Earth Flight

  ‘Where is everyone else?’ I asked.

  ‘Adonis Orbital Traffic Control has cleared all traffic from Orbital Interchange 1 while we go through,’ said Drago.

  I was utterly grazzed. Few worlds had enough ships visiting them to justify having even one orbital portal, let alone a full orbital interchange that could handle the vast cross-sector distances. Adonis was the closest inhabited world to Earth, right at the heart of humanity’s space. Most cross-sector ship journeys were routed through its two famous orbital interchanges, but they’d dedicated one of them solely to sending Fian and me through to Zeta sector!

  ‘Adonis Orbital Traffic Control to Earth Flight.’ The male voice on broadcast channel was sharp with tension. ‘We have a ship leaving Orbital Interchange 2 on an intercept course to you. They are not responding to calls and should be considered hostile.’

  Hostile! My joyful mood was shattered. The lights of Adonis had welcomed us, but we had enemies too. What should I …?

  General Torrek’s voice spoke on broadcast channel. ‘Alien Contact Command to Earth Flight. Confirming you are authorized to use deadly force.’

  ‘Earth Flight acknowledging deadly force.’ Drago said on broadcast channel, then swapped to talk on ship to ship. ‘Fian, take the controls. Marlise, what are you seeing incoming?’

  ‘Looks like an old style survey 6,’ said Marlise. ‘Those won’t carry weapons, but …’

  ‘Fire ship!’ Drago and Marlise said the words in unison.

  What was a fire ship? I glanced at Fian, saw he had co-pilot controls active, and locked off my own.

  ‘She’ll be set for proximity activation in the hope we’re fool enough to attack her,’ said Drago. ‘Stay back and form wall ready for incoming missiles. Silver wing take first wave, then green, blue, red, yellow. Fian, remember the missile evasion simulations.’

  The fighters moved to form their defensive wall between us and the incoming ship, and there was a full minute of silence. I didn’t dare to say a word, just watched the dot on the main screen. It would intercept us just before we reached the portals.

  ‘Fire ship confirmed,’ said Marlise. ‘She’s on autopilot, packed full of missiles. There goes the hatch!’

  The single white dot of the ship exploded into a whole cluster. The ship had dumped its missiles and they’d activated.

  ‘Incoming seven and twelve,’ said Marlise. ‘Silver on seven.’

  ‘Green on twelve,’ said a male voice.

  ‘Blue on seven. Red and yellow on twelve,’ said Drago.

  The fighters were streaking off to intercept the missiles. Our ship was alone now, still on course for the portal. I could do nothing except watch the two incoming waves of dots on the screen and listen to the babble of voices on ship to ship.

  ‘If anyone knows what those missiles are, then I’d be really happy to know.’ Drago waited a moment. ‘Positively ecstatic to know. Oh, come on, somebody must have visual by now.’

  ‘If it helps at all, they’re plain pink,’ said Marlise.

  ‘Pink?’ Drago made a choking noise. ‘What missiles are pink?’

  ‘Someone obviously painted them to hide the identification markings,’ said Marlise. ‘Engaging now. Fox ten!’

  ‘Fox ten!’ Multiple voices echoed her.

  The dots of missiles started vanishing from the screen until there were only two left. Those two were still heading straight for us, with the fighters chasing after them. They couldn’t possibly catch them in time.

  ‘They’re acting like Siren class missiles,’ said Drago. ‘Fian, try bounce two and roll on my mark. Mark!’

  The view through the window ahead changed rapidly from showing the portal to showing a view of Adonis, and then random sets of stars span past at sickening speed. I glimpsed what I thought was a missile going past, and then heard two voices shouting.

  ‘Fox ten!’

  The last two dots of missiles vanished from the screen.

  ‘All clear,’ said Marlise.

  ‘That’s it?’ Drago asked. ‘I was expecting worse. Back in formation everyone. Nice work.’

  ‘Jarra, you can take the controls again now,’ said Fian.

  The danger was over, fighters were reappearing all around us, and we were approaching the orbital interchange. I took some deep breaths to try and calm down, then unlocked my pilot controls.

