74
75
your phone starts beeping. You 
crouch down behind an equipment 
cabinet and answer it. There on the 
screen is Sasha.
“Hey, Sasha. I’m nearly with you. Are you ok?”
“Yes, I’m fine. Commander Hopper is just sitting 
quietly. I don’t think she’s any danger to me. I’m 
alright.”
“Oh, good,” you reply. “Do you think you should 
really be in there though?”
“I’ve got be. I need to co-ordinate everyone and tell 
Earth what is happening.”
You really don’t feel that it’s safe but you nod 
anyway. “Have they figured anything out?”
“Well, yes, actually. Kiran has been working 
with Earth and they’ve identified some kind of 
spacecraft in orbit. It is broadcasting a signal that is 
overloading the internet chips in the crew’s brains. 
It means that they can’t think like a human.”
You shoot upright, panicking for a moment, 
looking up and down the corridor.
SLAM!
At the second loud noise, you realise it is coming 
from the door. The supervisor must be throwing 
himself against it. It seems he doesn’t have the 
intelligence to use the button, but you decide not 
to hang around and risk that he figures it out. You 
look at the direction-signs and turn towards the 
mission control room. You start off at a run and 
immediately take off into the air and crash your 
head on the ceiling. Then you fall back to the floor 
slowly enough for you to brace for the impact. You 
thought you were going to get hurt but the impact 
is gentle enough that you don’t. Lunar gravity!
You take a deep breath and think. You kick off the 
floor in the way you were trained and gently fly 
along the corridor for a short while – almost as fast 
as running. You land and kick again. After a while, 
as you’re approaching the control tower, your fear 
starts to subside as you enjoy the feeling of moving 
like this. Then you gasp and almost crash again as 

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