Frontier

  I held back a laugh. “Oh yes. I’m sure you’ll be very happy.”

  I hurried out of the kitchen door before she could ask any more questions.

  Chapter Seven

  When I reached the caged fruit area next to the house, I saw a black-furred moon monkey was working its way along the netting, carefully inspecting it in the hope of finding a way through to the ripening fruit.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked it sternly. “You’re supposed to be down at the almond field eating false fruits.”

  The moon monkey ignored me and tried chewing at the netting.

  I shook my head. “If you’re hoping to get yourself drunk eating apples, you’re wasting your time. Even if you managed to bite your way through the standard netting, the apple trees have extra reinforced caging round them.”

  The moon monkey still kept gnawing at the netting. I clapped my hands, yelled at the top of my voice, and it finally let go of the netting, gave me a reproachful look, and loped away. Naturally it chose to go in the opposite direction from the almond field.

  I sighed, let myself into the fruit cage, and picked some tangy blood-red fire plums to add to the lunch pail. The first of the apples were ripe now, but I’d need the key from my father to get into their special caged area to pick them. I was never very impressed with apples anyway. I didn’t think it was worth all the extra trouble and expense of growing them when native Mirandan fruits tasted so much better.

  My parents, like most of the people who’d come to Miranda as colonists, felt differently. Whatever world they’d come from, apples were a comforting reminder of their old home. As the old joke said, the worlds of humanity only had three things in common with each other. Apples, potatoes, and chickens.

  I let myself out of the fruit cage again, and walked off down the track to the almond field. When I arrived there, I was gloomily unsurprised by the fact that there weren’t any moon monkeys in sight. For a moment, I thought Captain Mobele wasn’t there either, but then I saw his bag and neatly rolled blankets near the remains of his camp fire.

  I went over to put the lunch pail next to the bag so the Captain would be sure to find it, and stooped to check I’d clipped the lid on tightly. If the moon monkeys did decide to visit this field, I wanted them to eat false fruits rather than Captain Mobele’s food.

  As I straightened up again, I saw a movement among the trees downstream, and Captain Mobele came into view. He looked younger than I’d expected, probably still in his mid twenties. He’d obviously been bathing in the stream, because he was carrying his jacket and tunic over his shoulder, and his black hair and skin were dripping wet. The moment he saw me, he stopped dead.

  I pointed at the lunch pail. “My mother sent some food for you.”

  He glanced at the pail, and nodded. “Thank you.”

  “Is there anything else you need? I could bring more blankets.”

  He shook his head, so I lifted my hand in farewell and turned to hurry back to the track. Word had been passed round the settlements that Captain Mobele belonged to Planet First, the section of the Military that prepared new worlds for colonization. He’d been hurt on his last mission, and had come to Miranda because he needed peace and quiet to recover properly. That meant he didn’t want people bothering him with conversations.

  I followed the track to the edge of my parents’ farm, turned right, and walked through the conservation zone. Once I reached Lone Tree portal, I sat down on a handy rock, took out my lookup and turned it on.

  I had to meet Rodrish Jain at River North 2 portal, and I’d never been to the River North area before because it was right on the other side of Jain’s Ford County. I could get there by portalling to Settlement Central and using the full model portal that could dial anywhere, but there was bound to be a cheaper route.

  The lookup display did its usual wild flickering before settling down and letting me check the local portal network information. My journey turned out to be very simple. I could portal from here to Mojay’s General Store, from Mojay’s General Store to River North Central, and from River North Central to River North 2.

  Two minutes, and two portal trips later, I was at River North Central. There was still just over an hour before I was due to meet Rodrish Jain at River North 2. Any boy who’d persuaded a girl to look at his farm was guaranteed to be at the meeting point early, but not quite this early. I could feel the dull ache that meant one of my headaches was starting, so I decided to spend a while sitting quietly by the river.

