Earth and Fire

  Gradin gave me a startled look, and I knew he’d recognized the link between us too. He hesitated a moment, then gave a heavy sigh. “If I agree to help you get your pilot’s licence, there’ll be conditions. The word ‘history’ never passes your lips.”

  “I promise.”

  “You don’t talk about dig sites.”

  “I won’t.”

  “In fact, you don’t say a single, non-essential word.”

  I nodded.

  “And no giggling. You have an extremely annoying giggle.” He sighed again. “We’d better apply for your training licence. I’ll need your ProParents’ consent.”

  I used my lookup to send him the registered consent.

  “They’re probably hoping I throw you out of the plane without a hover tunic so they don’t have to suffer you any longer,” said Gradin. “You’ve had your annual medical check and you’re up to date with your inoculations?”

  I opened my mouth to say yes, before deciding it was safer to just nod again.

  “The Dig Site Federation will confirm that directly with Hospital Earth. Now send me your pilot theory test results.”

  “I will do as soon as I’ve taken the test.”

  He raised his eyes skywards. “You haven’t taken it yet? Then why are you wasting my time? You can’t start logging your official training hours until you’ve got your training licence, and you can’t get that until after you’ve passed the theory test.”

  “Summer break is still three weeks away. I’ll get the theory test done well before that. I already know all the controls.”

  He seemed amused by this. “You think the theory test is just about aircraft controls?”

  I hadn’t looked up the details on the theory test, I’d assumed it was about the controls because there didn’t seem much else that a pilot needed to know, but the look on Gradin’s face worried me. I tried to sound confident. “Obviously I’ll need to learn a few other things for the test, but it won’t be a problem.”

  He laughed. “All right. I’ll give you precisely two weeks to pass your theory test. If you do that, I’ll get your training licence processed and teach you to fly. Otherwise, you can forget the whole thing.”

  I waited for him to turn and walk away, before grabbing my lookup and calling up information on the pilot theory test.

  “Oh chaos!”

  Chapter Seven

  I frowned at Keon. “Stop laughing at me!”

  “But it’s so typical of you, Jarra. Charging blindly for your destination, without noticing there’s a mountain in your way.”

  I’d got back to Next Step to find Issette and Keon lounging on the front lawn in the shade of a tree. Keon was his usual dishevelled self, while Issette looked unnaturally elegant after a visit to a hairdresser. She’d had her hair defrizzed and forced into a sleek, head-hugging style she’d seen on the fashion vid channels. Judging from her other attempts at changing hair style, her hair would be rebelling again by tomorrow.

  “How was I to know there’d be so much stupid theory stuff to learn?” I sat down next to them and waved my arms in frustration. “There’s no sense in it. If I ever needed to know any of those things, I could look them up on the Earth data net.”

  “So if the thrusters on your plane failed, and it was falling out of the sky, you’d sit there looking up instructions on how to make an emergency jump using a hover tunic?” asked Keon.

  “Yes, all right, maybe some of the theory test does make sense.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “I told Gradin I’d do this, so I’ll have to manage it somehow. I’ll need you both to help me.”

  Keon shook his head. “That sounds like far too much effort.”

  Issette was frowning down at her lookup. “We’ll have to approach this systematically. The theory test is made up of six separate parts, Jarra, and you need to get at least 75 per cent in each of them. You’d better do all the tests on the last possible day to allow yourself the maximum time to study. The first step is to work out what you know already.”

  She used her lookup to display a vast wall of text in midair. Words and sentences started shuffling themselves around, until they were neatly set out in six columns and a frightening number of rows. Issette had a passion for organizing things. Her room was so crammed full of possessions there was hardly enough space left for her, but everything in there was carefully arranged.

  “Now, Jarra,” she said, “which bits do you already know?”

  I stared gloomily at the columns of information. “I know about aircraft systems, diagnostics and controls. I know about dig site air traffic control and communication procedures. I don’t know how those work outside dig sites, but I’ll never be flying anywhere else.”

