Earth Star

27

I’d lost track of what time it was in Earth Africa. Judging from Earth Rolling News coverage, half of Ark seemed to be working on a newly invented time zone that counted from the moment of portal lockdown, while the rest were caught up in massive parties and were too powered to care which way was up let alone what time it was.

Fian and I were lounging on cushions and eating breakfast, when Dalmora, Amalie, and Krath, with their retinue of hovering vid bees, came to join us. Since there was still no sign of alien warfare breaking out, it was time for me to start facing up to my personal problems.

‘Can you turn off the vid bees?’ I asked. ‘I need to tell you something private.’

The vid bee team gave me an anxious look, gathered up and packed away their little friends, and settled down to listen. Fian put his arm around me in a gesture of support that I appreciated but seemed to make the audience even more worried.

It was a struggle to speak but I had to. The whole class would find out about my problem with impact suits when we were back at the dig site. Team 1 were my friends, they’d be badly affected by what was happening, and they had a right to hear it first and from me.

‘There are some after effects from the accident.’

Fian’s arm tightened around me, while the other three exchanged glances. Dalmora, naturally, was silently elected their spokesperson.

‘We noticed something was wrong. You have to go back into hospital? More tank time?’

‘No, it’s not medical. Well, it is, but …’ I shook my head and made myself say it. ‘It’s simply that I’m scared.’

The other three looked startled, and Krath spoke. ‘I don’t blame you. I saw the mess …’

Amalie prodded him in the ribs so he broke off, and Dalmora spoke with paranoid care. ‘We understand. You don’t want to go back on a dig site?’

‘The problem doesn’t seem to be the dig site. It’s wearing a suit again. You know what the magnetic field did to the suit. What it made it do to me.’

Dalmora reached out a hand. ‘If there’s anything we can do to help …’

‘Thanks, but I don’t think anyone can help.’

Amalie frowned. ‘What about your studies? I mean, do you stay or …?’

‘Of course Jarra stays.’ Krath’s voice was fierce. ‘Playdon surely can’t …’

‘Playdon has been truly zan,’ I said. ‘He’s given practical certificates to me and Fian. He says we need to finish the theory side of the course but we’ve already done enough …’

I couldn’t say any more. Somehow their sympathy made this even harder. There was a moment of silence, and I realized everyone was looking up. I twisted my head around to see what was so interesting, and found Playdon had joined us. The man must be telepathic, because he always appeared when something was going on.

‘Judging from your expressions, Jarra has told you …’ Playdon looked at me for confirmation, and I nodded.

He found a spare cushion and sat down to join us. ‘In which case, you’ll want to know how this affects you as a dig team. I’ll replace Jarra as soon as we’re back at Eden. Fian will have three choices. He can drop out totally to stay with Jarra, he can be tag support for the new team 1 tag leader, or he can run a heavy lift sled.’

‘That’s not fair!’ Krath stood up and interrupted him. ‘You can’t just instantly replace Jarra. The rest of us can wait until she’s better.’

‘Please sit down, Krath,’ said Playdon. ‘If I delay doing this, if Jarra knows the rest of you are sitting and waiting for her to get back in an impact suit, it would just keep piling on the pressure. You’ve all seen the state she’s driven herself into over the last few days. Give her some peace to unwind, relax, decide for herself what she can handle and when.’

He gave that evil smile of his. ‘The main Asgard Pre-history degree course has a lot of optional subsidiary courses. I’ll sign Jarra up for one of those to keep her busy in the mornings. I want her to do some remedial work on the mathematical areas of the course as well. I’ve noticed she keeps avoiding the mathematical methods of analysing history.’

I groaned.

‘You can sign up both of us for a subsidiary course,’ said Fian. ‘If we get someone like Krath as tag leader, I don’t want to be anywhere near the dig site.’

‘Fian,’ I said, ‘you don’t have to …’

‘Shut up, Jarra,’ said Fian. ‘I’m stubborn, remember.’ He turned to Playdon. ‘You’ve met this problem before?’

‘Several times, though the triggering accidents were different. Magnetic hazards are thankfully extremely rare. You might like to talk to Rono. He’s been through this himself.’

‘Rono?’ Fian echoed the name in a startled voice. ‘I didn’t know.’

Playdon stood up. ‘It’s no secret. He wouldn’t insist on keeping that scar of his if it was.’

‘I’ve always wondered why he had the scar,’ I said. ‘It was from the accident?’

Playdon laughed. ‘Not exactly. Rono got the scar when he came out of hospital and Keren punched him. Newly regrown skin is delicate, so …’

I stared at him, totally grazzed.

‘Several of the dig site professionals have had difficulties after serious accidents,’ continued Playdon. ‘Cassandra 2 were very concerned for Stephan after his injury, but he seems unaffected. You can’t predict these things. I was prepared for trouble after Jarra’s leg was burned, but she had no problem at all then.’

