Earth Flight (27 page)

I missed the rest of the sentence as I hurried out of the hall, scrubbed my arm across my face to get rid of the wetness round my eyes, and tapped urgently at my lookup. I was doing the same thing I’d always done as a child, making an emergency call to my ProMum to ask her to fix the mess I’d created.

‘Jarra?’ Fian’s voice spoke softly. ‘Are you all right?’

I looked up and saw both Fian and Raven had followed me. ‘No, I’m not. I could have gone to University Earth, but I joined this class to get my revenge on the hated exos. I’ve done that. Oh yes, I’ve really done that. Did you see Playdon’s expression when his lookup chimed?’

‘What?’

I spelled it out for him. ‘The news presenter said widows and widowers are getting messages too. Playdon is a widower. He and his wife worked on Earth dig sites, and she was killed here at the California Rift. You can bet that either their marriage, or one of their Twoing contracts, was registered on Earth.’

‘Oh nuke!’ Fian gave a startled look in the direction of the hall door. ‘That must …’

Candace answered my call. ‘Jarra, what’s the …?’

I didn’t wait for her to finish the question. ‘We have to stop Registry doing this. I don’t want them hurting all these people just because my betrothal contract was cancelled. I’ll be Military again soon, and Fian and I can sort things out.’

Candace shook her head. ‘You can’t stop this, Jarra. When the bigots attacked your relationship with Fian, it was an attack on all the Handicapped, saying we weren’t fit to associate with norms. The Handicapped people working in Earth Registry are telling the sectors they won’t accept that. They’re saying that prejudice is wrong, and the Handicapped and norms should be treated equally. You agree with that message, don’t you?’

‘Yes, but why do they have to send it by hurting innocent people?’

‘Because this is the first chance the Handicapped have ever had to make a protest that anyone hears,’ said Candace. ‘For centuries, we’ve been dumped on Earth and ignored. You can’t stop Earth Registry doing this, neither can I, and I wouldn’t if I could. I have three norm children, the youngest only a year older than you.’

I was shocked to hear her talking openly about her family. Even more shocked by the raw emotion in her voice as she continued.

‘Our lives are ruled by statistics, Jarra. 90 per cent of babies born to a Handicapped couple are norms. When they grow up, they go to off-world universities to study. They’re scared of the prejudice, so they hide the fact their parents are Handicapped. They graduate and get jobs, lead double lives, hide their background from friends, partners and employers, but it’s a terrible strain. Gradually they stop coming to Earth for visits, and there’s longer and longer between calls. Eventually 83 per cent of them break off contact entirely.’

Candace was crying now. ‘I’m sorry about hurting your norm friends, Jarra, but we have to take this chance. It may help me keep contact with my children. It may mean I’ll meet my grandchildren one day.’

She ended the call and I stood there staring blankly at my lookup. ‘Candace is right, I can see she’s right, but doing this to Playdon, to all those people … I don’t know what side I’m on any longer.’

Raven took a step forward. ‘Your professional mother is perfectly right, Jarra. If things are ever going to change, it has to be now. When people saw you on the newzies …’ He pulled an apologetic face. ‘Please don’t hate me for this, but I’d always assumed the Handicapped were different from norms. We were taught at school that the only difference was a faulty immune system, but all the jokes people make about the smell, the stupidity, and the ugliness … Well, that had a bigger impact than one science lesson.’

He paused. ‘I was on a base in Gamma sector when the news broke about the alien probe arriving at Earth. There were three hundred of us packed into a hall watching the vid coverage. We saw you, startlingly young for the job you were doing, with a name that told us you were descended from Tellon Blaze, then …’

He shook his head. ‘Then some bigoted civilian called you an ape, and we realized you were Handicapped. I think we were as stunned by that as by the news of the alien probe. That moment changed my image of the Handicapped from a slow-witted semi-human to a glowing girl. People in every sector had that same, eye-opening experience, Jarra. You’re their image of the Handicapped now and …’

He broke off because Rono was striding down the corridor towards us. I caught my breath as I saw a white regrowth fluid patch on Rono’s forehead, conspicuous against his dark skin. Fian and I exchanged anxious glances, and followed him into the hall.

‘Every relationship on Cassandra 2 just got hit, including my own marriage to Keren,’ said Rono. ‘We’re going to Epsilon to get married again. Given the state my people are in, we’re taking the whole team with us. I’m afraid safety protocols mean you can’t work on the dig site while we’re away.’

