A FALL OF MOONDUST, ARTHUR CLARKE (1960)

I've been re-reading some favorite books, and this one is an old friend. Set in the near future, a fascinating tourist destination on the moon is the SEA OF THIRST, filled with a peculiar kind of moondust which has developed over billions of years. As the tourbus SELENE returns to the base, a huge underground cavern collapses, and the bus falls into the pit. The bus is trapped underground with the pilot PAT HARRIS, and twenty-two passengers. Luckily, one of the tourists is COMMODORE HANSTEEN, a distinguished space pilot who welds the passengers into a team to survive. Besides Pat's viewpoint we follow several others, especially CHIEF ENGINEER LAWRENCE, who must rescue them. The dust puts up trap after trap for LAWRENCE--first the heat exchangers fail, and the passengers risk heat stroke. Then the other systems of the bus fail slowly, and the passengers experience oxygen deprivation, a further fall of the bus into the now muddy dust, and finally a fire.  Each challenge is met with creativity by LAWRENCE, but the SEA OF THIRST seems to be malevolently toying with him.


It's a great yarn, made better by  CLARKE's excellent writing. "(The dust) had reached the lower edge of the windows; now it was creeping up the panes; and at last it had covered them completely. Pat cut the motors before they tore themselves to pieces, and as he did so, the rising tide blotted out the last glimpse of the crescent Earth.  In darkness and in silence, they were sinking into the moon." Gives me chills every time.