Earth Star

  Now it was the same again. I was still a clueless kid, but I was representing the glittering legend of Tellon Blaze. If the Military needed me to do that to prevent public panic, then I had to do the best I could.

  ‘Now, I need to discuss arrangements with you,’ said Colonel Torrek. ‘The news channels all want to send their own reporters and vid teams to Zulu Dig Site.’

  I forced my dazed head to focus on practical matters. ‘We can’t allow that, sir. The area is in pre-rainforest phase, smothered with Griffith hybrid trees. We’ll be felling and moving around huge quantities of them, and the Griffith hybrid was genetically engineered to provide a habitat to as many rainforest species as possible. That means we’ll be annoying everything from predators like scimitar cats and dire wolves, right down to a lot of unfriendly insects that sting or carry diseases. Dig Site Command will make sure everyone has the latest inoculations, but we still can’t have vid teams roaming around without impact suits, and teaching them to wear suits would take days.’

  ‘I see your point, but we need to let people see what’s happening. How would you suggest we handle it?’

  ‘Let a couple of reporters from Earth Rolling News come to the site, but they’ll have to stay in a dome. My team can run the vid bees for them.’

  ‘I’m sure Earth Rolling News would love the exclusive,’ said Colonel Torrek. ‘I’ll patch them into this call.’

  While he did that, I looked around. Fian had followed me, and was silently listening, but everyone else was keeping their distance. I spotted an elegant figure in deep red, and shouted across to her.

  ‘Dalmora! I may need you in a minute.’

  The image of a man with a remarkably ugly but intelligent face appeared next to that of Colonel Torrek. They were already in mid conversation.

  ‘… delighted to handle coverage of this,’ said the man, ‘but if amateurs are running the vid bees then …’

  I’d been through a lot recently, and I didn’t have the patience for this. I interrupted brutally. ‘I wouldn’t describe my team as amateurs at making vids.’

  The man was obviously startled. ‘Major Tell Morrath! No criticism was intended, but …’

  ‘I understand your concerns. Please allow me to save time by reassuring you.’ I beckoned Dalmora into view of my lookup, and saw the man’s eyes widen as he saw what appeared to be a dazzling vid star.

  ‘Allow me to introduce you to Dalmora,’ I said. ‘She’ll be running the vid bees on the excavation with the help of her two assistants. Dalmora has some experience of making vids with her father. You may,’ I said, with completely fake innocence, ‘have heard of Ventrak Rostha.’

  The man looked utterly grazzed. ‘Ventrak Rostha!’

  ‘I’ve just had a call from my father,’ said Dalmora. ‘He did his history degree in the days before they brought in the mandatory year on Earth dig sites, so he’s not familiar with impact suits, but he’d be delighted to help direct things from inside a dome.’

  ‘The Military would welcome the assistance of Ventrak Rostha,’ said Colonel Torrek. ‘I suggest Earth Rolling News discuss the details directly with him and his daughter. Major Tell Morrath and I have to deal with other urgent matters.’

  A few minutes later, I was staring at a blank lookup. I felt like I’d been hit by a falling skyscraper, and my dazed thoughts kept reliving the moment when the nuking exo, Gaius Devon, had called me an ape in front of the whole of humanity.

  ‘Sir,’ said an unfamiliar voice.

  I turned and saw two strangers in Military uniform.

  ‘We’ve brought your equipment, sir,’ said one of them, gesturing at a hover trolley loaded with boxes. ‘Where would you like us to set up your command desk?’

  Equipment? Oh yes, Command Support were sending over a lot of stuff. I’d asked them to include skintights and impact suits, as well as …

  Impact suits! I had to get into my impact suit and lead the excavation, or everyone from Alpha to Zeta sector would know Gaius Devon was right, the Military had made a huge mistake trusting an ape with something important, and this descendant of the heroic Tellon Blaze was a snivelling coward.

  I pointed at a random spot where the men could set up whatever equipment they’d brought, and instantly forgot them. I went to the hover trolley, checked the boxes, and dug out the impact suit and skintight meant for me.

