16
ARI POINTED. “Now you put this hose clip over here and thread this hose through.” His voice sounded muffled through the loudspeaker.
Melati did as he said, fumbling with the hoses in her gloved hands. The breathing unit was attached to the suit, but Ari had insisted that she learned to take off the pack and set it on the ground, change the tank and then put it back on again. “The hoses get tangled sometimes,” he had said. “It would be stupid if you died because you didn’t know how to do up your pack.”
The vacuum training room was unheated but still she was sweating inside her suit. Each time she sucked in a breath, it sounded like a storm.
“Ready? Now put it on.”
Melati heaved and managed to get the pack onto one shoulder, bumping the top of the tank into the side of the helmet. Ge
