‘Here’s a ramp. Come on. We can’t have much time.’

There was another passage below that, and another ramp, curling away down through the steam.

They came out in a room bigger than the bridge. There was a very large double door at one end, and banks of equipment around the walls. And, in the middle, standing on three landing legs, was a small ship. It had a stubby, heavy look.

‘There! See? What did I tell you?’ said Kirsty triumphantly.

Johnny walked over to the nearest equipment panel and touched it. It was sticky. He looked at his fingertips.

‘It hasn’t been here long,’ he said. ‘The paint’s not dry.’

A screen in the middle of the panel lit up, showing the Captain’s face.

‘How interesting,’ she said. ‘I look down at my controls and discover a new one. You have found your escape capsule?’

‘It looks like it,’ said Johnny.

‘We have ten minutes until we reach the Border,’ said the Captain. ‘You should have plenty of time.’

There was a whirring noise behind Johnny. The escape capsule’s ramp was coming down.

‘I found a switch on the landing leg,’ said Kirsty.

He joined her. The ramp was a silvery grey-colour. It gleamed in the misty blue light that streamed down from inside the capsule.

‘Can you guess what I’m thinking?’ said Kirsty.

‘You’re thinking: We haven’t seen the Gunnery Officer lately,’ said Johnny. ‘You’re thinking: He’ll be in there somewhere, hiding. Because this part is your dream, and that’s how your dream works.’

‘Only I’ll be ready for him,’ said Sigourney. ‘Come on.’

She sidled up the ramp, turning constantly in a series of small excited hops to keep the gun pointed at any teeth that might suddenly appear.

There were two seats in the capsule, in front of a very small control panel. There was a big window. There were a couple of small cupboards. And there wasn’t much of anything else.

Kirsty pointed to a cupboard and made a gesture to Johnny to open it. She raised her gun.

He opened the door and stood back quickly.

Kirsty seriously menaced a stack of tins.

She caught Johnny’s expression.

‘Well, he could have been in there,’ she said.

‘Oh, yes. Sure. Admittedly he’d have to stop to cut his arms and legs off and then curl up really small, but he could have been in there.’

‘Hah! Smart comment!’

‘Why not try looking under the seat cushions? It’s amazing what goes down behind them.’

Kirsty tried to prod behind the control panel without Johnny noticing. He noticed.

‘Maybe aliens don’t watch the same kind of films we watch?’ he said.

‘All right, all right, no need to go on about it,’ she snarled. She looked at the controls, and pressed a switch. The hatch swung up. The Captain’s face appeared on a small screen in the middle of the panel.

‘Eight minutes to the Border,’ she said.

‘Right,’ said Kirsty. She shoved a hand down behind her seat cushion, and then looked at Johnny’s grin.