“It’s a landquake!” shouted Nazaret. “We have to get into the safebox! It’s a landquake.”
“What?” asked Kaleem. What was a safebox? What was a landquake for that matter?
“This way, quick,” called Nazaret. He was passing a laser key over what Kaleem had never even realised was a door.
“It’s not working. Come on, come on!” He kept passing the key over the panel. “We’ve only got a few seconds.”
The whole building shook again.
“Stand in the doorway, at least,” called Nazaret. “Quick. The big one will happen in a minute.”
Kaleem did as he was asked.
Nazaret continued to fiddle with the laser key.
The building carried on shaking and rumbling. Kaleem had heard about earthquakes on Terrestra but although they used to do a lot of damage, they wouldn’t do now because the buildings were made so well. And there had not been one for over a thousand years. Since all of that activity in the early twenty-first century it had been relatively quiet. Even then, though, the quakes had only lasted a few seconds.
“Thank goodness,” called Nazaret as a door sprang open. “Come on. Get in. Quick.”
As soon as they were in the box and Nazaret had sealed the door the shaking and juddering stopped.
“What’s going on?” asked Kaleem.
“It’s a landquake,” said Nazaret. “It hasn’t happened for nearly two thousand years.”
“So, what is a landquake?” asked Kaleem. “Is it like an earthquake on Terrestra?”
“Same effect, different cause,” said Nazaret. “It isn’t something happening underneath the planet’s crust, like on Terrestra. It just happens up on the surface. It’s sort of rippling caused by sudden changes in temperature.”
“What causes that?” asked Kaleem.
“Sun spot activity, massive storms….,” Nazaret went pale. “By Zandra, I hope it’s not all the new plantations that have done it.”
“It wouldn’t be, would it?” said Kaleem.
“Who knows?” said Nazaret with a shrug.
The safebox suddenly started to vibrate.
“What’s happening?” asked Kaleem.
“We’re almost down,” said Nazaret. “The box is preparing to land.”
“How does this work, then?” said Kaleem.
“The box has very strong shields, sensors and stabilisers,” replied Nazaret. “It finds its way through the falling debris and finds a place to land where no building can fall on it.”
“So do all buildings have safe quake boxes?” asked Kaleem.
“Yes, they have to, by law,” said Nazaret.
“Nobody ever told me,” said Kaleem. Huh! Look well if he’d been in the house on his own.
“Well it’s more of a superstition now really,” said Nazaret. “We’d begun to think it was never going to happen again.”
“Box landed,” said an electronic voice. “Doors opening in twenty seconds”
“Oh well, here goes,” said Nazaret. “Let’s hope your mother got out okay.”
Kaleem and Nazaret stepped outside the safebox. Their building looked quite damaged but not destroyed. I suppose they must build everything to resist landquakes, thought Kaleem. There were several other safeboxes on the ground. Already builder droids were clearing the rubble. People were milling around looking dazed but not hurt.
Kaleem suddenly remembered Edmundson’s panic. Had he known about the landquake coming? Was that why he’d told him to get home quickly? What would have happened if it had started on the way home?
Nazaret’s personal communicator buzzed.
“Darling, thank goodness you’re okay,” Kaleem heard Nazaret say. There was a pause while Marijam said something. “Yes, yes, he’s fine. He was in the apartment and came down in the safebox with me.” Another pause. “Yes, yes, you’re right. And I need to find out how the plantations are.” He turned to Kaleem. “Let’s go and find a public dataserve centre.”
They didn’t have to go far. They found a centre with only a small queue. Kaleem held his breath as his father called up the plantation centre.
Nazaret went pale again. “No!” he gasped. He slumped in his comfisessel. His hands were shaking. Kaleem thought he was going to pass out.
Kaleem looked over his father’s shoulder at the screen. Two thirds of the plantations had been destroyed.
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