He could tell, by the expressions of those around him, that this was the moment that separated the men from the boys. Until that helmet was seated, you were still part of the human races; afterwards, you were alone, in a tiny mechanical world of your own. There might be other men only centimetres away, but you had to peer at them through thick plastic, talk to them by radio. You could not even touch them, except through double layers of artificial skin. Someone had once written that it was very lonely to die in a spacesuit; for the first time, Tom realised how true that must be.