  “It doesn’t matter whether you’ll ever need it or not,” said Issette, as she busily changed text colour to show what I knew. “You have to pass a test on it.”

  “You will need to know it, Jarra,” said Keon. “You’ll have to do some cross-country flying as part of your mandatory training flights.”

  “Oh, yes.” I realized Keon was right, or he would be right if I ever got to do my training flights. I had a sinking feeling that I wouldn’t.

  “What else do you know?” demanded Issette.

  I listed everything else that seemed familiar. Issette was setting the things I knew to black, and the things I didn’t know to red. There was a chaos lot of red. She frowned at the result.

  “The General Aircraft test should be all right. It’s the other five …”

  “Four,” said Keon.

  “Five.” Issette and I chorused the word in unison.

  “Four,” repeated Keon. “If you read the introductory notes, you’ll see Handicapped pilots aren’t required to do the Interstellar Air Law test, or section two of the Communications Procedures test, or section six of the Human Factors test, because they’ll never be flying on any world but Earth.”

  “That’s good.” Issette removed one column from her table, and took out batches of text from two others.

  I wouldn’t have described the fact I’d never be flying a plane on another planet as good, but at least I had one less test to worry about.

  “You’ll need to do some work on the Communications test,” continued Issette, “but the real problems are Human Factors, Flight Planning and Navigation, and Meteorology.”

  I groaned. “I don’t have the faintest idea where to start with any of those. They sound as if they’ll involve things like science and maths.”

  “Our science teacher always said you were making a big mistake refusing to listen in science lessons,” said Issette. “She was right.”

  I scowled at her. “You may be my best friend, but it doesn’t mean you can go round saying things like that.”

  “But our science teacher was right, Jarra,” said Keon.

  I was outraged. “How can you say that? You didn’t pay any more attention in science or maths than I did.”

  He laughed. “I didn’t need to pay attention because I already knew more than the teacher. You didn’t. Not listening in class was a bad idea because it’s essential to have a basic working knowledge of science and maths for lots of things, including this theory test.”

  “Stop wasting time arguing,” said Issette. “We’ve got an awful lot of work to do. Human Factors is mostly medical, so I’ll work with Jarra on that. Keon will help with the Flight Planning and Navigation test.”

  “No, I won’t,” said Keon.

  “Yes, you will. It’s very mathematical, and you’ve just pointed out you’re the mathematical expert round here. That leaves the Meteorology test.” Issette wrinkled her nose. “Meteorology is sort of geographyish, and Cathan is studying geography as well as art paint.”

  Keon made a choking noise. “This is going to be interesting. Exactly how far are you willing to go to get your pilot’s licence, Jarra?”

  “I’ve no idea what you mean,” I said, in a dignified voice.

  Keon promptly gave a shameless grin and sp
elt out what he meant. “If Cathan teaches you meteorology, he’s going to expect something in return, like a quick tumble or two. What’s your negotiating position on that, Jarra? Are you sticking with being a nice contract girl, wanting to be 18 and have a Twoing contract with a boy before tumbling him, or are you desperate enough to offer bribes to an evil non-contract boy like Cathan?”

  “I’m not tumbling Cathan!”

  Keon’s grin widened. “How about tumbling me then?”

  Issette slapped his face. “Keon, behave yourself!”

  “Ouch!” Keon rubbed his cheek. “I could charge you with physical assault for that.”

  “I’ve got a witness who’ll swear I never touched you,” said Issette.

  “That’s right,” I said. “I was watching very closely at the moment Issette never touched you.”

  “I wish you two would stop ganging up on me,” said Keon.

  “Why have you started behaving so strangely, Keon?” asked Issette. “First you were kissing our hands, and now you’re making suggestive remarks.”

