Out of this World

by Susannah McFarlane

  ‘SHINE Control, this is EJ12. I am now clear of space junk and approaching OS1.’

  Then she heard another beep but this time it was from her spacesuit. She looked down towards her stomach and could see that one of her patches was flashing. She pressed the patch and heard a digital voice, ‘Energy levels low—body nutrients required. Activate space food charm.’

  ‘Excellent,’ said EJ. ‘Lunchtime.’ She took her ice-cream charm and twisted it. The cone appeared and Emma spun the cone dial.

  ‘Macaroni cheese for me and,’ said EJ leaning down to activate Pip’s food charm, ‘dog biscuits for you.’

  Pip’s charm turned into a little dog bowl that dropped down from her collar. The biscuits floated up and Pip grabbed them with her mouth, just like she caught them at home when Emma tossed them to her. EJ had a little more trouble. Her pasta started to float out of the cone and up above her.

  ‘I have heard of take-away food but that looks like getaway food!’ It was IJ.

  ‘Good one, IJ,’ Emma said, laughing as she reached up and grabbed the pasta. Hmmm, that’s good!’

  Another beep sounded, this time from the flight deck. EJ checked the screens and could see she was nearly at the satellite.

  ‘This is Shining Star 1. I am at OS1 and ready to dock.’

  ‘Good work, Shining Star 1,’ said A1. ‘The docking station is on the left side of the satellite. Once docked, you will be able to access the satellite’s on board computer with your ship’s robotic arm.’

  EJ steered Shining Star 1 over to the left-hand side of OS1 and immediately saw a large circle in the middle of the satellite. She pressed the button marked ‘DOCK’ on her ship’s dashboard. A green light flashed as the ship switched back to auto-pilot and then moved sideways, coming alongside the satellite. There was a beep and then the green light flashed again and there was a whirring and then a grinding noise and EJ watched out the window as her ship locked into the satellite. Then a yellow light on the dash flashed: DOCK COMPLETE. Now EJ could see the computer access point. She flicked another switch to activate the robotic arm.

  ‘SHINE Control, this is EJ12. Docking is complete and I am commencing computer access.’

  EJ had no problem opening OS1’s computer access point. She simply guided the robotic arm above the door, locked it on, then turned and pulled. The door opened to reveal a computer screen. EJ grinned.

  ‘SHINE Control, this is Shining Star 1. Stage 1 computer access is complete.’

  ‘Good work, EJ,’ said A1. ‘Now, activate the key at the end of the arm and lock it into the keyhole next to the screen. When you have locked it, you can use the keyboard on your dashboard to access the OS1 computer. The SHINE password is LIGHT.’

  ‘Roger that, A1,’ said EJ. ‘Key activated and I am moving the arm into position.’

  EJ guided the arm over and then locked the key into the hole. She then keyed LIGHT on her keyboard.

  ‘Password entered, SHINE Control. Waiting for access. Stand by.’

  EJ waited. She waited some more but nothing was happening. The screen stayed blank.

  ‘EJ12, this is SHINE Control. Advise status.’

  ‘Nothing is happening. Hold on, wait a moment,’ said EJ as the screen flashed. ‘Something is coming on the screen now.’

  ‘Excellent,’ said A1.

  ‘I’m not so sure about that,’ said EJ slowly as she looked, concerned, at the screen on the satellite. ‘There’s another code.’

  EJ looked at the code and relaxed. It was more Moon Writing. SHADOW seemed to be getting a bit slack with their codes.

  ‘Shining Star 1 to SHINE Control,’ said EJ. ‘This code is Moon Writing. I will key the message into Shining Star 1’ s computer so you can see it as I de-code it.’ EJ smiled as she activated her code and quickly de-coded the shapes. As she saw the decoded message however, her smile vanished.

  ‘I feared this,’ said A1. ‘It seems that Professor Tekcor is playing games with us. It will be impossible to try to guess the password and we cannot risk making that download commence. EJ, we will need to shut down OS1. We cannot risk Professor Tekcor accessing all the SHINE data. Until we can find a way to stop her, our entire communications system is at enormous risk. We must put OS1 in shut-down mode.’

  ‘EJ, this is Agent TO. You will see a large red button on OS1 to the left of the screen. Please push that now.’