  River North Central portal was positioned on high ground because portals were too expensive to take any risks of them being damaged by flooding. I wandered down the path that led to the river bank, and sat on a convenient lump of weathered rock to admire the view. Reddish-green reeds grew along both banks of the river, their tops bursting out into feathery, scarlet seed heads. The river flowed peacefully enough at this point for it to be dotted with the floating leaves and golden fruits of water stars. Mirandan native trees didn’t like growing right next to water, but a couple of Earth willow trees were trailing their branches down into the river.

  My mind drifted to thinking about Captain Mobele, and the many, wildly varied worlds he must have seen. Any Military recruit would be trained on Academy in Alpha sector, before having a series of assignments on Military bases. Since Captain Mobele belonged to Planet First, he wouldn’t just have visited colony worlds in Epsilon and the older sectors, but worked on hostile, as yet unnamed worlds in the star systems of Kappa sector as well.

  I pictured him battling to make a lethal world safe for civilian colonists, wondered how badly he’d been hurt, and why he chose to camp in fields instead of accepting offers of hospitality at farms. Some homes, like ours, would be far too crowded and noisy for him, but there were plenty of single male farmers living alone in cabins.

  Cold water splashed over my feet. I drew them back, startled, then laughed as I saw a large, male Mirandan flying fish speeding out to the centre of the river. It took to the air, flaring its fins and tail to their full width. I admired its shimmering green and sapphire blue, as it skimmed low over the river for a full five seconds before landing in the water again.

  Another, much smaller, flying fish broke the surface ahead of it, this one hastily retreating downstream. Mirandan flying fish paired off and built nests for their eggs at the river bottom, and the males were fiercely protective of their shoal of babies.

  I turned my head to watch the retreating flying fish, and gasped as I saw something else swoop across the river and land on a nearby bush. It was a hummingbird, even pinker than the one Rodrish Jain had painted on the school dome, and with blue markings on its head and delicate, pointed beak.

  I stared at the tiny, feathered creature in awe. The only time I’d seen a bird before was on the family trip to Memorial. Before men like Captain Mobele made this continent safe for humans, there’d been savage, gliding lizard creatures here. They’d hunted all the birds into extinction, so they only survived on offshore islands that the gliding lizards couldn’t reach. Now the lizards were gone, the birds were gradually expanding their territory across the main continent again. They were already quite common around Memorial, and now they’d reached us in Jain’s Ford County.

  A second hummingbird arrived to perch next to the first one, and they made soft, chirruping noises to each other. A pair of feathered colonists arriving to repopulate the lost lands of their ancestors. They suddenly launched upwards and started darting round the bushes, hovering for a few seconds at a time as they licked up pollen from false fruits with eager tongues.

  I sat there watching the birds until quarter to nine. My headache had vanished by the time I walked back up the hill to River North Central portal. A heavily laden horse and cart arrived there just ahead of me. The driver jumped down from his seat, and called out to me in a cheerful voice.

  “If you’re in a hurry to get somewhere, you’d better portal now. I’ve got a whole cart of goods to send through.”

/>   “Thank you.” It was about five minutes to nine now, so Rodrish would be at River North 2 portal waiting for me. I went up to the portal controls, and reached out to select my destination, but the portal lights started flashing for an incoming traveller.

  I stepped aside to clear the arrival zone, and Shelby Summerhaze appeared in front of me. “Amalie!” she cried. “How surprising and delightful to meet you here.”

  I felt the meeting might be surprising, but definitely wasn’t delightful. I gave a dutiful polite smile.

  Shelby Summerhaze glanced across at the man with the cart. “You can go ahead and use the portal, Brendon. Amalie and I want to have a nice chat.”

  “I need to get home quickly to help with chores,” I said.

  “Your mother can spare you for five minutes.” Shelby Summerhaze went across to a nearby bench, sat down, and patted the space next to her.

  Brendon was dialling the portal, so I held back a groan and went to sit on the bench. Shelby Summerhaze turned to study me intently for a moment. I waited nervously, wondering if something about my appearance had made her suspicious.

  The portal was active again now, and Brendon was speaking into his lookup. “Tomas, are you ready for me to send the sacks?”

