The Lion of Mars

Vera, Flossy, Trey, and Bell steal a rover and leave the settlement to go find the supposed alien ship. The older children seem excited, but Bell is anxious. The group eventually approaches the French settlement, where two people in environmental suits approach their rover, looking angry and carrying what looks like weapons. The teenagers scramble to drive away but, as they start to argue about returning to the base, Vera drives the rover over the edge of a crater. Bell’s shoulder is broken in the accident, but Vera tells them they have no way of communicating with the adults back at the base.

The children are worried, but they decide to stay where they are because the rover is broken and they do not have enough air in their environmental suits to walk back to the settlement. Vera has reset the clocks back at the base so the adults will take longer to notice the children’s absence. They wait anxiously and bicker about the best course of action. Eventually, the adults track them and come to their rescue.