  Drago spoke on broadcast channel. ‘Earth Flight to Alien Contact Command. Situation secure.’

  ‘Alien Contact Command to Earth Flight,’ said General Torrek’s voice. ‘The vid bees at Orbital Interchange 1 gave us an excellent view of the combat. Good job everyone. I’m considering recommending you for promotion, Commander Tell Dramis.’

  ‘Not again,’ said Drago. ‘Please, not again.’

  I joined in the laughter on ship to ship channel, and then Fian’s voice brought me back to reality. ‘Jarra, you aren’t used to manoeuvring in space, so take your time and be very, very gentle with the thrusters as you go through the portal.’

  I imagined colliding with the portal and physically shuddered. The portal I’d flown through at Zulu base was just designed to send ships up into Earth orbit, but would still be terrifyingly expensive. An interstellar distance orbital portal must cost a fortune, and a cross-sector distance one …

  The first half of the fighters flew casually through the portal and I crept through after them. This time the feeling of disorientation was much stronger, presumably because we’d travelled further, but I fought it off and remembered to follow the fighter ahead of me and leave the portal area clear for the others to come through.

  ‘Well done, Jarra,’ said Drago on ship to ship.

  ‘There’s no need to sound so relieved, Drago,’ said Marlise. ‘You’re the only person here who’s ever collided with a portal.’

  There was the sound of laughter, and Drago groaned. ‘My lateral thrusters were out, and I couldn’t exactly take it slowly given I’d got a whole pack of giant flying lizards chasing me.’

  ‘That’s another thing,’ said Marlise. ‘You were supposed to bring back a specimen for the scientists, but the idea was that it would be dead.’

  I wasn’t laughing at the jokes, because I was too busy looking at the third planet I’d seen from space within a few minutes. Gateway wasn’t blue and white like Earth and Adonis and all the other colony worlds of humanity. This was a barren, waterless world with an unbreathable atmosphere.

  Drago spoke on the broadcast channel. ‘Earth Flight to Gateway base. Requesting clearance for drop portal to Fortuna’s moon.’

  ‘Gateway base to Earth Flight. You are confirmed clear of hazards and free to drop portal.’

  I was startled to recognize Colonel Stone’s voice. How could she be here in Zeta sector when she’d been waving goodbye to us on Earth? I’d no sooner thought the question than I realized I was a nardle. Stone had had plenty of time to walk to a portal and use a pre-empt to step through it to Gateway base.

  General Torrek and Colonel Leveque would probably be in the Gateway Alien Contact Command Centre as well, ready for when Fian and I activated the pedestal. If we activated the pedestal. If it ignored us, we were going to look chaos silly in front of the whole of humanity.

  Drago spoke on ship to ship again. ‘Everyone change to the second stored drop portal settings.’

  Fian leaned towards me and whispered. ‘The control to the right of the red button.’

  I tapped the control and saw the new settings appear.

  ‘Jarra, your drop portal is set to take us to directly above the sculpture,’ said Drago. ‘The fighters will come through at higher altitude and fly circuits to guard us. There’ll be no atmosphere and low gravity. If you bounce when you engage hovers for landing, don’t worry, we’ve all done it.’

  He paused for a second. ‘Everyone, starburst ready for drop portal, then Jarra will call it on broadcast.’

  I waited for the fighters to scatter, then spoke on broadcast channel. ‘Earth Flight, prepare
to initiate drop portal sequence on my mark. Mark!’

  I hit the red button, and the automated voice started counting down as before. When it reached three seconds, Colonel Stone spoke on broadcast channel in a self-conscious voice. ‘Earth Flight, take us to Fortuna!’

  The dust ring appeared, enfolded us, and then we were flying above a bleak landscape of reddish rock. I saw the huge sculpture was directly below us, and didn’t bother to look up for the fighters, just concentrated on the thrusters and picking a landing site.

  ‘Wish me luck,’ I said on ship to ship.

  I made one turn to lose height, a second turn to line myself up correctly, and then landed. The newzies were bound to be showing images from the fighters, or from the vid bees on the surface of the moon. I was deeply thankful that I didn’t bounce, at least not much.