  I didn’t hear a response, but there must have been one because Brendon started unloading sacks from his cart and tossing them through the portal. You could take a well-trained horse through a standard portal, but a cart needed one of the hideously expensive freight-sized portals, and the only one in Jain’s Ford County was at the livestock market. To avoid a lot of painfully long cart journeys on rough dirt tracks, goods were often sent though a portal on their own. You just needed to arrange for a friend to be waiting at the destination portal, ready to load the incoming goods into another cart and take them on the final leg of their journey.

  Shelby Summerhaze finally spoke. “Whatever are you doing here at River North Central, Amalie?”

  I wished I could tell her I was on my way to look at Rodrish Jain’s farm and enjoy watching her reaction, but if I did that then the news would be all round Jain’s Ford Settlement within minutes. “I was meeting a friend.”

  Shelby Summerhaze pounced on my remark, like a predatory Mirandan weasel leaping on an unlucky panda mouse. “What friend would that be?”

  I thought rapidly through the people I knew who lived on this side of Jain’s Ford County, and chose someone I knew wasn’t speaking to Shelby Summerhaze. “Rina.”

  Shelby Summerhaze frowned at the mention of Rina, and abruptly changed from interrogation to attack. “Now that all your friends are married, it’s high time you made your own choice of a husband, Amalie. The 16-year-old girls will be starting to announce their betrothals soon. Think what it’ll be like for you if your sister, Lisbet, is a bride next Year Day and you’re still unmarried. You won’t just be the old maid of Jain’s Ford Settlement, but a laughingstock.”

  I saw a movement behind Shelby Summerhaze, as someone came out from among the trees. No, I realized that wasn’t one but two people, Rina and Norris! When they saw people already at the portal, they hastily turned and hurried back to skulk among the trees. I frowned, torn between relief that Shelby Summerhaze hadn’t seen them, and anger that Rina had lied to me and Cella.

  “There’s no point in pulling faces at me like that, Amalie,” said Shelby Summerhaze. “I’m only saying these things for your own good.”

  I knew exactly why she was saying these things, and I could guess what she was going to say next as well. Shelby Summerhaze’s idea of subtlety was the verbal equivalent of hitting someone on the head with a hammer.

  “My eldest boy, Tate, would be a fine match for any girl,” she continued. “You can come to dinner with us this evening and spend some time with Tate, perhaps even visit his farm.”

  The fact I’d known she was going to say that didn’t make it any less infuriating. Did Shelby Summerhaze really believe that she could order me to marry her son and I’d meekly obey? If she did, the woman was a fool. She might think of me as a quiet and polite girl who’d give way under pressure, but I had ten brothers and sisters. I’d learned to compromise on trivial things to make others happy, while standing my ground fiercely on issues that I truly cared about.

  Brendon had finished sending his goods through the portal, so I stood up. “Thank you for the invitation, but I’ve chores to do this evening. I’m afraid I really have to go now.”

  Brendon climbed back onto his cart, clicked his tongue, and the horse moved off. I walked towards the portal, but Shelby Summerhaze stood up and followed me. “I’ll come with you, Amalie. I can explain to your mother that you can’t do your evening chores because you’re having dinner at my house.”

  “Thank you for the invitation,” I repeated, “but I wish to do other things this evening.”

  Any of my brothers or sisters would have spotted the warning tone of my voice and left me in peace, but Shelby Summerhaze just laughed. “Don’t be silly, Amalie. You’ll enjoy spending the evening with Tate.”

  It must be well past nine o’clock by now. At River North 2 portal, Rodrish Jain would be panicking about my nonappearance. I couldn’t leave him standing there in suspense any longer, but it was impossible to call him or portal to meet him with the eagerly nosy Shelby Summerhaze trailing after me.

  I had to get rid of the maddening woman. I’d tried giving her a polite refusal and a blunter one. Both times she’d ignored me, as if my views didn’t count for anything and she could bully me into doing anything she wanted. By now I was furious with her, and my fury had an extra edge of fear.

