Earth Girl

  ‘But we go there to play as well,’ said another.

  ‘The manufacturing story is just a cover up,’ said Krath. ‘They originally intended it to be used for experiments creating mutated forms of humanity, but the mutants turned on the humans and had to be slaughtered. My dad says that …’

  ‘Oh shut up, Krath,’ we all told him.

  ‘I’ve been to Winter and it’s wonderful,’ said Dalmora. ‘Alpha sector has requested Planet First find them one too. Several sectors have requests in for useful specialist planets, but we have to wait until they finish checking the new Kappa worlds of course.’

  Thirty minutes later, I could see that Playdon was regretting ever opening the dome door. By then, the saner members of the class had gone and put extra warm clothes on. The Betans were hiding in their rooms, because they were scared of the snow, but we couldn’t get the Deltans to tear themselves away from it. They kept telling us it was white, it was magical, it was amaz! The dome corridor was all slushy from them throwing snowballs at each other, and I was having an argument with Fian.

  ‘Oh go on,’ whined Fian. ‘Please.’

  ‘No,’ I said, firmly. ‘Absolutely not.’

  Finally, Playdon had had enough. ‘Time to shut the door and do some work,’ he said.

  ‘Just one more thing,’ pleaded Fian. ‘There’s lots of really soft snow, Jarra. Go on …’

  ‘Now what?’ asked Playdon.

  ‘He wants her to throw him across the jungle clearing,’ explained Krath.

  ‘What jungle clearing?’ Playdon gazed round at the lack of jungle.

  Several voices explained about the vid series, Stalea of the Jungle. Fian was obviously not the only fan in our class.

  ‘Oh, you mean at the end of every episode when she …’ Playdon broke off, but he’d already given himself away. He obviously watched it too.

  ‘Jarra won’t throw Fian round in the dome in case she hurts him,’ Krath continued.

  ‘Very sensible,’ said Playdon.

  ‘The snow’s nice and soft though,’ said Fian, hopefully.

  ‘No,’ I said.

  Playdon sighed. ‘Jarra, please throw him across the jungle clearing or we’ll be here all day.’

  It was an order, so … ‘Yes, sir.’ I moved away from the crowd, and Fian came eagerly over. I gauged my attack, went in low, grabbed his waist, and hurled him over my shoulder.

  Fian lay on his back in the snow, with a blissful expression. ‘Totally, totally zan!’

  The class bounced up and down cheering.

  ‘You should really leap on him now,’ said Joth.

  ‘You should really listen to some lectures now,’ said Playdon, and he finally drove them back inside and shut the door.

  It took quite a while longer for everyone to change out of snowy clothes. We also had to persuade the Betans it was safe to come out of their rooms. There was a shock when they appeared. We stared at them, totally grazzed. Instead of the usual clinging clothes with holes displaying patches of skin, they were wearing ordinary outfits like the rest of us.

  Lolia looked at us bravely. ‘Our daughter’s advocate says it will be beneficial to her development if we attempt to follow Earth customs on behaviour and dress while on this planet. While we were staying at the Nursery, the advocate advised us on clothes to buy.’

  ‘That’s very wise,’ said Dalmora. ‘I think you look very nice.’

  There was bad news awaiting the class as we finally settled down in expectant rows in the dining hall, and gazed at Playdon with our innocent, unsuspecting faces.

  ‘I think this is a good time to tackle Granth’s Mathematical Evaluations of Human Conflict,’ he said.

  I gave a faint scream.

  ‘It’s not that bad really, Jarra,’ said Playdon.

  Clearly my scream hadn’t been faint enough.

  ‘Now,’ Playdon continued, ‘as I’m sure you all know, Granth formulated a mathematical method that assesses various factors in society and calculates the likelihood of a war resulting. In fact it comes up with a set of probabilities for various scales of conflict. We are fortunate in being able to look at specific situations in pre-history and see just how well this mathematical model works out in practice.’

  I thought assorted moaning thoughts, while Playdon droned on about Granth. He was interrupted after about ten minutes, when Amalie stood up. ‘I’m sorry, I can’t cope with this course any more. I’m leaving.’ She burst into tears.

