George’s group assembled on the wide walkway that was just beyond the main airlock. Mr Snodbury fussed and fretted, ticking items off from a list on his mini-screen, all the while trying to juggle his luggage which was so badly packed that items kept falling out and rolling away. George looked around, at the gleaming metallic surfaces and flowing displays all around them. His eyes were wide and his jaw seemed to be dangling loosely. He started to wonder if there was any aspect of this space station which wasn’t going to make him hugely amazed and impressed.
Beside the airlock, the crew of the space shuttle were getting into an argument with a couple of the space station’s security guards. They were hissing insults at each other and flapping their baseball caps.
“What’s all that about?” whispered Josh.
“Company wars,” replied Amira. “MaxiBoost Spaceways and MegaZone Corporation are bitter business rivals. They’ve bought armies and held battles back home. Haven’t you seen it on the newsfeeds?”
“MegaZone built this station, didn’t they?” said George.
“Yes,” said Amira, “and MaxiBoost were furious that MegaZone got the contract.”
Passengers for the return trip to Earth were already filing onto the shuttle. The MaxiBoost shuttle crew went back to their normal, smiling selves as they welcomed the passengers on board.
Two smartly dressed technicians approached George’s group: a tall blonde woman and a slightly shorter man with brown curly hair. The woman walked over to Mr Snodbury and held out her hand.
“Hello, I take it you’re the group from CentralCity Primary School?” she said, in a voice as smart as her uniform.
“That’s right,” said Mr Snodbury, shaking her hand. “These are the four Year 6 pupils who’ve scored the highest marks in Science this year, and so earned a place on this trip. This is Dwayne, George, Amira, and Josh.”
The pupils all said hello.
“I’m Jane Parker,” said the woman, “and this is Ian Ash. We’re on the senior technical staff here at Berners-Lee and we’ve been assigned to look after you while you’re here. Follow me.”
Parker and Ash moved off down the corridor and George’s group trailed them obediently. Space station crew were walking about in all directions, some in overalls, some in uniforms like Parker and Ash. Some of them were pushing heavy equipment on anti-gravity pads, others were checking readouts and adjusting settings. None of them paid the slightest bit of attention to George or his friends. Small groups from schools on Earth visited the space station regularly, so nobody took any notice of these CentralCity Primary visitors.
“We’ll start the tour at the crew quarters,” said Parker. “You can leave your belongings there.”
The crew quarters reminded George of a holiday he’d once spent with his family, staying in a caravan at the seaside. Everything was quite small, and tightly packed in to make maximum use of space. Mr Snodbury and the four pupils each had their own bunk with a small curtain to pull across it for privacy. The washbasin and vacuum-toilet were located at the end of the shared quarters. George placed his belongings neatly in his cabin and glanced over at the others. Mr Snodbury had dumped all of his belongings into a massive heap on his bunk. Everything spilled out of his bag and covered his small bunk. It was going to be difficult living in such small quarters with someone who was so messy for a week.
“There’s an instruction booklet on how to use the toilets,” said Parker. “Make sure you read it. We had a kid last month who managed to get his bottom wedged in the vacuum pump.”
“Why does the loo need a vacuum pump?” whispered Josh with a worried look on his face.
“Recycling,” said Amira with a nod and a smile. “Everything has to be recycled up here, it’s not like at home where you don’t have to worry about it. All waste gets used as biofuel for the fusion reactors which power the station.”
“Having a poo keeps the lights on.” George grinned.
“That’s right,” laughed Parker.
Dwayne and Mr Snodbury eyed George carefully. Mr Snodbury didn’t like people making jokes of anything, even at the best of times. He certainly didn’t approve of mentioning poo on a school trip.
The tour of the space station continued with the storage bays, the engine room, the air filters, the science labs, the fusion reactors, the medical section, the docking ports, the solar stacks, the canteen, the artificial vegetable garden…
Soon, George’s head was spinning. He could hardly take it all in. Everyone else’s heads must have been spinning too, because several times they had to stop to find a member of the group who’d managed to wander off somewhere. Mr Snodbury had fallen behind the group on countless occasions and had to run each time to catch up while Josh had been found twice in the canteen – he claimed he had gotten lost but George knew better than to believe him, given his overactive appetite.
