The Martian afternoon was still and quiet, the reddish sky painted with a soft haze that shimmered above the horizon. The crew had walked farther than usual, mapping new ridges and gathering soil samples for analysis. Their boots crunched on the thin crust of sand and rock, their breaths steady inside their helmets. For a long while, everything seemed perfectly routine.
Then the ground shifted.
It was subtle at first—a faint vibration underfoot, like the hum of a distant engine. Dr. Marquez stopped mid-sentence, her visor tilting downward as though she could see through the dust and into the bedrock itself.
"Did you feel that?" she asked over comms, her tone unusually sharp.
The teenager, Daniel, froze. "Y-Yeah… what was that? Just me, or—"
The tremor grew stronger, a rolling shudder that cracked loose pebbles and sent them tumbling down the ridge. The red soil rippled like waves on water, and a deep groaning sound echoed through the thin Martian air.
"Not just you," Commander Hayes said grimly. "Everyone stay sharp. Geological instability wasn't predicted here."
But prediction no longer mattered. The ground beneath them shook violently, knocking Daniel to his knees. A nearby slope cracked and gave way, an avalanche of red dust and jagged rocks sliding downward in a choking cloud.
"Landslide!" shouted Dr. Okafor, pointing to the collapsing ridge. "Back to the ship—NOW!"
The team didn't wait. Panic fueled their sprint, every step kicking up plumes of dust. Their suits weren't built for speed, but adrenaline pushed them forward.
Daniel's heart thundered in his chest. The world around him was chaos—rocks skittering past his boots, the ground splitting in spiderweb cracks, the horizon tilting as if Mars itself wanted to throw them off.
"Stay together!" Hayes barked, his voice cutting through the static of fear. "No one falls behind!"
Another rumble surged, louder, stronger. A section of the path they had used earlier collapsed into a gaping fissure, a narrow canyon tearing open before their eyes. The crew skidded to a halt, staring at the abyss.
"There!" Dr. Marquez pointed to a stretch of intact ground. "We can still make it around!"
Dust swirled, obscuring the way, but there was no time to hesitate. One by one, they pushed forward, boots slipping on the unstable soil as the tremors rolled through the planet like angry thunder.
Daniel stumbled again, but Okafor caught him by the arm, pulling him upright. "Move, kid! The ship's our only safe zone!"
They ran, lungs burning in the stale recycled air of their helmets. Every second the earth roared louder, the landslides creeping closer, threatening to bury them alive under mountains of red stone.
Somewhere in the chaos, Daniel realized this wasn't just Mars being Mars. It felt… unnatural. Almost alive.
But there was no time to think. The Odyssey was their lifeline, and all they could do was run for it as the planet trembled beneath their feet.