Do You Dream of Terra-Two?

Jesse’s mouth went dry as he imagined it. The latches unbuckling, the airlock depressurizing, the door swinging open. This was the closest to the emptiness of space he had ever been. If he pressed his hand against the icy surface of the hatch he might even feel it, something of the coldness of space – around -270°C – but instead he was running his trembling fingers along the edges of the door, looking for an emergency button or loose seal – an escape.

‘Want to know a little something about surviving in space?’ Harry asked. ‘When I open the airlock and all the oxygen rushes out, try not to hold your breath. If you do, the air in your chest expands, your lungs will rupture and bubbles will spill out into your bloodstream, so your girlish scream of terror might just be the thing that saves your life. For a minute. And, out there – of course – no one will be able to hear you.

‘You’ll collapse after about fifteen seconds and begin to turn blue, although you look pretty blue to me already. No pressure in space means that, despite the sub-zero temperatures, all the water in your eyes and mouth will actually boil. Oh, and your body will swell to twice the size. Are you listening?’

Jesse was screaming for help now, banging his sweaty palms against the door hoping that someone, anyone, might hear him. His heart kicked against his chest. The air in the room was smothering.

‘One comforting thought is that a human can survive over a minute out in space before he dies. So if Dr G hauled your bloated body back inside the ship and injected you with pressurized oxygen before your heart gave up entirely, you might just make it. I mean, you’d be in excruciating pain, but you’d be alive. Let’s see for ourselves, shall we?’

The moment Jesse saw Harry’s face in the window, he knew that he was actually going to do it. Harry reached out and twisted the equalization valve. As he did so, Jesse heard the hiss as the airlock depressurized by venting air out into space. He almost thought he could see white plumes of gas bulge out into the blackness.

‘Five seconds,’ Harry called out. The little hand of the pressure gauge slid down.

Jesse clawed at the inner hatch. In four seconds the outer airlock would unlatch and he would be ripped out of the safety of the ship. This was it, he realized with a dizzying rush of dread. He was going to die.

‘Stop, please!’ Jesse screamed. He wasn’t ashamed to beg for his life. ‘Please!’

Harry’s eyes flashed, his blond lashes translucent.

‘Three…’

‘No—’ Tears filled Jesse’s eyes, and he scraped at the solid metal of the door so hard that blood bubbled under his fingernails.

‘Two…’

The edges of his vision blackened, and the muscles in his legs crumpled. He had escaped the gravity of Earth only to die in the darkness here.

‘One…’

Chapter 26 JUNO

^29.08.12

WHEN JUNO AND ELIOT climbed down to the lower deck, the first thing Juno heard was Harry’s laughter echoing along the narrow corridors. Perhaps that was the reason she chose to head towards the store rooms, instead of the simulation room where she had expected to find the two boys.

Over the sound of Harry’s laughter, Juno thought she could hear the high-pitched whistle of air escaping vents. A terrifying noise that turned her blood to ice. Without a backwards glance at Eliot she began to run. The ceilings were low nearer the airlock, and she had to crouch down a little to save from knocking her head. At the end of the corridor, Harry was bent in front of the gearbox, shaking with laughter. The window into the airlock was dark, but the digital readout on the side of the wall was ticking down.

‘Five…’ Harry shouted.

‘What are you doing?’ Juno yelled. Although as she said it she knew that the airlock was decompressing. Harry was laughing so much he had to suck in air just to speak.

He said, ‘Four… It’s just some fun, Juma.’

‘Is someone in there?’ Juno yelled. A hand smacked against the porthole – from inside the airlock. Juno screamed.

‘Three…’ Harry continued. Juno lunged for the gearbox, knocking Harry out of the way with strength that surprised even her, and grabbed the handle of the equalization control. The gauge was sliding down as oxygen hissed out of the vents. If the pressure reached zero, whoever was inside would suffocate – or worse, once the doors opened they would be dragged out into the hard vacuum of space. Juno heaved the handle in the opposite direction and watched as the pressure began, again, to climb.

‘Two…’ Harry shouted, his face flushed. Juno grabbed the lever that controlled the inner hatch door and yanked it towards her, just in time to hear the locking mechanism release.

‘One…’ The hatch swung open, sucking air in such a violent slipstream that both Juno and Harry were almost knocked off their feet, and two displays tore off the wall.

The lights in the airlock activated.