Earth 2788

  I left the full glass of juice on the table, and carried my own half-empty one into the bedroom, moving slowly as if I was already half asleep. The doctor met me, and hastily took the glass from my hand, putting it on the table next to the bed.

  “Shall I find you a sleep suit?” she asked, gesturing at the hover luggage.

  “No, I … I’ll lie down now, and change later.”

  I stretched out on the bed, and closed my eyes. There were a couple of minutes of total silence, followed by what I thought was the sound of the doctor leaving the room.

  I opened my eyes cautiously and looked around. Yes, the doctor had gone. Silly woman, letting me fool her like that. Had she forgotten that my clan made vid programmes? Given the type of vids they were, I didn’t act in them myself of course – my clan hired the clanless or outlanders from other sectors as actors – but I’d still learned a lot about acting over the years.

  The question now was if the doctor would drink the juice and be drugged by her own tablet. I hoped she would. If necessary I was prepared to hit her over the head with her own medical bag, but it would be a lot easier for both of us if she just drank the juice.

  I made myself wait what seemed like an endless time, but was probably only half an hour, then crept across to the door and opened it a crack. The doctor was sitting in a chair, slumped to one side, apparently deeply asleep. On the floor beside her was the empty juice glass.

  My theory was that the doctor would have given me a very strong sedative to make sure I didn’t cause trouble, but I was still careful not to make a sound as I entered the room. I remembered seeing the doctor put my lookup in her medical bag, so … Yes, it was there!

  I grabbed it, retreated back into the bedroom and closed the door, then eagerly checked for messages. There were some from my parents and friends, all saying roughly the same thing. Lolek had told them I wanted to be left alone to recover, but I should let them know if I needed anything. I got the impression everyone was worried about the situation, but too scared of Lolek to argue with him.

  I got to the end of the messages and bit my lip. The message I wanted most was missing. There was nothing at all from Lolmack. I frowned. My parents and friends had tried to call me, and left messages when they didn’t get an answer. It was possible Lolmack had called me too, but not felt able to leave a message. If he was as uncertain about my feelings as I was about his …

  I remembered my lookup kept a log of calls, and hurriedly checked it. There was a whole list of entries with Lolmack’s name! The first call must have arrived only minutes after the doctor took charge of my lookup. There were a dozen more after that, and several attempts to send recorded messages as well. Everything was flagged as automatically rejected. The doctor must have set my lookup to reject any contact from Lolmack.

  I cancelled the reject order, and tapped the lookup to call Lolmack myself. There was a long delay, and I started panicking, thinking that after making so many rejected calls he’d decided to reject mine, then he finally answered.

  I felt a sudden surge of emotion at the sight of his face. Lolmack wasn’t nearly as handsome as Ardreath, but I’d always felt so safe with him to protect me. Even talking to Lolek hadn’t been as frightening when Lolmack stood next to me. Just looking at him now made me feel reassured and …

  But I mustn’t let myself feel like that. I mustn’t start counting on Lolmack, not until I knew …

  “Lolia!” Lolmack had obviously been lying down when he answered the call. His image juddered for a moment as he sat up, and brushed his hair out of his eyes with his left hand. “Sorry to be so slow answering. I was fast asleep.”

  Fast asleep? I was surprised because it was still early evening.

  “I missed your last call because it came when I was portalling,” he continued. “You know how going through a portal completely confuses the call system. I’ve been trying to call you back ever since, but the calls kept being rejected.”

  I pulled a face. “That’s because Lolek took my lookup.”

  Lolmack seemed to hesitate for a moment, then nodded. “I guessed it was something like that. Lolek sent me a message telling me I was banned from the clan hall, and would be removed from the clan as soon as clan council had time to meet, so I knew he wouldn’t want you contacting me. Where are you now?”

  “Lolek left me at a hotel with a doctor guarding me. I’ve drugged her, and got back my lookup, but I don’t know how long the drugs will last.”

  Lolmack looked at me blankly for a couple of seconds, before his expression changed to a mixture of surprise and amusement. “You drugged someone?”