  I’d hoped my head would think there was a difference between a Military impact suit and the one that had attacked me. It didn’t. I still felt the same unreasoning fear, as if the suit would suddenly come alive, turn into a chimera, and rip me into pieces.

  Fate had had a vendetta against me since before I was born. It wasn’t satisfied with making me Handicapped and taking my parents, it had to hit me with a fear of impact suits as well. It must be very pleased with itself right now, because this time it was going to utterly destroy not just me, but everyone who had trusted me. Gaius Devon was going to laugh and laugh and …

  I let my anger at fate take over and fill me. I wore the Artemis on my shoulder. I was the Honour Child of Colonel Jarra Tell Morrath. I was a descendant of the glorious Tellon Blaze. I couldn’t let them all down by being beaten by a nuking impact suit. I was fighting back!

  I picked up the skintight and suit, and headed towards Alpha corridor, Area 1.

  ‘Jarra?’ Fian’s voice spoke from somewhere next to me. ‘What are you doing?’

  I kept blindly walking.

  ‘Jarra?’ It was Playdon this time.

  I ignored him as well. Nothing existed now except for the pure white fury inside me. I let it loose, riding it like a surfer on one of the great waves of the California rift beaches.

  ‘Jarra,’ said Fian. ‘We haven’t got the meds yet. Just give us a few minutes before you try this.’

  I stood in the middle of the huge room that was Area 1, dropped the impact suit and skintight to the floor, and stripped. I tugged on the protective skintight, felt it hug my body, its warmth contrasting to the chill of the air, and then reached for the impact suit. I’d put on suits like this hundreds of times, and I automatically followed the routine of gently smoothing the material up legs, then arms, and sealing the front.

  Military standard was to be able do it in two minutes. I don’t know how long it took me that time. The important thing was that I did it. I stood there for a moment, frozen in sheer terror, as I waited for the smooth cool material to crush me, to turn into razors’ edges and flay me alive.

  It didn’t of course. There was no magnetic or other hazard in this underground chamber, so the suit remained just a suit, like those that had protected me from a thousand potential dig site accidents, life threatening or trivial.

  The fury and tension suddenly vanished, and I hastily sat down before I fell over.

  ‘Jarra? Are you all right?’

  I looked up at Fian’s anxious face. ‘I think so. I couldn’t let Gaius Devon win and …’ I broke off, and looked frantically around the room. ‘Oh chaos! Did I just strip stark naked in front of Playdon?’

  Fian sat down next to me, and tugged me against him. ‘Not quite,’ he said. ‘The two of us followed you in here, trying to stop you, but when you got down to your underwear the poor man ran for it.’

  He started laughing. ‘You could be in serious trouble, Jarra. I don’t know if the Gamma sector moral code gives you amber or red warnings for stripping in front of a lecturer, but given Playdon is from Delta …’

  I joined in the laughter. ‘I’m currently on active Military service. Does that get me out of it?’

  Fian solemnly shook his head. ‘That makes it worse. I should report you for conduct unbecoming an officer, like Leveque did with Drago.’ He paused. ‘Come to think of it, I may have to. If we find this alien artefact, I’m betting they promote you.’

  I stopped laughing. ‘What scares me is what happens when we don’t find anything at all.’

  32

  The vid projection on the granite wall showed an aerial view ove
rlaid by a targeting screen. Trees rushed by at incredible speed.

  ‘I’m getting motion sickness just watching this,’ said Rono.

  ‘This is Zulu One entering final approach,’ said the voice of Commander Drago Tell Dramis. ‘Requesting strike confirmation, sir.’

  I was sitting at my command desk, in my impact suit with my hood down. I didn’t know what half the fancy equipment on my desk did, my theory was that most of it was only there to look impressive for the vid bees, but I could switch on my audio link.

  ‘This is Zulu Field Commander,’ I said. ‘Strike is confirmed. Why the sir? Don’t you outrank me, Drago?’

  The minute I asked the question, I felt like biting my tongue off. The command feed was going out live to the newzies, and I was an idiot to betray my ignorance of a Military protocol.

  ‘I outrank you, but you’re currently my chain of command. As,’ Drago added in a bitter voice, ‘you know perfectly well, Jarra. I do wish everyone would stop rubbing my nose in the fact I’ve just been forcibly promoted.’