Playdon wandered off to chat to one of the Earth teams and I gave Fian a bewildered look. ‘Keren punched Rono? Why?’

He shrugged. ‘Why not? I’ve felt like strangling you more than once.’

Krath gave a sigh of depression. ‘It’s not fair to replace Jarra,’ he said again.

‘Lecturer Playdon is acting in Jarra’s best interests,’ said Dalmora.

‘Well, of course you’d be on his side,’ said Krath. ‘You’re … ouch!’ He gave a reproachful look at Amalie. ‘Why did you hit me?’

Amalie just shook her head at him. Fian gave them an odd look and hastily spoke himself.

‘Playdon’s doing the right thing. Jarra pushes herself hard enough, without anyone else adding pressure.’

‘Well, I’m not stealing Jarra’s spot as tag leader.’ Krath threw his empty Fizzup cup in the direction of the nearest waste bin and missed.

‘That’s a relief,’ said Amalie. ‘You’d be a menace.’

Krath got up with exaggerated weary movements, put the cup in the bin, and sat down again. His lookup chimed, he looked at it and groaned. ‘My dad keeps sending me mails complaining about me being in Ark. He says staying here is pandering to Military propaganda.’

‘How does he expect you to leave?’ asked Fian. ‘Earth is in portal lockdown. You’d have to dig your way up through solid granite.’

‘My dad’s got no sense,’ said Krath. ‘It’s embarrassing to think I used to believe all the stuff he told me, and even help with his nardle vid channel.’

I pulled a sympathetic face. ‘My ProDad is awful too.’

‘I’m really lucky with both my parents,’ said Amalie. ‘When we’re out of Ark, I’ll need to ask Playdon if I can go home for a few days. I’ve just heard my oldest brother has been accepted for Colony Ten and I want to see him before he leaves.’

‘Colony Ten.’ Krath sat up, eyes wide. ‘Amaz! Where’s he going?’

Amalie laughed. ‘Kappa sector of course, but he hasn’t been assigned to a specific planet yet. He’s totally powered about being accepted, but you know the rules when Planet First clears a new planet to go into Colony Ten phase. Those first colonists can’t break quarantine for ten years unless they find something awful wrong with the planet. We’ll be able to call him, but we won’t physically see him again until after that.’

‘It’s a great chance though,’ said Krath. ‘Bonus payments for the first colonists are huge, especially if they have kids, and there’s the land grants and social status as well. It won’t be like being an Adonis Knight of course, but your brother will still be one of the Founding Families on his world, and that …’

Amalie swatted his head with the palm of her hand. ‘He’s more interested in the chance to get a wife than the money or the social rank. Colony Ten always puts 500 male and 500 female colonists on a new planet. Back home, there are ten unmarried men for every unmarried woman, so …’

‘You keep pointing that out,’ said Krath. ‘I’ve got the message. You just need to lift your finger and a dozen men will hurl themselves on their knees and beg to marry you. Couldn’t your brother just go to another sector and meet a girl there?’

‘He could,’ Amalie said, ‘but she might not want to go and live in Epsilon or Kappa, and he wouldn’t want to leave the frontier. Building a new world is special.’

‘You’re set on going back then?’ he asked.

‘When I’ve got my degree, yes.’

‘Nuke it!’ Krath threw himself back on his cushions.

I got the impression Krath and Amalie would be better off without an audience for this conversation. Dalmora was obviously thinking the same thing, because she stood up.

‘I’m playing bass guitar in the … the gig soon, so I’d better go and get ready.’

She headed off. I exchanged glances with Fian, and tried to think of a plausible reason for us to leave as well. Twin chimes from our lookups made me jump nervously and then sigh with relief.

‘Playdon’s sent us a list of subsidiary courses we could study,’ I said. ‘We’d better go and …’

‘He’s a slave-driver,’ said Krath, in tones of dark depression.

Fian and I headed back towards Area 6. ‘Why did Amalie hit Krath when he said Dalmora was on Playdon’s side, and why did you pull that face at them?’ I asked.

Fian sighed. ‘Because Dalmora’s got a crush on Playdon.’

I stopped walking, totally grazzed. Dalmora had never seemed interested in any of our classmates, but … Playdon? Surely not. Playdon wasn’t exactly ancient, he couldn’t be much older than Drago, but he was our lecturer! ‘You must be imagining things.’

He shook his head. ‘At first, I thought I might be, but since we got back from hospital it’s been pretty obvious. You were probably in no state to notice, but Amalie and Krath certainly have. Playdon’s noticed of course, he never misses anything, and he’s carefully avoiding having private conversations with Dalmora. You know how he’d feel about having a relationship with one of his students.’

