrew heard him gasping for breath. Philip gathered his strength and strode backwards, the tether wrapped around his thick, padded gauntlets. Joe and Andrew added their own strength to the effort and James was pulled upwards, his head rising above ground level. Andrew let go of the tether and ran forward to pull him up, but the edge of the crevasse was breaking away properly now and Andrew was forced to jump back before he went down with it.

     Along a thirty metres stretch of the crevasse, a fifty centimetre thick layer of ice slipped and fell away, hitting the wrecked rover and shattering into a million glittering shards before disappearing into the darkness. James and Val cried out as the tether, momentarily slack, dropped them nearly a meter before going taut again with a jerk that nearly threw them off. James lost his grip with one hand, which flailed around as the tether spun like a spinning top. Andrew, going back to the edge and staring down, saw his fingers loosening on the ascender's other hand grip...

     But then Val was under him, putting her head between his legs and pushing up with her shoulders. "I got you," she said, panting with effort. "I got you, kid."

     Supported from below, James was able to get his free hand back to the ascender and get a grip again, and then Philip gave a mighty heave that brought the boy's head back level with the surface. Andrew reached a hand down to help him up, over the edge, and then back to his feet. Then he hugged him tightly. "Thank God!" he cried. "Thank God! Thank God you're safe!" He almost sobbed with joy. "My son! I am so proud of you!"

     "No worries," James replied, but Andrew could feel the boy trembling. He'd probably gotten frostbitten shoulders, and the sight of Li's dead body was very likely still fresh in his eyes. Andrew hoped he'd want to talk about what he'd seen. If not to him, then maybe to Susan or Jasmine. It didn't matter who so long as he talked to someone.

     Philip and Joe were helping Val out of the crevasse, and then they all stood at the edge to watch the final end of the rover. The narrowing crevasse crushed it thinner and thinner while shards of ice rained down to land on its crumpled surface, hiding it from view. There was a final gush of escaping atmosphere, like the final breath of a dying beast, and then the rover's lights went out all at once as some vital piece of circuitry was destroyed, plunging the depths into darkness.

     "Are you okay?" Philip asked Valentina.

     "He's dead," she replied, sounding numb with shock. "Li's dead."

     "I'm sorry," Philip replied. "Come on, let's get back inside."

     The others nodded, and they all turned to head back to the remaining rovers.