  “Yes. A lot has been happening here. I’ll explain it all later, but …”

  “What happened to your face?” he interrupted me. “Did Lolek hit you?”

  I’d forgotten about the fluid patch on my cheek. “No, it wasn’t Lolek. Ardreath slapped me, and caught me with one of those fancy rings he wears. It was only a slight scratch, but Lolek insisted on me wearing a fluid patch to make it look bad in front of the alliance council.”

  I pulled off the fluid patch. “See, my face is already healed. Forget about that. The important thing now is …” I desperately needed to know if Lolmack still wanted me, still cared about me, but I was scared to ask in case I got the wrong answer. “Ardreath said he’d divorced both of us.”

  Lolmack paused before replying. “Yes, I got a cowardly recorded message from him.” He laughed. “Isn’t it absolutely typical of Ardreath’s credit counting soul that, even in the midst of disaster, he remembered to take a third of the funds from our joint account before he divorced us?”

  I would have laughed too, but I was too nervous. “So … Where does that leave us?”

  Lolmack kept me in suspense while he thought about that, then he raised an eyebrow. “Where does that leave us? Ardreath may have dishonourably broken his vows and left our marriage, but I have not. Unless you choose to end our marriage, Lolia, you remain my wife. Always.”

  I felt a weird floating sensation as relief hit me. I forced it away. If Lolmack and I were going to be together, I had no time to waste. “Then I’ll come and join you right away. What’s the code for your nearest portal?”

  “Joining me could be a little difficult,” said Lolmack.

  “What? Why?” For a moment I’d thought everything was all right, Lolmack still wanted me, but maybe he didn’t after all. The way he kept hesitating, thinking things over very carefully before he said a word …

  “I’m not on Artemis any longer,” he said.

  Lolmack wasn’t on Artemis! Now I understood the delays before he responded to the things I said. He hadn’t been hesitating or thinking things over. He was on another world in a different star system, so my call was being relayed through a series of comms portals to reach him and there’d be a short delay before he heard what I said. That explained why he’d been asleep too. He must be on a world where it was night time.

  “Did Lolek force you to leave Artemis?” I asked.

  Lolmack laughed. “Both Ardreath and Lolek made it clear in their messages that I wasn’t welcome on Artemis any longer, but that’s not why I left. Ardreath’s threats don’t scare me. He likes to think he’s tough, but he’s been raised as a member of a highly respectable clan. He’d have no idea where to hire thugs to beat me up, and he wouldn’t last five seconds in a fight with me himself.”

  I shook my head anxiously. “I know Ardreath isn’t a real danger, but Lolek …”

  Lolmack had a habit of using a negligent, relaxed manner as camouflage, but now he let the mask slip to look blatantly lethal. “It’s amusing that Lolek thinks he could just order the clan enforcement group to attack the man who’s been their leader for the last year, and they’d instantly obey. The truth is that they wouldn’t openly defy Lolek, but they’d make very sure they kept looking for me in the wrong places.”

  Lolmack shrugged and adopted his usual lazy posture again. “But it’s irrelevant anyway. Lolek’s power
is strictly limited to Artemis, so I’m safely out of his reach now.”

  I was less sure about that. Lolek had agents on some of the nearer Betan worlds, who helped with some of our clan’s more dubious business activities. “Where exactly are you?”

  “I’m on Earth, of course.” Lolmack smiled. “I have family here.”

  He was on Earth! Even when I was picturing what life would be like alone and clanless, it had never occurred to me that I could leave Artemis, let alone leave Beta sector. It wasn’t something a Betan would ever consider doing, but Lolmack hadn’t been born in Beta sector. He’d lived on a dozen different worlds before he came to Artemis as a 16-year-old orphan.

  “How do I get to Earth?” I asked.

  “You’re seriously considering joining me on Earth?”

  I nodded. It hadn’t occurred to me before, and even if it had I’d have been too scared to do it alone, but with Lolmack …

  “Do you realize how your clan would react to you coming here?” asked Lolmack.

