There was "grounded," and then there was "grounded on Mars."

  It had been a while since his parents had any justifiable reason to come down on him. Or at least since they'd been around long enough to bother. It felt like they had been storing up their wrath, and this was their chance to let it all out in a torrent.

  When the shouting had stopped, Zed found himself more or less under house arrest for the remainder of the month. Thankfully, he was pretty sure his mother had at least partly lost track of exactly what day it was when she handed down that verdict because there was only a week and a half of the month left and, more importantly, Earth Rise Day did not fall into that window.

  Still, it wasn’t exactly fun staring at the walls of his closet-sized bedroom. Zed could have easily remedied the view if not for the cruelest blow of all. His CIG had been confiscated for the duration.

  Oh, he could still do his homework, but only on the comparatively archaic tablet that he had been rationed.

  Zed stared at the thin metal rectangle in his hands and let his chin fall to his chest.

  How had he ever gotten by with such a tiny window to the world, he wondered. He’d only been using the CIG for a matter of months, but he realized now that he had already started to take its wonders for granted.

  Zed folded the tablet into thirds and tossed it on the bed. He’d get to his homework in a bit. For the moment, he just wanted to sulk and enjoy a lonely pity party. He looked away from the tablet only to have a cheery chime turn him back.

  He picked up the tablet and flipped it open. There was a message from Miranda. Apparently, his mother hadn’t restricted texting. That was something, at least.

  Zed! Where in the world are you? It’s happening! Dad and his group headed to the crater this morning. They’re making the descent now! So excited, but seriously, where are you?!?!

  Zed’s heart soared and then, just as quickly, sank as he read the message. Of all the lousy luck. Why now? All that waiting, and here he was cut off from the rest of the world.

  Not entirely cut off, though. He sat on the bed and folded the tablet to a ninety-degree angle so he could type a reply.

  Soooo, funny story. I’m grounded. Of all the luck, huh? For once, my folks were home on time, and I lost track of it messing with one of those games Alina had us checking out. Short story short, I’m stuck in my room till the end of the month, but worse than that, no CIG. Can you please keep me up to date on what’s happening? I’ll lose my fragging mind if they find something and I’m stuck in the dark.

  The reply came quickly.

  Oh no! No worries. I’ll keep you up to the minute. Up to the second even. Want us to sneak anything to you?

  You’re a lifesaver. No to the smuggling. I don’t want to risk having the grounding extended with Earth Rise Day so close, but thanks.

  They chatted for a while. Zed filled her in on what he’d found in Bubble in Time, and she gave him a rundown of Abe Orbit. Neither had found anything that seemed suspicious; just that the apps were incredibly immersive and impressive. Eventually, the messages slowed to a trickle as they waited for any real news from the crater cave.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  With no chance of a signal reaching into the cavern, Zed figured it would be half a day till they heard anything if the spelunkers took their time, which was why he was surprised when Miranda told him that she could see on the crater video feed that at least some of the exploration team had emerged.

  “They must have made great time, or maybe hit something they couldn’t get through. That would suck after all this prep Dad has been doing.”

  Then there was silence. Zed sent a few more texts, but there was no reply, and he could see that Miranda hadn’t even read them.

  Well, that’s crappy, he thought. Leaving me hanging like that.

  Eventually, Zed gave up waiting and got back to his homework out of sheer boredom. It wasn’t as if he could concentrate with a million unanswered questions bouncing around in his mind.

  The longer he waited, the more outlandish his made-up scenarios became. What if there were aliens living underground that didn’t want their crop of mushrooms disturbed? What if they had actually gotten to the mysterious side chamber but had been infected by spores and were, at this very moment, infecting the rest of the colony while he remained the only unchanged human because he couldn’t leave his room?

  Zed laughed aloud at that thought, but his unease grew with each passing minute, which was why he nearly fell off the bed when there was a knock at his door.

  “Come in?”

  The door opened, and Anna and Ed Marsh stepped through. More accurately, Anna stepped in, and Ed stood in the doorway because there really wasn’t room for all three of them.

  “Zed, there’s been an accident,” Anna said.

  Zed was more concerned with the tone of her voice than her actual words. She hadn’t said it softly, but she had said it at a normal volume without her usual steely edge.

  “What happened?”

  Zed’s parents looked at each other. Ed started to say something, but Anna continued.

  “I realize you didn’t know this with your grounding and all, but the expedition started today.”

  Zed did his best to mime subtle surprise with a slight eyebrow raise.

  “And no, I’m afraid they didn’t make it to the chamber. They didn’t make it very far at all, actually.”

  Ed cleared his throat. “You helped with that 3D thing for the route planning, right?”

  Zed nodded.

  Ed continued. “Do you remember a gap with a drop-off that they were going to use a sort of ladder bridge to get over?”

  Zed nodded again. He felt nauseous as his heart began to pound.

  “Well, I guess there were some rocks that gave way that were supporting the bridge when they tried to cross it. It wasn’t enough to drop it completely, but it tipped, and Jacob Ens fell.”

  Zed found himself involuntarily shaking his head.

  “The chasm is quite deep, apparently. They weren’t able to retrieve the body, but needless to say, he’s presumed dead. The rest of the team returned a little bit ago.”

  Anna interjected. “I know you hang out with Jacob’s kids, so we thought you should know.”

  “Can I…” Zed’s voice cracked.

  Anna finished his sentence for him. “Can you see them? No. No, I don’t think so. It’s a tragedy, to be sure, but that doesn’t get you off the hook. It wasn’t your father who died, and I’m sure there’s nothing you could say at any rate.”

  All Zed could manage was to nod without really hearing.

  ***

  Zed made several more attempts to text Miranda, but they continued to go unanswered and unread. He tried messaging George.

  Hey George. I heard about your dad. I’m so, so sorry. I’m grounded with no chance of parole, but if there’s anything I can do, or if you guys want to talk, I can text. I tried messaging Miranda but can’t seem to get through. Anyway, thinking of you guys.

  Fifteen minutes later, there was a ping on Zed’s tablet. It was George.

  Thanks. Yeah, it really sucks right now. I guess I knew it could be dangerous, but I just never imagined anything could actually happen. Miranda is having a hard time of it. Kind of scary, really. She’s always been the one looking out for me and Dad. Now she’s just kinda gone. I’ve already heard mention of shipping us back to Earth on one of the next return flights. I guess there’s one next week. It’s just all so fast, ya know? Thanks for messaging.

  Zed put the tablet down and rested his forehead in his hands. What was going on? Everything was falling apart. His world was crumbling, and he was helpless to do anything about it or help the people he cared about.

  Against George’s advice, he sent one more message to Miranda, but it went unread like the rest.