  He sighed. “I’m not behaving strangely. Despite the way you two treat me like a piece of furniture, I’m potentially just as evil a non-contract boy as Cathan. I’d like to know if there are any benefits on offer if I’m fool enough to try and teach Jarra something mathematical.”

  Issette and I exchanged glances, unsure whether Keon was serious about this or teasing us.

  “I’m not tumbling Cathan or you,” I said.

  “Then I see no reason to put in a lot of work.” Keon stretched out on the grass and closed his eyes.

  “This is very important to Jarra,” said Issette. “If you don’t help, neither of us will ever speak to you again.”

  “Peace at last,” said Keon.

  She frowned at him. “If you don’t help, Jarra will give you a history lecture on every detail of the Beta sector crisis, from the declaration of the Second Roman Empire to the treaty of Artemis.”

  “The Beta sector crisis really started at least a decade before the declaration of the Second Roman Empire in 2605,” I corrected her. “The key point was when Alpha and Gamma sectors united in an attempt to pass legislation in Parliament of Planets. This was intended to impose a cross-sector uniform system of relationship contracts limited to Twoing, term marriage, or full marriage contracts between a maximum of two people. The First Speaker of Beta sector made his historic speech, stating …”

  “I surrender,” said Keon. “For chaos sake, Issette, shut her up.”

  I giggled. “But don’t you think it’s fascinating?”

  “No,” said Keon. “Given the Handicapped don’t have the right to vote, I see no point in paying any attention to the political events happening today, let alone listening to you boring on for hours about things that happened centuries ago.”

  “That’s settled then,” said Issette. “I can coach Jarra at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Keon, you can work with her for two hours after school, and Cathan can have the two hours after dinner. It’ll only take me a few minutes to use a planner to work out a study schedule and send it to you all.”

  Keon raised a hand. “Don’t you think Jarra should at least mention this to Cathan before you send him a study schedule?”

  I groaned and got to my feet. “You’re right. I’d better go and talk to him right away.”

  “Can I come and watch?” asked Keon.

  “No, you can’t!”

  I headed off in search of Cathan. I knew he had to be somewhere around our Next Step, because he’d had his portalling rights taken away after the unsuitable images incident, and was limited to travelling between Next Step E241/1089 and School E249/1217 for the next week. He wasn’t anywhere outside or in his room. Eventually, I found him sitting on his own in a corner of Commons, staring despondently at the blank display of the big wall vid.

  “It’s been broken for days now,” he said. “I asked the Principal whether she’ll get it mended or replaced this time, and she said it was staying broken because she wasn’t going to waste any more money on it.”

  I shrugged. I didn’t care whether the big wall vid was working or not. I always had to play my history vids on the tiny wall vid in my room anyway, because people complained if I played them in Commons. “I can see her point. She’s bought three new wall vids in the last two months, and they’ve all been broken in less than a week.”

  “But it’s not fair punishing everyone like this. She should punish whoever keeps breaking it.”

  I shrugged again. “She would if she knew who it was, but she doesn’t. Whoever it is has been sabotaging the room sensors in here as well as breaking the wall vid. I suppose they’re trying to bypass the age content filters on the wall vid to watch the Beta sector sex vid channels.”

  “It must be Keon,” said Cathan.

  “Keon wouldn’t keep trying and failing like this,” I said. “It’s probably one of the Fifteens or Sixteens. Forget the wall vid. I want you to help me with something.”

  Cathan gave me a suspicious look. “If this is about your ridiculous plan to sneak into Europe Off-world, I’m not getting involved. I’m in enough trouble already because of my art images.”

  I blinked. “How did you find out I was planning to go to Europe Off-world?”

  “I overheard you and Issette talking about it in the school grounds,” he said. “Purely by accident.”

  I opened my mouth to ask which bush he’d been accidentally hiding in to spy on us, but changed my mind. I mustn’t start an argument with Cathan when I needed his help.

  “It’s nothing to do with that,” I said. “Issette and I have already been to Europe Off-world.”

