The colony on Io is thrown into chaos, as lava flows explode through the mining tunnels and the colony is hit by fierce Earth tremors, destroying many of the life support domes.
While the adults assess the damage to the colony and stabilize the remaining life-support domes, the children rescue their precious belongings and assist with salvage operations. For the moment, it appears that they are safe.
While the inhabitants of the colony prepare for the evacuation, Anna and Kingston creep into locked areas of the colony, in order to save their belongings.
The adults prepare the ship for a complicated flight maneuver at Saturn, in order to rendezvous with a supply ship containing vital fuel. The children become restless, exacerbated by the increased food rationing.
KL 5 flies past the Asteroid belt. When the alarm sounds, Kingston fears the worst nevertheless he consents to accompany Anna to a remote point of KL 5 where they can observe the approaching belt.
Kingston and Anna are excited by the rapidly approaching Christmas Holiday. The adults however are busy with fuel reserves and making preparations for a rendezvous with an unmanned courier ship.
As the colonists stabilize the station after the last explosion, they discover (to their horror) that they have lost their remaining fuel reserves. All that remains is a limited supply on board the space tug.