  ‘Earth Flight to Gateway base,’ I said, ‘we’ve landed on Fortuna’s moon.’

  Fian laughed. ‘I’d try saying that on broadcast channel instead of ship to ship.’

  I giggled, and said it again on broadcast channel.

  ‘Everyone double-check your suits are properly sealed before we vent ship air,’ said Drago. ‘We shouldn’t be outside for long, but it’s stupid to take risks with your air supply so we’ll each carry six oxygen booster cells.’

  He passed round packs of oxygen booster cells, and I attached mine to my impact suit. I was feeling oddly breathless, but that was nothing to do with my air supply. I was about to step out onto the surface of Fortuna’s moon!

  Warning lights flashed red to say that ship’s air was disabled, and Drago and Raven moved to the doorway. Fian and I tried to follow them, and collided with each other.

  ‘Careful in the low gravity,’ said Drago. ‘Please don’t try and see how high you can jump. Gravity is a lot lower here but you still have momentum and …’ He broke off and groaned. ‘I’m sounding exactly like the pedantic Military Academy lecturer who took my class on our first Environment H training trip. I don’t want to spoil your fun, but there are vid bees out there that will be watching our every move.’

  ‘We’ll try not to look utter nardles on all the newzie channels,’ said Fian.

  ‘What’s Environment H training?’ I asked.

  ‘Hostile environments,’ said Drago. ‘Basically, it’s how not to kill yourself in them.’

  He opened the door, jumped lightly through it, and Raven followed him. Fian and I took things more slowly, dropping gently down on to the ground. I gave it a furtive kick with one foot, found there was just a thin layer of dust over rock, then lifted my head and gasped. The planet Fortuna filled the sky overhead, its surface hidden behind a misty whiteness, and zigzagged by the bright lines of its defence shield.

  Drago and Raven set off at a carefully controlled walk towards the tunnel entrance. Fian and I followed them in a rather less dignified fashion, and half a dozen floating vid bees appeared to chase alongside us. I was in a crazy exuberant mood, as if I was powered on something, and had to fight the temptation to skip or jump along.

  There were a series of glows lighting the tunnel, and a lot more in the central cavern, as well as several piles of boxes and equipment. Of course, people would have been working here for months while I was in a tank. I was looking ahead at the pedestal, when I heard something crunch under my feet. I glanced down to see tiny grey fragments. I was walking on the dry, broken remains of chimera!

  Drago gestured at the pedestal. ‘I really hope you do better with it than I did.’

  So did I. Oh, so did I! Fian and I walked up to the pedestal. I wondered if we should call the Alien Contact Command Centre before trying this, but it seemed pointless when they were watching us with the vid bees. I remembered how we’d done this before on Earth, and opened my mouth to speak, but Fian said it first.

  ‘We’re in this together.’

  I giggled. ‘Always.’

  We linked hands, I did the countdown, and we reached out to touch the circle. There was an agonizingly long wait, and then a column of light flashed up from the top of the pedestal. The one on Earth had been ribbons of red, green and blue, but this was just flickering pulses of pure white.

  Fian and I instantly turned and hurried back through the tunnel, forgetting all about trying to walk in a dignified manner in the low gravity. When we were outside, we gazed upwards at what everyone watching the newzies must have already seen. The bright lines of the defence shield around Fortuna had vanished, and the white mist was clearing to reveal the planet surface below.

  ‘We have three probes in Fortuna’s atmosphere,’ said Leveque’s voice on broadcast channel, ‘and the surface defences have not attacked them.’

  ‘Look!’ said Fian.

  ‘I’m already looking,’ I said.

  ‘Not the planet, Jarra. Look at your shoulder!’

  I peered down at the metal disk on my shoulder, and saw the light was a steady green. The way to Fortuna was open, and I was going to live!

  38

  After Fian and I were in contact with the alien technology on Earth, we spent ages in quarantine. This time the Military had already been analyzing the alien technology for months, and knew there weren’t any hidden hazards, so we just had to have our suits sprayed with decontaminant fluid.

