Chapter 01: Exit, Pursued By A Bee - Page 7

“Kallandra. Good God, woman, come back down before you turn into a firework.”

“I will. Just let me get this spade.”

Although the shaking ground made upward travel more like a fairground ride, Derek managed to reach her. “Bugger the spade. You should’ve seen yourself.”

“I nearly did. What did you see?”

“Your hair stood up like a luminous porcupine.”

“That’ll be my blue highlights. I knew they’d set off my brown hair.”

“How can you be so calm? We’re in the middle of Armageddon.”

“That’s why I’m a pilot and you’re an engineer.”

“And spaceship designer. Your life support system would soon fizzle out—”

“Without your cunning design. I don’t underrate your genius, Derek, but you do panic unnecessarily. Now can you reach the spade handle? It’s slipped further down.”

“Leave it. I’ll buy you a dozen.”

“I want that one. Something’s happened to it. There, you have it.”

They both stared at the shiny business end. At least two inches was missing as if it had been dipped into the sun.

“That’s it,” Derek said, his voice trembling with fear in addition to the physical quivering. “It must be a volcano and we’re on top of it!”

“It can’t be. Feel the cut end, it’s cool.”

“For Heaven’s sake, Kal, you could’ve burnt yourself.”

“Life is one big chance event, Derek. Anyway, you win. Let’s go before these clouds of gnats suddenly remember we’re food.”

Aided by increasing ground tremors they scramble-slithered to the Volvo estate car waiting in the car park. She gasped not only at the exhilaration but also at the sight at the base of the hill. Luckily, Derek had parked at the far end, near the gate. The rest of the tarmac was buried under detritus. Rocks and turf hid the wheels nearest the hill. Realising they’d be fortunate to move the car, they opened the door furthest from the landslide and at his insistence, Derek took the wheel. With impressive control he didn’t rev the three-litre-engine but nudged it in four-wheel-drive until out of the gate. The lane too sported a mass of fissures and debris but the sturdy vehicle successfully saw them to the main road, where they surprised a policeman erecting a barrier.