CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
A Struggle Against Time
“A Martian city!” Ted echoed. “Wouldn’t Dad like to be in on this!”
“I don’t care about an old city!” Jill complained. “I just want to get out of here!”
“Maybe we can find a way to the top from in there,” Ted proposed. “There’s no other place we can go.”
The three walked up to the towering gates and began tugging on them. At first the gates would not budge, but after much struggling, the children got one open wide enough on its creaking hinges so that they could squeeze through. Once inside, they began walking along a rocky avenue lined with small buildings and statues. The high dome of the city gleamed with a light of its own, illuminating the entire grand underground area like brilliant moonlight.
“The glow has probably been burning for thousands of years,” Randy remarked, “ever since the first Martians built the city.”
“It’ll probably be thousands of years more before it’ll go out,” Ted added. “It seems to have the natural light that Mr. Garland said some of the Martian caves have.”
They paused before a statue, and all three of them felt chills race up their backs as they realized they were the first Earth humans ever to gaze on the true likeness of a Martian. The man was not very different from Earthmen. He had the usual number of arms and legs, but he was short and spindly and his head was bald. If the color of the statue was correct, the extinct Martians had light-green skins.
“Dad and the other scientists will sure have the time of their lives with this place!” Ted said. “It may even hold the answer to the biggest riddle about what caused the Martians to disappear.”