A gigantic flat cylindrical space shuttle with a height of five metres and a diameter of fifteen metres will be launching into space very soon. As Harry and Milo entered the space shuttle, they couldn’t believe their eyes. The interior of the shuttle looked extremely complicated like an unsolvable maze. The entrance led to hundreds of tunnels, the tunnels led to thousands of rooms, and the rooms led to thousands of compartments including the main control system, which led to millions of different control buttons. Harry walked straight to the crew compartment and was getting ready to test all the buttons and controls to make sure it would all be working properly before launching, whilst Milo struggled to get through the tunnels and quickly got distracted with all the different sized pipes hanging around the rooms. Milo started looking at each individual pipe, he found that each pipe had a different and unique code. The larger pipes have codes like A1, A2, B5, C4, while the smaller pipes have codes like T98, W106, Z132 and many more. Milo didn’t know what they were for, it only forced his brain to become more and more bemused.
Milo walked away to find Harry, not knowing he’s going in another completely different direction. Milo found a room with numerous ladders going up, he turned 360 degrees around and only could see ladders surrounding him. No door, no exit, no tunnel, nor any other rooms he could escape to. It looked like his only way out was to go up, however Milo had no clue on which one to choose. They all have the same height and width but each of them are also completely different in colour, design, and appearance. One was ragged bronze and was covered with sandy-like revolting dust, one looked like silver glistening diamonds, one had every colour in the world printed on the entire ladder, one had irregular triangular shapes printed on from top to bottom, one had an extremely maroon appearance similar to blood, one was painted of all kinds of food, one was plain old white, and one looked like a high-tech system. Milo's mind was incredibly puzzled right now, he didn't know which one to choose or where it would lead him to. But Milo needed to find Harry, so he thought the most new and high-tech one was the best one to choose. Milo grabbed the ladder with his right hand followed by his left foot, step by step he climbed up the ladder. It felt right to him, but little does he know it only led him to another different room.
This room was extremely dark, almost raven black except it was filled with gleaming navy screens across all the reinvigorated walls. Radiant neon white and blue lights were scattered across on the ceiling. Milo looked around him. On the left, there was a long rectangular table placed in front of the walls. On the table, Milo saw various types of equipment and gadgets that were mostly likely used for conducting scientific experiments. Milo was curious about the equipment on the table, he couldn’t bear not to touch one so he raised his left hand and reached for a glass tube. As he wrapped his hand around the glass and tried to lift it towards himself to get a better look, the glass did not move at all. Milo thought the glass tube was stuck, then he tried to pull it harder until a small screen popped up the word ‘LOCKED’ written with red capital letters. Milo thought this must be locked for safety purposes in order to have a safe launch and prevent glass from falling and shattering onto the ground. This time Milo was correct in fact all of the equipment and tools are locked and will need a code to be unlocked.
On the right hand side of the room, there were also many types of equipment, but this time it was much larger. At least ten times larger than the glass tube. These types of equipment were most likely used for conducting astronomy experiments. They were arranged from the smallest on the left to the largest on the right side. Starting from binoculars, to flashlights, to cameras, to microscopes, to telescopes, to refractors and much more accessories such as lenses, colour filters, telescopic eyepieces, and batteries. There was also an enormous chart of all the planets above Milo’s head. Again, Milo began getting super curious and really wanted to touch and feel these equipment, but he knew that they were all locked and better ensure he does not damage or reorder them. Milo ambled carefully to the middle of the room, he stood in front of the large round table that was shaped as an exceedingly flat and thin clear glass bowl. Milo looked inside the table. It looked kind of blurry at first. Then he saw many individual different maps with no words, no labels, and no hints of what they were showing. Milo guessed the maps might potentially be showing the parts of space and satellites, however he was still unsure about it. This reminded Milo that he still hasn’t found Harry yet. Harry, on the other hand, was almost halfway done testing the buttons and controls.
Milo was now tremendously desperate to find Harry. His eyes pounded everywhere around the room hoping he could find anything that could help him exit this room and find a way to get to Harry. Milo raised his head, looked up and stared into the display screen to look at more maps to see if he could find one that displayed this space shuttle. Somehow these maps also have no words or labels, which made it even more difficult for Milo to figure out what they were exactly showing. Milo’s eyes skimmed through all the maps, it looked like they were all showing either objects or places in outer space. None of these would help him get back to Harry.
Milo began to lose hope. He stretched his arms, bent his back forward, and laid his face flat on the table. He took a deep, strenuous sigh, closed both eyes, and made a wish from the bottom of his heart to somehow find a way to exit this room. All of a sudden, a beaming ray of green light illuminated on his face. What could it be? Milo thought. Milo slowly raised his head up and saw the beam of light was coming from the upper right corner. He trotted rapidly to that corner to see what it could be. At first he couldn’t see anything since the room was almost black as charcoal. As he carefully looked closer, it became more visible. He was now able to see a minuscule round button with the words ‘press me to exit’ printed on in sharp, capital letters. Milo hesitated. Then he slowly pressed the tiny button knowing it must be the only way to escape out of this room. After a few seconds, an electronic letter popped up in front of Milo’s face. He opened the electronic letter and read the following message:
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Dear whoever is reading this,
Congratulations, You have found the EXIT out of this room. This may or may not lead you to your desired destination, however this is the only exit you will find in this room and it’s also your only chance to exit this room. If you wish to exit, please say YES or if you wish to stay, please say NO.
