The school bus flew across the undulating landscape of red-brown sand, a bright yellow lozenge filled with children who were all rapidly becoming bored as the novelty of being out of the classroom wore off. Every now and then, as the dunes rose to meet it, the bus kicked up a thick plume of sand that hung briefly in the air behind it. The hum of the anti-grav engines at each corner of the bus contrasted with the whistling of the ever-present wind. Faces peered out of the windows, watching the . . .