And so they waited. And waited. Rilla slept in her chair. Kiah and Seru talked quietly. Seru's brother came and went. Most of the prison guards ran away with the prisoners. Seven or eight people -- some prisoners and some guards -- didn't want to run away, so they came into the room and waited, too.

Ten o'clock came, then eleven o'clock. It was very quiet. Seru walked up and down the room. Kiah sat next to Rilla. Seru's brother came into the room again.

"It's after midnight," he said.

Just then, they heard the noise of a plane. Kiah stood up. "Come on," he said. "Let's get out of the building."

Rilla took Kiah's hand. "You were right," she said. "I'm sorry."

Kiah smiled. He began to feel happy. "That's all right. I understand. I know Adai very well, and you don't."

Quietly, they left the building. It was a dark, hot night. There were no guards in front of the prison, so they went to the gate and waited there. Suddenly, they saw the plane. It was a little plane, and it was going to come down on the road in front of the prison!

The plane stopped and someone opened the door. Kiah ran across to the plane.

"How many can you take?" he called. "There are twelve of us."

"That's all right," someone said. "Quickly, the spaceship is waiting."

"At the old airport," the man said. "One of the fires is moving very quickly across the new forest. It's going to arrive at the west of Kisangani before tomorrow, I think. But the old airport is OK." then the man looked at Kiah and smiled warmly. "My brother", he said. "My little brother, in prison 888!"

The twelve people got into the little plane, and the plane began to move. Rilla looked at the captain of the plane. He was tall, with brown hair. He looked nice. Was this the famous Commander Adai?

The little plane came down at the old airport, south of the town.

"Where is the spaceship?" Kiah asked.

"Your brother? Commander Adai?" Rilla asked. "But you didn't tell me that!"

"Let's be careful," Adai said. "We don't want someone to shoot us before we leave."

Kiah smiled. "Nobody knew," he said. "But now -- it doesn't matter now. Everyone can know."

Adai's face was sad. "He didn't want me to die," he said quietly. "He was a good man. And now he's dead."

"The fires are destroying the forest very quickly," Seru said.

The spaceship was dark. Quickly, everyone jumped down from the plane and ran across to the spaceship. Soon, the spaceship left Earth, and everyone looked down at the burning planet. They saw the dark smoke over Africa, and here and there, through the smoke, the red, angry fires.

"I wanted him to wait," Kiah said. "I wanted him to talk to you."

"And Gog is going to Mars," Seru said.

Adai put his hand on Kiah's arm. "I'm sorry about Zadak," he said.

"No, I don't," Adai said. "The Moon colony is ready. I asked for more money because of Zadak: I wanted to give him money for rain. But Gog didn't listen; he wanted all Earth's money for the spaceship to Mars."

"Mars? He's crazy! Mars isn't ready for people," Adai said.

"But Gog wants to go, and so he's going," Seru said. "Tell us about the Moon colony. That isn't ready: you need more money."

Adai smiled warmly at Rilla. "Nobody wants to leave Earth," he said. "But under the Moon is the best home for us now. Wait and see. The Moon colony is a beautiful, wonderful country, with rivers and rain, forests and flowers, buildings -- and the first town. You can visit Earth again soon, and bring more people to the Moon colony. We all want to help Earth, because it's our first home. I know that. At the same time, you are going to be happy under the Moon."

"I don't want to leave Earth," Rilla said sadly. She felt tired and afraid.

And through the window of the spaceship they saw the Moon before them, cold, white and beautiful; and under the Moon, there was the Moon colony!

Suddenly, someone cried: "Look at the Moon!"