Yours faithfully,
Hydro Y,
Automatic Computer Assistant.
After reading this letter, it made Milo eminently concerned. Milo is an extremely indecisive person, he hates making decisions on his own. But given this situation, he knew that he must find Harry before the space shuttle needed to launch into space. Milo also knew that he was running out of time and needed to make a decision very soon. Milo was unsure if this letter was telling the truth or not. He thought to himself, If I choose to exit, I will have a better chance to find Harry but it might also lead me to another unknown place. Or if I choose to not exit, I will be stuck here forever according to this letter but who knows if this letter is trustworthy enough. Maybe there might be a better exit somewhere else in this room and this might be a danger zone. Milo took a deep breath, then he blurted a loud YES. A few seconds later, a small proportion of the wall slides open. Milo knew this was the exit door, he gradually entered whilst he thought there was no going back. Milo could not see a glimpse of sight. The excessive amount of misty argentine air surrounding him drifted like piles of revolting clouds of anger. Milo walked forward trying his best to get out of the foggy atmosphere, simultaneously wondering where he was right now. Yet the fogg was still increasing, causing Milo not knowing that he was walking in circles.
Very soon, the foggy, obsidian air slowly faded behind Milo. Milo grabbed onto the closest handle he could see in order for him to stand more stable. He was now surrounded by wires connected to numerous storage cabins and electronic machines; it appeared like Milo was in another tunnel. Milo wondered if this tunnel would be able to lead him to Harry or not. His left hand reached an electronic machine beside him and he tried pressing the switch to turn on the machine. He switched it on and off several times, yet it seemed to be unresponsive, it just stood there as a blank screen. Milo’s frustration amplified.
‘Nothing is working, there’s no connection, no response, no maps of this space shuttle, there’s absolutely nothing working right now, how in the world am I supposed to find Harry!’ Milo shouted in anger.
However, Milo knew that shouting is not going to help him except only make him more furious. I need to keep trying and not give up, I will find a way to get to Harry no matter how long it takes. Thought Milo. With this mindset, Milo kept on walking through the tunnel. Milo walked in twists and turns, from left to right, up and down but he still could not locate Harry. In fact Milo is going further away than he thought.
Not before long, Milo had reached the end of the space shuttle where the main engine and tanks were located which was the furthest place he could be at according to where Harry was right now. Milo thought to himself, how am I going to find a way to get back to Harry's location? I don’t have any communication devices to call or message him. I hope I can soon find a way back, otherwise I would be stuck in this strenuous maze forever. Milo decided to double check the main engine and tanks to make sure they were all working and correctly in place, whilst also hoping if he could find anything that can help him get back to Harry. Meanwhile, Harry had already finished testing all the buttons and controls. He doesn’t know that Milo is lost near the main engine and tanks area. Hence, he thought he was ready to contact the crews to launch the space shuttle. Until there was a sudden ‘STOP!’ sound coming out of the announcement speaker. Luckily, Milo just found an electronic map just beside the main engine and tanks cabinet which also automatically sent a direct signal to the announcement speaker.
Milo opened the electronic map where he discovered there’s a giant red line through the map indicating a shortcut through the space shuttle. He quickly turned on the automatic voice activator and followed the directions back to Harry. On the way back, he saw about 5 cabinets similar to the one where he found the electronic map. Maybe these cabinets all have a map of this space shuttle. If I had found one of these cabinets earlier, I could have gone back to Harry sooner. Milo thought. Although Milo really wanted to check the cabinets, he knew that there was no time left and needed to get back to Harry as soon as possible. As Milo had rushed back as quickly as possible, he was nearly out of breath. When Milo saw Harry just a few metres ahead of him, he was beyond relieved.
‘Harry, I finally found you!’ Milo shouted.
‘Where have you been?’ Harry asked.
‘It’s a long story, I’ll tell you later. Right now we need to get ready for launch, am I right?’ Said Milo.
‘Yes, we need to put on our space suits first for safety requirements.’ Harry replied.
After Harry and Milo had finished putting on their space suits, they made their way to the flight deck. Harry sat on the pilot’s seat, while Milo sat beside him. They both pulled out the seat belts and secured them at the same time. Harry contacted the crew at Kennedy Space Centre, Florida.
‘We’re ready to take off.’ Harry commanded Mr. Johnson who was the head director at Kennedy Space Centre.
‘Okay, we will give you a countdown very soon. Space shuttle Boeing 9905 will be launching into space in three - two - one - zero. The space shuttle booster ignition and liftoff. Harry and Milo stared through the windows, piles of gas emerged from below.
‘How fast are we travelling?’ asked Milo.
‘We are now at a speed of 28,970 km/h.’ Harry replied.
‘That’s why the shaking and rattling is getting more immense.’ Said Milo. After approximately eight minutes, they entered complete blackness.