  ‘But won’t that mean SHINE can’t carry out many of its operations?’

  ‘Yes it does, EJ, but we have no choice. It is better that we can’t do some things than letting SHADOW see everything—and it will only be for a short time until you can find Professor Tekcor.’

  EJ guided the robotic arm to the red button and pushed it. OS1’s screen flashed and then went black. The small blinking lights around the satellite stopped, except one that now flashed red. OS1 was in shut-down.

  ‘Shut-down complete,’ said EJ. ‘Now I need to find Professor Tekcor but where do I start? She could be anywhere, except...’ EJ remembered something.

  ‘Yes, EJ,’ said IJ. ‘What is it?’

  ‘Remember back to the first message? She wrote “Tekcor Over the Moon.” Maybe that is where she is based. Is that possible?’

  ‘Go EJ!’ cried IJ.

  ‘It is possible,’ said A1. ‘She is certainly capable of building a space lab and...’ A1 broke off and for a moment there was silence. ‘EJ,’ continued A1, ‘we have just received images from OS2 which we are sending through to you now on the communications screen. I think they confirm your idea.’

  EJ waited, looking at her communications screen. There was a beep as images appeared, images of a small space ship, not unlike EJ’s except that it was black. EJ zoomed in on one of the photos. There seemed to be writing on the side of the ship.

  ‘SHINE Control, can you see what I see on the side of that ship?’

  ‘Roger that, Shining Star 1.’

  EJ could see the words clearly.

  SHADOW

  ‘I think we have found Professor Tekcor,’ said EJ.

  ‘And from the speed and trajectory her ship was travelling at, calculated by OS2, we believe that the rocket is heading for the Moon. But wait, EJ,’ said A1. ‘Our agent at the International Space Station has intercepted another message. Standby for transmission. It looks like it is in Moon Writing again.’

  Well this shouldn’t take long, thought EJ taking out her phone and activating her code app again. The message appeared on screen and she quickly worked her way through it. Okay, she thought, looking at what she had keyed in, maybe it will take a little bit longer. What she had written made no sense at all.

  They weren’t words except that is, for one, the last word of the message: ROCKET. That didn’t seem like it was in code at all but yet there was something about the word that reminded EJ of something else, another word.

  What is it? she wondered to herself. Why does it seem so familiar? If I just try to think back ... Hold on, back, backwards, that’s why! EJ keyed in the word ROCKET backwards.

  That’s it! ‘Rocket’ is ‘Tekcor’ backwards and if I am not mistaken the rest of the message will be backwards as well. Let’s see. EJ began to re-key the message again but starting at the right of each line and moving to the left. That’s better she said to herself. ‘SHINE Control, I am sending the decoded message through now.’

  ‘SHINE Control,’ said EJ. ‘I need to go to the Moon to stop Professor Tekcor.’

  ‘Roger that, EJ12. You can set the co-ordinates for the SHINE station on the Moon.’

  ‘We have a station on the Moon?’ asked EJ.

  ‘Yes we do,’ said A1, ‘but we did rather think that it was the only one there.’

  ‘Not any more,’ said EJ. ‘I am disengaging from OS1 and preparing for flight.’

  ‘Roger that, Shining Star 1.’

  EJ brought the robotic arm back into the spaceship and disengaged Shining Star 1 from OS1. She then pushed the rocket thruster buttons. As she heard the roar of the rockets
, EJ checked her screen and keyed in the new flight co-ordinates.

  ‘Look out, Professor Tekcor,’ said EJ, looking down at Pip. ‘Here we come.’

  EJ was now sure that Professor Tekcor was at the Moon but one thing worried her. How did Professor Tekcor know she was at OS1? And how did she know that she had shut it down? And, there was one more thing. Why did Professor Tekcor use the same code in all her messages? SHADOW never did that. It made their codes too easy to crack. It was almost as if Professor Tekcor wanted to be found. Why would she want that? There was something about the whole thing that made EJ nervous.