Jane Parker explained various aspects of life and work on the station as they walked. All four pupils asked lots of questions, especially Amira, who hadn’t stopped jotting down notes on her miniscreen since the tour began. Ian Ash said very little during the tour. He seemed much more serious than Parker, and appeared to be in a hurry to go somewhere. George noticed that Ash checked the time more than once.
At last, they came to the highlight of the tour. A tall pair of automatic doors swept aside with a WHOOSH to reveal a large, shiny room in which a dozen scientists monitored various screens and machines. Through banks of windows, George could see the twinkling stars, and the graceful curve of the Earth below. This room was the box-like section George had seen from the shuttle.
“Welcome to the Control Centre,” said Parker. “This is the nerve centre of all our activities. It’s here that we organise everything we do. We run scientific experiments, we test new ideas in space propulsion and space travel, and we act as a refuelling and stop-off point for spacecraft going to the colonies on the Moon or Mars.”
George, Josh and Amira gazed at the flashing lights and beeping machines. Dwayne scratched his armpit. Mr Snodbury ushered them out of the way of passing scientists.
“Don’t touch anything,” he said. “Goodness knows what might happen if you started fiddling with the controls in here.”
Parker walked over to a grumpy-looking man sitting in a large padded chair beside a series of touchscreens. She spoke quietly to him and he looked over at George’s group with a scowl. Then he stood up and came over to them.
He was short and square-shaped, with a nose like a turnip. He walked like a bulldog and his uniform displayed a number of small coloured patches signifying various awards and achievements.
“This is Commander Ferguson,” announced Parker to the group. “He’s in charge of all operations at Berners-Lee.”
She turned to the Commander. “I’ve just been giving them the tour, sir. They’ve been asking some very interesting questions. They’re a bright bunch of kids.”
Commander Ferguson stared at George’s group in silence for a moment. “Bright bunch of kids, yes,” he said in a deep voice. “Kids. I don’t approve of kids being on my space station. When colonists’ ships dock here, I tell them to keep their children on board their vessels. Can’t have ’em running about. This is a serious scientific establishment.”
“Oh, we’re very serious about science,” said George. “That’s why we’re here.”
Commander Ferguson leaned forward, until his face was almost level with George’s. George could smell aftershave. “We’re very serious about science… sir,” said the Commander quietly.
“Sorry. We’re very serious about science, sir.” George gulped nervously.
The Commander straightened up again. “I run a tight ship, and I expect everyone on this station to obey the rules and to do things by the book. Is that clear?”
“Yes,” said George’s group. “Yes, sir!” they quickly corrected themselves. Mr Snodbury dabbed sweat from his forehead with a cotton handkerchief.
The Commander continued: “And obeying the rules and doing things by the book does not include wearing promotional headgear.” He pointed at Josh’s, Amira’s and Dwayne’s MaxiBoost baseball caps. George’s cap was still sliding around on his head. All four of them whipped their caps off and stuffed them into their pockets.
“This is a MegaZone Corporation facility,” said the Commander. “I will not have MaxiBoost logos on my station. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir,” said the four pupils quickly.
The Commander turned to Jane Parker. “What were you thinking, Parker, letting them walk around like that? You should know better.”
“Yes, sir, sorry, sir,” said Parker, going red.
“If anyone from MegaZone head office had been here, this could have started another trade war. Now get them all out of here. Kids! Huh!”
While the Commander had been telling Parker off, George had noticed something unusual on the Commander’s touchscreens. A small progress bar was creeping to the right, and changing colour from green to red.
“Umm, Commander,” said George, putting up his hand hesitantly, “you’ve got a problem in Number 2 fusion reactor.”
Commander Ferguson looked over his shoulder at the screen. “Are you trying to tell me my job, boy?”
“No, of course not,” said George quietly. “I just thought you ought to know. Doesn’t that show an overload alert?”
“It shows a minor imbalance, boy,” spluttered the Commander. “Do you think I don’t know my own readouts? Get this child out of here, Parker!”
“Yes, sir.”
“I think George is right,” said Amira. “We’ve all studied this station in class. That indicator is moving too fast to be a minor imbalance.”
“It is moving very quickly, sir,” said Parker.
The Commander marched over to the screen and began to adjust various settings. “Soon have it sorted out,” he barked. “No need to panic.”
Parker frowned. “What could possibly cause the reactor to suddenly –?”
She never finished her sentence. Suddenly, a violent jolt rocked the entire space station. Everyone in the Control Centre was knocked off their feet. From somewhere deep within the station came a rumbling sound.