‘That doesn’t matter,’ said Playdon. ‘I just got a message from the Dig Site Federation. So many people are rushing off world that all dig sites are closing for two days.’ He hesitated for a moment. ‘Your head? An accident?’

‘No, I’m just getting rid of that old scar. I don’t want the sight of it bothering Keren when he’s this upset.’

Playdon nodded. ‘I understand. I’ve got some students in the same position as you. They’ll only need to get to Alpha sector to reregister their Twoing contracts, but Earth Rolling News reports there’s chaos in all the Earth Off-worlds. Can you take them through Earth America Off-world to Alpha sector with your team?’

Rono nodded. ‘They’ve got exactly three minutes to pack anything they want to take. My team are deeply distressed. They need to be doing something constructive, even if it’s only standing in a queue.’

Six figures sprinted for the door. They knew Rono by now. If he said he was leaving in three minutes, he meant it.

There was a short silence then Krath spoke. ‘Amalie, can we go with them? We won’t be able to register a Twoing contract on Earth now, so …’

‘If anyone else is coming, they only have two minutes to pack,’ said Rono.

‘We don’t need luggage,’ said Amalie. ‘We just need us.’

I gave her a startled look. ‘You’re really going to Two with Krath? Surely Epsilon sector is full of men who are more … more everything.’

Amalie laughed at me. ‘You think I’d want to Two with someone intelligent, sensible and mature?’

I nodded.

‘But that would be like going to live in Alpha sector where everything has already been built. Krath’s the human equivalent of a frontier world.’

Krath frowned at her. ‘What? Why?’

Amalie gave him a casual slap on the back of the head. ‘Because the raw material is there, but it’ll take huge amounts of work to improve you. I can’t resist the challenge.’

I stared at her in bewilderment. ‘So you like Krath because of all the things that are wrong with him?’

‘Exactly.’ Amalie grinned at me.

Rono turned to Playdon. ‘Dannel, I’m really sorry there’s no way you can …’

Playdon shook his head. ‘No court order can change the fact Cadee was my wife. A marriage is far more than just legal clauses.’

Six breathless figures tumbled back into the hall and looked expectantly at Rono. He glanced at their hover bags.

‘We’ll go back to my dome to pick up my team, and then portal to America Off-world. It’s going to be mayhem there, so you’d better carry your bags instead of letting them chase after you.’

Rono patted Playdon on the shoulder and went out of the door. Eight figures hurried after him, and the hall suddenly seemed very quiet.

24

Playdon didn’t want to give lectures when eight of the class were away. We could have spent the day by the pool, but instead everyone sat in the hall watching the newzies. In mid-afternoon, a man in shiny clothes gave a statement on behalf of the Delta Sector Parliament. He had the anxious expression of someone who’d taken a long hard look at the amount of Delta sector that bordered on Beta sector, and was desperate to calm down an explosive situation.

‘The Delta Sector Parliament wishes to express its disapproval of the recent intervention by a few individuals in a Betan betrothal ceremony. The people of Delta sector understand and share the feelings of outrage in Beta sector at such disrespect for its traditions and culture. The Delta Sector Parliament is meeting in emergency session to rectify the unfortunate omission in current legislation.’

‘Zan!’ said Fian.

Raven still looked worried. ‘Everything depends on Lucius now, because he’s got Beta sector in the palm of his hand. If he’s a reasonable man he’ll accept that response from Delta sector, but his ancestors were emperors of the Second Roman Empire. He may have ambitions to join them in wearing imperial purple.’

‘Lucius Augustus Gordianus is a good man,’ I said. ‘He gambled his political career to help his Handicapped grandson.’

Fian nodded. ‘I don’t believe my father would let the Military alliance support a bid for personal power.’

‘What’s your father got to do with it?’ asked Raven.

‘Dragon Tell Dramis is my adoptive father,’ said Fian.

‘Oh yes.’ Raven nodded. ‘That must mean Drago’s your brother.’

Fian groaned. ‘That’s a terrible thought, but yes. The sickeningly handsome Drago Tell Dramis is my brother.’

I saw the image of Lucius Augustus Gordianus appear on the wall vid. ‘Shhh!’

‘Beta sector welcomes the support of Delta sector,’ he said. ‘There has been a wall between us and other sectors for far too long. Let us hope this signals the start of a new era of mutual understanding.’