  ‘Don’t do that!’ Krath hastily stood up too. ‘Why leave?’

  ‘I’m useless,’ wailed Amalie. ‘I don’t understand any of this theorem stuff, and it’s frightening, and there’s no one else from Epsilon.’

  ‘You’re a fine student, Amalie,’ said Playdon. ‘Epsilon is still building up its education system, so you were admitted to this course under the special access scheme, but you’re doing as well as, or better than, most of the highly qualified students.’

  ‘I can’t do this,’ Amalie repeated. ‘I wanted to study here and go back to teach at the university we’re building back home, but I can’t … It’s frightening … There’s snow outside!’

  I felt guilty. I’d been aware of the Betans screaming noisily about the snow, but I hadn’t realized Amalie was silently terrified.

  Dalmora stood up. ‘I’m sorry. I should have noticed you were … I was so occupied with my own worries. I’ve been scared too, being away from home, and the dome is so … well, basic. I’m just not used to living like this.’

  ‘I would really hate you to give up your plans, Amalie,’ said Playdon. ‘Epsilon needs its new teachers.’

  Amalie sniffled.

  It was just the wrong moment for everyone’s lookups to bleep, bing, chime, and play suggestive music.

  ‘Solar storm warning!’ said Dalmora.

  ‘Again?’ Fian checked his. ‘We’ve got an eight-hour warning this time. Portals out for … three days!’

  Playdon was reading his lookup urgently. ‘There’s a bad solar storm coming. I’m afraid they seem to have some link with the weather, so it’s not entirely coincidence that it arrives at the same time as the snow. Portals will be out of operation for three days.’

  ‘Three days!’ All the class, Alpha down to Epsilon, were screaming it.

  Hysteria was spreading round the class faster than I could say Arrack San Domex. Honestly, civilians, terrified of being away from their portal lifeline! Humanity survived for thousands of years without portals, and the prospect of three days without them reduced this bunch to total jelly.

  Our Alphan clearly summed up the feelings of the whole class when she wailed. ‘Three days here, with no portal, thick snow outside, and packs of wolves!’ Dalmora completely lost it. ‘I want to go home!’

  I was impressed by Playdon. He was going to have a mass walk-out unless he did something fast, and he did it. ‘Pack your bags. I’m not keeping the class stuck here in the dome for three days when we can’t work the dig site. Even if the snow melts, Dig Site Command won’t open the site while the portals are out.’

  Everyone ceased panicking and looked at him with sudden hope. ‘Where are we going?’ asked Dalmora.

  Playdon clearly felt this was no time for half measures. Taking them somewhere else on Earth might get rid of the snow and the wolves, but it wouldn’t give them a functioning portal. ‘We’re going to Asgard!’

  They all cheered.

  ‘I give you fair warning,’ Playdon said, ‘it might mean camping on a lecture room floor. I’ll have to call the university and see what accommodation is free. You all go and pack. Meet up back here when you’re ready.’

  They all charged off at high speed. I didn’t understand what the big hurry was. They had eight hours before the portal was due to go into lockdown. Was it really likely to take them eight hours to pack?

  Playdon suddenly turned to look at me. ‘Jarra, do you have any problem with going to Asgard?’

  ‘No, sir,’ I said. ‘Personally, I wouldn??
?t be worried staying here, but I’m happy to go.’

  ‘That’s fine then. You really had me confused when you arrived. I’d been given the ridiculous impression …’ He broke off, and started making his call to University Asgard.

  I went off to pack. The others seemed to be packing all their possessions, but I was more selective. I should only be on Asgard for four days.

  27

  I was the last to go to pack, and I was the first back to the dining hall. That’s civilians for you. I’m not including Lecturer Playdon in this criticism. He was back only five minutes after me, despite being delayed by arranging accommodation.

  The room gradually began to fill up with people and vast amounts of bags. I had one. Fian had three. Dalmora had seven. It got too crowded to count soon after that. The first nervous comments about portalling before it was too late were already beginning to start, and we still had seven hours before the Earth portal network was expected to go into lockdown.

  ‘We have to wait for everyone and go as a group,’ said Playdon. ‘I’m not leaving people alone here.’

