It’s desperation. I have come this far, and I’m not going to let an imaginary fence—however realistic—stand in my way. I look up the road for cars; there are none and I grab Ramzy’s wrist and we run at the fence.

“Head down, eyes shut!” I yell, and at the moment we’ve crossed the road and are about to hit the fence, I feel Ramzy’s wrist twist free of my grip.

“No!” he shouts, but I’m going too fast to stop myself and as I hit the wire fence, I feel a shock go through my whole body like a million cans of fizzy drink being opened inside me at once. I feel myself hit the hard ground and I scream out in pain at the shock and the impact, but…

I know the fence didn’t stop me. I kept moving when I should have been stopped in my tracks.

I can’t focus my vision and there’s a ringing in my ears, but I sit up, look back, and there’s Ramzy on the other side of the fence.

My heart is thudding in my chest, and there’s a pain behind my eyes, but I’ve made it! I start to laugh. “Come on, Ramzy: you can do it too. It hurts but it’s OK!”

“I can’t,” he says. “There’s something wrong with my helmet. Everything keeps going black, like I’m back in the dome.”

“Just do it!” I urge.

He bites his lip and nods, taking a step back to build his run-up. Then there’s a voice. “Hey, you! What are you doing? Who are you talking to?”

I look around, and there’s a soldier approaching on my side of the wire, holding a big black rifle across his chest. He’s talking to Ramzy and hasn’t seen me. I slink behind an oil drum and crouch down.

“This is a protected government facility,” says the soldier. “Just what on earth are you doing?”

“J-just looking,” says Ramzy.

“Just looking? What is there to see, son?”

“Erm…nothing.”

“Dead right. Nothing. So get lost. Go on—off with you.”

I can hear Ramzy’s footsteps retreating, then a distant shout. “Good luck, Georgie!”

“Less of your cheek!” shouts the soldier. “Keep going, son. Don’t stop till you get home!” I hear the soldier talking to someone in his headset. “Some kid on the perimeter fence, sir…Nah, fence intact, no threat…Righto, sir…”

He goes back the way he came, and I wait a few minutes before I whisper, “Dr. Pretorius? Can you hear me?”

Nothing.

A bit louder now: “Dr. Pretorius? Ramzy?” I wiggle my earpieces but nothing happens. I can still hear the noises around me, but nothing from Dr. Pretorius or Ramzy.

A wave of fear passes through me, and I tell myself, It’s OK. You’re still in the dome studio.

But without proper communication, it’s impossible to feel certain. I tell myself to relax, to stay calm. That Dr. Pretorius will be working on a solution. It’s just a slight technical glitch caused when I went through the fence and…something happened.

But I also know that I’m on my own. On my own in the future, surrounded by armed soldiers and running out of time.