Raven made a noise of relief that was somewhere between a sigh and a sob. ‘Thank chaos!’

After that, something even more incredible happened. Delta Sector Vision showed an interviewer talking with some of the Handicapped! Pre-recorded of course, because a live link to Earth would have meant the audience being constantly bored by delays as questions and answers were relayed through the series of comms portals between Earth in the centre of Alpha sector, and Isis in Delta sector.

‘Award committees won’t consider my work because I can’t travel off world to collect an award in person,’ said a professor from University Earth.

‘And I have to pretend I live in Alpha sector and use an off-world agent to sell my paintings,’ said an artist. ‘People wouldn’t buy them if they knew they’d been painted by an ape.’

‘Don’t you prefer to describe yourself as Handicapped?’ asked the interviewer.

‘No I don’t,’ said the artist. ‘It may be the official polite term, but I think it’s just as insulting as ape.’

When the recorded interview ended, Dalmora gave me a worried look. ‘Would you rather we didn’t use the word Handicapped, Jarra?’

I shrugged. ‘The real problem isn’t the words people use, but the sneer in their voice when they say them.’

I still didn’t like Earth Registry’s tactics, but they’d achieved something in one day that no one else had managed in centuries. Handicapped voices were finally being heard on other worlds.

It was almost midnight when the class’s Twoing couples arrived back, led by Amalie and Krath.

‘Congratulations and mutual joy on your Twoing contract,’ I said.

Krath shook his head. ‘There’s a lot less mutual joy than you might think. Amalie’s still refusing to share a room with me.’

Amalie reached out a hand and hit him on the back of his head.

‘The Cassandra 2 team members kept making jokes about the things that happen around Jarra,’ continued Krath. ‘Crashing spacecraft, alien artefacts, and social revolutions! Rono says he’s surprised Lecturer Playdon doesn’t have to spend every other week in a rejuvenation tank to recover from the strain of having her in his class.’

Playdon came over to join us. ‘I’m hoping to struggle on until my first scheduled rejuvenation cycle next year. Have Cassandra 2 gone on to Epsilon sector?’

Amalie nodded. ‘They’ll probably be there by now. When we arrived at Alpha Sector Interchange 4, things were quite peaceful. The real problem was getting off Earth.’

‘I don’t understand why that was so difficult,’ said Krath. ‘Earth gets masses of people off world quickly whenever Solar Watch warns an incoming solar storm is going to bring down the portal network.’

I kept carefully quiet. I was sure the staff of Earth’s Off-worlds could have locked open more portals and got everyone to Alpha sector a lot faster, but they’d wanted to maximize the delays to get publicity.

‘At one point,’ added Krath, ‘the queues stopped moving entirely for nearly an hour while thousands and thousands of kids came pouring through. I’ve no idea why.’

I laughed. ‘That was the Earth America kiddie commute coming home at the end of their school day. The normal born kids of Handicapped parents go to orientation schools on Alphan worlds. It’s supposed to help them join “real society” when they grow up.’

‘I suggest you all get some sleep now,’ said Playdon. ‘The dig site will still be closed tomorrow, but there’ll probably be more exciting events to watch on the newzies.’

Everyone dutifully headed off to bed. Fian and I walked together to the door of my room, and exchanged an awkwardly self-conscious kiss, aware that Raven was, as always, on guard nearby.

‘Goodnight, Jarra,’ said Fian.

‘Goodnight,’ I said.

He looked as if he didn’t want to go. I didn’t want him to go. He went.

The next morning, we all ate breakfast while watching Earth Rolling News show a series of vid clips. Sometime during the night, there’d been announcements from both Gamma and Epsilon sectors that they were rushing through legislation, and Lucius Augustus Gordianus had made another speech in response. Then a presenter started explaining Kappa sector didn’t have a problem. Its fledgling colony worlds were still running under the Colony Ten charter, which specifically recognized relationships from any of the worlds of humanity.

‘I hope no one can argue about Earth being one of the worlds of humanity,’ I said.

‘So that just leaves Alpha sector then,’ said Krath.

Playdon started giving lectures after that, but it was obvious from the way he kept checking his lookup that he was keeping an eye on the news feed from one of the newzie channels. He suddenly stopped in mid-sentence, and turned on the wall vid to show Alpha and Omega channel. An excited announcer was talking.