George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt (22 page)

“There are too many applications open,” George heard Cosmos say. “Portal will shut down instantly. If this has happened in error, please check the box to send a message to the support unit. Your feedback is important to us.”

The doorway vanished from view, leaving George and Annie by themselves on the mystery planet. Left with nothing to hold on to, George stumbled down the slope toward the black liquid. He pushed off from the ground, just as he had seen Annie do, which sent him upward and across the stream…

“That wind is really strong!” he said, once he'd landed on the other side. All his movements felt as though they were happening in slow motion. “It felt like it was trying to push me over! But it doesn't
seem
to be blowing very hard.”

“Maybe it's a thicker atmosphere than we have at home,” said Annie. “Perhaps that's why it's like being in soup rather than being in air. And there's not much gravity here—that's why we're not falling very fast. Oh! What
is
that?” The clouds had just parted to allow them a view of this extraordinary world. On the other side of the lake, they saw a huge mountain with a dip where the peak should have been.

“Wow! That looks like a dead volcano,” said George.

As they gazed at it, they saw the crater at the top spew out great blobs of bluish liquid.

“I don't think it's dead!” shrieked Annie. The thick liquid was moving slowly down through the atmosphere to land on the slopes of the volcano, where it crept along like huge blind sticky earthworms, snaking down the side of the mountain.

“That looks disgusting!” she squeaked. “What is it? And where are we? What planet are we on?”

“You're not on a planet,” Emmett radioed in finally. “You're on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. You are nearly one billion miles away, near to a cryovolcano, Ganesa Macula, which is currently erupting.”

“Is there any danger from the eruption?” asked George. They could see the strange thick lava creeping down channels carved into the rocky landscape.

“Hard to say,” replied Emmett cheerfully, “given that no life-form we know of has ever landed on Titan before.”

“Thanks a lot, Emmett,” said George darkly.

“But the cryovolcanoes emit water—even though it is really cold water. It's mixed with ammonia, which means it can get down to minus one hundred forty-eight degrees Fahrenheit without freezing. So it probably doesn't smell very nice. But that won't bother you, with your space suits on.”

“Emmett, there are lakes here! And rivers!” said Annie. “But they are weird and dark. It doesn't look like water.'