  “Really?” Cathan looked deeply impressed. “How did you make it past the security checks?”

  “That doesn’t matter. All I need you to do is help me study for a test.”

  “I can’t help with a history test.”

  “It’s not history.” I explained about the pilot theory tests. “The Meteorology test sounds like your area.”

  “I’ve done a bit in geography but …” Cathan’s face took on a calculating expression. “If I help you with this, I’ll want you to help me with my painting in return.”

  I could guess where this was going, but I played stupid. “I’m no artist.”

  “You don’t need to know anything about art to be my model.” His voice took on an unpleasant, lecherous edge. “All I’m asking is that you pose for a couple of hours without clothes. Purely for artistic purposes. If I’m going to succeed as a painter, I have to practise painting the human body. I had a set of holo images on my lookup that I was using for models, but the Principal wiped the whole lot of them, even the ones with clothes!”

  I considered my options. If I refused to do this, then Cathan wouldn’t help me. He might accept me posing wearing something revealing, but that would still …

  I had a better idea. “All right, but only if I pass the test.”

  “Really? You promise?”

  “I promise. If you help me and I pass the test, I’ll pose for two hours without wearing any clothes.”

  “Zan!” Cathan grinned at me. “We’ll have to find somewhere suitable for you to pose for me. The room sensors will start screaming at us if we try it in one of our rooms, and parks have patrolling vid bees recording everything.”

  “I’ll think of somewhere,” I said. “Issette will be sending you a study schedule soon.”

  “Issette knows about this?” He looked worried. “There’s no need to tell her about you posing for me.”

  I smiled at him. “Why not? Issette will understand it’s just for artistic purposes.”

  I headed back outside to rejoin Issette and Keon. “Cathan’s going to help.”

  “In exchange for what?” asked Keon.

  “In exchange for me sneaking off with him and posing for two hours with no clothes on.”

  “You can’t do that, Jarra!” Issette’s voice squeaked with alarm. “Cathan’s bound to
make a vid of you.”

  “Don’t worry,” I said. “I know what I’m doing. I’ll …”

  She shook her head and firmly interrupted me. “You always say you know what you’re doing, but half the time you don’t stop to think things through properly. It’s bad enough suffering Cathan leering at you for two hours, but if he makes a vid then he can use it to blackmail you.”

  Keon was frowning. “Issette’s right. Cathan would just have to threaten to send the vid to the Principal, and you’d have to do anything he wanted.”

  “I don’t believe Cathan would deliberately blackmail me,” I said, “but he’s certainly stupid enough to share a vid with the other boys at school.”

  “But that’s even worse,” said Issette. “Once the vid was being shared around on the Earth data net, the automated systems would report it to the police for showing unsuitable images of an underage ward of Hospital Earth. You could state the images were taken without your consent, but you’d have to admit to voluntarily posing naked. You’d end up spending months in Correctional for immoral behaviour.”

  “There would be a good side to that,” said Keon.

  Issette stared at him. “What good side?”

  “Cathan would go to prison as a repeat offender,” said Keon cheerfully. “A first offence of taking unsuitable images of an underage girl without her consent would just get Cathan sent to Correctional, but circulating the vid amongst underage boys would count as a separate second offence and get him prison time.”

  “I’m not going to Correctional, and Cathan’s not going to prison,” I said. “I have a plan!”

  Issette still looked anxious, but Keon laughed. “Why were you nardle enough to get involved with Cathan, Jarra?” he asked. “I could have understood you being interested in Ross, but not that whiny infant.”

  I wasn’t going to discuss Cathan’s legs with Keon, and have him tease me by asking which part of Cathan’s anatomy I really meant. “I’m not interested in Cathan or Ross.”

  “Anyone would be interested in Ross Washington,” said Issette, in a wistful voice. “He’s handsome enough to be a vid star. Tall, broad shouldered, with that rugged, masculine, dark face.”