  The Betans were the last to arrive. Lolia went up to Playdon. ‘Lolmack and I feel we should be with Lolette. We can stay in a parent room at her Nursery, as we’ve done before.’

  ‘Stay? During the solar storm?’ Dalmora looked really impressed. ‘That’s so brave.’

  ‘All right,’ Playdon said, ‘they’ll take care of you at the Nursery. I can vid any classes you miss and …’ Playdon’s lookup bleeped. He glanced at it and frowned. ‘There’s a message for us from Cassandra 2. They expect we’ll be pulling out soon for the portal outage, and if our rescue squad would like to portal over to their dome before leaving, they’d really like to say thank you. Apparently, they have a special gift for Jarra.’

  ‘Now?’ asked Dalmora. ‘But the network is going down.’

  ‘Not for nearly seven hours,’ said Playdon. ‘You can call over there and catch us up on Asgard.’

  Dalmora gulped. ‘I think I’d rather go with the group.’

  Amalie and Krath nodded. Fian looked uncertainly at me.

  ‘I’d love to meet them,’ I said.

  ‘Then I’ll go too,’ said Fian, bravely.

  ‘I have to stay with the main group,’ said Playdon. ‘I wouldn’t leave you two here alone, but you can’t get into trouble at the Cassandra 2 dome. Portal from there straight to America Off-world, and then follow us on to Asgard. I’m sending everyone the portal codes now.’

  Lookups did their usual blips, bleeps, and chimes.

  Playdon led us off to the portal room. ‘Fian and Jarra had better go to the Cassandra 2 dome first, then Lolia and Lomack can go to America Transit. After that, I’ll count the rest of you through to America Off-world.’

  Fian and I came forward, with our hover luggage following us. Playdon put in the portal code for the Cassandra 2 dome and we stepped through. A tall man of about 30 was waiting for us. He had an engaging smile, and a face like an elegant ebony sculpture, but there was an odd patch of distorted skin on his left temple. After a moment, I realized it had to be scar tissue, but I didn’t understand why anyone would have a scar when a simple fluid patch treatment would cure it.

  ‘Welcome,’ he said. ‘Just the two of you coming?’

  ‘The others are heading off to Asgard right away. They’re a bit nervous about the portal outage,’ I explained. ‘I’m Jarra, and this is Fian.’

  He nodded. ‘Portal outages can be worrying until you get used to them. Welcome, both of you. I’m Rono Kipkibor, senior team leader, but people just call me Rono. Everyone else is in the dining hall.’

  He led the way and made introductions. I’ve never been that great at remembering names, so I missed most of them. They were divided into two dig teams. A woman, Jerez, doubled as leader of team 2, or an extra heavy lift operator, whichever was needed. Their team 1 tag leader was a man called Keren.

  ‘As you would expect, we’re still short two people,’ said Rono. ‘Our team 2 tag leader, Stephan, is making a great recovery in Hospital Earth America. His wife, our team 2 tag support, is staying over there with him. They both send their thanks. We really thought we’d lost Stephan back there.’

  ‘We were glad to help,’ I said.

  Fian gave a shy mumble.

  ‘It’s a bit embarrassing of course.’ Rono grinned. ‘People with our experience, being rescued by a team who hadn’t been on a dig site for more than two days. Normally, we have our two teams working independently near each other, so if one gets in trouble then the other can dig them out, but when a whole tower comes down and buries the lot of us …’

  He broke off and pulled a graphic face of pain. ‘Well, you certainly did a great job saving us. Now, there’s a tradition that a rescued team give a thank you gift to the tag leader who took the risks to save them. We checked the size with Playdon, just shout if it isn’t quite right and we can swap it.’

  He looked round, and a couple of the others came forward with a big box.

  ‘You didn’t need to …’ I said.

  ‘We must follow the tradition.’ He smiled. ‘Open it.’

  I took the box and opened it, wondering what the chaos was inside. I gasped when I saw the contents and lifted it out reverently. My own brand new impact suit. Not one of the standard dome issue, but one of the proper ones the professionals buy themselves.

  ‘This is …’ I hugged it, completely overwhelmed. ‘This is totally zan. I’ll only ever have my own smell in there with me.’

