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of the time she had tossed and
turned.
    On wakening, Sarah found to her relief that
the hold doors had been opened and the walls seemed to have been
moved in the corridors. Both ends were blocked off.
    “When did this happen?” She asked Alan.
    “About two hours ago. There was the sound of
machinery moving. Several minutes later the hold doors opened, one
after the other. It was all done from somewhere else. We’ve seen no
one. We have heard what sounds like engines and there has been some
sensation of movement but we aren’t certain. It’s a bit eerie. Not
what I expected,” he said feelingly. Sarah also felt uneasy. She
went off to explore. She saw they could mix with all those in
‘economy class,’ which was seven holds, but could go no further.
Their world was the seven holds and the wide corridor connecting
them. She saw no windows. She felt no sensation of movement. She
heard no sounds of engines, just a sort of hum. She felt
claustrophobic and it was smelly.
    She noticed that people were milling around
looking very uneasy and there were some problems. There was no way
to heat food or water. Sarah became the automatic leader simply by
organising and taking charge. There was no sign of Mathew’s Team so
she figured she was justified. She decided that the food should be
pooled, rationed and prepared, so it was. She saw to it that the
‘packs’ were handed over, cooks were volunteers but since most of
the food was just, ‘add water and serve,’ it wasn’t difficult. It
also wasn’t very interesting.
    The Alien food on tap, so to speak, was not
popular by itself but mixed in with strong tasting food or spices
it was fine. Sarah declared it was used as much as possible as that
stretched their supplies out. Sarah and Alan had decided not to
bring any of the old style gas bottles or any other type of food
heater as all could be a fire hazard, explosion hazard or smelly
and the latest chemical camping food heaters, being designed for
outdoor use, would be hazardous inside with questionable
ventilation. Not to mention very expensive.
    *
    Stella wandered through the seven holds,
looking around. There were several other children. She saw an Asian
girl who looked about 11 and several younger girls but none her
age. Turning back, she was approached by a boy, shy, very good
looking, blond, blue eyed and a bit shorter than Stella. He looked
about her age.
    “Hi,” he said with a faint accent, “Do you
speak English?”
    “Yes.”
    “Oh good. I’m Donny, I’m Swedish. My Dad’s a
Diplomat at the Swedish Embassy and Mum’s a Biologist. I’m 15.”
    “I’m Stella Black. American, from Vermont.
I’m 15 too. My Mum is a doctor and she was supposed to go to the
Antarctic.”
    “Was your Dad going to look after you?”
    “No he scarpered as soon as Mum got pregnant
with me. I’ve never seen him. My Mum’s parents live in New Zealand
and I was going to stay with them but as soon as I found out a baby
was going I decided I was too.”
    “Yeah same here,” he said with a grin,
“Simone’s real popular with the kids. There’s another boy our age,
Mahmoud, his Dad’s a scientist, Molecular Biology I think he said.
His Mum’s a doctor of something, I forget what. He’s 15 too. He’s
Indian but he speaks good English.” Donny waved and a good looking
Indian boy came over. He was slim, almost black, with a pure white
grin, mischievous eyes, quick moving and rapid speaking.
    “Hi I’m Mahmoud. My parents are scientists
and were both at Dunedin University doing a sabbatical. We were due
to return to India. Isn’t this cool?” The three moved out into the
corridor to talk and were later shyly approached by the small Asian
girl Stella had seen before.
    “Hullo,” she said using very good English,
“I’m Li. I’m 15. I’m from China, Shanghai.”
    Li looked just under five foot tall and like
a little doll. She had long straight black hair, worn loose. Stella
noticed it was even longer than her own