“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. ”
“I hope we can find it,”said Annie.
“Me too,”said Jack. He knew they could not go home until they did.
“Let’s go,” said Annie. She gave Jack a little push.
“Watch it. No goofing off,” he said. “We don’t want to fall over in these suits. ”
“Just go—go!”said Annie. She pushed him out of the room. They walked back to the airlock.
“Ready?”said Annie. “Open sesame!”She pressed the OPEN button. A door slowly slid closed behind them. A door opened in front of them.
And Jack and Annie stepped out onto the moon.
3芝麻開門!
“第四個關(guān)于M的東西一定就在那里。”安妮說。
門旁邊有一個寫著“開”的按鈕,安妮伸出手想去按動按鈕。
“等等!”杰克拽住安妮的手說,“月球上可是沒有空氣的,不記得了?”
“哦,是啊。但我們總得到外面去找那個關(guān)于M的東西吧。”
“咱們看看書上是怎么說的。”杰克說。
他從背包里拿出書,翻到了畫有月球表面的一頁。他大聲讀道:
月球上的一天相當于地球上的14天。由于月球上沒有空氣可以隔斷太陽光,因此白天月球表面溫度可達到260華氏度〔注〕。
杰克看著安妮說:“我告訴過你吧,如果到外面去,我們的血都會被煮開的。”
“是啊。”安妮說。
杰克又繼續(xù)讀道:
月球科學(xué)家身穿宇航服,其中的控制裝置能保護科學(xué)家不致過冷或過熱。他們還備有氧氣罐,能保證兩個小時的氧氣補給。
“我們怎么才能弄到宇航服呢?”安妮問。她四周看了看,又跑回到走廊,說:
“也許是那里……?”
杰克則正在研究地圖,說:“也許我們該去看看宇航服儲存室。”
安妮說:“別看地圖了,看這個真正的房間吧。”
杰克抬頭瞟了一眼,看見安妮正往走廊另一側(cè)的一道門里瞅。
她說:“那里有一大堆宇航用品呢。”
杰克也跑過去看。
衣架上掛著一些龐大的白色宇航服。氧氣罐、頭盔、手套和靴子都整齊地擺放在架子上。
“哇,這簡直像是城堡里的盔甲陳列室。”杰克說。
“是啊,巨大的盔甲。”安妮應(yīng)和道。
“咱們來挑件最小號的吧。”杰克說,“這宇航服可以直接套在我們的衣服外面。”
安妮找了件最小號的白色宇航服,杰克則挑了件稍大一點的套了進去。
然后安妮幫杰克把氧氣罐固定好。
“謝謝。”杰克說著也幫安妮固定了氧氣罐。
安妮也回應(yīng)道:“謝謝。”
“還有手套?”杰克說。他和安妮都戴上了白色的手套。
“靴子?”安妮說。他們又各自套上了一雙巨大的白色靴子。
“頭盔?”杰克說著伸手拿了一個頭盔。
“哇,真輕啊。”他說,“我還以為會像騎士的頭盔一樣重呢。”
杰克和安妮戴上頭盔,并且相互為對方扣好了。
“我的頭都沒法往左右轉(zhuǎn)了。”安妮說。
“我也是。”杰克說,“咱們試著走走吧。”
杰克和安妮笨拙地在房間里來回走著。杰克覺得自己簡直就像是個胖雪人。
“關(guān)上你的面罩。”安妮說。
他們都關(guān)上了透明面罩。涼颼颼的空氣頓時充滿了杰克的頭盔。
“我能呼吸了。”安妮叫道。她的聲音對杰克來說簡直震耳欲聾。
“哇。小聲點。”杰克說,“我們的頭盔里有雙向無線電呢。”
“對不起。”安妮小聲說。
杰克把關(guān)于月球的書放回背包里,然后把背包背在了肩上。
“好了!”他說,“記住,我們的氧氣罐只能供兩個小時之用,因此我們必須盡快找到那第四個關(guān)于M的東西。”
“希望如此。”安妮說。
“我也是。”杰克說。他明白只有找到了東西才能回家。
“出發(fā)!”安妮說著輕輕推了杰克一把。
“小心點,別亂來啊。我們可別穿著這身衣服摔跤。”
“出發(fā)吧!走啦!”安妮說著把杰克推出了房間。他們一起向密封艙走去。
“準備好了嗎?”安妮問,“芝麻開門吧!”她按動了開門的按鈕。一扇門在他們身后慢慢地關(guān)上了。另一扇門則在他們面前打開了。
杰克和安妮邁步出去,踏上了月球。