Read Online Diggers: The Sharp Edge of the Universe by Shannon Heather, Jerrett James - Free Book Online Page A

just the auger, had been invented by his great-grandmother, Martha O’Connor.   Sure, it had been the unintended outcome of trying to find something to silence her frequent trips to the toilet, but she'd also thought to try it on space ships.
    “We’re just kids. We shouldn’t be doing this. We’re just….” Mikayla started to hyperventilate.
    “No one forced you to come.” Finn faced her and ignored the impulse to run away when she stared him down. “We can’t take you back. If you aren’t going to help, sit down!”
    Mikayla didn’t sit down. To Finn’s absolute shock, she started studying the screen again as if he’d never yelled at her. Girls were impossible to understand.
    Reggie watched the auger push slowly through the anomaly. “Made up of fused quartz, sodium carbonate, limestone, magnesium oxide, and aluminum oxide,” he reported.
    “So it is…its…glass.” Mikayla reviewed the sensor screen for confirmation.
    “That’s what I thought.” Finn fist-pumped the air.
    “Yep,” Reggie said.
    “Then it’s got to have a limit, a size. Dimensions.” Mikayla read the data flashing onto the sensor screen, finally looking back at them when the silence stretched out. “What?” She looked away from the gawking boys. “If I’m stuck here, I might as well help, just like you said. You need a Scientist.”
    Finn started to argue, but Reggie held up a hand. “No. We need her.”
     
     

Chapter 12: Tight Situation
     
    The DUMP slowly pushed deeper and deeper into the anomaly. It felt like they traveled through the caves of Stampora, which had been one of Finn’s favorite family reunion sites. Every so often, light from the DUMP glinted off the inside of the hole they were creating, and it looked just like the inky water that had run along the entire inside of those caves. The water had even flowed along the roof of the caves, which gave proof that the theory of gravity was completely relative.
    Finn slapped the sensor button for the millionth time. “Dimensional readings on the anomaly are indeterminable at this time, Mr. Finnigan O’Reilly,” ELAINA cooed.
    “How far have we gone?” Finn asked.
    “About a thousand feet,” Reggie said.
    “In twenty minutes?” Mikayla said. She’d spent most of the time pacing.
    “Yep,” Reggie said. “Going slow.”
    “The deeper we go into this thing, the darker it gets.” Mikayla looked out the window. “I don’t have a good feeling about this.”
    Finn wanted to argue with her, but he couldn’t. He grew more and more terrified with every passing minute. He’d wanted an adventure, and it had been so easy to leave the Space Station with everyone in a frenzy over the anomaly, but now he wondered if maybe he should have thought things out a little more. In comparison, this made copying his mother’s ID and sneaking into the Science Lab seem like stealing an extra dessert.
    “I think we should try backing out, Reg,” Finn said. “So we can make sure our path out stays clear.” It qualified as a real reason, but he hoped Mikayla and Reggie couldn’t see his gnawing fear.
    Maggie’s angry face flashed into his mind and Finn gave an involuntary shudder. Maybe if they just backed out and headed to the Space Station, everyone there would still be so busy they wouldn’t notice one DUMP had gone missing.
    Reggie pushed the auger into reverse and a piercing screech made them all slap their hands over their ears. The sound surged through the DUMP, wave after wave of painful noise.
    “What is that sound?” Mikayla bellowed, the noise similar to metal scratching metal.
    Reggie pressed the ALL STOP button and it went quiet again. “Can’t go backwards.”
    “What do you mean we can’t go backwards? The DUMP backs out of holes.” Finn wished he could stay calm, but fear tore at his insides.
    “No dirt,” Reggie said.
    “No dirt?” Finn stared at the dead auger with all its grinding metal and noticed massive curls of glass shavings caught in