  I pulled a face. “My clan may be discarding me anyway. There’s a battle going on over whether we stay in the alliance, and Lolek is willing to do anything to win it.”

  Lolmack made a sound of disgust. “The clan discarding me is understandable. I’m just a stray they adopted, but you’re their own blood raised in their own clan hall. Have they completely forgotten their oaths as Betans? Loyalty to family comes first and foremost in that oath.”

  “It’s Lolek deciding this, not the clan.”

  “No, it isn’t,” said Lolmack. “Under Betan clan law, a clan leader can’t expel a clan member by himself, he needs clan council’s agreement as well.”

  “Betan clan law only applies to officially recognized clans. Lolek follows the rules when it suits him, but when it doesn’t …”

  “It’s more than time the clan stood up to Lolek, told him that they won’t accept his dictatorship any longer. If they won’t defy him over expelling you, then when will they do it?”

  I couldn’t say anything. I didn’t trust myself not to break down.

  Lolmack made a horizontal, air-slicing movement with his left hand, the classic Betan gesture of rejection. “Nuke the clan. Lolia, it would be wonderful if you joined me here, but think carefully before you decide. You’ve never left Artemis before, Earth is a dreadfully prudish world, and its people are prejudiced against Betans. Moving here would be a huge culture shock for you, and we wouldn’t be able to afford the luxurious lifestyle you’re used to.”

  I didn’t need to take time to think. Yesterday, I’d been happy with Ardreath and Lolmack and my dreams for the future. This morning, I’d thought I’d lost everything, but now …

  I refused to mourn over losing Ardreath, because a Cassandrian skunk would make a better husband than him. Lolmack was as solidly honourable and trustworthy as I’d always believed. I’d go to Earth and join him, and together we’d find our dreams again.

  “I don’t care about prejudice; I’ve had people sneer at me all my life because of my low class clan. I don’t care about luxuries either. I care about the people I love.” I found the key fob for my hover luggage, and clicked it. The bags obediently gathered up to follow me. “How do I get off world?”

  Lolmack choked back a laugh. “If you want to go off world, Lolia, the first step is to go to Artemis Off-world.”

  “Oh yes.” I joined in his laughter. “I should have known that, but it’s been a very long day. I’ll call you again in a few minutes.”

  I ended the call, used my lookup to check the portal code for Artemis Off-world, and then opened the bedroom door. I tiptoed through the room, passing the sleeping doctor, and my luggage floated through the air after me. I’d never noticed the sound of hover bags before, but now they seemed to be humming very loudly. The doctor didn’t stir though; whatever was in that tablet must have been very strong.

  For a second, I was worried I’d killed her, but then commonsense prevailed. The tablet I’d given her had been intended for me. Lolek might banish me from the clan, might even murder me in the right circumstances, but he’d never involve a respectable outsider doctor in anything criminal. There’d be far too high a risk of her giving evidence against him.

  I went out into the corridor, hurried to the nearest portal, and dialled. A moment later, I was in a huge hall packed with people. I suddenly thought of something very bad, gulped, and called Lolmack again.

  “I’m in Artemis Off-world, but I’ve just realized that Lolek could find out where I was by tracking my lookup.”

  “He could,” said Lolmack, in a reassuringly calm voice, “but he won’t bother tracking your lookup when he thinks your prison warder of a doctor still has it. By the time he finds out that she doesn’t, you’ll be perfectly safe in a different star system. Can you see a sign for Romulus?”

  I looked up at glowing overhead signs. “Yes.”

  “Beta Sector Interchange 3 is on Romulus. Most of the Artemis Off-world traffic goes via there, so there’s usually an interstellar portal locked open for Romulus. Join the queue and go through. Call me again when you get there.”

  I followed the sign for Romulus and saw a group of people in Military uniforms ahead of me. The history of Artemis was literally burned into its landscape, so no one could ever forget it. Like everyone who’d been born and raised here, I had an instinctive reaction to the sight of a Military uniform. A hundred and thirty years ago, Ceron Augustus had nearly destroyed Artemis, but the Military had saved us. The presence of the Military meant security, safety, protection from any danger.