‘He’d say it was completely inappropriate.’ I started walking again. ‘You should at least think about staying as team 1 tag support, you know. Playdon will be replacing me with Amalie.’

It felt odd to say those words, to picture Amalie taking my place on the dig site and Fian watching over her the way he’d watched over me, but the class needed a functioning dig team 1. If I couldn’t do my job myself, I shouldn’t complain about someone else doing it.

Fian frowned at me. ‘What makes you think he’ll pick Amalie?’

‘Because he offered you the option of running a heavy lift sled, and because he was considering her for team 2 tag leader at the start of the year. Amalie was struggling with the theory work back then, but she’s caught up now and …’ I broke off because there was a strange noise from somewhere ahead of us.

Fian frowned. ‘It sounds like the end of the world.’

‘It must be the band getting ready.’ There was a sudden random flourish of drumbeats. ‘Yes, it’s Rono and the Replays.’

Fian wrinkled his nose. ‘It’s ghastly.’

‘I think it’ll sound better when they’re all playing the same thing.’

‘Do we really have to go and listen to them play?’

‘Playdon’s been totally zan to me, so yes. We will go and listen to the band, Fian. We will smile and applaud madly, no matter how awful they are. Afterwards, we will tell Playdon what a great drum player he is. Is that clear?’

Fian saluted. ‘Yes, sir!’

‘Maybe I should start hitting you like Amalie hits Krath.’

When we arrived at Area 6, I paused to admire the musical instruments. They all looked like authentic copies of twentieth-century originals, except for Playdon’s drum kit. The set of wafer thin discs, each hovering in midair, were a blatant anachronism.

‘You look disapproving, Jarra,’ said Playdon. ‘I do have a perfect reproduction drum kit, but it’s very bulky so I couldn’t bring it to Ark.’

‘I understand the problem, sir.’

Fian and I went into our own room, and I sorted through the meagre selection of clothes I had with me. ‘I don’t really have any party clothes.’

‘I don’t think many people will dress up for this,’ said Fian. ‘Why don’t you wear the top that says you tagged me, and the trousers you’re wearing now? Underneath, you can wear that black lacy thing with the …’

‘It doesn’t matter what I wear underneath. No one will be able to tell.’

‘I’ll know what’s underneath.’ Fian grinned. ‘I can distract myself from the awful music by thinking how I’ll undress you and …’

‘I’m shocked. Deltans should be content with just holding hands.’

‘I’m a very bad Deltan.’ Fian proved this by watching me get changed before speaking again. ‘Playdon said something interesting earlier. You didn’t have a problem after being injured rescuing Solar 5, but you did this time. Any idea why?’

I led the way out into the main room. It was deserted now. The band must have gone to set up their equipment for the gig.

‘I was in a lot of pain both times,’ I said, ‘but the situation was different. This time, it was my suit hurting me, and I have to wear a suit every time I step on a dig site. Last time, the solar super storm induced an electrical current in old wiring and that interacted with the shields of Solar 5. Solar super storms only happen about once in five hundred years, so I’ll never be in that situation again.’

Fian nodded. ‘This must be the most eventful year in Earth’s history. A solar super storm, a crashing spaceship, and now aliens.’

I stopped. ‘Chaos take it!’

‘Jarra?’

I ignored him. I had to focus on my glimmer of an idea before it escaped. The solar super storm and the crashing spaceship happening at the same time wasn’t a coincidence, because one caused the other. What if the alien sphere arriving wasn’t a coincidence either? Stasis boxes somehow came into this too. People headed to other worlds in Exodus century, leaving farewell messages in stasis boxes. Eventually the power ran out, stasis fields failed, and …

I ran back into our room and groped in my bag, my fingers seeking the curved shape of my Military lookup. I’d just been sorting through my clothes, so of course it was right at the bottom. I found it at last, turned it on, and madly entered codes. Major Tar Cameron answered my call.

‘Command Support,’ she said.

I saw her expression of polite efficiency take on a frosty edge as her eyes flickered downwards. She could obviously see the top I was wearing, and she didn’t approve of me calling when I wasn’t in uniform. Didn’t the idiot woman realize I was with a whole crowd of civilians and had to hide the fact I was in the Military?

‘I need to speak to the Colonel urgently.’

Major Tar Cameron gave me the fake smile of someone who plans to be as unhelpful as possible. ‘I’m afraid the Colonel is …’

The image on my lookup suddenly changed to show Commander Leveque. ‘Nia is at Echo base with the Attack team, and the Colonel’s asleep, so I’m in command here, Jarra. Should I wake Colonel Torrek?’

