‘That’s something, I guess.’
Peg yawned and stretched. ‘I’m starving. Shall I get some take-out from downstairs?’
It was getting dark outside. Peg was stretched out on the couch, one eye on a baseball game playing on the com-screen, the other on a maths problem he was working on for college. I was reading a fashion magazine that Lyra had left behind, despite the fact that fashion had never interested me. I dropped the magazine on the floor and checked to see if Peg was still working.
‘I can put something else on,’ he said, when he caught me looking at him. ‘I can find out the score later.’
I shook my head. ‘I should probably leave, anyway. You’ve got work to do.’
Peg dropped his essay on the floor and sat up. ‘I’ll drive you. I need a break from the mathematics of portal creation – it makes my head hurt. I can drop by the shipyard on my way back.’
‘What exactly is your job?’ I asked.
Peg stood up and stretched. ‘Why don’t I show you?’
His car was parked a couple of streets away, wedged between a fire hydrant and large recycling container.
He checked his rear-view mirror and groaned. ‘Belt up. We’re going to need to lose that lot.’
I turned around just as a camera flashed. Stupidly, I’d left the baseball cap at Peg’s.
‘How did they find out where you live?’ I asked.
‘I guess it was only a matter of time.’
He whipped around the corner and took several quick turns, navigating the back streets of Lakeborough rapidly. Once he was sure that no one was on our tail, Peg headed for the highway out of town, the same highway that led to the Space and Time Institute. The large building glimmered under its lights, a white fortress against the dark sky.
Peg turned off the highway a couple of miles out of town and we drove along a single lane road that was surrounded by trees.
‘I promise you, this is going to be the most spectacular thing you have ever seen or done in your life,’ he said.
‘You seem very confident.’
‘If you’re not blown away, you have no soul.’
A few minutes later we pulled up to a security checkpoint. Peg handed over a pass.
‘Can I get a visitor’s pass for my friend?’ he asked. ‘I’m gonna put in some flight time. She’ll be in the viewing area.’
The woman glanced at me and passed over a lanyard with a bright red Visitor sign hanging from it. ‘Wear this at all times,’ she said.
He continued driving, slowly, our windows wound down. The road was narrow and we were surrounded by trees, their trunks gently creaking in the light breeze.
‘This is where you work?’
‘Yeah. I’m going to take you to the repair yard. I’m training to be an engineer. One of the perks is that I get some flight time. It helps to supplement the time I get at the Academy. The Elite students get most of the flight time there. This helps me to keep up.’
The road split and he took the left turn. We passed a sign that said Repairs and kept driving.
‘This place is huge,’ I said.
‘Nearly there.’
A couple of minutes later he parked the car next to an ugly concrete office block. A large sign said All visitors must report to reception and remain in the building at all times.
‘Let’s go,’ said Peg, locking the car.
He started walking across the yard, a torch in his left hand lighting the ground in front of him.
‘Shouldn’t I report to the reception?’ I asked, pointing at the sign.
‘Technically. But then you wouldn’t get to see the ship I’ve been working on.’ He grabbed my arm. ‘Come on.’
‘Won’t we get seen?’
‘No. This place is huge. All the important equipment is at the front near security. Out here, it’s just old ships, waiting for repair or to be sold for parts.’
We jogged across the yard until we reached a gate in a metal fence. Peg swiped his ID card through the gate key reader. At once, it swung open.
‘I can’t afford to get in any trouble,’ I said.
‘Stop worrying. I’m allowed to be here. And no one knows that you’re here.’
We entered another yard, Peg’s torch beam illuminating several ships until he found the one he wanted. They were all about the size of a small bus. The one Peg selected was gunmetal grey, and shaped like a giant bug.
‘This is a lovely little ship,’ he said. ‘Known in the trade as a space hopper, because she’s only used for little hops to the Inter-Planetary Spaceport. She’s still got lots of life left in her. I spent the last six weeks helping the engineer tweak her engines. Isn’t she lovely?’
‘I guess,’ I said.
I couldn’t even identify a car beyond its colour; did he really think I would get excited about a hunk of grey metal?
Peg pressed a button and a hatch opened up. A small metal stairway slowly lowered to the ground.
‘After you,’ he said.
I climbed up the clangy metal steps to the hatch. Inside was a small cockpit with two seats. Behind the cockpit were several rows of seats, facing forward like on a bus. It was much bigger than the time-ship.
‘Where should I sit?’
‘Right up front. You can be my co-pilot.’
Peg pulled himself through the hatch and sat next to me in the cockpit. He pressed a button and the stairs collapsed and tucked themselves inside the ship. Another button closed the hatch.
‘You ready for the best ride of your life?’
‘You’re not really going to fly this thing are you?’
Peg smiled. ‘You surely don’t think I brought you here just to show you the ship I’ve been working on?’
‘But won’t people see? I mean, this is a spaceship. Won’t it have fire and flames and lots of noise?’
Peg looked at me as though I was insane. ‘Fire and flames? I hope not. If this thing sets alight, I’ve seriously messed up its engines.’
‘But, on the TV, when rockets and spaceships lift off . . .’
‘Ahh, the tee vee,’ said Peg with a smile. ‘It has a lot to answer for. There’s no fire or flames or rockets involved in a twenty-second century spaceship.’
‘You’re sure we won’t be seen?’
‘Of course we’ll be seen. I’m allowed to do this. I’m just not qualified to take passengers yet.’
‘Where are we going?’
‘Wait and see.’
‘Is it safe?’
Peg didn’t even bother to answer the last question. He pulled on a headset and began speaking to someone. He listed coordinates and tapped away at buttons on the console.
‘OK,’ he said, turning to me. ‘We’re cleared for a twenty-minute flight. Are you strapped in?’
I nodded and took some deep breaths.
He tapped away at some more buttons on the console, and moved a big, cross-shaped controller. I felt the ship vibrate in the same way the time-ship had. The world outside was all darkness, but even so, I had the strangest sensation of moving backwards, which I knew was impossible as there was a big shed behind us. And then I felt we were moving forwards. A tiny beam appeared in front of us, like a pinprick of light at the end of a long dark tunnel. We moved rapidly towards it.
‘Where are we going?’ I asked.
‘Not very far,’ said Peg. ‘Just far enough to give you a magnificent view.’
The pinprick of light at the end of the tunnel grew wider and larger until it filled the view in front of the cockpit window. Just as quickly as it grew, it shrank and then disappeared into nothing.
‘Where are we?’ I asked. I couldn’t keep the unsteadiness out of my voice. Peg was only eighteen. He was still studying engineering and just a little earlier he’d told me that portal mathematics made his head hurt.