  Drago had covered up my mistake beautifully and I laughed in relief. This situation was weirdly similar to what had happened at the beginning of this year, when I’d joined a class of norm kids and tried to convince them I was the norm kid of Military parents. Now I was trying to convince humanity that I was their new Tellon Blaze. There was one huge difference though. I wasn’t doing it alone this time. The Military were building up my image as a brilliant Field Commander by feeding me information and covering up my mistakes.

  I was bone tired, and desperately wanted to slump back in my chair and yawn, but I forced myself to stay bolt upright, and keep the calm, controlled, alert expression on my face. Some nardle on a news channel might decide to patch in live images of me instead of concentrating on the exciting stuff with the Military aircraft.

  ‘Committing to attack run … now!’ said Drago.

  He must be diving at the ground because the trees on the vid image were coming straight at us now. There were a few nervous gasps from the watching dig team members, and I heard Krath howl in protest.

  ‘He’s going to crash!’

  ‘Fox nine!’ yelled Drago.

  The image whirled sickeningly as he pulled up his aircraft and banked in a full 360-degree turn. The view stabilized, and an area of trees ahead seemed to blur and then disintegrate.

  ‘Missile strike confirmed,’ said Drago, as the view froze and zoomed in to show the splintered wreckage of several hundred Griffith hybrids.

  ‘Zan,’ breathed Fian.

  Personally, I felt that was an unnecessarily dramatic way to attack a few defenceless trees. I wondered if Drago had been ordered to show off for the watching multitude, or if it had been his own idea.

  ‘Looking good, Zulu One,’ I said. ‘We can clear up the rest from ground level. Initiate portal deployment.’

  ‘Zulu One to Zulu Flight, missile is safely delivered. You are clear to enter target zone.’

  ‘Zulu Flight to Zulu One, we are entering target zone,’ said the calm voice of Marlise.

  I watched a formation of four transport planes fly into view, each dangling a freight-sized portal by a glowing lift beam.

  ‘The live vid feed for the newzies is watching the portal delivery, and then moving to an update from Colonel Torrek,’ said Dalmora. ‘Relax everyone, we’re shutting down our vid bees now and packing them up ready for the move.’

  There was a general sigh of relief from around the dig teams. I wasn’t the only one finding it a strain to have most of humanity watching our every move.

  ‘We could do with the Military demolishing the trees around Eden Dig Site like that,’ said Playdon.

  ‘Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be good for the ruins, sir,’ I said. ‘That was a sonic missile which takes out anything above ground level, but should, according to the experts, not harm anything that’s buried. Even so, we’ve gone for a minimal setting, and kept well clear of our actual dig location. We desperately needed a gap in the trees to set up our base camp, but we daren’t risk damaging the artefact.’

  ‘Jarra, you definitely shouldn’t be calling me sir at this point,’ said Playdon. ‘I don’t want anyone thinking I’m part of the chain of command for all this.’

  ‘Sorry. Habit.’

  ‘I assume that sonic missiles are something the Military use on Planet First,’ said Pereth, ‘but why was the pilot shouting about foxes?’

  I’d seen the answer to this in a vid, so I giggled. ‘It’s a Military term dating back centuries. He was warning other pilots in the area he was firing a missile with a particular type of guidance control, so they could take the right sort of evasive action if it missed its target and went rogue. In theory, safety procedures should stop that ever happening, but …’

  I paused to read a status report on one of my desk screens. ‘Eden Flight has put sixteen freight portals in position around Eden Dig Site. The freight portals at both Eden and Zulu should be calibrated and working within an hour.’

  I stood up. ‘We’d better start moving people to Eden to pick up sleds. We’ve got a Military priority pre-empt set for portalling directly to Eden, so remember everyone, you don’t need to go via Australia and Africa transits, just enter your Eden Dig Site codes. Pereth, you’d better take Earth 2 through first, since your team will be first to go to Zulu Dig Site. Has Dig Site Command allocated you an Eden dome?’

  Pereth nodded. ‘We’ve got dome 6. The Military were supposed to set up a freight portal next to it.’

  ‘Then you’ll find one there.’