Oh chaos, the Colonel was asleep. I hesitated. Fian was silently watching me with a panicky look on his face. Maybe I should have explained to him first, and spent a while thinking things over. My idea could be totally wrong, but …

‘Wake the Colonel,’ I said. ‘I’d better explain to both of you.’

There was a delay of several minutes before Colonel Torrek appeared, neatly dressed in uniform but looking rather bleary eyed. ‘Go ahead, Jarra.’

‘Sir, the alien sphere appeared only weeks after a solar super storm. My theory is that was no coincidence. Suppose the aliens came to Earth a very long time ago. Planet First has found two neo-intelligent races and put their planets under quarantine to allow them to continue their natural development. The aliens did something similar, leaving the sphere hidden somewhere in Sol system, and a device on Earth that we could use to communicate with it when we reached an appropriate level of technology.’

I paused. No one was saying a word. Were they thinking me a complete nardle? ‘We never found the device, the power cells eventually died, but then we had a solar super storm. It induced electrical currents in wiring and equipment on Earth’s surface, and gave the alien device a freak moment of power which sent a message to the sphere. That responded by heading to Earth, and now it’s up in orbit waiting for another message. It won’t get one because the solar super storm is over.’

Colonel Torrek spoke at last. ‘So the sphere is waiting for us to communicate, but not with random messages, with the specific one from an alien device that we never found. Where would that device be, Jarra?’

He wasn’t yelling at me for waking him up. He was taking this seriously. ‘The sphere is in geostationary orbit, sir, holding position over Earth Africa. Logically, the first place to look would be directly beneath it.’

‘We checked there already,’ said Colonel Torrek, ‘but not for this reason. We were looking for signs of an attack, but everything appeared perfectly normal and the sphere’s orbit was so far out from Earth that …’

‘The device would be underground,’ said Leveque. ‘Hidden and protected from damage. There would probably be a signal to attract our attention, but the power has run out. If it was buried thousands of years ago, any surface indications would be long gone.’

He paused. ‘When the portals are back, I’d recommend investigating this, sir.’

‘It’s the best idea we have at the moment,’ said Colonel Torrek. ‘How would we do this, Jarra? Military excavation methods involve blasting techniques, and we don’t want to damage anything.’

‘Archaeologists often blow things up when they’re working in the old cities abandoned in Exodus century, but with older, rarer remains, they do very delicate excavations. I’ve done very little of that, they don’t let school kids play around with irreplaceable ancient relics, but there are plenty of experts on the dig teams.’

‘We’ll want to keep this very quiet,’ said Colonel Torrek. ‘Your lecturer is Stasis Q, so he’s already taken the Security Oath and appreciates the need for secrecy in some areas. It would be simplest to call in people like him to help you with your excavation. If we get the sphere talking to us, it changes everything, but if we find nothing at all … ’

‘My excavation?’ I was grazzed.

‘They’ll expect the Military to be in charge,’ said Colonel Torrek. ‘This is your idea, and only you and Fian have the appropriate knowledge. The Military Academy sometimes sends cadets to the amateur dig sites for a week of practical experience working in impact suits and using lifting equipment, but that wouldn’t qualify anyone to lead this.’

‘Yes, sir, but I’m not qualified either. I’d be giving orders to experts who know far more than I do.’

Colonel Torrek laughed. ‘I do that all the time, Jarra. Do you think I have the faintest idea how Mason comes up with the numbers he tells me, or could match Nia’s scores in a flight simulator? The answer is no, but I don’t need to do their job, I need to do mine.’

He paused. ‘You know what needs doing, Jarra. You get the real experts to do it for you. If they hit a problem, or give you conflicting opinions, you listen and assess their reliability. You then decide whether to do something, to do nothing, to call in extra specialists, or refer the decision further up your chain of command. Simple.’

I was sure it wasn’t that easy, but I comforted myself with the thought that I’d only have to play the part for a few hours in front of some archaeologists, and I could depend on Lecturer Playdon to help me. ‘Yes, sir.’

‘We’ve got plenty of time before Earth is out of portal lockdown. We’ll send you a list of possible personnel and the data we’ve got on your excavation site before then. You can brief your lecturer now if you wish.’

‘Thank you, sir. He’s about to play drums in a music group, so I think I’ll wait until after that.’

Colonel Torrek smiled. ‘I’d heard there were huge parties going on all over Ark. We may have to let your recruits sober up before you start your excavation.’

‘Possibly, sir. Things are fairly quiet and well-behaved here, but I don’t know what’s going on at the other dig site evacuation areas.’

The call ended, and Fian looked at me thoughtfully for a moment before speaking. ‘Jarra, you’re going to be in charge of this excavation.’

‘Apparently, yes. I’ll need you to help me of course.’

‘It’s just …’

‘Yes?’

‘Surely everyone will expect you to wear an impact suit.’

I stared at him. ‘Oh chaos!’