Eli ploughed through the red desert driving the buggy. The vehicle had large wheels and a wide, sloped nose which hugged the ground to push rocks aside. Travelling twenty miles an hour it left behind a smooth trail snaking through the rock littered desert like a finger drawing in dust. The buggy headed west, occasionally veering left or right to avoid craters. Over the horizon the Sun hovered in the pale aqua sky only a couple hours away from setting. If on Earth the Sun was the size of a quarter on Mars it appeared a dime.
"June Buggy pick up," came a voice through the speakers.
Eli pushed a button on the dashboard display and in the back Austin leaned forward to hear. "Eli here. What's the word?"
"We want you to return. They decided it's too dangerous," replied the man through the speakers.
Eli stopped the buggy. "Alright. If that's what we've gotta do. We've cleared a good road anyways so should only take us two to three days to get back."
"Epperson wants you back in 24 hours. You're to drive in shifts, fast as you can."
"You want us to drive at night?" Austin asked, unsure how safe that was.
"Yes, the dust storm's not dissipating. We now think there's a chance it could be here by tomorrow afternoon. To be honest, we should have called you back this morning. Sorry guys."
Austin rolled his eyes. "We're on our way." He and Eli put on their helmets to go out and remove the plough nose from the front of the buggy. As Austin stepped out he saw something moving on the horizon. It was a dust devil -- a relatively small one by his estimation, a column of swirling dust maybe ten meters tall. He ignored it and got to work..
A thousand miles away Kioshi and Ben stood on ladders, unbolting the clear hynaglass panels from the dome frame of their base. Without the panels the frame would probably survive anything. However, taking down the panels was a tedious process that would take many hours, possibly more hours than they had. Ben cursed his sore wrist and promised himself the first thing he would do after this was over would be to design an easily disassembled dome.
Maya and Teresa worked on boxing up the team's equipment for storage down below. Maya took charge of the solar panels. Though there were a hundred of them a meter in diameter, they would take up remarkably little storage space. Maya carefully folded them up like origami flowers, the creased folds spiraling inwards until she held in her hand a tiny round package she could tie with string and place neatly in the box. It made her nervous to take down their only power source, but she knew leaving them out ran the risk of them being permanently damaged.
Teresa helped by putting odds and ends from the camp into boxes, only inconsequential things like digipads, random tools, dirty cups and dishes, etc... She had been told not to touch any scientific equipment. The comely young woman was only Epperson's wife and not a scientist or engineer, but she always tried to help any way she could. She placed her boxes along with folded up chairs and tables next to the hatch door.
Eli and Austin drove through the night and the next day in four hour shifts, arriving at 5:30 the following evening. The base appeared deserted. Everything was gone except the dome frame and the rocket ship they would someday use to blast off this planet. After parking the buggy next to the ship, he and Austin gathered their things and went to the hatch to join the rest of the team below ground.
On Earth the Martian dust storm was the leading news story around the globe.
"The Martian dust storm continues to grow at an astonishing rate," said Dan Jacobs, the anchorman reporting for MarsTV. "The latest data shows the storm has reached a width of four thousand kilometers or roughly the size of Australia. We have satellite photos of dust devils within the storm that are as tall as ten kilometers with debris traveling at speeds of over two hundred kilometers per hour. The storm is expected to reach the MET base sometime in the night. Until then the team waits underground. Coming up we have video of the storm and messages from Epperson and the team."
The next day the world tuned back in. "Today contact was lost with the team when the Martian dust storm hit the MET base," Dan Jacobs reported. "Epperson's last words were ones of confidence, saying he believed in his team and held no fear for their future or the success of the expedition. The loss of communication was expected, as Martian dust storms are known to cause the dust particles to become electrically charged, causing interference. The team will be on their own for the duration of the storm, completely cut off from Earth. Coming up we have Dr. Nathan Fitzhugh explaining the phenomenon as well as full video of Epperson's last message."
The storm continued to grow. The day it hit the MET base it covered 25% of the planet. By the end of the week it had increased to over 90%. MarsTV showed before and after images of the planet taken by telescope. In the before image craters, mountain ranges and various distinct light and dark patches were clearly visible, but in the after image the planet appeared almost completely smooth, as if the telescope had shifted out of focus, blurring the picture.
The atmosphere was engulfed with dust. Dust devils as tall as mountains roamed the planet building up electric charges and shooting down lightning bolts. Confined below ground, the team discussed the situation.
"How long could the storm last?" Epperson asked.
Maya shook her head. "No one knows. The longest on record lasted three months in 2001."
"What's the absolute maximum the batteries will last?" Epperson asked.
"One month," said Ben. "I have an idea though. The dust particles are negatively charged. I was thinking we could redeploy the solar panels with electromagnets to deflect the particles."
"But there's so little light getting through," said Eli.
"Every little bit counts. If it buys us even one more day it's worth it," argued Ben.
"I had an idea to create some small windmills and see how much power we could get," said Austin.
"I was thinking of building a lightning rod connected to a battery," said Kioshi. "We need one anyway."
"We could also try using wire coils to pull a charge from the dust into a battery," suggested Eli.
Epperson smiled as his team continued brainstorming, pleased with himself. He had chosen well.
The storm lasted four months, a new record. Afterwards, when communications were restored with Earth the shocked world watched Dan Jacobs ask Epperson how they had done it.
"Of course we survived," Epperson answered. "As I said before, I believe in my team. They are the most intelligent and creative individuals I could have hoped for. When you go to make history, to risk your life doing something never done before you don't take the B team. You take the dream team. These guys can survive anything."
Ratings on MarsTV soared.