  I knew any ordinary boy would stay waiting for me at River North 2 portal for at least an hour before giving up, but Rodrish Jain was a son of the most important Founding Family on Miranda. He might not wait for an hour before deciding I wasn’t coming. He might not wait for more than thirty minutes or even fifteen. At this very moment, he could be turning to walk away from the portal, feeling hurt and angry that I’d let him down. Given Rodrish was a shy boy, he was unlikely to contact me demanding an explanation. In fact, he’d probably reject any future calls from me, and do everything he could to avoid meeting me in person.

  I wasn’t going to risk Shelby Summerhaze destroying my chance of happiness with Rodrish. I blocked her view of the portal controls with my body, selected River North 2 as my destination, and waited for the portal to flare to life before speaking.

  “You’re wasting your time inviting me to dinner, Mother Summerhaze. The cliffs of Northern Reach will crumble to dust before I marry any son of yours.”

  She gaped at me in shock. “You can’t speak to me like that, Amalie Roche!”

  I ignored her words in the same way that she’d ignored mine, and stepped through the portal.

  Chapter Eight

  Rodrish Jain was standing facing River North 2 portal, his hands clenched and his face tense with anxiety. As I appeared in front of him, I heard him sigh with relief. I felt like sighing with relief too. He’d waited for me.

  “I’m sorry I’m late,” I said. “I got trapped by Shelby Summerhaze. I knew you wouldn’t want her coming here with me.”

  “Chaos no.” Rodrish shuddered. “You were quite right to delay rather than have that woman follow you.”

  He’d accepted my explanation, and all my nightmare imaginings of a breach between us vanished. As I calmed down, I started uneasily thinking through what I’d said to Shelby Summerhaze.

  “I’m afraid I lost my temper and was rather rude to her.”

  Rodrish shrugged. “Forget her. You’ve better things to think about this morning.”

  He was right. This morning I’d make the most important decision of my life. I had a panicky moment that forced the encounter with Shelby Summerhaze out of my mind.

  “Welcome to River North 2,” said Rodrish. “I’m sure you’ll love it. I mean, I’m sure you’ll love my farm not the portal. I’m babbling again, aren’t I?”

  I laughed. I found it r
eassuring that he was nervous too. “I’m getting used to it.”

  This portal was on high ground like the one at River North Central, so I had a good view of my surroundings. The river was a short distance ahead of me. A cart track emerged from among the densely packed Mirandan trees of a conservation zone on my right and carried on to my left, running roughly parallel to the river.

  “Which way is your farm, Rodrish?” I asked.

  “Up river.” He pointed along the track to my left.

  I turned to face that direction. The forest conservation zone was behind me now, and the river on my right. I could only see native Mirandan vegetation on the river side of the track, so that must be a conservation zone too, but on the other side of the track was a patchwork of fields planted with crops.

  I looked for the scattered farm houses, frowned because they weren’t where I’d expected them to be, but then saw the large house in the distance that explained everything. This farm was on a massive scale, and the house was huge too, because they belonged to Kellan and Inessa Jain. I knew the first colonists on any world were given land grants and credit payments as a reward for enduring the hardships and dangers of the Colony Ten years. It made sense that those land grants would be far bigger than a standard farm plot earned with three years of community service.

  “So that’s your parents’ farm,” I said.

  Rodrish shook his head. “No, that farm belongs to my oldest brother, Bened. My parents chose this area of land to be one of their land grants because it’s between two rivers and that makes it especially fertile. My parents kept half the land to be their own estate, and marked out the rest to be farms for my three older brothers and me.”

  I gave him a startled look. I’d assumed that Rodrish’s parents had given him a farm the same size as the ones men earned doing community service, but Bened’s farm looked as big as ten standard farm plots. Did that mean Rodrish’s farm was this large as well?

  “When Bened was 17, he got to choose which would be his farm,” said Rodrish. “Since the four of them were more or less the same, he picked the one nearest the portal. Guess what happened next?”