Arcadia Base, Mars. A dust storm, an airlock with a warning and a message that arrived too soon.
At 14:07, the communications screen at Arcadia Base lit up with a message from Earth: “AUTHORISED. OPEN AIRLOCK B.” Rocío Vidal, the engineer on duty, let out the breath she had been holding and leapt to her feet. “At last,” she said. “I’m going to open it.”
Outside, the dust storm had turned the afternoon into a reddish night. Somewhere in that darkness, the rover was heading back to the base with Dr Marta Ibarra, Kai’s mother, on board, and only one hour of reserve oxygen. It could come in through either of the base’s two airlocks: A, on the north side, or B, on the south side, the closer one to its route.
But airlock B had been showing a possible-leak warning all morning. The base rules were clear: with a leak warning, that airlock must not be opened without permission from mission control, back on Earth. That was why, at 14:02, Rocío had sent the question: “Leak warning on airlock B. Can we open it to let the rover in?”
Kai, who was fourteen and had been glued to the screen all afternoon, looked at the whiteboard on the wall. There, as every day, someone had written in marker the figure that mattered most for talking to home: “Signal delay today: 12 minutes.” That was how long a message took to travel, at the speed of light, from Mars to Earth. And the same to come back.
Kai looked at the clock. He looked at the whiteboard again. Then he planted himself in front of the door to the south corridor.
“Rocío, wait. That message isn’t the answer to your question.” In the corner of the screen, the rover’s signal was blinking: it would reach the base in ten minutes. By the north side, in fifteen.
Activities
1 Detective Inference
What was the message that arrived at 14:07, really? Tick the correct hypothesis.
- a) Mission control’s answer to the question Rocío had sent to Earth at 14:02.
- b) A message that had left Earth before Rocío asked, and that had nothing to do with the leak warning.
- c) A prank by someone on the base, who wanted to rush Rocío into opening the airlock.
- d) A message from Dr Ibarra in the rover, who needed to get in through airlock B as soon as possible.
Which clue proves it? Copy or summarise the clue from the text that proves it.
2 The Loom Order of events
Put the events in the order they happened, including the one that isn’t told but can be worked out. Write the order number (1, 2, 3…) in each box.
- Rocío sends her question to mission control.
- The message “AUTHORISED. OPEN AIRLOCK B” arrives.
- Kai plants himself in front of the door to the south corridor.
- The message that will arrive at 14:07 leaves Earth.
- Airlock B starts showing a possible-leak warning.
3 The Missing Page Coherence
Which continuation fits everything we know? Tick only one option.
- a) Rocío tells Dr Ibarra to come in through airlock A. At 14:26 the real answer from Earth arrives: “Do not open B. Use A.”
- b) At 14:10 the real answer from Earth finally arrives: “Do not open B. Use A.” Rocío warns Dr Ibarra straight away.
- c) Rocío asks the doctor to come in through airlock C, on the east side, which has no leak warning and is only two minutes away.
- d) Rocío video-calls Earth and the mission chief replies instantly that she must not open airlock B under any circumstances.
Why do you rule out the others? Explain one of them.
4 Spot the Contradiction Literal reading
Three statements don’t fit the story. Put an X next to the 3 statements that don’t fit the text.
- a) Rocío sent her question to Earth at 14:02.
- b) Airlock B was on the north side of the base.
- c) That day, the signal took twelve minutes to travel from Mars to Earth.
- d) The rover had reserve oxygen for several days.
- e) Kai was fourteen.
- f) Airlock B was the furthest from the rover’s route.
5 The Gallery Visualisation
In the game you choose the illustration that answers this question: “Which illustration shows the control room just as the message arrives?”. Here, you draw it yourself, with every detail the text gives you.