My tongue felt thick in my mouth and my eyelids were growing heavy. ‘If we have to eject, will you hold my hand?’
‘I’ll hold it now,’ he said, his fingers intersecting mine.
‘Don’t let go.’
‘I won’t let go.’
I had a sudden desire to tell him how much his friendship meant to me, but my mouth couldn’t form the shapes, and then I was gone.
Chapter 22
Inter-Planetary Spaceport
Ben was waiting for us on the other side of the security checkpoint. ‘Welcome aboard,’ he said.
‘It’s an honour to meet you, Captain,’ said Peg, shaking Ben’s hand. ‘I’ve read about your missions.’
‘Call me Ben, please. Come on, I’ll show you to your quarters.’
The central section of the spaceport was spherical and the corridors were coiled and twisted like intestines. I quickly became disoriented. Peg, I noticed, was looking around carefully.
‘It’s like a rabbit warren,’ I said.
‘It is a bit,’ said Ben. ‘Don’t worry. There will be an induction at nine in the morning for all new employees. And I’ll give you a map. You’d be surprised how quickly you’ll learn your way around. Within a week you’ll know this place like the back of your hand.’
A week was too long.
We got into the lift down to the deck below. ‘Civilian living quarters are down on B Deck,’ said Ben. ‘The berthing areas are pretty basic, but you’ll only use it for sleeping and washing.’
We reached a door, which Ben opened with a swipe card. ‘This is your berthing area, Eden,’ said Ben. ‘Men and women have opposite sides of the passageway.’
He held the door open for me. Peg waited outside. Inside was a wall of tiny sleeping areas, no larger than coffins, stacked from the floor to the ceiling. On the wall opposite was a row of lockers.
‘Like I said, nothing special,’ said Ben. ‘Choose a rack. You’re the first of the new arrivals to get here.’
I placed my bag on the lowest rack.
Ben handed me a map. ‘This will help you find your way around. Downstairs you’ll find the library, gymnasium, cinema, stores, canteen and bar. Up on A Deck, where you arrived, are the landing bay, security and temporary accommodation for visitors. Also the Space Bar and the Officers’ Club.’
I decided to risk a question. ‘So a ship travelling to the moon would stop here and the people on board would sleep in the temporary accommodation upstairs?’
Ben nodded. ‘Maybe. Depends on their schedule.’
‘What about prisoners?’ I asked.
‘Prisoners would be taken to the holding cell on A Deck.’
‘When will Ryan’s ship arrive?’
‘Tomorrow morning. They’ll dock at eleven and leave at two.’
‘I thought they got to stay overnight?’
‘No. This is an expedited transfer. Ryan will only be aboard the spaceport for three hours. Long enough for the prison transport to refuel and for a crew change. I’ll do my best to arrange for you to see him, Eden, but I can’t promise anything.’
He opened the door back into the hallway where Peg was waiting.
‘Pegasus, your berthing area is directly across from Eden’s,’ said Ben. ‘I’d be delighted if the two of you would join me at my table for dinner tonight in the Officers’ Club on A Deck. Shall we say seven o’clock?’
‘We’ll be there,’ I said, waving the map, ‘so long as we can find it.’
‘We don’t have much time,’ said Peg quietly, as soon as Ben had left. ‘It’s nearly five o’clock now. Dinner with Ben at seven. That could run till nine. Then we have orientation at nine in the morning. Ry’s ship arrives at eleven. If we’re going to explore this spaceport before he gets here, it’s going to have to be at night.’
‘I think Ben’s trying to help us, Peg. He told me what time Ryan’s ship will arrive and the time the prison ship will leave. He told me that Ryan would be escorted to the holding cell on A Deck.’
Peg shook his head. ‘I think you’re wrong. Ben’s the captain of this spaceport. Anything that goes wrong is going to reflect badly on him. I think he’s deliberately trying to keep us busy.’
The Officers’ Club had a very different feel to the rest of the spaceport. Where the other rooms were bare and functional – all metal and strip lights – the club was wood-panelled with dim lighting. The captain’s table, which was covered with a heavy, white tablecloth and laid with silver cutlery, was placed next to a large window that looked out into the darkness. Through the window, more stars than I had ever seen made patterns in the sky, their light brighter and steadier than they were on Earth. The bright blue glow of the Earth was just beyond the reach of the window.
Ben was already seated when we arrived, as was another man, younger than Ben, dressed in a smart uniform covered with insignias and badges.
Both men stood as we approached. Ben made all the introductions.
‘This is my first officer, Milo Jackson. This is Eden Anfield, a colleague from a time mission and her friend Pegasus Ryder.’
We all shook hands and sat down. I was disappointed; I had hoped to probe Ben to see if there was any chance he would help us. With the first officer present we were going to have to be careful.
Within seconds of sitting down, a waiter appeared with a bottle of champagne. Our glasses were filled and Ben proposed a toast.
‘To old friends,’ he said. ‘And new beginnings.’
We clinked glasses, the pleasant tinkling throwing me back to a different time, when Ryan and I had sat on a beach with glasses of champagne, toasting his return to 2012. Then it had seemed as if we had for ever stretching ahead of us. We’d had just six days. I pretended to sip my champagne, but I swallowed nothing. If Peg and I were going to come up with a plan, we needed to keep our wits about us.
‘As first officer, I am in charge of the welfare of all the crew aboard this spaceport,’ Milo was saying. ‘Since you are good friends of the captain, I will take a personal interest in your careers. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to assist you.’
‘Thank you,’ said Peg with a broad smile. ‘I was training to be an engineer back on Earth. I worked in the repair yard in Lakeborough. Shuttles mainly. I’d love to get back into that field again if any openings become available.’
This was clearly an area of interest to Milo Jackson. While the soup – something green and minty – was served and eaten, they talked about different classes of shuttles, favourite ships, engines, fuel efficiency, the virtues of Icelandic engineering over Burmese.
‘We have a small shipyard on the spaceport,’ said Milo. ‘Perhaps, after we finish dinner, I could show you around it.’
The main course was served, a savoury pancake filled with green sludge I now knew was a popular seaweed, served with carrots and cauliflower on the side.
‘Is all the food transported by ship?’ I asked. ‘It must be very expensive.’
‘Much of our food comes on supply ships,’ said Ben. ‘But on the lowest deck of the spaceport we have a large hothouse for growing fruit and vegetables. The sun’s energy keeps it at a constant temperature. It supplies ninety per cent of our produce.’
‘We even have an artificial sea,’ said the first officer. ‘It’s small of course, but large enough to grow seaweed. Our kelp grows at an average of two metres a day.’
‘That’s incredible,’ I said.
‘Kelp is one of the fastest growing plants in the world,’ said Ben. ‘But it does especially well here on the spaceport.’
I had nothing against seaweed in general – but the fishy green sludge on my plate was not remotely appetising.
‘After your induction tomorrow, I can give you a tour of the spaceport,’ said Milo.