Beneath the Red Sand

20 || Chapter Twenty

The following morning, I wake with swirling sands of excitement in my gut. Today we get to go outside. I will see the sun again. If I am lucky, I might find treasure. I cannot wait to trail my gloved fingers through actual Martian soil. I cannot wait to have my boots crunch against dirt and my skin caressed by sunlight, to gaze up at the red sky. Or maybe today it will be the color of butterscotch candy like it was the day we crash-landed — until the dust storm hit and turned the butterscotch sky to red.

"You are a firecracker waiting to explode, aren't you?" Noah laughs as he takes in my jumping bean antics. I'm shifting from foot to foot, unable to sit still from the second we step into our usual gathering room.

"You know it. Aren't you?" I ask. "Even if you look calm as ever."

Noah pantomimes putting on sunglasses then strikes a pose with his hands behind his head. "That's me. Mr. Cool."

"Well, then," Mr. Gryffin says. "We're all here, so let's go out and do some excavation work."

We step outside into a glorious sunrise. Though the sun is noticeably smaller in the Martian sky than on Earth, its rays give a soft, golden glow to the world around me. Glints of gold shimmer on the red soil beneath my feet. I make a slow turn, smiling wide as I take in the rust-colored mountains in the distance. This is it. For one second, I'm transported back home, inhaling fresh air by the ocean. It's not the same, but these are breaths I'm taking outside. I'm seeing landscape again, not spartan metal walls.

Mr. Griffin leads us to the dig site, which has already been set up about two meters away from the habitat. The hoppers have arrived already, but the site isn't marked off yet. Guess we'll be putting that into practice. I stifle a groan because my hands are already itching to work. I want to grab a scanner and find out what's hidden beneath the soil.

Still, despite my impatience, I force myself to make slow, careful measurements as Noah and I mark off our section. Finally, when all the teams have done this, I turn to Noah. "Can I go get the scanner now? I've been waiting all day for this part!"

Okay, okay, I know I'm acting like a little kid, but I can't help it.

"Be my guest," Noah laughs.

I try walking, but my attempt turns into a stumbling mess. I'm not used to the lesser gravity out here yet. But when I try jumping, I go two feet off the ground at each hop. After that, it doesn't take me long to hop over to the scanner cart. I grab one and meet Noah over in our section.

I run the scanner over our entire section and gasp when I find a piece of what looks like to be pottery two feet below the soil.

"Oh my gosh, Noah," I exclaim. "There's something here."

"What is it?" Noah asks, peering over my shoulder at the display.

"Pottery." I frown, staring harder at the display. "And there's something else here, too."

"Keep scanning," Noah says. "See if you can figure out what it is."

"Looks like it's buried deep," I say. "Maybe about five feet down."

Noah grabs the scanner from me and waves it across the area, calibrating the display to show enhanced detail. "And it's huge," he says. "It looks like it covers the whole area."

As he walks the outline of our section, I follow and see that he's right. It does cover our whole section, which spans about the length and width of my old school's gym, and beyond.

"What is that?" I stare at the display screen. It reads that the massive structure is there, but for some reason, the display offers no information about its composition. It can't determine whether it's made of metal, or glass, or granite.