Free Airlock by Simon Cheshire Page B

“gather up all your stuff.”
    â€œMr Snodbury,” protested George, “Dwayne just ripped my baseball cap!”
    â€œNow now, George,” muttered Mr Snodbury, steadying himself against the seats and looking like he was doing his best to fight back another wave of sickness.
    George glared at Dwayne. Dwayne pulled a ha-ha face at George.
    All the passengers shuffled forwards towards the exit, bags and knees bumping. As he approached the airlock joining the shuttle to the space station, George could smell the cool, filtered air pumped out by the station’s Atmosphere Purifier.
    He felt nervous and excited all over again. Above the exit was a glowing display screen which said: “Thank you for travelling MaxiBoost Spaceways, which is not part of MegaZone Corporation in any way, never has been, never will be, because that lot are rubbish. Have a nice day. Local time is… 11:20am, May 13, 2125.”
    George couldn’t wait to actually set foot on a real space station. It was a dream come true.
    Little did he know that, within hours, his dream would become a nightmare.

Chapter Two

The Commander
    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 thisspace 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.
    â€œWhat’s all that about?” whispered Josh.
    â€œCompany 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?”
    â€œMegaZone built this station, didn’t they?” said George.
    â€œYes,” 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.
    â€œHello, I take it you’re the group from CentralCity Primary School?” she said, in a voice as smart as her uniform.
    â€œThat’s right,” said Mr Snodbury, shaking her hand. “These are the four Year 6 pupils who’vescored 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.
    â€œI’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.
    â€œWe’ll start the tour at the crew