  On their approach to the Moon, EJ saw that her energy patch was flashing again. Time for chocolate and ice-cream, she thought. I could really get used to space eating. She activated her ice-cream charm and as she was about to have her first mouthful, she looked out the window. Her chocolate balls floated away from her as EJ stared out the window at an enormous, silvery, glimmering ball. It was the Moon, bigger and more beautiful than any picture could ever show. As Shining Star 1 travelled nearer, EJ could see there were lines and circles zigzagging across its surface—it looked like a glowing white beach where large raindrops had fallen, pockmarking it with craters. In a way, the scene hardly looked real. It was a little bit like watching TV in black and white. But the Moon was real, very real and EJ was about to land on it. She thought back to her project and the white polystyrene ball she had started using for the Moon and realised how she could make it now to make it more, well more Moon-like. But EJ couldn’t be distracted now. She needed to land.

  ‘SHINE control, this is Shining Star 1 and we have reached our destination.’

  ‘Good work, EJ!’ said A1. ‘Activate landing sequence.’

  ‘Roger that,’ replied EJ as she keyed in the landing codes for the ship that came up on the screen. ‘Landing sequence initiated.’

  ‘Once you have landed, you and Pip need to move to the lunar buggy within the docking station. You will use that to explore the surface and look for signs of Professor Tekcor.’

  ‘Won’t we float away?’ asked EJ, concerned.

  ‘No, EJ. The Moon has its own atmosphere so lunar gravity will keep you on the surface. And, using the robotic arm and space lead, you can take Pip for a Moon-walk: her tracking suit is especially designed to be able to detect any non-lunar structures.’

  Cool, thought EJ as she put her helmet on and then placed Pip’s helmet over the dog’s head. She checked her seatbelt and Pip’s and sat back in the chair as she felt the ship slowly begin to pull downwards. EJ watched out the window as the milky surface of the Moon came closer and closer. EJ could hardly believe this was happening to her—she was on the Moon! It was awesome! But she wasn’t the only one and, as she looked out over the craters and hills, she knew that somewhere out there was Professor Tekcor. And she had to find her, quickly.

  EJ and Pip were sitting inside the SHINE station in the SHINE lunar buggy. The lunar buggy was like an over-sized go-cart covered by a thick, plastic bubblescreen. Inside wearing her helmet and oxygen pack, EJ was strapped into her seat at the steering wheel. Pip, also in helmet and suit, was in a special capsule on the left of the buggy with a doggy-door flap at the front. Attached to the dog’s spacesuit was an extendable lead that led back to another robotic arm controlled by EJ inside.

  ‘Ready, Pip?’ asked EJ.

  Pip barked. EJ took that as a yes.

  ‘SHINE Control, this is EJ12 and PJ2. We are in the lunar buggy and ready to commence surface search.’

  ‘This is SHINE Control. Excellent work, EJ. You are clear to leave the docking station. You can activate the exit door from your dashboard.’

  EJ took a deep breath and pressed the exit button. The door of the docking station opened and EJ pushed the buggy’s starter button. Powered by batteries, the buggy was completely silent as she drove out of the station and on to the surface of the Moon. It felt as if she was driving on cotton wool because the buggy was so much lighter in the Moon’s weaker gravity than it would have been on Earth. It almost bounced along the surface. When they were well clear of the station, EJ pulled a lever to release the doggy-door of Pip’s capsule and then another button to activate the tracking system in Pip’s suit. A little green light on the suit confirmed the system was working. EJ laughed as her dog ran out of the capsule and began to bound across the surface of the Moon.

  ‘SHINE Control, this is EJ12 and PJ2,’ said EJ. ‘We are on the surface and have commenced tracking, although so far it is only us and a whole lot of Moon out here.’

  As EJ drove along she looked up and gasped in awe—in front of her was Earth suspended in space, hanging like a ball on an invisible string. She could see the blue of the seas and the green of the land. It was beautiful, almost impossibly so, but it was also a very, very long way away. EJ tried to imagine she could zoom in to where SHINE Control was, where A1, IJ and Agent TO were but it was hard. Even with Pip gaily bouncing along outside the buggy, EJ felt alone. Yet, more than 350,000 kilometres away, someone must have sensed how she was feeling. EJ heard IJ’s voice through her headset.

  ‘Hey EJ, this IJ. What keeps the Moon up?’

  EJ smiled. She could always rely on her friend for a joke to cheer her up exactly when she needed it. ‘I don’t know, IJ,’ she replied. ‘What does hold the Moon up?’

  ‘Moon beams, of course!’ cried IJ12, who then began to giggle. ‘But seriously, EJ, we are right here for you, all the time. You know that, don’t you?’

