Read the following passage and questions, then choose the right answer from options, the answer should be one of A, B, C, D.

<passage>:
thousand, but he never could reach the end of it and thread When you have an engine with no fuel, and fuel without an engine, and a life-and-death deadline to meet, you have a problem indeed. Unless you are Sanchez asked. "Yes," he said. "Many spare parts, but no fuel." Jan smiled a tight smile. "Tell them to take the engines out," he said. "Since we have no fuel, we may as well have no engines." Everything was ready, except climbing aboard, closing the airlock was in Rathole were able to build radio message they had received, more than an hour ago, had said he and the patient took off successfully filled the airtight groundcar. knew that preparations were being made now to send a couple of groundcars out to search for it. late to help the patient Van Artevelde was bringing, but Heemskerk had no personal interest in the stationary generators that give us current for our air-conditioning "That's the third time in half an hour," he commented. "The do not have gasoline engines for place tosses like the IJsselmeer and our utilities. They He glanced at his watch again. X minus twelve. In two minutes, it would be time for him to walk were lost!" three times." Ours are powered like that, but we cannot operate them when the "Don't worry," said Jan. "I'll Jan struggled to his feet and a logical reaction, considering the scarcity Two hours earlier the two men had sat across a small table playing chess, with little indication there would be anything else to occupy their time before blastoff of the stubby gravity-boat. It would be their last chess game for many months, for Jan was a "I can find one. And we'll have to hurry for blastoff. But, first, die of it, and it had not been pleasant. Medical men thought it was a deficiency disease, but they had not traced down the deficiency responsible. what happened? Even that The only thing that could arrest and cure the disease was removal from the dry, cloud-hung the typical mottled texture of the skin appeared, the flesh rapidly deteriorated and fell away in chunks. The victim remained unfevered Earthship over at Rathole." "Rathole?" repeated Heemskerk. until the degeneration reached a vital spot. and agonizingly conscious "There's been an emergency radio message," said Dekker. "It isn't a colony, in the sense bunch of laborers left behind when the colony folded several years ago. It's about eighty kilometers damned thing ought to get here away, right across the from Rathole faster than that." "Had no fuel," replied Jan briefly. "My engines were all Hoorn, but they don't have any right, but I had no power to run heard, the entire economy of Rathole could not support the tremendous expense of sending the boy across the millions of miles to wait for the next ship," he pronounced. "The them. So I had to pull the engines and rig up a power source." base, hung a series of tattered transmission belts. "Power source?" repeated evacuated to Earth immediately. emergency: a windmill!" THE END Transcriber's Note: April 1959. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Rathole and bring the fellow with a sliding sidelong glance at Jan's face. "He has been dead for three years." Jan grunted. "The copters at Oostpoort can't Minor spelling and typographical errors "Too bad. There's nothing we can do, then. The nearest settlement the other side of it lay Rathole, a a thousand kilometers away, and I happen to know they have no planes, either. Just copters. So that's no help." west of here is more than north with it. There was a flying machine they used for short-range work, and one was left behind—probably with a little help It carries two men, I believe. But, señor ...." "I know them. I've operated them, before I left Earth. Man, unprotected!" " Señor "No, you haven't," muttered Jan. "But you know I'll do it." would negotiate the terrain. He looked anxiously at his watch. Nearly three hours had passed since he left Oostpoort. He had seven hours to go and he was still at least 16 kilometers from Rathole. His pipe was out, but he could not take his hands from the wheel to refill it. He had driven at least eight kilometers before he realized were not impassable, and feminine companionship might cure turned back southwestward. He made it just in time. He had driven less than three hundred fuel for the flying platform." meters when a quake more severe than any of the others structures in Rathole, was a forgotten that we have no gasoline engines here? There is no on it unrelentingly. The quake lasted for several in their plastic shrouds. They appeared in good shape. Each was powered by one of the engines, transmitted to it by heavy the engines were in perfect condition. Two perfectly good engines, and no fuel for them. judged he must be nearing Rathole. anywhere in Rathole?" he "You're sure there's no gasoline, several kilometers before the wind struck again, cutting his power was nuclear, but this little settlement made use of the cheapest, most obviously available "None, señor ," he said, turning back to Jan. "The Americans, of course, kept much of it when they were here, but the few things we take to Oostpoort to trade could not buy precious gasoline. that the dwellings of Rathole "No, it wouldn't work," he said. "We could rig batteries on to turn the propellers. But batteries big enough to power it all abroad, but just inside the community very little weight." Wild schemes ran through his Jan found half a dozen men in a group, clinging to one and snapped his fingers. "Doctor!" he explained. "Send a couple of men to drain the rest of the fuel from my groundcar. Spanish. Two of the men left at a run, carrying five-gallon cans with them. Three others picked up the and outside. As soon as they reached ground level, the wind hit them. They dropped the platform shuddered and swayed momentarily, and two of the men fell He had been reading too much ancient history during his leisure hours. The hot monotony of Venus was beginning to affect his brain. It had been 500 years since the Netherlands revolted successfully on their stomachs. The wind caught the third and against Spanish rule. A lot of fell back on the international language. its base was too low for it to overturn. Shortly the two men returned with the fuel from the groundcar, struggling along the chain. again. One of them coughed, and a cloud of blue smoke burst from its exhaust, but they did not catch. "What is the matter, habla inglés. " He went out, shutting the airlock "I don't know," replied Jan. "Maybe it's that the engines haven't been used in so long. I'm afraid I'm not a good enough mechanic to tell." correct?" "Why, yes, that's true." "He says the fuel will not work then, señor delayed." The woman seemed to sense about eight. He yawned. Then, catching sight of the big Dutchman, "There's nothing that can be done," answered Jan. "They may as well put the fuel back in my dotted Rathole. because we have no power for it." men there now, and a few women. They let the pair go through, and waved farewell as couldn't wait for them. It was nearly eight hours since he had left Oostpoort, and the afternoon was getting noticeably Jan looked at his watch. A little more than two hours before Now, if he could only find a way over the bluff raised by that last had earlier. It quivered constantly, like the surface of quicksand. The chasm that had caused him such a long detour before could. He wasted half an hour before Outside, the windmills of Rathole Rathole, power in the air all realizing that it was getting hundred kilometers long or a

<question>:
Why did the colony of Rathole not have any fuel?

<options>:
A It had been stolen by the Russian settlers
B It had frozen solid
C They relied on wind and manual power
D They had run out very recently

<answer>:

C