  Less than three hours after sending the signal, Raven, Fian and I followed Drago through a portal, and arrived in a small, stone-walled room. The others opened their impact suit hoods and tugged them down. I didn’t. I saw Fian glance at me, but he didn’t say anything.

  ‘Zeus has a roughly twenty-five hour day,’ said Drago. ‘It’s just past midnight here. The clan would have stayed up to welcome you home, but I thought you’d be tired and prefer some privacy tonight.’

  I nodded.

  He gestured at the walls. ‘You can tell by the stonework we’re in the original building. Your rooms are in the much newer garden wing, but I thought you’d like a quick glance at the clan hall before going there.’

  We followed him out into a corridor, through a wide doorway, and into a staggeringly large hall. I stopped and stared round it, utterly grazzed. When a grateful Beta sector built a clan hall for Tellon Blaze, they’d done it in style.

  ‘This is genuine stone?’ I asked.

  Drago laughed. ‘It’s genuine.’

  Once I got over the sheer size of it, and the height of the arched ceiling, I could take in a few details. The flaming torches lighting the room. The portrait of Tellon Blaze, looking much younger and far more human than in the official vid images. The ancient banners. The incongruous sight of a battered flag with an image of Earth. The …

  ‘Oh nuke! Surely that isn’t real?’ I pointed at the chimera crouching in an alcove.

  ‘That’s only a flexiplas fake,’ said Drago.

  I relaxed and saw Raven take his hand away from his gun.

  ‘The real one is locked in the cellar,’ Drago added casually. ‘Tellon Blaze had cut it in pieces when he killed it, then it was stuck back together and stuffed, so it was very, very dead, but he still had it imbedded in a solid piece of glass. Partly to avoid any idiot deciding to take cell samples and genetically salvage the chimera to study them.’

  Fian gave a shocked laugh. ‘The real chimera’s in the cellar!’

  ‘You’ll be glad to know we only use this hall for formal occasions,’ said Drago. ‘There’s another, far less intimidating, dining hall.’

  He turned and led the way back into the corridor, along it, and through an archway. ‘This is the garden wing. Still stone of course, but slightly paler.’

  We walked along another corridor, turned right, and stopped outside a door. ‘Jarra and Fian, this is your room,’ said Drago. ‘Your bags are already in there waiting for you. Goodnight.’

  We said goodnight as well, went inside, and Fian closed the door behind us. ‘If Raven insists on sleeping outside our door here, then he’ll be pretty cold on the paving stones.’

  I forced out a laugh at his joke, but I was horribly nervo
us. The two of us were finally alone, and there was something I had to say. ‘Fian, we need to talk.’

  ‘You only say those words when you think you’re facing total disaster,’ said Fian. ‘You’re alive, Jarra. We’ve shut down the alien defence shield. There is no disaster.’

  I shook my head. ‘Leveque told me about your father contacting you. I don’t know exactly what the doctors and the Apprentices did to save me, but it must have cut whole swathes through the protection of humanity laws. I know how strongly you feel about those laws.’

  Fian pulled a face. ‘Yes, the protection of humanity laws are important, but with so much at stake for humanity …’

  He stopped and ran his fingers through his long blond hair. ‘No, I have to be honest with you. I discovered there’s a chaos big difference between debating ethics in theory and facing harsh reality. Your life was at stake, Jarra. I was perfectly happy to nuke the protection of humanity laws into cinders if it would save you.’

  I wanted to hug him, but we were still in our impact suits, and … ‘There’s my artificial web as well. Every time you look at me, you’ll be reminded of it. That’s bound to start worrying you.’

  ‘It won’t.’

  ‘How can you be sure?’

  ‘I can be sure because I’ve been through this already with Raven. After they’d tried and failed to get your artificial immune system working, I was in total despair. The way the doctors dodged answering my questions … When I heard Raven was going to be all right, I had some hope again. If he could make it, there was a chance for you as well.’

  Fian paused. ‘Raven should have been brain dead when the rescue team reached him, but he wasn’t because of his implant. That didn’t just send for help, it did some things to delay brain damage. That’s technically against the protection of humanity laws, but those laws were made by civilians living nice safe lives.’