Escape from Jupiter

Did You Know?

• A novel based on the series, also titled Escape from Jupiter, was published in 1995.
• The novel was written by David Ogilvy and ran 240 pages.
• It was published by Penguin Character Books Ltd and licensed by the BBC.

Introduction

The main character is Michael Faraday, a teenage boy who has lived in space his entire life and resides with his father on Io. The mining colony is mostly adult, but a few families are present, including Michael's best friend Kingston, son of the medical officer. Also present are Jarrod and Anna, children of miner Carl; Jarrod and Michael are rivals, with Jarrod as the brawn and Michael as the brains. Michael's father pilots the local space tug. The colony is run by administrator Duffy, a company man. Professor Jacob Ingasole, an older expert often regarded as aloof, studies mining operations and their effects; his earlier prediction of a comet destroying the colony was dismissed as hairbrained, but his latest work on lava flow gains credit. Despite danger, deep drilling continues. A group of company scientists arrives, including Kumiko and her seismologist parents; Kumiko, rarely away from Earth, carries her computer throughout.

Plot

The older teens sneak into the mines despite elaborate security and being forbidden. The series opens as the children meet newly arrived seismologists sent to examine continued mining. To show off, Michael and Jarrod take Kumiko into the mines, asking Kingston and Anna to cover for them. Inside, the automated mining system hits a lava pocket, causing an explosion that destroys the rig and collapses tunnels. The trio becomes trapped and finds a disused miners shelter. With the main shaft cut off by sulfur and lava, they climb a disused ventilation shaft. Meanwhile, Kingston and Anna, after being covered in debris in the Jupiter bar while playing a computer game, watch adults study tunnel maps. Kingston deduces the trio would have taken a subsidiary tunnel. Both groups meet as the children emerge from a ventilation shaft, to the relief of all parents.