03 Open Sesame!

Chapter 03 Open Sesame! “ The fourth M thing must be out there, ” said Annie. Beside the door was a button with the word OPEN on it. Annie reached for the button. “ Wait! ” Jack grabbed her hand. “ There’s no air on the moon. Remember?” “ Oh. Right. But we have to go out to find the M thing. ”

“ Let’s see what the book says, ” said Jack. He pulled the book out of his pack. He flipped through it until he found a page that showed the surface of the moon. He read aloud: It takes fourteen Earth days to equal one day on the moon. No air protects the moon from the sun’s rays, so daytime heat reaches 260 degrees. Jack looked at Annie. “ I told you our blood would boil if we went out there, ” he said. “ Yuck, ” she said. Jack read from the book again: Moon scientists wear spacesuits, which have controls to keep them from getting too hot or too cold. They have tanks, which provide air for two hours.

“ Where do we get spacesuits? ” asked Annie. She looked around then trotted back down the hall. “ Maybe there … ?” Jack was studying his map. “ Let’s try the spacesuit storeroom. ” “ Don’t look at the map, ” said Annie. “ Look at the real room! ” Jack glanced up. Annie was peering through a doorway off the hall. “ There’s a ton of space stuff in here! ” she said. Jack went to look. Bulky white suits hung from hangers. Air tanks, helmets, gloves, and boots sat in neat rows on shelves. “ Wow, it’s like the armor room in a castle, ” said Jack. “ Yeah, with huge armor, ” said Annie.

“ Let’s pick out the smallest stuff, ” said Jack. “ The suits can go over our clothes. ” Annie found the smallest white suit. And Jack found the next smallest. They stepped into them. Then Annie locked Jack’s air tank into place. “ Thanks, ” he said. And he did the same for her. “ Thanks, ” she said. “ Gloves?” said Jack. He and Annie pulled on white gloves. “ Boots?” said Annie. They each pulled on a pair of huge white boots. “ Helmets?” said Jack. He reached for a helmet. “ Wow, they’re pretty light, ” he said. “ I thought they’d be like knights’ helmets. ”

Jack and Annie put the helmets on. They locked each other’s into place.

“ I can’t move my head right or left, ” said Annie. “ Me neither, ” said Jack. “ Let’s try walking. ” Jack and Annie moved clumsily around the room. Jack felt like a fat snowman. “ Close your visor, ” said Annie. They both closed their see-through visors. Cool air filled Jack’s helmet. “ I CAN BREATHE! ” Annie yelled. Her voice boomed in Jack’s ears. “ Ow! Talk quietly, ” Jack said. “ We have two-way radios inside our helmets. ” “ Sorry, ” whispered Annie. Jack put the moon book back in his pack. Then he slung the pack over his shoulder. “ Okay! ” he said. “ Remember, we only have two hours of air in our tanks. So we need to find the fourth M thing really fast. ”