Planet Hell (5 page)

“This is Anna,” said Sam. “She lives on the Surface.”

“Don't be stupid,” said one of the Gang. “No one can live on the Surface!”

“
She
does,” said Sam. “Tell them, Anna.”

But Anna was shaking with fear. Sam remembered what she'd said about being afraid of trolls.

“Take off your breathing masks,” he said to the Gang. “Let her see that you're humans too.”

The men in the Gang looked at each other. They didn't know what to do. Slowly, they took off their masks.

Anna gulped hard and then she did a brave thing.

She said, “We need to talk.”

* * *

The men in the Gang took Sam and Anna down, deeper under the ground to the main hall at the heart of the Mine.

As they followed the tunnels down, Sam looked over at Anna. She was starting to panic. He remembered how he'd felt on the Surface.

“Are you OK?” he asked.

“We must be going to the centre of the world!” she cried. “All that rock over my head! I feel like it's going to fall on me!”

“It's OK,” he said to her quietly. “Miners like my dad built these tunnels. They'll stand forever. Don't be scared.”

Anna gave a little smile.

When they got to the main hall a crowd of Miners was waiting for them.

Sam got up on a table so they could all see him.

“I've been to the Surface,” said Sam. “I've found out that lots of the things we thought we knew are wrong. There's another world up there, on the Surface. There are humans living up there. Humans like us.” He reached out his hand to Anna and she climbed up on the table beside him. “This is Anna.”

Everyone gasped. Voices rose out of the crowd.

“She's not from the Mine!”

“Look at her hair! Look at her clothes!”

“No one can live on the Surface. Except monsters!”

There was a sudden silence.

Sam leaned over and whispered to Anna, “Tell them about the Surface.”

Anna's heart was pounding, but she made herself speak. She told them about the people on the Surface. She told them about the Final War. The end of Earth. About how the Surface dwellers thought they were going to die when they landed on Hell, and how the power supply they found saved them. She told them about the robots and the force fields. She told them that nobody knew the Miners were there.

With every word the anger in the hall grew. Sam could feel it.

“Wait till the Mining Company hears about this!” one of the Miners called out.

“The Mining Company doesn't exist!” yelled Sam. “Don't you understand? EARTH IS DEAD!”

The Miners were all shouting at once.

“We'll never get back to Earth?”

“Earth is dead?”

“It's all their fault …”

“What do we do?”

“Let's stop sending power up to the Surface! Let's see how long they last up there when their force fields come down!”

Suddenly a new voice spoke from the back of the hall.

“Do you know what they are saying on the Surface? They are saying, ‘We'll block off the air shafts! Let's see how long they last down there with no air!'”

Everyone turned.

“What's THAT?” cried a young Miner. “Is it a monster?”

A strange silver figure was standing there, looking at them all.

“That's Jen's robot!” gasped Anna.

The Miners stared in silence.

“You can stop the power,” the robot said. “They can stop the air. You can have another Final War. That is the way things ended on Earth. You and the humans on the Surface are the only humans left in the universe.”

Suddenly, the hall began to fill with silver robots.

“Sam, look! There's my robot!” said Anna. “And the teacher robots … and look, all the robots!”

“We have talked it over,” said Anna's robot quietly. “And there is only one way to make all the humans happy. The robots will take over the Mine.”

“What?” shouted the Miners.

“You don't know anything about mining!” said Sam.

“Who will look after us?” cried Anna.

“We will learn how to mine,” said Anna's robot. “And the Surface dwellers and the Miners will work together to learn how to look after each other. That is the only way to make all the humans happy.”

“I don't understand,” moaned an old Miner. “All I ever wanted was to go home!”

“Don't you see?” said the robot. “This
is
home.”

* * *

It took a long time. Not all the Miners wanted to stop mining. They were scared of the Surface, of the burning sun, and the sky so far away. And not all the Surface dwellers wanted to start farming and cooking and cleaning and teaching and all the other things the robots had been doing for so long.

But slowly, slowly, it happened.