  ‘Yes, IJ, I do. Thanks,’ said EJ.

  ‘Okay, then, what can you see?’

  ‘I can see Earth, IJ. It’s amazing, it’s beautiful,’ said EJ. ‘But on the Moon, there doesn’t seem to be anything at all except craters and hills.’

  But then, through her earpiece, she heard Pip growl. She looked at her suit and the light was flashing. Something non-lunar was nearby. EJ looked out through the windscreen but she couldn’t see anything. Yet Pip’s growls were getting louder and the dog started pulling hard on its lead. As Pip started to bark, EJ thought she saw something behind a crater. She blinked and looked again but then it was gone—or had it never been there? Were EJ’s eyes playing tricks on her? Pip barked again and again and then EJ thought she saw something again.

  ‘SHINE Control, this is EJ12. Are there any life forms on the Moon?’

  ‘That’s a negative, EJ,’ said IJ. ‘There is no life on the Moon.’

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Absolutely,’ confirmed IJ.

  ‘So what is this little silver thing with a big head and four eyes looking at Pip?’ asked EJ, who could hardly believe her eyes. ‘Is it an alien?’

  Pip growled even louder and then, suddenly, the creature spun around and dashed away. Pip pulled hard on her lead and began to chase after it and EJ had to work hard to steady the lunar buggy as she drove to keep up with her dog.

  ‘SHINE Control, I don’t know what this thing is but it sure can move,’ said EJ.

  ‘Be careful, EJ, do not approach it, whatever it is,’ warned A1.

  ‘There is no chance of that,’ said EJ. ‘It goes much too fast.’

  ‘Can you try to get us a visual?’ said A1 and then, through her earpiece, EJ could hear loud beeping noises in the background at SHINE Control. And they were getting louder. Then she heard A1 and TO10 talking in urgently in the background.

  ‘IJ! What’s happening?’ asked EJ nervously still driving fast to hold on to Pip and not lose this thing they were chasing. ‘Is something wrong down there?’

  ‘Hold on,’ said IJ. ‘We’re just checking.’

  ‘EJ,’ said A1, coming back on line. ‘We have just had a report from our security centre. The news is not good. Caterina Hill has escaped!’

  ‘She’s not the only one,’ said EJ, looking desperately out the windscreen. ‘Pip has just broken the lead and is chasing that, that whatever it is. I need to follow her.’

  EJ sped after Pip and had nearly caught up when she saw her dog just metres
away from the strange silver thing. But then the thing began to spin around and around and rise up, hovering above Pip. Pip barked and leapt up, trying to reach it with her paws. Then the thing spun down into a crater and EJ watched, aghast, as Pip jumped into the crater after it.

  EJ had no choice but to follow. She drove the buggy up on to the edge of the crater and then toppled down onto the crater floor, several metres below. The buggy landed on its wheels and was fine and so, EJ was relieved to see, was Pip. The little dog was now pawing the thing that lay on its side in the corner of the crater. Was it hurt? Was it something that could be hurt? EJ edged closer in the buggy and activated its robotic arm. Gently she turned the thing over. On its other side she read the words engraved in its side.

  ‘Oh no!’ EJ cried. ‘It’s not an alien at all, it’s a robot! A Professor Tekcor robot!’

  And then, EJ started to put the pieces together: the hint about the Moon, the too-simple code and now the robot. Someone wanted them to be right here in this crater. And just as EJ began to understand, it started to grow darker in the crater. She looked up to see a roof closing over her.

  ‘Craters don’t have roofs,’ said EJ to herself. ‘Quick Pip, in here.’

  Pip ran back into the buggy capsule just as it became completely dark.

  ‘SHINE Control,’ said EJ through her headset, ‘this is EJ12, we have a problem.’ But there was no answer. ‘SHINE Control, this is EJ12. Can you hear me?’ Again, there was no answer.

  And then the crater ‘floor’ underneath her slid away and the space buggy fell, or rather was pulled down, deep down into the crater. It crashed onto a hard metal floor. Suddenly there was a flood of bright light. EJ climbed out of the buggy and stood up. She was looking straight at a tall woman in a black spacesuit and helmet. Through the woman’s helmet visor, EJ could see that she had incredibly smooth skin. And a very unpleasant expression on her face.