  I hurried to catch up with the Military group. If Lolek had discovered I was in Artemis Off-world, and sent some of the clan to drag me back to my hotel prison by force, I could start screaming I was being kidnapped and the Military would defend me. Nothing as dramatic as that happened, of course. I just followed the Military group through an oddly bulky portal and arrived on Romulus.

  I automatically moved out of the portal arrival zone, checked my hover luggage had followed me, and then looked round. I was in a building almost exactly like the one I’d left, the people hurrying by were dressed the same as people on Artemis, but the signs overhead said that this was Romulus Off-world. I’d left my home world behind me. My clan and I were in totally separate star systems now.

  It took me a couple of minutes to recover from the enormity of that thought, and the exuberant rush of relief that followed. I felt horribly guilty rejoicing over being so far from my parents and friends, but it was wonderful to finally escape from under Lolek’s shadow.

  I called Lolmack and smiled happily at him. “I made it! I’m in Romulus Off-world!”

  “Good. You should see some signs pointing the way to Beta Sector Interchange 3.”

  “I see them.” I followed the signs down a wide corridor. “Earth is in Alpha sector, isn’t it?”

  Lolmack laughed. “That’s right. Now I’ve checked the schedules, and you need to go to the waiting area for Cross-sector Gate 4. The next block portal from Beta Sector Interchange 3 to Alpha Sector Interchange 6 will be opening at Gate 4 in twelve hours’ time.”

  “Twelve hours!” I frowned. I was impatient to reach Earth, to feel Lolmack’s arms holding me close, and twelve hours seemed an eternity.

  “There are often very long waits to join a cross-sector block portal, Lolia. The special portals able to handle cross-sector distances are hugely expensive, and establishing the portal connection takes a vast amount of power. Their block portal windows have to be carefully scheduled for maximum efficiency, sending through as many travellers as possible in the time.”

  “Oh.” I thought that over. “Would taking a different route be faster?”

  Lolmack shook his head. “Your only other option would be to make a whole series of short interstellar portal jumps to reach Alpha sector. That would take days, so it’s much better to wait and use the cross-sector portal. Once you get to Alpha Sector Interchange 6, you shouldn’t have to wait long for a block porta
l to Earth Europe.”

  “Earth Europe?” I asked, totally confused. “There’s more than one world called Earth?”

  Lolmack laughed again. “Other worlds have a single inhabited continent, Lolia, but Earth has five. It’s simplest if you come directly to Earth Europe, so you don’t have to worry about inter-continental portalling.”

  I sighed. “I’m incredibly clueless.”

  “You’re incredibly brave,” said Lolmack. “You’ve never gone anywhere alone before, you don’t have the faintest idea about interstellar travel, and you know nothing about Earth, but you aren’t letting any of that stop you joining me.”

  “You really mean that?”

  He smiled. “I really mean it. Now, you look utterly exhausted. There should be a rest zone in the waiting area for Gate 4, so go there and try to get some sleep. You can dream about tomorrow when we’ll be together again.”

  He paused. “Until tomorrow, Lolia.”

  “Until tomorrow, Lolmack,” I said.

  Part IV

  When I woke up, I saw I was surrounded by sleeping strangers. I sat up in alarm, then remembered I was in the Gate 4 rest zone. I’d expected it to have private cubicles with proper beds, but it had turned out to be just a side room filled with chairs, and with big signs on the wall reminding everyone to set their lookups to silent mode.

  You could adjust the chairs to a reclining position, but they still weren’t very comfortable. I hadn’t expected to be able to sleep at all, but I must have done. I reached for my lookup to check what time it was, and blinked in surprise. I’d been asleep for ten hours!

  That meant I only had two more hours to wait for the block portal to Alpha sector. I clicked the key fob for my hover luggage, and the bags floated after me as I headed for the food dispensers in the main waiting area. They had a range of hideously overpriced breakfast cartons, and I carefully chose one of the cheapest. My journey to Earth was terrifyingly expensive, so I had to save every credit I could on other things.