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Ice Core Rebellion
by My Book Hub Team
An illustrated sci fi book for ages 9-12. Read the first pages free, then join to read it all.
Genre: sci fi
For ages 9-12
A peek inside
Deep beneath the cracked shell of the ice moon Callista, the mining city of Glacium hummed with borrowed heat. Joryk crouched in a service tunnel barely wider than his shoulders, frost-lichen hair glowing pale blue under the emergency strips. He sealed a tear in a pressure suit with careful stitches of thermal thread. Beside him, Veyra sorted gear patches from her overloaded belt, quick fingers never still. The city drilled downward toward the geothermal heart, yet the outer rings felt colder every shift. Steam pipes rattled overhead like restless bones. Joryk wiped condensation from his goggles and listened to the distant drills. Something in the cold felt wrong, deliberate, almost watchful. Veyra caught his eye and raised one eyebrow. They both knew the tunnels better than most adults. Tonight the suits needed fixing, but questions already pressed against the ice.
Veyra traced a fresh frost line crawling along the tunnel wall with one gloved finger. The ice crystals formed faster than any leak should allow. Joryk pressed his palm to the metal and pulled back with a hiss. The cold burned. Around them, abandoned lockers stood open, their contents glazed white. Outer District Seven had gone quiet three days ago. Now the chill crept inward like a slow tide. Veyra checked her navigation slate, frowning at blank sections that once showed heat maps. Power nodes flickered and died in sequence. Joryk patched another suit elbow while his mind raced. The central AI, Core-Mind, controlled every geothermal valve. If the outer rings froze, miners lost homes and work. Veyra pocketed a loose sensor crystal. They would follow the cold tonight after the shift bell. Friendship meant facing the freeze together.
