Kirsty glared at him. She generally glared. It was hernormal expression.

'When we go to sleep ... I mean, when I go tosleep I'll try and wake up inside the ship,' he said.

'How?'

'I don't know! By concentrating, I suppose.'

She leaned forward. For the first time since he'd mether, she looked concerned.

'You don't look capable of thinking straight,' shesaid.

'I'll be all right.'

Johnny stood up.

In Space, No-one Is Listening Anyway

And woke up.He was lying down on something hard. There wassome sort of mesh just in front of his eyes. He staredat it for a while.There was also a faint vibration in the floor, and adistant background rumbling.

He was obviously back in game space, but he cer-tainly wasn't in a starship

The mesh moved.

The Captain's face appeared over the edge of themesh, upside down.

'Johnny?'

'Where am I?''You appear to be under my bed.'He rolled sideways.'I'm on your ship?''Oh, yes.''Right! Hah! I knew I could do it...'He stood up, and looked around the cabin. It wasn'tvery interesting. Apart from the bed, which was undersomething that looked like a sun-ray lamp, there wasonly a desk and something that was probably a chair ifyou had four back legs and a thick tail.On the desk were half a dozen plastic aliens. Therewas also a cage with a couple of long-beaked birds init. They sat side by side on their perch and watchedJohnny with almost intelligent eyes.

Right. Sigourney was right. He did think better ingame space. All the decisions seemed so much clearer.

OK. So he was on board. He'd rather hoped to beoutside the cabin the Captain was locked in, but this wasa start.

He stared at the wall. There was a grille.

'What's that?' he said, pointing.

'It is where the air comes in.

Johnny pulled at the grille. There was no veryobvious way of removing it. If it could be removed, thehole behind it was easily big enough for the Captain.Air ducts. Well, what did he expect?

'We've got to get this off,' he said. 'Before some-thing dreadful happens.'

'We are imprisoned,' said the Captain. 'What morecan happen that is dreadful?'

'Have you ever heard the name ... Sigourney?' saidJohnny cautiously.

'No. But it sounds a lovely name,' said the Captain.'Who is this Sigourney?'

'Well, if she can dream her way here as well, thenthere's going to be trouble. You should see the picturesshe's got on her walls.'

'What of?'

'Um. Aliens,' said Johnny.

'She takes a very close interest in alien races?' said theCaptain happily.

'Um. Yes.' The mere thought of her arrival madehim pull urgently at the grille. 'Um. There's some-thing on the inside ... and I can't quite get my handthrough . .

The Captain watched him with interest.

'Something like wingnuts,' grunted Johnny.

'This is very instructive,' said the Captain, peeringover his shoulder.

'I can't get a grip!'

'You wish to turn them?'

'Yes!'

The Captain waddled over to the table and openedthe bird cage. Both of the birds hopped out on to herhand. The Captain said a few words in ScreeWee; thebirds fluttered past Johnny's head, squeezed throughthe mesh, and disappeared. After a second or two heheard the squeak-squeak of nuts being undone.

'What were they?' he said.

'Chee,' said the Captain. 'Mouth birds. You under-stand?' She opened her mouth, revealing several rowsof yellow teeth. 'For hygiene?'

'Living toothbrushes?'

'We have always had them. They are... traditional.Very intelligent. Bred for it, you know. Clever things.They understand several words of ScreeWee.'

The squeaking went on. There was a clonk, and a nutrolled through the mesh.

The panel fell into the room

Johnny looked at the hole.

'0-kay,' he said uncertainly. 'You don't know whereit goes, do you?'

'No. There are ventilation shafts all over the ship.Will you lead the way?'

'Um-'

'I would be happy for you to lead the way,' said theCaptain.

Johnny stood on the bed and crawled into the hole.It went a little way and then opened on to a bigger shaft.

'All over the ship?' he said.

'Yes.'

Johnny paused for a moment. He'd never liked nar-row dark spaces.

'Oh. Right,' he said.

Kirsty's mother put down the phone.

'There's no-one answering,' she said.

'I think he said his father works late and his mothersometimes works in the evening,' said Kirsty. 'Any-way, the doctor said he's basically all right, didn't she?He's just run down, she said. What was the stuff shegave him?'

'She said it'd make him sleep. He's not gettingenough sleep. Twelve-year-old boys need a lot of sleep.'

'I know this one does,' said Kirsty.

'And you said he's not eating properly. Where didyou meet him, anyway?'

'Um,' Kirsty began, and then smiled to herself. 'Outand about.'

Kirsty's mother looked worried.

'Are you sure he's all there?'

'He's all there,' said Kirsty, climbing the stairs. 'I'mnot sure that he's all here, but he's certainly all there.'

She opened the door of the spare room and looked in.Johnny was fast asleep in a pair of her brother's pyjamas.He looked very young. It's amazing how young twelveis, when you're thirteen.

Then she went to her own bedroom, got ready forbed, and slid between the sheets.

It was pretty early. It had been a busy evening.

He was a loser. You could tell. He dressed like a loser.A ditherer. Someone who said 'um' a lot, and wentthrough life trying not to be noticed.

She'd never done that. She'd always gone through lifeas if there was a big red arrow above the planet,indicating precisely where she was.

On the other hand, he tried so hard

She'd bet he'd cried when ET died.

She pushed herself up on one elbow and stared at themovie posters.

Trying wasn't the point.

You had to win. What good was anything if youdidn't win?

'Stuck? You're an alien,' said Johnny. 'Aliens don't getstuck in air ducts. It's practically a well-known fact.'

He backed into a side tunnel, and turned around.'I am sorry. It occurs to me that possibly I am thewrong type of alien,' said the Captain. 'I can gobackwards, but I am forwardly disadvantaged.'

'OK. Back up to that second junction we passed,'said Johnny. 'We're lost, anyway.

'No,' said the Captain, 'I know where we are. It sayshere this is junction ~ ~ e .'

'Do you know where that is?'

'No.'

'I saw a film where there was an alien crawlingaround inside a spaceship's air ducts and it could comeout wherever it liked,' said Johnny reproachfully.

'Doubtless it had a map,' said the Captain.

Johnny crawled around a corner and found . .another grille.

There didn't seem to be any activity on the other sideof it. He unscrewed the nuts and let it fall on to thefloor.

There was a corridor. He dropped into it, thenturned and helped the Captain through. ScreeWeemight have descended from crocodiles, but crocodilespreferred sandbanks. They weren't very good at crawl-ing through narrow spaces.

Her skin felt cold and dry, like silk.

There were no other ScreeWee around.

'They're probably at battle stations,' said Johnny.

'We're always at battle stations,' said the Captainbitterly, brushing dust off her scales. 'This is corridor~. Now we must get to the bridge, yes?'

'Won't they just lock you up again?' said Johnny.

'I think not. Disobedience to properly constitutedauthority does not come easily to us. The GunneryOfficer is very ... persuasive. But once they see thatI am free again, they will give in. At least,' the Captainadded, 'most of them will. The Gunnery Officer mayprove difficult. He dreams of grandeur.'