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He took a step back from her, as one might retreat from a raving lunatic. ‘You told me your memory was returning...’

‘I was lying, to put you at ease, so that I could escape from this stupid Reminder Room.’ She opened the door. ‘Follow me. I’m going to show you something.’

‘No, you must stay in here. The film will help you get back your sanity.’

Sarah realised she could not make Mark follow her by force. She had to win him over through argument. ‘I’ll make a deal with you. I want you to see something that will help your sanity, and you want me to see the rest of this film. I’ve already seen part of it. Isn’t it my turn to show you something? Then, if you’re not convinced, I’ll come back here and see the rest of the film.’

He thought about that. ‘All right, but no tricks. And don’t try to escape.’

‘If this is a real space ship, Mark, I can’t escape, can I? Now come on.’

He followed her down the corridor to the main living area of the space ship. It was deserted. She crossed to the glass door of the flight deck. The un-manned controls were still moving in apparent response to the automatic pilot apparatus.

‘Come in here.’ She opened the door to the flight deck.

Mark held back. ‘We are under express orders never to enter the flight deck.’

‘Of course, because there’s something they don’t want you to know. Forget your silly orders and follow me.’

He went inside with her. Through the for’ard portholes they could see the infinite black vista of Space, studded with distant suns. Sarah put her hands under the outer edge of the control console and lifted it.

‘You’ll damage it! ‘ Mark yelled.

‘No I won’t. There isn’t anything to damage. Look.’

Mark looked into the cavity which Sarah had revealed beneath the control console. There was nothing there except a small electric motor that made the levers on the control console move. ‘You see,’ she said, ‘it’s all a fake.’

‘There must be some explanation,’ he said lamely.

Sarah let the panel drop back into position. ‘Mark, where exactly is this planet we’re heading for?’

‘The organisers said it was in another solar system, close to Earth.’

‘The nearest possible solar system to Earth is four light years away. If we travelled in the most advanced space ships developed on Earth, it would take hundreds of years to reach there.’

‘But one of our members invented a new space drive.’

‘You’re not a scientist, Mark. You would have believed anything.’ Sarah parted her hair to reveal the bump on her head. ‘See that? I got it just before I was kidnapped. If I’d been on this so-called space ship three months, it would have gone down by now.’

Mark looked confused. ‘I don’t know what to think. If we aren’t on a space ship, where are we?’

‘I think this is a dummy. It’s the sort of thing big stores build in their toy departments at Christmas for the kiddies.’

‘That’s ridiculous! ‘

‘Then I’ll prove it to you.’ She walked towards the door at the end of the flight deck. Across it ran the words KEEP SHUT WHEN IN SPACE. She put her hand on the lever. ‘I’m going out through this hatch.’

‘It opens directly into Space! You’ll be killed. All the oxygen will rush out of the ship,’ cried Mark desperately. ‘We’ll all be killed.’

‘The flight deck is supposedly airtight,’ she explained. ‘So go back through that glass door, close it, and watch me from a position of safety.’

Mark moved forward to grab Sarah. ‘No! I won’t let you!’

She started to pull the lever. ‘You can’t stop me. Once I pull this lever we’ll both be sucked out into a vacuum, if we’re really in Space. Get back. I’m going to pull the lever.’

Mark backed away reluctantly, and passed the open door to the main living quarters. Then he closed the glass-panelled door and watched.

Sarah turned her back on him. She didn’t want him to see her close her eyes and pray as she yanked back the lever. If they really were in space, the moment the hatch opened all the air would leave her lungs. Her lifeless young body would float away into a black nothingness, lost for ever.

Corporal Bryson had the classroom to himself. He idly glanced at the