  The Earth 2 team gathered by the portal and dialled out.

  ‘Unfair,’ said Krath, after they’d gone. ‘It’s not enough they gatecrash our party, they’ll be the first ones at Zulu!’

  I grinned. ‘Don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of trees to go around. Dig Site Command portal next, and then my team. Everyone else follow on to your Eden domes after that. We’ll need to clear up some of the mess at Zulu Dig Site before we’ve got space to bring through more teams, so Dig Site Command will contact you when we’re ready for you to portal to Zulu with your sleds.’

  I collected my luggage and went across to the two figures who were quietly watching from the side of the hall. ‘Issette, Keon, will you be all right here?’

  ‘We’ll be fine.’ Keon appeared as relaxed as ever. ‘After you’ve all gone, we’re portalling across to visit Maeth and Ross at the other side of Ark. Some of the others from our Next Step will be there.’

  I glanced doubtfully at the pathetically shaken face of Issette.

  ‘I’ll take care of her, Jarra,’ said Keon. ‘You go and save the world.’

  There was an odd emphasis to his last sentence. I gave him a startled look, saw past his relaxed act to the strain in his eyes, and realized he’d worked out exactly what was going on here. Not just the obvious thing that aliens were a scary unknown, but that any attack on the sphere might endanger Earth, and possibly even that the Military were bluffing to buy time. I knew I could trust him to keep his mouth shut, if only because it was far less effort than talking, so I just gave him a nod and turned to look at Issette.

  She forced a smile, and made a brave attempt at her usual bubbly style of speech. ‘Jarra, Jarra, Jarra, good luck!’

  ‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘Say hello to everyone for me.’

  I headed towards the portal. Dig Site Command had just gone through and the rest of Asgard 6 were waiting for me.

  ‘What about all that?’ Krath jerked his head at the command desk and equipment.

  ‘Someone will pick it up later. We won’t need it because the Military are portalling a Field Command sled to our Eden dome. We’ll take that through a freight portal to Zulu Dig Site.’

  ‘Amaz,’ said Krath. ‘All these freight portals must be costing a fortune.’

  Playdon entered the portal code for our home dome at Eden Dig Site. ‘Alien Contact programme has an unlimited budget.’

  ‘I was hoping to get dr
afted,’ said Krath wistfully. ‘I want to be a Military Captain like Fian.’

  ‘No chance of that, Krath,’ I said. ‘I’ve been warned you’re a potential security risk.’

  ‘What?’ He looked outraged. ‘Who said that?’

  ‘Military Security said that. It’s not surprising. Your father helps run a vid channel that’s continually making wild accusations against the Military. Since Gaius Devon caused so much trouble, Military Security are a bit edgy.’

  ‘It’s my nuking dad again! If he keeps me out of this, I’ll …’

  ‘Don’t worry about it, Krath. I’ve personally assured Military Security that you’re trustworthy.’

  I missed his reply, because I stepped through the portal. The others followed me through, and I gave a deep sigh of relief. ‘Privacy at last! Dalmora, don’t you dare let a vid bee out here, or I promise I’ll kill it.’

  Dalmora laughed. ‘I won’t. You’ve been doing an amaz job, Jarra. The way you’re organizing all this, and the things you talk about so casually …’

  I pulled a face. ‘The organizing is being done by other people, and everyone keeps covering up my stupid mistakes.’

  ‘Now we’re away from the vid bees,’ said Fian, ‘you have to take your impact suit off, Jarra. You’ve been wearing it for over twenty-four hours.’

  ‘I can’t.’

  ‘Fian’s right,’ said Playdon. ‘Wearing an impact suit for long periods is a huge strain on the body. Breaks are recommended at least every six hours, and twelve hours is regarded as the absolute maximum limit for continuous wear.’

  ‘This is an emergency,’ I said. ‘I daren’t risk taking the suit off. If I try to put it on again, I might have another panic attack.’

  Fian shook his head. ‘We understand that, Jarra, but you can’t keep this up.’

  ‘It’s not as if I’ve been sealed in the suit and working a dig site for twenty-four hours,’ I said. ‘I’ve had the hood down, the front open, and I’ve spent time lying down and resting.’