15

Even though Greenstockings was successful in creating diversions for the crew, Flinders realized that it was not enough. The time had come, he decided, to initiate the next step in his plan.

So it happened that on a mid-morning when it was Richards and Back’s turn to bring in the next week’s supply of rations from the storage pods, the door to the access tube refused to open. Now, it was protocol on the Investigator that all doors remained closed unless in use. Back attempted to spin the door open again and failed.

‘It won’t open,’ he said.

‘That’s funny,’ said Richards. ‘Let me try.’

Richards, too, was unable to open the door. She turned to Back, but discovered that he had vanished. With his extensive experience of training accidents, Back had immediately fled to safety at the first sign of a malfunction.

Richards went to report the matter to Flinders. She passed Hood in the hallway.

‘What’s up with Back?’ he asked. ‘He just went flying up the corridor.’

‘The storage pod door isn’t working,’ she said. ‘Can you tell Flinders? I’ll talk to Back.’

Back had secured himself in the command capsule, and was prepared for the worst. Richards eventually found him strapped tightly in his seat and clutching an oxygen mask.

‘Hey, George,’ she said. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘I’m fine,’ he replied. But it was clear that he was very uneasy, and did not feel like a person at all.¹

‘It’s going to be okay,’ said Richards. ‘I’m sure it’s just a software glitch or something. Maybe we weren’t spinning it the right way.’

Suddenly, an alarm began to sound, and red lights started flashing along the walls.

‘I’ll be right back,’ said Richards.

She found Flinders, and the rest of the crew in the galley.

‘What’s going on?’ she asked.

‘We can’t open the other storage pod, either,’ said Flinders. ‘I’ve activated the emergency alert until we know what’s going on.’

Now, Flinders knew very well why the storage pods were locked. He and Barrow had decided that some slight malfunctions aboard the Investigator would go a long way toward relieving the monotony, and keeping everyone engaged. Flinders and Barrow had the doors to the storage pods locked.

The galley held enough provisions for two weeks. At the end of each week, the crew restocked the galley from the storage pods so that they never dipped below a full week’s worth of food in the galley. This was what Richards and Back were attempting to do when they discovered that the door wouldn’t open.

Barrow and Flinders allowed the drama to build for four days. By this point, everyone (except for Flinders) was very worried, and there was much talk of reducing rations and emergency measures. Back remained in the command module, except to fulfill his bodily functions. But on the afternoon of the fourth day, Back emerged. He was neatly groomed and smiling. He joked with Lu and Ge Ge, was dashing to Richards and Greenstockings, and even said a few encouraging words to Hood. This Back was so startlingly different from the nervous, hollow-eyed Back who had spent the last four days strapped to his chair in the command capsule, that most of them thought he had lost his mind.

Flinders wondered whether he hadn’t taken the whole thing too far, and immediately contacted Barrow to call off the exercise. Shortly after this, the engineers announced with great fanfare that the problem was solved and the storage pod doors were unsealed.