Race for Survival

Race for Survival is a 2000 children's book by Marie Birkinshaw based on the LEGO Rock Raiders theme. It was illustrated by Roger Harris, who also illustrated the 1999 Rock Raiders puzzle storybook, and published by Dorling Kindersley in 2000 as part of the Dorling Kindersley Readers series. Unlike the other two books, which retell the theme's story, this story is set six months later, featuring the Rock Raiders returning to the theme's alien planet. Each page features brief articles on geology relevant to events in the story.

Plot

External video
Race For Survival read by R.R. Slugger at YouTube

Race for Survival is set six months after the story of the LEGO Rock Raiders theme. After the LMS Explorer escaped the uncharted planet (in this book called Planet U), the Rock Raiders have returned there on a scientific expedition.

In the caverns of Quadrant 14, an unexplored region of Planet U, Axle is mining for LEGO ore using the Chrome Crusher. A sudden tremor knocks the Chrome Crusher onto its side and causes a cave-in, trapping Axle in the tunnel. Aboard the LMS Explorer, Sparks is reminiscing about the first mission the Rock Raiders undertook on Planet U when Axle radios for help. Chief selects Rock Raiders for a rescue team, consisting of Docs, Jet, Sparks, and Bandit. The team has to find Axle before his oxygen purifier fails; Chief also notes that the area contains dormant volcanoes that may have caused the tremor.

The Rock Raiders arrive on the surface of Planet U in Quadrant 14 half an hour later, where they split up: Sparks and Jet take a Granite Grinder and a Hover Scout into the mountain to find Axle, Bandit takes the Rapid Rider along the underground rivers to find an alternate rescue route, and Docs takes a Hover Scout to find the source of the tremor. Sparks and Jet find the rockfall Axle is trapped behind; Axle hears the Granite Grinder's engine and communicates through the boulders with Morse code. Sparks worries that drilling with the Granite Grinder would cause another cave-in, and without enough time to bring down the Loader Dozer, he and Jet start digging with a LEGO beam. The two only manage to clear a few rocks over the next ten minutes, when a Rock Monster suddenly appears and digs through the pile of boulders. The two Rock Raiders find the Chrome Crusher behind the rockfall, but Axle and the Rock Monster are both gone.

Meanwhile, Docs is exploring nearby in Quadrant 15 when a second tremor causes a volcanic eruption. Docs races his Hover Scout away from the magma to safety. Elsewhere, Bandit is exploring an icy river with the Rapid Rider when he sails into the den of an Ice Monster. The Ice Monster attacks the Rapid Rider, damaging one of its skis. Docs catches up with Jet and Sparks, and the three find a huge marble cavern with piles of power crystals covering the shores of an underground lake. Axle is in the cavern with a sleeping Rock Monster. A giant Slimy Slug appears and starts devouring power crystals until the Rock Monsters drive it away.

Docs detects that a volcanic eruption is going to destroy the Rock Monsters' secret cavern. Sparks has an idea to redirect the magma by blowing up the Chrome Crusher to block off the cavern. The Rock Raiders race away as the Chrome Crusher explodes, and the eruption explodes out of the mountain. On the surface, the team reunites with Bandit, who turned the Rapid Rider's ski into a snowboard.

References

Bibliography

• Birkinshaw, Marie (2000). Race for Survival (1st American ed.). Dorling Kindersley. ISBN 0-7894-5458-0 (pbk.), ISBN 0-7894-6096-3 (hc.).