  They all laughed, including Fian.

  ‘You can get special sprays to customise the colour,’ said Rono. ‘That makes it easier to recognize people.’

  Keren grinned. ‘You can spot Rono from a whole sector away. No one else would wear purple and silver.’

  Rono aimed a mock punch at him, and shook his head sadly. ‘Ignore Keren. He has no taste at all.’

  ‘The suit is wonderful,’ I said. ‘Thank you so much. I’m afraid we have to go now and catch up with the rest of our class. They’ll be on Asgard by now, and …’

  ‘Of course.’

  The whole group went back to the portal room with us. As we entered the room, all the portal lights suddenly flashed on green, then rapidly amber and red, as it ran through the lockdown sequence in less than five seconds. The red lights went out and the portal sat there, totally inert.

  28

  We all stared at the portal in disbelief.

  ‘We were supposed to have another six hours,’ said Rono in confusion. ‘I’ve never known the forecasts be more than an hour wrong before. Why did it go through lockdown so fast anyway? It usually takes at least five minutes so people can finish sending stuff through open portals.’

  ‘We’re stuck?’ asked Fian.

  ‘I’m afraid so,’ said Rono, ‘but don’t worry. You won’t be in trouble with Playdon. I’ll mail him myself and explain what happened. We’ve got several spare rooms, and it’ll be a pleasure to have you stay with us until the network is back. I expect your class will be back soon after that as well.’

  Fian was still looking worried, but I gave him an encouraging smile. ‘We’ll be fine, Fian.’

  ‘The mystery is how the warning could be six hours wrong, and why lockdown was so fast …’ muttered Rono. ‘We’ll sort some rooms out for you two in a minute, but before that I must see if there’s any information on why the portals went out early.’

  Everyone went back to the dining hall of the dome, and suddenly there was a chorus of lookups screaming for attention.

  ‘That has to be a solar storm update,’ said Rono.

  We all checked our lookups. ‘A Carrington event!’ Fian yelled. ‘It’s a Carrington event!’

  The rest of us were just standing there, open-mouthed.

  ‘Well, we’re certainly going to be right in the middle of some history,’ Rono said thoughtfully.

  My head was trying to absorb what was happening. This was incredible. I’m no scientist, but everyon
e knows the effect that solar storms have on portals and the arrays out in space that supply power to all our planets. They’re only a real problem on Earth, because Planet First chooses worlds in systems that only suffer infrequent solar storms. This time Earth wasn’t just being hit by a solar storm, but a Carrington event, which is a massive solar super storm.

  ‘That’s why the leading edge of the storm hit earlier than expected and took the portal network down,’ I muttered. ‘It’s the same as the original Carrington event back in 1859, when the solar super storm came in much faster than a normal storm.’

  ‘How bad is this going to be?’ asked Fian.

  I waved my hands to indicate ignorance. ‘According to the surviving records, Earth hasn’t had another solar super storm as bad as the one Carrington observed in 1859. It wasn’t much of a problem then, because there were no portals to be affected and very little other technology either. About all they had was a very early electronic communication system called the telegraph. It did something really primitive involving sending electrical signals down wires. The storm made those fail, some parts even caught fire, but it didn’t really matter.’

  ‘But now we have lots of technology,’ said Fian, grimly.

  Rono had turned on the dining hall vid, and set it to show Earth Rolling News channel. A news presenter, looking a bit shocked but also thrilled to be presenting the story of the century, was in mid sentence. ‘… evidence that such a solar super storm occurred on Earth on average about every 500 years. Since then, Earth has prepared and waited for another Carrington event. It’s happening now.’

  The news presenter’s eyes flickered, and he paused for a moment. He was obviously getting new information. ‘The Carrington event in 1859 was estimated at seventeen times as powerful as a moderate solar storm. Experts are expecting the current super storm to be even stronger, peaking at eighteen times more powerful than a moderate solar storm.’

  He paused again. ‘We are receiving advice … The Earth portal network is already locked down. Earth Power is telling us they expect to lock down and fragment the power grid in one hour to prevent damage. Check your home’s power is fully charged now, also any vital equipment and hover sleds.’